The 1st Lancer Regiment, although there were only more than 400 lancers, actually had more than 800 horses, and there were also nearly 500 attendants, and the overall size was much larger than that of ordinary light cavalry regiments!

And this is not the full strength of the 1st Lancer Regiment!

According to the establishment, the 1st Lancer Regiment should have four cavalry teams, each with 150 lancers, for a total strength of 600 lancers, with an equal number of Mongol horses and attendants.

Therefore, the 1st Lancer Regiment should have more than 1,200 horses and a total strength of about 1,200 men, which is almost twice as large as the Light Cavalry Regiment.

And in this way, the First Lancer Regiment is actually unable to fight alone, and if they want to maintain their combat effectiveness, they have to work with the army and let the army's professional baggage troops provide them with sufficient supplies, after all, more than a thousand horses, the amount of fine required every day is not a small amount.

The first lancer regiment formed by the Tang Army greatly refers to the existing light cavalry in its formation, and also learns about the development of cavalry in contemporary Europe from the Portuguese and Spanish, and to a certain extent, it also refers to the establishment and combat methods of heavy cavalry in Europe.

Referring to the existing light cavalry mode, it is a nearly uniform training method, and the wall charge is used in combat.

In terms of equipment, it is a reference to the contemporary European heavy cavalry, but there are some changes, for example, the armament of the European heavy cavalry is the hollow cavalry, which is completely different from the solid spear that can be used repeatedly in the hands of the traditional cavalry in East Asia.

And the cavalry spear used by the 1st Lancer Regiment of Datang is purely a one-time weapon!

The reason why the First Lancer Regiment of Datang used this hollow cavalry gun is also very simple, because the tactics used by the First Lancer Regiment are also intensive wall-mounted charging tactics.

How does this tactic work?

The lancers form a dense and uniform formation and charge directly towards the enemy, in the process, the cavalry's movements will be greatly limited, all they can do is to move their spears forward and stab at the enemy!

And after stabbing the enemy, because of the huge impact brought by the war horse, and at the same time, the cavalry could not move freely and flexibly like those classical cavalry, and swung the spear like a riding knife.

It is also destined that the cavalry that uses the wall charge will be greatly impacted after the charge, and it will be a matter of minutes for the wrist and even the arm to be completely broken.

That's when a protective measure is needed!

What measures?

Naturally, after stabbing the enemy with a mounted spear, it will break off on its own!

Some people may ask, if the cavalry guns are broken, how can the cavalry carry out follow-up operations?

It doesn't matter, there's also the riding knife!

The combat method designed by the Tang Army for the First Lancer Regiment could not be simpler, riding on the wall to charge, rushing up to break the enemy's phalanx with a disposable cavalry spear, regardless of whether it is infantry or enemy cavalry, after the cavalry gun is broken, the cavalry continues to fight with a cavalry knife!

Compared with the original light cavalry, it is basically a disposable cavalry gun for the first attack, and the rest is basically the same.

Of course, the 1st Lancer Regiment will also be equipped with cuirass, which is more suitable for charge combat than light cavalry, in fact, those light cavalry also want to be equipped with cuirass, but the war horse under the crotch is really not strong enough to bear the weight of the cuirass.

Nowadays, there are many types of plate armor equipped by the Datang Army, including full-body armor, half-body armor, and cuirass.

However, each of the major categories of armor here will be subdivided according to defense and weight, and there are currently at least three or more armor models of different thicknesses and weights under almost every major category.

For example, cuirass is now available in three types.

The first is the main cuirass model that appeared in the early stage, and it is also the most widely equipped main cuirasse model in the Tang Army, with medium thickness and weight, which can resist the long-distance shooting of muskets to a certain extent, not to mention arrows, swords and spears.

In the early days, it was mainly used for spearmen, light armor, sword and shield soldiers, etc., and later in order to strengthen the survivability of musketeers, they also began to equip a large number of musketeers.

The second is to reduce the thickness of the first medium-thickness cuirass, which basically abolishes the defense against muskets, but it is still very effective against cold weapons such as arrows, swords, and spears.

This kind of light cuirass was rarely equipped before, but after entering the north, more precisely, after the Battle of Anping, the Ordnance Department began to urgently purchase large-scale ones, why? This is because after the Battle of Anping, after the Tang Army entered Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other regions, the enemy they faced was not the Ming army and the new army in the past.

Their main enemies are many nomads in the north, even the Ming army of King Hui in the Liaodong region does not have many guns, and hand-to-hand combat basically relies on swords and spears, and medium and long-range firepower basically relies on bows and arrows.

And there are a lot of mobile battles to fight!

Under these circumstances, the army quickly improved the armor of the northern troops, and the medium-thickness cuirasses used by musketeers were all replaced with light cuirasers, which greatly reduced the weight and reduced the burden on the soldiers during mobile combat, while also retaining enough defense against cold weapons and sharp weapons.

The third is the thickest one, on the basis of the original ordinary cuirass deliberately thickened the thickness of the front, and its defensive ability on the front chest is even more than the whole body armor, the role of this cuirass is to protect the musket, a complete set, the weight has reached dozens of catties, and it is even heavier than the light bust equipped by the northern troops!

This kind of heavy cuirass, at the beginning, was equipped with musketeers, in order to increase the survivability of the musketeers when the musketeers were shooting at the enemy's musketeers on the line, but the ideal is very beautiful, the reality is very cruel, and ordinary infantry in this heavy cuirass can't wear it for a long time!

In the end, the object of this heavy cuirass is to become a partial grenadier!

Yes, that's right, it's a grenadier!

For the hair?

Because the grenadiers are all tall and full of physical strength, their physical strength can be compared to the heavy armor sword and shield soldiers who can make a profit in the assault, and the grenadiers are more dangerous when fighting, so they also need better protection.

Of course, not every grenadier will wear these heavy cuirass, in fact, most grenadiers will still wear a normal type of cuirass.

As for those heavily armored sword and shield soldiers, they are equipped with full-body armor, and those with slightly worse physical fitness will also wear half-body armor, which does not match the breastplate.

But today, this heavy cuirass has a second master, the lancers of the 1st Lancer Regiment!

When preparing for the construction of this cavalry, Li Xuan personally walked out of the instructions, this must be a heavy armored cavalry, as for the equipment of full body armor, half armor or cuirass, your army will study and handle it by itself.

At the beginning, several cavalry generals of the army naturally hoped that these cavalrymen could be equipped with full-body armor, but if they could not be equipped with full-body armor, it would be good to equip half-body armor.

However, after testing, it was found that if the whole body armor is equipped, with the weight-bearing capacity of the war horse, it can basically only be equipped with light full body armor, and the defensive ability of these light armor is basically used to fight against the sharp weapons of cold weapons, and there is basically no protection against muskets, and at present, there is only the equipment of the Third Army deployed in the north.

In the case of half-body armor, it is a little better, but the Tang cavalry has no good impression of things like half-body armor, which is not up or down, and it is said that it is fully protected, but it is not fully protected, and the defense ability of the musket is also average.

In the end, as soon as they gritted their teeth, they directly equipped the heavy cuirass!

It has a certain amount of cold weapon defense, and it can also have good defense against muskets.

In the end, the 1st Lancer Regiment turned into a cuirassier regiment!

This is the cuirassier regiment that Li Xuan sees now!

Li Xuan, dressed in military uniform, rode on a pure white war horse, and slowly swept past the front of the First Lancer Regiment, inspecting his first heavy cavalry!

Then return to the stands and personally present the flag to the commander of the 1st Lancer Regiment!

In the past, the flag awarding ceremony was usually only carried out when the main infantry division was officially formed, and Li Xuan would give the newly established main infantry division a red dragon sword flag embroidered with the division's number.

But today, Li Xuan made an exception and presented the flag to the First Lancer Regiment, which is to announce to the whole army that the status of this heavy cavalry regiment will be no less than that of an infantry division!

After the flag was awarded, Li Xuan spoke directly in the stands to more than 400 lancer soldiers, of course, most of what he said was nonsense, nothing more than the history of our Tang Dynasty is great and glorious, you have also inherited this greatness and glory, you must maintain this glory in the future, the rise of the Tang Dynasty depends on you, don't be afraid of death when you fight, don't retreat when charging, be brave, be brave!

To put it bluntly, it is to encourage these young people to die, the glorious and brave to send them to death!

Because, after today's flag-awarding ceremony, this unit will officially go to the front line and join the combat sequence of the First Army, and when the First Army lands on the west side of Hanyang, they will appear, and Li Xuan will inevitably stand up to boost morale.

But it was very strange that these young soldiers were enthusiastic when they heard Li Xuan's nonsense words, although the distance was a little far, but Li Xuan still saw their excited looks, as if they couldn't wait to fight and die.

Song Zhilin, the commander of the First Lancer Regiment, after listening to Li Xuan's sensational words, he was even more excited and knelt down on the spot, shouting: "The minister is willing to fight to the death for Your Majesty!" ”

The hundreds of soldiers below also shouted in unison: "Fight to the death for Your Majesty!" ”

Looking at Song Zhilin, who was excited, and even flushed, Li Xuan didn't understand him, at this time, shouldn't they show a mocking expression and say: It's so nice, you don't want us to die, why don't you go to war yourself?

He couldn't understand it, so he could only sigh softly in his heart: "What a bunch of fools!" ”