The age of mounted combat has generally been viewed from a European
perspective, since it was there that infantry was overthrown and that the
greatest and most far-reaching changes in cavalry tactics occurred. But it
was by no means an exclusively European phenomenon; indeed, the mounted
warrior's tactical supremacy was less complete in western Europe than in the
vast Asiatic steppes that bordered China. Evidence from the region suggests
that horses were first mounted about 4000 BC, but their role in warfare was
trivial until the Han dynasty.
The fame of the large Parthian warhorses reached the Chinese imperial court
and led the emperor Han Wu Ti to send an expedition westward as far as
Fergana to bring back specimens of the new breed in 101 BC. These were mated
with the sturdy Mongolian horses, and for the next several centuries the
Chinese emperors employed both horse archers and armored horsemen to guard
the borders against barbarian incursions and the vital Silk Road caravans
from raiders. Ironically, the invading Mongols would eventually turn these
against Chinese rulers themselves.
China leads the world in terms of horse population, having nearly 11 million
horses within its borders. Once the discovery of the stirrup made its way to
China, heavy cavalry soon followed. As the Chinese found out first-hand when
the Mongols invaded in the 12th century, it is better to have heavy calvary
than to be attacked by them.
來源 https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Rider_(Civ3)
https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Chinese_(Civ3)
文章寫道中國的馬匹數量居世界前列，其境內有近1,100萬匹馬。
真的中國馬有那麼多嗎?
最早的雙馬蹬出現在東晉時期 中國的騎兵是否為世界史上第一個具有真正義意的騎兵?