Daqin Engineers

Shen Bing also heard some rumors about the growth of the Huns.

These news came from the Huns herders.

Among the hundreds of thousands of people in the north, it is inevitable that some of them would buy food and metal for fur.

This is actually quite normal. The unofficial contacts between the Central Plains and the Xiongnu border have always existed, and this cannot be stopped no matter how much.

Even some of the people in the North are of Huns descent... Some of these were early settlers and settled in the North, and the other part were prisoners of war during the Li Mu period and their descendants.

Their views of ancestry and country have long been blurred and can even be said to have been assimilated by the people of the Central Plains... The nomads are used to living a nomadic life by chasing water and grass. Nationality?

Some news reached Shen Bing during the business between the people and the Huns.

Yan Lai reported this to Shen Bing.

On this day, Shen Bing was watching the Shenwu Army training, and the person in charge of the training walked to Shen Bing in three steps and two steps, arching his hands and saying:

"Does the general know that the Huns are getting stronger?"

Shen Bing said "Oh". Knowing that he could speak some Huns, he asked:

"Did you hear any news?"

Yan answered:

"Subordinates heard that Mouton's successor Shan Yu had defeated Donghu, and that Donghu territory and herdsmen had been collected."

Shen Bing couldn't help frowning.

Ordinarily, it will take a few years before this happens.

but……

Tou Man Dan Yu was killed by the Qin Army in the First Battle of Jiuyuan, and Mao Dun inherited the position of Shan Yu ahead of time, and thus defeated Dong Hu ahead of time to complete the great cause of unifying the northern nomads.

This is a bit ironic. It is almost when the Central Plains was unified that the northern nomads also completed the reunification.

This is not a problem.

However, after the reunification of the Central Plains, Ying Zheng began to faint and lose the country, followed by revolts of the rebels everywhere, and then a fight between Chu and Han.

But Mouton encourages Jingtuzhi to continue to expand outward.

Under the circumstances, the Han Dynasty bowed its head and proclaimed its officials, and in turn wanted to pay tribute to the Xiongnu to get married and seek peace.

The destruction of Donghu is no small matter.

Although Donghu's troops may not be included by the Huns, almost everyone of the nomads can ride and shoot, which means that the people are almost fighters.

Therefore, it is estimated that the Xiongnu's military strength has increased by more than 100,000.

Let the big fish eat the small fish, or win the Yueshi to incorporate the Western Region herdsmen... It is not a big problem to expand the force to two or three hundred thousand.

What is the concept of having two to three hundred thousand cavalry who are good at riding and shooting on the grassland?

According to statistics, Mongolia had only more than 300,000 troops in its heyday, but it defeated the Song Dynasty in the south and traveled to Russia in the north to conquer Europe... Even if the Song Dynasty was equipped with primitive firearms and entered the budding capital society, it would not help.

Fortunately, the 200,000 to 300,000 cavalrymen of the Huns were not equipped with saddles and stirrups, and their strategies and tactics were not mature enough, otherwise they would be invincible.

After hesitating, Shen Bing asked Yan:

"How is our army's riding and shooting practice?"

Yan's excited answer:

"General, this method is indeed effective."

"All ministries practice hard, although there is still a gap with the Huns, but they have made rapid progress."

"At this time, there are more than 300 people who can hold a strong bow and shoot."

The so-called "strong bow" is the two hundred and fifty qinjin bow used by the Huns.

If riding and shooting are to be able to be longer and shorter than the Xiongnu, the first thing is to be able to draw the same bow on the horse. Otherwise, the objective fact is that the shooting range is not as good as that of humans. How can it be better than others?

Shen Bing's method is to let the cavalry do anaerobic strength training like infantry.

Opening a bow, especially a bow that can pull more, is mainly strength.

Shen Bing usually tried to practice bow drawing, and found that the bow is mainly composed of several muscles such as the back deltoid, latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscle contracting and exerting force.

This is actually very easy to verify, especially like a novice who has never practiced bowing before Shen Bing...

He only needs to get the correct bow posture for Yan Church, and then force the bow over and over again in a short time. The muscles that are so sore the next day are those muscles that exert the most force.

Needless to say, the training of the cavalry is mainly for the shoulders and back...the deltoid and trapezius are the shoulders, and the latissimus dorsi is the back.

Of course, the legs and hips need to be refined.

The reason is that riding and shooting are on the back of the horse, and the cavalry must use the legs and buttocks to clamp the horse to stabilize it, and the hips and torso are required to open the bow.

Of course, strength training must be accompanied by nutrition.

However, this did not seem to be a problem for the Northland at this time. It only needed to sell a few more cloths.

In this way, the initial results have been achieved after more than a month of training. Among the more than 6,000 members of the Shenwu Army, more than 300 people can hold a strong bow and shoot.

The Huns grew up on horseback and played bows and arrows since they were young, but they still can't escape the two irreparable shortcomings of insufficient nutrition and lack of scientific training methods.

Shen Bing believes that given time, the Shenwu Army can at least match or even surpass the Xiongnu in range.

As for the standard head...

The two armies are actually more important than the range and rate of fire.

For example, when two cavalry with tens of thousands of people meet, is it really important to shoot accurately?

The opposite side was densely packed with people, and the cavalry kept changing positions.

What is required at this time is to shoot far and fast.

A good shot is only useful when the team meets.

Then Yan changed the conversation again, and said with some worry:

"just……"

Shen Bing asked:

"Just what?"

Yan answered:

"Most people in the North can't ride horses."

"Subordinates have inquired that most people who can ride horses are requisitioned by Zhao Wangjia as cavalry."

"Either died in battle or was captured and turned into slavery."

"This means that it is difficult for our Shenwu Army to expand."

"If it is this time that the cavalry begins to learn from horse riding, I am afraid it will take a few years to achieve success."

Shen Bing nodded.

In fact, this is not a phenomenon unique to the North, almost all countries in the Central Plains are like this.

First of all, the Central Plains is a farming nation. Although the population is large, there are few people who can ride horses. The only people who can ride horses and shoot arrows are the cavalry of various countries.

Second, the Central Plains did not pay much attention to the cavalry at this time.

This makes it very difficult for Shen Bing to expand the cavalry... Cavalry training cycle is very long.

The reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to defeat the Xiongnu was that on the one hand, iron weapons were commonly used to double their combat power; on the other hand, Emperor Wu consciously encouraged the folks to raise horses and ride horses.

So much so that there are horses everywhere in the wilderness, and the people even ride horses when they travel and even gather scholars to have a drink.

This shortened the cavalry training cycle in stages, and the Han army could recruit a large number of high-quality cavalry in a short time.

At this time, the North Land... is deeply trapped in this trap without a source of cavalry.

This is also one of the reasons why Shen Bing has always wanted to get in touch with the Western Regions and recruit troops from there.