In the era of cold weapons, the configuration of the ancient armored cavalry was expensive and very human

Literature and history is a painting, culture is painting paper, history is countless waves, culture is a river, history is a gorgeous flower, culture is a big garden, history is a star. History is long, and China is vast. However, historical events are sometimes very strange, but history is tortuous, in ancient China's history, it is a history of war, and it is often the commander or the well-equipped troops who decide the victory or defeat in the war.

In our ancient armies, it was all the era of cold weapons, and the heavily armed armored cavalry could be called "high-level soldiers". On the murals of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang there is an image of a mounted cavalry in the Northern Wei Dynasty (6th century). It is conceivable that in the era of cold weapons, a cavalry warrior dressed in neat armor must be equipped with a high price, and even a man with a full set of armor on a horse, plus a tall and strong war horse, that is for sure. As recorded in the Folk Song "Mulan Poem" of the Northern Dynasty Lefu: "The East Market buys horses, the West Market buys saddles, the South Market buys the head, and the North Market buys the long whip."

The armor of the war horse is made of iron or leather armor pieces, covering the war horse almost from beginning to end, only the four legs of the war horse are vacated, and the full horse armor weighs 10 pounds. In order to save horsepower, it is usually loaded and transported, and the horses are armored before the battle begins. Horse armor is also often decorated with eye-catching ornaments, sometimes painted bright red, or painted with one or two beasts of prey to boost morale, intimidate enemy forces, and enhance majesty.

Knight's armor, that is more unambiguous, more expensive, armed to the teeth. The most common armor during the Northern and Southern Dynasties was two crotch armor—two "iron mats" strung together with pieces of armor before and after them, tied together with a belt. If financial resources are plentiful, the full set of armor also includes iron gizzards (helmets), shawls (shoulder armor), and leg skirts (thigh armor). At the same time, there are also barrel sleeve armor and fish scale armor along the two Han Dynasties, and lock armor and Mingguang armor imported from the Western Regions tribe.

At that time, the main weapon of the armored cavalry was usually the horse mallet [shuò], which is also said to be the spear. Different from the exaggerated shape of the legend, the horse mallet is actually a super-long cavalry spear, more than four meters long (the so-called "spear length eight is a mallet"). Compared with the long halberds popular in the pre-Qin era, the horse mallet is longer in length, the center of gravity is more stable, and it can exert the power of the straight stab when impacting. In addition, armored cavalry were generally equipped with secondary weapons such as bows and arrows, ring-headed knives, and some cavalry also carried two spears on the battlefield, one of which was used as a throwing gun.