Liu Xin has always attached great importance to the construction of cavalry, and he wanted to form a heavy cavalry for charging into battle very early. In order to form such a heavy cavalry unit, the institute carried out a lot of work, but encountered many difficulties.

First of all, due to the backward steelmaking technology, the quality of the iron produced is not up to standard, to create such a set of armor with super protective power, it is necessary to make the scales reach a certain thickness, otherwise it will not play the expected role. In this way, the armor will become very heavy, and people and horses will not even be able to climb up if they fall to the ground. Equipped with such armor, the cavalry also lost important mobility.

The second is the choice of war horses. Heavy cavalry is an assault force, which does not require long-distance marches, and does not emphasize the endurance of the war horse, but requires the war horse to have a strong weight-bearing capacity and explosive power. In the past, the war horses in the Han army were mainly steppe horses. Prairie horses have good stamina, but they don't have enough weight and explosiveness.

There was one more important reason that limited the development of heavy cavalry, and that was funding. Whether it is a war horse or armor, it needs a lot of money to support. The cost of equipping one heavy cavalry can equip three to five light cavalry.

It was not until last year that these three factors restricting the development of heavy cavalry were completely resolved. The use of coal greatly improved the quality of iron, and the reopening of the Silk Road brought Liu Xin a great deal of wealth, and the submission of the Western Regions countries provided tall war horses. After solving these problems, the institute mobilized all its forces, and it was only by the end of the year that 20,000 sets of armor were produced, which now came in handy.

This process of making armor is also a huge improvement to the technical level and management ability of the institute itself. Technically, they can now produce better iron, they can design better armor. In terms of management, they invented standardized production and assembly line operations, which greatly improved production efficiency. Errors between each component in the same position are minimized and can be replaced at any time. The craftsmen of the forging, grinding, lining and assembly processes on the assembly line are responsible for their own actions, and their movements are becoming more and more proficient and efficient.

Without these technical and financial support and management improvements, these armored cavalry, armed from head to toe, would not have appeared on the battlefield now.

The protection of the ironclad cavalry has reached the extreme, and their weapons are just as sharp. In addition to the cavalry's bows and arrows, each of them was equipped with two short crossbows for melee combat, and their main weapon was a spear.

Although the weight of the armor has been reduced a lot, it may be okay for a short time for the soldiers to swing their sabers and make various chopping movements, but after a long time, everyone will definitely be unbearable. And the role of the ironclad cavalry is to use the powerful impact force to tear the enemy's military formation into small pieces. With the impact of the warhorse, the spear can also easily pierce through the enemy's armor, and there is no need to chop again.

Now, the 20,000 Han ironclad cavalry were divided into four teams, like four heavy tank troops, and broke into the ranks of the Wuhuan cavalry. The Wuhuan cavalry, who were skilled in cavalry and archery, hurriedly responded to the battle, and the arrows rained down on the Han army. However, these feathered arrows touched the armor of the Han cavalry and immediately slipped down, not hurting a single hair of the Han army at all. The style of these armors refers to the armor of the Great Qin Empire, except for a pair of eyes exposed, the other parts are tightly covered, leaving no gaps.

Then, the ironclad cavalry of the Han army was like four wedges, inserted into the Wuhuan team, and cut the Wuhuan cavalry into five pieces. The spears of the Han cavalry were stabbed, and from time to time there were Wuhuan falling off the east horse. Most of the Wuheng cavalry who fell from their horses did not die immediately, but the subsequent brigade of ironclad cavalry quickly ran over them, and the thick hooves of the horses nailed iron palms, trampling them into a pile of meat paste.

The Wuhuan people had never seen such cavalry. In fact, like other peoples living on the steppe, salt, iron, and cloth were extremely scarce for them. Not to mention wearing iron armor, most of them didn't even have cloth clothes, and some even wore winter leather jackets. In the face of these "invulnerable" enemies, they suddenly felt helpless.

In fact, the armor equipped by the ironclad cavalry can indeed effectively prevent the killing of bows and arrows, but it is impossible to completely prevent the slashing of scimitars. It's just that the ironclad cavalry of the Han army used spears of one foot and eight feet, and the scimitars of the Wuhuan people could not reach the Han army at all, so they were stabbed under the horses.

The extremely powerful ironclad cavalry rushed all the way over, wading through four straight avenues in the Wuhuan array, without making the slightest stop, but continuing to rush towards the Yuan cavalry in front. Although the weight of this suit of armor has been reduced a lot, the mobility and flexibility are still not comparable to that of light cavalry. So they can't turn around immediately, but need to rush behind all the enemies and then kill back.

At this time, Yan Liang had just restrained the chaotic team and was about to continue to kill the trench, when the ironclad cavalry of the Han army rushed over from behind, and the speed was amazing. Twenty thousand war horses and 80,000 iron hooves stepped on the earth, and the sound they made was completely different from the "of" sound they usually heard, as if someone was holding a drumstick and striking it in their ears one at a time.

Yan Liang had never seen such a strong cavalry, and he didn't dare to continue to rush to the Han army's position, otherwise he would fall into a situation where he would be exposed to the enemy on his back, so he had to lead the soldiers to meet him.

The two cavalry collided fiercely, and the Yuan army suddenly turned on his back, and was already in chaos, and the situation was not as good as the Wuhuan cavalry that had just been hit hard, and it was rushed to pieces in an instant.

Yan Liang shouted at the fleeing sergeants while swinging his sword into the ironclad cavalry formation. The four ironclad cavalrymen who rushed to the front stabbed their spears together. Yan Liang let out a loud shout, the big knife swept over, and the four spears flew up in the air.

The people who can be selected as ironclad cavalry are tall and strong, and everyone has hundreds of catties of arm strength, and they are all single-handed, so they can easily pick the enemy off their horses, but now they are actually knocked away by Yan Liang's four spears with a knife, which shows that Yan Liang's strength is amazing. However, the four ironclad cavalrymen who lost their spears did not panic, but raised their left hands at the same time to aim at Yan Liang, and cooperated with each other tacitly, three points of cold light divided into three ways to attack Yan Liang's upper, middle and lower roads, and a little cold light went straight to Yan Liang's war horse.

In the battle in front of the trench just now, Yan Liang was almost thrown down because of the injury of his war horse, and he was already much more vigilant now. But these four ironclad cavalrymen moved too fast, and Yan Liang couldn't see clearly what these cold lights were, so he just subconsciously waved his sword in front of the war horse.

With the sound of "dang", that bit of cold light was hitting the back of Yan Liang's knife, bursting out a few sparks, but the other three points of cold light had already reached Yan Liang's approach. Yan Liang hurriedly lowered his head, only to feel a hot pain on his cheeks.

It turned out that the four ironclad cavalrymen were all armed with spears in their right hands and crossbows in their left hands. This short crossbow is very delicate and can be fired with one hand, the only drawback is that it is too close and can only be used in close combat, but its power should not be underestimated. Just now, they sent out a total of four iron arrows, one was blocked by Yan Liang's big knife, two were let out of Yan Liang's way, and one flew over Yan Liang's cheek, making a three-inch-long big cut on his face, making his already very vicious face even more hideous.

After the four ironclad cavalrymen finished firing their crossbow arrows, they immediately turned their horses' heads and divided to the two sides. The other four ironclad cavalrymen lined up behind them quickly rushed up, and the four spears stabbed at Yan Liang from four directions.

The corner of Yan Liang's eyes had already caught a glimpse that his subordinates had already run out of queues and were scurrying around, and the powerful cavalry of the Han army was killed in four ways, even if he could block one of them with his own strength and let the other three rush together, the defeat was already decided. What's more, these cavalry were not so easy to deal with, and he was wounded after just one face. Don't look at the four spears he just slashed, in fact, he also used all his strength, and his arms are still slightly numb. He didn't know how many more spears he could fly, and if he continued to fight, he was afraid that he would have to explain himself here.

Thinking of this, Yan Liang didn't dare to fight, so he walked to the side.

The ironclad cavalry of the Han army did not pursue, but ran over all the way in the direction they had originally advanced, leaving behind a bloody corpse, and rushed straight to the back of the Yuan army before turning the horse's head and charging towards the south again.

At this time, the two cavalry of Yuan Jun and Wuhuan had already mixed together, and they did not dare to face the Han army's ironclad cavalry face to face, and they scattered and fled. This is the plain, and they are all lightly armed cavalry, and their mobility is definitely stronger than that of the armored cavalry of the Han army.

However, they did not flee far before they heard the terrible sound of trumpets all around, and tens of thousands of Han light cavalry killed them from three sides, and arrows rained down. Riding and archery is the housekeeping skill of the grassland people, and Yuan Jun's usual practice is mainly these. Seeing the other party's arrow coming, they didn't think much about it, and immediately picked up their bows and shot back.

However, the range of the bows and arrows of the Han cavalry was much higher than theirs, and the arrows they shot fell into the dust without any suspense, and even the shadow of the Han cavalry did not touch.

The speed of the cavalry was very fast, and by the time they were ready to shoot the second arrow, the Han army had already rushed in front of them, and the snowy saber cut through the air in a beautiful arc, slashing the Yuan army and Wuhuan cavalry off their horses one after another.

The cavalry of the Yuan army and Wuhuan also carried melee weapons. Yuan's army was still equipped with an old-fashioned ring-headed knife, which was very cumbersome and not suitable for cavalry slashing. The scimitar of the Wuhuan people is slightly better, but it is still a lot worse than the saber used by the Han army. The main thing is that the Yuan army and the Wuhuan cavalry are now in disarray, losing their formation and queues, and the power of the cavalry in melee combat is weakened by at least half.