In Xiong Tingbi's view, the dragoons are not new, they are musketeers on horseback, or motorized infantry.

Riding on horseback and dismounting to fight, this is the main characteristic of dragoons.

Of course, if you are a little better at riding, you can wear a saber and chase down the defeated enemy. In the event of a head-to-head confrontation between cavalry and cavalry, the dragoons would obviously not work, at least not for now.

But there is also cavalry shooting, Xiong Tingbi stroked his beard, smiled, and watched Man Gui and other generals with Mongolian cavalry rushing to kill, arrows like rain.

Although this cavalry unit called the Flying Cavalry Battalion was a naturalized Mongol and was also skilled in cavalry archery, it was still very different from the troops of the Mongol tribes.

The main thing is armor, the Mongol tribes are very poor, especially lack iron weapons, how can they have the money to equip the cavalry with a lot of armor? In fact, this is also a disadvantage when they fight against the Houjin army.

The flying cavalry battalion, which made up for this shortcoming, had excellent bows and arrows and sharp sabers supplied by the Ming Dynasty, and its combat power was greatly improved.

Of course, from the emperor to Xiong Tingbi, they were not prepared to use the flying cavalry camp like this in a short period of time. Harassment and attack and pursuit while victory is currently envisaged as two forms of combat for the Flying Cavalry Battalion.

As for the Mongolian mercenaries, Xiong Tingbi also recognized them, and began to send people to contact the Mongol tribes in southern China.

Zhu Youxiao, on the other hand, instructed the generals of the border towns of Zhangjiakou and Datong to prepare to hire Mongolian herdsmen to expand the flying cavalry camp and launch a larger-scale attack on Houjin.

Not to mention anything else, the cost is very economical!

Zhu Youxiao calculated that if the people and horses of the Mongol tribes in southern Mo were transferred for a few months, it was not too much, and according to the market at that time, it should only be a few thousand taels of silver.

And it's not just about saving money. It is also of great positive significance to enhance ties with the Mongolian tribes and avoid them being co-opted by the Houjin.

Xiong Tingbi could roughly guess the emperor's longer-term plan, and when the military strength of the border towns was strong, he would launch a policy of naturalizing the Mongols.

At that time, it was not a mercenary, but a recruitment, and it was the army of the Ming Dynasty.

Just when Xiong Tingbi was relieved and imaginative, Yang Guozhu, the general of the dragoon battalion, came to the high platform, dismounted and climbed the high platform, and said: "The last general has seen Lord Jinglu. ”

Xiong Tingbi raised his hand, motioned for Yang Guozhu to get up, and asked, "The dragoon camp is well trained, and it will be a strong iron cavalry force in the future." ”

Yang Guozhu got up and grinned, and said, "My lord, the last general is more proficient in riding and shooting. ”

Xiong Tingbi was stunned for a moment, looked at Yang Guozhu and thought about it, and probably understood what he meant.

is still conservative, has no confidence in the dragoons, and feels that it will not be good to get military merits in the future, and the limelight will definitely not be as good as the flying cavalry battalion.

Xiong Tingbi shook his head and said, "You think that riding and archery will be more promising in the future, I really don't know how you learned martial arts?" ”

Yang Guozhu's face was a little hot, and he bowed his head and said nothing.

Although Xiong Tingbi was not very sure, the power of firearms still touched him a lot.

He also agreed with the emperor that the training period for muskets was short and demanding. With the manpower advantage of the Ming Dynasty, it will become an invincible and powerful force.

"If you practice the dragoon camp well, you will have more opportunities to make contributions in the future." Xiong Tingbi didn't explain much, stretched out his hand and pointed to the flying cavalry camp in the distance, and said, "You don't need to know the deep meaning of the flying cavalry camp built by the saint. ”

Yang Guozhu bowed and replied, "Yes, the last general will obey the order." ”

"In addition to horsemanship, the skills of musket infantry should not be neglected." Xiong Tingbi reminded solemnly, and only after Yang Guozhu responded, did he wave his hand to signal that he could retreat.

In the distance, the training of the Flying Horse Battalion had just ended.

Man Gui and the two guerrillas were riding on horses, laughing loudly, and galloping towards the high platform.

These two guerrillas were genuine Mongols who came from outside the Saiwai and joined them, and the governor of Yansui was named "fierce as a tiger" and "tiger might" because of their strong martial arts skills.

When Zhu Youxiao recruited naturalized Mongols from various border towns, these two men, who were already petty officers, entered the newly formed flying cavalry battalion and entered the martial arts cavalry department to study.

Others don't know why the emperor was promoted, but Zhu Youxiao knows that these two are not only powerful in name, but also heroes and martyrs who fought for the Ming army and died heroically in history.

Two real Mongolian compatriots, one of whom couldn't tell whether it was true or not, got together. 's bold personality and superb riding and archery soon warmed up the relationship between the three and they became close friends.

"Jiannu's cavalry shooting is definitely not good, but the foot shooting is powerful, and the big bow and heavy arrows are quite lethal." Man Gui shook the riding bow (horn bow) in his hand, "Of course you can't beat it with this." ”

This is an analysis of the textbook of the martial arts cavalry department, mixed with the experience and theories of later generations summarized by Zhu Youxiao.

Why did the Mongols excel in mounted archery and had a large number of them, but they could not defeat the Jiannu, who were also famous for their mounted archery?

Excluding factors such as the disunity of the Mongol tribes fighting separately and the quality of the generals, weapons and equipment and tactics are also important reasons.

In fact, the cavalry and archery boasted by Jiannu are only relative to the Ming army, but compared with the Mongols, there is a gap.

To be precise, Jiannu excelled at foot shooting, using a large bow similar to a longbow, which was similar in range and lethality to that of a bird's gun, and far superior to the horn bow used by the Mongols.

The Mongol cavalry lacked armor, mainly light cavalry, and the big bow and heavy arrows produced a great threat. On the contrary, the armor of the Jiannu was well protected, and the light arrows of the Mongols tended to do limited damage.

If it is only compared to cavalry shooting, the Mongol cavalry can still support; But to fight a tough battle, the strong and fierce Jiannu is not something that the Mongols can resist.

Although the flying cavalry battalion is all Mongolian, it has been naturalized by the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Youxiao treats everyone equally, without discrimination, and there is no explanation in the martial arts professor to keep the private secrets.

Therefore, the composition of the flying cavalry battalion and their tactics are already very different from the traditional Mongolian cavalry.

The armor is complete, and the horn bow, foot bow, light arrow, heavy arrow, and saber are also readily available.

As for tactics, Zhu Youxiao did not have any particular innovations. However, he explained that the second battalion of flying cavalry and dragoon should cooperate with each other as much as possible, give full play to their respective strengths, and cooperate in combat.

Hu Dawei had his own opinions on Man Gui's statement, he stroked the horse's head and said: "With beans as essence, this war horse is stronger than just eating grass, and its endurance and physical strength have been improved, and it shouldn't be worse than Jiannu's, right?" ”

Fierce as a tiger, he was satisfied with the armor on his body, as well as the symbol of his graduation from martial arts, the imperial saber, and said with a smile: "Even if it is a heavy arrow, the armor can also defend one or two; Only this saber is not something that Jiannu can resist. ”

"The saber is indeed extremely sharp." Man Gui pressed the hilt of the knife with his hand, thinking that it was given by the emperor, and was also satisfied with the sharpness of the saber.

Hu Dawei smiled and said: "This saber is known as only attacking and not defending, which is very suitable for the temper of a certain family. ”

While speaking, the three of them had come to the high platform, threw off their horses, climbed on the high platform, and knelt down on one knee to salute, "The last general has seen Lord Jinglu." ”

"No courtesy." Xiong Tingbi was very fond of these three straightforward men, and smiled appreciatively.

Man Gui stood up and asked directly: "My lord, the last general feels that he has almost practiced and can go out to Jinzhou." ”

Xiong Tingbi pondered for a moment and said, "Wait a little longer, some grain and grass materials still have to be transported to meet the consumption of the flying cavalry camp." ”

After a pause, Xiong Tingbi continued: "According to the reports of the officers and soldiers who stayed in Dalinghe and Jinzhou, there are quite a few Mongols grazing in the surrounding areas. After you pass, don't force it to drive it away, but you have to focus on it, and it's best to make it naturalize me. ”

"The last will know." Man Gui replied: "Mongolian herdsmen live very hard, and I will not be difficult for them. But if they collude with Jiannu, they will not show mercy. ”

Fierce as a tiger said: "I heard that Horqin has surrendered to Jiannu, and he is the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Although they belonged to the Mongols, they were not united with each other, and there were conflicts and attacks from time to time. The naturalized fierce tiger and tiger mighty have no psychological obstacles to loyalty to the Ming Dynasty and attack the Mongol tribes.

Among them, he is as fierce as a tiger, and in history, he was promoted because of his meritorious work in destroying the Mongolian chieftain of Hetao!

"The Khalkha rat is at both ends, long live and don't have to be too tough." Hu Dawei added: "It's just that between the various departments, it's hard to distinguish. ”

Xiong Tingbi bowed his head slightly, and said, "Therefore, the Flying Cavalry Battalion should not be recruited and expanded for the time being, in case it is mixed into the spies." The imperial court was to obtain troops from other Mongol tribes to replenish the cavalry battalion. ”

"Besides, the official has another idea." Xiong Tingbi stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes, "Give full play to the respective strengths of the Flying Cavalry Battalion and the Dragoon Battalion, and cooperate to fight ......"

………………………

The fact that the cavalry took a back seat in the war, or was eliminated, was not the credit of the musket, but the power of the machine gun.

At least for quite a long time, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was irreplaceable.

In the battle between the Ming army and Jiannu, whether or not they could get rid of the embarrassing situation of heavy losses if they were defeated, and it was difficult to expand the results of the battle if they won depended on the strength of the cavalry.

Although there was no discrimination against the flying cavalry battalion led by Man Gui, Zhu Youxiao did not tell them about another cavalry tactic.

In terms of horsemanship, on the overall level, the Ming army is definitely not comparable to Jiannu. No matter how hard you train, it's hard to make up for the gap.

But there is no solution, the answer is yes, and that is the cavalry wall charge tactics that originated in Poland and were learned by Gustav and introduced into the battlefield.

The outcome of a war is sometimes hard to figure out.

For example, this cavalry wall tactic was not considered a tall and advanced thing at that time, and could even be called barbaric and backward.

Because with the development of muskets, European cavalry began to be equipped with short muskets, usually two or three, and when encountering the enemy, they would first shoot with guns, then reload or reload, shoot again, and finally rush forward to slash and kill.

The style of play was civilized and elegant, but it was beaten all over the ground by the Polish hussars with a savage cluster charge.

Gustav learned the hard way and learned the brutal tactic of charging with a saber in a tight formation.