There was a crowd of people in front of Wansheng Gate, and the news of the emperor's review of the Tianxiang Army had spread in the corners of Bianjing City a few days ago.

After Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, in order to prove the legitimacy of his succession to the throne; After eliminating the Northern Han Dynasty Liu Jiyuan's secession regime, taking advantage of the momentum of the Song army, he deployed a campaign to attack Youzhou and seize the sixteen states of Yanyun.

At this time, Jingzong Yeluxian of the Liao Dynasty died, and the 12-year-old prince Yelu Longxu succeeded to the throne as Liao Shengzong.

According to common sense, the chances of winning the war against Liao deployed by Song Taizong are in hand, not to mention that the emperor of the Liao Dynasty is newly mourned and the little emperor is young; But it was his mother Xiao Zhuo who assisted the little emperor of the Liao Dynasty.

Xiao Zhuo, a female politician who did not lose to Wu Zetian and Liu Min, learned that Song Taizong launched a three-way attack on the Liao Dynasty; Immediately call up the forces of the whole country to resist.

Song Taizong, a stinky chess basket, foolishly took out his "Pingrong Wanquan Array" in the battle with the Liao army and was counterattacked by the Liao army's Tielin army, and the results achieved at the beginning were of course lost; His subordinates found him a donkey cart to make Song Taizong, who was besieged by the Liao army, flee back to the Song army in a panic like a lost dog, but the arrow of the Liao army in his body became a lifelong regret.

The battle of Song Taizong's defeat is known as the "Battle of the Gaoliang River".

After the defeat in the Battle of the Gaoliang River, Song Taizong never mentioned the invasion of Liao again; The Song court also did not have a decent army to go out on the expedition.

And Lu Chengyu's 800 Tianxiang army wanted to go to the five continents of the north to conquer Western Xia, and Song Taizong arranged it early; To inspect the Tianxiang army at Wansheng Gate.

The Liantianxiang army only had 800 soldiers, and the number was not superior, so Song Taizong asked the Privy Council and the Sanya to summon 100,000 forbidden troops stationed in Beijing to cooperate with the Tianxiang army to accept the emperor's review.

The people of Bianliang City learned that the emperor was going to hold a grand military parade at Wanshengmen today, and rushed here early to occupy a favorable position; People want to see with their own eyes the good military appearance of the Great Song Forbidden Army.

The weather was fine, the sky was clear, and the sun rose a pole high from the eastern sky; There was movement on the side of the barracks on Odori Street.

In order to give the 800 soldiers of the Tianxiang Army a strong march, some veterans who stayed in the barracks put the fire points prepared in advance to make a "tom tom" sound.

In the sound of the fire guns shaking the mountain, Lu Chengyu commanded the soldiers of the 800 Tianxiang Army to set out.

The 800 soldiers of the Tianxiang Army are all cavalry, plus the accompanying supplies and quartermasters, a total of 1,000 people.

So how to solve the meal of these 1,000 people along the way? This Lu Chengyu had already thought about it, and he had the Golden Tiger Talisman in his hand to mobilize the army; There is also the endorsement of the emperor's edict to crusade against Li Jiqian, and he plans to go to the post station where there is to let the soldiers eat.

This was extremely beneficial to the lightly armed Tianxiang army, which could speed up the march without heavy grain and grass; It can also reduce the heavy burden on the soldiers.

This idea was set by Liu Min for Lu Chengyu, and Lu Chengyu played in front of the emperor after getting Liu Min's suggestion; The emperor fully agreed with his proposal, and ordered the prefectures and counties of Shaanxi Wulu to warmly receive the Tianxiang army led by Lu Chengyu along the way; The proclamation had already been sent to Shaanxi No. 5 Road.

and 800 Tianxiang Army, 600 are light cavalry, and 200 are heavy cavalry; Each cavalry soldier is equipped with three weapons: one is a spear, the second is a Tang knife, and the third is a crossbow machine.

Why did Liu Min suggest that Lu Chengyu's 800 Tianxiang army be built into 600 light cavalry and 200 heavy armored cavalry, which was completely based on actual combat.

Liu Min knew that Li Jiqian had trained a fierce cavalry in the north called "Iron Harrier", and the best way to destroy the Iron Harrier was to fight hard against hard; Charged with heavy cavalry, light cavalry rushed to harass, and prepared three weapons spear, Tang knife, and crossbow machine; There is a preemptive strike with a borrowed sharp weapon.

Liu Min was a doctor of medicine in later generations, and studied a large number of strategies, tactics and weapons in ancient and modern China and foreign countries; I felt that the spears of the Western Han Dynasty Weiqing and Huo Quai's cavalry against the Hun cavalry could be used.

And the Tang knife is the world-famous Mo knife, which is a killer weapon when fighting the enemy at close range; There is also a crossbow machine, which was already used by the Qin army when Mengcha expelled the Xiongnu.

The crossbow machine developed to the Three Kingdoms, and after Zhuge Liang's careful transformation, it became a rare power that a crossbow machine could fire ten arrow clusters in a row.

Spears, swords, and crossbows equipped with 800 Tianxiang troops can completely defeat an army of 80,000 with one hundred victories.

In order to equip Lu Chengyu's 800 Tianxiang army with moderate weapons, Liu Min used his knowledge of armament; He has studied several accomplished cavalry weapons in ancient and modern times.

The strongest cavalry blades in history, all "ferocious; Once there were three cavalry armies, and they showed themselves to the world in a strong and domineering posture.

And their names were a nightmare for all nations at the time, and their flags once made the whole world tremble; And these three cavalry units are the Mongolian cavalry, the Han iron cavalry, and the Tang Xuanjia.

Liu Min has studied Mongolian scimitars, ring-headed knives, and Tang Dynasty Mo knives.

The Mongol cavalry used the Mongolian scimitar, and the curved blade was not only very good for one-handed slashing; And its thick blade will not break easily, especially in close slashes; The use of the Mongolian scimitar did not require a lot of cavalry to expend, as long as the knife was laid flat and relied on the impact of the horse; You can easily remove the enemy's head.

At that time, the Mongolian cavalry relied on the Mongolian scimitar in their hands and their flexible mobility; dragged down one opponent after another, and laid down pieces of territory.

However, Mongolia is a steppe people, and children practice sucking and riding sheep at the age of three or four, and then riding horses; The superb riding skills of the Central Plains were difficult to match, and the Mongolian scimitar was abandoned.

The Great Han Iron Cavalry is an elite cavalry unit formed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it has made great achievements in that year.

The weapon used by the Great Han Iron Cavalry was the famous ring-headed knife, which was a long knife made of stainless steel after repeated folding, forging and quenching; It can be said to be the most advanced cold weapon in the world at that time, and it is also the most lethal melee weapon.

Because this knife is a one-sided blade, it is very conducive to slashing; Combined with the strong crossbow iron halberd, the attack ability of the Han cavalry was greatly strengthened.

The problem is that although Dahan's ring-head knife is sharp, it is a bit outdated compared to Datang's Mo knife; Therefore, Liu Min chose Modao.

The Tang Xuanjia was dressed in black armor and was the elite of the elite among the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty; Each person has a straight blade different from the ring head knife, and this weapon is the Tang knife, also known as the Mo knife.

Mo knives were born to be used in war, so when they were made, they were made with wrought iron as the outer skin, sandwiched with 100 steels in the middle, and quenching technology was used in the cutting edge, which was hard and could be cut and broken, and at the same time was not easy to deform and break.

However, due to the high manufacturing cost of Tang swords, the general dynasty was limited to financial resources and rarely equipped them.

Lu Chengyu's 800 iron cavalry was born in the Song Dynasty, and the financial resources of the Song Dynasty were incomparable to those of the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty; With the financial resources of the Great Song Dynasty, 800 Mo knives are not a single hair on Jiuniu's body.

The three weapons of the 800 Tianxiang Army, spears, knives, and crossbows are fully equipped as scheduled, and the armor is also in accordance with the Tang Dynasty; The soldiers were dressed in black armor.

Equipped with weapons, you have to conduct harsh training for the 800 Tianxiang Army; One is horseback riding, the second is archery, and the third is hand-to-hand combat.

Fortunately, Liu Min trained horseback riding, archery, spear assassination, and Mo knife chopping talents.

For example, Liang Ding is a horse trainer with decades of experience; There are also 3 of his disciples: Chen Yiyu, Tu Youmei, and Lai Zhenyue are all masters of horse taming.

The spear leaders include Jiang Mengjun, Guo Yuquan, and Wang Renqing.

And the head of the Modao Sect Fei Chen Shengjie is none other than Chen Shengjie, who is still a master of martial arts; When training soldiers to master the skills of Mo Dao, they are mixed with martial arts routines, and the trained soldiers are one of the hundreds.

As for the crossbow machine sect leader, of course, it is Liu Min and Grandpa Huo, Liu Min cultivated the "Plum Blossom Flying Needle" in Xuanji Cave; Grandpa Huo cultivated the "Broad Bean Sleeve Stone", these two kung fu belong to hidden weapons.

Of course, the two fell in love with each other, and Xuanji Cave also practiced a crossbow machine with ten arrows, and the crossbow machine, a weapon with a bit of high technology, was taught by Liu Min, so he really found the right person.

The problem is that Liu Min used the name of the crossbow machine instructor when she was the head of the crossbow machine, and the soldiers did not know that she was a woman; very affectionately called her the head of the sect.

After the spear, sword, and crossbow machine instructors were implemented one by one, the focus was on training the soldiers in horseback riding skills.

The head of the horse technology is understandably undertaken by Grandpa Liang, Chen Yiyun, Tu Youmei, and Lai Zhenyue, and the horse skills training of the four of them for Tianxiang Army is the top priority in all kinds of training.

The most basic kung fu of the horse army is the horseback riding technique, and the most basic course of horse riding is the training of the soldiers to get on and off the horse and ride on the horse steadily.

A good knight does not step on the stirrup, but jumps and mounts; Dismount without stepping on the horse, - leap down.

To transfer from horse A to horse B, you don't need to get off horse A and then get on horse B, as long as you jump - get off to complete the transfer.

It is well known that a warrior is far less steady on a horse than on the ground, and once the horse moves or gallops; Especially when "crossing the moat, climbing the hills, taking risks, overwhelming the great Ze, galloping strong enemies, and chaotic the public", he can still sit firmly on the horse to be considered a good knight.

To this end, Liang Ding's master and apprentice four-person instructor needs to master the exercise of balancing the body immediately; Otherwise, there is a danger of falling off the horse.

It is not uncommon for horses to fall due to poor balance during the rapid advance of the warhorse, and there are many people who fall off their horses because they cannot withstand the fierce blows in only a few rounds in battle; All kinds of phenomena show that his riding skills are not perfect.

Not only did the cavalry need to sit firmly on a horse that galloped on a rough road, but it also had to move freely on the horse—a complex set of movements.

For example, shoot arrows from front to back, left and right, swing weapons, and strike the opponent steadily and accurately; For the enemy's swift slashing stabs, it can safely dodge or shift the dial.

The above skills should be called "cavalry archery" in a broad sense, which is a necessary skill for cavalry; In this respect alone, it is much more difficult than infantry to wield bows and fight.

The infantry is standing on the ground, or half-kneeling, or with their feet open, drawing the bow accurately, the foundation is stable, it is easy to use the strength of the whole body, the radiation range is long, and the degree of accuracy is higher.

However, the cavalry is sitting on a horse and aiming and opening the bow, the horse is walking or galloping, the base is in motion, and at the same time, the target may also be in motion.

This is done in an interactive situation, and there are two difficulties:

—,— to a certain extent, it limits the strength of the whole body, especially the strength of the arms.

Second, the accuracy of the attack has decreased, so the practice of striking the opponent accurately and effectively is not a one-day achievement, but the result of long-term and arduous training under strict instruction.

Fortunately, Lu Chengyu's 800 Tianxiang Army is the foundation of the Qingshichuan Horse Husbandry, and many people can ride horses; Liang Ding's four-person mentor and apprentice coach is much more worry-free.

The Northern Song Dynasty court attached great importance to the development of cavalry from the founding of the country, and it was in the hands of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty; approved General Liu Yuan's opinion: "If the Ma army can't teach and learn, please descend to the army." ”。

Later it was stated; "Cavalrymen under the age of 50, who cannot teach martial arts before they can learn it; And thought it was an infantry army. ”

From these two lines, there can be no doubt that cavalry is more demanding than infantry; Cavalry can be used as infantry after being eliminated if they are not qualified, which shows that the difficulty of cavalry training is much higher than that of infantry......