<h1>The Great Song Dynasty, a relatively weak dynasty in Chinese history, but in the Great Song Dynasty, it had a kind of infantry armor that was known as the heaviest infantry armor in ancient China, which was the "infantry armor". </h1>
"Infantry armor", a unique heavy infantry armor of the Song Dynasty, is mentioned in the "General Outline of the Martial Classics": in the fourth year of Shaoxing (1134 AD), the infantry armor began to be popularized in the army, this armor was developed based on the Tang Infantry armor, the whole body was covered with scale armor, composed of 1825 pieces of armor, and its total weight could reach 30 kg. Protection can also be improved by increasing the number of nail blades, but the weight will also be improved. The emperor personally ordered that the armor should not be privately weighted, and stipulated that the infantry armor should be limited to 29.8 kilograms, and the weight should not be allowed to increase.
Thereafter, the weight of the armor of the lancers was set at 32-35 kg; since the weight of the armor of the archers was set at 28-33 kg; the weight of the armor of the crossbow shooter was set at 22-27 kg. Such heavy armor is very rare in Chinese history, can be regarded as the heaviest armor, and is considered to be the heaviest armor in the world.
In order to more effectively resist the needs of the nomadic armored cavalry, the Song Dynasty also produced a large number of heavy knives and blunt weapons. Especially in the early days of the Southern Song Dynasty, large knives, axes, and heavy hammers have become the standard equipment of armored heavy infantry.
The famous Song Dynasty generals Yue Fei and Han Shizhong led heavy infantry with iron armor, spears and crossbows as the main equipment, and repeatedly defeated the Jin Dynasty cavalry with dense lineups. In the tenth year of Emperor Gaozong's Shaoxing, the Song and Jin dynasties fought in the Battle of Haocheng, and Yue Fei swung the heavy infantry equipped with large knives, axes, and heavy hammers on two wings, effectively stopping the attack of the Jin armored cavalry.
At that time, it was the basic tactic to use a large knife to deal with the attack of armored cavalry, and when the opponent charged, he first used a large knife to cut the opponent's horse's leg. Then, when the cavalry fell, soldiers with large axes and heavy hammers could slash at their chests and heads. Infantry clad in infantry armor combined with the dense formation of crossbowmen became the nemesis of the cavalry.
Although it played a good protective role in terms of protection, the load of the heavy infantry of the Song Army was as fast as 30 kg, and if it was counted together with heavy weapons, the soldiers were completely overloaded, which affected mobility.
The emergence of heavy infantry in the Song Dynasty was due to the loss of the northern region, which caused a rapid reduction in horses, so it was impossible to equip cavalry in large quantities like the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, the Jin state that occupied the northern region had a large number of horses, so the cavalry of the Jin state had an absolute advantage in front of the Great Song, and the Great Song could not compete with it, so it was dominated by heavy infantry wearing infantry armor.
This strategic approach of the Song Dynasty did have a certain effect, and the troops composed of heavy infantry could effectively resist the attack of cavalry. However, there are also very big shortcomings, that is, a serious lack of mobility, and it is impossible to effectively pursue the enemy at the time of victory, and it is impossible to retreat in time when it fails, which can be clearly seen in several battles of Song Jin.