What did soldiers in ancient China wear in summer?

What did ancient soldiers wear to fight in summer?

The heat is bound to be hot, and it will even affect the combat effectiveness of the army and test the level of generals.

In ancient times, fighting was not rushing to kill, but a lot of attention. For example, when dealing with natural conditions, water flow, topography, wind direction and weather are all considered. For example, if there is wind on the battlefield, then entering the battlefield is to get the upper hand; What if it is a chance encounter and it is too late to adjust? Then do a good job of defense and wait for the wind to weaken before attacking.

When Hou Jing responded to Murong Shaozong's battle of Yang Guo and met the Northern Han Dynasty in Chai Rong, Zhou Shizong, he made full use of the knowledge of wind direction.

Speaking of hot summer. With the development of productive forces, armored forces in the army have become more common since the Han Dynasty. This kind of equipment has strong protective ability, but it also has weaknesses: it is too bulky and inflexible, which is not convenient for soldiers to carry out detailed operations; If you are exposed to the sun for a long time, the people inside will become roast pigs.

Therefore, the use of armored forces should pay attention to the timing, and the team will not always be fully armed and be stupid in the hot sun. Otherwise, why do we often see the word "get on the horse" in romance novels, and only when we have brain problems will we show off our armor at any time.

Will two commanders confront each other and have to wear armor all the time? Yes, but the ancients were not stupid. In order to maintain the physical strength and combat effectiveness of soldiers, generals generally take various countermeasures:

Arrange scouts to keep abreast of enemy movements;

Build fortifications and anti-charge facilities, delay the speed of the other party's March, and buy time for our preparation and array;

Restricted by the width of the battlefield, only a small part of the two armies directly contacted the enemy after the war. The general army implements the shift system. When the front row is tired, the back row will be replaced in time, and so on.

Therefore, marching to fight requires the commander-in-chief's ability of observation, judgment and coordination to be extremely high; It was the military commander, not the commander-in-chief, who cut with a broadsword.

Here is a real case to show how to fight in summer.

In A.D. 1 140, Yan Zongbi, the marshal of the State of Jin, tore up the previous peace treaty and attacked the Song Dynasty in four ways on the pretext of recovering the land of Henan and Shaanxi.

At that time, Liu Kun, the new deputy left-behind in Tokyo in the Southern Song Dynasty, passed Shunchang on his way north. Knowing that the Jin army striker was approaching, he decided to take advantage of his geographical position, stick to Shunchang and shield Jianghuai. After making up his mind, he took the following measures to strengthen combat readiness:

Send multi-channel scouts to keep abreast of the movement of 8 Jin Army;

Mobilize the military and civilians in the city, reinforce the city, build fortifications outside the city, and set up a lot of obstacles to offset the cavalry advantage of 8 Jin Army.

In June, Jin Wushu led120,000 main force to reach Shunchang, including the absolute elite of 8 Jin Army-Kidnapper Ma and Tiefutu. The iron tower is a standard heavy cavalry. According to historical records, "there are two iron drums around, and the corner is covered with long eaves ... three people are interacting with each other and connected with leather ropes." On the plain, this kind of heavily armored cavalry is no different from the tanks of later generations, and it is very lethal to infantry.

At that time, Liu Kun had only twenty thousand men, most of whom were infantry, but he was not without countermeasures. On this day, he took the initiative to challenge Jin Wushu and made an appointment for the decisive battle date. Jin Jun arrived at the city gate as scheduled, and Tiefutu occupied his position: "Even the mountain iron array is very tight", which is quite shocking.

However, Liu Kun failed to leave the city. He put on a pair of armor in the hot sun and let the Ministry feel the temperature from time to time. It was not until the armor was too hot to start, that Liu Kun summoned a group of soldiers, ate a good drink, took a summer medicine in advance (some historical materials called it "Five Ling Da Shun San"), and rushed out of the city with a big iron axe to confront the enemy. They only cut off the legs of the enemy's horse, and the three enemies were connected. One horse fell, and all three horses fell. In addition, they are thirsty and hot, and their combat effectiveness is greatly reduced.

That's not all. Every once in a while, Liu Kun sent another team out of the city to rotate with the frontline soldiers. The history book says "out of the circle". Under the repeated blows of the wheel war, the Jin army was defeated.

After several days of fighting, the ace kidnapper Ma and the iron tower suffered heavy losses and had to retreat. The battle of Shunchang also broke the myth that Jin Jun was invincible and started the counterattack in the Southern Song Dynasty, and then Yue Fei won a great victory in Yancheng.

So wearing armor in summer may really affect the combat effectiveness of the army. The key depends on how the commander-in-chief organizes and coordinates reasonably.