Explore the influence of the war horses of the Song cavalry on the Song Dynasty

In a cold era, it is impossible for a country to build a country without a strong iron horse.

Yan GengwangSaid:

"Throughout history, the dynasties that controlled the north-central Shaanxi and Gansu regions today were the most powerful. Anyone who can't control this area will be at a disadvantage, and the reason is because of the cavalry. ”

Horses are an important piece of equipment for knights, and they are also the foundation for their survival.

Regarding the relationship between horses and cavalry in the Song Dynasty, scholars have done some **, such as:Zhang Naiwen's "Northern Song Dynasty Military Horses".

At present, the academic research on the war horses of the Song Dynasty is mainly focused on:Horse administration, logistics supplyand so on, and for the relationship between the combat effectiveness of war horses and cavalry, there is no in-depth and systematic **.

This paper attempts to explore the relationship between the combat effectiveness of war horses and cavalry in the Song Dynasty through the study of the quality, quantity, quality, and management of forage and feeding of cavalry war horses.

north of Hebei, Shaanxi, Gansuand other areas, it is the largest horse farm in ancient China, there is a good saying:

"The origin of horses is in the north of Hebei. ”

But in the early Song Dynasty, due to tensions with Liao"Without Manan, prepare to set up camp in the Western Regions."

ToSong RenzongDuring the year, the Western Xia founded the country and divided the northwest region into two, the east of the Xirong people on the right, which was the territory of the Xia thieves, and the west of the Xirong people on the left, which was the west of the Qin people, Jing people, Yi people, and Wei people.

The bandits of Great Xia never sent their horses to the border, so the Chinese cavalry came from the western part of the Xirong Kingdom. ”

SinceThe Tang Anshi RebellionLater, the Central Plains court gradually lost its horse production area in the northwest region, and later several local powers rose, resulting in a shortage of cavalry in the Song army.

The Song Dynasty lost some of the excellent horses in the west and north, and the cavalry also had congenital defects.

An objective fact faced by the development of cavalry in the Song Dynasty was due to the fact that the Song Dynasty lost a large number of them"The earth is high and cool".The horse farm did not have excellent horses, which led to the decline of the cavalry combat ability in the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, how to get a war horse is the most important thing.

The establishment of the horse supervisor in the Song Dynasty greatly increased the number of military horses in the army, which played a role in promoting Ma Zheng.

However, a large part of the horse farms in the Song Dynasty were in agricultural areas, and the quality of the horses produced was difficult to compare with that of the horses in the Western Regions. At the same time, the horses produced by the horse supervisor were far from sufficient to meet the needs of the cavalry.

For example:The 12 divisions in the north and south of Henan, from the second to the fifth year of Xining, sent 1,640 horses a year, including 264 horses for cavalry.

Han MaoliThis is explained in detail:

"In the early Tang Dynasty, the herdsmen were mostly concentrated in Longyou Prefecture, but from the Anshi Rebellion to the Northern Song Dynasty, the herdsmen were mostly concentrated in the interior, rather than focusing on agriculture and abandoning agriculture for herding. ”

Ruler of the Song DynastyIn order to supplement the military horses of the horse supervisors, military horses are often purchased from various tribes in the northwest.

After the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, in order to dominate the world,Horses became a valuable strategic commodity.

Early Song Dynasty, the Song court purchased horses from Tubo, Dangxiang and Northwest Zhubo and other places, and fromEast Road, Shaanxi Road, Chuanxia RoadThree-way proceeds.

Two generations of Song Taizong and Zhenzong, Song ** to the northwest to buy horses in the place to the mountainsWest, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Sichuan, GansuMainly.

After the revival of the party, the number of horses bought by Song ** was greatly reduced.

According toLiu JianliIt is said that most of the horses purchased in the Song Dynasty in a year were purchased from Liangzhou.

In the late stages,Liangzhou was also occupied by Western Xia, the Song Dynasty fell into a shortage of horses, and could only rely on Sichuan horses.

PlusThe Sichuan horses were short and the carrying capacity was insufficient, and the iron horses of the Song army suffered a big loss on them, and their strength was greatly reduced.

As can be seen from thisSong ** buys horsesThe situation is gradually deteriorating with the deterioration of the situation on the border.

Early Northern Song DynastySong ShenzongAfter the expansion of the territory, due to the decline of the national strength of the Western Xia, most of the horses purchased by the Song Dynasty were mainly in the northwest, and the quality was relatively high.

However, due to the ** of Western Xia and some other reasons, the area of horse purchase land in the Song Dynasty was getting smaller and smaller as a whole.

By the time they arrived in the Southern Song Dynasty, the entire northern frontier had fallen, and they had to buy war horses from the southwest, so the quantity and quality of war horses declined.

The Song Dynasty used this as a means to replenish a large number of horses, which alleviated the problem of horse shortage to some extent, but could not solve the fundamental problem.

The number of war horses in the Song DynastyAt most, that's itAbout 200,000 heads, but inTang Gaozong Linde era, but it reached 760,000 heads, more than three times more than the historical record of the Song Dynasty.

On the whole,The horses of the Song Dynasty were in a state of decline.

Song Taizong, ZhenzongTwo generations, the number of horses exceededTwo hundred thousand, arrivedSong Renzong, the number has plummetedMore than ten thousand, arrivedLate Northern Song Dynasty, the number has plummetedMore than ninety thousand, arrivedShaoxing year, the number has plummetedMore than 13,000.

In addition, inSong ShenzongIn the beginning, the number of horses was still growing, and there wereOne thousand five hundred and sixty-four heads, arrivedEight years in Xining, and left300,000 heads

However, because it was implemented at that timeHorse Protector Law, some of the best horses have fallen into the civilian population, so this number is not representative of all the horses.

Because there were very few war horses in the Song Dynasty, the shortage of war horses had become commonplace.

Song TaizongWhen he first ascended the throne, he found that the army was insufficient, so he issued an order that the people of the city should not have military strength.

ToDuring the reign of Taizong of the Song Dynasty, can still include the horses of the citizens, toDuring the reign of Song Renzong, the number of which plummeted to 100,000.

Song RenzongIn the fourth year of Qing's helplessness, he had to order:

"Shaanxi Road, Hebei Road, Hedong Road three direct facing Liao, Xixia two roads, where there are horses, all take one-half, the rest of the road each take three-quarters, and clearly stipulated, martial arts strong, give priority to horses. ”

"Today, there are ten people in the horse army, and only one person has a horse. ”

Although this sentence cannot be believed, it is enough to show that the Song army lacked horsesIn the second year of Song Shenzong Xining, less than thirty percent could be used to fight.

Song ShenzongSaid worriedly

"Most of the cavalry is not a good thing, and a battalion has a maximum of a few dozen horsemen. ”

Eight years to Xining, after going through the reduction of troops,"Yushi filled in the score of the horse at the battalion headquarters, and filled in seven points in the edict"The situation has changed.

StillYuanfeng six yearsSong ShenzongStill, a decree was issued that all horses should be given priority to those who were highly skilled in martial arts, including those who had fled.

Using people with high martial arts skills to divide them, although it means encouragement, also shows that they have a shortage of horses.

Song ZhezongAt the beginning, there was a will:

"The war horses given by the Ma army shall not exceed seventy percent from Beijing to the prefecture boundary, to Jingdong, to Jingxi, to Hedong, and to Shaanxi Road, and to Hebei Road, shall not exceed sixty percent"。

In the Song Dynasty, the cavalry often lacked a war horse, so it had to be distributed according to the strength of the martial arts.

Seventy, eighty percent of the number.

And some armies, but half of them don't have war horses, and some don't even have a tenth of the army, can such an army still be called an army? How to beat?

After the Song State retreated to the south, there was a large shortage of horses.

This year,Qing ** found in the military register that the number of troops and cavalry in Jiankang County was far from what was recorded in the army, and the number of troops recorded in the military strength record was 6,670.

WhileIn fact, there are only 2,000 heads, a difference of more than 4,470 heads, which is equivalent to a third missing

The losses of the Southern Song Dynasty's iron cavalry could not be replenished, and the shortage of iron cavalry was increasing day by day.

The strength of an army, in addition to the number of war horses, there is another big difference, that isThe quality of the war horse.

In the Song Dynasty, judging the quality of a war horse toHeight, age and originas a basis.

Horses of the Song army, approximatelyIt's "four feet one inch" and "four feet seven inches".According to one song and one foot, it is about one zhang thirty-one, that is, one zhang twenty-seven to one zhang forty-six, so their horses are not tall.

But when it came to a pinch, when there was a shortage of war horses,The Song people lowered their requirements for horses.

InSouthern Song Dynasty, because the army is non-stop, often to"No limit to the grid".way to treat horses.

The first year of LongxingSong GaozongA decree was issued:

"The horses that were sold were less than four feet, but if they were strong, they could be belted, and they could be charged a little more. ”

Not only that, but in the Southern Song Dynasty, the horses purchased were also inferior and could not be controlled at all.

Three years on the main road, the center on the dredging:

"Recently, the horses from the Western Regions produced by the Tea and Horse Division of the Survey are all short and poor. ”

"In the prefectures of Li, Syria, and Nanping, no more than fifty horses shall be purchased, of which the best of them shall not exceed three, and the worst shall not exceed twenty, and the rest shall not be of inferior quality and shall not be used. ”

Another way to judge whether a horse is good or bad is by age.

In the second year of Jingde, Song Zhenzong issued a decree requiring the purchase of horses from 4 to 13 years old.

Song Renzong ordered, all the border troops have to buy a horse"Between the ages of four and thirteen".of horses.

In the Northern Song Dynasty,One horse.

Three or four years to.

Ten. Horses between the first and second years are considered relatively good.

And here it isSouthern Song DynastyThe age requirements of the Song people for the horses they purchased were greatly increased.

Song GaozongA decree was issued requiring the in:4 to 8 years oldAmong the foals, there must be a certain combat ability.

Shaoxing 32 DecemberSong XiaozongAfter ascending the throne, a decree was issuedIt is stipulated that all purchased horses must not be more than 8 years old.

The horses purchased are4 to 8 years old, withNorthern Song DynastyThere is a big difference in the rules regarding the age of horses.

This may be due to the fact that the quality of these war horses is very poor, and by the time they are eight years old, these war horses have lost their combat effectiveness.

As you can see from the above information, inNorthern Song Dynasty, three, four to twelveHorses are of better quality when they are young, and the most suitable horses to ride are those between four and ten years old.

WhileIn the Southern Song Dynasty, horses were needed for less than eight years.

But in reality, it is not exactly in accordance with this requirementSome of them had warhorses over the age of fifteen, or over eighteen, and still served in the army.

Different places, different horses, different qualities.

The people of the Song Dynasty believed"The more northwestern the land, the better the horses"

In the era of Song Qinzong, Wang Xiang once went to the fold and said:"The horses in Qingzhou are the best. ”

It is said that the horses of Qingzhou are all fromXining, QinghaiTarget.

Song Dynasty periodFuzhou is the best war horse producing area, while Huanju and Gyeongju are the second best war horse producing areas.

KhitanThe horses in the north are not of very good quality, and the worst ones are the horses on the Fujian Road, which can only be used as tribute and bunks.

Song people Hong ZunThere was a similar view, and he divided the horses intoFour levelsXia GuomaIt's a first-class horse,The horses of the Hu people of the Western RegionsIt's a second-class horse,Du Shengma in SichuanIt's a third-class horse,Horses of the Southern Regionsis the lowest level, and it is impossible to go to war at all.

As can be seen from this pointThe closer to the north-west, the better the quality, and the closer to the south-east, the lower the quality.

But due to the currentShaanxi, Gansuand other regions were mostly controlled by a few countries such as Western Xia, andGansu, Qinghaiand other regions, only a small number of countries were able to control high-quality war horses, so most of the horses produced in China during the Song Dynasty were of poor quality.

Although there were many ways to obtain war horses from the iron cavalry of the Song Dynasty, none of them could solve the problem of the iron cavalry, because the number of iron cavalry was too small and the quality was too poor, so the strength of the iron cavalry was very weak.

Song Dynasty**Great attention was paid to the breeding and management of war horses, which cost a huge amount of money and manpower and material resources, but this did not play a big role.

In the history of China, the Han DynastyTwo dynasties of the Tang dynasty, because it occupies the excellent war horse resources in the northwest region, it can form an elite iron cavalry army, which occupies an absolute upper hand in the war.

However, the army of the Song Dynasty has always been in a passive defensive state, so the Southern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty perished because their iron cavalry was too small and their strength was too weak.