In many costume dramas, there are more or less scenes of war. Above the battlefield, the yellow sand was long, the two sides gradually pulled apart the formation, just when the two armies were fighting, a general suddenly stepped out of one of the armies to challenge the general on the opposite side.
This is a common ancient war scene, as a war that invests tens of thousands of people at every turn, such a one-on-one scene often appears on the battlefield, and the remaining soldiers are mainly responsible for shouting and cheering. So, what is the reason for this?
In fact, this kind of situation on the battlefield is far less frequent than that of TV dramas and performing arts works. As the supreme commander of the entire army, it can be said that he is shouldering the success or failure of the entire war, and it is almost impossible for the Chinese general to go out and single out. For example, Guan Yu, if Guan Yu is really just a general who obeys orders under the account, then it is possible to go out and single out. But when he is the conductor, the possibility of going out and going head-to-head is also very small.
It is not necessarily the Chinese generals who go out to pick a fight, such as Sun Wu Hanxin, but more likely it is a young general, or a role with a relatively high force value. The challenge is not necessarily a Chinese general, but a recognized role in the army with a high value of force.
Another aspect is the issue of morale. In the era of cold weapons, everyone's training level did not differ much, and the level of weapons was half a pound and eight or two, so morale became crucial. For example, in the famous Battle of the Long Spoon, Cao Jie relied on his control of morale to defeat the Qi army several times his own in one fell swoop.
If the general sent by the enemy can behead the enemy general, then it is undoubtedly a huge boost to the morale of the enemy, and it will also stimulate the confidence of the soldiers under his command. On the contrary, if your general is beheaded by the enemy, then your morale will drop violently.
For example, in the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, after Lü Bu killed several generals on the other side, not to mention the soldiers below, even the princes who were the supreme commander fell into a panic, feeling that the war situation suddenly became confusing, which was the morale affected.
When the enemy's morale drops, the casualties of the enemy's attack will be greatly reduced, which is very good for the ancient times without professional soldiers. Moreover, the enemy's morale is reduced, and we can capture more soldiers when we attack, and the population is also a very important resource for the ancient times when the population was short of troops and the shortage of soldiers!
In addition, this kind of head-to-head has the limitations of the times. In the era of cold weapons, everyone did not have any hidden weapons, and at most one cold arrow was fired, which could not cause too much damage to the generals with high martial arts. But later it was different, during the Ming Dynasty, it was possible to use cannons to accurately kill commanders who were not paying attention to the enemy
Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the Ming and Qing dynasties have not heard of the two generals going out to single out, Yuan Chonghuan angrily fighting Nurhaci and other things. I believe these generals also know that their proud armor cannot stop the musket cannons. Therefore, the form of single-handedness is actually very restrictive to the times.
For ancient warfare, in the final analysis, the purpose of war is to eliminate the enemy's living forces to the greatest extent possible and to transform the living forces on the other side into their own. Therefore, this form of single-handedness is bound to be popular in the era of cold weapons, and the courage of one person inspires his entire army. However, with the development of the times, war will inevitably develop towards larger scale and greater destruction, and this one-on-one form of single-handedness will inevitably die out in the development of war.