Chapter 41 Riding Gear
Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che narrowed his eyes. He was not surprised by Li Shimin's final victory. As for his fighting style, everyone present had already guessed it in advance. As for Wang Shichong, wasn't it a matter of time for Luoyang to surrender? There was nothing to say.

He just felt something from the description of the miracle: "Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan was shot by several arrows but was not affected. He was indeed brave. But the miracle said before that 'it was due to high military literacy and excellent equipment'. It's okay to have high military literacy, but excellent equipment..."

He was wondering before whether there was anything in the Tang Dynasty's military equipment that was worth learning from for the Han Dynasty. Now Tianmu specifically pointed out this point. Could it be that he would talk about it specifically?
Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

"The battle of Hulao in Luoyang was so spectacular that it decided the fate of the country in one battle." Zhu Bai sighed, shook his head, and recited Bai Juyi's poem, "... the white flag and the yellow axe conquered the two capitals. The capture and execution of Chong and Dou brought peace to the world..."

At that time, Li Shimin was only 22 years old!
Although it was an era when life expectancy was not long, 22 years old could still be considered youth, and it was rare to find someone who could achieve such great achievements at this age. Even if such a person did not achieve any great success in the future, he could still boast about his achievements for the rest of his life.

What's more, Li Shimin did not indulge in the past glory and hesitate to move forward.

It is no wonder that the entire Tang Dynasty missed this emperor and mourned this General Tiance.

"I remember that Emperor Taizong of Tang was given the title of General Tiance by Emperor Gaozu of Tang after he pacified Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong." Zhu Su said, recalling the history books.

"Yes, it was at this time that he was given the title of Grand Chancellor of the East Shaanxi Circuit, a position above that of princes and nobles," Zhu Chong replied.

Well...about this matter, it was still the fourth year of Wude, but the situation in the Tang Dynasty became increasingly out of control.

Tang Dynasty, the ninth year of Wude.

Li Yuan was in mixed mood.

On the one hand, he recalled the excitement and joy he felt when he learned that his second son had pacified Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong at one go and wiped out the northern forces. At that time, his joy was not fake but came from the heart; at the same time, his love and admiration for this son also came from the heart.

Such a great victory made him happy from the inside out for a long time. After all, such a brilliant result is worth writing about in history, and such a result also completely consolidated the world of the Tang Dynasty, and his Li family's foundation was stable!

But on the other hand, after a period of happiness, the second son's rapidly growing strength gradually emerged, which made him worried. He loved his son, and it was true. However, after the chaos since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, especially the recent Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasties, he could not help but be suspicious and wary of such a son.

Past history has not brought many positive and uplifting experiences.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

After feeling heartbroken for the elite soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian and Dugu Qieluo also admired Li Shimin's brilliant achievements.

"If such a talented person could serve the Sui Dynasty..." Yang Jian changed his mind and it seemed that it might not be impossible.
Just need to think about the specific situation again.

Putting this matter aside for the moment, the couple turned their attention back to the miracle.

"It seems that the issue of succession to the Tang Dynasty has completely surfaced." Dugu Jialuo sighed. The couple had previously believed that there were hidden dangers in the Tang Dynasty, but now it seems that there are no hidden dangers. "Li Shimin's achievements are as brilliant as the sun. Others cannot compare with him. After the battle, Li Shimin must have gathered a group of forces to support him."

With such achievements and power, would Li Shimin still be content to be a King of Qin? Or, would the Crown Prince and Li Yuan be able to trust him?
As the main characters are like this, let alone the interest groups gathered around the three of them. Even if there is nothing wrong with them, they are all representatives of an interest group. While being supported by the interest group, they will inevitably be influenced by such a group.

It seems that bloody storm is only a matter of time.

[Li Shimin's achievements were obvious to all, and the Tang Dynasty gradually became stable. Although Li Yuan's killing of Dou Jiande later triggered another rebellion by the surrendered generals in Hebei, led by Liu Heita, it was later pacified by Li Shimin.

Overall, the situation in the Tang Dynasty was moving towards unification and stability.

So, here, we want to ask, why was the Tang army able to ultimately achieve such a victory?
On the one hand, there were a group of highly skilled generals in the Tang army, such as Li Shimin, Li Shiji, Wang Junkuo and others in the battle of Luoyang; on the other hand, the Tang army also had a group of elite soldiers with relatively high skills.

Especially the elite cavalry in the Tang army. 】

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Now comes the serious business!
Liu Che, Huo Qubing, Wei Qing and others all sat up straight.

[Cavalry occupied an important position in the entire military system of the Tang Dynasty. The ratio of infantry to cavalry in the Tang Dynasty could reach as high as 5:2.

When talking about the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, we must trace back its development process.

Since Emperor Wu of Han's expedition against the Huns, the importance of cavalry in the Central Plains dynasties has been increasing and has also been developing continuously.

In the Han Dynasty, cavalry began to use horse armor, ring-handled swords, etc. in combat. 】

The Han army's ring-handled swords were shown on the screen of the miracle. The straight blades flashed with the cold light of iron, and were long and short, with the longest one even exceeding one meter. Although the style of the vest was simple, it could also provide a certain degree of protection for the horses. [Later, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the stirrup, a cavalry weapon, appeared, which greatly improved the impact and stability of the cavalry, enhanced the cavalry's combat capability, and once again increased the importance of the cavalry.

At the same time, another key equipment appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties - a complete set of horse armor that could protect the whole body of the horse. Such armor is generally called armor or horse armor, so a new category of cavalry was born - armored cavalry armor, that is, cavalry with complete armor on both the man and the horse.

The stirrups are also made of copper and iron. Two stirrups are hung on both sides of the horse's body, and are divided into two parts: the stirrup ring and the stirrup handle.

The armor is more complicated, made of both iron and leather. There are six parts in the picture, each with a name: "face curtain" to protect the horse's head, "chicken neck" to protect the horse's neck, "chest" to protect the horse's chest, "horse body armor" to protect the torso, "back armor" to protect the horse's buttocks, and "parasite" to stand upright on the horse's tail.

Finally, there are soldiers wearing heavy armor riding on horses also wearing armor. 】

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng was excited when he looked at the ring-handled swords of the Han Dynasty and the stirrups and armor from the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The Qin Dynasty had been at war for years, and the whole country attached great importance to the military. As the supreme ruler, he was naturally familiar with all the equipment of the Qin army at that time, and was also well aware of the corresponding combat effectiveness of each equipment.

Therefore, when the stirrup first appeared, he immediately saw the importance of such a tool to the army - it freed up the hands, enhanced stability, and also increased impact force.

Such a tool is absolutely epoch-making for cavalry.

As for armor, it further armed the cavalry. The armored cavalry, which had both armor for the man and the horse, had a much higher impact and combat power than ordinary cavalry without any protection. Although it might affect flexibility, the impact power of an armored cavalry was extremely high, not to mention a sufficient number of them, arranged neatly in battle formations?
There were many smart people in the court. Without the emperor saying anything, they spontaneously began to record the various cavalry equipment and weapons displayed in the miracle, striving to restore them perfectly.

"Your Majesty," Li Si came closer and whispered to the emperor, "Let's not talk about the Han Dynasty's ring-handled swords for now, but the Northern and Southern Dynasties were able to equip horses with complete armor and form a complete cavalry, so they must have made great progress in iron smelting technology." Although armor is made of both iron and leather, the amount of iron is definitely not small, and the reason behind this is easy to deduce.

Ying Zheng nodded: "Let the craftsmen and Qin Mo strengthen the research on iron smelting technology." In fact, this research has always been ongoing, and the firearms in the Ming Dynasty stories are inseparable from iron smelting technology, which has once again increased the importance of ironware throughout the Qin Dynasty.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

"5:2?!" What kind of ratio is this? The Tang Dynasty was able to achieve a ratio of three to one between infantry and cavalry. There are so many things behind this.

First of all, the number of their war horses is absolutely huge. It's not just a few more. Because if the cavalry wants to form sufficient combat effectiveness, the number of war horses matched with a cavalryman must be more than one, there must be two or three. Of course, not every cavalry of the Tang Dynasty could do this, but as long as there were a few elite ones, they would put forward higher requirements on the number of war horses.

Secondly, the Tang Dynasty must have had a perfect system for the breeding of war horses. The service life of war horses was not long, about ten years, and the best period was only two or three years. Although war horses that had passed their prime could still be used, their speed and endurance would generally decline, so they would usually be retired from the army. If the Tang Dynasty could maintain such a ratio of infantry to cavalry for a long time, a perfect horse management system would be essential.

Another issue is the land area and grain production of the Tang Dynasty. Horses need pastures. If the land area is not enough and the number of horses increases, it is very likely that arable land will be occupied, causing a decrease in grain production. If the Tang Dynasty wants to raise a large number of horses, whether it is raised by the court or distributed to the people, it must be required that the court can meet the food demand and economic needs.

After several generations of emperors' recuperation, the Han Dynasty vigorously developed its army. At this time, there were hundreds of thousands of war horses. However, the loss rate of war horses in every battle against the Huns was quite alarming. That was all money!
"This kind of armored cavalry is suitable for charging and blocking the enemy's front, but it is not suitable for long-distance raids." Huo Qubing was quite interested in the armored cavalry, but it was not suitable for the raids he had always carried out, such as going straight into the interior of the Xiongnu. "But the stirrup has a wide range of uses."

[Since the appearance of armored cavalry, this type of soldier has become the key force during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In other words, the cavalry at that time were generally equipped with armor, and a complete set of horse armor could weigh almost 40 kilograms (automatically converted to weights of different dynasties), which made the power of armored cavalry extremely terrifying.

The Sui Dynasty, which followed the Northern and Southern Dynasties, also inherited the tradition of attaching importance to cavalry and loving armor and cavalry. For example, when Emperor Yang of Sui conquered Goguryeo, there were 96,000 cavalry on the books at that time, and all of them were armored, half of them were iron armor (iron armor) and half were animal-pattern armor (leather armor); and the Xiaoguo Army from Guanzhong that followed Emperor Yang of Sui to Jiangdu was also basically armored.

Li Yuan and his son, who came from the Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, naturally attached great importance to cavalry. When the Tang Dynasty started its army, it obtained 2,000 war horses from the Turks and 3,000 war horses from the Sui Dynasty. Li Yuan himself was serving in Taiyuan to resist the Turks. When he was still an official of the Sui Dynasty, he trained cavalry as much as possible. From diet to training, they were no different from the Turks, and their combat effectiveness was very high.

After entering Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty's emphasis on cavalry remained unchanged.

When Li Shimin was conquering all over the country, he would specifically "select the vanguard" from the army, choosing the best from the best. Eventually, he selected several thousand people as elite cavalry. They were dressed in black armor, which was a set of equipment for men and horses. They were divided into left and right teams, and Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie, Yuchi Jingde, and Zhai Changsun were appointed as commanders. They served as the vanguard of the Tang army and were also called the Black Armor Army.

The cavalry that Li Shimin led to Hulao Pass this time were basically the Black Armored Army. The characteristics of their horse and man armor were also the reason why the Tang army soldiers were not seriously injured even though they were shot like hedgehogs by the enemy.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

"This armor should be removable at any time," Xiao He said, "and the armor of the cavalry can be changed according to combat needs to ensure the mobility of the cavalry as much as possible." When chasing or rushing to a pass or a battlefield, they can take off part of the armor and become light cavalry; when fighting head-on or charging into battle, they can put on the armor for both horse and man and become the terrifying heavy cavalry.

When the Tang Dynasty was first established, the number of cavalry was probably not large. Even though a large number of local forces surrendered later, it was not possible to recruit all of their soldiers at once. Therefore, the key force in the Tang cavalry must still be the soldiers under the command of the Tang Dynasty itself. The fact that they were able to select and train a group of elite black armored soldiers under such circumstances shows that the military tradition and cavalry culture of the Tang Dynasty were indeed strong.

The situation in the Northern Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties was not specifically described, but looking at the Sui Dynasty, the 96,000 cavalrymen had 96,000 sets of equipment, and the 10,000 brave and capable men formed later were also equipped... The martial spirit was indeed strong, but the national strength of the Sui Dynasty should not be underestimated.

"All this talk is for the future. The most important thing now is to recuperate, improve the Han Dynasty's iron smelting technology, and breed war horses." Liu Bang said that the fact that later dynasties could have so many armors was inseparable from their iron smelting technology, and the large number of cavalry was also inseparable from the large number of war horses.

But in the final analysis, their national strength can support them to produce armor and raise horses, and national strength is still population and food. The Han Dynasty can't let its imagination run wild and be dazzled by such an army. It must move at its own pace.

(End of this chapter)