More than a month has passed since the assassination of Liu Ling. During this period, nothing major happened in the Han Dynasty. Liu Ling rarely went to court these days. After resting at home for five days, he began to train the cavalry.
The one thousand recruits brought back by Yingzhou were all strong men. Together with the five hundred veterans selected from the Shenzhan Battalion, Shenji Battalion, and Shenfeng Battalion, a cavalry of 1,500 old and new cavalry was quickly formed.
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The cavalry camp was established on the royal palace land assigned to Liu Ling by Emperor Xiao. This land covering an area of more than 40 acres could accommodate three thousand cavalry without any problem.
The horses are all high-quality war horses sent from Xixia. They are tall and strong. There are 3,000 war horses and 1,500 cavalry. Liu Ling wants to make these 1,500 men into extraordinary soldiers who can influence the situation of the war. After the cavalry enters the camp
, the cavalry camp was sealed, and there was a forest of guards outside the camp. Not to mention ordinary people, even dignitaries could not approach without Liu Ling's consent. If anyone approached within 200 meters of the cavalry camp, they would be immediately patrolled by the patrolling police.
A warrior is expelled.
This compound of more than 40 acres has completely become a forbidden area in Taiyuan Mansion. It is even more heavily guarded than the inner courtyard of the palace. Patrolling the outermost perimeter are the officers of the Eighth Inspection Department, a team of ten people, seamlessly crossing
During the patrol, no one can cross the line. Inside is a patrol team composed of 200 guards from the Liu Ling Palace. The 100 people are divided into ten teams. They change shifts once a day and patrol continuously.
Everyone who enters and leaves the cavalry camp is issued a pass badge signed by Liu Ling himself. There are only six such badges issued in total, including Liu Ling's own. This means that only those who are qualified to come to the cavalry camp are issued.
Liu Ling only had five people. Even His Majesty the Emperor was not allowed to come and go at will. This was what Emperor Xiao had promised Liu Ling.
These six people are Liu Ling, Shengtu Yehu, Zhao Er, Hua Sanlang, and Dugu Ruizhi. Even the commanders of the three capital battalions who can be said to be Liu Ling's confidants are not qualified to enter the cavalry camp.
Liu Ling entered the cavalry camp early in the morning and came out very late every day. No one knew how he trained the new recruits. His training method became the top secret of the Han Dynasty.
However, some people sneered at this. They thought that no matter how hard Liu Ling tried to train the new recruits, how much trouble could he make with just 1,500 people? Even if all those cavalry were trained to be as strong as one against ten,
Soldiers, can they really influence the situation of the battle when facing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops?
Although cavalry has certain advantages in fighting infantry, if used properly, it is still possible for 1,500 cavalry to defeat 10,000 or even 15,000 infantry without heavy armor. If faced with more than 20,000 cavalry,
Even if the infantry in a formation is not equipped with heavy armor, the speed advantage of the cavalry will be completely eliminated by the numerical advantage of the infantry. Once caught in the enemy's formation, the high cavalry will be the target of the weapons in the hands of the infantry.
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If we are guerrillas outside and use crossbows to kill the enemy, unless the opponent is an insurgent army with no combat effectiveness like Ouyang Zhuan's rebels, it will be difficult to cause a fatal blow to the infantry. Moreover, the range of the cavalry bow is far less than that of the infantry bow.
Once there is a stalemate, the cavalry is likely to be killed by the infantry's arrow array.
Therefore, many people do not think that a cavalry team of 1,500 people can achieve much. After all, Han's current imaginary enemies are Liao, Xia, and Zhou. And these three countries are all good at cavalry. Not to mention
The cavalry of Xia and Liao, even the tiger and armored cavalry of Zhou, the ten thousand cavalry armed to the teeth can easily kill these fifteen hundred cavalry.
Daliao had 400,000 wolf cavalry troops, and Xia had no less than 400,000 cavalry. In a large-scale cavalry charge, the 1,500 men trained by Liu Ling would be immediately overwhelmed by the opponent's torrent, and they would not be able to turn over a single flower.
The waves are coming.
Not only the literati who are proficient in military affairs or have no knowledge at all are not optimistic about this cavalry unit, but there are also many doubts in the army. The most outstanding and skilled cavalry the Han army has ever seen is none other than General Luo Ben, the protector of the Zhou Dynasty.
Xu's 10,000 fine cavalry were already the upper limit of cavalry combat effectiveness they could imagine. No one thought that the cavalry team trained by Liu Ling could surpass the combat effectiveness of the tiger and ferocious cavalry.
Even Emperor Xiao didn't care too much about the fifteen hundred cavalry. In his opinion, the reason why Liu Ling devoted all his attention to training cavalry was just to stay away from the court. He would rather be a general training troops than
As a powerful official with great power in the government and the public, Emperor Xiao was quite helpless towards his younger brother who was bold on the battlefield but cautious in the officialdom. It was just that he didn't want to push Liu Ling too hastily, so he said that there were Lu Sen and Hou Shen in the court.
Pei Hao, Zhou Yangong and other important ministers who were available to him, Liu Ling did not interfere too much since he wanted to train soldiers to serve the emperor.
Liu Ling ignored the criticism from the outside world, entered the cavalry camp on time every day, and never came out until it was time to light the lamp.
The battle between Daliao and Xixia in the north became more and more lively. Neither side had the time to distract Han. In addition, Han had dedicated the important town of Datong to Liao. Yelu Xiongji's previous anger towards Han for not sending troops also disappeared.
They have all dissipated long ago. Compared with the tens of thousands of old and weak soldiers sent by the Han Dynasty, it is much more affordable to get an important town that can monitor the entire Central Plains. As long as one hundred thousand soldiers are stationed in Datong, no matter it is Xixia or Dazhou, it will be as if they were captured.
It's as uncomfortable as driving a nail into your eye.
In fact, Emperor Xiao did not do this just to show weakness to the Liao Dynasty. In theory, Datong Mansion was the territory of the Han State, but it had been harassed by the Liao Langqi since the founding of the Han Dynasty. There was no human habitation within a hundred miles.
And the Liao Kingdom's covetousness for Datong is very obvious. It is not a bad deal to exchange a piece of territory in name only for five years or even more peace. What's more, Liu Ling has already arranged it in Datong Mansion.
Otherwise, how could he give it up so easily?
Liu Ling stood on the school field and watched the recruits training, with a very serious expression on his face.
"Your Majesty, if you train horses and soldiers like this, the losses will be too great, right?"
Hua Ling asked cautiously.
Of the 3,000 top-quality war horses, more than 200 have now been lost, which is distressing to see.
Liu Ling shook his head and did not answer Hanasaburo's question, but asked Zhao Erdao: "Have the food for the cavalry and the feed for the war horses been shipped today?"
Zhao Er cupped his fists and said, "My lord, everything has arrived. Two hundred pigs and fifteen carts of fine feed."
"Fed the horses as I told you before. The cavalry's meat supply is open, so don't be stingy."
He glanced at Hanasaburo and sighed: "I know you feel sorry for the war horses. Watching those horses starve to death one after another, don't I feel sorry for you? If you persist, I believe you will succeed. In addition... die
All the war horses have their flesh cut off and put aside for later use!”
Hanasaburo said in surprise: "Your Majesty, horses eat grass. It is already very difficult to feed raw meat with blood. Does Your Majesty still want the horses to eat the flesh and blood of dead horses?"
Liu Ling nodded slowly and said: "What I want is not a war horse, but a ferocious beast!"
"Such a method of horse training is unheard of. I really can't imagine how powerful the war horse will be on the battlefield if it is trained as the prince expected."
Zhao Er sighed.
"I think this method is more expensive, but once it succeeds, will there be any cavalry on the battlefield who dare to compete head-on with our army?"
Dugu Ruizhi leaned against the pillar and squinted at the recruits practicing their hacking skills on the school field.
Liu Ling said with a smile: "The assault tactics and fighting skills of the cavalry are left to General Shengtu and General Dugu to supervise. Archery is taught by Sanlang, and Zhao Er is responsible for the logistics. As long as the horses adapt to the guidance after a while,
With blood feed, this team will have a certain combat effectiveness in less than a year."
Shengtu Yehu was instructing the new recruits on how to use their horses. The horses used by the cavalry were all made with fine workmanship. Unlike the hard rifles, the bars of the horses were very elastic. It was more difficult to train such horses.
Both Shengtu Yehu and Dugu Ruizhi were very outstanding in their attainments in the sword. The two used the sword, one was extremely strong and the other was flexible and changeable. Taking the best of both would be of great help to the progress of the new recruits.
As he was talking, a soldier ran over and gave Liu Ling a military salute and said: "Your Majesty, there is an important military report. Your Majesty has sent someone to deliver it here."
Liu Ling nodded, looked at it and then smiled and said: "Chai Rong couldn't hold it anymore. You see, Yang Ye sent back the news that Chai Rong has ordered the assembly of 200,000 troops to prepare to attack Xixia and recapture it.
The three state capitals were occupied by Xixia. However, this time Chai Rong learned a lesson and no longer planned to conquer it personally."
Hanasaburo asked: "Who will lead the troops?"
Liu Lingdao: "General Meng Hu, the Weiwei general on the right, is the marching marshal, and Han Geng, the Wuwei general on the left, is the deputy marshal."
Zhao Erdao: "Meng Hu has fought against Xixia soldiers several times, so it's not wrong to regard him as the commander-in-chief."
Dugu Ruizhi snorted and said: "The more this happens, the Zhou army will definitely be defeated!"
Liu Ling's eyes lit up, and he asked with an ooh, "What do you think of General Dugu?"
Dugu Rui said: "I have always heard that General Meng Hu of Youweiwei is good at fighting, but this man has always been stubborn and self-righteous. In addition, the year before last, he had many victories against Xixia soldiers and few losses. It is inevitable that he would underestimate the enemy. If Chai Rong sent someone else
As a commander, out of fear of the combat effectiveness of the Xixia soldiers, he might still go step by step and fight steadily, and it is not impossible to recapture the three states with an army of 200,000. It's just that Meng Hu thinks that the Xixia soldiers are his defeated soldiers, so it is inevitable.
He is arrogant and arrogant. If he underestimates the enemy and advances rashly, he may not repeat the mistake of being ambushed by Wei Mingxiao the year before."
Liu Ling laughed and said: "General Dugu can decide the success or failure of Meng Hu with just one word. How wonderful. How wonderful!"
Dugu Ruizhi was stunned and asked cautiously: "Does the prince think so too?|"
Liu Ling nodded and said: "I have to rush back and write a personal letter to Du Yi and Liu Mao. When Zhou Bing comes back from defeat, will the two rich men still not make a lot of money? Why don't we take the opportunity to fight first?
If the autumn wind blows, it will be difficult for those two rich men to spit out what they swallowed." (To be continued)
