"Just what? Just tell the truth." Of course Zhao Kuo knew what he wanted to say, but he still pretended not to know, turned around and asked with a smile.
"General Rong: The armor made by General Zhao Wei is indeed extremely strong and difficult to penetrate with ordinary swords. If it is used on the infantry defending the city, it should have good effects, but..." Zhou Qi looked at it. Looking at Zhao Kuo's face, he continued: "This heavy armor can be placed on the cavalry. Although it can resist wounds from swords and arrows, it will lose the most important agility of the cavalry."
"Yeah." Zhao Kuo nodded, already understanding in his heart.
Sure enough, people in this era had no idea what a real cavalry was. Only using horse archers as the main means of attack for cavalry, Zhao's previous armored cavalry was already the limit of their imagination.
However, they know that the reason why the cavalry is known as the king of land warfare is not only due to its agile and elegant speed. No matter how powerful the Lingbo Weibu is, it cannot hurt the enemy without the Six Meridians Divine Sword! Only the vast torrent of steel like a tide, slashing and advancing wantonly, is the final destination of the cavalry!
Of course, this can't be blamed on them. After all, before there were stirrups, the heavy armored cavalry could not exert its power without any help.
"Is there anything else?" Zhao Kuo did not tell the whole story about his plans, but continued to ask.
Seeing that Zhao Kuo was not angry at all, Zhou Qi immediately continued: "There is also the iron chain that tied the three horses together at the same time. It was quite troublesome to advance and retreat. What's more terrible is that one horse was damaged and three horses were lost." The horse dies. It’s really... the gain outweighs the loss.”
Zhao Kuo continued to nod and asked, "Is there more?"
After finishing his words, Zhou Qi immediately added: "Also, the preparation time is quite long! It would be good if there are auxiliary soldiers by your side, but it would be very difficult to complete the outfit by yourself."
Even Sun Gu on the side couldn't help but join the team of complaints: "But its sustainable combat time is not long. Even if both men and horses have passed the selection and are already the elite selection in the army, its limit is only one hour. Around, if it takes a little longer, I’m afraid I’ll fall on the battlefield.”
"Also, if you use your own weight to collide, although it is effective, a man on horseback cannot bear such a heavy force at all. This is a strategy of injuring the enemy by one thousand and damaging himself by eight hundred."
...
Obviously, these two boys suffered a lot from this set of iron armor, and they also discussed this new set of tactics in private.
Zhao Kuo listened quietly, but did not interrupt their complaints. After the two finally poured out the bitterness in their hearts, Zhao Kuo answered their questions one by one.
"There is indeed a problem of difficulty in wearing it, but even if there are no auxiliary soldiers, we can work in groups of two or three to help each other wear it. Although your and my armor are not heavier than that heavy armor, in terms of complexity and difficulty of wearing it, , which one is not more complicated and difficult than that heavy armor? Do you and I go to the battlefield naked?" Zhao Kuo took the lead in starting from the small issue of wearing, and slapped Zhou Qi hard in the face.
"The reason why you raise such a question is not that heavy armor is difficult to penetrate, but that you are simply unwilling to accept the new tactics of heavy armored cavalry, let alone find ways to solve the problem for it. Or not?" Zhao Kuo continued to ask.
When Zhou Qi heard this, he lowered his head and his face was already a little red.
"Including what you said about not being able to endure a protracted war and injuring the enemy by one thousand and losing eight hundred by yourself." Zhao Kuo then looked at Sun Gu and continued: "And the so-called idea of discarding the long and taking the short, is also Mostly because of distrust, disapproval, and unwillingness to accept the new tactics. Or not?"
Zhou Qi and Sun Gu on the side were sweating immediately when they heard this. They were about to apologize to Zhao Kuo, but they were stopped by Zhao Kuo.
"The emergence of a new thing, the emergence of a novel combat method, is bound to be accompanied by many problems and doubts." Zhao Kuo continued slowly: "As a general, being able to discover these problems and raise these doubts is Very good. But for a good general, this is far from enough."
"An excellent general will have questions about new tactics, but he will use the questions to understand, try, and think about solutions instead of just complaining." Zhao Kuo sighed softly and continued Said: "General Tian Dan relies on
You must have heard of the name Fire Ox Formation, right? "
The two nodded silently, obviously at this time they had expected that they had made a big mistake.
"Under the Fire Ox Formation under Jimo City, hundreds of thousands of troops were instantly disrupted. Its power is self-evident." Zhao Kuo continued to guide the two of them to think: "If the Fire Ox is replaced by a faster and more powerful war horse, How powerful is it?"
"Of course, it is obviously not advisable to consume the war horses at once like this.
But what if it’s not a one-time thing? Cover the war horse with a layer of armor to make its impact even more powerful;
Then equip the war horse with a sword that dances wantonly, so that it can not only attack the enemy while marching, but also slash the enemy troops wantonly;
In the end, what if this war horse, which is armed to the teeth, can still charge and kill according to the route and ideas predetermined by the general? "
Zhao Kuo asked three questions in a row, leaving the two of them stunned.
"If we had this kind of weapon, we would be invincible in this world!"
"We don't need more than 10,000 people. We only need a thousand people to do harm to the grassland."
After hearing this, the two people's hearts were also stirred up by Zhao Kuo, and they sighed one after another.
"Isn't that what the three thousand heavy armored cavalry you have now are like this?" Zhao Kuo immediately gave the two a severe blow when they were most excited.
The two people who heard this felt like they were struck by lightning! Yes, heavy armor, swords and cavalry, don’t they correspond to the three-piece set of armed war horses? So, is this heavy armored cavalry really invincible? Why is it so agile and elegant, with such impact, why does it have to go around in circles? Why is the battle time so short, and what formation can withstand a charge from this giant beast?
No, that's not right! Something is wrong! I have tested it myself. Not only does it not have that power, but...
There must be a mistake somewhere!
Soon, Zhou Qi reacted and saluted Zhao Kuo: "General Rongcun, if a war horse can fight alone, it will naturally be invincible, but the man and the war horse are separated, just like As the general said just now, if you use heavy armor to collide with the enemy, you may be able to destroy the enemy, but you will definitely fall off the horse! In this case, the horse will inevitably lose control..."
When Zhao Kuo heard Zhou Qi's rebuttal, not only was he not angry, but he looked pleased. The reason why I talked to the two of them in such a detailed way today, instead of just throwing out the key thing, was to cultivate their ability to think independently and solve problems. Now it seems that he is indeed a teachable child.
"What if there is something that can combine war horses and cavalry well?" Zhao Kuo continued to ask.
"General." Sun Gu obviously noticed that Zhao Kuo was deliberately guiding the two of them to think, and immediately used his brains to answer: "If the cavalry is tied to the horse, the cavalry will not be able to move around, and they will almost become targets. Not to mention, it is also quite difficult to control the war horse. As a result, I am afraid it will still be difficult to win on the battlefield."
After hearing the words, Zhao Kuo nodded with satisfaction, then looked at the two people in front of him with burning eyes, and continued: "I just said that when an excellent general discovers a problem, he should understand, try and think about it; and if you If you learn more about it, try it, and think about it carefully, you will find that along with the two pieces of heavy armor, there are also two boxes that you were specifically told not to allow others to check."
"And those two inconspicuous little boxes contain the answers you want." Zhao Kuo shook his head and continued to attack: "Even if he didn't pay attention at the time, before setting off, Zhao Wei should have specially brought more than ten stickers. It’s a big box with a seal, and it’s still not allowed to be inspected by others. And the answers you want are all inside.”
The two people who heard this looked at each other and said, "The last general, the last general."
Judging from his embarrassed look, he obviously wanted to check those big boxes quickly.
Zhao Kuo shook his head, and casually took out two ropes from his arms. What else could they be if they weren't the stirrups that Yan had shown off in the battle with him.
"These are stirrups!" Zhao Kuo handed one of them to Zhou Qi and Sun Gu, and pointed out how to use it: "One end of the nothing is tied to the saddle, and the other end hangs down. The cavalry's feet are passed into the saddle. In the semicircle, during war, you can
With this strength, he is one with the war horse. Are he still afraid of being thrown out by the force of the recoil? "
After hearing this, the two people stared at the simple rope in their hands. Both of them were veterans on the battlefield. After Zhao Kuo's brief explanation, they immediately understood the importance of this seemingly simple "stirrup". The importance of cavalry.
While Zhou Qi was horrified, he also couldn't believe it, and stammered: "Sir, General, is this thing really so powerful?"
After hearing this, Sun Gu also looked at Zhao Kuo expectantly, expecting Zhao Kuo to give a definite answer.
In fact, whether there is such a powerful force, Zhou Qi and Sun Gu already have the answer in their hearts, but they don't dare to accept it for a while. They have to have their general personally agree to believe it.
"Fight with him, I defeated Qin Rui's 600 with 450 personal troops. In addition to the 50 heavily armored Mo Dao team, I relied on these 300 pairs of stirrups!" Zhao Kuo calmly used the calmest tone. The most exciting words were spoken.
So...the two of them looked at each other, and the excitement in their hearts was simply beyond words.
However, before the two of them could get excited for a long time, Zhao Kuo's words reached their ears again: "The key to this thing does not require me to say more, but what I care about more is that you and the two of you are not allowed to do anything. The mediocre general who discovers the problem should be the capable general who solves the problem, do you understand?"
"You will be ashamed in the end."
"The general takes command."
They both answered in unison again.
