Four-wheeled carriages are now nothing new in Huaihuang, these four-wheeled carriages compared to two-wheeled carriages, the capacity has increased exponentially, and the Hetao pull-back horse and four-wheeled carriage weigh ten stones a day. Two horses can pull up twenty stones. Even on a flat road, it is even possible to pull a four-horse carriage and hang a double train to pull a weight of forty stones, more than three tons.

Compared with the one-wheeled carriage, the four-wheeled carriage of Huaihuang is even taller. But this four-wheeled carriage is not as simple as adding two wheels. In fact, people in ancient times also used to add wheels to two-wheeled vehicles, but they did not achieve the desired goal. In addition to the more convenient and cheaper waterway transportation in the ancient plains of the Middle and Middle Times, and the higher requirements of the four-wheeled vehicle on the road, the four-wheeled vehicle at that time did not solve the problem of steering, and the four-wheeled carriage had a higher weight, but the requirements for pulling the horse were also higher. Eventually, by this time, the carriage did not come into pass, but gradually disappeared into the long river of history. Historically, by the time of the Song Dynasty, due to the increased demand for transportation and the busy water transportation, there was finally a stronger four-wheeled carriage on land, the Taiping car.

Yi Feng established a foundation in Huaihuang, and with the prosperity of commerce and trade, the transportation problem of Huaihuang is becoming more and more severe. There is no waterway communication between Huaihuang and the Central Plains, so they all have to take land routes, which makes the cost of various commodities on the dam increase, especially the grain transported from the Central Plains, the cost is greatly increased. At the same time, the transportation on the mine is also very tricky. In the end, Yi Feng still took out the four-wheeled carriage. This kind of four-wheeled carriage is not the Taiping carriage of the later Song Dynasty. Although the Taiping chariot of the Song Dynasty was also a four-wheeled carriage, it was not until the 21st century in later generations. You can still see it in the countryside. But this kind of Taiping car is not a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage in Western language, and the Taiping car is really just two more wheels than ordinary two-wheeled carriages, and there is no steering device, shock absorption equipment, etc. Although the Taiping vehicle can carry a load of thirty or forty stones, the requirements for the road are extremely high.

The four-wheeled vehicle that Huaihuang is now walking on the road is Yi Feng according to the characteristics of the four-wheeled carriage in later generations, summoned a large number of craftsmen in Huaihuang, pointed out some design directions for the manufacture of four-wheeled carriages, and finally worked together to finally solve several key technologies. The four-wheeled carriage was created that was ahead of its time, and even ahead of the West. For Huai Huang, which cannot rely on a little water transportation, it all depends on land and is relatively speaking. The terrain is also very suitable for the grassland terrain of the dam on the four-wheeled carriage, and the newly built four-wheeled carriage is indeed like a tiger with wings and has played a great role. Even Yi Feng began to work in mines and warehouses on the basis of four-wheeled carriages. Carriage tracks were set up on the workshops. The four-wheeled carriage and the carriage track have increased the transportation capacity again.

The shogunate has even begun to study the construction of two carriage tracks between the three cities in Huaihuang in the short term, so that the three cities will be connected and the transportation of the three cities will be more convenient. Moreover, they also put forward a medium-term goal and a long-term goal, that is, in the medium term, they planned to build a smooth horse-drawn carriage track between Huaihuang and the thirteen military towns below, and add a horse-drawn carriage track. The long-term plan is to go from Huaihuang to Youzhou. A four-wheeled carriageway was built under the Great Wall from Huaihuang to Daizhou to make the connection between Huaihuang and the Central Plains Hedong and the Central Plains Hebei more smooth. So that the goods of the famine and the grain of the Central Plains can be transported faster.

Yi Feng was supportive of the shogunate's ambitious plan, but it was bound to be a long one, perhaps taking years or even longer to achieve.

The military was very jealous of the shogunate's road construction plan, and soon put forward a plan, that is, the chariot plan. The plan of the staff under Wei Zheng was to use the carrying capacity and mobility of the four-wheeled carriage to build a chariot battalion, and during the battle, especially when the grassland was fighting with the Hu cavalry, according to the usual tactics of the Central Plains against the Hu cavalry, the chariot was used as a formation to fight a defensive counterattack. After this plan was submitted, those staff officers didn't really think that it would be clear, it was just that they wanted to speak out and show that they had a sense of existence. However, to everyone's surprise, Yi Feng quickly replied to the staff officers' plan, and even convened a secret meeting of the military department.

The staff officers' chariot battalion plan really impressed Yi Feng, although it is said that the chariot flourished in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and by the time of the Qin and Han dynasties, it had declined. But the combat vehicle was used less in the war in the Central Plains and withdrew from the main position, but it was not already useless. In the battle between the Central Plains Dynasty and the Steppe Dynasty, the chariot still played a great role. When many Han Dynasty armies fought against the Hu people, they used chariots as a battalion, protected the cavalry inside, formed a spear formation outside, and placed crossbowmen in the middle to counter the mobility of the cavalry. This kind of tactics basically belongs to the mainstream style of play.

Even in the later Ming Dynasty, the Ming army, which had long confronted the steppe Mongols and the Manchus in Liaodong, also used a large number of chariots, and even the chariot troops grew up again, such as the Ming Dynasty general Qi Jiguang trained his troops, and his troops had the establishment of war battalions.

The Huaihuang Army built by Yi Feng is now extremely sharp in the longbow battalion, but the excellent archers in the longbow battalion are rare, and last time it was expanded from more than 1,000 longbowmen to more than 4,000 longbowmen, but the overall level of archers' combat power has declined. And the cavalry of the Huaihuang Army has only one battalion at the moment, and the number is too small. An army is best trained by infantry, a year may be enough for spearmen, two years for sword and shield soldiers, but at least two or three years for longbowmen and cavalry to be able to be trained, and time is the most lacking for the Huaihuang army. No matter how beautiful the victories of Shihe and Taoshan were, after all, this was only a new army that had been formed for less than a year, even if most of the soldiers were border residents of the Hu and Han ethnic groups on the border, and they were very fierce themselves, and even many of them were veterans and bandits who had accumulated years, but they were still a new army.

The main enemy of the Huaihuang army was the cavalry of the steppe.

Even if the steppe cavalry is actually herdsmen most of the time, these steppe cavalry are huge.

If it is against a small group of steppe nomadic cavalry, Yi Feng is not afraid, but if it is against a large number of cavalry, this is an extremely dangerous thing. Yi Feng wanted to build heavy infantry, but also to fight against the steppe cavalry. The staff officers wrote to create a tank battalion. But it made Yi Feng's eyes light up and made him think of many Chinese and foreign armies that use chariots. The chariot battalion of the Ming Dynasty, and even the chariot array in the European war. After thinking about it for a long time. He gathered his generals, staff officers, and craftsmen, and after a long discussion, he finally felt that if the chariot was well coordinated, it would be of great use.

The new chariot was based on the four-wheeled carriage, but unlike the regular cargo carriage, armor plates were added, allowing archers to hide behind the armor plates of the chariot. Arrow holes were left in the armor plates. When leaving the city to fight, the chariot can be used to transport grain, grass and baggage, and when the camp is stationed. Chariots can form a chariot formation to form a moving castle. For the Huaihuang army, the chariot could not only transport grain and grass, but also on the flat and open grassland. Provide shelter.

When you see the newly built tank battalion tanks with your own eyes. The first impression is definitely his size.

It was so big that it was the difference between a donkey and a camel compared to the two wagons that were transported by land in the Central Plains today. Even the four-wheeled carriages transporting goods in the deserted city at the moment can be compared with the chariots lined up in front of the soldiers in front of them, it is also the gap between donkeys and horses.

Lined up in front of Wei Chigong and Cheng Yanjin was the Salt Lake Chariot Brigade, which currently had 200 chariots under its jurisdiction and two chariot regiments with 100 chariots each. Each regiment had five brigades, each with twenty tanks. There are two teams of ten cars each.

Each vehicle has two drivers, who are responsible for driving the wagon and attaching it to the camp, as well as a commander. The whole tank battalion has 600 people, but the tank battalion does not directly undertake combat missions. During the battle, the crossbowmen mounted their carts and shot arrows behind the loading boards, while the heavy infantry defended behind the gaps between the carts in heavy armor and swords, and behind him were spearmen and shield men. Cavalrymen and longbowmen were in chariot formation, in protection. In addition, there is a new artillery battalion built together with the chariot battalion, which has heavy ballistae such as eight-ox crossbows, Fuyuan crossbows, winch crossbows, and catapults, which are coordinated with the chariot battalion.

The Salt Lake Chariot Brigade in front of Wei Chigong and Cheng Yanjin had 20 chariots, lined up, and the four wheels wrapped in steel were inlaid with a layer of arced armor steel plates, and the armor plates were two feet high when they were raised. The wheels are more than half a person high, and the carriage is a full person high, and the armor plates on the carriage can be retracted and lowered to hold it upright.

At this time, the chariots were lined up to form a wall, and the armor plates on the outward wall were all propped up. There are five arrow holes in the wall of the carriage, and five crossbowmen can stand in the carriage at the same time to shoot arrows through the arrow holes. The one-man high carriage and the higher front wall armor plate allow the crossbowmen inside to fire their arrows without worry. The heavy infantry, on the other hand, stood on the front of the chariots and did not have to worry about attacks from both sides. The pikemen and shield men stood in formation behind the chariots and heavy infantry guards, and were much more secure. With this chariot array, heavy infantry array, crossbow array, spear array, sword and shield array, the longbowmen and artillery in the back can be safely and remotely output without distraction, and the cavalry only needs to sit in the formation to recuperate and prepare for the critical time.

Two hundred chariots can even have a transportation capacity of 10,000 stone when walking. Equipped with two-wheeled carriages and the capacity of horses and mules, even if the army goes deep into the grassland, the logistics guarantee for two or three months will be completely stressful.

The body of the chariot is coated with tung oil and iron, and the armor plates on the front can withstand even heavy blows, and there are all kinds of ancient mythological monsters painted on it, which are extremely vicious and hideous. There is a door on the inside of the carriage, which is lowered to create a bridge that leads to the interior of the carriage, which can be replenished by the crossbowmen at any time. And once the door is pulled up and closed, even if the cavalry can break through the car formation for a while, the crossbowmen in the carriage can rely on the tall and strong carriage for a short time, and there is no need to worry for a while. This is completely different from an ordinary military formation, which is difficult to reorganize once it is broken through. As long as it can hold up the attack, then the rook formation has a chance to reverse the shape.

The chariot array makes it possible for the Huaihuang army to carry a moving castle anytime and anywhere even if it is pulled to the grassland. If you encounter an enemy, outside the chariot array, you can also dig ditches, tree stumps, plant antlers, and throw thistles.

Wei Chigong and Cheng Yanjin stood in front of the tall chariot, with a look of amazement on their faces, "Last time, those who joined the army said that they wanted to build a chariot battalion, and there was not much time before and after, but there were already two hundred chariots, but I didn't expect the newly established chariot workshop to do things so quickly." ”

Wei Chigong was equally amazed, but he shook his head and said: "This chariot is indeed very strong, but I think that if you want to deal with Hu Qi, you still have to ride against the horse, and you can really defeat the Hu people with cavalry." Even if this chariot is strong, if the Hu people suffer one or two losses in front of the chariot, they will definitely not be fooled again in the future. If the Hu people avoid the edge of the chariot and use raids and other methods, the effect of the chariot will still be greatly reduced. Wei Chigong always felt in his heart that if he wanted to deal with the cavalry of the Hu people, he had to defeat them with cavalry. And the chariot is, after all, a means of defense, not an offensive means. And with this chariot, the speed of the Huaihuang army will definitely have to slow down.

"I think it's good to have this chariot, at least we are already invincible, even if we leave the fortified city of the Huaihuang base camp, it is equivalent to carrying a moving castle at any time. With this moving castle, we are invincible, and no matter how fierce Hu Qi is, there is no need to be afraid. It is very helpful for the morale of the army. Moreover, this four-wheeled carriage, which transports heavy grain and grass, is also several times more powerful than ordinary carriages. "Although the Huaihuang Army now claims to have 50,000 people, the actual number of soldiers is only 30,000, and the main state army is only more than 10,000. Among them, there are only a few thousand people who have actually experienced the battle. There are a large number of soldiers, but none of them have actually experienced real combat. If it is a defense battle, there is a city to rely on, and it can also increase combat effectiveness. But if you leave the castle like this and go to the vast grassland to fight Hu Cai, in fact, many soldiers are very worried, even the commander of the army like Yi Feng is the same, and he is not very confident.

For the middle and top ranks of the military, victory in the battle is of course important, but first of all, we must guarantee one thing, that is, we cannot lose. Even if you don't win, you can't lose. If you win one or two battles, the enemy will not be destroyed, but if the Huaihuang army is defeated, it is very likely to collapse.

"I really want to see those savage people riding in front of this armored combat vehicle, hitting their heads and bleeding blood." Cheng Yanjin smiled and looked at the chariot.

The two walked side by side along the Salt Lake Chariot Brigade to the end of the formation, watching the chariot painted with hideous monsters! (To be continued......)