In terms of riding training, Shen Bing discovered that the reason why the Central Plains cavalry could not ride and shoot was largely due to laziness.
To put it simply, most soldiers only want to be able to ride a horse and march, and that's it. They don't think about further improving their riding skills to reach the level of riding and shooting.
This is related to the emphasis on infantry fighting in this era, that is, the cavalry often dismounts and fights on foot after arriving at the destination.
This is also the reason why Wei Yao was puzzled by Shen Bing's request to ride and shoot.
Shen Bing's requirements are very simple: craftsmen must at least be able to ride a horse and soldiers must be able to ride and shoot, otherwise they will be expelled from the navy.
You must know that these are prisoners of the Wei army. The fate of being expelled from the navy is to go back and become prisoners again.
If they are lucky, they will one day be sent as slaves or incorporated into the army of dead soldiers to fight against the Chu army.
No matter which outcome it is, it is far from the treatment and promotion opportunities of navy soldiers.
So upon hearing this order, everyone started practicing riding and shooting hard.
Of course, practicing hard does not mean practicing blindly.
Shen Bing talked with Yan several times and learned about every key point of mounted shooting in detail. The attention that even Yan himself was not aware of was divided step by step.
Shen Bing then divided the training into two steps based on these:
One is to let go and ride the horse.
The second is to shoot arrows on horseback.
The former is the foundation of the latter. Only when you can ride with your hands free can you bend the bow and nock an arrow.
The latter is the key and difficult point. It requires not only bending the bow and setting the arrow, but also being able to hit the target.
Relaxing horse riding is to practice riding skills on horseback. This requires overcoming psychological fear and adapting to using your legs to maintain balance.
Of course, there is a process: the horse advances slowly at first, and then slowly speeds up after adapting.
When shooting arrows, use a rocker to simulate the bumps on horseback.
This may not be as realistic as on horseback, but it can exponentially reduce the casualties caused by training and also reduce the psychological pressure of soldiers.
After the two are almost practiced, combine them into one.
Compared with riding and shooting, water combat training is much simpler:
In terms of combat, we still practice bows and arrows... Many people like to use crossbows, but Shen Bing strictly orders them to use arrows exclusively.
Compared with horseback, crossbows can indeed be used in water battles, because you can use your feet and waist to fire the crossbow on a boat.
The problem is that water battles are more about the warships of both sides passing each other and shooting at each other... There are also cases of head-on shooting, but it is relatively rare, because both the enemy and our warships have shields on the front.
This means that water battles usually occur when the distance between the enemy and ourselves is relatively close, so it is difficult to take advantage of the long range of the crossbow, but the high rate of fire of the bow is very useful.
On the other hand, Shen Bing considered one thing:
This is a unit that is good at riding, shooting and water warfare.
If they used bows and arrows as cavalry, and changed to crossbows during water battles... wouldn't it mean that each of them had to carry two types of equipment, a bow and a crossbow, as well as two types of arrows?
This will obviously cause confusion in equipment and supplies and a lot of inconvenience.
So don’t think too much and just use the bow uniformly.
The command aspect is similar to that of infantry warfare, that is, beating the drums, marching forward, shouting gold, and withdrawing the troops, and then using various flags to set up different formations.
That's not what Shen Bing was worried about. Training is about strict requirements and practice makes perfect. Habits will become natural. The more you practice, the better. The same applies to swimming. If you practice breaststroke and freestyle with all standardized movements, there is nothing wrong with it.
Shen Bing was still worried about the armor.
He asked several engineering divisions and found out that neither the defense division nor the blade division knew how to make armor.
To be precise, they don't make rattan armor... This should be the blade master's problem.
The swordsman and craftsman named Qiang were the one who asked Cang to make the saw as a favor and wanted to join the navy.
It is said that he was born when his father owed someone a debt and could not repay it.
In this era, you couldn't be a debtor if you were in debt. If you were accused and couldn't pay, you might be sold into slavery.
But just then his father discovered a formula that could make a bronze sword sharper and more durable...
This is related to the method of making bronze swords.
Copper itself is very soft and will harden when tin is added. However, if too much tin is added, it will become brittle and easy to break.
This is what "Lu's Qinqiu" said: "Gold is soft and tin is soft, and when the two softnesses are combined, they become strong."
When the ancients made bronze wares, they were constantly using practice to explore the best proportions, the most important of which was the proportion of bronze swords.
The proportion of bronze swords in the Qin Dynasty was generally 66.6% copper and 33.3% tin.
But in fact, this is a formula with insufficient tin purity. Modern metallurgical knowledge believes that the tin content cannot exceed 20%, otherwise it will not be practical.
Therefore, in ancient times, goldsmiths were always unsure of the ratio because the raw materials were impure. Folks had various strange ways of forging swords, and it is said that people were used to sacrifice the furnaces.
If a goldsmith uses a certain ratio or method to make a few good swords, he will be lucky.
The father he owed money to was one of the lucky goldsmiths, so he paid off the debt.
That's why he became a master swordsman and became a master swordsman. Otherwise, he would have gone to hard labor with his father to repay his debt.
Shen Bing handed Teng Jia's sketch to Qian.
I was shocked just by looking at the sketch:
"Captain, such a set of armor cannot be made by a subordinate..."
"It's too difficult to make."
He obviously thought it was bronze armor.
It is indeed beyond his scope to make bronze armor into this shape.
In addition, the armor of the Qin army is still of the same standard, and it is impossible to change the shape just for the sake of the three thousand navy soldiers.
Shen Bing explained:
"This armor is made of red vine."
Qiu said "Oh" when he heard this. Although he was a little confused and didn't know what the rattan armor could do, he looked at the sketch and replied:
"It would be much easier if it were made with red vines."
"However...it cannot be controlled by my subordinates."
"The captain should go find the folk craftsmen who make baskets."
Shen Bing thought this was reasonable, so he immediately asked his bodyguard to find the craftsman.
Ren left for half an hour and brought back the two old men. They were trembling with fear and turned pale.
Shen Bing thought Ren had abused them, but when he asked, he realized it was a misunderstanding...
These artists were originally from the Wei Dynasty, while Shen Bing and his party were from the Qin army.
Although Daliang was already in the Qin Dynasty at this time, they had not yet changed psychologically. They thought that being caught in the Daqin military camp would be a disaster, so when they saw Shen Bing, they kowtowed and begged for mercy.
I didn't want to sink the soldiers, but just asked them to weave rattan armor.
The two old men calmed down and after carefully looking at the sketch, they were confident that they could compile it.
It’s just that if the quantity is large, labor will be needed.
Of course they need wages. If they don't need wages and still let them work day and night, won't they starve to death?
One more question, it takes about ten days to weave a complete set of armor. If calculated as ten cents per day, the labor cost for a set of armor is one hundred cents.
Those three thousand sets of armor...are three hundred thousand dollars?
Shen Bing couldn't help but cursed secretly:
"Three hundred thousand dollars?!"
"Where can I find that much money?"
This was the first time in this world that Shen Bing was troubled by the problem of money.