Xu Kang's most urgent thing now is to improve the strength of his army.

Although he defeated Peng Tuo's Yellow Turban Army before, and even created a brilliant record of "1,000 to 100,000", in fact, most of the Yellow Turban Army was not killed by the Han army led by him, but died in the chaos after the bombing of the camp.

Some of them were killed by mistake by their own people, some were burned to death by fire, and many more died in the stampede in the chaos, and only a small percentage of them were actually killed by Xu Kang's army.

It can be said that in the victory of the previous battle, Xu Kang won in strategy, and at the same time won in luck.

But such a victory is difficult to replicate, because no matter how stupid Peng Tuo is, it is impossible for him to fall twice in the same place, and if that is the case, he will not be the commander of the Yellow Turban Army.

Therefore, if you want to win the next victory, you can't just rely on strategy and luck, and it has become an urgent matter to improve your own strength.

And to improve his strength, there were only two words that came to Xu Kang's mind at the beginning - cavalry!

You know, before the advent of disciplined professional spear infantry, cavalry was always the most powerful class of troops on the ancient battlefield.

Especially in the face of ordinary infantry, cavalry has overwhelming strength, as long as it is used properly, it is appropriate to use one enemy and ten!

But it is not easy to obtain such combat power, because in ancient times, war horses were not only armaments, but also luxury goods in armaments!

War horses are different from plough-pulling horses, and in order to cultivate their obedience and adaptability to the battlefield, they need to undergo castration and rigorous training before they can go to the battlefield.

And these two steps are enough to weed out most of the horses.

This is also the reason why the ordinary arable land horses in the Eastern Han Dynasty are only 8,000, and the war horses are 20,000 from the bottom, and the price of especially good war horses is as high as 200,000.

But it is such a precious war horse, after it is on the battlefield, but because of the large target, it is easy to become the enemy's first choice of attack target, and the casualties are very large.

Even if they are lucky enough to survive the battlefield, because of the long-term travel of the cavalry, many war horses will have serious wear and tear of the cuticle of the hoof, or the problem of cracked hooves.

And once these two problems occur, it means that their career as war horses is over.

It can be said that war horses are not only luxuries, but also consumables, and if there is no strong financial resources and horse resources, it is impossible to support cavalry.

But even if they wanted to pay such a price, the rulers of the dynasties still did not give up the cavalry, because the cavalry was really too strong!

In particular, the heavy cavalry can be called a battlefield bulldozer in the era of cold weapons!

Take the Xuanjia heavy cavalry under Li Shimin in the early Tang Dynasty, its achievements can be said to be a monument in the history of cavalry!

In the battle with Wang Shichong, Li Shimin defeated the opponent with 1,000 Xuanjia heavy cavalry and killed 6,000 people; In the battle with Dou Jiande, Li Shimin even broke through the 100,000 army with 3,500 Xuanjia heavy cavalry, making him flee in despair!

The record is staggering!

Xu Kang also wanted such a cavalry as the capital for his own life, so he did not hesitate to give up the great merit in his hands to Chen Liutaishou Zhang Miao.

It's a pity that Zhang Miao is also a slippery head, although Xu Kang borrowed 3,000 cavalry, but the iron only needs to reach 30,000 catties, which is obviously not enough to transform these cavalry into heavy cavalry.

So he had no choice but to build a batch of horseshoes to protect the horses' hooves and extend their service as long as possible, while the rest of the iron was used to make firearms to arm his infantry.

And at this time, what he painted was nothing else, it was the famous firearm of the Qi family army in the Ming Dynasty to deal with the Japanese - the tiger squat cannon!

Although the Yellow Turbans are not Japanese Invaders, they have a common characteristic with the Japanese Invaders, that is, there are many people!

In the era of cold weapons, a large number of people is a very big advantage, because even the most brave soldiers cannot defeat a hundred.

But the Tiger Squat Cannon can!

Although the maximum firing range of this backward lightly armed breech gun is only 500 meters, and the effective firing range is only 250 meters, it can shoot a two-pound stone pellet and a hundred and a half double-weight stones at one time!

It's like an oversized shotgun, capable of dealing tons of damage to enemies at close range!

The most important thing is that when the Tiger Squat Cannon fires, it will make a loud noise, like thunder, which can cause huge psychological pressure on the enemy.

It was precisely because of these properties of the Tiger Squat Cannon that the Qi family army often used it to bombard the dense combat formations of the Japanese Invaders, thus effectively curbing their frantic offensive.

Now, because of this characteristic, Xu Kang is ready to apply it to the battle against the Yellow Turban Army!

"When you fight with the Yellow Turbans in the future, Lao Tzu will first bomb them with artillery, and then use the cavalry to rush and it's over, haha!"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help laughing, and the efficiency of drawing drawings has also improved a lot.

When he finished drawing the drawings, the blacksmiths who had gone out to nail the horseshoe just now also returned, and they were accompanied by Zhao Hong and Zhang Cheng.

As soon as the two of them came in, they looked at Xu Kang with adoring eyes, and then saluted him with a fist in their hearts.

"My lord is really a god!"

Hearing the words of the two, Xu Kang didn't have to think much to know that it was because of the horseshoe, so he immediately laughed.

"Hahahaha, you two guys can't even say a word of flattery, just turn around with this sentence, I'm tired of you if you're not tired, okay, you go to the side and wait first, I'll have something important to hand over to you in a while!"

"Yes!"

Hearing Xu Kang's words, Zhao Hong and Zhang Cheng hurriedly agreed, and then stood aside with a happy face.

Seeing the two of them standing next to them, Xu Kang beckoned a few blacksmiths to the side, put the drawn tiger squat ** paper in front of them, and then commanded them.

"From now on, the horseshoe will be handed over to your apprentices to beat, and you will be responsible for building this thing for me, and I will mark the length, thickness, and weight on the drawings, and you can just type it out for me according to this, understand? Go down if you get it! ”

"Yes, sir!"

Several blacksmiths were selected from the Han army, so when they heard Xu Kang's words, they immediately saluted him with a fist, and then withdrew from the big tent.

After they were all gone, Xu Kang set his eyes on Zhao Hong and Zhang Cheng again, and opened his mouth to them with a serious face.

"Zhao Hong, Zhang Cheng, you two go to buy me saltpeter and sulfur, buy me as much as there is in the city, this matter is related to our victory or defeat in the battle of the Yellow Turban Thieves, you two must be attentive, there can be no mistakes!"

"Yes!" Hearing his words, Zhao Hong and Zhang Cheng hurriedly responded with a serious face: "I will definitely live up to the expectations of adults!" ”