When one thinks of the Roman legions, one immediately thinks that this unit is very effective. However, few people know that a Roman legion once came to China and fought a battle with the Chinese army. So, what happened to this Roman legion?
Roman legions
The strength of Rome is inseparable from the powerful Roman legions. This force conquered the Mediterranean coast with its efficient adaptability and mobility. Why are the Roman legions so effective? Somewhat similar to Genghis Khan's Mongol Iron Horse, all the people are soldiers, and if they win the battle, they can gain a lot of wealth. If it fails, then it will be punished. Under this main strategic thinking, the Romans regarded war as a magic weapon to make a fortune, and they fought to fight and obtain wealth.
However, in the late Roman period, a Roman army came to China.
The Roman legion that came to China actually fought with the cavalry of the Parthian Empire, and after the defeat, it mistakenly entered China. The Parthian Empire was listed with Rome, the Han Dynasty, and the Kushan Empire as the four major powers in Asia and Europe at that time, of which the Parthian Empire was located on the Silk Road between the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty China, and became a commercial and trade center. As a result, the Parthian Empire was often at war with Rome.
This Roman legion of more than 1,000 people, facing the Parthian Imperial cavalry that was chasing behind, fled vigorously and entered the territory of Gansu, China. Song Guorong, a researcher in the county chronicle of Dongchang County, Gansu Province, once investigated this history, saying that this Roman legion began to find its own value after settling down, and later found that the Xiongnu who were fighting with the Han Dynasty at that time loved to fight, so they began a professional mercenary life and gave their lives to the Xiongnu at a low price. However, it is very unfortunate that the first battle was fought and was crushed by the Han Dynasty.
Turtle Array
The Hanshu Chen Tang Biography records this war.
The Roman legions were very good at tactics, very good at the turtle array. When they learned that the Han Dynasty army was very powerful, they decided to use the turtle array to deal with the Han army. Song Guorong said, "They held a huge shield that was one person high, and 1,000 people formed a square queue, and wrapped the team tightly and tightly with shields. Then shout slogans and walk forward at a unified pace. If the enemy is far away, throw the spear in his hand, and whether the stab stabs or not, let's take a deterrent. When the enemy is near, he will cross the spear and stab the enemy, and when he gets closer, he will throw away the spear and shield, pull out a short knife, and have a hand-to-hand combat. ”
Chen Tang's heavy cavalry was fast, seeing this slow-moving big turtle shouting trumpets, they surrounded it and attacked from all sides, a major flaw in the turtle array was that in addition to slow movement, more importantly, the soldiers in the middle of the turtle could not see outside, the line of sight was not good, and as a result, they were frightened by this, and their own people inside trampled on the ground first, and the turtle scattered on the spot, and only more than 100 people in the 1,000-man team were left to take prisoners of the Han Dynasty.
So where did the remaining 100 or so Roman legions go?
Cao Cao
The Han Dynasty gave preferential treatment to prisoners, placing 100 people in today's Zhaolai Village in Gansu Province and letting them go to farming. In order to give them national pride, their county was named 'Li', which is what the Han Dynasty called Rome. ”
Later, the last battle of these Roman legions appeared in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Ma Chao led the descendants of the Roman soldiers who were then renamed "Western Liang Soldiers" to fight against the scheming Cao Cao, this time, the Turtle Array was successful, defeating Cao Cao as soon as the battle was fought. This also allowed the Roman legions to be brilliant again in history.