Song Dynasty

Chapter 114 Stepping on the White Army

Cavalry is the king of war in ancient times.

Just imagine, what would it be like if you were an infantryman standing on the battlefield holding a weapon, and facing a group of horses wrapped in armor rushing towards you?The huge body of the horse, the long lance in the hands of the cavalry, and the ground shaking violently when the iron hooves hit it, do you have the courage to face this overwhelming charge?

No matter how calm and composed he was in front of the soldiers, to be honest, he was still a little scared when he faced the attack of the Jurchen kidnapper last time.

The cavalry is the motorized unit and heavy armored army of the cold weapon war era.

Because the Song Dynasty army lost the northern racecourse, it could only continue to strengthen the infantry armament.Their infantry is equipped with the strongest infantry armor weighing [-] jin in human history, and holds the god arm bow with the longest range and strongest penetrating power in the cold weapon war era. They have the strictest discipline, but they can face When the cavalry of the northern nation attacked, they still lost more than they won.

Even if they won two games, they lacked the means of pursuit, so they could only watch the enemy calmly retreat on fast horses.

Moreover, because of the poor maneuverability, the Song army could not run fast at all when retreating, and was bitten by the enemy's cavalry, and it would soon turn into a big collapse.

Without cavalry, many tactics of the Song army would be useless, and it would be easy to become deaf and blind on the battlefield.

The Western Army was brave at the time, but during the Jingkang period, Xiao Zhong’s strategist, Gongzhong, sent the main force of the Western Army to rescue Taiyuan. The interspersed tactics were divided bit by bit, and bit by bit were eaten.

After the battle, the bones of the Western Army filled the valley, and Xiaozhong also killed Xiongling to die for his country.

After the Jiankang Defense War, he got [-] horses, which is a huge fortune.With this cavalry in hand, south of the Yangtze River, it can be regarded as an assault force capable of walking sideways.

The only worry now is whether the cavalry can be trained as soon as possible.

You must know that in the army, archers and cavalry are technical arms, and training requires a lot of materials and money, not to mention, there are also certain requirements for the physical fitness of soldiers.In addition, it will take a long time. Up to now, anyway, Wang Shen does not have a few qualified archers on hand, so he must not want to, but he really can't!
It is necessary for the White Army to form an army as soon as possible to catch up with this battle.

The barracks of the Tabai Army is located seven miles outside Huanggang County, next to a small river with clear water.There is a large playground by the river, and a large area of ​​houses. It used to be the barracks of the local defenders of Huangzhou, and when the Jurchens came, it became Wanyanchang's camp for the Chinese army.The place is very large, just for the cavalry army.

On the playground, some officers were training soldiers, and there were many scarecrows standing in the distance, and each cavalry flew past the scarecrows with a single knife in their hands, and then chopped the scarecrows with their single swords in an instant.

Next to it, the officers roared again and again: "Be quick, don't hesitate, use the knife quickly!"

"No, no, you can't swing the knife like this. You have to put the waist knife next to the horse's neck, and rely on the horsepower to cut at the enemy."

"You can't chop, you can't chop, Zhiniang thief, how strong can you have with one hand, and you want to swing a knife? When you chopped the enemy's body, your wrist was also broken."

……

"Line up in a line, lean forward, point the knife forward at eyebrow level, run, run!"

"Turn the knife, the edge of the knife moves forward, and drag it from the enemy's vest. Don't use force, there is no ball. You are a cavalry, not an infantry. You are chasing and defeating the enemy now, and you must kill and wound the enemy as much as possible. Thieves, you are so Reckless, how many levels can be beheaded?"

A cavalryman fell to the ground with a bang, but one foot was still stuck in the stirrup, and he was dragged to pieces, screaming again and again.

The officer was shocked, hurriedly galloped up to catch the horse, and cursed repeatedly: "It's over, it's over, you're over, you're already dead on the battlefield. Damn it, I've told you countless times, the strength of the body rests on the feet. On the stirrups. Your mother, you are only using your buttocks hard, and there is no hook on your buttocks, how can you hook the saddle?"

……

Wang Shen shook his head: "It seems that this cavalry will take a while to train, and I don't know if it can catch up with this battle...Fang Worong, Fang Worong..."

I saw that Fang Worong next to me looked at the galloping horses on the field with burning eyes, feeling eager to try.

Wang Shen smiled, this scholar may have entered the wrong line of study, he should join the army.The army is the right place for him to stay.

"Military envoy."

Wang Shen: "How is your riding skill?"

Fang Worong: "I used to ride a lot. Once I got on the horse, I couldn't fall to the ground."

……

"I've seen the master, but I don't know what orders the military envoys have when they come?" Guo Ya was not in the school grounds, but stayed in the stables, when he saw Wang Shen coming, he rushed up to greet him.

Although Guo Ya couldn't use any strength with one hand, he still sat firmly on the horse, showing excellent riding skills.Considering that he is a veteran cavalry soldier of the Western Army, Wang Shen simply let him serve in the White Army.

But this old soldier refused to do it, saying that he was just a servant of the Wang family.The master treats me with great kindness, and he only wants to be the master and mistress for the rest of his life, but he doesn't care about fame, fortune and salary at all.Besides, my right hand is useless, how can I fight?

Wang Shen persuaded him, saying, you just need to be a cavalry commander in the back, and you don't have to charge forward.

Lao Guo shook his head, for the sake of not rushing to the forefront, brothers, who is willing to fight for you?

What he said made sense, Wang Shen had no choice but to let it go, and said, well, I won't force it, I will bring the cavalry myself.However, you can be the chief coach of the Stepping White Army and help me train them.

Lao Guo: How dare the young one refuse to obey the master's request?However, it is agreed, once the cavalry is trained, I will come back to serve the masters of the Wang family.

Wang Shen was very helpless: "Okay, it's up to you, once you have trained cavalry, you can come back if you want!"

In this way, Guo Ya joined the White Army.

He is too old to fight, but he has a lot of experience.When he was in Jiankang, he helped Wang Shen select [-] veterans of the Western Army who could ride horses and had certain cavalry combat experience from the army, and enrich them into Tabai.

It can be said that this cavalry army was created by him alone, and it saved Wang Shen a lot of energy.

"Two things." Wang Shen pointed to Fang Worong beside him: "Fang Worong, the new Marquis of the White Army, I wonder if you would accept it."

"Fang Worong, is that the Fang Worong who repelled ten bandits by himself, beheaded two ranks, and captured one alive?" Seeing Wang Shen nodding, Lao Guo looked at Fang Shusheng up and down, and kept nodding: "Very good, very good." Well, courageous, short in stature, bow-legged, hozen-like, a natural cavalry boy. He can read and write, a rare talent, I accept it."

Fang Worong was very ugly and was often called a monkey in the past.If it were someone else, he would have been furious by Lao Guo's words.But he is a simple and humble scholar with a very good temper. He just smiled shyly: "It is my long-cherished wish to join the army. Although my subordinates ride fast horses, they have never fought against the enemy. Please, General Guo Give pointers."

Lao Guo said: "Don't be subordinate, I am an old soldier of the Western Army. Now I can only be regarded as the instructor of the White Army, not your boss. This cavalry army has its own master to lead it. When the cavalry is trained, I will return House servant."

The two of them exchanged a few words, and Wang Shen asked how the old Guo cavalry training was going.

Lao Guo couldn't help shaking his head, saying that it still wasn't possible. Among the five hundred cavalry, only a hundred had served as cavalry in the Western Army and Left Guard Division before. too far!

While talking, he said angrily that when the troops first formed, the soldiers didn't know how to control the horses.Hundreds of horses huddled together, jumping and screaming, and the chaos couldn't be more chaotic.In the past few days, at any rate, everyone can line up and barely be able to charge.There is no way to compare with the cavalry led by the eldest lady.In such a situation, if you encounter a Jurchen, you won't even know how you died.

The young lady he was talking about was naturally Li Chengjun's Chen Lanruo's cavalry army.

Wang Shen's heart moved, and he asked: "What if we meet Kong Yanzhou? Lao Guo, you are also from the left-behind division of Tokyo, and you should know the situation of Kong's bandit army."

Lao Guo nodded: "When I was in Tokyo, everyone lived in the same place, and the soldiers of the various armies also moved about every day. Why didn't I know that. Kong Yanzhou used to be a hero in Hebei, and many of his servants knew how to fight cavalry. People from Yanzhao, Who doesn't grow up on horseback. However, after fighting for so many years, his soldiers have changed countless times, and there are not many old soldiers left. At that time, although he had many troops on hand, they were all infantry."

"Oh, it turns out that Kong Yanzhou doesn't have cavalry, so there's nothing to worry about. Maybe our Tabai will come in handy in this battle. We're dealing with bandits, not Jurchen, so don't worry too much." Shen's heart moved, and he asked again: "Old Guo, how long will the troops need to train before they can be pulled out?"

Guo Ya said with a smile: "Returning to the master, if it is a perforator thief, then there is nothing to be afraid of, and you can leave at any time. It's just..."

Wang Shen: "Just what?"

Lao Guo: "The master's white horses are all light cavalry. They are mainly used for reconnaissance, harassing the enemy, and pursuit on the battlefield, and they don't need to charge. There is too much work, and the consumption of war horses is also high. It is best to have two horses for one person. However, our department now only has [-] horses, which is not enough for use. Moreover, due to the neglect of management of the war horses provided by the Jiankang Left Guards, many horses have been used by them, and now they have to be rearranged."

As he said that, he patted a war horse in the stable next to him, and Wang Shen discovered something unusual.I saw that the horses were all tied to the beams with reins.Because the reins were tied so short, the horse's head couldn't be lowered, and it kept its head up all the time.

Those war horses must have been irritated by being hung up, they kept snorting and foaming from their mouths.

Wang Shen was amazed: "Old Guo, what are you doing?"

"Boiling a horse is like boiling an eagle." Lao Guo replied: "After the eagle breeder caught the falcon, because the eagle has a fierce habit, he didn't let the eagle sleep after the first capture. For several days, the wildness of the eagle was wiped out. Training can only be carried out after that. Like the eagle, this war horse is also a beast, so it needs to be tempered."

(End of this chapter)