Chapter 23 Each has its own advantages and disadvantages (II) "Bang Bang! The generals knocked on the bright light armor on their bodies, smiling, and there was only a small slit left in their eyes.

"See? This is Mingguang Armor! Only we have Datang, don't say anything about the big dog, it's a great blessing to be able to take a look. ”

Armor is one of the biggest advantages of the Tang Army, especially the Mingguang armor, which is beyond the reach of the Arab Empire.

"Quiet." Li Changguo frowned, snorted coldly, and the generals quickly shut up.

"Long-range attacks, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, we have trebuchets, strong crossbows, and big food, it's hard to say who has the advantage." Li Mi then analyzed, and said: "When it comes to strong crossbows, we are still more advantageous, although Da Shi also has strong crossbows, they are far from comparable to our strong crossbows, whether it is in terms of range or crossbow arrows, or in the army, Da Shi is far worse than us." ”

The strong crossbow has always been a sharp weapon in ancient China, which has been widely used in the army, and has been attached great importance to it by all dynasties, and the powerful dynasties of the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties have raised the strong crossbow to a very high height.

Compared to bows and arrows, the advantage of a strong crossbow is that it has a longer range, stronger penetration, and a greater density of crossbow arrows, which is far from being comparable to bows and arrows. What's more, the strong crossbow has almost no requirements for archery skills, and only needs to be done in accordance with mechanical regulations, even if you can't shoot arrows.

The bow and arrow have high requirements for archery, and archery is not yet quick, which limits the number of archers.

In Chinese history, there is no shortage of marksmen with superb marksmanship, such as Yang Youji, the first marksman of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Li Guang, the general of Fei, both of whom are famous marksmen through the ages. However, on the whole, the archery level of ancient China was still very inferior to that of the nomadic peoples of the Xiongnu and Turks, although the armies of the powerful dynasties of the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties were excellent at archery and were not under the alien race.

The question is, the Xiongnu and the Turkic nomads are all soldiers, and all the people are amazing marksmen, not to mention millions of excellent marksmen, can there be so many archers in ancient China at the same time?

Surely there can't be.

Despite this, the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu and the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Turks, because there were many strong crossbows in the Han and Tang dynasties. In the face of a powerful crossbow array, even if the archery skills of the nomadic peoples such as the Xiongnu and the Turks are excellent, they are not opponents.

Da Shi is not without strong crossbows, but Da Shi's use of strong crossbows is too far from the Tang Dynasty, the number is not much, and the quality is not as good as the strong crossbows of the Tang Dynasty, let alone like the Tang Dynasty, where a large number of strong crossbows are concentrated to form a powerful crossbow array to carry out overwhelming long-range strikes against the enemy.

"Although our strong crossbow is good, but the Great Food has a powerful trebuchet, which is stronger than us." Li Mi's words changed sharply and revealed a fact.

Trebuchets are stupid and will drag down the march to a great extent. However, Da Shi did not have a powerful crossbow and lacked the means of long-range strikes, so he could only make a large number of trebuchets to carry out long-range strikes against the enemy when the two armies faced each other.

When it comes to trebuchets, it is still the big food that prevails. For the Tang Dynasty, the Tang army did not lack long-range strike means, and the strong crossbow was more convenient to transfer and would not slow down the speed of the march, because the Tang Dynasty did not invest much in this area.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this reason that there is a big gap between ancient China and the Middle East in the study of trebuchets. The most famous example is that Kublai Khan attacked Xiangyang for a long time, and sent some good craftsmen in trebuchets from the Middle East to China, and made the famous "Huihui cannon". When the Huihui cannon was made, the Yuan army used it for the first time in Xiangyang, its sound was like thunder, earth-shattering, the Song general Lu Wenhuan who was guarding Xiangyang at that time was frightened, and finally surrendered to Kublai Khan, opening the prelude to Kublai Khan's destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty.

"Although the range of the trebuchet is long, it is not as dense as the crossbow bolts of the strong crossbow. Moreover, trebuchets are too bulky to eat too much, and we are not afraid. "There are generals who just care.

There are two ways in which trebuchets are used, one is for siege purposes. In this case, the stones thrown by the trebuchet are large and heavy, preferably the kind that can break through the walls.

Another situation is that when the two armies are facing each other, the stones thrown by the trebuchet will not be too large, but the number of stones will be pursued. It is conceivable what it would be like for a trebuchet to project stones weighing one or two pounds at a time and reach a mile or two away?

The lethality is still not small, and the power is not under the strong crossbow.

What's more, in this case, the stone thrown is not one, but three or two at a time, or even more. Once smashed down, it is like a net, which will kill and injure many people.

Compared with the strong crossbow, the lethality of the trebuchet is still inferior, and the Tang Army really has proud capital.

"Besides, we still have the Mo Dao Battle Array, and we can send the Mo Dao Battle Array to smash the trebuchet. The trebuchet is so cumbersome, it is impossible to get rid of it, as long as the Mo knife battle array comes out, it will definitely be unlucky. Another general shouted.

"That's right!" The crowd will respond with a bang.

The Mo Dao Battle Array is the sharpest weapon of the Tang Army, and once it is powerful, it is incomprehensible. With its powerful attack power, if it is used to break the city trebuchet, it is likely to succeed. As long as the trebuchet is lost, the Great Food Army will also lose its long-range attack power, and the rest will be much simpler, and it will be killed by a crossbow array.

"In the previous wars, our Modao battle array was invincible, but in the current war, it may not be useful." Li Mi was ruthless and hit the enthusiasm of the generals.

"Why?" The generals were puzzled.

"Because the Great Food has heavy armored cavalry." Li Changguo replied on his behalf.

"Heavy cavalry?" The general's face changed color slightly.

Heavy cavalry is heavy cavalry.

"Abu? The Muslim dares to use yang strategy, dares to fight a decisive battle with us in Qiuzi, and he will not be without a way to deal with the Mo sword battle array, I guess, it is likely to be with heavy cavalry. Li Mi nodded heavily, agreeing with Li Changguo's statement: "You all know that the impact of the heavy armored cavalry is very strong, it is a sharp weapon for charging into battle, and the power used to break through the enemy's formation is huge. And we, Datang, no longer have heavy cavalry. ”

The power of the heavy cavalry does not need to be said, the impact is earth-shattering, and it is generally used to charge into battle, and it is indestructible......

The men and horses are covered with heavy armor, adding up to hundreds of catties, rushing at high speed and breaking into the enemy formation, which is equivalent to a tank in the era of cold weapons, and its power does not need to be said.

The Modao battle formation has both offense and defense, and can be used to break through the formation and impact the enemy's formation, which is invincible. However, when encountering heavy armored cavalry, the number of victories and defeats is really difficult to predict.

"This ......" The generals were a little shocked.

The Modao battle array is one of the sharpest weapons of the Tang Army. If the Muslims refrain from doing so, the Tang army will lose its most important attack power, and the generals will not be shocked.

"Damn Abu? Muslim, he is so insidious. He'd never used it in previous wars. "The generals scolded Abu again? Muslims too.

"It's not that he doesn't want to use it, but he wants to catch us off guard." Li Mi hit the nail on the head: "The big food skills are not good, not even paper-making, let alone made into a lot of fine armor, and its heavy armored cavalry will not be too much, if it is used in other wars, it is tantamount to adding oil, and it has little effect." It's better to concentrate and use it in the most important war. ”

"Come on, Abu? Muslims have accumulated a lot over the years. Li Changguo very much agrees with Li Mi's statement.

Heavy cavalry was once popular in Chinese history, and the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu and formed a large number of heavy cavalry, which showed amazing combat power in this battle. Since then, heavy cavalry has become a sharp weapon in ancient China. Especially in the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was the golden age of heavy cavalry, and there were countless heavy cavalry formed.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, because of the extensive use of the Mo knife and the maturity of the Mo knife battle array, the use of heavy cavalry was too repetitive, which greatly weakened the role of heavy cavalry. After a long period of exploration, the Tang Dynasty finally abolished the heavy cavalry and cooperated with the Modao battle array, which only needed light cavalry.

This is the reason why there were no heavy cavalry in the Tang Dynasty.

As for melee weapons, the horizontal knife and the scimitar of the Great Eater, when it comes to quality, it should be about the same. However, on the whole, it was the horizontal knife of the Tang Dynasty that was superior.

The reason lies not in anything else, but in steelmaking technology.

Although Damascus knives are very famous and sharp, however, if you study the production technology of Damascus steel, you can find that it is very cumbersome, and it is not easy to get really good steel. The "steel-filling method" iron-making technology used in the Tang Dynasty greatly increased the production of stainless steel in the Tang Dynasty, and high-quality weapons could be manufactured in large quantities.

If it weren't for the "steel filling method" to increase the output of steel, it would be impossible for the Tang Dynasty to use the Mo knife, which is known as "luxury equipment in the era of cold weapons".

"Speaking of training, it is all rigorously trained, and no one is necessarily stronger than anyone, nor is it necessarily weaker than anyone." Li Mi's next conclusion is still difficult to distinguish.

The armies of the Arab Empire were highly trained and disciplined, otherwise the Arab Empire would not have conquered as quickly as a whirlwind.

Similarly, the Tang Army has also undergone strict training and strict military discipline, which is by no means worse than the Great Food Army. Both armies should be about the same.

"As for the morale of the army, they are all elites who are not afraid of death, brave and good at fighting, no one is worse than anyone, and no one is better than anyone." Li Mi's words made the generals very discouraged.

The Arab Emperor [***] team can fight well, is brave and extraordinary, and the morale of the army is not said, and they are definitely people who are not afraid of death. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the Arab Empire to conquer large swathes of land and destroy dozens of countries.

"Finally, faith, the same is true." Li Mi spread his hands helplessly.

The Arab Empire was a religious state, theocratic and theocracy, and its army was Allah, Islamic, and fanatical. How terrible fanatical religious beliefs are, there is no need to say, don't say to die, even let their whole family die, and they will not be afraid.

Tang Jun's belief comes from the recognition of the dream dynasty, from the pride of being a Chinese man, and the Tang man will never shrink back.

At this point, it's half a pound and eight taels.

"This ...... The big dogs used to be so difficult. After listening to Li Yu's analysis, the generals sank straight down, and the more they listened, the more they felt that it was difficult to eat.

"That's because Da Shi didn't come up with the real foundation before, and this time, it's a battle of life and death, of course they have to come up with the foundation." Li Changguo raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Don't worry, in general, we still have the upper hand." Come, shall we give Abu? Muslims set up a game and let him be fooled. ”

(To be continued)