In the history of our country, almost every dynasty has been suffering from the invasion of barbarians in the north, Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall to resist the Hu people, and in the subsequent history, there were also events such as the Wuhu Chaohua, the Mongol invasion, the Manchu Qing Customs, etc. These ethnic groups that are not as good as the Central Plains in terms of economy, politics and civilization have been able to enter the Central Plains in large part because they rely on a powerful branch of their army- cavalry.
Because the northern peoples are nomadic peoples and live on horseback all year round, the northern cavalry has always been very powerful. In order to deal with these threats, the Central Plains Dynasty also attached great importance to the development of cavalry, so in China's ancient history, almost every dynasty had a stage for cavalry. But among so many cavalry, there are not many cavalry units that can be called elite.
Han Dynasty - Youzhou Iron Horse
Although Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, to a certain extent, he was able to resist the attack of the Xiongnu, but the Qin Dynasty built a large number of civil engineering, resulting in a large number of people dying under the fortifications, coupled with the later peasant revolt, the Central Plains became more empty, so during the Han Dynasty, the threat of the Xiongnu was already very large, so Emperor Wu of Han let Wei Qing and Huo go to the sick to go to the conquest.
Therefore, Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi each led 50,000 elite cavalry into the Western Regions, and after rapidly breaking into the enemy army at a speed of more than three hundred miles a day, under the flexible tactics, sophisticated equipment and powerful force, Wei Qing and Huo Qiyi were like wolves entering the flock in the Western Regions, killing the enemy troops and abandoning their armor, making the Han Dynasty Iron Horse famous in the world.
The tradition of training cavalry continued in this way, and in the period of the Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, a Youzhou iron horse appeared. Youzhou Iron Horse was a series of victories on the chaotic battlefield at that time, and the momentum was like a bamboo, and it once destroyed tens of thousands of enemy troops with 4,000 soldiers and horses, clearing the obstacles for Liu Xiu to be called emperor, and the name of Youzhou Iron Horse was also left in history.
Cao Wei - Tiger and Leopard Riding
The Three Kingdoms period was another chaotic era after the Spring and Autumn Warring States, countless forces arose in the land of China, and under the conquest of successive years, the Central Plains became a "meat grinder". And the one who plays the blade in this meat grinder is the tiger and leopard of the Cao Wei camp.
As the most elite unit under Cao Cao, the tiger and leopard riding was too strong, in order to prevent the tiger and leopard from becoming the sword of others, only the Cao family could always be the leader. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, "The tigers and leopards who are purely supervised are all sharp in the world, or they will be supplemented by a hundred people." "That is to say, these soldiers are really one of the hundred, very powerful."
The record of the tiger and leopard riding is also quite prominent, during the northern conquest of Wuhuan, Cao Cao's tiger and leopard riding directly faced the northern Hu cavalry and won a complete victory. Later, in the Battle of Changshanpo, Liu Bei also lost to the tiger and leopard. The Ma Chao troops, which are famous for their "Western Liang Iron Horse", were also defeated by the Tiger and Leopard Horse, which shows the combat strength of the Tiger and Panther Horse.
Tang Dynasty – Xuanjia cavalry
The strength of the Tang Dynasty is manifested in economy, culture and society, and the strong foundation of the Tang Dynasty is the Xuanjia cavalry directly under Li Shimin. The so-called "Xuan Armor" is a light but very tough black armor, which is equipped on both people and horses, and the Xuan Armor cavalry is known for its tactical flexibility and strong spurs.
The Zizhi Tongjian records that the Xuanjia cavalry is almost invincible, and Li Shimin, as the King of Qin, also wears his own armor to fight, which makes the Xuanjia cavalry have a period that other cavalry and troops cannot have. When Li Shimin attacked Wang Shichong, he took this thousand or so Xuanjia cavalry rampage and destroyed the decay, and although Wang Shichong's army was tens of thousands, he had almost no strength to resist, and finally could only escape.
It is precisely because Li Shimin has Xuan armor cavalry, so Li Yuan will be very jealous of him. And it was precisely because of the Support of the Xuanjia Cavalry that at that time, whether it was the Tubo or the Uighurs or any other nationality, they did not dare to offend the Tang Dynasty army at all, which was one of the reasons why the Tang Dynasty was able to achieve the achievement of "all nations coming to the Dynasty".
Northern Song Dynasty - Jing Sai Army
The Jingsai Army was created by Song Taizong himself, and the horses and soldiers selected were selected from the best. At that time, the Khitan cavalry was already very powerful, and after Yelü Dashi was defeated and fled to the western region, he once relied on the Khitan cavalry to sweep through the Middle East, but the Jingsai army could defeat the Khitan cavalry, which showed the strength of the Jingsai army at that time.
The establishment of the Jingsai Army is 3,000 people, each of them has 5 good horses, people and horses are wearing extremely heavy armor, once the entire army begins to collide, it is almost like a "biological tank" started, the combat effectiveness is very amazing, even the most powerful cavalry in the Liao Country- the Tielin Army is not an opponent of the Jingsai Army.
Song Dynasty - Back Ridge Army
We all know the fame of the Yue family army very well. All the Yue family armies were personally trained and commanded by Yue Fei, and they defeated the Jin Dynasty's armies countless times, making the Jin Dynasty general Jin Wushu suffer. The most elite of the Yue family's army is the cavalry that is selected from one hundred miles in the Yue family army- the back ridge army.
At that time, the Yue family army had a total of more than 100,000 troops, but the number of cavalry in the back ridge army was only 8,000, so each back ridge army cavalry was carefully selected. In addition, the tactics of the Back Ridge Army are also very flexible, the entire cavalry is divided into 12 armies, different types of troops have different uses, and under different combinations can play different tactical effects, and this is the reason why Yue Fei can still win more and lose less when facing the Jin Dynasty Iron Horse.
Yuan Dynasty - Mongolian Iron Horse
Needless to say, as the final winner at that time, the Mongol Iron Horse and the Song Dynasty army were defeated successively, and the combat strength of the Mongol cavalry was obvious to all. With the blessing of the Mongol Iron Horse, Kublai Khan was able to conquer the East and the West, conquer the Central Plains, sweep through Central Asia, and hit the European front door all the way.
If it were not for a heavy rain at that time, Europe was muddy and unsuitable for cavalry attacks, and there was a rebellion in the east, with the strength of Europe at that time, it was impossible to resist the Mongol iron horse of the Yuan Dynasty, and Europe would have joined the territory of the Yuan Dynasty. This is also the origin of the name of the "Yellow Peril" in the West, the horror of the Mongolian Iron Horse, has been deeply buried in the bones of Western culture, and there is still a PTSD originating from this today.
epilogue
In addition, there are actually some relatively powerful cavalry, such as the Ming Dynasty Guanning Iron Horse and the Manchu Qing Iron Horse are also very famous. However, compared with the above 6 cavalry, the Guanning Iron Horse and the Manchu Qing Iron Horse declined too quickly, especially the Manchu Qing Iron Horse, which was delayed after the founding of the Qing Dynasty, and the combat effectiveness of the cavalry soon declined.