In June, summer flowers are gorgeous.

Wu Haogu once again left the world's most prosperous Kaifeng City, walking on the official road by the Wuzhang River, feeling the prosperity and joy of a bumper harvest in sight.

In the fields by the roadside, the wheat grew quite strongly, and the green patches covered the ground.

The river breeze blowing from the Wuzhang River slightly dispelled the heat that enveloped the earth, although it was not cool and pleasant, but it still made Wuhaogu's eastward journey much more comfortable.

He left Kaifeng Mansion to the east three days ago after drinking the wedding wine of Duanwang Zhao Ji, and prepared to go all the way along the Wuzhang River, and then turned north to Yanggu County, where Ximen Qing was located.

Because he has to pass by Shuibo Liangshan, where the legendary heroes gather, Wu Haogu has brought enough good hands this time! Accompanying them were Lin Chong and Zhao Zhongge, who had just been awarded the right class hall from the ninth grade, but had not yet been sent. There are also a few generals of the Pan family who borrowed from Pan Xiao'an. There are also more than a dozen idlers from Wu Haogu found by Liu Ergou, the ploppy leader on Panlou Street, and I don't know if I can fight? However, it can also be used as a façade. In the end, Chai Lao Yuanwai and Ximen's mother-in-law and the dozen or so strong men of the Chai family and the Ximen family they brought also walked together.

It is also worth mentioning that Wu Haogu, Lin Chong and Zhao Zhongge all wore armor.

Wu Haogu brought a pair of black lacquer near the water mountain character armor, this is a leather armor, is made of thick cowhide through "bleaching", "boiling", "cutting", "drying", "sticking" and other processes to make the armor. The surface is very hard, painted with a black background, and the pattern is hand-painted. This set of leather armor was ordered by Wu Haogu to leave Kaifeng Mansion before Liao.

Although the Song Dynasty forbade the private possession of armor, Wu Haogu was a military attache who defended the feudal dictatorship of the Great Song Dynasty, and he could have several armor collars. After all, the armor also has to be a size, and the armor that fits the best must be customized. It's too shabby for a dignified military attaché to not even have a collar of well-fitting armor.

Lin Chong brought a heavy step armor, which was the equipment he had when he was the head of the forbidden army, and it should be public property. Now that he is a "military election officer", he is no longer a leader, and he doesn't know what procedures he went through to take this beloved armor home.

And Zhao Zhongge's armor is the most awesome, it is a Qingtang scab armor! It is the inheritance left to him by his father, who has worked in the guard traitor army of the Liao State all his life, and it is said to be a treasure in the army, and I don't know how Zhao Zhongge's Laozi got it? This collar Zijia was originally stored on Murong Wangwu's side, and he didn't go south with Brother Zhao Zhong, but Murong Wangwu brought it to the Song Realm and handed it over to Brother Zhao Zhong.

The armor of this kind of scarf uses the cold forging process, the armor is soft and tough, because the thickness is only more than one-third of the hot forging armor, so it can obtain the best protection ability with a relatively light weight. It should be the best cavalry armor in the world at the moment!

In addition to a collar of scab armor, Zhao Zhongge also brought a horse lance and a pair of leather vests. Wu Haogu had just obtained the Western Regions Horse Chiyun Hu from Duan King Zhao Ji and also lent it to Zhao Zhongge...... Not for him to ride away, but as a war horse for a groom to lead the way.

This horse, which is said to belong to the "West Pole Heavenly Horse" (that is, the Ili horse), is four feet seven (nearly 1.5 meters) tall at the shoulder, which is about four inches taller than the Hebei horse that Wu Haogu gave to Ximenqing, and is definitely the queen of horses.

And this horse is not only tall, but also very strong, even a strong man like Zhao Zhongge, wearing a scab armor and riding on its back, plus a pair of vests, can gallop.

"Da Lang, as long as a certain person puts on the Qizi armor and rides on the Chiyun Horse, the Liangshan thieves and Kou are all together, and they can still be sent away, so you can rest assured!"

Zhao Zhongge, who was wearing a red military attache uniform and riding a horse, saw Wu Haogu's brows furrowed slightly, and thought that he was afraid of the heroes of Liangshan, so he patted his chest and said a big thing.

Not to mention Minions, there are thirty-six people in Liangshan alone (Zhao Tieniu is also now)! Can Brother Zhao Zhong fight thirty-six with one?

Lin Chong saw Wu Haogu with a suspicious face, and said with a smile: "Big official, don't you believe it, it's really a dead end for Liangshan Caokou to meet Brother Yuanyi." Armored horse lance...... Tang Taizong's Xuanjia ride can't be compared! However, it seems to the lower officials that those Liangshan grass cowards will not come to look for bad luck, as long as they see us from a distance, they will dodge by themselves. ”

Wu Haogu nodded, then paused and said, "Isn't Brother Zhong'er's equipment the stuff of the Western Xia Iron Harrier?" It's just that the horse is better, how can it be invincible? ”

"And the martial arts of the cavalry, and the horse lance." Brother Zhao Zhong smiled, "And this iron harrier also depends on the vintage...... The Iron Harrier is a soldier of the world, a skill and weapon passed down from father to son. I think that when Yuan Hao was alive, the Iron Harrier was even defeated by Liao Xingzong! But now, it is not as good as it was back then. ”

Wu Haogu smiled: "The same is true of the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom, right?" Soldiers are always inferior to one generation after another. He paused, "I don't know if the Privy Council's Department of Military Studies can find a new way to raise and train soldiers?" ”

"If you can really do it well, you should be able to train strong generals and elite soldiers." Zhao Zhongge thought about it and said, "However, it should be feasible to train heavy infantry and archers by the young generals, but it can't train good cavalry." ”

Wu Haogu turned his head to look at Lin Chong again, as if he wanted to hear his opinion.

Lin Chong smiled bitterly: "The cavalry is indeed difficult to train. Before I met Brother Yuanyi, I thought that I was the first-class rider in the world, but compared with Brother Yuanyi, it was still a lot worse. ”

Brother Zhao Zhong said: "Actually, it's not that Brother Lin's skills are poor, but that Brother Lin doesn't have a grange servant at home, and there is no place to raise horses and run horses...... Raising cavalry in the Han region, a soldier can not have hundreds or thousands of acres of Zhuangzi. ”

Cavalry is an aristocratic army for an agrarian nation, and armored cavalry (heavy cavalry) is a noble class for any nation. The reason why it is called an aristocratic class is not just an expensive issue, but that there must be a military landlord class in order to be able to provide a stable and continuous source of cavalry.

If there was no such class, the horsemen were only selected from the peasants and even the townspeople who did not have the financial resources to raise horses, and the equestrian skills of these cavalrymen were very problematic.

Lin Chong shook his head, "If there are hundreds or thousands of acres of Zhuangzi, why don't you go to study and progress?" Or should you be a cavalryman? ”

Brother Zhao Zhongge also shook his head, and then pointed out: "If the cavalry cavalry generals don't have hundreds or thousands of acres of Zhuangzi at home, where will the cavalry's good horses go?" ”

"Isn't it true that a good horse can't come from a horse government?" Wu Haogu asked, "Is it true that the horse administration of the Liao State is the same as my dynasty, and he can't raise good horses?" ”

Ma Zheng in the Song Dynasty was basically a black hole that swallowed money, the cost of raising horses was extremely high, and it also occupied a large area of land, and there were not many warhorses that could be used. So when Wang Anshi made a new deal, it was abolished and replaced by the "Baoma Law", but in the early days of the Zhezong Dynasty, he found that the "Baoma Law" was not good, so he abolished the "Baoma Law" and re-established the herd superintendent. But the size of the rebuilt herd prison has been greatly reduced, and at the beginning there were only 13,000 horses, and more than half of them were unusable.

Brother Zhao Zhong took the question and explained: "The horse administration of the Liao State focuses on quantity, and there are always hundreds of thousands of horses available at any time, but they are slightly inferior when used to make war horses.

The palace tents of the clans of the Liao State all have horse farms, which specialize in raising good horses and fine horses for the use of their respective knights. Moreover, the herd supervisors of the Liao State often called stallions to the palace tent of the family tribe...... The herd herd is guaranteed, and the palace account of the family and clan is of good quality, so that they complement each other and have enough good horses available.

But that's all in the past, now the Khitan tribe is getting weaker and weaker, the palace tent is extravagant and decadent, and there is no intention of military, so it has long been impossible to raise good horses. ”

Wu Haogu listened to the discussion between Zhao Zhongge and Lin Chong, but he already had a plan in his heart. He knew that in the Middle Ages, in addition to the cavalry of the military landlords and nobles, there was also a kind of slave cavalry (Mamluk and Ghulam) that was also quite elite!

If things go well, we will soon have a small piece of land.

When the time comes, we can set up a horse breeding farm on the edge of the boundary river, get some Arabian horses and good horses from the Western Regions as stallions, and get more big mares, and breed them by backcrossing and inbreeding, and we can always raise hundreds or thousands of good horses. As for ordinary horses, you can always get them for a little money.

The other is the Qiangzi Armor, which is mentioned in "Mengxi Writings", the Song Dynasty could not create the Qiangzi Armor, even if the craftsmen of Qingtang were invited, with exactly the same method, they could not make the cold-forged armor pieces required for the Qiangzi Armor. Wu Haogu estimated that the problem should lie in Li Guojian's "coal ironmaking" - this matter has been studied by many history lovers in later generations, so Wu Haogu also knows something, it should be that the sulfur and phosphorus in the coal are combined with the molten iron during the smelting process, which caused the iron of the Song Dynasty to be relatively brittle and unable to make cold forging armor.

To solve this problem, either iron is made from charcoal, or coke is smelted...... In short, this problem must also be solved! Perhaps we can rely on the power of the "university" to carry out technical research.

The future Lighthouse City cannot only have business and no education, and the "Lighthouse University Hall" should be launched after the initial establishment of the Lighthouse Market.

And his own "Mamluk" can also be trained in Lighthouse City, with three or five hundred people, it will be a useful heavy cavalry force in the future......

Thinking of this, Wu Haogu said to Brother Zhao Zhong and Lin Chong: "Brother Zhong'er, Brother Lin, when my Jiehe Business Market is set up, if you don't have a better place to go, why don't you come and help me." ”

"I can't ask for it," Lin Chong said with a smile, "The lower official hasn't sent it yet." ”

Brother Zhao Zhong smiled and said, "When my teacher doesn't care about the Military Academy, I will go to Jiehe City to look for you, and don't take you in when the time comes." ”

"Okay, good, it's a word!"