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It takes time for the rattan to enter the treatment process, and the training of the troops has not been left behind.
As the horses gradually arrived, the training of the cavalry was put on the agenda.
After Shen Bing and Wei Wei discussed it, they decided to train on horseback and archery for half a day and water warfare on the other.
In a way, mounted archery is similar to water warfare training, in that they both shoot arrows in an unstable state.
But after Shen Bing trained his troops, he discovered that the navy's three thousand elite cavalry, one of a hundred, really had moisture. Not only did they have moisture, but the moisture was also quite large.
It's not that they can't ride a horse or shoot an arrow, it's that they can't shoot an arrow on a horse.
To be precise, most of them were accustomed to using crossbows on horses instead of arrows.
This is actually a problem shared by cavalry from all over China. They are artificially reducing the difficulty of riding and shooting:
In the era without stirrups and saddles, it was very difficult and dangerous to just rely on your feet to maintain balance on the horse's back. This was just the basis of using arrows... Arrows must be shot with both hands, and they must be aimed at the target for a period of time.
Using a crossbow is different. The crossbow can be placed on the horse's back to help stabilize it while firing the crossbow. After firing the crossbow, you can hold the horse's head with one hand and shoot with the other... The crossbow does not require both hands.
Therefore, even if a bow is used, most people have to stop their horses before they can draw the bow and nock an arrow.
As a result, only a few dozen of the three thousand people in the navy could complete the true meaning of mounted archery, that is, shooting arrows while horses are running.
The best among them is none other than Yan.
When he was assigned a war horse, he was stunned for a long time, and asked Shen Bing over and over again with disbelief in his eyes:
"Captain, this...is this really for your subordinates?"
Shen Bing replied angrily:
"certainly!"
"Everyone has it, but we have to protect it!"
He responded, his face glowing as if he had become a different person. He touched the horse's head lovingly, then patted its legs. Then he skillfully turned over on the horse and trotted around twice. When he came back, he shouted excitedly. :
"Colonel, that's a good horse!"
"It's just that I don't have enough endurance, or I'm not suitable for long-distance combat!"
This is indeed a problem. Most of the horses in the Central Plains are pampered and their endurance is difficult to compare with the horses released in the wild by ethnic minorities.
Then Yan showed his hand with a bow and arrow, galloped forward astride the horse and shot an arrow that hit the target... Everyone was stunned. This was not an easy thing in this era, especially the speed of the horse.
Without saying a word, Shen Bing immediately appointed Yao as an instructor and asked him to teach the entire army how to ride and shoot.
Privately Shen Bing asked Yan how he did it.
Yan touched his head and thought for a long time before answering:
"Actually, there is no secret."
"Just knowing where the horse will land and leaning in that direction..."
Yan grew up on horses and was used to this, so he thought it was nothing strange. Everyone in their country knew it, so he couldn't explain it based on his experience.
But Shen Bing understood it clearly:
It is impossible to maintain balance simply by holding the horse's body with your feet. Instead, you must judge the horse's landing point and position in advance and prepare in advance. Only in this way can it be possible to free your hands without stirrups and saddles.
Wei Wei was a little confused about this:
"Captain, why shouldn't the cavalry use crossbows?"
"If you are fighting against an enemy, crossbows and bows each have their own strengths..."
Wei Wei is right, bows and crossbows do have their own advantages and disadvantages.
The characteristic of the bow is its fast shooting speed, while the characteristic of the crossbow is its long shooting range.
However, the range of crossbows is limited to the powerful crossbows used on land. They can draw the string with the help of leg and waist strength, so the range is wider and more powerful.
The arm-stretch crossbow used on horseback also relies on arm tension to open the string, so its range power is no greater than that of a bow.
If there is any advantage to the arm-loading crossbow, it is that it can remain ready for a long time.
This was not a problem at first, because the cavalry from all the countries in the Central Plains did this. If you are weak and I am weak, everyone is the same.
but……
Shen Bing said to Wei Wei:
"One day, if our army faces the Huns cavalry..."
"The Huns cavalry are all riding and shooting like bullshit."
"Who do you think is the winner and who is the loser?"
Wei Wei was speechless.
Because the answer is obvious. The range of the arm-loaded crossbow is no greater than that of a bow and arrow, but its shooting speed is much slower... A crossbow can fire three arrows with one arrow, and those with excellent shooting skills can even fire five arrows.
Then the cavalry they have to face are all like swords... How can the Central Plains cavalry be their opponent?
Therefore, in this era, the Central Plains countries mostly used infantry to defeat the Huns in their battles with the Huns, that is, infantry versus the Huns' cavalry.
The reason why the Huns cavalry were defeated was that their tactics were not flexible enough; on the other hand, the cavalry was not suitable for directly fighting the infantry face to face.
However, the infantry could not catch up with the Huns' cavalry, so the so-called "big victory" was actually just "driving"... The Huns felt that mobile warfare had just begun, and the Central Plains infantry could not catch up behind them, so they declared victory after occupying the ground.
This is actually due to the different definitions of "victory" between farming peoples and nomadic peoples:
Nomads do not fight for territory. For them, the vast grasslands are the same everywhere, so victory should be achieved by killing the enemy's warriors and taking away the enemy's women and food.
However, farming people are based on the land, and they will win if they capture the enemy's city and occupy the land.
That's why there were many battles in which the Central Plains countries shouted for victory, but the Xiongnu didn't know what they had lost. Next year, after the enemy retreats, they can find time to plunder?
In the end, the countries in the Central Plains actually had only one way to resist the Huns, and that was to build the Great Wall.
If there is anyone who can defeat the Huns head-on, it is Li Mu who can defeat cavalry with his cavalry.
The northern area where Li Mu was stationed, that is, the Hetao area, did not have the Great Wall at this time, but he was able to hold it. After Meng Tian regained Hetao, he could only build the Great Wall to stop the Huns.
28 years later, Liu Bang, who had just conquered the world, did not understand this truth and believed that the Huns could be defeated by using foot and cavalry, so he sent an army of 320,000 to attack Loufan...
It goes without saying what the result was. After the siege of Baideng, the Central Plains in turn had to pay tribute to the Xiongnu every year.
Later generations generally believe that Liu Bang suffered this defeat because he had just conquered the world and the country was not strong.
But Shen Bing felt that the country's weak strength was only one aspect. More importantly, defeating cavalry with infantry was bound to fail...
It is okay for the infantry to have strong backup at the border to drive away the Huns cavalry. Once the lone army goes deep, it will inevitably face an unsolvable tactical problem: how to ensure the long logistics supply line?
When the Huns cavalry use their mobility to attack the supply lines, so that supplies cannot be transported to the infantry who are deep into the enemy's territory, won't the infantry be starved to death?
Therefore, if we want to truly defeat the Huns, we can only develop cavalry to defeat the cavalry.
This is what Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did, and that's why there were famous generals like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.
Only then did Wei Wei understand Shen Bing's vision, and after he agreed, he no longer objected.