Warring States Odyssey

  Fan Wu, Zhao Jun's large camp, military training ground.

  Zhao Xuan wore a tight-sleeved short jacket and did not wear armor, holding a gun in one hand and carrying it behind his back, the tip of the gun pointing down. A section of the gun handle protruded from above his left shoulder. More than ten meters in front of Zhao Xuan, Li Yinghong wore a fitted leather armor, holding two swords, one long and one short, in each hand, using the long sword to point at Zhao Xuan and saying: "General Zhao, I'm coming for you."

  Zhao Xuan smiled faintly and said, "Come on."

  Li Yinghong's body suddenly leaped forward, his two swords one in front and one behind, transformed into two cold lights, swiftly chopping towards Zhao Xuan.

  Zhao Xuan's body remained still, his long spear suddenly moving from behind to in front of him. His right hand still grasped the middle of the spear shaft, and with a flick of his wrist, "clang clang", he parried Li Yinghong's two sword strikes.

  Li Yinghong's body suddenly changed from a vertical to a horizontal movement, turning left and swinging his long sword horizontally at Zhao Xuan's waist. However, Zhao Xuan only slightly turned his body in place, still holding the gun with his right hand, using the butt of the gun to deflect Li Yinghong's sword.

  At this time, Li Yinghong had already turned to Zhao Xuan's back, his movements swift and rapid as lightning. His twin swords danced up and down in unison, slashing and chopping at Zhao Xuan's back in a continuous attack. Meanwhile, Zhao Xuan didn't even turn his body, but instead held his long spear behind him, moving it up and down to block Li Yinghong's sword strikes one by one.

  Li Yinghong revolved around Zhao Xuan, advancing and retreating, sometimes left, sometimes right, rising and falling quickly, swift as a strong wind, fast as lightning, and also brought out more than ten residual shadows, slashing and chopping towards Zhao Xuan with over ten swords. However, Zhao Xuan remained standing still on the spot, only moving his hands to exchange the long spear, left hand shielding, right hand supporting, upper hand blocking, lower hand deflecting, defending against the wind and rain, completely parrying Li Yinghong's offensive.

  Just then, Li Yinghong rose from behind Zhao Xuan's back and flew over his head, with two swords in a downward motion, slashing down from the top of Zhao Xuan's head. At this time, although Zhao Xuan was still holding the spear with one hand, he did not make any defensive moves, but instead raised the spear to quickly stab at Li Yinghong in mid-air.

  This one move immediately dissolved Li Yinghong's offensive, forcing him to retreat and defend himself with his sword. He then used Zhao Xuan's long spear as a pivot, spinning around twice before landing in front of Zhao Xuan.

  After Li Yinghong landed, Zhao Xuan's long gun returned to its original state. He nodded and said, "Yinghong, this time you can force me to counterattack. It seems that your progress is great."

  Li Yinghong placed the long sword on his shoulder and said, "Still thanks to General Zhao's teachings, but now I still can't move General Zhao one step."

  Zhao Xuan smiled slightly and said: "Take your time, you're still very young, with a lot of room for growth in the future. At your current age, you're already very strong."

  At this time, Li Mu smiled and said, "Ying Hong, how old are you? You've only been practicing sword for a few years. Why don't you just honestly continue to accept General Zhao's teachings?"

  Li Yinghong said: "Father, can I go to the battlefield now?"

  Several people were talking, when suddenly the sound of horseshoes echoed, and a warhorse galloped over from one side of the school field. The person on the horseback was indeed Gao Yuan. At this time, the warhorse's four hooves rose and fell rapidly, running at full speed, while Gao Yuan's hands waved a long spear, relying solely on his legs to stabilize his body on the horseback, yet he remained motionless.

  Zhao Xuan glanced at him and said, "It's only been a few days since we last met, but his riding skills have improved greatly. Now he can even wield a spear and swing a stick on horseback."

  Li Mu smiled and said: "Zhao Xuan, didn't you see? His horse harness is very different from ours. That's a harness he designed himself."

  At this time, Gao Yuan had been living in Li Mu's large camp for over ten days. Due to his outstanding performance on the cuju field, Gao Yuan was also quickly recognized by the soldiers of the central army camp, Zhao Jun. Every day, after training, everyone would play football together, and Li Yinghong, Du Yi, and others would pester Gao Yuan to learn the techniques of cuju. As a result, in just over ten days, Gao Yuan had become familiar with many of the soldiers.

  Since the arrival of Gao Yuan, the middle camp and other camps have never lost a game of Cuju again. Later, even if Gao Yuan didn't play, after teaching them his techniques and tactics, they could still dominate the entire army. Not only did soldiers from the middle camp come to learn from Gao Yuan, but also soldiers from the other four camps came to learn Cuju techniques from him. Gao Yuan was generous in teaching them everything he knew, and since he himself had no airs about him, he treated the soldiers equally, so almost everyone in the entire Zhao army had a good impression of Gao Yuan.

  However, Gao Yuan was not just kicking the ball in Zhao Jun's camp, but from the second day on, he also trained himself according to his past habits and projects. After all, no matter what path he chooses in the future, it is necessary to improve his strength. Of course, Gao Yuan did not train with Zhao Jun's soldiers, but instead formulated his own training plan based on his past training situation and projects. Li Mu also had no objection to this and even instructed Du Yi to follow Gao Yuan's intentions and provide convenience as much as possible. Every morning's military array CAO practice was also allowed for Gao Yuan to watch.

  Due to the technological level of this era, it is estimated that even the most primitive firearms could not be manufactured, so apart from physical training, the main focus was on hand-to-hand combat skills with cold weapons, archery, horse riding, and combat and archery on horseback.

  In the past, Gaoyuan also learned hand-to-hand combat, sanda fighting, and knife skills in cold weapons, including archery. Although the techniques of hand-to-hand combat and sanda fighting are not very useful on a large-scale battlefield, they can also play a significant role at certain times.

  Knife skills are very useful in this era, and the knife skills learned on the plateau are all scientifically researched and trained. They are simple and direct, effective and practical. However, the military knife in High Plain's hand is sharp but too short. It can be used for fighting among a few people, but it would be insufficient if used on a large-scale battlefield. In this era, there were no sword-like weapons, so Li Mu gave him a captured Qin sword, which could also be used as a substitute. Additionally, Li Mu gave High Plain a war horse to practice riding and shooting.

  Li Mu gave to Gao Yuan was a bronze sword, about 85 cm in length, with a willow-leaf shape and eight ridges on the blade. Although iron weapons had begun to appear during the late Warring States period, bronze weapons were still dominant, and Qin state was more advanced than the six eastern states in terms of bronze casting technology. The length of Qin swords was generally over 80 cm, with the longest approaching one meter, while those from the six eastern states were typically between 60-70 cm. Additionally, the hilt of a Qin sword was relatively longer, reaching up to 17-20 cm, allowing soldiers to hold it with both hands and greatly increasing their attacking power, giving them an advantage on the battlefield.

  Bronze is actually a copper-tin alloy, so the key to casting a sword lies in adding the right amount of tin during smelting. Too little tin and the sword is too soft; too much tin and it's hard but prone to breaking. The ratio of copper to tin in Qin swords achieved a perfect balance between hardness and toughness. This made the length, hardness and toughness of Qin swords almost perfectly combined, also making them the pinnacle of bronze sword casting techniques.

  But the knife and sword are still different, and although the Qin sword's craftsmanship reached the peak of bronze ware, its hardness was still insufficient, so it could only be used for stabbing, chopping could only be an auxiliary, so Gao Yuan had to slowly polish his swordsmanship, or simply let the craftsmen in the army forge a long knife-style weapon for himself.

  In addition, the plateau had previously practiced archery, but the bow of this era was quite different from the one used by the plateau in the past. The past experience was basically useless, and as for horse riding, gun techniques, horseback riding, etc., they were all new subjects for the plateau, which is what the plateau needs to focus on practicing now. However, the plateau had undergone strict military training, with agile movements, so it picked up quickly. In just over a dozen days, the plateau's marksmanship and swordsmanship reached excellent standards, and in the entire Zhao army camp, there were only a few opponents who could match him. But horseback riding and shooting techniques were still average.

  In order to improve his riding skills in a short period of time, Gao Yuan had the drawings ready on the second day and found craftsmen in the military camp to make a complete set of horse equipment for himself, including high-bridge saddles, stirrups, and horseshoes. In fact, the saddle and stirrups were quickly made, but it took two or three days to nail the horseshoes on the warhorse, and two blacksmiths were kicked by the warhorse, and only finished today.

  Kougen immediately equipped his warhorse with new-made armor and then went for a test ride. This way, he could get used to the feeling of wearing it, Kougen could also boldly gallop on horseback, using only his legs to control his body, freeing up both hands to use weapons.

  Before long, Gao Yuan ran to the front of the crowd, pulled tight the reins, and jumped down from the horseback. Zhao Xuan and Li Yuqiong only then discovered that this set of cavalry equipment was indeed very different from those commonly used between nations now.

  The saddle presents a pronounced concave shape, with the two ends high and the middle low. On both sides of the saddle, there are also two bronze fittings hanging down.

  These days, Li Yinghong has become familiar with Gao Yuan. In addition to her young age, she is still full of curiosity about new things. Therefore, she immediately ran to the side of Gao Yuan's horse and observed it carefully. At the same time, she didn't stop talking, first patting the high bridge at the back of the saddle and saying: "Why is the back so high? Won't this affect mounting the horse?"

  Gao Yuan explained: "The back is made so high that, although it will have some impact on mounting the horse, it can fix a person's body. In this way, when sitting on the horseback, one can be fixed to the saddle and won't slide backwards. It's beneficial for fighting on horseback!"

  Li Yinghong didn't have much of a reaction to the explanation about the plateau, but Li Mu's eyes lit up with excitement. After all, his intuition about Ma Ju was much stronger than Li Yinghong's, so he quickly walked over and carefully examined this new type of saddle.

  Li Yinghong didn't notice Li Mu's expression and picked up a stirrup, looked at it and said: "What is this thing for? Is it for stepping on to get on the horse? Only those noble young masters who don't know how to ride use this, soldiers can get on horses without using this. And even if it's used for getting on horses, one side would be enough, why are there two of them, one on each side?"

  Although the Chinese standard stirrup appeared only during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period and did not become fully developed until the Tang Dynasty, single-sided stirrups made of leather or rope were used as early as the Warring States Period. Their main function was to assist some idle and pampered aristocratic sons in mounting horses, while real cavalrymen mounted their horses without using stirrups by supporting themselves on the horse's back with one hand and jumping up with both legs. Even during the Tang and Song Dynasties when the stirrup had fully developed, cavalrymen still mounted their horses directly without using stirrups.