Daqin Engineers

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It takes time for the rattan to enter the processing procedure, and the training of the troops has not fallen.

As the horses were gradually put in place, the training of the cavalry was on the agenda.

After discussing with Wei Wei, Shen Bing and Wei Wei decided to train for half a day in riding and shooting and half a day in training water combat.

In a way, riding and shooting are similar to water combat training, shooting arrows in an unstable state.

But after Shen Bing's training, he discovered that the three thousand fine knights of the Navy really had water. Not only did they have water, but the water was also quite large.

This is not to say that they can't ride horses or shoot arrows, but they can't shoot arrows right away.

To be precise, most of them are accustomed to using crossbows instead of arrows.

This is actually a problem that the cavalry of all countries in China has. They are artificially reducing the difficulty of riding and shooting:

In an era without stirrups and saddles, it is very difficult and dangerous to rely on your feet to maintain balance on the horseback. This is just the basis of arrows... Arrows need to use both hands and keep aiming at the target for a period of time.

It's different with a crossbow. The crossbow can be placed on the back of the horse while assisting in stabilization while opening the crossbow. After opening the crossbow, you can hold the horse's head with one hand and shoot with the other hand...the crossbow does not require two hands.

So even if you use a bow, most people must stop the horse before opening the bow and setting the arrow.

As a result, only a few dozen of the three thousand men in the navy can complete the true riding and shooting, that is, shooting arrows while the horses are running.

One of the best is none other than Xun.

He froze for a long time when he was assigned a war horse, and asked Shen Bing over and over again with unbelievable eyes:

"Lieutenant, this... is this really for subordinates?"

Shen Bing sullenly answered:

"of course!"

"Everyone has it, but protect it!"

After responding, his face was radiant as if he had changed himself. For a while, he graciously touched the horse's head, then patted the horse's legs again, and then turned on the horse and ran for two laps with excitement. :

"Lieutenant, a good horse!"

"It's just lack of endurance, or not suitable for long-distance combat!"

This is indeed a problem. Most of the horses in the Central Plains are spoiled and hard to compare with the horses of ethnic minorities in endurance.

Then Yan showed his hand with a bow and arrow, straddling the horse while galloping forward and shooting an arrow in the bullseye...Everyone was dumbfounded. This is not easy in this era, especially the speed of the horse's gallop.

Without saying anything, Shen Bing immediately appointed Yan as an instructor, letting him teach the army's cavalry and shooting skills.

Privately Shen Bing asked how Yan did it.

He touched his head and thought for a long time before answering:

"Actually, there is no secret."

"Just know where the horse is, and lean in that direction..."

He grew up on horseback and got used to these things. I thought it was nothing strange. Everyone knows them. So let him sum up his experience and couldn't tell why.

However, Shen Bing understood:

It is impossible to simply clamp the horse's body with your feet to maintain balance. Instead, you must determine the horse's landing point and position in advance and prepare in advance. Only in this way can it be possible to free your hands without stirrups and saddles.

Wei Wei was a little puzzled about this:

"Lieutenant, what's wrong with the cavalry crossbow?"

"If it is against the enemy, crossbows and bows have their own advantages..."

Wei Wei's words are right, the bow and the crossbow do have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The bow is characterized by its fast rate of fire, and the crossbow is characterized by its long range.

But the range of crossbows is far limited to the strong crossbows used on land. They can open the strings with the help of leg and waist strength, so the range is greater and more powerful.

Since the arm stretcher used on the horseback also relies on the tension of the arm to open the string, the range power is not stronger than the bow.

If there is any advantage to an open-armed crossbow, it is that it can stay ready for a long time.

This was originally no problem, because the cavalry of all countries in the Central Plains did this. You are weak and I am weak. Everyone is the same.

but……

Shen Bing said to Wei Wei:

"One day, if our army is against the Huns cavalry..."

"The Xiongnu cavalry are all riding and shooting like gangsters."

"Left Captain Zuo thinks which one will win or lose?"

Wei Wei was speechless.

Because the answer is obvious, the range and power of an open-armed crossbow is not stronger than that of a bow and arrow, but the rate of fire is much slower...A crossbow can shoot three arrows with one bow, and even five arrows with superb archery.

All the cavalry who are going to fight against are the cavalry...Where is the Central Plains Cavalry its opponent?

Therefore, in this era, most countries in the Central Plains faced off against the Huns with foot soldiers, that is, infantry versus Huns cavalry.

On the one hand, the reason why the Huns were defeated was that their tactics were not flexible enough. On the other hand, the cavalry was indeed not suitable for direct confrontation with the infantry.

However, the infantry could not rush to the Huns cavalry, so the so-called "big victories" were mostly just "drives away"... The Huns felt that the movement war had just begun, and the Central Plains infantry could not catch up behind them, and declared victory after occupying the ground.

This is actually a different definition of "victory" between farming nations and nomads:

Nomads do not look at fighting for territory. For them, the vast grasslands are the same everywhere, so victory should be the warrior who killed the enemy country and grabbed the enemy's women and food.

On the other hand, the farming nation is land-based, and it is considered victory if the enemy's city is captured and occupied.

That's why there are many countries in the Central Plains chanting victory, but the Huns do not know what they have lost. Next year, after the enemy retreats, they will find time to rob?

In the end, the Central Plains countries actually had only one way to resist the Huns, and that was to build the Great Wall.

If anyone could defeat the Xiongnu head-on, it would be Li Mu who was riding a horse.

The Northland where Li Mu was stationed in the Hetao area did not have the Great Wall at this time, but it could be held. Afterwards, Meng Tian could only use the Great Wall to block the Huns when he recovered the Hetao.

Twenty-eight years later, Liu Bang, who had just won the world, didn't understand this truth. He thought that using the bucks to defeat the Xiongnu, he sent an army of 320,000 to expedition to Loufan...

Needless to say what the result was, after the siege of Baideng, the Central Plains in turn would pay tribute to the Xiongnu every year.

Later generations generally believed that this was the reason that Liu Bang had just won the world and the national power was not strong.

However, Shen Bing felt that the lack of national power was only one aspect, and more importantly, it was doomed to fail with the buck riding...

It's okay for the infantry to have a strong backup at the border to drive the Huns cavalry. Once the lone army deepens, it will inevitably face an unsolvable tactical problem: how to ensure the long logistics supply line?

At that time, the Huns cavalry used mobile attack supply lines to prevent the supply from being transported to the infantry deep into the enemy's territory. Wouldn't the infantry be starved to death?

Therefore, if you want to truly defeat the Xiongnu, you can only develop cavalry to overcome riding.

That's what Emperor Wu of the Han did, and that's why Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were famous.

Wei Wei understood Shen Bing's foresight only then, and after answering, he stopped opposing.