From the ghost fang of the Shang Dynasty to the Xiongnu of the Qin and Han Dynasties, to the Xianbei of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, as well as the Khitan of the Tang Dynasty and the Khitan of the Northern Song Dynasty, the northern nomads sang and sang and appeared, each occupying the plateau for hundreds of years, and after the rise of Genghis Khan, mongolia was able to dominate the plateau until the end of the Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that it is related to a small object, which is the horse's pedal.
Around the Time of the Western Han Dynasty, there were cloth horse pedals, and later there were a small number of iron horse pedals, but they were not popularized, so the wonderful scene of a large number of generals fighting against each other for 100 rounds on horseback in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" did not appear. At that time, the cavalry was more of a light cavalry, arriving on the battlefield on horseback and then dismounting to fight. The importance of cavalry is due to its great mobility, not its combat effectiveness. After several rounds of arrows, he turned over on his horse and turned to him. Or the cavalry is a reserve, and when they see that the situation there is critical, they will use it directly. Perhaps this is the origin of the Japanese character of chess "horse", which is not convenient to use in the early stage of the battle, "a single horse crossing the river will not die and will be injured", and in the later stages of the battle, the offensive or defensive effect is not small.
During the Two Song Dynasties, the handicraft industry was highly developed, and the horse pedal was used in large quantities, and the jurchen fishing and hunting people located in the northeast and the Mongolian people located in the Mongolian plateau could gain a foothold after the rise and successively enter the Central Plains. So much so that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the authorities still adhered to the tradition of "shooting and hunting".
