Chapter 673 Infantry becomes Cavalry (Seeking votes and subscriptions)
In September of the first year of the Han tribe's founding, the grassland fell into a brief period of peace. Maodun successively looted many small and medium-sized tribes in the southern grassland. After obtaining a large number of people and livestock, he began to shrink and slowly lick his wounds. The entire Maodun's forces were left with only a small team led by Darantai who were secretly active, and they did not organize any decent sneak attacks. In Darantai's own words, they were still scouting.
This was not because he was afraid of fighting and lying, but because he was really doing scouting. Through the recent scouting of the Han army in Kaiyuan County, he was increasingly unable to understand the operation of the Han tribe, and he had not found any opportunities, because those Han soldiers in iron armor had been shrinking and only moving around the city every day. It seemed that they were training
. Yes, the soldiers of Qianniuwei and Hubenwei were indeed training, including the cavalry composed of grassland herdsmen who defected to the Han tribe.
The Han tribe's strategy against the enemy on the grassland needs to be changed. Luo Chong is very clear about this. Today's Qianniuwei and Hubenwei are like the situation when the Song Dynasty faced the Jin and Liao Dynasties. They have powerful weapons and equipment, and can beat nomads in various ways. They are almost invincible in infantry combat, but they have a problem of short legs and cannot ride horses. When facing nomadic peoples dominated by cavalry, they have lost the initiative on the battlefield.
Whether they want to fight or not is not up to them, but the enemy. They want to harass them when they want to, and run away immediately if they can't beat them. Even if the Han tribe is powerful, they can't catch up with them.
Faced with this situation, there are only two ways to solve it. One is to build cities and forts like the Song Dynasty, while building blockhouses, stationing soldiers and civilians, and repairing them all the way to the doorstep of the other party, forcing the other party to fight a city attack and defense war, because this is the advantage of the Song Dynasty, but this strategy takes too long and costs too much. The current Han tribe can't afford it.
The other is to use cavalry against cavalry, train a cavalry team that is more nomadic than nomads, and seek to confront the opponent's main force in the way of grassland people, just like Huo Qubing fought against the Xiongnu.
Comparing the two methods, Luo Chong is of course more inclined to take the cavalry route, because it is quick to take effect and the cost is relatively low, and the current Han
tribe can do it, so Luo Chong's recent order to Qianniuwei and Hubenwei is to reform them into cavalry. Unlike the previous environment where war horses were scarce, now with the new source of income from Kaiyuan County, the Han tribe can continuously absorb livestock and horses from the grassland. If you want to gather horses for two guards, you can still get them. Four thousand cavalrymen need about twelve thousand horses. Luo Chong didn't dare to think about it before, but now it is no longer a problem for the Han tribe.
Moreover, after absorbing the nomadic tribes on the grassland to surrender, the horse breeding and training technology of the Han tribe has also achieved a leap-forward development. Some previously unknown tactics have also been learned from the herdsmen, so the Han tribe has been practicing new tactics recently. The source of all this comes from a small tribe that took the initiative to surrender a while ago.
That was a nomadic tribe that took the initiative to surrender. The population was only a few hundred people, and the livestock was only a few thousand. It could only be regarded as a small tribe on the grassland, but its tribal leader was a capable person. This person's name was Baoyin, which didn't sound very impressive, and in fact, it didn't have much momentum, because the word Baoyin translated into Chinese probably means blessing, and it has nothing to do with words such as mighty, powerful, and capable.
But it was this person who, after carefully studying the equipment and combat methods of the Han tribe cavalry, provided a very useful suggestion. This guy said very confidently that as long as his method was used, the speed of the Han tribe's heavy cavalry could be doubled in a short period of time.
When this news reached Luo Chong's ears, Luo Chong also expressed great interest in it. In this world, Luo Chong dared to claim to be the best in technology, but he didn't dare to brag about raising horses and cavalry fighting, because he really had never raised horses and didn't understand the real cavalry fighting method. In this regard, he was not much better than those ancient war military fans.
So he was very humble and summoned this guy named Baoyin with an attitude of seeking advice. Of course, Luo Chong still didn't take the initiative to meet him, but let him take the cargo ship of the Han tribe to Weishan County. Luo Chong was waiting for him here, first to learn, and second to let this guy gain experience and kill his spirit, so that he wouldn't think he was great just because he came up with a good idea.
Baoyin, who took a big ship for the first time, did gain experience. It was the first time he left the grassland he was familiar with and was taken to a strange place by a floating vehicle on the water.
On the way, he saw more ships. Without exception, all of these big guys floating on the water belonged to the Han tribe. These sailboats were either carrying many people or full of various goods. Even sand and black stones were transported by special ships. There were also ships like the one he was riding, which were specially used to transport livestock. Yes, it was a horse boat that Baoyin was riding.
When the sailboat passed through Liuyang County, he saw a city that was several times larger than Kaiyuan City. According to the crew beside him, it was also one of the settlements of the Han tribe, and there were many settlements like this in the Han tribe.
When he finally arrived at the end of this trip, Weishan County, he saw a scene that shocked him. It was the dock of Weishan County, a dock with many heavy berths and piers, which could provide multiple heavy cargo ships to dock at the same time. Above the dock, there was a "black road" leading to the distance. It was a black road covered with coal slag, and countless carriages were driving back and forth on it.
He truly demonstrated what a busy and bustling city is like, because there are so many carriages, and the style of those carriages is something he has never seen before. They seem to be specially made for carrying goods, and they carry more things, which is not comparable to the carts sold by the Han tribe on the grassland. Only then did he realize that the Han tribe would never sell the real good things.
The lighthouse next to the dock made him even more shocked. This was probably the tallest man-made building he had ever seen. The people of the Han tribe seemed to be very good at building houses. Although he was not quite sure about the actual purpose of this tower, the unique shape of this building alone was enough to make him feel awed.
After seeing and hearing everything along the way, Baoyin's momentum had already shrunk before he saw the legendary leader of the Han tribe. The confidence in his heart was also thrown away. The strength of the Han tribe was not what he could imagine. Yes, that's right, it was imagination. He suddenly felt that his previous understanding of the Han tribe was very different from the reality. An inner city of Kaiyuan County could not represent the entire Han tribe. There were many things in the Han tribe that he couldn't even think of.
Finally, in the government office of Weishan County, Baoyin met the man who was the leader of the Han tribe. He was very young, only about sixteen or seventeen years old, not even as old as his brother. Baoyin couldn't imagine that such an ordinary-looking boy was leading such a large Han tribe, and it was developing so rapidly.
"I heard that you have a way to increase the speed of the cavalry in a short time?" Luo Chong put down the brush in his hand and asked Baoyin directly.
"Uh, yes, I can." Baoyin didn't seem to expect Luo Chong to be so direct. This was a bit different from the meeting he expected on the road.
"What method?" Luo Chong asked again.
"I want to join the Han tribe and become an officer like Yili." Baoyin did not answer Luo Chong's question, but took the opportunity to put forward his own conditions.
Luo Chong had a blank expression on his face, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. He just said in a flat tone, "I heard from the people below that you have joined the Han tribe, so this cannot be your bargaining chip. Whether you can become an officer depends on your ability. I will not let an incompetent person lead my soldiers to die. So if you want to be an officer, you can, but you must prove your value and ability first."
Luo Chong's answer once again exceeded Baoyin's expectations, which made him a little awkward, or uncomfortable, because the bargaining chips he prepared seemed to have lost their value in Luo Chong
's place. Shouldn't the leader agree to his conditions first, and then he would take the opportunity to offer good advice? What went wrong, and why did he suddenly become passive? He couldn't figure it out, but under Luo Chong's gaze, the gap between the two identities gave him a great sense of oppression. The young man sitting opposite seemed to have a magic that made people obey automatically, forcing him to respond according to the other party's requirements.
"I, I saw that the cavalry of the Han tribe were wearing very thick iron armor. They had high defense and almost no (nomadic) tribe could be their opponent in a head-on confrontation. However, because the cavalry of the Han tribe wore too heavy iron armor, they were not flexible enough on horseback. Moreover, the horses were carrying such heavy things and it would be very difficult for them to run. This is a big weakness for the herdsmen who are naturally good at running and riding and shooting.
I know there is a simple way to allow the cavalry of the Han tribe to obtain the fastest horse speed in a short period of time, which is very suitable for sprinting, because I see that the attack method of those iron-clad cavalry is basically only sprinting."
Baoyin secretly glanced at Luo Chong when he said this, but Luo Chong still had no expression on his face. He didn't dare to use this as a bargaining chip to make conditions, so he had to throw out his own chips, and silently said in his heart that he hoped that this young leader of the Han tribe would be more generous. If he didn't give him any position, he would definitely take his people away when he returned. There would be no future in following a stingy leader. Well, that's it.
After taking a deep breath, Baoyin continued, "Horses are very timid animals. They are easily frightened. Sometimes they lose control when frightened, causing bad results, but we can also use this to gain an advantage.
During a battle, when the two warring parties are confronting each other, the horses will be frightened. In mild cases, they will automatically slow down, and in severe cases, they will run away because of fear. At this time, it is difficult for the rider to control them.
So my method is to cover the horses' eyes with something before the battle. When they can't see anything, they will no longer be afraid of the opposing cavalry formation. Moreover, because of temporary blindness, the horses will be very frightened. Once horses are frightened, they will run like crazy, and their speed can be several times faster than their usual fastest speed. At this time, as long as the rider can control the direction well, he can get a faster extreme sprint speed than usual. However, this also has a disadvantage, that is, the horse will get tired faster than usual, and the number of charges will be reduced. However, the cavalry of the Han tribe are three horses per person. I don't think this is a problem for the Han tribe. As long as you train frequently, you can master this method."
After speaking, Baoyin looked at Luo Chong at the top with expectation and trepidation, waiting for his reaction.
Luo Chong was stunned for a moment, and then he suddenly realized that he actually knew the fighting method of covering the horse's eyes (anti-harmony) that Baoyin mentioned. Yes, it was in some costume dramas, but he never knew what the use of doing this was. In his heart, Luo Chong always thought that covering the horse's eyes was just to prevent the horse from being afraid and colliding with the opposite horse formation, but he never knew that this method also had the function of accelerating the sprint. After all, he had never raised a horse, so how could he know everything.
The strange knowledge increased
Luo Chong's inner sigh. Sure enough, a person can't know everything. Professional things have to be done professionally. At least in terms of horses, he really hasn't had much contact.
Therefore, it seems to be a good choice to let someone who is familiar with the nature of horses join his cavalry. Luo Chong made a decision in his heart in an instant. This is a talent. If he doesn't want it, it may become someone else's. With his strong personality, how could he agree to hand over such a talent to someone else? So Luo Chong, expressionless, suddenly laughed.
"Yes, your suggestion is very helpful for the heavy cavalry, but the Han tribe cannot have only one kind of cavalry. They must not only learn to charge into battle, but also learn horse archery. I want them to become more elite cavalry than the nomadic cavalry and surpass the nomadic cavalry in all aspects. Can you help me do this?"
Luo Chong's words did not seem to agree to anything, but to Baoyin's ears it sounded like heavenly music, as if as long as he nodded, Luo Chong would immediately give him the position he wanted.
"Of course, the Han tribe has the best conditions, whether it is horse feed, or sophisticated horse gear, as well as luxurious weapons and iron clothes, these are not comparable to those (nomadic) tribes. If I can't help the leader build an elite cavalry, then I won't come here today."
Baoyin's answer was also very confident, because the facts he said were that the Han tribe lacked nothing in logistics, and even in the structure and management of the professional army, it was perfect for him to find no faults. Now they just lack some experience in cavalry combat, which happened to be the innate strength of him, an old herdsman. Even among all the herdsmen on the grassland, Baoyin dared to proudly say that no one knows horses better than himself, and knows the way cavalry fights better.
Luo Chong nodded with satisfaction, "Then you should go to Qianniuwei to join the army first, and be in charge of the training of the troops. As for leading the army alone, you are not yet capable of it, because you are not familiar with the structure and management system of the Han army. In this regard, you can only be regarded as a student. When you have this ability, I will give you the opportunity to lead the army alone. Perform well."
(End of this chapter)
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