Eight Hills in the Eastern Jin Dynasty

Liu Yuzheng said: "Yes, after all, the Yan army has been in the Central Plains for a long time. Although there are grasslands in the west of Liaoning, the number of war horses is far from that of Wei, which has deserts in the north and south. I have a deep understanding of this, just like this Nanyan. Almost taken away most of the remaining army horses of the Houyan, and supplemented by trade, there are only more than two hundred omnipotent horses distributed throughout the Qilu land. We seem to have a lot of them, but if you really go Through the grassland, I saw that the horses were not counted by number, but by group. Within sight, there were groups of horses grazing and galloping around hundreds of miles away. The psychological shock and impact was not. The language can be described."

"When I left the grassland, Tuobagui had almost unified Monan, and the various ministries in Mobei also expressed their surrender. They often offered Malay tribute. This offering was made of thousands of horses. The one-eyed man Kuaien in our army. In the past, he was a horseman on the grassland. He could manage more than four hundred horses by himself. For a tribe of Tuoba, there are more than 100,000 horses available at any time, which is almost the top half of the country of Yan. Speaking of the number of horses, the Northern Wei Dynasty is far more than the Murong family of Yan State, and more than one million horses are at least."

　　 Liu Muzhi took a breath: "There are so many? Then why do people in the world still think that Yan Guo's armored horse is the most powerful?"

Liu Yu sighed: "Because the Yan people raise horses, the cost is not much. They can put on a full-body heavy armor, and then carry a heavily armed knight with more than 300 catties, and a full set of dozens of catties. The weapons and equipment of the magnate can also charge at full force. They have extremely high requirements for the strength and endurance of the horse. Usually these armored riders are fed with polished rice, plus some secret strength-increasing feed and even medicines. Let these horses be thunderous and brave during the assault. So you see that the armored horses of the Yan army are one person, two horses or even three horses. In peacetime, they are not even sitting on people. They will change their outfits before the assault. Changing horses is just to rush there."

Liu Muzhi nodded: "So, you know a lot. In this way, the number of war horses in the Northern Wei Dynasty far exceeds that of Murong's Yan Kingdom, but the quality is still not as good as the armored horses. This is why Tuoba Gui has never dared. Was it the reason for the head-on fighting with the Yan army?"

Liu Yu nodded: "Yes, if the Yan army dispatches tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of armored horses, Tuobagui will only avoid it from a distance and dare not confront him head-on. He didn’t dare to take the opportunity to attack Nan Yan, because he knew that Murong De had tens of thousands of armored guards, and it was impossible to use the battle between the kings of the Yan kingdom to find opportunities, so he just closed it. , The peace was maintained. But in the final analysis, it was because even if he occupied the entire Bingzhou and Hebei, he had four or five hundred thousand foot rides, but he still had no confidence in defeating Nan Yan head-on. The most important thing was the armor and riding equipment. "

"But the victory or defeat of a war is never just a frontal decisive battle. In the art of war, you can evade the enemy's sharp edge, hit it lazily, avoid it head-on, and copy its grain. This is the specialty of the Wei army. It used to participate in the battle of Hebei. At that time, they blocked the Yellow River and prevented the Yanjun cavalry from crossing the river. After a long period of time, the food and grass were inadequate, and the news of Murongchui's return to heaven was spread. The most important thing was that they sent a large number of wandering horses to cut off the food road behind the Yanjun. He letter made the Yan army on the front line not know what was happening in the rear. This aroused the kings’ desire to seize the throne, rushing to return to the teacher, and no one wants to be a defender. This gave them the opportunity to follow along all the way. , Finally extinguished the Yan army’s seven-man armored cavalry in one fell swoop. Since then, Yan’s vitality has been greatly injured. This proves that on the battlefield, mobility is better than frontal attack."

Liu Muzhi laughed and said: "This is in line with the common sense of the art of war, especially the use of mobility. You can fight if you can't fight, and you can leave if you can't fight. Set up camps to block danger and stalemate. Then send light soldiers to copy the enemy's food path. The enemy can't ask for battle and retreat. Lost evidence, and when its weaknesses are eliminated in one fell swoop, the cavalry of past savages in the steppe can destroy the seemingly powerful army of Central Plains with mixed vehicles and steps, and most of them did so. So this time, the Yan army did not use mobility and We interrupted and interrupted our food path, but confronted us head-on. Is it a big mistake?"

Liu Yu smiled slightly: "If you were on the grassland, I think Heipao would fight us like this, but this time we entered the land of Qilu, their grain fields and cities, the soldiers' families are all in the city, and there is nowhere to escape. Heipao felt that the army had an absolute advantage and could defeat our army head-on, so we chose to complete our efforts in one battle, and our victory in this battle eliminated a large number of the main force of the enemy, especially the main force of the Xianbei. It can be said that it has become the country's destruction. However, this tactic can be used for Nanyan, but it does not mean that it is equally good for Northern Wei."

"Wei Jun does not have a powerful armored cavalry like Nan Yan, which can be invincible in frontal battlefields, but there are no less than 200,000 highly mobile cavalry who come and go like wind. If you feel unsure from the front, they will detour hundreds or even thousands of miles. Cut my food, plunder my city, destroy my farmland, and destroy our warfare ability by destroying and destroying our production. So we have to compete with the Northern Wei Dynasty, relying only on the current heavy infantry. I’m afraid it’s hard to compete for full power, especially on the northern plains. Cavalry’s mobility has been maximized. It’s not our infantry’s strength."

　　 Liu Laozhi's face changed slightly: "Don't our army also have cavalry? Can't we restrain the opposing cavalry?"

Liu Yu shook his head: "Our army is mainly stride, with a small number of cavalry as auxiliary, and only a few thousand people. If it is to fight the enemy frontally like this time, it will have a miraculous effect, but if it is a guerrilla warfare with the enemy, it will be mobile. Sex, these thousands of people are not enough for the enemy’s tens of thousands of cavalry, not to mention more than a hundred thousand. They are very dangerous if they are separated from the infantry. Therefore, just like the Han Dynasty general Wei Qinghuo went to the Xiongnu, he wanted to follow along. The cavalry of the wind can only rely on the same cavalry to compete on the plains and even on the grasslands."

Liu Muzhi let out a sigh of relief: "I understand what you mean, sending slaves. You mean to say that you must ride to break the ride. Our soldiers from the North are from the south. Many people don’t know how to ride horses, even if they can ride. It’s hard to compare with the people on horseback, these Husbands. Therefore, you want to form a pure cavalry unit in the north, right?"

Liu Yu smiled slightly: "Just like Huan Wen wanted to control Jingkou back then, he even ran over and said that Jingkou wine is good to drink, and soldiers can be used. We also have Huainan in Jingkou. We have the best infantry in the world, but we want to say that the best infantry in the Central Plains. The cavalry, the king’s people since ancient times, is in Guanzhong, the old Qin, the good family of the Han, and the elders in the Guanzhong today. Look at Suo Miao, Lu Zongzhi, and Mao Dezu, you know that they are not weaker than ours. All that is needed is a commander in command who can reassure them and convince them!"