Knowing oneself and knowing that the other side has won all battles, everyone is still very unfamiliar with the army of the Seljuk Empire, and they do not understand their combat methods and tactical characteristics, and now they can only analyze and understand from the existing clues.

After a few battle-hardened veterans, they found that these Seljuk cavalrymen were not only personally well equipped, but even the saddles were quite sturdy. Of course, the saddle is only a basic condition for the cavalry's important equipment, but the problem is that its interior is also carefully padded to make the butt feel more comfortable, which is very important for soldiers on horseback. And there is also a heavier woolen cloth tied to the saddle, which can keep out the cold without asking if it is cold, and can be used as a blanket when sleeping at night, and it can also keep the war horse warm.

As for the composition of the personnel, the elders thought that it should be composed of the noble children of the country according to the weapons equipped by the enemy, and the children of a poor family could not afford to learn martial arts since childhood, and even those weapons and war horses were not affordable by every family. Only those eunuchs and nobles can have enough financial resources to support their children's martial arts training expenses, and buy what they need, hire famous teachers, and train a warrior who is good at fighting.

Although these details cannot accurately judge the true strength of an army, it can also be seen from them the level of training and combat readiness. After analysis, they thought that the size of this army would not be too large, and the size should be between 20,000 and 50,000 people, because such well-equipped armor and weapons would be piled up with money, and large-scale equipment would cost a huge amount of money, even if the Seljuk Empire was rich, it would be difficult to bear.

But the interrogation of the prisoners who came down shattered their glasses, and the identity of these knights was actually the lowest slave in the eyes of the Central Plains......

The heavy cavalry of the Seljuk dynasty was mostly the Turkic court guard formed by the Seljuk Sultans - Ghulam. It means "trained slave" and is a professional army. Ghulam is further divided into court Ghulam and general Ghulam. The court Ghulam was the personal guard of the sultans. Besides. The Ghulam cavalry of local governors and lords, as well as mercenaries of Turkic-speaking, Persian, Armenian, Kurdish and other ethnic groups were also the source of heavy cavalry in the Seljuk Empire.

Because of the rigors of training, many lords preferred to choose more specialized slaves than professional freelancers. The main way to obtain slaves was through buying and selling, and prisoners of war were also an important source. The members of Ghulam were instilled with Persian culture and values, Islamic teachings from a young age, taught to train them to have exquisite riding and martial arts, and when Ghulam grew up, they were incorporated into the army, stationed various places for the dynasty, and could also be promoted to officers and become the backbone of the imperial military.

The term "slaves" can be misleading here, but although slaves could be bought and sold, they were paid. Share the spoils of war, and you can also be promoted by outstanding military exploits, and then you can become a general, a high-ranking official in a government department, or a general with military power. The nobles began as personal guards and gradually became their stewards, retainers, and bodyguards. As a result, Ghulam had a very high social status in their country, and although they were still slaves in name, they actually enjoyed great honor!

The court ghulam heavy cavalry served as an ace unit, and its equipment was entirely distributed by the state. Since Central Asia has always had a tradition of ironclad reloading. Therefore, in the Ghulam Guard, which was perfected during the Samanid period, the heavy cavalry occupied a major position. The Ghulam heavy cavalry was generally equipped with the finest armor and horses, such as the Turkic-style pointed neck guards, topped with fox tail trim and heavy fur helmets with felt accents around them. He rode tall and strong horses and equipped them with armor to protect them, and wore finely crafted patterned jackets, felt hats, and leather boots. This is evident in the high cost.

The most common protective equipment for heavy cavalry was heavy sheet armor and chain soft armor, which were well-made. It can be high-quality chain mail, and the protection of heavy-duty sheet armor is high. However, the weight is heavier, and only highly trained soldiers can wear and move freely, and Ghulam, as a good professional soldier, fully meets these requirements, and their most important training is strength training, and they have to perform repeated weightlifting, fighting, riding and archery exercises every day to get used to these heavy armor.

The Ghulam cavalry were equipped with fewer horses than other nomads, but their Akha-Tak horses were more robust, more capable of running and carrying weights, and their rigorously trained horses enabled them to perform complex formations on the training ground and on the battlefield. Therefore, the Ghulam cavalry can be replaced with thicker armor, with bows, spears, swords and other weapons, so that they can shoot from a distance or charge melee hand-to-hand combat, becoming an excellent cavalry with more functions.

Of course, the cavalry of the Ghulam cavalry had to be proficient in horse archery, although they preferred to stand still and shoot arrows. A skilled Ghulam cavalry is said to be able to fire five arrows in a very short time, which means that if the enemy cavalry is only thirty paces away from the Ghulam cavalry and attacks at a sprint speed, they will have enough time for the Ghulam cavalry to release five arrows before the enemy rushes in front of them, but only requires speed and does not emphasize accuracy, and is more used as a means to disrupt the enemy.

There were all kinds of signs that made Ma Wei and the others realize that these Ghulam cavalry could be said to be the strongest opponents they had encountered since the emperor formed a new army. However, as they analyzed, it is precisely because of good equipment and pickiness of soldiers that the number of Ghulam cavalry is still limited, and now the Seljuk Empire has 15,000 court Ghulam heavy cavalry, and 10,000 people followed Sultan Sanjar to attack Western Liao, and only 5,000 people are guarded. The governors and lords of the provinces belonged to the general gullams, according to their financial resources, ranging from thousands to dozens, but they could all be called elites.

Now that the news of the Song army marching on the capital had already reached Baghdad, the remaining crown prince and prime minister had issued requisition orders to the provinces and lords, asking them to block the Song army along the way and enter the king of Jingqin. According to the captives, most of the provinces and the lords' Ghulam had already arrived in Baghdad, and the expeditionary force had encountered the private armies of the lords these days, and they did not dare to confront them head-on because of their small numbers, so they could only harass the Song army's advance to slow down the Song army......

"Li Gong, what are you doing with those spears?" While everyone was talking about the enemy army they were about to face, only Li Gong, the commander of the hussar brigade, looked at the gun flag on the captured spear and didn't know what he was thinking, Wang Gang asked curiously.

"Oh, Dutong, you look at the equipment of the Seljuks, the eyes of their guns and flags and the horsehair and long coats on their helmets are all the same color, is it very similar to the way we hussar formations!" Li Gong suddenly heard someone calling him, and said in a daze.

"What's so strange about this, these are all common sense, and this is true of all armies!" Wang Gang listened to Li Gong's answer and understood that he was thinking about these low-level questions, so he said with some amusement.

"Let's see it all!" Li Gong put the enemy's cuirass on his body, tied the round shield to his left arm, and made a sprint motion with a spear in his hand.

"How can this dress be similar to our hussars!" Li Quan circled around it and said in surprise.

"Yes, I asked the captives carefully just now, and they also use mounted spears when charging into battle, using neatly lined horizontal groups to charge, but their spears are slightly shorter than ours!" Li Gong retracted his rifle and said.

"Isn't it a coincidence?" In the Song army, only the hussars were equipped with iron cuirass, war horses and armor, and the other troops were leather armor, and the weapons used were in addition to firearms. Ma Wei and Li Quan looked at each other and said puzzledly, and everyone could see that their eyes were full of surprise.

"Your Majesty has ever been to Seljuk?" As soon as he mentioned it, Wang Gang also saw something strange. As a veteran of Beifu, he knew that the hussar army was formed by the emperor, and began to use this tactic of charging with a spear against the Jurchens in the Krüptu army, and then gradually promoted it to the hussars of the whole army.

"No, as far as I know, Your Majesty has never been to the Western Regions!" Li Quan thought for a while and said.

"Are you sure Your Majesty didn't sneak out when he was in the northwest?" Ma Wei asked.

"Impossible, it is not possible to reach Seljuk from the northwest in a short time, at the beginning there were no more than 10,000 soldiers in the army, and Your Majesty was often in the camp, and it never disappeared for so long, this Wang Gang can also testify!" Li Quan was in the guard camp at that time, and it was impossible for him not to know that the emperor had been away for a long time.

"Well, in the later period, His Majesty will travel back and forth between Datong and Taiyuan at most, and there will be no chance to go far!" Wang Gang nodded in confirmation.

"After His Majesty ascended the throne, he did not send hussars to aid Goryeo, nor did he use hussars to fight Dali and Gaochang, but it was nothing more than because the hussars had a single way of fighting, the cost was huge, and it was difficult to supplement the expedition. But our 10,000-mile expedition to Seljuk sent hussars, and our journey is the farthest, and it is even more difficult to replenish, which is really hard to fathom! Ma Wei pondered for a moment and said, but he was even more puzzled in his heart, how did the emperor think about it?

"What's wrong with this, this expedition to Seljuk His Majesty is planning to go on a personal expedition, everything is prepared according to His Majesty's arrangement, obviously he knows that he will encounter heavy cavalry here, so he will send hussars to fight against him, you don't forget that Your Majesty is a god!" Li Quan said, but he wanted that if the emperor was here, they wouldn't have to think about it here.

"Your Majesty is really like a god, and your Majesty also expects that our hussars will be able to defeat the Seljuk heavy cavalry!" Li Gong on the side touched his head and said...... (To be continued......)