In 1950, the Korean War broke out. In October, U.S. forces crossed the 38th Parallel, threatening the security of the Chinese mainland. China resolutely sent troops to Korea, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began. With the determination of the People's Liberation Army not to retreat, the Korean War was won three years later.
This victory has safeguarded peace in Asia and the world at large. It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time that China has helped North Korea fight against foreign invaders. In 1592, during the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Dynasty, such a thing happened once.
However, at that time, the United States was still the domain of Indians, and it was the Japanese who invaded Korea.
After the Japanese invasion of Korea, they were victorious and entered the capital Wangcheng in less than a month. Korea asked the Ming Dynasty for help, and the Ming Dynasty sent the general Li Rusong and a huge army of 40,000 to the Korean battlefield. Among them, the main force of 20,000 was the Li family army, the Liaodong Iron Horse. It took six years to drive the Japanese out of Korea.
The Liaodong Iron Horse has always been famous, but the Strength of the Japanese Army at that time was also strong, but there was no strongest Red Army on the scene. Looking at history today, there are always people who assume that if Takeda's Red Army had appeared in the Korean War at that time, there would have been no Liaodong Iron Horse, but is this really the case?
1. Takeda Akatsuki, one against ten
First of all, let's talk about the famous Takeda Akabi Army in the Japanese army. Akabei means red armor equipment, and during the Sengoku period in Japan, the coloring of this armor required the use of expensive Tatsumi sand, so the establishment of the Akabei Army was quite expensive.
Rows of troops in red armor stood there, and the bright red color alone had shocked the hearts of the enemy troops.
Before the Meiji Restoration in Japan, there were no cavalry units in the strict sense of the word. But the Red Army was an exception, it was a cavalry unit, but it was not large. It was founded by the Takeda family at the beginning, but in the process of historical development, it has gradually gained a certain scale through the hands of several generations of famous courtiers.
During the Sengoku period in Japan, the military was generally composed of peasants or some ordinary people, but the Akabi Army was different, each of which was a carefully selected samurai, really from a samurai family. With the noble martial spirit of the time, every Red Army was born for battle. On the battlefield, the Red Army can fight one enemy against two or even three enemies.
▲The anime image of the Red Army in modern Japanese manga
The Akabe Army did not appear to be dewy at first, and it was not until the Battle of Kawanakajima in Japan that it became a blockbuster. At that time, Kakizaki Keikyo led 8,000 elite troops to invade the Takeda family, and the Takeda family only used 800 red armor to meet the enemy, killing 8,000 elite soldiers.
Since then, the Akabi Army has continued to grow, and then to the Battle of Mikatahara, which was the first shogun of the Edo period in Japan, and one of the three masters of the Sengoku Period, Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Xiao Yong was as brave as a red army, and the strong enemy did not retreat half a step in front of him, but instead met the god and killed the god, and the Buddha killed the Buddha, so he killed all the way to the front of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu had never been killed by anyone else to the point of leaving no piece of armor behind, and suddenly carved the heroism of the Akabei Army into his heart.
After the war, Tokugawa Ieyasu returned home and invited the painter to paint a picture of his crushing defeat at the Akabi Army, hanging on his bed, always alert to what mistakes he had made. It was also the heroic and victorious appearance of the Akabei Army that impressed Tokugawa Ieyasu, so after the Takeda family was destroyed later, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not hesitate to incorporate the Akabei Army for his own use.
Second, the iron horse is heroic, and it has traveled all over the mountains and rivers
Although the Red Bei Army was heroic, the Liaodong Iron Horse was not an idle person.
The Liaodong Iron Horse was one of the three elite troops of Shandong Province at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and has always been on a par with the Guanning Iron Horse and the Dongjiang Denglai New Army. Leading this army was the liaodong general and the general Li Chengliang.
It was with the Liaodong Iron Horse that the Jurchen tribe of Jianzhou did not dare to commit a crime, and most of Nurhaci's fathers and ancestors died under the hooves of the Liaodong Iron Horse. The strength of the Liaodong Iron Horse should not be underestimated. In the Wanli Korean Campaign, the leader of the Liaodong Iron Horse was the famous general Li Rusong, and the Liaodong Iron Horse was also invincible and invincible in this battle.
At the beginning, the Liaodong Iron Horse was Li's family army, with about three thousand people, not many of them, but each of them was a general, and the quality was high and the combat effectiveness was also strong. Li Shi was particularly willing to spend money on equipment, and military discipline was very strict, and under heavy orders, warriors would come out.
Then there is the Li family, Li's style of leading soldiers is very heroic, and there is also a standard that many people cannot reach, that is, Li Shi is always his own commander, and the generals are charging in the front, where is the reason why the soldiers are not heroic?
The tactics of the Liaodong Iron Horse are also the reasons why this army can become famous. Li Chengliang summed up a set of effective tactics in the years of border wars.
The Liaodong Iron Horse is more inclined to the offensive army, and the "nest-making" tactics such as surprise attacks, sneak attacks, rush attacks, and even night battles are very impressive. Moreover, Li's generals did not adopt only one tactic, but on the contrary, they adapted to local conditions, used a variety of natural conditions, and adopted a variety of tactics in parallel, which often played unexpected results.
The Wanli Korean War cannot but be said to be the pinnacle of the Liaodong Iron Horse. The Development of the Liaodong Iron Horse reached its peak and could reach 20,000 soldiers. At that time, the Liaodong Iron Horse dispatched nearly 12,000 troops, plus 8,000 cavalry in Ningxia, a total of 20,000 people formed the main force of the Ming army to Korea.
It was this main force that killed all the famous generals of the Japanese Sengoku period. At that time, Japan dispatched a total of 150,000 troops, and was defeated in front of the Liaoning Iron Horse and the Ningxia Xuanbing, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi could only obediently surrender and cut off his desire to invade Korea. Since then, the prestige of the Liaodong Iron Horse has shook the whole of East Asia, and Japan no longer dares to easily commit crimes.
Third, the general's desire to win must not be vainly judged to be success or failure
If the Liaodong Iron Horse is against the Takeda Red Army, it is actually strong and which is weak, and it is very good to judge.
The first is to look at the war situation from the perspective of soldiers and horses. Because of the geographical location. Shandong Hanzi is tall and mighty, full of affection, and unequivocal in fighting. Looking at the Japanese, in fact, they are very bad in stature. In this regard, the soldiers of the Liaodong Iron Horse were far superior to takeda Akabei's troops in terms of bravery and physical fitness.
Then there are the war horses, most of the Japanese war horses are very thin, and at that time, the Liaodong Iron Horse satirized the Japanese war horses, like donkeys, and could not be on the table. On the other hand, the war horses ridden by the Liaodong Iron Horse, even if they are locally sourced, are all from Inner Mongolia, and the Li family is willing to spend money, and each war horse is comparable to a sweat and blood BMW.
At that time, the Red Army was not actually a cavalry in the strict sense, and was even ridiculed as a "samurai riding a horse". Because their way of fighting is not to kill the enemy on horseback, but to rush to the battlefield on horseback, get close to the enemy and then dismount and fight. Because their horses are more suitable for long journeys than for battlefield battles.
Moreover, compared with the number of soldiers of the two armies in its heyday, the Liaodong Iron Horse also defeated the Japanese Red Army.
After the fall of the Takeda family, Tokugawa Ieyasu took over the Akabe Army and trained them. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had selfish intentions and did not intend to give the land after the victory to others, so the Wanli Korean War did not bring Tokugawa Ieyasu down, and the Akabi Army did not have the opportunity to appear.
The bravery of the Red Bei Army is indelible, but compared to the Liaodong cavalry, there is still a certain distance. However, the battlefield is changing rapidly, and if the two armies really have a war, they still dare not make up their minds about what the war situation will be. In history, the battles in which the weak have won the strong are not absent.
Because both armies have one thing in common: never say defeat until the last moment of the battle!
Text/Lamb
References: Review and Summary of China's Research on the Battle of Wanli Korea in the Past Hundred Years, Sun Weiguo, Sun Zhongqi