The ways and methods of fighting wars in ancient times varied from time to time and region to region.
Let's talk about 7 common ancient ways and tactics of warfare.
The armies of both sides faced off in an open area, deciding victory through charges and hand-to-hand combat.
The selection and variation of formations is an important part of tactics, and different formations can play different roles.
For example, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there are often some gossip arrays, one-word long snake arrays, etc., the Three Kingdoms play more fancy, in fact, under normal circumstances, they are the policy of infantry and cavalry cooperation, or the infantry and cavalry have their own arrangements.
In this situation, it is mainly used in field battles, and because of the knife to the flesh, the number of casualties is often large.
When one side besieges a city that is being defended by the other, the besieging side usually needs to use siege equipment to break down the walls and gates, while the defending side needs to use the defense equipment and fortifications to defend against the attack.
This method was very common, because in ancient times important towns would build strong cities, so that when someone came to attack, they could defend against the danger and take advantage of the situation.
Under this mode of warfare, if the time is short, it is easy to say, but if the time is long, a large number of people who besiege and defend the city will die, and both sides will not be pleased.
An important reason why Mongolia failed to defeat Europe and Africa was that Meng Ge Khan, who led an army of 200,000 to besiege Diaoyu City in the Southern Song Dynasty, was the brother with the highest death level among the people on the ancient besieging side.
An army lies in ambush near the enemy's path or camp, waiting for the opportunity to make a surprise attack.
This tactic requires a high degree of concealment and suddenness to achieve a surprising effect.
In ancient times, communication was poor, and this practice often worked wonders, especially on the weaker side.
This tactic has high requirements for the terrain, after all, there is no mountain blocking tens of thousands of troops hiding behind, and it is impossible to ambush it.
There are many examples of this method of warfare, which is often used in combination with the first type of formation warfare, such as luring the enemy deep into favorable terrain and then ambushing and encircling and annihilating them.
An army penetrates deep into enemy territory to plunder and sabotage in order to weaken the enemy's economic strength and combat effectiveness.
This tactic requires a high degree of mobility and quick reflexes, making it ideal for cavalry use.
In ancient times, the Xiongnu, Mongolia and other cavalry-based cavalry basically used this tactic every day, robbing when they saw it, and running away quickly after robbing, with few losses and big gains.
Wars fought in waters, including rivers, lakes, and seas, etc.
Water warfare requires special ships and tactics, such as fire attacks, ramming, and boarding operations.
This kind of war mainly exists in the Yangtze River valley and part of the southeast coast, like the commander of the Mongolian navy, it is estimated that he will have the opportunity to fight a water war once in a lifetime.
Although there are few water wars, there have been many famous figures and examples in history, such as the burning of Chibi by the Three Kingdoms, the suicide of Zeng Guofan by throwing himself into the lake, and the recovery of Taiwan by Zheng Chenggong.
An army besieges an enemy stronghold and sends reinforcements to the aid of the besieged allies. This tactic requires a high degree of coordination and coordination.
This is a method of warfare derived from urban warfare, where you take a fenced fish as bait for fishing and wait to destroy the big fish that come to your rescue.
Li Yunlong's attack on Ping'an County belongs to the typical combination of urban warfare and siege point reinforcement, of course, he is the protagonist in the siege of the city, and the reinforcement is later pushed down the river.
After all, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and no one has ever said that the same method of warfare must be adopted, and it is useless to say so, everything must be based on reality and choose the most reasonable path.
Small-scale irregular armies conduct guerrilla activities in enemy territory, with the main goal of disrupting the enemy's rear and lines of communication.
This tactic requires a high degree of concealment and mobility.
This guerrilla warfare mainly appeared more and more after the advent of hot weapons.
Because in the era of cold weapons, if a knife is chopped down, there is a high probability that only one person can be cut, and the lethality and destructive power are limited, and the role of small guerrillas is not great.
In the era of hot weapons, a shuttle can bring down a large number of people, and the effect is not the same. Now that the lethality of the dispersed forces has been achieved, guerrilla warfare has become very common.
The situation is stronger than people, and there are rules to follow when and what kind of battle to fight.
In the era of cold weapons, hand-to-hand combat was a common way to determine victory or defeat, so it was necessary to train soldiers in individual combat ability and teamwork ability.
With the development of science and technology, the methods and tactics of warfare are constantly evolving and improving, for example, the invention of gunpowder has made firearms gradually replace cold weapons as the main tools of war, and some outdated combat methods in ancient times have also been gradually eliminated.
In short, there were various ways and methods of fighting wars in ancient times, and it was necessary to flexibly apply various tactics and strategies to achieve victory according to specific situations.