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My friend told me that the Manchus would link 4 horses together and fight. Yufei then cut off the horses feet and won anyway.

Is this true? Where can I learn about 4 horses tied together?

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After doing a bit of research, I found nothing on the tactic of linking horses. I've read a bit of Chinese military history, and I mean no offense, but most of the stuff are lies. For example, 诸葛亮 supposedly created an perpetual motion ox to carry grain. This is impossible. Another example is 赵云 killed 100 people to save 刘备's son. A third example is that 关羽，killed numerous generals and their armies to get to 刘备。All of which are doubtful. These stories are like the story that King Arthur had a giant cross strapped to his back and killed the entire enemy army or the story that Lancelot killed a dragon. Chinese history up until maybe the Ming or Qing dynastes is cloudy and full of myths, and not very reliable.

In a more scientific perspective, it would be really hard to chop of the legs of the horses. The lances that the manchu used were just to long. enter image description here

The lances next to the horses look about a horse and a half long.

Recap:

Early Chinese "history" contains lots of myths. This story you were told is probably a myth.

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  • So horse lances are actually longer than infantry spears? Is this common?
    – user4951
    Mar 19, 2012 at 7:55
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    yes, or all cavalry would be obsolete
    – Russell
    Mar 19, 2012 at 12:43
  • so why does age of empires always say that spears are effective against cavalry? Oh the infantry can still puncture the horse while the cavalry lance start from way behind the horse's neck.
    – user4951
    Mar 19, 2012 at 12:53
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    In the west, knights "couched" their lances meaning that they just aimed their lace at the infantry and braced it. Cavalry's power didn't come from the lance, but their ability to smash through the enemy ranks, create a hole, let the infantry exploit it, and run down the routers. In Agincourt, the English won because the French cavalry couldn't get enough momentum from their cavalry to smash enemy lines. Cavalry isn't there to be in a prolonged fight, but instead used as shock troops, meaning that all that mattered was the horse hitting and braking a hole in the enemy ranks.
    – Russell
    Apr 1, 2012 at 5:18
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    @Russell Whether there are plenty of lies or not in Chinese history, the cited examples are poor ones. They hail from San Guo Yan Yi, which as a historical novel is expected to be full of fantastical things. The history San Guo Zhi has a far more sober assessment of these men and their feats. I'd also like to see citations for the claim that pre-Ming Chinese history is unreliable. I've only seen this said of history about eras prior to Qin.
    – lins314159
    Nov 2, 2012 at 5:42

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