Harness is a name that refers to the tools that can assist cavalry, including saddles, bridles, whips, stirrups, breeches, etc., and among these tools, in terms of military use, the saddle and stirrup are definitely the most effective.

The saddle is the suspension between the rider's butt and the horse's back, which acts somewhat like a car, allowing the cavalry to sit more comfortably on the bumpy horseback, thus enhancing the cavalry's durability when traveling long distances.

If you have ever sat on a long-distance bus (non-sleeper) or a long-distance train hard seat, you know that a good seat can actually greatly relieve people's endurance and mood during the journey, and the saddle plays such a role in a good seat.

Not only that, but harnesses such as the Takahashi saddle can also be very convenient to hold the knight in place, making it an excellent aid for heavy cavalry.

As for the stirrup, it is even more remarkable, it is precisely because of the appearance of the stirrup that the ancient Chinese cavalry directly jumped from an auxiliary class like a chariot soldier to a main branch on an equal footing with the infantry, or even above the infantry.

Before the Industrial Revolution, the Mongol Empire, the largest empire on earth, swept through most of the civilized world in just a few decades with its invincible cavalry.

It was not until the time of the two world wars that the rise of mechanized units, led by tanks, finally brought the cavalry to its end.

It can be said that in the two thousand years from the appearance of stirrups to the large-scale formation of mechanized troops such as tanks and put into the battlefield, the cavalry is the first branch of the army in the world!

Why can the stirrup play such an important role in the entire history of cavalry in China and even the world?

The presence of stirrups makes it easier for cavalrymen, especially light cavalry, to control their bodies, and to maintain their balance on horseback more easily than before when advancing at high speeds.

With stirrups, it's easier to do things like riding a horse and shooting an arrow, charging into battle right away, and slashing with a knife.

The word "easy" is actually the essence of the stirrup.

With stirrups, learning riding is no longer as difficult for the people of the Central Plains as it was before.

To give a well-known example, a good riding skill is equivalent to a driver's license, while a horse without stirrups is equivalent to a manual transmission, and a horse with stirrups is equivalent to an automatic transmission.

You learn manual transmission, after ignition, you have to step on the clutch, hang gear, let go of the hand brake, release the clutch to the semi-clutch state and step on the accelerator slightly, and then you have to control the clutch firmly to be able to start, the clutch can not be released too fast otherwise it may turn off, the accelerator can not be stepped on too much otherwise it may run away.

What about automatic transmissions? Ignition, step on the brake to hang D gear, release the handbrake, release the brake, and walk steadily with one foot on the accelerator. Flameout? Inexistent.

Just from the number of words in the above two sentences, you can understand that manual transmission is cumbersome and difficult to learn compared with automatic transmission.

In terms of obtaining a driver's license (riding), the manual transmission without stirrups was definitely crushed out of a few streets by the automatic transmission with stirrups.

For the nomads on the grassland, because they grew up on horseback, it is equivalent to driving a mountain road every day, what drift is at hand, the manual transmission is also the same, and it doesn't matter whether there is an automatic transmission with stirrups.

However, for the farming people of the Central Plains, the emergence of the stirrup automatic transmission has greatly reduced the difficulty and threshold of obtaining a driver's license for riding, and can allow more soldiers who have never ridden a horse before to quickly become cavalry through training, so that they have the capital to compete with the grassland cavalry in the number of cavalry.

This is the greatest meaning of stirrups!

Zhao Sheng, the king of the plains, is not a fool, on the contrary, although this Zhao Xiangbang is not the smartest group of people in the Zhao era, he definitely belongs to the category of smart people, so he immediately figured out the meaning of the set of horse harness stirrups and saddles, and said with his eyes shining very excitedly: "King, if my Zhao cavalry has this set of horse harnesses, it must be no problem to sweep the six countries!" ”

During the Spring and Autumn Period, charioteers were the protagonists of the battlefield, so much so that people like to use the number of chariots to measure the national strength of a country, such as "the country of a thousand times", "the country of ten thousand times" and so on.

In the era of the Warring States Period, it was the era when the chariot soldiers gradually declined and the cavalry began to rise, but the cavalry was actually not the main force at this time.

The most direct evidence is that there are still chariot soldiers in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, and the cavalry in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses do not have stirrups under their feet.

The main reason for this is that there is no saddle stirrup, the emergence and large-scale application of these harnesses, which leads to problems in mobility, durability and lethality of cavalry, and the threshold for training cavalry itself is too high.

So at this time, the significance of the appearance of stirrups and even this whole set of harness is absolutely incomparable.

Zhao Dan's youngest son, Zhao Yan, ran to the side of the horse and touched the east and west, with a curious face.

Zhao Heng stood aside and listened carefully to the conversation between his father and his uncle, the eldest prince of Zhao had a faint feeling that the thing that his father brought him to see today was not just "fun".

Zhao Dan smiled slightly and said: "What my uncle said is very true, these harnesses will definitely become a sharp weapon for my Zhao country to sweep the world in the future, but in the opinion of widows, horse harness is fashionable and not suitable for large-scale promotion." ”

"Huh?" Zhao Sheng was stunned.

Looking at Zhao Sheng, who didn't know why, Zhao Dan smiled and said, "Uncle thinks, if you talk about cavalry, how about my Zhao Kingdom?" ”

Zhao Sheng snorted and said, "I, the cavalry of Zhao State, are invincible in the world!" ”

What Zhao Sheng said was really not bragging, the cavalry of Zhao State was really the first existence in the world at this time.

The reason for this, of course, is also due to Zhao Dan's grandfather Zhao Wulingwang's "Hufu Cavalry Shooting", since wearing short-sleeved narrow pants and long boots, which is more convenient to move on horses, the cavalry of Zhao has greatly improved both mobility and combat effectiveness, and has become the crown of all countries.

And after defeating Lin Hu and Lou Fu, a large number of surrendered Lin Hu and Lou Fu became the people and soldiers of the five northern counties of Zhao State, these nomads on the grassland were born excellent cavalry, and the strength of Zhao State's cavalry was even stronger after they joined.

Throughout the Warring States Period, Zhao was the only one among the Seven Heroes who completely eliminated the chariot soldiers, fully formed a pure cavalry corps, and was also the only country with nomadic cavalry.

Even Qin Shi Huang, who destroyed the Zhao State, still has chariot soldiers in his terracotta warriors.

Therefore, whether in terms of concept or combat effectiveness, the cavalry of Zhao State is not of the same grade as other countries.

Even if Zhao was on the verge of annihilation in history, Li Mu, the god of Zhao cavalry, was still able to use a small number of cavalry and infantry to defeat the Qin army one after another, which was also an excellent proof of the combat effectiveness of Zhao's cavalry.

If the Battle of Changping broke out not in the rugged Taihang Mountains, which could not give full play to the advantages of cavalry, but broke out in the endless prairie, then the offensive and defensive momentum between Qin and Zhao would be directly reversed, and it would become Zhao attacking Qin and defending.

Therefore, when Zhao Sheng said the sentence "Lao Tzu Zhao is the first cavalry in the world", he was really full of confidence and confidence.

Zhao Dan nodded approvingly, agreeing with Zhao Sheng's words, and then said: "Since my uncle understands that my Zhao State cavalry is unparalleled in the world, then uncle think about it, if this harness leaks out, who will benefit the most?" ”

Zhao Sheng was stunned when he heard this.

To be honest, stirrups, or even the full set of harness on the war horse at the moment, they don't have much technical content in them. As long as you get a finished product, then it is definitely not too easy to imitate the gourd.

Therefore, once the cavalry of the Zhao State is equipped on a large scale, other countries will definitely be able to imitate these harnesses very quickly.

Since the strength of Zhao's cavalry itself is the first in the world, the improvement brought by the harness to Zhao's cavalry is actually relatively limited.

The other six countries with a more anxious cavalry level may instead make their cavalry level catch up because of the appearance of these horse harnesses, and close the gap between them and the Zhao State.

If this is really the case, then Zhao Guo, who made the harness, is really lifting a stone and shooting himself in the foot.

Thinking of this, Zhao Sheng, who was originally full of enthusiasm, felt as if someone had poured a basin of cold water from his head, and his whole person was cold.

Don't look at Zhao Sheng with such a big beer belly, in fact, he was also a horse riding enthusiast when he was young, and his riding skills were okay, and he would come on a hunt a few times a year, otherwise he wouldn't have been so riding like a horse just now.

It is precisely because Zhao Sheng is a person who understands horses that he has a deeper understanding of the benefits of horse harness, and he will be more eager for the implementation of horse harness.

It's like a tuning enthusiast who has a supercar engine in his hand, but can't fit it into his own modified car.

Looking at Zhao Sheng's appearance of scratching his ears and cheeks, Zhao Dan couldn't help but feel funny in his heart, his uncle was about to be fifty years old, but he didn't expect to have such an unstable time.

But Zhao Sheng is actually called caring and messy, and he doesn't want to think about it, Zhao Dan specially made this thing out, is it just to hang his appetite?

Zhao Dan quickly spoke: "Uncle, if the harness is exposed at this moment, it will indeed be detrimental to my Zhao Kingdom. However, if we first build and store it in large quantities and equip our army at a critical moment, we will definitely be able to unprepare the enemy army and have the effect of surprise. ”

This is what Zhao Dan really means. After all, it's too easy to imitate these things if they really want to be imitated, and there is actually only one chance to take them out and give the enemy a hard blow, because the second time the enemy is on guard, and they may even be copied on a large scale.

Zhao Sheng's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh when he heard the words: "The king is really high!" Let's go and prepare for this! ”

Zhao Dan nodded and advised: "Uncle, this matter is very important and must not be leaked, and my uncle must choose someone who is a reliable person to operate." The affairs of the Wei State cannot be left behind, so my uncle will arrange this matter as soon as possible and then send an envoy to the Wei State. ”

After a pause, Zhao Dan stretched out his hand and pointed at his eldest son Zhao Heng: "In addition, the widow hopes that Heng'er can participate in this matter, and he also hopes that his uncle will arrange it, and he must give Heng'er a chance to contact ordinary craftsmen." ”

Zhao Sheng was stunned again when he heard this.

In this era, it can be said that there is a great difference between the four classes of "Shinong, Industrialist, and Industrialist" and belong to four completely different types of people.

Zhao Heng, as the eldest son of the monarch, and even very likely to become the monarch of the future Zhao State, is the top figure at the level of "scholar", why should he go to mix with those "workers" who are cheaper than the peasants?

Could it be that the monarch is dissatisfied with this eldest son, which is a kind of beating and punishment?

But Zhao Sheng still responded, and then quickly put this matter aside, anyway, this is the king's own business, what's the matter with him.

Zhao Sheng took this set of harness off the horse with people, and then went out of the palace.

After Zhao Sheng left, Zhao Dan took his gaze back and put it on his own son, Zhao Heng: "Why, I don't understand the arrangement of the widow?" ”

To be honest, Zhao Heng is indeed confused now, after all, as a native of this era, the hierarchical concept of "Shinong Industry and Commerce" has also taken root in Zhao Heng's mind, so it is indeed difficult for this prince of Zhao to understand his father's thoughts.

Zhao Dan patted Zhao Heng's shoulder and said earnestly: "Child, remember what my father told you today." Anyone who supports himself is not a cheap job! The progress of this society and the country, in the final analysis, still depends on the damned capitalists and respectable engineers! ”