"Commander Wu Du, you can't make such a hand crossbow, right?" Mrs. Zheng was very surprised, and asked loudly, her eyes widened.

The key to this matter is whether the hand crossbow can meet the requirements, and if the hand crossbow meets the requirements, its benefits are obvious. If the crossbow does not meet the requirements, everything is in vain.

"You can try." Wu Ji nodded and said, "Now that the crossbows equipped by the Returning Army, I have found that there are some areas that need to be improved, and there should be no problem. ”

After this battle, Wu Ji found that the hand crossbow should be adjusted, and the improved hand crossbow should have a longer range and more power. If it is used to equip cavalry, it is not a big problem.

"Great!" Zheng Tai, Huangfu Song, and Qi Dabao agreed in unison.

As long as you are not a fool, you can see that when the enemy can't reach you, and you can effectively kill the enemy, the benefits of this are needless to say, too good.

"One more thing, I'm going to equip the cavalry with pikes." Wu Ji then dissected and said, "You think, when the two armies meet, they are all waving knives and preparing to slash and kill. However, this can also be utilized. When the cavalry charges, shoot with a crossbow first, then shoot with a bow, and then charge with a spear, regardless of whether the opponent is cavalry or infantry. ”

Zheng Tai, Huangfu Song, and Qi Dabao's eyes lit up, and the more they listened, the more interesting they became.

"The war horse charged, it was very powerful, and the lethality was particularly great, wouldn't it be a pity if you didn't use it?" Wu Ji's voice was a little high, and he was very excited.

The cavalry charge will be earth-shattering, the impact is particularly strong, if there is a spear in the hand and stabs the enemy hard, then the benefits need not be said? If you get stabbed, you will either break your tendons and fractures, or die.

If you don't use a spear, but wield a knife to slash and kill, this is really a waste, after Wu Ji's reminder, Zheng Tai couldn't help it anymore: "Let's not talk about whether it can cause many casualties, at least one thing is certain, it will cause confusion to the enemy." On the battlefield, you have to be dignified in order to win. Once there is chaos, it is a good way to give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it! ”

The chaos on the battlefield, if you don't pay attention, will turn into a rout, and if you can cause chaos to the enemy, you must not be soft.

"It's a good idea." Huangfu Song and Qi Dabao agreed in unison.

"The cavalry of the previous dynasty was equipped with horse lances, and when they were impacted, the results were really good." Mrs. Zheng sighed a little: "It's a pity that this dynasty lacks war horses, and the use of cavalry is getting worse and worse, so I actually learned from the Khitans." The Khitan people's riding and archery skills are good, coming and going like the wind, but when they encounter the cavalry of the previous dynasty, they suffered heavy casualties. Wu Zetian only sent a partial division, and the Khitans were almost wiped out, and the Khitans shrank for hundreds of years and did not dare to make any changes. ”

"And that kind of thing?" Wu Ji, Huangfu Song, and Qi Dabao were very surprised. Unexpectedly, the Khitan people, who are now rampant, were almost exterminated in the hands of the Tang Dynasty.

"It's true!" Zheng Tai nodded heavily: "When it comes to cavalry tactics, when it comes to cavalry tactics, they are really much more clever than the Khitans, although the Khitans are natural riders and archers, and they are far worse than the previous dynasties in terms of equipment. Even now, although the Khitans have improved, they still have not reached the height of the previous dynasty. ”

The cavalry of the Tang Dynasty was the pinnacle of ancient Chinese history, well-equipped, well-trained, disciplined, and extremely powerful.

"In this way, the matter of equipping the spear is imperative!" Huangfu Song agreed very much and drew conclusions.

"That's nature!" Mrs. Zheng and Qi Dabao agreed in unison.

"Commander Wu Du can see the shortcomings of the Khitan cavalry, although he has only been in the army for a long time, this vision is not simple. Even Wang Shao doesn't have this eyesight! Mrs. Zheng was full of praise.

In the entire Song Dynasty, there were not many generals who really attached importance to cavalry, and the best use of cavalry was Yue Fei, followed by Di Qing. Other than a few, few people attach importance to cavalry, let alone strive to build cavalry.

The reason for this is that there is a shortage of horses, and the horse politics is corrupt, can not raise fine horses, so they have to buy and sell from the Liao State and the Western Xia, and these two countries know the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty, and the price is sky-high, the Song Dynasty thinks that the gains outweigh the losses, so they instead formulated the strategy of "riding by step".

This strategy is simply a talisman for the cavalry, which makes the status of the cavalry plummet, and there are very few generals who attach importance to the cavalry, and there are only Yue Fei who can create an elite cavalry in the entire Song Dynasty. The Yue family army is not very numerous, but there is a cavalry team that is stronger than the Jurchen cavalry, which is unique in the Song Dynasty.

As a result, the cost of building one cavalry is enough to equip five infantry. Therefore, in order to save money, instead of taking the road of elite soldiers, the Song Dynasty turned to fully implement the strategy of "riding by foot", and a large number of cavalry, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Shen Kuo, these figures, all supported this strategy.

Even Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi, and Wang Shao did not jump out of this trap.

"It's over!" Wu Ji humbly said and said, "This slashing is not fierce enough, this is an obvious thing." The Xiongzhou cavalry was equipped with a hemp knife, which was too light, lacking strength, and slashing and killing was not fierce enough. If you put on a captive knife, it's different. ”

Mrs. Zheng was the first to agree: "The horizontal knife of the previous dynasty is heavier than the hemp knife, and the slashing is more powerful and fierce. If you can't use it, how can you say it? ”

Wu Ji didn't speak immediately, but pursed his lips, thought about it, and his voice suddenly turned higher: "Perhaps, this is the reason why the Great Song Dynasty's martial arts are sluggish, and they are always pressed and beaten by the Khitans!" ”

"Ahh These words were so shocking that Mrs. Zheng and the three of them exclaimed in unison.

The Song Dynasty couldn't defeat the Liao State, and pressed the Liao State for hundreds of years, and the Song Dynasty looked for the reason for hundreds of years, but there were different opinions, and it was difficult to reach a conclusion. There are so many theories, and there is no such thing as Wu Ji, who attributed the sluggish martial arts of the Song Dynasty to the use of cavalry.

The Song Dynasty could not defeat the Liao State, and more people tended to the incompetence of the Song Dynasty [***], rather than attributing it to cavalry.

"What do you mean by that?" Mrs. Zheng was the first to ask, her eyes widened, and she looked at Wu Ji.

"I understand the use of the Xiongzhou Army, they disperse the cavalry and divide it into various battalions to support the infantry in battle." Wu Ji stood up violently and said, "This is simply a crime!" ”

"Commanded by Wu Du, the cavalry of the Great Song Dynasty are all used like this, and they are not wrong!" Huangfu Song somewhat disagreed with Wu Ji's statement and defended the Xiongzhou army.

"It is precisely because of this that the martial arts of the Great Song Dynasty are sluggish!" Wu Ji was a little angry and said: "Even if the elite of the Xiongzhou Army is still inevitably dispersed and used, what about the other armies?" Not very scattered? ”

"That's true." Mrs. Zheng nodded and said: "It's the forbidden army, and it's also a scattered cavalry, and all the classes are straight, and there are a certain number of cavalry." What's even more hateful is that the cavalry of all classes is only thirty percent of those who have horses, and the rest have no horses. Speaking of this, Mrs. Zheng couldn't help but shake her head, very sorry.

"How can such a thing happen?" Wu Ji was surprised. The forbidden army is the most elite army of the Song Dynasty, used to protect the Beijing division, the cavalry of the forbidden army has horses but 30%, and the horseless cavalry reaches 70%, which is also too nonsense.

"It's true!" Zheng Tai nodded vigorously.

"If it is so scattered, it is better to break up and reorganize, and gather the cavalry to form a real cavalry." Wu Ji immediately thought of a countermeasure.

"It's not that no one has ever proposed it, but no one dares to move." Mrs. Zheng shrugged, a little helpless.

"Forget it, let's talk about our business, the affairs of the forbidden army are not in our hands." Wu Ji was very annoyed: "My opinion is to concentrate the cavalry and use it. Wherever it is needed, it will be sent. If it is used in a scattered manner like the Xiongzhou army, there is no difference between whether this cavalry has or not. ”

In the era of cold weapons, cavalry was the ace class, known for its high-speed maneuverability and amazing sprinting power. With an elite cavalry, you have the capital to come and go, and you can attack the enemy's weaknesses.

To achieve this, it is necessary to concentrate the use of cavalry. During the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, China had a lot of cavalry, and they often dispatched tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, which is amazing. These cavalry were used intensively, using the amazing mobility of the cavalry to deal a heavy blow to the enemy, which was the key to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to defeat the Xiongnu.

With cavalry, there is also a need to have a corresponding cavalry theory. Wei Qing and Huo Quai's generation were geniuses who mastered the combat of the cavalry army, and under their leadership, the strong Han army galloped across the country, making the Huns helpless.

The Huns grew up on horseback since childhood, skilled in riding and shooting, and claimed to be able to live a lifetime on horseback. It was not that the Xiongnu were strong, but that the Han Dynasty found a better way to use the cavalry, giving the cavalry more sophisticated equipment and more flexible tactics than the Xiongnu.

During the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, cavalry was used intensively and as the main force. The infantry, on the other hand, can only play an auxiliary role and is used to help the cavalry in battle. Because of this, the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties achieved amazing martial arts.

The Song Dynasty, on the contrary, lowered the status of cavalry again and again, until no one cared about it, and it was reduced to an auxiliary branch of infantry. Aside from the principle of concentrating on the use of cavalry, cavalry became an auxiliary arm to support infantry in combat.

This reversal, the result is completely different, the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties were at their peak martial arts all of a sudden, the Song Dynasty was pressed and beaten by foreign races, and finally the Mongols were destroyed.

During World War II, the Germans pooled their tanks and formed armored clusters to make breakthroughs. The Anglo-French coalition army, which had more tanks and better tanks than the Germans, was better than the Germans' tanks, but in the face of the blitzkrieg of Nazi Germany, it was unable to organize resistance at all.

It was precisely because the Song Dynasty dispersed the cavalry that when it encountered the attack of the Khitans, it was attacked by the Khitans everywhere, but it was helpless and could not fight back.

Wu Ji's formulation is the most correct use of cavalry since the fall of the Tang Dynasty. If the Song Dynasty changed the practice of "riding on foot" and concentrated the cavalry for use, it would not be a problem to form tens of thousands of elite cavalry. Coupled with the technological superiority of the Song Dynasty, it is not impossible to change the whole situation.

(To be continued)