Warring States Odyssey

  Gao Yuan smiled and said, "This is called a stirrup. It's not used to step on when mounting the horse, but rather it allows you to sit on the horse's back and have a foothold for your legs. This way, relying solely on leg strength, you can control your body on the horseback, freeing up your hands to use weapons in battle. Didn't I just do that when I rode over here? Moreover, with stirrups, you can also perform some fancy movements on the horse's back."

  Li Yinghong listened with half-belief and half-doubt, saying: "Is it really as good as you said? Let me try it." As she spoke, she pressed her hands on the horse's back, kicked the ground hard with both legs, jumped onto the horseback, then inserted her feet into the stirrups, and felt a difference after kicking with force. After all, the feeling of having an anchor point was completely different from being suspended in mid-air without any support.

  Gao Yuan said, "Don't put your feet all the way into the stirrups, just use your toes to touch them. Otherwise, when you get off the horse, your feet will easily get caught in the stirrups and be dragged along by the horse."

  Li Yinghong muttered, "Still so troublesome." However, she followed Gao Yuan's instructions, using only her toes to press the stirrups, then gently clamping her legs around the horse's abdomen, urging the warhorse to gallop forward.

  The war horse's speed was getting faster and faster, Li Yinghong also let go of her hands, drew out her double swords, and swung them on the horseback. While Li Mu and Zhao Xuan were staring at her figure with their eyes fixed, the excitement in Li Mu's eyes was also getting stronger and stronger.

  After running three or four laps, Li Yinghong finally ran back in front of Li Mu, jumped off the war horse, and exclaimed with excitement: "Father, what Gao Yuan said is true! Riding on such a horseback is indeed much more stable."

  Li Mu immediately grabbed the reins and said, "Yinghong, let me try." After finishing speaking, he also jumped onto the horse's back, stepped on the stirrups according to Gao Yuan's instructions, and galloped the horse for two laps. Then he stopped the horse, forced a smile onto his face, turned his head to Zhao Xuan and said, "Zhao Xuan, you come try too. If you were to switch to this kind of horse equipment, wouldn't it be like adding wings to a tiger?"

  At Zhao Xuan's trial ride, Gao Yuan said: "Does the General think that such a horse is useful?"

  Li Mu nodded repeatedly and said, "Of course it's useful. If our Zhao army's cavalry all switch to such horse armor, then the combat effectiveness will definitely increase greatly. Gao Yuan, you have made a great contribution to the state of Zhao. I will certainly report to the king and ask for rewards on your behalf."

  Gao Yuan Dao: "It doesn't matter if I don't get any credit, as long as I can help the general, I'm happy."

  At this time, Zhao Xuan also finished the test ride and stopped his horse. He nodded repeatedly and said: "General, this set of horseshoes can indeed greatly increase stability on horseback. If our Zhao army's cavalry can all be equipped with such horseshoes, combat effectiveness can be increased by a factor of two."

  At this time, Gao Yuan said: "However, the general also needs to be careful. This new horse armor is not difficult to make, as long as there is a model, all countries can imitate it. If our Zhao army changes to this new horse armor, we may win a few battles against the Qin army at first, but soon the Qin army will also follow our example and change their cavalry to new horse armor. Moreover, soldiers value quality over quantity, so I suggest not changing all the cavalry to new horse armor for the time being, but rather proceeding gradually, selecting only a small number of elite cavalry and giving them new horse armor. This way, the Qin army will not notice, and we can establish an elite cavalry."

  Zhao Xuandao said: "General, Gao Yuan is right. As long as we have a thousand elite cavalrymen, we can gain the upper hand on the battlefield."

  Li Mu sank into thought for a moment, and he also knew the principle that soldiers value quality over quantity. Let alone one thousand elite cavalrymen, even five hundred elite cavalrymen could play a decisive role in a battle of one hundred thousand people. Therefore, he said: "You three, come to my large tent, we will discuss this in detail. Gao Yuan, go and find the craftsmen who make horse armor."

  Before long, Gao Yuan led several craftsmen to Li Mu's central army account, where Li Mu was sitting in the middle, with Zhao Xuan and Li Yinghong standing on either side of him.

  The leader of the craftsmen's camp was called Liu Chuang. After the courtesy, Li Mu said: "Liu Chuang, if you want the craftsmen's camp to make a thousand new-style horse armor like this, how many days will it take to complete?"

  When he came, Liu Chuang had already heard Gao Yuan say so, and immediately said: "Report to the general, if other things are put aside first, and only make saddles and horseshoes, one thousand sets can be completed within ten days. But if we want to follow Mr. Gao's words and shoe all the war horses, it may take a month."

  Li Mu slightly stunned, looked at Gao Yuan and said: "What is a horse's hoof?"

  "General, I forgot to mention earlier that there is a new set of horse armor, including horseshoes for all four hooves."

  Liu Chuang hastily said: "General, we have made two extra horseshoes for you to see." He then took out two spare horseshoes from his bosom and handed them over.

  Li Mu took a look and found that they were two semi-circular bronze blocks. Gao Yuan explained on the side: "General, nail these zhong to the horse's hooves, it can protect the horse's hooves, my warhorse has already been nailed."

  Li Yinghong said on one side: "Nailed to the horse's hoof? Wouldn't that hurt the horse's hoof?"

  Gao Yuan Dao: "It won't, the horse's hooves have two layers of structure. The layer that comes into contact with the ground is a hard keratinized layer, and the upper layer is a living keratinized layer. As long as the nails are not too long and only nail on the hard keratinized layer, nailing will not hurt the horse's hooves. However, this is also a delicate task, and if done carelessly, it can still hurt the horse. But after nailing the horseshoes, it can delay the wear of the horse's hooves and make them more firmly grasp the ground, which is very beneficial for both riding and driving."

  Li Mu and Zhao Xuan also nodded slightly, they all knew that horse hooves were easily worn out, once the horse hooves were worn out, this warhorse would be useless, so the consumption of warhorses in the military camp was very large, usually they did not dare to take out the warhorses for practice. If according to the method of the highlands, all warhorses were fitted with horseshoes, then the service life of the warhorses could be greatly extended. For Zhao Guo, a country that excelled in using cavalry at this time, the benefits were also obvious.

  "What is stratum corneum?"

  The plateau also didn't know what to say, and said: "It's probably like human fingernails."

  Li Yinghong stopped talking, and Li Mu put the horse's hoof on the table and said: "The horse's hoof can be put aside for now. First, let's make a thousand sets of saddles and stirrups within ten days."

  Liu Chong listened and immediately said: "Yes, General."

  After Liu Chu left, Li Mu turned to Gao Yuan and said: "Gao Yuan, I want you to take over the command of this thousand-strong cavalry and train them."

  Gao Yuan was taken aback and said: "Me?"

  Li Mu smiled and said: "This new cavalry is something you came up with, and in the past only you have ridden this type of cavalry, so naturally it's up to you to lead the soldiers."

  Gao Yuan said: "I can indeed teach soldiers how to ride horses, but I won't be able to teach the techniques of riding in battle or shooting while riding, these are things I still need to learn."

  Li Yinghong said with some annoyance, "You were asked to teach, so just teach. First, you need to teach the soldiers how to ride horses before talking about cavalry combat and archery techniques. Besides, it's not like you're the one who needs to teach those techniques!" Turning her head, she said to Li Mu, "Father, I also want to join this cavalry."

  Li Mu nodded slightly and said, "Alright, you assist Gao Yuan to quickly establish this cavalry unit. Our time is limited, we may have to engage in a decisive battle with the Qin army within a month. I hope this cavalry unit can play an important role at that time."

  At this point, Gao Yuan couldn't refuse anymore, nodded his head and said: "Alright then, I'll give it a try."

  Li Yinghong said: "That's right, let's go and choose people to go." As he spoke, he pulled Gao Yuan out of Li Mu's large tent.

  After they left, Zhao Xuan said: "General, are you really going to let Gao Yuan command this cavalry?"

  Li Mu Dao said: "Gao Yuan has been here for over ten days, what's your impression of him?"

  Zhao Xuan thought for a moment and said, "He is indeed a good person. He can get along with almost all the soldiers in just over ten days, and I also don't feel the hostility that I felt when I first met him."

  Li Mubao said: "I believe that was a special case and not his intention. To know that people in order to save their lives, may also become violent."

  Zhao Xuandao said, "This can be set aside for the time being, but is it suitable for Generalissimo to put this cavalry under Gao Yuan's command? If such a cavalry is formed, it may become the strongest cavalry in the world. However, although Gao Yuan's martial arts skills are good, his ability in horseback riding and archery is poor, and he seems to have never commanded an army before. Can he train such a cavalry well?"

  Li Mu Dao said: "Zhao Xuan, don't you think that after he taught the soldiers to play cuju, the cuju matches are not the same as before?"

  Zhao Xuan was taken aback, not expecting Li Mu to bring up the topic of Cuju. He shook his head and said, "I didn't notice anything different about it. However, in the past, we were always the champions of the military camp's Cuju tournament, but since we came to the plateau, we haven't won a single game, even when the plateau team didn't participate."

  Li Mu smiled and said, "In the past, playing cuju in the military camp was just a form of entertainment for the soldiers to build their bodies, but it was disorganized and relied on brute strength. The reason why our army could win repeatedly was because of this. But after Gao Yuan came, the middle camp's cuju has rules, offense and defense, advance and retreat in order, just like an army at war. If Gao Yuan can teach soldiers to play cuju like this, I believe he can also train a fine cavalry."

  Li Mu paused for a moment, then continued: "Moreover, the new type of cavalry he has created, although it looks simple, has a profound impact on the mounted army, no less than our great Zhao Wuling King's Hu clothing and archery reform. Perhaps the era when the cavalry dominates the battlefield is really coming soon."