I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 16 The last piece of the cavalry puzzle

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were both generals with great military exploits.

They took out a huge map that included Sanfu and Liangzhou. Among them, Chencang, located on the right side of Fufeng, was heavily marked.

According to Huangfu Song, once Liangzhou fails, Chencang, which stores food, will become the next target of the rebels. And if the imperial court still has a fulcrum in Liangzhou, Chencang will serve as a stable rear to provide food and grass, and its importance can be imagined.

In the final analysis, Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and others could only come up with a few rough plans on how to fight this battle. After all, the battlefield was changing rapidly and they needed to be adapted in real time according to the battle situation.

Only then did Liu Bian realize that most of their words were actually meant for him.

Later, Zhu Jun mentioned the "dīmào" items in the treasury. Liu Bian originally thought they were referring to soldiers' armor and helmets, but after thinking about it carefully, Zhu Jun's servants were not only responsible for the emperor's Besides driving, the most important job is actually horse administration.

Sure enough, after asking, Liu Bian learned that the dangxiang and dangxiang mentioned by Zhu Jun refer to the leather horse armor. The dangxiang is used to protect the horse's head, and the dangxiong is used to protect the horse's front.

Listening to Zhu Jun's patient introduction, Liu Bian felt as if he had forgotten something.

According to Zhu Jun, in the era of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, the vest was paired with a high-bridge saddle, plus the cavalry's iron armor and horse saddle, to form the famous Youzhou Cavalry. The high bridge saddle is enough for people to sit firmly on the horse, which reduces the requirements for the cavalry's equestrian skills.

At this time, it is possible for the cavalry to charge as a group, as is common in later movies and TV dramas, and use the kinetic energy of the horses to turn into shock waves and rush directly into the enemy's formation, thereby directly cutting the enemy in front.

But Zhu Jun also said that frontal impact of cavalry is not omnipotent. Once it cannot completely cut through the enemy and is surrounded by the enemy's spears, the cavalry, which has lost its mobility and cannot turn at will, can only be slaughtered.

When Liu Xiu attacked Jizhou, he led his army into battle and was surrounded by infantry. Thousands of elite cavalry were killed and wounded.

At this time, Liu Bian finally remembered what he had forgotten - "If the high bridge saddle is equipped with stirrups on both sides, will it make the cavalry more flexible? Both feet have leverage, and it is easier to exert force on the horse."

The double stirrups were the final piece of the cavalry puzzle.

At this time, the cavalry still used the single stirrup to assist in mounting. Huangfusong and Zhu Jun just heard Liu Bian mention it and immediately became acutely aware of the advantages of the double stirrup.

I'm about to test out the double stirrups.

There is a special place for raising horses in the palace, and the technical difficulty of double stirrups is not more difficult. It is more a change of thinking. In fact, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, with the advancement of military technology and innovation of concepts, bilateral stirrups clearly appeared.

Not long after, Liu Bian saw Zhu Jun riding a horse, driving the horse around in circles easily.

"Wonderful, wonderful, His Highness's words awakened the dreamer!" Zhu Jun praised.

Taiwei Zhang Wen also went up to experience it. After dismounting, he issued an order to install bilateral stirrups as soon as possible.

After this episode, they returned to the court again, and Zhang Wen began to ask Liu Bian's opinion on everything.

Including the most critical total force sent to Liangzhou. The central standing force in Luoyang is not large. The five battalions of the Northern Army include Tunqi, Infantry, Yueqi, Changshui, and Shesheng. There are 700 people in one unit. Among them, Changshui Battalion is a righteous follower of the Hu people, with more than 700 people. There are more than 4,000 people, including officials. As the most elite central military force, fully off-the-job professional soldiers have considerable combat capabilities.

Previously, whether it was He Miao who quelled the Xingyang rebellion or the two troops brought by Huangfu Li and Liu Bei to support Fu Xie of Hanyang County, they all used the elites of the fifth battalion of the Northern Army as the backbone, and filled the army with additional recruits.

Looking at Luoyang as a whole, the guards also included Zhijinwu, who was also a member of the Northern Army with the fifth battalion. His power was greatly reduced compared with that of the previous Han Dynasty, and he was responsible for guarding the arsenal and patrolling the city.

The Second Battalion of Huben and Yulin under Guang Luxun was responsible for directly protecting the emperor. Therefore, during the Luoyang Rebellion in history, Yuan Shu, the general of Huben Zhonglang, had the opportunity to burn Nangong.

In addition, the guards were responsible for guarding the palace gates of the palace city, and the city gate captains stationed troops at the outer gates of Luoyang. These five standing armies constituted the regular defense force of Luoyang.

There were twelve thousand people in total.

Among them, the 5th Battalion of the Northern Army mainly engaged in foreign operations. The 2nd Battalion of Huben Yulin under Guang Luxun also went out to fight, but the number of times was much less than that of the 5th Battalion of the Northern Army. Liu Bei's current position as Cavalry Commander actually belongs to Guang Luxun.

This time the expedition to Liangzhou will involve all five battalions of the Northern Army, plus a total of 20,000 recruited troops, mainly the traditional "Three Rivers Knights" from Henan Yin, Hanoi and Hedong counties; Guanzhong will also use Dong Zhuo's 3,000 standing troops from Right Fufeng Soldiers and horses, plus Jingzhao Yinjun soldiers and three auxiliary soldiers, totaling 20,000.

The current plan of the imperial court is to appoint Huangfu Song as the left general, commanding Luoyang's 20,000 men; to appoint Dong Zhuo as the former general, commanding the third auxiliary, 20,000 men. At the same time, a total of 40,000 people, led by left general Huangfu Songdu and former general Dong Zhuo, attacked the Liangzhou rebels.

Nothing else, just Dong Zhuo...

Liu Bian had a natural distrust for this name. In his previous life, he had seen analysis that Dong Zhuo was a disciple of the Yuan family and Yuan Wei was his successor. The Yuan family wanted to use Dong Zhuo to control the government, but they didn't want to lose the power, so the game collapsed.

For people like Cao Cao, Liu Bian was willing to reuse him carefully, but Dong Zhuo, Liu Bian really didn't want to reuse him.

But now Dong Zhuo has achieved the position of Youfufeng, and has the same rank as the prefect. He himself has also been granted the title of Marquis of Zhexiang and a thousand households in the city for his military merits. It can't be killed casually.

Liu Bian asked Zhang Wen and others about the relationship between Dong Zhuo and Taichang Yuan Wei.

Although Zhang Wen didn't know where Liu Bian got the news, he listened to Liu Bian's tone and guessed that Liu Bian didn't want Dong Zhuo to be his former general.

Dong Zhuo once served under Zhang Wen. He thought for a while and told Liu Bian with certainty: "Dong Zhuo considers himself a disciple of the Yuan family. In the past, Liangzhou rebels attacked the third auxiliary, and I led the army to put down the rebellion. Dong Zhuo acted arrogantly. At that time, Sun Jian, who joined the army, suggested that I use Dong Zhuo to establish his authority, but I thought about it again and again and refused to agree. Does your Highness have another former general candidate? "

Liu Bian did not expect to hear Sun Jian's name from Zhang Wen's mouth. Zhang Wen's question gave him a hint, and he replied: "Why don't you regard the servant as the former general?"

The servant Zhu Jun was in the palace, and he was immediately moved when he heard the words. He originally considered that Huangfu Song was more familiar with Liangzhou than he was, and was unwilling to compete with Huangfu Song for the generalship. But when fighting against Dong Zhuo, he had no such worries.

After hearing Liu Bian's words, Zhang Wen knew something in his mind: Marquis Shi didn't like Yuan very much!

He did not dare to despise Liu Bian's opinion and said: "Originally, it was considered that Dong Zhuo was from Liangzhou and had been appointed You Fufeng since the second year of Zhongping, which would be conducive to conquering the rebels. Now it seems that with Zhu Taipu as the former general, commanding the three assistants Men and horses, no matter what."

(End of this chapter)