In the big tent of the Yulin camp, Emperor Jing stroked a complete set of brand-new cavalry equipment with his eyes shining, as if he was caressing a peerless beauty, and muttered in his mouth: "Che'er, when the Yulin cavalry was training just now, they were equipped with these divine weapons?" ”

Compound bow, halberd, saber, fish scale armor, Takahashi saddle, stirrups, horseshoe.

The seven types of cavalry tools that Liu Che made or improved deeply shocked his emperor father.

Emperor Jing in history was considered too cowardly, but he didn't know that he had to do it.

Every time he made peace with the Xiongnu, he slashed a wound in the heart of the Han Emperor that was difficult to heal. Helplessly, the Han army was repeatedly defeated and lost in front of the Xiongnu iron cavalry, so they could only be humiliated by women and property.

The reason why the Xiongnu could pose a huge military threat to the Central Plains Dynasty during the Qin and Han dynasties, and that it roamed the border and won many battles for a time, was that it had a mobile cavalry force. The infantry and chariots of the Central Plains Dynasty were often at a disadvantage in front of the erratic Xiongnu elite cavalry.

Especially decades ago, Gaozu Liu Bang was besieged in Baideng for seven days by 400,000 cavalry of Mao Dunshan Yu's elite soldiers, so that the Han army could see the true strength of the Hun cavalry. This disparity in strength deeply stimulated the ruling class of the Han Dynasty, so that while on the one hand, they were fighting for peace and recuperation, while on the other hand, they vigorously developed cavalry units in order to compete with Hu Cai.

To develop cavalry, it is first necessary to have a sufficient number of high-quality war horses. The feudal dynasty, which was based on agriculture, always valued cattle more than horses, and due to the limitations of geographical conditions, the quantity and quality of horses produced in the Central Plains were difficult to compare with those in the northern nomadic areas.

The solution is to establish a national horse farm that can use national resources, have an effective management system, and can adopt more advanced horse breeding technology. National horse farms are managed by a dedicated body, which is usually managed by senior officials appointed directly by the state.

Emperor Jing in the second year of the first Yuan Dynasty issued an order to "build a garden of horses to be widely used", and strive to build a number of horse farms led by Shanglin Yuan, and the state set aside a designated area, invested special funds, cultivated horse breeds, raised and trained horses, and finally allocated horses to the army. After nearly six years of investment, it has now begun to bear fruit.

With good horses, there must also be well-trained knights.

"Tianshui, Longxi...... and Anding, Beidi, Shangjun, and Xihe, all of which are approaching Rongdi, practicing combat readiness, high strength, and shooting and hunting first. "The people of this place are the best choice for the selection of elite cavalry.

Even carefully selected soldiers are still subject to rigorous training. Huang Cuo once said in a book: "Scholars do not choose to practice, pawns do not obey the practice, do not live well, do not gather movement, seek to take refuge, the front strike and the rear solution, and the finger of the golden drum is lost, this is not the fault of the strangulation, a hundred should not be ten." The conscripts of the Han Dynasty were rigorously trained and had strong combat effectiveness.

However, dreams are beautiful, ideals are skinny.

Although there are a large number of good horses and well-trained cavalry, after all, the Han is an agricultural nation, and there is a natural gap with the Xiongnu, a nation on horseback. You must know that the Hun cavalry has eaten and slept with the war horses almost since childhood, and it is normal to sleep on the horses during the rapid march.

In the seven years since Emperor Jing ascended the throne, although he made great efforts to rectify military affairs, he came to the conclusion that after countless border frictions, he came to the conclusion that "the dangerous road is poured, and the gallop and shoot, and China's riding is also with it." ”

To put it simply, whether it is riding or archery, the Han cavalry is far inferior to the Hun cavalry. In Liu Che's words, it's not that the hardware can't work, it's that the software can't work.

Of course, if the hardware advantage is obvious enough, it may not be able to fill the gap caused by the software.

The seven new cavalry tools displayed in front of Emperor Jing of Han are super hardware that is strong enough to fill the gap between the two.

Due to the threat of the Xiongnu that the north had been facing, the rulers of the Han Dynasty, who were about to win the world, never forgot to cultivate the martial spirit of their descendants. Therefore, even Emperor Jing, who looked sick all day long, actually had some force in his body, riding a horse and bending his bow, no problem. Naturally, he is also extremely familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of various cavalry equipment.

Just now, Liu Che took him to review Yu Linwei's cavalry training, although they were little dolls less than fifteen years old, their performance shocked Emperor Jing.

I saw that they immediately bent their bows and easily shot at the arrow target nearly a hundred feet away. This is the effect that can only be achieved by a strong bow of more than two stones, and these dolls can pull a bow of two stones?

I don't believe him if he is killed!

Sure enough, now the answer appeared in front of Emperor Jing's eyes, the bow and arrow used by Yulin and the bow and arrow of the Han cavalry system were indeed very different.

"The slender length of the composite bow body, the eccentric wheel is installed at the end of the upper and lower bow pieces, and the lever principle of the movable pulley is used to make the bow opening force reach the maximum value, and it becomes more and more 'energy-saving' with the increase of the drawing distance, and the force can be reduced by seventy percent when the bow is full. This not only allowed the cavalry to aim with their bows in a more relaxed and comfortable state, but also enabled the dolls of Yulin to cross the gap in physical strength and use the 'hard bow' like adult men, or even surpass. ”

After Liu Che's detailed introduction on the side, Emperor Jing couldn't help but be amazed by this exquisite design known as the compound bow. Although he didn't understand what "eccentric wheel", "moving pulley", "lever principle" and "pulling distance" were, it didn't prevent him from understanding Liu Che's main meaning, and he could save seventy percent of his effort!

I'll it! It can save seventy percent of the effort! Emperor Jing seemed to see the scene of the Xiongnu Da Dan Yu being pierced through the heart by ten thousand arrows.

You must know that archery has always been the weakness of the cavalry of the Han Dynasty, and the cavalry of the farming people can compare with the cavalry and archery skills of the grassland people who have lived on horseback since childhood? A marksman like Li Guang is a special case after all. As a result, the Western Han cavalry was mostly finished, while the Hun cavalry suffered very little losses.

However, the dolls of Yulin just shot the arrows with this kind of bow nearly a hundred zhang, you know, the average Hun cavalry, can accurately hit the target fifty zhang away is already a few. Even the most elite condor shooter is only close to ** ten zhang.

Once the Han cavalry was equipped with this kind of bow and arrow, the disadvantage of the Han cavalry could be completely reversed. Not to mention the accuracy, the insurmountable advantage in range alone was completely able to suppress the Huns and force them to fight in close combat.

"Emperor, why didn't you offer such an artifact earlier?! And so tightly guarded! Almost missed a big deal! Emperor Jing, who was boiling for a while, frowned and scolded with an angry face.

"Eh, father, the son only has a reason, and I will tell my father about it later, and my father will take a look at the remaining pieces."

Liu Che shook his head and smiled bitterly, it is really the dream of every emperor to expand the territory, and even Emperor Jing, a "Sven" emperor like Yanjing, is not exempt from vulgarity. He was not in a hurry to explain, but introduced the remaining new equipment to Emperor Jing one by one.

Halberd:

The halberd is a combination of spear and ge, with the functions of hook killing and assassination, and began to gradually replace the spear in the Warring States period, becoming one of the main weapons in chariot warfare and foot combat.

Liu Che modified the style of the halberd, the original part of Ge was reduced, and the stabbing distance appeared on the hu. In addition to the function of pecking the sting, this kind of "Bu" shaped halberd also has the function of the front lock frame and the backhand hook belt, and the distance thorn stretched out from the side is stretched out vertically and horizontally, and after it becomes vertically stretched out horizontally, it bends upwards again, so as to increase the cutting and killing area when the fork stab, which is more in line with the requirements of cavalry warfare. In terms of materials, it was changed from copper to iron, a typical cavalry long iron halberd.

Sabre:

During the Jingdi period, the saber of the Han cavalry system was the ring head knife. The knife body is slender, mostly straight ridge and straight edge, there is no clear distinction between the handle and the blade, and there is no guard. The handle of the knife is mostly clamped with a piece of wood, and the outside is wrapped with a thick rope. Easy to hold. Compared to the sword. The ring-headed sword has a blade on one side and a thick ridge on the other, making it more suitable for slashing when cavalry is on the offensive than a double-edged sword.

Liu Che, who was rich and wealthy, used the best cast iron to create a Mongolian scimitar that swept the world in later generations. This ** knife belongs to the wide back thin blade, and the blade is relatively heavy, which is conducive to increasing the strength of the chop. The lines are sleek and the shank is generally slightly curved towards the blade, so that the curved shank is easier for the rider to control and not easy to get out of his hands. The center of mass of the scimitar is far away from the hilt, which greatly increases the lethality of the knife.

Fish scale armor

Due to the characteristics of the cavalry, there was only an armor body, and there was no armor skirt and armor sleeves. The armor body is composed of a breastplate, a dorsal armor, and a flank piece. Liu Che discarded the bulky and large pieces of iron plate armor of the Han cavalry, and adopted the smaller iron fish scale armor of later generations. In this way, the cavalry not only had less weight, but also moved more flexibly. Even if he was shot down from his horse, with the Mongolian scimitar in his hand, he still had considerable combat effectiveness, avoiding the nightmare of heavy cavalry who died when he dismounted.

Takahashi Saddle:

As early as the Qin Dynasty, the cavalry was equipped with a complete saddle, and the tools for reining in the horse were also complete. However, the Han cavalry still used the early soft saddle, and it was extremely difficult to shoot arrows on galloping horses, because the rider had to clamp the horse's belly and maintain balance with his legs, and at the same time he had to pull the bow with both arms and try to make the arrows hit the target, even if the Hun cavalry lived on horseback since childhood, this combat method was very inefficient and difficult to implement, and the best way at this time was to stop the horse and shoot arrows or simply dismount and fire.

Liu Che decisively adopted the hard Takahashi saddle of later generations, and the ends of the saddle changed from flat to high, which limited the rider's body to slide forward and backward. It gives the rider a longitudinal stabilizing effect, allowing him to shoot arrows in front of him while galloping.

Stirrup:

It is a pair of pedals hung on both sides of the saddle for horseback riders to use when riding horses to step on their feet, and there were no stirrups at this time in the Han Dynasty. The stirrup provided lateral stability by fixing the feet, and at the same time, with the assistance of the saddle, the man and the horse were united, making it possible for the cavalry to use the speed of the horse to make a frontal assault.

After using the stirrup, it makes the war horse easier to control, so that the person and the horse are connected as one, so that the person riding on the horse frees his hands, and the cavalry can ride and shoot on the galloping war horse, and can also swing left and right on the horseback to complete the military action of splitting left and right. There were no stirrups, and when a cavalryman galloped on horseback to shoot arrows, he had to slow down or dismount his bow to shoot arrows; The warring parties should not swing as hard as they can in a fight on horseback, otherwise they will lose their balance and fall off their horses.

Horseshoe:

The horse's hooves are made up of two layers, the one that comes into contact with the ground is a layer of hard keratin about 2-3 cm thick, and the top layer is [***]. When the horse's hooves come into contact with the ground, they will fall off quickly due to the friction of the ground and the corrosion of stagnant water. A horseshoe is a layer of "C" shaped cast iron nailed to the horse's hooves. This not only protects the horse's hooves, but also gives the horse's hooves a firmer grip on the ground, which is beneficial for both riding and driving.

In this era when there were no horseshoe, whether it was the Xiongnu or the Han Dynasty, the greatest loss of war horses did not come from the battlefield, but from the marching process. Many excellent war horses in the prime of life often cannot be used because of the shedding of the horse's hooves. Such a huge waste is very heart-wrenching.

For Liu Che, the design and production of horseshoe is not difficult, but the binding of horseshoes requires a lot of energy.

The binding of the horseshoe is to use nails to fix the horseshoe on the skin of the horse's hooves, that is, to burn the "horseshoes" into shape, and then put them under the feet of the horse, and then use a hammer and nails to nail this thick piece of iron into the sole of the horse's feet, and use the barb of the iron nail to fix it on the horse's ankle bone to avoid falling off.

According to the data, Liu Che guided the craftsmen to continue experimenting and constantly summing up the experience of failure. After ordering the hooves of dozens of war horses, a complete set of experience was summed up. And these craftsmen from the Prince Zhan Shifu were treated like treasures by Liu Che, and after being given a lot of rewards, they stayed in the Yulin camp and prepared to be used as masters in the future.

Emperor Jing listened to Liu Che's introduction silently, and every appliance brought him a strong shock. He could fully imagine what kind of changes such a set of equipment would bring to the Han cavalry.

Maybe the Hun cavalry will never again be a threat to the Great Han!

Maybe he can complete the great cause that Emperor Gaozu Yanjing did not complete!

Emperor Jing's blood continued to boil, interrupting Liu Che's introduction, and shouted: "Someone!" Prepare a horse for me! ”

Hearing this, the personal guard behind Emperor Jing looked at Liu Che with an inquiring gaze, obviously a little uneasy.

Since a serious illness last year, Emperor Jing's health has been bad. If it was the chamberlain next to him, he would definitely try his best to stop his move. But for a dead man with a very low emotional intelligence, it is rare to think of asking Liu Che for help.

Liu Che nodded helplessly, walked out of the tent, and motioned to Li Danghu and Gongsun He, who had been guarding outside the big tent, to lead two more docile war horses. Since the hot-blooded father is going crazy, the son can only be accompanied.

As a man, Liu Che understands the emperor's father's mood now. Whoever changed, kept giving his sisters and daughters to the enemy to spoil, but whenever he found that there was a chance to take revenge, he would always be a little excited.

Dad didn't immediately gather people to cut down the Hun Da Danyu, but just wanted to personally test the power of the new equipment, and he was already very calm. It is reasonable to be reasonable, Liu Che, as a son, has no way to refuse his request.

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