The generals of the Tang Army were lucky enough not to have experienced this kind of thing. This was not because they were lucky or awesome, but because they knew they could never put themselves in such a situation.
This kind of luck is not given by God, but earned by them!
Because unless accompanied by a considerable number of cavalry, they will never send infantry and artillery alone into the grasslands!
That's not fighting, that's suicide!
Judging from thousands of years of history, if you want to fight cavalry, there is only one best weapon, and that is a tank!
Secondly, the infantry are equipped with rapid-fire weapons such as heavy machine guns!
The emergence of these two weapons is the stage that completely makes the cavalry withdraw from the war as a branch of arms!
Even with tanks and machine guns, cavalry still plays an important role in certain situations. In the Eastern European battlefields during the interwar period, regardless of whether it was the Russian Civil War or the war between the Soviet Union and Poland, the cavalry played a vital role.
effect.
During World War II, although organized cavalry charges were rarely seen, rapid maneuvers on horseback could still be seen frequently and were of great use.
Speaking of military horses alone, the role is even greater. During World War II, a large number of armies used horses and other livestock to transport logistics. A large number of armies with insufficient mechanization, such as the German army, the Soviet army, and the Japanese army, all used mules.
Horses serve as the main force in logistics and transportation. This is a typical mule-horse army!
After World War II, the Chinese army also maintained the mules and horses for a long time. Horses, mules and other livestock were used to undertake the main logistics transportation, and trucks were used for motorization and even mechanization. That was many years later.
As a combat unit, the life of the cavalry in China lasted until the 1980s. As a transportation force, horses are still active on the battlefield until the 21st century. Even those who can defeat aliens
The American soldiers who are struggling all over the place still use mules and horses to transport logistical supplies when fighting in mountainous areas.
This shows the tenacity of the cavalry and the importance of horses to war.
For a military unit that could still play a huge role even during World War II, in the 16th century, even if the Tang Army was equipped with guns and the most advanced flintlocks and howitzers, it still wanted to
It is almost impossible for infantry and artillery alone to fight against cavalry.
In this era, the best way to fight against the enemy's cavalry is to have a powerful cavalry yourself!
Use cavalry against cavalry, this is the kingly way!
Now, and even for hundreds of years to come, until tanks mature, they are the only best choice!
Looking back on the past thousands of years, the Central Plains Dynasty had an advantage when fighting against the north. That was when the Central Plains Dynasty had a large number of cavalry with powerful combat capabilities!
This was true in the Han, Tang and early Ming dynasties. The arm they used to defeat the northern nomads was never infantry, but cavalry!
The cavalry in the early Ming Dynasty had incredible combat effectiveness. They took the initiative to go north to launch wars many times, and the battles made the Beiyuan cavalry wail incessantly!
When the Ming Dynasty's cavalry was exhausted, the war with the northern grasslands switched between offense and defense and became the Ming Dynasty's defense, with the Oaras and Tatars going south to invade from time to time.
When it came to the Tang Dynasty, although the infantry and artillery of the Tang Dynasty Army were extremely powerful and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they are now the best in the world, there was no way to defeat the Tatar cavalry on the opposite side.
Because they won’t confront you head-on at all!
This is why the Tang Army has been trying its best to develop cavalry over the years, even selling guns and cannons in order to purchase war horses!
Without cavalry, there is no way to go deep into the grasslands to fight. No matter how powerful the guns are, they are just decorations.
But on the contrary, after serving as a cavalryman, you can not only take advantage of the cavalry itself, but also further utilize the power of guns and artillery.
Well, cavalry can also be equipped with muskets!
Infantry artillery can also become cavalry artillery!
The cavalry is equipped with long flintlock lances, which can be used as mounted infantry, and equipped with short-handled pistols, which can be used as pistol cavalry.
The combination of guns and cavalry will further improve the combat effectiveness of the Tang Army!
Therefore, in recent years, the military has gritted its teeth and reluctantly sold many matchlock guns to the Tatars, Oaras, and Tubo people. It is not that they do not know that after these matchlock guns are in their hands, they will bring huge consequences to themselves in the future.
It's troublesome, but there's nothing we can do about it.
If you don’t sell muskets, they won’t sell war horses either!
You want war horses, and there are a lot of high-quality war horses. If you don’t pay enough, the Tatars, Oara people, and Tubo people are not fools. How can they treat the war horses that they also regard as military weapons and their greatest reliance?
Sold to the Tang Empire.
I'm not stupid, I know with my toes that after purchasing these war horses, the Tang Empire will definitely form a large-scale cavalry and then turn around to deal with them!
The trade between the Tang Empire in the north and the Tatars, Chahar and other eastern tribes, the Oara people and the Tubo people, especially the trade of horses and muskets, was like walking on a tightrope for both sides.
kind of game!
They are selling weapons that can kill themselves to the enemy, and then getting back weapons that can kill the enemy from the enemy!
But even so, they have to do it!
The Tang Empire was short of war horses, very short, very short!
Those nomadic peoples, facing the threat of guns from the Tang Empire, also wanted to purchase guns to resist.
Otherwise, such a strange situation would not have occurred. The two opposing parties would actually sell and buy each other's weapons!
In addition to the official exchange of guns and horses with the Tatars, Oaras, Chahars, Tubos and other northern nomadic forces in the formal mutual market.
In order to replenish war horses, the Tang Empire basically used all kinds of methods in recent years. The most important method was to win over and divide the small and medium-sized nomadic tribes, and then obtain horses from these small tribes.
These nomadic tribes are not monolithic. Even Anda Khan cannot completely control the entire Tatars.
Tatars, strictly speaking, are a loose alliance of many tribes. Ananda Khan is only the largest tribe among them. The leader of the Tumut tribe relies on the powerful power of the Tumut tribe to control other tribes.
Within each tribe, there is a lot of autonomy, and there are many people who are unhappy with Anda Khan, but for the time being, it is estimated that no one has the courage to oppose Anda Khan.
Some of the small nomadic tribes close to the Great Wall were caught in the middle and it was actually very difficult for them to live. When the Tang Empire gave them some benefits, they would sell some horses as appropriate. There were even several small tribes who sold horses in order to survive.
After gaining access to live within the Great Wall, he completely chose to join the Tang Dynasty.
Although these tribes are small, but the grassland is so big, there are many small and medium-sized tribes who are willing to secretly do horse business with the Tang Dynasty. Even a few large tribes will still secretly do business with the Tang Dynasty, but they are hiding it secretly.
It's just that I'm buying guns and guns.
This messy business has been done a lot, and the total number of horses is actually quite large. Currently, more than half of the many military horses of the Tang Army were obtained through this method.
The important thing is that ten thousand horses are not too many, and one horse is not too few. As long as there are horses, anything can be said!
In addition to purchasing horses through various messy methods, raising horses yourself is also a major measure. Today, the Tang Empire has promoted large-scale horse breeding by both officials and private people.
Although the empire has certain policy support for large-scale private horse breeding, to be honest, it has nothing to do with official promotion. It is mainly because of the large-scale use of horse-drawn carriages in the country in recent years, and the private market has a huge demand for horses.
, the price of horses has been rising again and again. In the pre-Ming Dynasty, a good horse only cost about 120 taels of silver. But now, the price has more than doubled. If you don’t have 40 taels of silver, you can’t even hope to buy it.
Got it.
The rise in prices has made it profitable for the people to raise horses. Without the government's promotion, the trend of raising horses has naturally arisen among the people.
However, although private horse breeding has become popular, there is no large-scale breeding, and the quality of the horses can only be said to be average. Although the government is also promoting excellent horse breeds, it is difficult to thoroughly supervise it, so the quality of the horses is inconsistent.
The number of high-quality horses is also very small.
Nowadays, in many places in the country, due to the lack of horses, various carriages are actually pulled by mules and donkeys. Most of the horses used are also Southwest horses. This is not to say that Southwest horses are not good. They are used in mountainous areas to serve as carriers.
The horse is quite good, but if it is used as a riding horse for cavalry in the northern plains, it will be too small and its impact will be too weak.
Therefore, at present, there is no way for the private sector to provide the military with too many qualified horses. However, the military is working with the cabinet to plan domestic private horse breeding and strive to change this chaos.
At present, most of the horses used by the domestic military come from official horse farms. There are currently more than thirty official horse farms, large and small, in northwest, Shanxi, Hebei, Liaodong, and even Zhili and southwest regions.
Yes, the scale may be large or small.
The quality of the horses bred is relatively good, including imported Central Asian horses, Mongolian horses, and even Southwest horses. However, even for such purebred horses, the military is currently trying every means to improve their quality.
In addition, with the support of the Department of Medicine of the Royal Institute of Technology, the military began to breed cross-bred horses, and obtained all kinds of messy horse breeds for experiments, such as breeding with Mongolian horses and Central Asian horses, and breeding with Mongolian horses and Southwest horses.
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The Tang Dynasty military, in order to ensure that there is no confusion in horse breeding and to ensure the bloodlines of various types of horses, most of the horse farms are strictly closed, and the horses are even graded one-to-one.
Among the many racecourses, the most exaggerated one should be the Jeju Racecourse. Why is the word Jeju used? Because the Tang Dynasty used the entire Jeju Island as a racecourse!
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A genius can remember the address of this website in one second:..:m.