After the arrival of more than 20,000 infantry cavalry and naval troops under Liu Cun's command, the strength of the garrison in Luoyang's area of more than 300 miles has reached nearly 60,000 soldiers of the three divisions and two brigades, and the overall strength is no longer under the princes of the surrounding areas.

The eyes of the princes from all walks of life were on Xu Sheng, who was stationed at Hugao Pass, Guan Hai, who was guarding Michi, and Wei Yan, the main general who led his troops to repair Taigu Pass fifty miles south of Luoyang, and was deeply disturbed by the sharp increase in troops within a radius of 300 miles from Luoyang.

The Qingzhou Army's increase in troops in Luoyang this time finally made all the princes, including Cao Cao, discover a big secret:

Over the years, the armor and weapons they bought from Qingzhou are very different from the standard armor and weapons in the hands of the Qingzhou army today, the armor of the Qingzhou army and the Han army are very different from the standard style, the style is unique, strong and beautiful, even the horizontal knives and continuous crossbows used by ordinary soldiers are rare boutiques, no matter how rich and powerful the princes are, they can't buy the standard equipment in the hands of the Qingzhou army.

This discovery also gradually unraveled the secrets hidden by the Qingzhou Army for several years, and with more and more understanding and intelligence feedback, the princes from all walks of life finally understood the mystery:

The weapons and equipment sold by Qingzhou on a large scale to the outside world are all improved on the basis of the traditional weapons and equipment of the Han army.

From the Qingzhou Iron Workshop in Linzi City and the Zhangqiu Iron Workshop that was established not long ago, these export-oriented weapons and equipment based on the customization and improvement of the Han Dynasty use a large number of leather, bronze, wrought iron sheets and other materials, using a number of new processes such as hydraulic mechanical grinding and riveting, and are mass-produced through a unique combination of production division of labor, both in terms of quality and wearing comfort, which are far superior to several times the standard weapons and equipment of the Han army. And the price is very fair. It is deeply trusted and respected by the princes and armies of all walks of life.

The Qingzhou soldiers are equipped with stainless steel armor, 100 refined horizontal swords, standard spears, officer swords, continuous crossbows, vehicle-mounted crossbow beds, military carriages and so on. Whether it is quality or appearance, it is very different from the Han system, and the workshop that produces these high-quality weapons and equipment is the Zhushan Weapons Workshop directly under the jurisdiction of the General's Mansion, which has always been heavily guarded and quite mysterious.

Over the past few years, except for a small amount of tribute from Liu Cun and the special armor and saber presented to friends, the weapons and equipment produced by Zhushan have never been sold to the outside world, even if the outside world has obtained a very small number of samples through abnormal channels, but there is no advanced smelting technology, hot rolling and cold forging technology, stamping technology and various advanced manufacturing equipment and technological processes. No one can make a large-scale imitation.

The princes who discovered this secret one after another could only shake their heads and sigh in shock, but until now, they did not know a bigger secret:

Since the autumn of last year, the cavalry of the Qingzhou Army and the Langya Army have begun to equip horseshoes in phases and batches, and the combat effectiveness of the Qingzhou cavalry has been greatly improved, while the loss of war horses has dropped significantly.

The Takahashi saddle and the stainless steel stirrup, which were quietly mass-produced, had not yet appeared in the Qingzhou Army and the Langya Army for fear of leaks, not to mention the black powder that was constantly being produced and put into experiments on Lingshan Island, a remote island in the sea.

To this day, the production technology of Takahashi saddle, stirrup and horseshoe is constantly improved by the Zhushan Armory Workshop. It is already very mature, once Liu Cun needs. Ordinary folk workshops in Qingzhou can also be mass-produced according to samples or drawings.

According to Liu Cun's plan, the princes of all walks of life would not be able to learn this secret for at least two years, let alone be able to use the Takahashi saddle and horseshoe to equip their cavalry on a large scale.

Even if all the princes of all walks of life were equipped with Takahashi saddles and horseshoes in the future, they would not be able to catch up with the Qingzhou army, which had already established a complete military system.

At present, Wang Qi, the commander of the Langya Army, and Yan Shen, the deputy marshal, are quietly forming the first heavy cavalry brigade of the Langya Army in the newly built camp in the western suburbs of Kaiyang Wangcheng, and 5,000 heavy cavalry are quietly equipped with high bridge saddles, horseshoes and stirrups, and the improved horse armor and special weapons after hundreds of tests have also been put into mass production.

By mid-May at the latest, the heavy cavalry battalion of the Langya Army will be formed, and Tai Shici, deputy commander of the Qingzhou Army, will then form the first heavy cavalry brigade of the Qingzhou Army.

Liu Cun's original plan was to form two heavy cavalry divisions, and the Jeju Island Horse Farm and the Xiaozhusan Horse Farm had bred majestic war horses for heavy cavalry, but due to the number of high-quality stallions and breeding ability, at least for five years, they still could not meet the requirements of the army's development, and the two major horse farms could still breed ordinary war horses and pack horses on a large scale.

Mi Zhu, Gongsun Min, Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu and other people over the years have successively given Liu Cun more than 150 horses and Mobei war horses, except for 12 to senior generals, the rest have become the Tieshan Horse Farm to maintain the bloodline for breeding precious horse breeds, the first batch of 25 pure Western Regions horses, now around the age of four years old, most of them need to stay as stallions.

There are also more than 500 offspring obtained by crossing the selected Mobei war horses with the Liaodong war horses, but these hybrid horses also need to establish a new breed, and Liu Cun and the generals cannot expect to get more heavy war horses for at least ten years.

The 12,000 war horses needed by Wang Qi and Yan Shen to form the heavy cavalry brigade were mostly purchased from Liaodong and Liaoxi in the past two years, and two-thirds of the war horses came from the Xianbei and Ding Ling tribes in Beihai (now Lake Baikal).

Nowadays, the heavy cavalry has become the Langya Army and the Qingzhou Army high-level extremely expected troops, the outside world still knows nothing about this, Wei Yan and Chen Zhi, who have never seen the heavy cavalry, naturally do not care, they feel that the cavalry under their command is the strongest in the world in terms of equipment and horses, therefore, the two of them went to the military camp outside the east gate of Luoyang to thank Liu Cun, the lord who gave them horses and valuable weapons in the Western Regions.

Liu Cun was very happy to see Wei Yan and Chen Zhi, and after a greeting, he simply went to the camp and school field to sweat together.

Chen Zhi and Wei Yan were very puzzled when they saw that the armor Liu Cun had changed into was almost no different from the one on his body, and after seeing the puzzled expressions of the two, the head of the guard, Zhai Chao, explained to the two in a low voice:

"There are many legends in the outside world, some people say that the lord is wearing the golden armor granted by God, and some people say that the lord's armor is made by a thousand Langya master craftsmen for a year, which can be called the invulnerable treasure of the world, these are all nonsense!"

"In fact, since the founding of the army, the lord's armor is no different from our generals, if you really want to say that there is any difference, that is, the lord's armor does not have a military rank symbol of rank and seniority on the left chest, but the lord's spear and saber are slightly different, derived from the rare meteorite forging, from the hands of skilled masters."

"However, the weapons of the vast majority of our generals are basically rare high-quality products, all of which are made of the best materials by the master craftsmen of the Zhushan Weapons Workshop in accordance with their habits and preferences, and in the eyes of outsiders, they are all hard-to-find artifacts, but in the eyes of our generals, they are very ordinary, as long as the officers above the military level are willing, they can customize their favorite weapons to the Zhushan Weapons Workshop, but they have to spend their own money."

Wei Yan and Chen Zhi suddenly realized, and they respected Liu Cun even more in their hearts.

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