Shi Quanbin looked at Shisanlang, tall and stronger in recent years. He stood there like a mountain. He nodded repeatedly: "If the coach had such a body, it would be a pity to meet Du Tiju in the countryside. I was ordered by the court to come here to see the effectiveness of the military training in recent years. I saw artillery a few days ago, and it was really sharp and unparalleled in the world. Today I went to the cavalry battalion to take a look."

Shisanlang crossed his hands: "But rely on the group training instructions!"

Shi Quanbin smiled at Du Zhongxiao beside him and said, "Although they are in the same army, Master Wu is different from Master Yao, and they are much more generous. Although Master Yao is in charge of heavy troops, he is gentle and elegant, not speaking much, and is clearly organized, like a scholar. I have been in command of the army for many years, but when I arrived at the cavalry, I felt very friendly. A few days ago, I was in the cannon camp and I always felt that I was reluctant to speak loudly."

Du Zhongxiao said: "This is inevitable. From the masters to the soldiers in the artillery camp, I read and read and read literacy every day, and calculate the terrain and ballistics, it is not that way. The first thing they need to do is to be careful, and naturally they have the kind of demeanor."

While walking towards the camp, Shi Quanbin asked, "Do you have iron armored cavalry here? The iron armor produced by iron supervisor has become more and more sophisticated in recent years. It is better to wear it on your body than leather armor. Moreover, it is not expensive and easy to manufacture, and it is not as good as henna."

Shisanlang said: "While returning to the group to practice, iron armor is good, it is too heavy compared to leather armor, and it is not used much in the army. Most of us have leather armor here, and we only add two more layers when fighting in the formation. The soldiers are there, and wearing iron armor is inconvenient."

Shi Quanbin looked at Shisanlang Qi and said, "What's the problem with wearing iron armor like a coach? Some of the warriors in the imperial guards even put a thin layer of mail in the iron armor, and they were invulnerable to swords and guns in front of the formation."

Shisanlang said: "The last general can naturally wear iron armor and move freely, so it will not be easy in the army. One is difficult to have such a warrior, and the other is Suizhou in the south, and there are not so many good horses. After wearing iron armor, it is difficult for the horses in the army to rush up. After practicing for a few years, there are now only one iron armored soldiers."

Shi Quanbin nodded: "So that's it. If there is both a shortage of people and horses, then there is nothing we can do."

Large-scale manufacturing of iron armor is cheaper than leather armor, and protection is better than leather armor. The Iron Supervision has improved the standard. In recent years, large-scale production has been carried out. Most of the elite troops in the imperial guards have changed their armor. The above battalion commanders have measured the size and are refined by the Iron Supervision according to their figure. Other personnel have produced several specifications in the Iron Supervision, and each chooses the one that suits them.

Equipping iron armor can increase the combat power of the imperial guards by more than guns and cannons. Not to mention iron armored cavalry, it is also elite infantry. A row of tall soldiers wearing iron armor and holding long axes and swords cut all the way, and the flesh and blood were flying everywhere, which was much more shocking than the scene of falling enemy troops. Compared with the boycott of guns and cannons, the imperial guards are very welcome to iron armor. They have given many opinions to the Iron Supervisor in response to the actual use, and are now very mature.

Every few years, generals go to various places to eliminate the wing army. People with tall figures and extraordinary martial arts are selected into the imperial guards. After entering the imperial guards, they are selected layer by layer. The elite troops, such as Banzhi, Shangsi, Gongsheng, Yunqi and other troops, are all strong in shape. Iron armor is used on these people, which is a good horse with good saddles, and the right place. Military weapons made of good steel and strong soldiers wearing iron armor. The Sanya believes that the imperial guards are now much stronger in combat.

Du Zhongxiao also knew about the situation of the imperial guards. He heard Shi Quanbin keep talking about the benefits of iron armor. He obviously looked a little contemptuous about the Yingtianxiang Army. He couldn't help but think of a saying, bullets are cowards, bayonets are heroes. What kind of heroes are bayonets? Obviously, in the eyes of the generals in the court, a long axe and a big knife are more qualified to be a hero than a bayonet.

When he arrived at the school ground, he saw the demonstration team that Shisanlang gathered and stood neatly. Shi Quanbin said, "Strange, why don't you see the bow and rider?"

Shisanlang crossed his hands: "When we returned to the group training, there were no bows and cavalry in our army. Anyone who did not have iron armor heavy cavalry, but light cavalry was equipped with a cavalry and a rifle to replace the bow and crossbow."

"Use a rifle?" Shi Quanbin looked at Du Zhongxiao, "What is a rifle? Is it also a musket?"

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, riding a rifle is much more convenient than bows and crossbows. The cavalry in the army use cavalry. Compared with the muskets used by infantry, the cavalry is shorter, generally with double tubes, which can be two consecutive shots and is much more convenient to load. Of course, the power is far worse than that of infantry muskets."

"So that's it." Shi Quanbin didn't say anything anymore. Obviously, he didn't know what it meant to replace bows and arrows. The cavalry of the Song army paid more attention to bows and arrows than infantry. Most of them were archers and practiced cavalry tactics. Generally, cavalrymen used bows and 100% or more, and swords and guns. Usually, they were mainly archers, direct shooting, wheel shooting, etc. The "Zhi" shooting required by the Privy Council was already very advanced. In the final analysis, it was nothing more than being able to shoot more arrows within an effective distance as much as possible.

This situation occurs first of all, the development of infantry, the enhanced frontal offensive ability, and the effect of cavalry charging is reduced. Facing the frontal battle, the Song army generally uses infantry commanders' weapons to defeat the enemy, and coordinated cavalry use their maneuver advantages to attack the enemy's weaknesses and expand the results. At this time, the cavalry is more of a harassment and restraint. When fighting against the Khitan Dangxiang, the infantry formation that has been arranged in the array is not afraid of the opponent's cavalry charging.

The importance of cavalry is mainly due to its mobility, including between battlefields and battlefield mobility. The use of Song cavalry rarely appears in front of the front, mainly infantry. This is related to reality and is also related to the tradition of long-term lack of horses. But on the other hand, the mobility of cavalry determines that they can choose a suitable place to dismount and fight. Most of the infantry can have it, which is more flexible than infantry.

Seeing that Shi Quanbin didn't speak, Shisanlang ordered the cavalry in front of him to show him to Shi Quanbin according to daily training.

Everything has rules. The officers led the team were trained, divided into several teams, and each took their own cavalry and lances, like the imperial cavalry shooting archery, demonstrating riding and shooting. It was nothing more than direct shooting and wheel shooting. There was no "Zhi" shooting advocated by the Privy Council at this time. Shi Quanbin saw it and couldn't help but shake his head in his heart.

After a round of performance, Shi Quanbin could no longer help and said to Du Zhongxiao: "Precisely, the imperial guards used to practice bows, but it was really like you. Practice more direct-shooting wheels and shoot far away. You don't need to hit the target, just go to the target. This is the same. However, recently, the Privy Council informed the Third Office, and asked the cavalry to practice another word "Zhi". This kind of shooting method requires horse-drawn characters. Although the distance is close, you can shoot a few more arrows. Killing the enemy in front of the formation is the most effective."

Du Zhongxiao said: "I have also heard of the word 'zhi' shooting. I have practiced it several times in the army. In the end, everyone agreed that it was useless and would not practice it again in the future. This is not what the Privy Council said, but the cavalry of the Yingtianxiang Army, which is not the same usage. Only when facing the front, the word 'zhi' shooting is useful. Our cavalry, unless it is special, only iron armored cavalry is on the front. They did not bring cavalry rifles, but they had a side hook gun, a knife and a mace, and rushed straight to the enemy. Other cavalry should try to avoid confronting the enemy head-on, fight and retreat quickly, so they practice in this way. If they have to face the enemy head-on, it will become infantry tactics, using cavalry rifles and waist knives to fight against the enemy."

This is the era of cold weapons, and the wall-like charge is very dangerous. Regular troops have measures to prevent frontal impacts. Even if Du Zhongxiao knows a little about that concept, he dare not use it at this time. He expects to rush over the enemy's momentum to collapse and reap the results of the battle. This is a suicide-style fight. It may be possible to fight Nong Zhigao, but it is useless against Khitan and Dangxiang. Unless in special circumstances, the Song Dynasty fought against them for a hard battle, and it requires repeated rushing to storm the military formation. If there is no such thing as a wave, it will be gone.

The advantage of cavalry lies in its mobility, which can find the enemy's weaknesses as fast as possible, attack quickly, or maneuver quickly, and grasp the initiative in the battlefield. If you want to rush forward, Du Zhongxiao would rather use Guo Zi's invincible thunderbolt chariot. The battle between the two armies of a large army is fought, and the Yingtianxiang Army relies on artillery. The artillery controls the battlefield, isolates the battlefield, and forms a local advantage. Only when the enemy collapses, the cavalry and enemy forces expand the results of the battle and the infantry consolidates victory. In the Yingtianxiang Army, the most important infantry and artillery coordination is not the infantry and cavalry coordination, and the word "zhi" shooting is completely useless.

This is the fundamental difference in the war idea. Shi Quanbin completely could not understand the fighting style of the Tianxiang Army in the Yingtian Army. If he had not seen the artillery camp for many days, he admired the artillery very much, and would have thought that Du Zhongxiao was talking nonsense.

At this time, the Song army's usage of cavalry was mainly to reconnaissance the enemy situation, attack the enemy, detour and harass the food road. The Yingtianxiang Army's idea was the same, and the frontal charge was relatively secondary, mainly carried out by the iron armored cavalry. Most cavalry's role in the battlefield was to cover the two wings and seize the opportunity to invest as a reserve team. Before the war, they were to reconnaissance the enemy situation and control the battlefield.

However, since the iron armor was equipped, even the iron cavalry of horses had been made in combination. Hedong had a stable supply of good horses, and the Privy Council and the Third Yamen had changed. They were increasingly inclined to let the iron armored cavalry ride the iron horses and rush directly to the formation. After the scattering, the relatively fast light cavalryman later expanded the results. In the past, the cavalry of the Song army was used scattered, but now the generals of the Third Yamen began to tend to concentrate and fight on a large scale.

Shi Quanbin was in the capital and was very clear about the changes in the army in recent years. After seeing the artillery battalion, he had high hopes for the Tianxiang Army in the camp. As a result, he came to see the cavalry. Unlike what he thought, his strategies and tactics all went to the old path of the imperial guards.
Chapter completed!