Looking back at Shihai
The legend of Genghis Khan has been sung in China for nearly a thousand years, and the Mongolian cavalry he created has also left an indelible page in the world military history. The establishment of Mongolian cavalry should be attributed to Temujin. It was he who built a multi-tribal country into an invincible military organization; It is because of his excellent organization and command ability that Mongolian tribal leaders respectfully call him Genghis Khan, which means extraordinary leader.
The territory of the yuan dynasty
/kloc-from the end of 0/2 century to the beginning of 0/3 century, Mongolian cavalry led by Genghis Khan galloped on the vast grassland in northern China, and their successors continued to grow and develop. This Mongolian cavalry got rid of the shackles of traditional European military thinking and established an unprecedented world empire. It was Genghis Khan who built a country divided into many tribes by jealousy and years of war into an invincible military organization. 12 1 1 year, after the unification of most parts of Mongolia, China began to be unified. Within five years, the Mongols quickly occupied North China and North Korea, and they wantonly burned and looted cities and villages. At this time, Genghis Khan found that cavalry alone could not capture the high-walled city, so he learned from Song craftsmen the making of siege machinery and the use of crossbows.
After years of fighting, Genghis Khan realized that it would take a long time to unify a vast area like China. At this time, he learned that there was unrest in Mongolia and had to leave a small amount of troops and return to Mongolia. Later, he led troops south, west and east, swept across Asia, destroyed a large number of towns, brutally slaughtered people who were worthless to Mongols and ravaged these areas. Then the Mongolian army set out from Persia and advanced to the northwest. After extensive reconnaissance, Subutai and General Yanbei led an army of about 20,000 people across the Caucasus into Russia, and sent scouts to survey the terrain. 1223, the Mongolian army defeated an army composed of Russians and Kumans on the banks of the calka River (the Man Ku people fled before the Mongols crossed the Caucasus), then met and defeated the Bulgarian army in the Kama River basin, and then turned east. According to a large amount of data collected in this expedition, after 15 years, the descendants of Genghis Khan made a detailed battle plan to conquer Europe.
Manguyi
1227, a generation of tianjiao Genghis Khan passed away with great ambition to unify Eurasia. Its descendants inherited his legacy. After Genghis Khan's third son, Wokuotai, succeeded to the throne, he vigorously reorganized the army and led the invincible fighters who once broke the Great Wall of Wan Li to continue to expand to Europe. 10 years after Genghis Khan's death, Wokuotai led the Mongolian Expeditionary Force to Europe, which set off a terrible Mongolian storm in the whole European continent and showed Europeans the strength of Mongolian soldiers.
The Best Horse Breed among Mongolian Horses —— Wuzhumuqinma
The reason why Mongolian cavalry will leave a glorious page in the world military history lies not only in the brave character of nomadic people, but also in their well-trained, disciplined, advanced equipment and flexible tactics.
Characteristic training
The selection of Mongolian cavalry is quite strict. These cavalry were selected from the best soldiers trained at that time. Since they were three or four years old, they have been sent to schools in the Gobi Desert for strict horse riding and archery training, so they have amazing skills in riding horses and using weapons. For example, they can turn around and shoot the enemy behind them when they retreat quickly. They can bear hardships, endure bad weather conditions, and don't covet comfort and food. They are physically strong, and they can keep healthy and meet the needs of fighting with little or no medical care. It is their bounden duty to obey orders at any time, and everyone can strictly abide by them. Discipline has formed a system, and other armies at the same time in the Middle Ages could not reach this level.
When it comes to the selection of Mongolian cavalry, we can't help but mention the war horse selected by Mongolian cavalry-Mongolian horse. Mongolian horse is one of the most famous horses in the world and enjoys a high reputation all over the world. Mongolian horses are not tall, but their endurance ranks first in the world. Horses used by cavalry also undergo extremely strict training. Unlike European horses, Mongolian horses live in the wild regardless of winter and heat, and have strong endurance. When necessary, they can walk for several days without food and grass, and even cross almost incredible distances on the most dangerous terrain in a relatively short time. For example, in 124 1 year, it took Subutai's advance troops only three days to cross the Carpathian Mountains from the ruska Pass and reach the vicinity of Glen in the Danube Valley, with a journey of 180 miles (1 mile is about 1. 1 km). The magical mobility of Mongolian cavalry is entirely due to their war horses. With these war horses, the Mongolian army does not need to tow a huge logistics supply trench fleet, nor does it need to keep a rear supply base. Because most war horses are mares, soldiers can live by drinking horse milk, thus reducing the burden of food supply for the army.
army
The basis of Mongolian army's combat victory is not quantity, but quality. Usually the Mongolian army is smaller than its main rival. The largest army formed by Genghis Khan was the one he used to conquer Persia, with only 240,000 troops. Later, the troops they used to conquer Russia and the whole eastern and central Europe never exceeded 1.5 million.
Equipment carried by Mongolian cavalry
Simple and single organizational system is the outstanding feature of Mongolian army. The standard Mongolian field force consists of three cavalry columns. Each column has 10000 cavalry, which is roughly equivalent to a modern cavalry division. Each cavalry column includes 10 cavalry companies, and each company has 100 people. Each cavalry company includes 10 classes, and each class has 10 people. All cavalry generally fight on horseback. Once the war horse fell, some soldiers had to stand behind it and shoot arrows under the cover of cavalry units.
Symbolic equipment
About 40% of Mongolian cavalry are heavy cavalry specialized in assault operations. They all wear armor, usually made of leather, or locked armor handed over by the enemy.
fur garment
They wore simple helmets that were usually used by soldiers in China and Byzantium at that time. Horses ridden by heavy cavalry are usually covered with a small amount of leather armor. The main weapon of heavy cavalry is pike, and each soldier also carries a short machete or mace, which is hung around his waist or put on a saddle. The remaining 60% Mongolian cavalry are light cavalry, and they don't wear armor except helmets. The task of light cavalry is reconnaissance, cover, provide fire support for heavy cavalry, destroy the residual enemy and follow up. Here are the armor, weapons and horse protective gear of Mongolian cavalry.
Armor (set)
Mongolian cavalry clothing has always been famous for its exquisiteness. Before Genghis Khan unified Mongolian ministries, he used shark skin armor and feather root armor. With the massive capture of iron and the skillful application of iron smelting technology, the armor of Mongolian cavalry is mainly made of copper and iron helmets, lined with cowhide. The iron sheets are connected in series, and the scales are layered after tightening, and the arrow prevention effect is quite good.
All kinds of iron
In Petersburg, Russia, there is the armor left by Mongolian cavalry during the Western Expedition. The inner layer is cowhide and the outer layer is real armor, and the armor pieces are connected like fish scales. Among the existing Yuan Dynasty reliefs of Juyongguan Yingtai, there are Luo Quanjia, fish scales and willow leaves.
The breastplate of Mongolian cavalry consists of four parts, one of which is made from thigh to neck according to the shape of human body; The other breastplate is connected with the front breastplate from the neck to the waist, and an iron plate is fixed on each shoulder. There is also a piece of armor on each arm, covering from shoulder to wrist, and each leg is covered with another piece of armor, all of which are connected by buckles. The upper part of the helmet is made of iron or steel, but the part that protects the neck and throat is leather, which is mainly convenient for activities.
Figures, Armor and Weapons of Warriors in Yuan Dynasty
The armor of Mongolian cavalry is also very particular about the production technology, such as willow armor. The Mongols first made several iron sheets one finger wide and one palm long, then drilled eight small holes in each iron sheet, placed three strong and narrow belts as the foundation, and tied these iron sheets to the three belts with thin leather thread passing through the small holes. Tie a leather rope at the upper end, and these iron sheets will be firmly connected. In this way, these iron sheets are used to make an iron bar, and then these iron bars are connected together to make various parts of armor. Mongols connected these parts to make armor to protect people and horses. The iron sheet is polished so brightly that people can usually see their own image on it. Liu's handiwork and meticulous attention are not light. Wearing this can be compared with the frontal protection of heavy cavalry in Europe at that time, and it doesn't have to wrap the whole body.
weapon
As for the excellent weapons and equipment of Mongolian cavalry, according to some historical documents and cultural relics unearthed in the Yuan Dynasty, there are mainly two or three bows, three huge quiver full of arrows, an axe and a rope for dragging weapons.
According to Dupuy, an American scholar, in his book The Evolution of Arms and War, there is such a description about the light cavalry: "The main weapon of the Mongolian light cavalry is the bow. This is a very big bow, at least 166 pounds (1 pound is about 0.45 kilograms), which is heavier than the long bow in Britain, and the shooting distance is 200 to 300 yards (1 yard is about 0.9 1 meter). They carry two kinds of arrows, one is lighter, and the arrow is small and sharp, which is used for long-range shooting; The other is heavier, with large and wide arrows, and is used in close combat. Like heavy cavalry, they also have a heavy machete or mace, or lasso, and sometimes they carry a javelin or a pike with a hook on their head. "
The new weapons used by Mongols in the Central Plains, such as stone carts and rockets, were originally used to defend the strong city defenses of Mongolian troops in the Central Plains dynasties. But the Mongolian army quickly attacked the tall Yugoslav capital with this equipment. Gunpowder and rocket weapons appeared in the era of cold weapons, and their power was naturally amazing. In addition, they also have a great psychological shock to the enemies they have never seen before. On the European battlefield, many times, before the Mongolian gunpowder weapons completely destroyed the city walls, the defenders would lose their fighting spirit and start to abandon the city and flee.
Horse protection device
All the horses that Mongolian cavalry ride have protective armor. The armor of Mongolian cavalry horses is generally composed of five parts, and there is an armor on each side of the horse to cover the horse's head; The other nail is placed on the horse's hip and tied with nail plates on both sides. There is a hole in this nail board so that the ponytail can protrude from the hole. Another piece of armor is on the horse's chest. They put an iron plate on the horse's forehead and tied it to the nail plates on both sides.
Combat mode
Through strict military training and discipline, the Mongols established an army mainly composed of bows and arrows and cavalry.
Mongolian cavalry combat map (painting)
The practice of war has proved that this is an invincible army. They deeply understand and make full use of the operational principles of surprise attack and flexibility, and at the same time adopt the means of outwitting calculation and ruthless psychological warfare.
The generals of Mongolian cavalry never follow the old rules in their combat methods. If the exact position of the enemy has been found, they will lead the main force to attack the enemy's back or flank. Sometimes they pretend to retreat and then charge again after replacing the new horse.
The combat formation of Mongolian cavalry consists of five horizontal teams, each of which is a single row, and the horizontal teams are far apart. The first two teams are heavy cavalry, and the other three teams are light cavalry. In front of these five horizontal teams, there are also some light cavalry units responsible for reconnaissance and cover. When the troops on the other side are getting closer, the three columns of light cavalry behind will push forward through the gap between the first two columns of heavy cavalry, and after careful aiming, they will project javelins and poisonous arrows with great destructive power to the enemy. Then, while still keeping the formation neat, the first two columns of heavy cavalry retreat first, and then the light cavalry retreat in turn. No matter how strong the enemy's front is, it will be shaken under such intensive and disorderly arrow attacks. Sometimes this kind of harassment can make the enemy break up, and there is no need to rush. If the column commander thinks that the preparatory attack has completely disintegrated the enemy, he will order the light cavalry to retreat. If the enemy is still not defeated, the heavy cavalry will start to charge. Use signals and pennants during the day and lights or firelights at night. In the battle, the cavalry company got close together. But if the troops in the middle have exchanged fire with the enemy, then the troops in the two wings will spread out to the flank and go around to the sides and back of the enemy. In this circuitous movement, the enemy is often confused by smoke and dust, or covered by hillsides and valleys. After the encirclement of the enemy was completed, all the troops attacked from all directions, causing great confusion of the enemy team and finally completely defeating the enemy. This encirclement movement is a common operational method of Mongolian army, and they are especially good at using strategies to implement this method.
Unlike other armies, Mongolians like to fight in winter, and the frozen swamp rivers greatly improve their mobility. In order to determine when the ice on the river can bear the weight of horses, they often drive with local people to check the ice for them. Hungary 124 1 At the end of the year, they left unattended cattle on the east bank of the Danube and watched the refugees they drove to the other side starve at the beginning of that year. When the Hungarians crossed the river and brought back the cattle, the Mongolian army decided to move on.
A romantic figure-Temujin
Yuan Taizu Temujin is the founding monarch of Mongolia, a famous military commander and an all-powerful and outstanding Mongolian hero. His achievements are of great significance to the integration of all ethnic groups in China and the current layout. The Mongolian Empire established by his descendants is the largest empire in the world.
Temujin portrait
Temujin, surnamed Bolzigit Banner, Mongolian. In the Yuan Dynasty, the temple was named Taizu. Temujin was born in a noble family in Mongolia. About 1 170, Temujin's father was poisoned by the Tatars, and his widow Yue Lun led Temujin and his brothers through a hard life for several years.
The difficulties and obstacles in his youth cultivated Temujin's perseverance and courage. After the death of the Mongolian leader Khan, most Mongolians were under the control of Jamukha, and Temujin took refuge in Jamukha and nomadic with him. Temujin won the hearts and minds of the people, recruited soldiers, and finally left Jamukha to set up his own Voludo (meaning Guards, also meaning Palace Account). /kloc-in the 1980s, Temujin was called Khan. Jamukha led Alan, Taiji Wu and other 13 units to attack, and Temujin was divided into 13-wing operations, but he lost because of insufficient troops, which was called the 13-wing battle in history. 1 196, Temujin and Tori Khan of Keliebu sent troops to help the gold, and defeated the Tatars in the Variza River (now Jihe River in eastern Mongolia). The State of Jin appointed Temujin Chawu Hulu (minister) and made Tory Khan king (Tory was called King Khan from now on). Temujin and Wang Han joined forces to attack Gunaiman's department and met Naiman's headquarters on their way back to Li. Seeing that the enemy was aggressive, Wang Han secretly retreated, leaving Temujin to fight Naiman. After Temujin found out, he quickly withdrew his troops and returned to his pasture Sarichuan (now west of the upper reaches of the Krulun River in Mongolia), but instead exposed Wang Han to the enemy. Wang Han was defeated. Because many Mongols were in Wang Khan's army, Temujin was afraid that they would be swallowed up by Naiman, which was bad for him, so he sent the black blind man, Muqali, Boroqul and Chi Laowen, known as the four great masters, to rescue Wang Khan and repel Naiman.
Temujin was good at using contradictions in tribal wars and gradually got rid of his vassal status to Wang Han. 120 1 ~ 1202, Temujin joined forces with Wang Han and won the war with Jamukha (Tatar, Naiman and other tribal alliances). Jamukha surrendered to Wang Han. 1202, Temujin destroyed the four towers and occupied the Hulunbeier Plateau, and its strength soared. 1203, Wang Han launched a surprise attack on Temujin, and Temujin retreated to the north of the Haraha River. Soon, Temujin took Wang Khan by surprise, captured Wang Khan's tooth account, and Kelie died. In the same year, Wang Jiabu also joined Temujin. 1204, Temujin wiped out the sun-sweating Urudo and became the biggest ruler of the Mongolian Plateau.
1206, Temujin held the hulitai meeting in the south source of the river (now the Enen River in Mongolia), that is, the Great Khan of Mongolia, named Genghis Khan. In the early days of Mongolia, Genghis Khan fenced and fixed Mongolian herders at 95 thousand households. There are 100 households and less than 1,000 households 10 households. Every household is a vassal of Genghis Khan, and every herdsman can't leave the organization at will. Genghis Khan gave part of thousands of families to his brothers and younger generations as leaders, forming the right-hand man king. Muqali and Bolshevi are the two biggest officers. Expand the Xue-fearing guard to 10000, and recruit thousands, hundreds and ten children as Xue-fearing guards, thus controlling the whole country. Shezaru Hu Chi is responsible for administrative and judicial affairs such as household registration and litigation. Khan of Genghis Khan is a nomadic military feudal state machine developed by the traditional grassland aristocrat Frodo. After the establishment of Mongolia, a large number of primitive tribal populations were divided into different thousand households, and the boundaries of many tribes disappeared, and a Mongolian nation with the same * * * began to form. Genghis Khan played a positive historical role in this respect. Neighboring parts, such as Jilikis, Uighur and Halalu, belonged to Genghis Khan in 1207, 1209 and121year respectively.
The flourishing Mongolian aristocrats are eager to have a lot of wealth. Genghis Khan invaded Xixia three times on 1205, 1207 and 1209. Xixia had no choice but to send beautiful women to please. 12 1 1 year, Genghis Khan led his army south to attack gold. 12 15 years, the Mongols occupied Zhongdu and wiped out the defenders of the state of Jin in western Liaoning; 12 18 years, eliminating western Liaoning. 12 19, Genghis Khan led 200,000 troops to the west and launched a war of aggression against Huatuo Mozi. He invaded in several ways, divided and surrounded strategic towns and conquered them one by one. He used cruel means such as mass killing, leveling the city, and letting the prisoners take the lead to shock the enemy and relieve his worries. The initiative on the battlefield is entirely on Mongolia's side. 12 19, Mongolian troops besieged Hottelart city and conquered it the following year. 1220, Genghis Khan captured Boila, samar Gan (now Samarkand, Uzbekistan) and other cities. Genghis Khan's third sons Shu Chi, Wokuotai and Chagatai led the troops to conquer Yulong Jiechi (now urgench, Turkmenistan), and Genghis Khan's fourth son led the troops into Khorasan. Zhe Bie and Subutai were ordered by Genghis Khan to pursue Mahamo, the ruler of Hualamozi who fled to an island in the Caspian Sea and died of illness. Zhe Bie and Subutai led the troops to invade westward as far as Crimea. 122 1 year, Tuo Lei occupied all the territory of Khorasan. Genghis Khan chased Zalandin to the Indus River. 1223, Genghis Khan's expedition to the west carried out a massacre and great destruction rarely seen in history, which brought great disasters to all ethnic groups in Central Asia. 1226, Genghis Khan went to Xixia, and Xixia died the following year. 1July 227, Genghis Khan died of illness.
Portrait of Yuan Taizong Wokuotai, son of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan left his four sons a will before he died: he appointed his resourceful and brilliant third son, Wokuotai, as the successor of Khan, and the other sons, Qi Xin, made great achievements together.
Genghis Khan unified Mongolian ministries and played a progressive role in history. Attacking gold and destroying summer laid the foundation for the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty. He has outstanding military ability, strategically attaches importance to joint attack from far to near, and tries to avoid making too many enemies. Using soldiers pays attention to the tactics of carefully exploring the enemy's situation, dividing and encircling, long-range surprise attack, feint to lure the enemy, and destroying the enemy in the movement. History says, "deep and thick, using soldiers like gods." On the other hand, Genghis Khan's battle was ruthless, killing residents on a large scale and destroying the town of Tian She, which was extremely destructive.
A classic example-the fall of Hungary
At the beginning of A.D. 124 1, Mongolian troops entered the hinterland of Europe. Poland was the first to know the pain of iron hooves. Bader, the grandson of Genghis Khan, led 30,000 troops under Chagatai to attack Poland in order to destroy Hungarian foreign aid.
Mongolian cavalry combat map
At this time, Poland, Polish King Polislav V lived in Krakow, the capital, and could only govern the land directly under it. The other four small principalities are fragmented and cannot be unified in command.
Arriving at the gates of Poland, Henry, Archduke of Silesia, assembled 30,000 Polish troops and Teutonic knights from Germany, France and the Czech Republic to prepare for the Mongolian army. Teutonic knights born in the Crusader era, their soldiers wore armor and held spears. They are invulnerable and fearless. Commander Meng couldn't attack in time, so he decided to play tricks to win. The Mongols pretended that they couldn't stand the Chengtou offensive and withdrew their troops and fled. Seeing that it was now or never, the allies rushed out of the city to pursue and came to a mountain forest, filled with smoke. Of course, this is Meng Jun's fire attack plan. The heavy armored soldiers became a burden, the armored soldiers were helpless, the whole army was wiped out, and Henry himself was killed. After the Mongolian army won, it immediately advanced to Hungary.
This time, I don't know the depth of the battle in Europe, so that European knights have a great fear of Mongolian cavalry. Some ordinary people don't even know who the Mongols are. Seeing that Mongolian generals are all leaping with swords, they are magnificent and extraordinary, and thought they were heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals. Therefore, the so-called "whip of God" appeared in Europe, which was used for Mongolia's western expedition. They think that God sent magic soldiers to punish them because their country was corrupt and sinful. Some people even think that the Mongolian army is the devil's teacher, so the soldiers of the European army even go to war with crosses.
From April 2 to 5, A.D. 124 1, the three armies of Mongolia assembled opposite Perth. Four. Bella, the Hungarian king of Perth, hastily assembled his army. On April 7, the Mongolian army began to attack the city, which was extremely tragic. Mongolian military attacked the city with rockets stained with gunpowder, and Chengtou did not want to be outdone, but also flew arrows. The Mongols retreated slowly until the Shaoyo and Tisza rivers joined. Subutai won his most brilliant victory there on April 1 1. Subutai led an army to cross the river between Gillis and Najtex on the night of April 1 1. The next morning, he sent his two flanking troops to outflank the enemy camp, suddenly surrounded the Hungarian army, attacked from all sides, and then made way from the west, so that the Hungarian army trampled on each other in the escape, and the Mongolian cavalry quickly pursued behind. As a result, many archbishops were killed and only a few soldiers returned to Perth. Four. Bella fled to Austria and then to an island in the Adriatic Sea. The Mongols turned to attack Pace City, and the local residents stubbornly resisted. Because there was no organization, after three days of hard work, Pace City fell.
Historical evaluation
Although numerous wars launched by Mongolia are invincible, they have killed and injured a large number of soldiers and civilians, and have had a great and long-term and far-reaching impact on the social and economic life of the attacked countries. What is even more regrettable is that the European army, which has been unable to resist the Mongolian aggression for a long time, not only never learned how to deal with the Mongolian army, but also never learned how to improve its combat effectiveness. The bravery of Mongolian cavalry is all the rage in history, but it has no positive effect on the overall improvement of the world military level, which cannot be said to be a regret of the empire.
However, as close neighbors, Russians have gained some enlightenment from the theory and tactics of Mongolian cavalry operations. Hugh Cole, a famous military historian, said: "In the Carpathian Battle of 19 14, the tactics adopted by the Russian light cavalry were modeled after those of the Mongolian army."
The shock brought by Mongolian fighters to the whole of Europe has made Europeans unforgettable for a long time and still lingers. Nowadays, more and more European experts and scholars begin to study Mongolian culture and meta-culture. No matter what their pursuit and purpose are, it can at least show that the influence of the Yuan Empire on all aspects of Europe at that time was enormous and far-reaching.