In the modern era of hot weapons, in order to prevent soldiers from being injured, body armor is generally used. In ancient times, technology was limited, and body armor was impossible, but in order to prevent heavy casualties, they still paid more attention to the protection of soldiers. Under this demand, armor was invented. However, although the protective effect of armor is strong, because it is made of iron sheet, the weight is also very scary.
When it comes to armor weight, you have to mention the Song Dynasty. Among the protective armors of the previous dynasties, the Song Dynasty's protective armor can be said to be the heaviest compared to other dynasties. If converted into the current unit of measurement, The general weight can reach 69.6 kg. In the Song Dynasty, it was infantrymen who wore this extremely heavy armor, so this type of armor is also called infantry armor.
The birth of the stepped soldier
For the Song Dynasty, without the Yanyun Sixteen States, it not only lost a natural barrier, but also lost a number of natural horse farms that existed before the north, which resulted in the Song Dynasty not being there at all. Enough raw materials are used to produce horses to form cavalry. Within the Song Dynasty, whether it was the Northern Song or Southern Song Dynasty, due to the development of the commodity economy, the scale of the city was gradually expanding, and the land was in short supply (mostly used to grow food and cash crops). It was obviously unrealistic to develop pastures to raise horses, and the cost was also It is immeasurable, so the path of large-scale development of cavalry is blocked.
However, we should be clear that it was quite difficult to have no cavalry in the context of the time, because in the Song Dynasty, it was the northern nomads-Liao and Jin, which developed to their heyday, and their cavalry has been a headache for the Song army. Endless.
It is obviously impossible for Song to use cavalry to fight against cavalry, but he has to find a way to fight against cavalry, and if Song wants to work hard, he can only improve his infantry, so infantry is a new generation of infantry armor. Was born. In fact, the first step was in the Tang Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was an improvement on the Tang Dynasty.
characteristics of infantry armor soldiers
infantrymen wearing infantry armor, they are covered with a layer of heavy armor made of iron sheets, this armor is made of thousands of pieces of spliced or sewn, if you want to divide The big category should belong to Zhajia. As mentioned above, is quite heavy, and weight is actually its most essential feature-the first 69.6 kg is actually just a normal configuration. If you encounter more elite troops, especially cavalry The army will continue to increase the number of armor pieces.
The core of the armor is made of iron sheets. Because of the strong sealing properties of iron, many people think that such armors will definitely be quite airtight. In fact, it is not. We mentioned earlier that because it is spliced, its breathability is still relatively good.
This may also be the adjustment made in the Song Dynasty, especially the Southern Song Dynasty, in the environment at that time. The main battlefield was in the Central Plains. Due to the influence of the temperate monsoon and subtropical monsoon climate, the temperature here is generally higher in summer, and In a hot climate, if the air permeability is not good, it may cause the soldiers to heatstroke and bring great disadvantages to the combat situation. Therefore, the weather conditions should be taken into consideration when designing. In addition to
, due to the difference in infantry classification, the infantry armor is not exactly the same, and this difference is mainly reflected in the weight- is roughly the more melee infantry, the thicker the armor. Let me give you an example. Since the archer is a long-range output, and the pikemen are fighting at close range, the armor of the archer is relatively light.
The advantage of the stepped armored soldier
because of its heavy characteristics, so its advantages are obvious, that is, the defense is very strong. Even if you are at a distance, you are not afraid of the cavalry's long-distance shooting, because the bow and arrow cannot completely penetrate their armor, so it will not cause any fatal damage to them.
and even close-range attacks are very difficult for them, because almost all the deadly parts of their bodies are tightly protected. The actual situation is indeed the case. After using the stepper, the casualty rate of the Song Army has been greatly reduced.
has been able to better protectProtect yourself, if you optimize your arms and selectively match some suitable weapons, and if the generals can change the formation properly, you can cause quite sufficient damage to the enemy. Because of the reduction in army casualties and the strong defense, the soldiers' self-confidence and fighting spirit will inevitably increase. Under the impact of every soldier who is not afraid of death, the probability of winning this battle is greatly increased. The best thing that
uses for the Infantry Infantry is the Southern Song Dynasty star Yue Fei, because he has a very strong control over the battle situation. Whether it is the weapon configuration or the military formation, he uses it quite cleverly. Facing the massive attack of the Jin army at that time, he adjusted his measures to local conditions and targeted his opponents at the time. With the help of the strong and rigid ability of the infantry, he organized a dense army to attack the Jin army and defeated the Jin army.
Disadvantages of the first step
But nothing is perfect, there are advantages and there are disadvantages, and the same is true for the first step. Although the infantry has a relatively strong load-bearing capacity, if they have been carrying such a heavy armor during the long march, plus some other necessary items, the infantry's physical strength will definitely exceed the load limit of the human body, which becomes a big problem. Without physical strength, there will be no combat effectiveness, which causes a big killer to become a burden. Therefore, infantry wearing infantry armor is not suitable for long-distance combat. Use it for short-distance combat or defensive combat.
In fact, this is also the Song generation, why sometimes they can often win, but they can’t take advantage of the victory to pursue the victory and expand the victory. After all, the wear is too heavy. If you pursue it, it will definitely consume too much, not only can’t catch up. , It may also cause you to gradually become a disadvantaged party in pursuit, and the gains outweigh the losses.
There is a very realistic reason for the stepping armor itself, and it is easily prohibitive-that is, the production cost is too high. In fact, this is understandable. After all, so many nails will naturally require more raw materials. And this over time has also become a drawback of the development of Infantry. In the Song Dynasty, the emperor relied on mutiny to make his fortune, and he was particularly afraid of generals. After all, the use of a cup of wine to release military power was a temporary solution but not the root cause. Therefore, a rule that emphasized culture and military affairs was established. This rule was still deeply rooted in the later Southern Song Dynasty. In the case of Qingwu, it is obviously unrealistic to invest too much cost in army building, so the stepper is not very popular.
In addition, weight will also affect the mobility of infantry, and lack of mobility is easy to be caught and become a breakthrough in restraining infantry. The reality is indeed the case. After suffering many losses, the nomads slowly found a way to solve the problem. For example, when facing Mongolia later, the more experienced Mongolian nomad cavalry used its mobility flexibly. Using a roundabout way to bypass the heavy infantry armour, drive straight into the rear camp, or attack the flanks, in short, try not to confront it head-on, and sure enough, this kind of extremely powerful infantry armour completely loses its effect.
Summary
Seeing the infantry infantry in the Song Dynasty, it is actually easy to remind us of the invincible Macedonian phalanx, because both advantages and disadvantages are indeed very similar, and it is true. However, there is still a big difference between them. The Macedonian phalanx was used for frontal attack, while Song was mainly used for defense.
Song This is also considered flexible use, cleverly avoid its disadvantages. After all, the weight lies here-making its active offensive ability too weak, but its defensive power is still very strong. This is also the Southern Song Dynasty’s repeated deflation in foreign wars, but during the Great Patriotic War, it was able to resist the powerful Mongolian cavalry many times. One of the reasons. However, this still has inevitable flaws after all. In the face of Mongolia's adjusted tactics, the Southern Song Dynasty was finally rigid and did not advance with the times. After being targeted by the Mongolian cavalry, it still did not escape the bad luck of subjugation.
