Chain Cavalry is Huyan Zhuo’s battlefield system in Water Margin: armored horses are linked in groups so their combined advance strikes with the weight and breadth of a moving wall. Its power comes from formation and momentum rather than from a special breed of horse.
Chapter 55 introduces the linked cavalry during the campaign against Liangshan and leaves the defenders searching for an answer. Chapter 57 completes the tactical cycle: Xu Ning trains hooked-spear troops to attack the horses’ legs and break the links, after which the formation collapses and Huyan Zhuo is defeated.
The system is inseparable from both commander and countermeasure. It defines Huyan Zhuo as an organizer of heavy cavalry while also explaining why Liangshan needs specialist knowledge, manufacturing, drill, and coordination. A row of connected mounts is the visual form; the innovation-and-response story is the meaning.
