Through the understanding of ancient related history books and film and television dramas, I believe that everyone will find such a strange phenomenon, that is, the soldiers of the same war, the soldiers of the ethnic minorities in the northwest prefer to use machetes, while the soldiers of the Han people in the Central Plains prefer to use straight knives.
It turned out that the reason for this huge gap in weapons was mainly determined by the difference in the types of troops. Most of the ethnic minorities in the northwest are cavalry, and it is more appropriate to use machetes, and most of the Han soldiers in the Central Plains are infantry, and the characteristics of straight knives are more suitable for infantry.
(1) Machete: large killing area, suitable for cavalry
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the "silver gun machete and Yanyun Eighteen Horses" ran rampant in the desert and were invincible; during the Northern Song Dynasty, Yelü Abaoji led the Khitan iron horse to sweep through the north with a machete; in the last years of the Song Dynasty, the Mongol Temujin destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty with a machete and unified all of China. It can be seen that the power of the machete combined with the iron horse is indeed very amazing.
This also reflects why the ethnic minorities in the northwest like to use machetes. The ethnic minorities in the northwest are basically nomadic peoples, they live on horseback, live on nomadic industry, and often accompany cattle, horses and sheep. Under such circumstances, their army is naturally mainly cavalry. The cavalry is characterized by its speed and role in a surprise attack, and the burden on the soldiers cannot be too heavy.
Therefore, the machete has two characteristics that are particularly suitable, one is light weight, and the other is a large killing area. The weight of the machete will be much lighter than the straight knife, it is more convenient to carry, and the cavalry holding the machete will not consume too much physical strength, and will not affect its own control of the warhorse, which can also allow the cavalry to better play its own knife skills.
Moreover, the lateral cut surface of the machete is large, and with the speed of the cavalry, it can produce a large killing area, which is also perfectly compatible with the characteristics of the cavalry, so the machete is suitable for cavalry and is used by the soldiers of the northwest ethnic minority.
(2) Straight knife: heavy weight, strong lethality, suitable for infantry
Compared with the machete, the advantage of the straight knife is that it is heavy and lethal, but it is not as large as the machete in the killing area, and it is not as good as the machete. The Central Plains Dynasty is mostly plain, agriculture is developed, and the development of animal husbandry is relatively general, so the number of warhorses of the Central Plains Dynasty is very small, there is no way to have too many cavalry, there are many cities and pools, and a large number of infantry are needed to attack the battle, so the number of infantry is far more than that of cavalry.
The infantry does not have such a fast movement speed, and the combat is basically a short contact at close range, and there is no need to move, so what the infantry needs is that the weapon has greater lethality. In this way, the straight knife is more useful, so the straight knife is more suitable for infantry, and the infantry of the Central Plains Dynasty is the majority, so the soldiers of the Central Plains Dynasty use straight knives.
In summary, the class of service determines how the weapon is used. The cavalry of the northwestern minority were good at using machetes, while the infantry of the Central Plains Dynasty were good at using straight knives. In fact, whether it is a machete or a straight knife, its design condenses the crystallization of the wisdom of ancient people in China, which is very in line with the needs of war at that time. Its characteristics are also their own advantages and disadvantages, as long as it is used properly, it can produce great lethality in battle and help their army win the war.