Throughout ancient and modern history, there have always been some legendary mysterious organizations throughout the dynasties. Generally speaking, the people in this type of organization either have extraordinary skills or great power. For example, the JinyiWei, East Factory and West Factory of the Ming Dynasty; the bad people and shou catchers of the Tang Dynasty; and the Imperial City Division of the Song Dynasty.
Yanyun Eighteen Ride
However, the "Yanyun Eighteen Horses" that Xiaobian wants to talk to you about today is obviously different from the organizations mentioned earlier. Because the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" is a strange army subordinate to the border army, and the aforementioned "Jinyi Guards" and "Bad People" are subordinate to the secret service agencies that directly serve the imperial power. Although the functions of these two institutions are different, they are far from each other in terms of actual combat capabilities (after all, there is still a certain gap between the personnel of the army and the secret service in terms of actual combat).
I believe that everyone has seen the power of the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" in the "Biography of Sui and Tang Heroes", they are a mysterious army under Luo Yi. It is said that there are only 18 people in the unit, each of whom is covered in black scarves, masks, uniform black and black trench coats, and wearing Hu-style boots on their feet. Even their weapons were identical machetes. In addition, there are sharp daggers hidden in the boots, and a large bow (equipped with 18 bows and arrows) is often carried on the back.
Turkic armies
Since the "Yanyun Eighteen Horses" are generally only active in the desert, basically not many people have seen their true faces. Moreover, every time they appeared, they were basically fighting the frontier barbarians. It is said that during the Sui Dynasty, when Luo Yi was still sitting in the northern frontier area, the Turkic soldiers and horses once invaded the northern territory of the Sui Dynasty. At that time, Luo Yi personally attacked the Turkic army with the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" at night.
Luo Yi stills
Unexpectedly, the "Yanyun EighteenTh Horse" killed 3,000 enemies in one night with only 18 troops, and it also retreated at the cost of zero casualties. The Turkic army was defeated and hurriedly withdrew, but on the way to retreat, Luo Yi still sent the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" as the vanguard to pursue, and he led thousands of cavalry to follow. This pursuit went all the way to the Turks' garrison, and eventually slaughtered tens of thousands of people in the garrison.
Since then, the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" have become like devils in the hearts of the Turks, becoming a killer force that makes the enemy troops on the border fear like tigers. Of course, this is just the story depicted in the TV series and the novel. So in the history of the Sui Dynasty, was there a team of "Yanyun Eighteen Horses"?
In fact, "Yanyun Eighteen Horses" is just a version of the series and novels, which is actually not difficult to determine. Because the degree of exaggeration of the unit's record is really surprising. In addition, from some details of the "Yanyun Eighteen Riding", some clues can also be seen.
First, the choice of clothing is unreasonable. As we all know, the sunshine in the desert is extremely strong. Therefore, if the "Yanyun Eighteen Riders" are active in the desert all year round and wear black clothes and cloaks, they will inevitably aggravate their own temperature burden because of the clothing on their bodies. In addition, the long cape will also cause the war horse to be nervous, which is very unfavorable to cavalry combat.
machete
Second, the choice of weapons is unreasonable. Generally speaking, most of the weapons of cavalry are mainly long weapons such as guns, spears, and hammers, so as to achieve the effect of killing the enemy at a long distance. The machetes and daggers worn by the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" were shorter blades. In addition, the ancient arrows were basically based on the standard of 30 sticks and a pot. If, like the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun", each person wore only 18 arrows on the battlefield, it would certainly not be enough.
Third, the record is unreasonable. You must know that in the era of cold weapons, it is not easy to kill the enemy in front of the battle. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, there was a clear reward, and anyone who killed an enemy army on the border would receive 40 taels of silver. It can be seen from this that the "Eighteen Horses of Yanyun" only relied on the record of 18 people killing 3,000 enemy troops and zero casualties, and indeed there were some exaggerated elements.