What did Xiong Wuliang in front of me say just now?
Let the Chu people's riding skills improve by leaps and bounds, no less than our prairie riders?
ha?
Do you want to listen to what you are saying?
Ge Suyi found it funny for a moment, thinking that Xiong Wuliang might not realize the difference yet, so he coughed and reminded: "Master, our grassland tribe has grown up on horseback since childhood, and we have to migrate to the land with fertile water and grass. Everyone is good at riding..."
"To tell you the truth, when I was twelve years old, I was able to ride a fast horse... In terms of riding skills, even the best rider in your cavalry army can't compare to me at the age of twelve."
"..."
In Ge Suyi's view, in terms of riding skills, they can only be cultivated and practiced from an early age... For example, the Lianghu tribe, both men and women, can ride and shoot.
As for what Xiong Wuliang said about "making the Chu people's riding skills comparable to those of the prairie people", it is simply ridiculous.
If it weren't for the fact that Marquis Quyang treated the Liang Hu people so well and gave them enough food and clothing, and gained Ge Suyi's full respect... I'm afraid Ge Suyi would have grinned widely and started laughing at them.
Even though Ge Suyi took Xiong Wuliang's face into consideration and did not openly refute the latter's wild words, there was still undisguised doubt on that horizontal face with three scars.
Even Xiao Hei on the side obviously didn't believe what Xiong Wuliang said!
My master is indeed very powerful, and he has endless whimsical ideas in his mind... he can often create some incredible miracles.
But Xiao Hei could clearly see how miserable the Chu cavalry looked just now!
Speaking of things like riding, it can only be honed by the riders' day-to-day training, and it even requires a little talent to improve... What the Lord just said about 'making the Chu people's riding skills improve by leaps and bounds' is indeed impossible. …
…
Seeing that everyone was disapproving, Xiong Wuliang couldn't help but laugh.
In fact, it is really simple to improve Chu people's riding skills - just use a little help from foreign objects!
During this period, later generations of saddles had not yet appeared - the cavalry rode on horseback with only a thin cushion under their buttocks and no pedals at all. If you want to stay stable on the horse, you can only rely on your familiarity with the horse and your control of balance.
But with pedals, everything is different - riders have support under their feet, and as long as they clamp the horse's belly firmly, they don't need to worry about falling off the horse's back.
Even literati who have never ridden a horse can easily ride on a horse.
In this way, the hands are freed, and one can use both hands to fight without restraint. It also becomes much easier to bend the bow and arrow on horseback.
This is Xiong Wuliang's technique of "improving his riding skills by leaps and bounds"!
It is said that because there were no pedals in this era, even the prairie riders with excellent riding skills or the Qin, Zhao, and Yan cavalry could not free their hands on horseback for a long time. Therefore, the main melee weapon of the cavalry in the pre-Qin period was the single-handed weapon. Mainly hand sword.
It was not until the Han Dynasty that cloth stirrups and iron stirrups gradually appeared, and then the fierce generals holding long pole weapons appeared during the Three Kingdoms period.
In any case, as long as Xiong Wuliang takes out the stirrup, a powerful weapon, the Chu army's cavalry will immediately have combat effectiveness worthy of a battle.
Xiong Wuliang has not shown the stirrups for a long time, mainly because he still has doubts in his heart.
After all, this thing is extremely simple to design and manufacture—you can learn it by just looking at it from a distance.
When the time came to make stirrups, it was true that the strength of the Chu army's cavalry was greatly improved... but countries such as Yan, Zhao, and Qin could also easily steal their troops.
do not care!
Chu State really urgently needs a cavalry unit that can fight in battle!
If the current level of the Chu cavalry is '0' and the level of the Qin cavalry is '6'... then with the addition of saddles, the level of the cavalry of both sides will rise to '7'.
In this way, at any rate, the level of the Chu army's cavalry could evolve from "being beaten on the head by the Qin people" to "equal".
…
Xiong Wuliang smiled at Ge Suyi and said, "I know you don't believe it, it doesn't matter, you will understand in a few days."
"In the future, let the valiant cavalry army stop using short bows... There is a big killer weapon in my fief called the 'hand-held repeating crossbow'. Let the valiant cavalry army be fully issued with repeating crossbows."
Ge Suyi was startled - he now also knew about the deadly weapon of the Lian Nu.
But in Ge Suyi's view, this thing is not suitable for the Chu cavalry at all!
Ge Suyi: "Master, please think twice..."
"That person is holding a repeating crossbow. I have seen it before...it is indeed very powerful."
"But the flaw is - once it's launched, it takes at least ten breaths to wind it up again."
"And these ten breaths of time require the rider to use both hands to operate the repeating crossbow!"
"Being able to take off the reins with both hands for more than ten breaths on a horse that is sprinting at high speed... With all due respect: no one among the master's ten thousand knights can do this."
"Even among our Lianghu tribe, there are very few riders who can do this! They are as rare as a phoenix!"
"As a result, the Cavalry Army has lost the ability to continue fighting - after firing a round of arrows, it can't dismount to reload the repeating crossbow, and then mount to fight, right? The battlefield is changing rapidly, and a slight delay will be a big difference. What a shame, this is simply stupid!"
Xiao Hei behind Xiong Wuliang opened his eyes and yelled at Ge Suyi: "How presumptuous!"
Ge Suyi was shocked to realize that he had made a mistake. He quickly lowered his head and stroked his chest to apologize: "Master... I, uh... didn't mean to say you were stupid, I just said..."
Xiong Wuliang laughed loudly and did not feel dissatisfied: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!"
"I have my own arrangements, you will understand in a few days!"
Ge Suyi's lips moved slightly, obviously he wanted to say something more, but finally he closed his mouth.
But that rough face clearly showed disapproval.
…
The design of the saddle is very simple - this kind of thing is like window paper that breaks when you poke it. As long as you understand the principle, it is no brainer to imitate it.
Xiong Wuliang found a piece of white paper, sketched it with a charcoal pen, then called a few craftsmen and asked them to build things according to the drawings.
The craftsmen were confused and couldn't figure out what it was after looking at it for a long time... Fortunately, Xiong Wuliang's drawings were always detailed, so the craftsmen simply didn't ask any questions and just kept busy working according to the drawings.
After handing over the task, Xiong Wuliang had nothing to do. He had long wanted to take a walk around the commercial port, so he summoned Siyi, Ying Zhuo, Xiaobai and others, leading dozens of soldiers. Go straight to Huai River.
The sky is bright and sunny - the harsh season of early spring has long passed, and it is not like the scorching heat of July and August. It is really a beautiful thing to travel in such weather.
Ping'a Commercial Port, this giant port built by Xiong Wuliang with a huge amount of money, has already surpassed the trade volume of Quyang Shangfang.
There are many ships coming and going - most of them bear the names of business travelers from various countries.
Beside the port, there are mountains of various materials, which are bundled and piled up.
Merchant ships docked at the shore one after another. The merchants got off the ship and chatted briefly with the local merchants at the dock. After agreeing on the price, the porters swarmed up and loaded large quantities of goods onto the ship.
Xiong Wuliang was quite pleased——
…
