After this period of understanding, Cao Cao has figured out the characteristics of the Song Dynasty army, that is, it is mainly infantry, supplemented by a small number of cavalry.

Moreover, 30 or 40 percent of the cavalry did not have war horses, and in some places it was even more serious, and the number of cavalry without war horses even reached 7 or 80 percent.

In contrast, the armies of Liao and Western Xia were all good at cavalry and archery, with an average of two horses for a soldier and three horses per capita for elite troops.

Moreover, their war horses were all good horses, compared with the horses in the Song Dynasty army, one was in the sky and the other was in the ground.

The reason for this is not that the authorities do not want to form a strong cavalry, but that they simply do not have the conditions to do so.

The Song fought against the Liao and Western Xia for many years, so they naturally understood the power of the cavalry.

Cavalry can advance and retreat with ease through high mobility, and even if a charge or round of engagement fails, it can be defeated without chaos.

It was possible to take advantage of the strong mobility of the cavalry, withdraw from the battle, regroup the ranks, and charge again.

However, the infantry has a natural disadvantage in the face of cavalry, and can only be passively defended and ready for battle.

If you can't beat it, you can't run away, and you can only become a lamb to the slaughter, and whether you live or die depends on the enemy.

Even if the infantry wins, it is only a small victory, and it will not cause fatal damage to the cavalry, because with two legs, it can't outrun the war horse, and if you can't catch up, how can you effectively kill and injure the enemy?

The characteristics of the nomads determine that they will not stick to one place, even if they fail, it is a big deal to change places to continue to survive, anyway, the Song Dynasty army will not be able to catch up.

Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the country, several wars against the Liao State ended in failure, and finally had to sign the Tanyuan Alliance with the Liao State, and the two countries stopped fighting.

Cao Cao understood that cavalry could fail many times, and infantry would be defeated once at all.

However, there were no good horses in the Song Dynasty, and Gansu, an important source of good horses, was not under the rule of the Song Dynasty, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were not in the hands of the Song Dynasty as an important horse breeding ground since ancient times.

Without good horses, it is naturally impossible to form an invincible cavalry.

At that time, horses with a height of one meter three in the Song Dynasty were already good horses, and they could not be compared with the high-headed horses of the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia.

Although the Song Dynasty explicitly stipulated that cattle and horses could not be slaughtered arbitrarily and that horses should be protected to the greatest extent, this problem could not be fundamentally solved.

In the face of this problem, Cao Cao was also helpless, although he had recognized the advantages of cavalry, but at present he could only focus on infantry, so the selection of infantry was particularly important.

The combat effectiveness of the infantry directly determines the direction of the war, and Cao Cao believes that as long as the combat effectiveness of the infantry is guaranteed, it is not impossible to win in the face of cavalry.

Cao Cao vaguely remembered that he once saw a sentence in a book - as soon as the Mo knife came out, everyone was shattered!

As for how to get war horses and form cavalry, we can only find a way in the future.

Cao Cao cleared his thoughts, turned his head and asked Wu Song: "Gao Chong, Wang Wu, Wang Meng, Yan Ningzai?" ”

"Except for Yan Ning, everyone else is here." Wu Song replied.

"Oh? Where is Yan Ning? ”

Wu Song glanced at Cao Cao and explained: "Brother, Yan Ning is thin and weak, and he is not in the selection of the infantry army, he is in the selection of civil officials. ”

Cao Cao smiled, and instantly understood what Wu Song meant.

Listening to the meaning of Wu Song's words before, he had a good friendship with Yan Ning.

On that day, Cao Cao said in the county hall that Gao Chong, Wang Wu, Wang Meng, and Yan Ning were talented enough to serve as deputy heads.

If it is a competition of real swords and guns, I am afraid that Yan Ning will not even have the qualifications to enter the infantry army, let alone become the deputy capital.

Therefore, Wu Song did not let Yan Ning participate in the selection of the infantry army, but put him among the civil officials, and only in this way could he become the deputy head of the Yanggu regiment.

Cao Cao glanced at Wu Song and did not reproach him for his selfishness.

For Yan Ning, Cao Cao also likes it very much, even if Wu Song doesn't arrange it like this, Cao Cao will find a way to give him a position.

After all, now that Yue Fei is not here, the Yanggu regiment is in urgent need of training generals, and at present, Yan Ning is the best candidate.

Thinking of Yue Fei, Cao Cao's thoughts flew again: "I don't know what happened to Yue Fei and Master Li, but no news is the best news at the moment." ”

But Cao Cao knew that what should come would always come, and for the sake of his life, he still needed to prepare early.

Cao Cao had a hunch that it would not be long before the imperial court would send someone to investigate him, and then he was afraid that he would die again, and if he was not careful, he would be in a different place.

After all, when Master Li disappeared, Cao Cao was the most suspicious.

Even if it is for the sake of the face of the heavenly family, Zhao Ji needs to be pretentious.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao smiled bitterly, and Chong Guan was angry, Master Li's matter, he did deal with it a little too much.

However, Cao Cao did not regret it, if he did it again, Cao Cao would still choose this.

Wu Song looked at Cao Cao thoughtfully, leaned over and asked, "Big brother?" What are you thinking? ”

Cao Cao glanced at Wu Song and reproached slightly: "It's nothing, don't ask around." ”

Wu Song smiled: "If you don't say it, I also know, you have been hiding it from me since you came back from Kaifeng, I guess it has something to do with Brother Yue." ”

After returning from Kaifeng, Wu Song did not see Yue Fei, although Wu Song had inquired about Yue Fei many times, but Cao Cao never told him, but only told Wu Song that Yue Fei had something to deal with.

At the same time, Cao Cao instructed Wang Meng not to tell anyone about Yue Fei, including Wu Song.

Therefore, no matter how Wu Song coerced and lured, Wang Meng did not tell Wu Song about the affairs in Kaifeng Mansion, but only vaguely said that Yue Fei had a task, and Wang Meng didn't know what it was.

It's not that Cao Cao doesn't believe Wu Song, it's just that the fewer people know about this matter, the more beneficial it is to Cao Cao, and if he doesn't tell Wu Song, he is also protecting him.

If one day, the imperial court sent someone to investigate the case of Li Shishi, naturally it would not let Wu Song go.

Cao Cao: "If you dare to talk nonsense, be careful not to let you eat tonight." ”

"If you don't eat, you won't eat, and you won't starve to death anyway." Wu Song muttered.

"Well, when the time comes, I'll tell you everything. Now let's take a look at the selection of the infantry army first, I really hope that there are also capable people like Tian Chao in the infantry army. Cao Cao changed the subject, not wanting to continue to entangle with Wu Song on Yue Fei's issue.

Cao Cao continued to ask, "How did you select the infantry army?" ”

Wu Song explained: "Brother, they have already conducted a physical fitness test before, I asked them to run around the school field, presumably you also noticed it when Tian Chao shot geese." ”

"At present, a group of people have been eliminated, and for the rest, I plan to organize a ring competition."

Cao Cao asked puzzledly, "Ring match?" ”

Wu Song continued to explain: "That's right! Determining the strength of each member of the infantry army through the ring, although it cannot fully reflect their ability, but at least it can make a distinction. ”

"We can also take this opportunity to have a certain understanding of their combat effectiveness, and we can focus on cultivating those with excellent performance in the future, even if the position of the deputy head is limited, we can reuse it when we have the opportunity in the future."

"Not bad!" After hearing this, Cao Cao couldn't help but admire, and at the same time was full of expectations for the next ring match.