Ever since the time of Han dynasty, China had been able to exert its domination in the sphere of military and diplomacy in Inner Asia. The Western Han dynasty was able to slowly recover from its early setbacks when it clashed with the Xiongnu, and then eventually obtained victory in the campaign of Mobei that forever turned the tide in their favour. The Tang dynasty was similarly be able to defeat the Eastern Gokturk empire, captured their Qa'an and established its direct rule by establishing the Protectorate General of Pacifying the North (安北都護府). However, this trend of reversing fortune has stopped when the Song dynasty successfully unified China. From the 10th till the 14th century, Northern China was ravaged by the powerful cavalry force of the northern people. These peoples are able to establish their own states that contend with the Song for the Mandate of Heaven. They are Khitans (or Qidan - 契丹), Tanguts (Tangut - 党項), Jurchens (Jurchen - 女真) and Mongols. The Khitan and the Mongols were all nomadic, they practiced horse archery and gained full mastery since childhood. Although the Jurchens and the Tanguts were not fully nomadic like the the aforementioned people and engaged in farming and hunting, their method of war remained almost identical (1). They were skillful horse archers who could hit targets at full gallop. While the horse archery aspect of these peoples fascinated those who were unfortunate enough to come into contact with them, what remains little known is that they also fought as heavy cavalry, equipped with thick armours for both men and horses, as well as employing long lances to serve as vanguard troops to break the enemy formation. They repeatedly charged at their opponents in successive waves. The first wave charged first, then retired, then the second wave, and so on. These heavy cavalry, or we can call them cataphracts as it is more familiar to Western audience, proved to be a fearful opponent to the infantry-based army of the Song dynasty. The Song usually suffered higher casualties even though they might gain the final victory. Since the foundation of the Song dynasty, China had lost the sixteen Yan yun prefectures (燕云十六州) to the Liao, as well as all pasture lands in Inner and Outer Mongolia. This proves fatal because the dynasty struggled to increase the number of war horses due to the lack of pasture. The situation becomes perilous when the Song dynasty could not match their foes in terms of mobility. How are these heavy cavalry forces organise, operate and what are their equipments? This article seeks to provide a translation of sources that mention the equipment and tactics of these forces and make a comparison between the different style of warfare between nomadic and semi-nomadic people in Northern China and the Seljuk Turks who dominated the Western Asia.
2- Sources that mention Iron Forest Cavalry of the Liao dynasty
Tielunzi (鐵林子) can be literally rendered in English as iron forest. The name derives from "History of Song" (Songshi-宋史), chapter 273 and "History of Liao" (Liaoshi-遼史). Both contains rather terse descriptions of this type of elite cavalry:
《宋史•卷273》至道元年，契丹精騎數千夜襲城下，伐鼓縱火，以逼樓堞。承矩整兵出拒，遲明，列陣酣戰久之，斬馘甚眾，擒其酋所謂鐵林相公者，契丹遁去。
"History of Song, chapter 273": In the first year of Daoguang (995), several thousands of the Khitan cavalry arrived at the fortress at night. They sound their drums, fire fired arrows and came close to the towers. Cheng Ju (承矩) made his troops arrange in battle order and exited the fortress to counter them. As the sun rises, the army was set in formation and engaged with the enemy for a long time. The number of decapitated heads collected from the enemy is numerous. They captured the enemy's chief called "the lord of the Iron Forest". The Khitan left afterward.
《遼史•卷34》人鐵甲九事，馬韉轡，馬甲皮鐵，視其力；弓四，箭四百，長短槍、𨪷䤪、斧鉞、小旗、鎚錐、火刀石、馬盂、少一斗。少袋、搭釒毛傘各一，縻馬繩二百尺，皆自備。人馬不給糧草，日遣打草谷騎四出抄掠以供之。
3- Sources that mention Iron Forest Cavalry and Iron Sparrowhawk of the Liao and Xi Xia dynasty
Tieyaozi 鐵鷂子 can be rendered in English as iron sparrowhawk. The name is usually associated with the elite cavalry of Xi Xia. But after inspecting closely the "History of Liao", this dynasty also has official titles that bear this name. Thus the Khitan also calls their elite cataphracts as Iron Sparrowhawk.
《遼史•卷82》(蕭陽阿)歷鐵林、鐵鷂、大鷹三軍詳穩
"History of Liao, chapter 82": Xiao Yanga (蕭陽阿) served as "Iron Forest and Iron Sparrowhawk"
《西夏书事》“自古行師，步騎並利。國家用'鐵鷂子以馳騁平原，用'步跋子'以逐險山谷，然一遇陌刀法，鐵騎難施；若遇神臂弓，步奚自溃。
"A narrative of Xixia": Since the ancient time, both infantry and cavalry have their own advantages. The state (Xixia) employed Iron Sparrowhawk to dominate the flat terrains, while using Bubazi (literally Crossing on foot 步跋子) in mountainous regions. And yet whenever they encountered Modao (a type of long saber to counter cavalry), the Iron Sparrowhawk were unable to fight effectively. Whenever being shot at by Shenbinu (神臂弓-Divined armed crossbow), Bubazi broke.
How was Iron Forest equipped? The following source provides explicit description:
《宋史•卷486 - 夏國傳》以鐵騎為前軍，乘善馬重甲，刺斫不入；用鈎索絞聯，雖死馬上不墜。遇戰則先出鐵騎沖宋陣、陣亂則沖擊之，步兵挾騎以進…
"History of Song, chapter 486, monograph on Xi Xia": (They-the Xi Xia) employed heavy cavalry (literally iron cavalry) as the forefront force. They all rode strong horses and wore heavy armour. Thrusting and slashing them proves futile (as their armours are impenetrable). They used chain to link each other so that although the rider was dead, his body did not fall from his horses to the ground. Whenever engaging in battle, this force was made to charge at the formation of the Song. After the battle fell into choas, they made full impact by charging, then the infantry moves in in conjunction with the cavalry...
《遼史•西夏外紀》「衣重甲，乘善馬，以鐵騎為前鋒，用鉤索絞聯，雖死馬上不落。」
"History of Liao, monograph on Xi Xia": They wore heavy armour, rode strong horses, they were employed as the forefront force. They were linked together by chains, so that even when the riders died, he would not fall from his horse.
《宋史•卷486 - 夏國傳》翌日，夏兵漸逼，禧乃以七萬陣城下，坐譙門，執黃旗令衆曰：「視吾旗進止！」夏人縱鐵騎渡河，或曰：「此號‘鐵鷂子’，當其半濟擊之，乃可有逞，得地則其鋒不可當也。」禧不聽。鐵騎既濟，震盪衝突，大兵從之，禧師敗績。將校寇偉、李思古、高世才、夏儼、程博古及使臣十餘輩、士卒八百餘人盡沒。
"History of Song, chapter 486, monograph on Xi Xia": The next day, Xi Xia gradually came to close to us, Xi then ordered 70,000 men to deploy outside of the walls. He sat on the gate of the citadel, holding a yellow flag and ordered his troops as followed: "You watch my flags to know when to move and when to halt!" The Xi Xia let their heavy cavalry cross the river. Someone said (to Xi) that: "This force is called Iron Sparrowhawk, we should attack them when they are half-way through the river, that way we could win. Otherwise, if we let them reach the river banks, our vanguard would not be able to withstand them. (Xi) did not listen and adopt this suggestion. After the enemy's cavalry finished crossing the river, they furiously charged us like the strike of thunderbolts, their main army arrived afterwards. Xi's army was completely defeated. The general Kou Wei (寇偉), Li Sigu (李思古), Gao Shicai (高世才), Xia Yan (夏儼), Cheng Bogu (程博古), together with 10 other and 800 men all perished in this battle.
Thus, we can see that Iron Forest and Iron Sparrowhawk were an elite force deploying as the forefront troops that charged their enemy first in order to break their formations. Then they would engage in conjunction with infantry. They obviously gained many victories against the Song and were feared by them.
4-Sources on the Jin "Iron Pagoda" elite force
Tietufu 鐵浮圖 means "iron pagoda" in English. As can be seen from this poem by the poet Chen Fu:
城郭依稀小畫圖，佛光猶照鐵浮屠。
The walls of the citadels were small like a painting, the halo of the Buddha shines the iron pagoda.
Tietufu appears in many records of the Song dynasty, most notably in the battle of Shunchang (順昌) won by Liu Ji (劉錡 1098-1162) and Yancheng (郾城) by the famous Song general Yue Fei (岳飛 1103-1142)
In regards to the battle of Shunchang, we obtain the description of this elite force and the method the Song uses to defeat them from "A report on the victory of Shunchang where we broke the enemy" (順昌戰勝破賊錄) by Yang Nuyi (杨汝翼). Yi left us a highly detailed account of the battle:
《順昌戰勝破賊錄》四太子披白袍，甲馬，往來指呼以渠，自將牙兵三千策應，皆重鎧全裝，虜號鐵浮圖。又號乞叉千戶，其精銳特甚，自用兵以來所向無前。至是以為官軍殺傷，先以檢槍揭去兜牟，即用刀斧斫臂，至有以手捽扯者，極力斗敵，自辰至戌，賊兵大敗。
"A report on the victory of Shunchang where we broke the enemy": The fourth prince (he was the fourth son of Wanyan Aguda, the founder of the Jin dynasty. He was known in Chinese sources as Wanyan Zongbi (完顏宗弼) or Wushu (兀朮)) wore a white robe, rode an armoured horse, walking back and forth, shouting orders. He commanded 3000 of his own personal bodyguard to enter the battle. They all were equipped with heavy armours (or double layered armours) from head to toes. The enemy called them "Iron Pagoda". They were known in a different name as Chaqianhu (qianhu 千戶 is a term that is translated as tumen, unit of 1000 in Mongol times). They were the most elite force, since the time the Jin started their military conquests, no one could stand in their way. And yet in this battle, our army was able to kill and injure them. Our method is to use lances to remove their helmets, then use axes to chop off their legs, then we pulled them (off their horses) by hands. Our army engaged them with all our strength, from chen to mao (Chinese way of counting hours), the enemy was completely defeated and shattered.
The second victory, as mentioned above, was from the "Chronicle of Prince E" (鄂王行實編年). It was composed by Yue Ke (岳珂), the grandson of the famous general Yue Fei. This work was later included in Eguo Jintuo cuibian (鄂國金陀粹編)
《鄂王行實編年》初，兀朮有勁軍，皆重鎧，貫以為索，凡三人為聯，號“拐 子馬”，又號“鐵浮圖”，堵牆而進，官軍不能當，所至屢勝。是戰也，以萬五千騎來，諸將懼，先臣笑曰：“易耳！”乃命步人 以麻札刀入陣，勿仰視，第斫馬足。“拐子馬”既相聯合，一馬僨，二馬皆不能行，坐而待斃。官軍奮擊，僵屍如丘。兀朮大慟，曰：“自海上起兵，皆以此勝；今已矣！”
"Chronicle of Prince E": In the beginning, Wushu has an elite force, they all wore heavy armours (or double layered armours). They were all linked by chains, each chain connects three soldiers together, they were called "Guaizi ma", or were known by a different name as "Iron Pagoda". They advanced like a wall. Our army could not deal with them. They scored some victories when they first made their appearance. In this battle, (Wushu) brought with him 15,000 calvary, and this causes our general to be afraid of them. My ancestor (Yue Fei) smiled and said: "This is easy!". He then ordered the infantry, without lifting their heads up, to use Mazha dao (a type of long bladed sword) to chop off the horse legs. Since the "guaizima" was linked together, one horse fell made two horses unable to trot. They all could do nothing but waited to be killed. Our troops fought with great enthusiasm, the dead bodies piled up like a mound. Wushu mourned that: "Ever since the "treaty on the sea" (this treaty was signed in 1120), in all our military expeditions, we has relied on this force for victory. Now everything is lost and over."
There was also a mention of the Jin Pagoda elite cavalry which was preserved in Sanchao beimeng huibian (三朝北盟會編). It also provides a somewhat detailed description of the Iron Pagoda:
《三朝北盟會編•卷二百二》兀朮所將，號常勝軍。其所將攻城士卒號鐵浮屠，又曰鐵塔兵，被兩重鐵兜牟，周匝皆綴長檐，其下乃有氈枕。三人為伍，以皮索相連。即用拒馬子，人進一步，移馬子一步，示不反顧。以鐵騎為左右翼號拐子馬，皆是女真充之。自用兵以來，所不能攻之城，即勾集此軍。
"Sanchao beimian huibian, chapter 202": The army that Wushu commanded was called the "Constantly Victorious Army". Those who were under his command that engage in the siege was called Tietufu (Iron Pagoda) or Tietabing (Iron Tower Soldiers). They wore two layers of heavy armours and helmets, around which sewn long brims and inside which stuffed with felt for cushioning (). Three of them made up a dui. They were linked together by leather chain. When it comes to use cheval de frises, as men made a step forward, they were correspondingly moved one step forward. They do not look back. They employed heavy cavalry as the left and right wing, called Guaizima. Only the Jurchens was chosen to join this army. Since the time of their military conquests, they assembled these troops to assault cities that could not be taken.
The particular helmet of the Jurchens was very hard. Elsewhere in Sanchao beimeng huibian, we find that:
《三朝北盟會編•卷三十》金賊兜鍪極堅，止露兩目。所以槍箭不能入，契丹昔用棍棒擊其頭項，多有墜馬者。
"Sanchao beimian huibian, chapter 30": The Jin enemy's helmets were extremely hard. They only reveal their wearer's two eyes. As such, spears and arrows could not penetrate them. The Khitain previously used wooden clubs to hit the top of their heads. Many of them fell from their horses."
The weight of the armour of the Jurchens was also noted in Sanchao beimian huibian:
《三朝北盟會編•卷二百三十》金人...其所造甲太沈重，披戴艱難...
"Sanchao beimian huibian, chapter 203": The Jin...their manufactured armours were too heavy, made it hard to be put on...
Out of all peoples that we mention above, the heavy armours of the Jurchens were the most noticeable.
5- Organization of cavalry force of the Khitans, Jurchens and Mongols
The Khitans
For the organization of the Khitan army, Liaoshi, chapter on military organization and affairs states that:
《遼史•卷34》...列騎為隊，每隊五、七百人，十隊為一道，十道當一面。各有主帥。最先一隊走馬大噪，沖突敵陣。得利，則諸隊齊進；若未利，引退，第二隊繼之。退者，息馬飲水料。諸道皆然。更退叠進，敵陣不動，亦不力戰。歷二三日，待其困憊，又令打草谷家丁馬施雙帚，因風疾馳，揚塵敵陣，更互往來。中既饑疲，目不相睹，可以取勝。
"Liaoshi, chapter 34", (...) the cavalry was organized into dui, each dui has 500-700 men, 10 dui made up a dao, 10 dao made up a mian. Each group has its own officers. The very first dui rides up and shout loudly, then they vehemently charged the enemy formation. If this proves successful, then all dui advance together, if that does not result in success, then they withdraw and the second dui succeeds the first. Those who retire let their horse drink water. Every dui is like that. They take turns to charge and retire. If the enemy remains steady and firm in their formation, then they do not fight with all their strengths. After two or three days, they wait until the enemy becomes exhausted, then they order their men to pillage (...). They attach two broom and ride horses in the direction of the wind to blow dusts into the enemy formation, they take turns to do so. Eventually, the enemy will suffer from hunger and fatigue. Due to the dust, they would not be able to see each other. As such, victory is in the Khitans' hands.
The Jurchens
The organization and equipment of the Jurchens was described below:
《三朝北盟會編•卷三》其用兵，則戈為前行，人號曰硬軍，人馬皆全甲。刀棓自副，弓矢在後，設而不發，非五十步不射，弓力不過七斗，箭鏃至六七寸，形如鑿，入輒不可出，人㩦不滿百。隊伍之法，伍、什、伯皆有長。伍長擊柝，什長執旗，伯長挾鼓，千長則旗幟，金鼓悉備。伍長戰死，四人皆斬，什長戰死伍長皆斬，伯長戰死什長皆斬，負鬬戰之尸以歸，則得其家貲之半。凡為將皆自執旗，人視其所向而趨，自主帥至步卒，皆自取，無從者。
"Sanchao beimian huibian, chapter 3" Their method of warfare is as followed: those who hold halberds (戈) form the first rank (advance first in the front), they call them "the hardened troops", both men and horses are armoured. They must equip sabers for themselves. Bows and arrows are worn in the back, which are drawn but are not in shooting position. They would not fire until they are within 50 bu from the enemy. The draw weight of their bows does not exceed seven dou, their arrowheads have a length of 6 to 7 cun, shaped like a chisel. These arrows, once entered (the body) could not be pulled out. Their soldiers carry no more than 100 arrows. Their military organization is as followed: each dui (group of 5), shen (group of 10), ba (group of 100) has a senior commander. The commander of a dui sound the rattle, the commander of a shen hold flags, the commander of a bai beat the drums, the commander of a qian (group of 1000) is given battle flags and bronze drums. If the commander of a dui is killed in battle, all the rest four soldiers will be decapitated. If the commander of a shen is killed, the head of a dui would be decapitated. If the commander of a ba is dead, the head of a shen is executed. Those who carry the corpse of (a fallen soldier) back, he would be awarded half of the property that belongs to the family of the fallen. Those who are in the leading positions would possess a flag, and men under their command would advance towards the direction where the flag is pointed. From the high commanders down to infantrymen, they would single out those who do not follow orders.
This passage was translated in Hok-lam Chan and Hebert Franke's Studies on the Jurchen and the Chin Dynasty. I have consulted their translation.
《三朝北盟會編卷九十九》...皆槍為前行，號曰：硬軍，人馬皆全副甲，腰錘八棱棍棒一條，或刀一口，槍長一丈二尺，刀如中國屠刀。此者驍衛之兵也。弓矢在後設而不發，弓力不過七斗。箭多者不滿百只，自大金兵外，其他國兵皆不帶甲，弓矢或有或無，皆旋斫道傍木，執之為兵。
"Sanchao beimian huibian, chapter 3": (Those) who hold lances occupy the first row, they are known as "hardened troops". Both men and horses have armours. They wear a mace of 8 ling and a club in their hips, or they have a saber. Their lance has a length of 1 zhang 2 chi. Their sabers are the same as Chinese budao (a type saber). These are elite bodyguards. Bows and arrows are worn in the back, they are drawn but not shot. The draw weight of their bows does not exceeed 7 dou. They carry no more than 100 arrows. Apart from troops of the great Jin, soldiers from other states do not carry armours, and some possess bows and arrows while others do not. I saw that they chopped off Daobang wood and use them as weapons.
The famous Song general Wu Lin (吳璘 1102-1167) also mentioned the strength of the Jurchens and his way of overcoming them.
《宋史•卷三百六十六》嘗著《兵法》二篇，大略謂：「金人有四長，我有四短，當反我之短，制彼之長。四長曰騎兵，曰堅忍，曰重甲，曰弓矢。吾集蕃漢所長，兼收而並用之，以分隊制其騎兵；以番休迭戰制其堅忍；制其重甲，則勁弓強弩；制其弓矢，則以遠克近，以強制弱。佈陣之法，則以步軍為陣心、左右翼，以馬軍為左右脅，拒馬布兩脅間；至帖撥增損之不同，則係乎臨機。」
"History of Song, chapter 366": (Wu Lin) used to compose two military treatises. In general, they state that: "The Jin army has four advantages, our army correspondingly has four weakness. We can lessen our weakness and overcome the enemy's strengths. The four strengths of the enemy are cavalry, are toughness and determination, are heavy armours, and are bows and arrows. We should combine together the skills of Han and Fan soldiers in order to totally optimise them. We can divide our forces into dui in order to counter their cavalry. We should let our troops take turn to rest in order match their toughness and determination and to counter their heavy amours. We should rely on strong bows and powerful crossbows to deal with their bows and arrows. We should fight them from distance in order to overcome their advantage in close quarters, essentially relying on our strength to defeat their weakness. The way to set up military formation is to use infantry as the center. Left and right wings should be occupied by cavalry, which make up left and right flanks. Cheval de frises should be employed in between the two flanks, as for augmenting or reducing troops at different times, this can be flexibly done according to the situation.
《金虜圖經》虜流有言曰：'不能打一百餘個回合，何以謂馬軍？'蓋騎先貴衝突而已，遇敗亦不散去，則逐隊徐徐而退。弓力止七斗，箭極長，刀劍亦不取其快利。甲止半身，護膝微存，馬甲亦甚輕。
"Jinlutujing" There is a saying among the captives: "If one cannot charge more than a hundred times, how can one dares to call himself a cavalryman? As such, what is valuable about cavalry is that it can suddenly clash and assault, if he is met with setbacks, he does not flee but slowly withdraw. The draw weight of his bows is no more than 7 dou, his arrows are very long, his sword is also not chosen for their sharpness. His armour only covers half of his body, protecting small part of his knee, the barding of the horse is very light.
《雲麓漫鈔》紹興初，嘗獲北方探事人云：虜用兵多用銳陣，一陣退，復一陣來，每一陣，重如一陣；重兵既多，即作圓陣以旋敵人，若敵人復作圓陣外向，即下馬步戰；待其敗走，上馬追之。自用兵以來如此。
The Mongols:
To close this essay, I would like to provide some details about the cavalry of the Mongols which is still preserved in the Chinese source "The Sketches of the black Tartars" (黑韃事略) of the Song ambassador Peng Daya (彭大雅) when he visited the Mongol nascent state. This text has been recently translated in its entirety by the Mongolist Chistopher Atwood in his new book "The rise of the Mongols: Five Chinese sources".
《黑韃事略》其行軍常恐沖伏。雖偏師亦必先發精騎，四散而出，登高眺遠，深哨一二百里間，掩捕居者、行者以審左右前後之虛實，如某道可進、某城可攻、某地可戰、某處可營、某方敵兵、某所糧草，皆責辨哨馬回報。如大勢軍馬並力蝟集，則先燒琵琶，決擇一人以統諸部。
"The Sketches of the black Tartars": When their army were on the march, they were always afraid surprise attack from ambushes. Even their flanks must first send out elite cavalry to disperse in all four directions and to ascend high ground to observe far and wide. They patrolled even one or two hundred li deep (into the unknown territory), capturing residents and those who travelled around in order to find out the true situation of left, the right and the rear (of their army), of the routes where they can advance, of the cities where they can besiege, of the battlefield where they can fight, of the suitable places where they can camp, of the possible position of the army of their enemy, of the places where they can obtain provisions and fodders. These are the duties that their mounted scouts must report back (to their coammander). If they must concentrate and combine a large force for a considerable campaign, then they first "burn the lute" and select one man to command their armies.
其營必擇高阜，主將駐帳必向東南，前置邏騎，韃語「托落」者，分番警也。帳之左右與帳後諸部軍馬，各歸頭項，以席而營。營又貴分，務令疏曠，以便芻秣。營留二馬，夜不解鞍，以防不測；營主之名即是夜號，一營有警，則旁營備馬，以待追襲。餘則整整不動也。惟哨馬之營則異於是，主者中據，環兵曰表，傳木刻以代夜邏。秣馬營裏，使無奔逸，未暮而營，其火謂之「火鋪」。及夜則遷於人所不見之地，以防夜劫，而火鋪則仍在於初營之所，達曉不動也。
When they encamp, they always choose high mounds. Their senior commanders must pitch their tent in the southeast direction. In front of their commander's tents, they station their cavalry watchmen. They take turns to protect the tent. They were called tuoluochi () in Tartar language. On the left and right side, as well as in the back of their commander camp, they station cavalry from various parts of the army, each is submitted to their commander. They use sedge mat to form temporary camp. In the camp, they place great emphasis on distributing tasks to conveniently provide hays and fodders (to their horses). In each camp, they place two horses whose saddles are not taken away in order to prepare for surprise events that are not in their favour. The name of the commander of the camp is the night password. If one camp sounds alarm, then the next camp prepare horses to pursue (the enemy). The rest of the camps remain quiet. Only the camp of the patrols are different from this, their senior commander occupies the central position, while on the outside his troops surround him. The patrols pass among themselves a piece of engraved woods when switching for guarding duties. They provide fodders to their horses inside the camp in order to prevent him from running away. When the sun has not set yet, they prepare fire, they call this "fire for show" (). When night fall comes, they move their camps to a place where others could not see in order to prevent (sudden) night attacks. The "fire for show" is kept burning in the original camp and is not extinguished until dawn.
() Atwood renders this as taulauchi in middle Chinese.
() Adopting from Atwood's translation
其陣利野戰，不見利不進。動靜之間，知敵強弱；百騎不撓，可裏萬眾；千騎分張，可監百裏；推(摧)堅陷陣，全藉前鋒；衽革當先，例十之三。凡遇敵陣，則三三五五四五，斷不簇聚，為敵所包。大率步宜整，而騎宜分。敵分亦分，敵合亦合，故其騎突也，或遠或近，或多或少，或聚或散，或出或沒，來如天墜，去如雷逝，謂之「鴉兵撒星陣。」其合而分，視馬箠之所向；其分而合，聽姑詭之聲以自為號。自邇而遠，俄頃千裏。其夜聚。則望燎煙而知其所戰。宜極寒而無雪，則磨石而禱天。
Their way of warfare is suitable for opened field battle. They do not see that they could gain an advantage, they would not proceed. Between the period of action and inaction, they learn about their enemies' strength and weakness. A hundred of their cavalry encircle ten thousand enemy without falling into disorder. A thousand cavalrymen could divide and spread out to cover a hundred li. In order to smash the enemy's strong formation and destroy their tough units, they always rely on their armoured vanguard, which comprises of one third of their army. Whenever they encounter their enemy formation, they divide themselves into group of three, four, or five. They never form a cluster so that their enemy can easily surround them. Generally, the infantry ought to remain in line while the cavalry must disperse. If their enemy breaks up, they also breaks up, if their enemy concentrates their force, they also concentrate their force. As such, when their cavalry ferociously charged, whether near or far, whether numerous or few, whether clustered or dispersed, whether conspicuous or hidden, they came like the sky is falling, they depart like thunderbolt striking, they call this way of warfare as "raven troops in a scattered-star formation"(). In the case of dispersing after remaining in concentrated formation, they observe the direction of the horsewhip of their commanders, while in the case of gathering after remaining in loose formation, they hear the sound of the gugui. Whether near or far, they could cover a thousand li in no time. If they wish to gather at night, they look for the smoke from the camp fire to ascertain the rendezvous point. The suitable time for a military campaign is when the weather is extremely cold but does not snow. (For a favourable outcome of battle), they rub stones and prey to Heaven.
() I adopt this translation from Atwood.
Although I have finished this translation myself based upon the German translation of, I have revised this work after reading Dr. Christopher Atwood newly published translation and annotation of this particular account. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Atwood for providing me the manuscript of his book before its publication.
其破敵，則登高眺遠，先審地勢，察敵情偽，專務乘亂。故交鋒之始，每以騎隊輕突敵陣，一衝纔動，則不論眾寡，長驅直入。敵雖十萬，亦不能支。不動則前隊橫過，次隊再衝。再不能入，則後隊如之。方其衝敵之時，乃遷延時刻，為布兵左右與後之計。兵既四合，則最後至者一聲姑詭，四方八面響應齊力，一時俱撞。此計之外，或臂團牌，下馬步射。一步中鏑，則兩旁必潰，潰則必亂，從亂疾入。敵或見便以騎蹙步，則步後駐隊馳敵迎擊。敵或堅壁，百計不中，則必驅牛畜或鞭生馬，以生馬攪地，敵陣鮮有不敗。敵或森戟外列，拒馬絕其奔突，則環騎疏哨，時發一矢，使敵勞動。相持既久，必絕食或乏薪水，不容不動，則進兵相逼。或敵陣已動，故不遽擊，待其疲困，然後衝入；待其兵寡，然後則先以土撒，後以木拖，使塵衝天地，疑兵眾，每每自潰；不潰則衝，其破可必。或驅降俘，聽其戰敗，乘敵力竭，擊以精銳；或纔交刃，佯北而走，詭棄輜重，故擲黃白，敵或謂是城敗，逐北不止，衝其伏騎，往往全沒。或因其敗而巧計取勝，只在乎彼縱此橫之間，有古法之所未言者。其勝則尾敵襲殺，不容逋逸。其敗則四散進，追之不及。
Their way of destroying the enemy consists of ascending high grounds to observe far into distance, first preliminarily ascertaining the terrain, and discerning what is the right and what is wrong about the actual situation of enemy. They especially focus on exploiting the enemy's chaos. As such, when both sides came into contact with each other, they employed their cavalry squads to lightly charge and test out the enemy's formation. If their foes show sign of wavering, then no matter how numerous or how little they (the enemy) are, they would directly plunge into the enemy. Even when their foes have 100,000 troops, they could still be not able to withstand the weight of the assault. If the enemy remains steady and unshaken, their front row squads move to the side and leave ground for the next wave to descend upon them. If they still could not penetrate their adversaries, the next-next wave continue on the process of pounding their foes. When they are about to come into contact with the opposing side, they delay for a bit to employ the strategy of positioning their forces to the left, the right and behind their foes. Then their troops are summoned from four directions, and those that arrive last would sound the guigui so that they would rush in a united manner from four directions and eight sides (literally means from all directions), together they smash into their foes' formation. Apart from this strategy, those who are equipped with round shields hung from shoulders could dismount to shoot with their bows and arrows on foot. Once their arrows land on their foes, they would be broken. Once broken, they would fall into chaos, and thus they would infiltrate into enemy's ranks once chaos set in. If their adversaries see an opportunity for their cavalry to press the infantry, then the Tartar's cavalry stationing behind the layer of infantry would charge forward to counter them head on. If their foes remain firm like a strong wall, then they would drive forward cattle or wild horses, thus letting wild horses to disrupt their ranks. It is rare that their enemy is not defeated. If the enemy point their halberds outward like a forest in order to resist and halt the cavalry charge, then the Tartars' surrounding cavalry and scattered scouts would occasionally shoot one arrow, thus causing their foes to be exhausted. When both struggle against each other for a long time, the opposing side will eventually run out of food and water supply, thus forcing them to make a move. At this moment, the Tartars would close in. Or if their enemy's ranks are shaken, they would not be hurried to make an assault, but wait out until the enemy is worn down and exhausted, and only then would they penetrate them. If they Tartars found themselves few in numbers, they would whip up dust. and drag branches from trees to make the dust cover the earth and rise to the sky, thus giving their foes the impression that they are far more numerous and causing them to fall into disorder, once their ranks are broken, the Tartars would penetrate and vanquish them. There are situations where the Tartars would drive up their captives and let them be defeated, then by seizing the opportunity when their enemy exert themselves to exhaustion in the process, they attack them with cracked troops. Or there are instances when just upon crossing swords, they choose to flee, deceptively leaving behind their baggage trains, deliberately throw away their silver and gold, misleading their foes into thinking that this is a real defeat, enticing them to pursue the Tartars without stopping, leaving them as preys to the ambush that is awaiting them. This usually leads a complete annihilation of their foes. As such, the difference between failure and gaining success by employing crafty tactics lie in adopting competing strategies. The Tartar's strategies lie outside what are stated in ancient time about warfare. If they gain a victory, they would follow their enemy like a tail until the last men are slaughtered, leaving no one to escape. If they are defeated, they would flee in four directions (literally all directions), leaving their foes to wonder where they have gone.
韃人生長於鞍馬間，人自習戰。自春徂東，旦旦逐獵，乃其生涯。故無步卒，悉是騎軍。起兵數十萬，略無文書，自元帥至千戶、百戶、牌子頭，傳令而行，凡攻大城，先擊小郡，掠其人民以供驅使。乃下令曰：每一騎兵，必欲掠十人。人足備，則每名需草或柴薪、或土石若干，書夜迫逐，緩者殺之，迫逐填塞其壕塹立平，或供鵝洞炮座等用，不惜數萬人，以此攻城壁，無不破者。城破，不問老幼妍丑、貧富逆順，皆誅之，略不少恕。凡諸臨敵不用命者，雖貴必誅。凡破城守有所得，則以分數均之，自上及下，雖多寡，每留一分，為成吉思皇帝獻，余物則敷俵有差，宰相等在於沙漠不臨戎者，亦有其數焉。凡有征伐謀議，先定於三四月間，行於諸國，又於重五宴會共議今秋所向，各歸其國避暑牧養，至八月，咸集於燕都，而後啟行。
韃國地豐水草，宜羊、馬。其馬初生一二年，即於草地苦騎而教之，卻養三年，而後再乘騎，故教其初是以不蹄嚙也。千百為群，寂無嘶鳴，下馬不用控系，亦不走逸，性甚良善。日間未嘗芻秣，惟至夜，方始牧放之。隨其草之青枯，野牧之。至曉，搭鞍乘騎，並未始與豆粟之類。凡出師，人有數馬，日輪一騎乘之，故馬不困弊。
