In "History of Ming Dynasty: Biography of Kings", the historian described Zhu Chenhao with strong military strength: "Eighty thousand armored vehicles, six thousand leather chariots." with 80,000 armored vehicles is understandable, but why did the chariot, a military device that had long since stepped down as the protagonist on the battlefield, become one of the important criteria for measuring military strength in history books?
1. The war weapon from prosperity to decline
As early as the battlefield of the Xia Dynasty, chariots appeared. Before the Battle of Gansu, Xiahoushi said in the oath: "The left does not attack the left, you are disrespectful to your order... The defence is not the right horse, you are disrespectful to your order." here is talking about the right, left and the imperial hand on the chariot. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, chariots were used on the battlefield on a large scale, and when the Zhou people destroyed the Shang Dynasty, they used 300 military chariots. Judging from the cultural relics unearthed from chariots and horse pits in Zhangjiapo and Guoguo Tombs, the chariots from the Western Zhou Dynasty have been upgraded to four horses, which can provide stronger power for charges, and the carriages have also been expanded to facilitate soldiers to fight with long poles and weapons on the chariots.
Thanks to the performance of the chariots and the locations of the countries are mostly plains, the chariots reached their peak in the Spring and Autumn Period. In all major battles, the chariots served as the main force. : The Battle of Longshao , Qi and Lu fought together in chariots. The Battle of Chengpu , Jin State defeated Chu State with a chariot seven hundred rides. In that era, the number of chariots became an important factor in determining the outcome of a war, and it also became a symbol of a great power. As the saying goes, a country of thousands of chariots and a master of ten thousand chariots.
Zhao Wuling King After Hu's uniform cavalry and shooting, the cavalry, as an emerging force on the battlefield, seemed to have begun to erode the status of the chariots bit by bit. At the same time, during the Warring States Period increased its national strength, and the war mode also changed. Cheap legion infantry equipped with iron weapons could effectively kill the combat chariots with their terrain and the ability to shoot crossbows that were 600 steps away. Therefore, infantry is becoming more and more popular among all countries. Faced with the changes of the times, the chariot inevitably declined.
was already difficult to see in the Qin Dynasty. From the Qin army formation in the No. 1 pit of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, we can find that there are only more than 40 chariots in it, but there are more than 5,000 Infantry Terracotta Warriors and Horses, and we can see that in the Qin Dynasty infantry legion, the chariots only exist as auxiliary arms. The mixed square formation of Pit No. 2 consists of four arrays: chariot, cavalry, crossbow and step, which together constitute the purpose of ", if there is a lot of car, if there is a lot of danger, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow, if there is a lot of crossbow.
chariots unearthed from the Terracotta Warriors and Horses
When Emperor Wu of Han , cavalry and infantry became the main types of troops in the Han war. Six of the eight expeditions of the Huns used cavalry all, and the remaining two were mixed cavalry and infantry operations. Tanks are just tools used on the battlefield to quickly resist cavalry and transport personnel and supplies. Since then, it has been difficult to see chariots being used on a large scale in the mainstream battlefields of various dynasties.
2. The revival of the chariot in the Ming Dynasty
By the Ming Dynasty, northern China could be said to be "the border is not peaceful". The cavalry of ethnic minorities such as Mongolian and Jurchens plundered border people at the least, and the troops were hit by the gates at the worst. In the early stage, the Ming army was able to fight with him back and forth. But in the middle and late stages, the horse-producing areas such as Hetao were not only lost, but other horse farms also "the farms grow day by day and the grasslands are cut every day". The horses produced will only ride for dozens of miles and be exhausted. The Ming army, which did not have enough horses to equip cavalry, often had just assembled the army, and the other party had already achieved the goal and retreated calmly, thus falling into the dilemma of being passively beaten.
Changes in battlefield forms promote the innovation of war weapons. Faced with the disadvantages of the war, voices of civil and military ministers began to bring back the chariots to the battlefield. They believe that the chariot can be used as a camp wall, and the other hand, it can be used as an armor . The terrain of Ji and Chang in the north is dangerous and using chariots to arrange their formation can effectively block the impact of the cavalry. In order to adapt to different battlefields, the Ming Dynasty designed a variety of tanks of different sizes and personnel, mainly divided into offense and defense.
The tank in "Wu Beizhi"
The earliest defensive tank was created by Li Kan, a member of the Huke Academy, after the change of Tumubao in . He fixed the wooden boards of the civil mule cart with cowhide or horse skin, and each car was equipped with five swords, shields, and several muskets and . Although the car body is bulky, its defense is quite considerable. During the Zhengtong period, the Ming Dynasty learned from the deeds of the side vans used in the Western Jin Dynasty and began to improve the imitation, which later became the standard configuration of the van camps of all dynasties. The improved version of the side van is seven feet and five inches tall, with thin plates surrounding the carriage and shooting round holes left. Each car is equipped with ten people, six people are responsible for melee battles, and the remaining four are responsible for bronze cannons and and muskets. Such a large capacity allows the side van to achieve "if the momentum is available, the wall will be opened and the momentum may not be convenient, the wall will be held firm."
Ming army
offensive tanks are mostly lightweight. Hongzhi Fifteen years, the general manager of Shaanxi Military Affairs Secretary Qin Hong invented the Quansheng Car. The weight of the whole car is only two stones. When it encounters rugged terrain, three or four people can carry the car. The Quansheng Car is rickshaw , four gun trolleys, and two gunners are shooting in the car. The reason why they are equipped with so many gunmen is to disrupt the enemy's formation and "make the thieves and horses disturb each other" and create a favorable opportunity for the attack of other troops. Qin Hong used Quansheng Car on a large scale during the three years of guarding the northwest border, and finally saved the four towns Yanran.
Ming Army uses firearms
3. The performance of Ming chariots on the battlefield
The combat of pre-Qin period pays attention to formation. Whether it is the square vehicle array for offense or the circular array for defense , each chariot has its own position. In the use of the chariots in the Ming Dynasty, they pay more attention to making flexible changes according to the dynamics of the battlefield situation. When the military camp is not prepared enough, the tank can provide a barrier for the army. When Yu Qian is deploying Beijing city , he uses a chariot with antlers to resist the enemy cavalry. In some border areas, the terrain is rugged and it is difficult to build fortresses. Cultivating the chariots into rows can serve as a temporary city wall. When Chenghua , in order to attack Aluochu, Maolihai and other departments, he used 500 12-foot-long chariots to form a small city. A trench a depth of 100 trenches were dug outside the chariot array, and more than 15,000 soldiers could be accommodated in the formation. In actual combat, soldiers on the chariot will use long pole weapons to block it, which makes it difficult for enemy cavalry to ride over the chariot.
tanks are not just defending but not attacking, they can still exert their power when fighting in the field. In the fifteenth year of Jiajing, the Mongols sent more than 6,000 cavalrymen to invade Ningxia. After Wang Xiao, the general of Ningxia, reconnaissed the enemy's marching route, set up an ambush in a dangerous place in advance. When the enemy was unprepared, he suddenly dispatched a chariot to attack the enemy's formation and cut it into two sections. The Mongolian army collapsed everywhere in an instant. In the 26th year of Wanli, the Ming army entered North Korea to fight against the Japanese army. There are more than 400 chariots of Shenji Camp and in Shenshu Camp and in Shenshu Camp. On the second day of October of the same year, Liu Ting, the general of the West Route, used his chariot as his van during the war and used his impact to destroy the wooden fences of the Japanese camp. He used this method to capture more than 60 Japanese bases, kill countless people, and achieve great victory.
Wenshijun said
Qing people believed that the Ming people's chariot was just "empty words and wisdom" and "had never fought with them." The reason why the Ming army's chariots did not exert too much power cannot be blamed on themselves. On the one hand, chariot combat requires extremely high coordination among various types of troops, but in the late Ming Dynasty, the generals were better than combat and shorter than strategy, so not many were proficient in chariot combat and . In the Battle of Sarhu, the general juniper was trapped and only used cavalry to face the enemy. He ignored the importance of guns and cannons in the chariot camp and was eventually defeated and died. On the other hand, if you want to exert the power of a combat vehicle, you must have the guarantee of excellent firearms. In the late Ming Dynasty, there were serious shortages in the firearms and the quality was not up to standard. There were often gaps between the mother guns and the child guns of the manufactured Folang machine, which caused a lot of airflow generated by the combustion of gunpowder when fired, so it was difficult for the projectile to cause effective damage.In this case, no matter how well-made the chariot is, it can only become the enemy's mobile supply box.
References
Yang Yingjie: "On the Rise and Fall of Car War", Journal of Liaoning Normal University, 1983 No. 5.
Chen Gangjun: "On the Tanks and Vehicle Camp in the Ming Dynasty", 2007 Master thesis of Jiangxi Normal University.
(Author: Haoran Literature and History·White Yujing on the Sky)
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