"Bow and crossbow!"
"Bow and crossbow?"
"Yes, it's a crossbow!"
Zhang Jian pointed out the key problem and said, "Your Majesty, you heard that the weapon can only be thrown, and the range is only a little over ten feet, which is far inferior to a bow and crossbow. Yuan Hao was defeated because he did not use bows and crossbows to meet the enemy, but instead directly charged the battle line with cavalry. However, against the Liao cavalry, this weapon would be of much less use."
"Yes."
Yelu Zongzhen slapped his forehead and said, "I was so anxious that I didn't realize this. Yuan Hao's Xixia cavalry was incompetent, but that doesn't mean my Liao cavalry is the same."
In fact, Li Yuanhao did not want to use bows and crossbows to meet the enemy, but when he was hastily assembling his troops, the Song cavalry had already occupied the small hillside outside. If they used bows and crossbows, and the enemy stood on high ground and shot at each other, who would suffer?
Anyway, the Song cavalry was on a slope several meters or more than ten meters high, so their range was naturally longer than that of the Western Xia army. It is estimated that the arrows of the Western Xia army had been shot into sieves by the Song cavalry before they could even reach the target.
So at that time, Li Yuanhao had no other choice. The correct solution was to take advantage of the physical disadvantage of the Song cavalry and charge forward.
Unfortunately, I encountered a grenade.
But for Yelu Zongzhen, any excuse for failure was just an excuse, so he naturally felt that it was all Li Yuanhao's fault.
In addition, if you really look into it, you can still think of using bows and crossbows to deal with this section.
But at that time, everyone's attention was shocked by the power of this new weapon, but they forgot that the Liao cavalry was not only highly mobile, but also very good at horse archery.
Later generations always thought that Mongolian cavalry were the best in the world at kite-flying archery, but in fact, this tactic has been basically popular since the invention of stirrups, especially during the Liao Dynasty. Galloping on horseback and shooting a bow was already a daily training for Liao soldiers.
A few decades later, at the end of the Liao Dynasty, the Liao soldiers had basically become corrupt and were beaten by the Jurchen tribes. But at least at this time, the Liao Dynasty was still at the end of its heyday, and the craftsmanship passed down by the Khitan ancestors had not been lost for the time being.
Therefore, if the Liao army relied on horseback archery, they would not be afraid of the Song army's new weapons. In a battle between the two sides, the Liao army could fully utilize the mobility of its cavalry and use bows and crossbows to attack the Song army's formations from a long distance.
By then, even grenades would be useless against the Liao cavalry.
Thinking of this, Yelu Zongzhen laughed heartily and said, "It seems I was worrying too much. This thing poses no threat to the Liao Dynasty. How dare the King of Song act so rashly? He totally ignores me. Send the order to assemble the army. I will march south to attack Song soon!"
"His Majesty!"
Zhang Jian smiled bitterly and said, "Although this item is almost useless against the Liao cavalry and archery, with it, the Song State is already invincible. It would be difficult to attack the Song State rashly."
"Why?"
Yelu Zongzhen was puzzled.
Liu Liufu explained, "The Song State's border is lined with fortresses and cities. This weapon is indeed useless in field battles, but in siege warfare, our crossbows not only have a shorter range than the Song State's, but we also have to climb the city walls. If the enemy drops this firearm from a high altitude..."
There is no need to talk about what happened later. In a field battle, whether it was the cavalry phalanx or the infantry phalanx of the Song Dynasty, even if they had grenades, they would definitely be unable to do anything to the Liao cavalry.
But in a siege, the enemy's crossbows can shoot farther than yours. Even if you rush to the city, there will be grenades thrown at you. How can you chew the turtle shell?
So the situation is now.
Because the Song Dynasty's grenades had a short range, it was definitely unable to take the initiative to attack the Liao Dynasty.
But the Liao Kingdom couldn't invade the south if it encountered the enemy's grenades.
So when Yelu Zongzhen heard Liu Liufu's words, he was stunned for a moment.
He discovered.
It’s not right to hit him, and it’s not right not to hit him.
I feel like I'm caught in a dilemma and can't get off the tiger's back.
(End of this chapter)
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