In the backyard of the Royal Palace, a half-length bright yellow wooden horse was mounted on thick fur, with strong tendons tied to the ground on both sides.
Li Xian was wearing a neat black short coat. He stood aside and pulled the elastic tendons with his hands. Looking at the thing that looked like a horse but not very much like a horse, he turned to look at Li Xuan with some confusion: "Wang Uncle, how should we do this?"
Li Xuan walked up from the back, glanced at Li Xian with a smile, and said, "Your Highness, please look carefully."
After saying this, Li Xuan stepped forward a little, pulled the reins, and turned over to sit on the wooden horse.
Grasping the reins, Li Xuan moved forward slightly. The next moment, the front body of the wooden horse was deeply pressed down, and the tendon behind was instantly straightened.
As soon as the force was released, the rear of the wooden horse was immediately pulled back deeply, while the front was quickly raised.
In the blink of an eye, the front and rear of the wooden horse began to rise and fall rapidly, jumping back and forth rapidly.
The iron pillar supporting the center of the wooden horse made a "squeaking" sound.
Sitting on the horse, Li Xuan not only had to sit firmly, but also adjusted the pressure of the front and back body at any time to keep the entire horse in a constant balance of strength. Then it kept rolling back and forth, and the person was quickly tossed up and down. .
The further back, the harder Li Xuan used, and the greater the jolt of the Trojan horse.
In the end, Li Xian's eyes widened in disbelief.
A quarter of an hour later, Li Xuan quickly controlled her body, pressing back and releasing in front, pressing in front and releasing in front, applying force in the opposite direction, and the bumps of the entire wooden horse immediately began to calm down quickly.
The wooden horse stopped, Li Xuan turned over and dismounted, then looked at Li Xian with a half-smile, and said: "Your Highness, this is what this thing is used for. If Your Highness still feels that the strength is not enough, then find someone to use a rope to pull and compress the front and back of the wooden horse. I promise, this thing will definitely help His Highness learn to ride a horse faster than a real horse."
The corners of Li Xian's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly, and then he cupped his hands and said: "Uncle Wang, if you really want to ride a horse, Xian is still willing to ride a real horse. There is no need for this."
"Of course, it's useful." Li Xuan looked at Li Xian's somewhat frightened look, and said with a hint of teasing from the corner of his eyes: "Don't His Highness always like to gamble with others? Then one day, use this thing to go with others. Bet on who can last longer."
"Find more people in front and behind..." Li Xian immediately understood how to operate.
When it comes to gambling, Li Xian is the master.
In the blink of an eye, Li Xian had already figured out more than a dozen ways to play this thing.
"However, your Highness has to pass this first hurdle first." Li Xuan walked to Li Xian's side, handed over the reins in his hands, and whispered side by side: "Since the Queen of Heaven has an order, I can't use any opportunistic tricks." The means are like this, so please work hard, Your Highness."
"Can you not go up?" Li Xian looked at Li Xuan helplessly.
Li Xuan turned sideways and said in a low soothing voice: "Your Highness goes up first and uses less force. It is not so bumpy at all. This thing is much easier to control than a war horse and much more fun. It is not difficult for Your Highness to master it. The key is, We also want the Queen to see that His Highness is indeed working hard."
"Uncle Wang, is this thing really easier to control than a war horse?" Although Li Xian was a little reluctant, he was still more accepting of this thing compared to a war horse with a real sword and a real gun.
"Of course." Li Xuan pointed to the thick fur below, raised her brows, and said frankly: "Even if something goes wrong and His Highness falls from above... Your Highness, do you think this thing can really be touched? "
"Oh?" Li Xian's eyes suddenly lit up. The reason why he didn't want to ride a war horse was because the war horse was difficult to control. Once he fell off the horse, he would have to hit his head and bleed. But if you do it now, you will be much safer. Assure.
"How about I give it a try?" Li Xian looked at the wooden horse in front of him. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like an interesting toy, and his interest immediately arose.
"Your Highness, please!" Li Xuan put the reins into Li Xian's hands, and then personally put him on the horse.
Li Xuan pressed the front slightly harder, and the wooden horse immediately began to rock back and forth slightly.
"Hey!" Li Xian felt the power and said with satisfaction and joy, "This is quite interesting."
"Hehe!" Li Xuan smiled maliciously, and then began to gradually increase the force. The horse began to bump back and forth more and more, and Li Xian felt obviously uncomfortable sitting on it: "Uncle Wang, Wang Uncle, how about taking it easy?"
"Hold the reins and sit up straight." Li Xuan suddenly slapped Li Xian on the waist. Li Xian sat up straight. Li Xuan grabbed his arm again and said seriously: " Feel the ups and downs and go with the flow, don’t fight.”
The horse's jolting amplitude was maintained at a relatively high level, but not too high.
Li Xian finally adapted to it gradually. He seemed to have found the feeling. He even said happily: "Uncle Wang, Xian knows how to play."
"Okay!" Li Xuan gradually let go of her hand, and then took a step back.
Li Xian grabbed the reins and pressed forward and backward steadily. The wooden horse was gradually under his control.
After a long time, the Trojan finally calmed down.
Li Xuan stepped forward and helped Li Xian, who was somewhat weak, off his horse.
Li Xian stood on the ground, as if he were stepping on cotton. He looked back at the wooden horse and felt a little reluctant to leave.
At this moment, Li Xuan said: "It's not that His Highness doesn't know how to ride a horse, it's just that he doesn't have control over the strong bumps. I come here every day to help His Highness increase the strength of the bumps by one level, and continue step by step... ride a horse, ride a war horse, If you ride a strong horse, there won’t be any big problems for Your Highness.”
"Okay!" Li Xian nodded, came back to his senses, looked at Li Xuan and said, "Thank you, Uncle Wang. It seems that I can barely explain it to my mother this time."
…
In Penglai Hall, Li Zhi looked at the wooden horse placed on the carpet in the hall, stretched out his hand and pressed it slightly, and the front of the wooden horse immediately pressed forward.
As soon as he let go, the wooden horse was immediately pulled back by the strong tendons at the rear. After jolting back and forth for a long time, it gradually came to a stop.
"The King of Nanchang sent this thing to the Prime Minister's Mansion and Taiping for them to play with. The queen found it interesting and sent it to me." Li Zhi paused for a moment, turned to look at Hao Chujun, Pei Xingjian and Liu Shenli asked in a deep voice: "My dear friends, I would like to ask if this wooden horse can be used for riding training for southern soldiers?"
Hao Chujun, Pei Xingjian and Liu Shenli looked at each other.
Finally, Pei Xingjian, the Minister of War, stepped forward and said: "Reporting to your Majesty, our army has always had fewer horses and more soldiers. When recruiting cavalry, priority has always been given to those who can ride horses. Even so, we can easily recruit the required soldiers. , Therefore, this thing can be used to improve the equestrian skills of soldiers, but it is not of obvious use to southern soldiers who cannot ride horses."
In today's Tang Dynasty, most of the army's soldiers are northern soldiers. However, with successive years of war, the number of available soldiers is decreasing day by day. So this time, not only did the soldiers who returned from the East Island be transferred to the western front, they even recruited an additional 10,000 Jiangnan Dao soldiers. soldiers.
However, most of these soldiers from Jiangnan Road did not know how to ride horses, and they could not supplement the cavalry at all. This made Li Zhi worried, but now it seems that they are not needed.
"I do not agree with what Pei Shangshu said." Hao Chujun stepped forward, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, during the Dafeichuan period, our country fought with Tubo and captured thousands of horses from its border tribes more than once. At that time, we were unable to To directly convert it into combat power, sometimes it is necessary to transport it back to the rear, and sometimes it is simply abandoned; if the grain transport soldiers coming from the rear can simply ride on horseback, if nothing else, the speed of the army's operation will be increased by more than one become."
Pei Xingjian frowned and said, "They are just infantry on horseback and cannot fight at all."
Hao Chujun immediately replied: "Of course, but the food and grass needed by the frontline cavalry can be transported to the frontline faster, and soldiers with good riding skills in the rear can also be selected and replenished in time to the cavalry. The most important thing is that our court can provide additional Obtain many war horses, reduce costs and increase profits, so the army can last longer."
"You two." Liu Shenli quickly interrupted the argument between the two people in front of him, and then said with a wry smile: "You two, the General Supervisor of the Ministry of Works is currently working hard to build various equipment needed for the front line. Even if it is needed, You can’t build much of this thing in a short time.”
"Then let private craftsmen participate in the creation. I think this thing is not complicated. We will bring back a group of craftsmen from Shangyang Palace in Luoyang to specialize in assembling and polishing the core. It doesn't take too much. There are hundreds of them. It's enough to come in handy." Empress Wu walked in from outside the palace door wearing a black phoenix-patterned mattress skirt.
"Queen of Heaven." Hao Chujun, Pei Xingjian and Liu Shenli bowed their heads at the same time.
Li Zhi looked sideways at Empress Wu and asked softly: "The empress really thinks this thing is useful?"
Empress Wu nodded, and then said angrily: "Sanlang is practicing this every day now. He even made a bet with the King of Nanchang that if he can persist for enough time, the King of Nanchang will lose to him a hundred guan."
"So how much money did the King of Nanchang lose?"
"Thousand Guan." Empress Wu looked solemn, and then said: "But at the same time, the degree of jolting that this kind of horse can do has reached its limit. I think that if I let Saburo train the horse today, it will be much stronger than before. "
"It seems that the King of Nanchang has kept his official position." Li Zhi couldn't help but smile.
Empress Wu nodded and said: "The King of Nanchang not only kept his official position, but also kept his money. I have just summoned him to reward the King of Nanchang with three thousand guan of money. I want to see how he will help Sanlang practice bows next." Technique?"
"Fortunately, Silang is proficient in bow and horse, otherwise I really want to send Silang to the King of Nanchang for training." Li Zhi sighed softly, then looked at Hao Chujun, Pei Xingjian and Liu Shenli and said, "This matter will be handled by the Queen. Let's do what you say, first make a batch and send them to the cavalry guards, let each guard train them on their own, and at the same time try to see how to reduce the loss of war horses."
The loss of war horses is the greatest use of this thing.
Datang's monthly loss of war horses is definitely a terrifying figure. If this number can be reduced, then Datang's combat power will definitely be greatly improved.
After Hao Chujun, Pei Xingjian and Liu Shenli retreated, Wu Cai walked to Li Zhi, touched the wooden horse and said: "If I give you three years, I will not be allowed to stay on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and I will be able to completely overwhelming Tubo."
"Three years?" Li Zhi's face became solemn. He looked at Empress Wu and said, "Meiniang, you are issuing a military order in front of me."
Empress Wu smiled charmingly and said: "Your Majesty, I actually did not agree with fighting Tibet before, but now, the situation has changed, and Tibet's advantage is getting smaller and smaller."
At this point, Empress Wu's voice lowered: "Your Majesty, a secret report from Tubo is that the imperial doctor in the Tubo palace has not returned home for three months?"
"Huh?" Li Zhi's eyes lit up instantly, and then he nodded slowly and said, "It seems that the Tubo incident has really slowed down."
If you push too hard, Tubo will tend to share the same hatred with the enemy. If you let go, they will fight among themselves like crazy.
The situation has changed.
(End of chapter)
