Qiang Levy

Overall strategy
Qiang Levies are warriors recruited from the Qiang, who live in the no-man's-lands that separate China proper from Tibet, and so are mostly simple raiders armed with javelins. They are mostly meant to function as a stopgap for the Chinese and Tibetan civilisations as well as provide light- to medium assault capabilities in the field, but are still fairly weak if attacked using cavalry.

Nevertheless, it pays to remember that as weak a these light units are they have armour piercing attacks &mdash; so the best use for them is to weaken the more powerful infantry of European factions, to be followed up by a barrage of archer fire or spear spam to halt them dead in their tracks.

If you are playing against China or Tibet, and you see your enemy amassing Qiang Levies, use melee units with a fast speed to attack them. Specialised units, such as the Norse Jomsvikingr, or fast rush units such as Berber Tribesmen can be used to step into their guard, and then destroy them. Even better too are melee cavalry units, especially medium cavalry since these units often are fast and are robust enough to resist a javelin hit or two before they can close in to scatter or kill.

Background
Chinese believe, according to their ancient records, that the ancestors of the Qiang people were the "Qiang" people who lived in western China 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. The Shang Dynasty-era oracle bone inscriptions are East Asia's first known historical writings. It is thought that a group or groups of them moved into Sichuan. They were on the peripheries of the expanding and warring Tibetan and Han empires for hundreds of years. Those nearer the Tibetans were assimilated or adopted more of Tibetan language, religion and culture. Those nearer the Han empires were assimilated and became more like the Han people.

Still, many Qiang continued to raise sheep for example. Their housing styles, religions, and culture are unlike of the Han people or the Tibetans and continue to do so to this day. The Yi, Bai and Naxi people of Yunnan and other areas are related with the Qiang in Sichuan. Their Qiang ancestors also moved eastwards to settle in warm lowlands.