Qian Lin's evaluation of the emperor was quite pertinent. It can be said that he changed the cavalry's combat methods and developed new tactics. As the first to join the commander's office and witnessed the development history of the cavalry of the New Song Army.

In Qiongzhou, the emperor used hundreds of horses to form the earliest cavalry, but due to the geographical environment and the number of horses, the cavalry did not have any outstanding achievements, and they acted as communications, guards and guards. However, the first batch of cavalry were cultivated, laying the foundation for subsequent development.

In Qiongzhou for more than ten years, through seizure, smuggling and self-breeding, the increase in horses gradually formed the cavalry of the New Song Army, and several division-level cavalry battalions and two cavalry regiments were formed. However, the cavalry did not have the ability to fight independently at this time. Most of the wars to recover Jiangnan were carried out reconnaissance and alert tasks. Although they participated in several pursuit operations, they were still used as auxiliary forces.

However, after the recovery of Jiangnan, the Song army took over the Mongol Yuan horse farm in the Jiangnan region and seized tens of thousands of war horses, which gave the cavalry an opportunity for rapid development, and the various cavalry were expanded on a large scale. Some captured enemy cavalry were absorbed, and through them, they learned how to tame war horses and ride skills and basic cavalry tactics.

At that time, the main weapons of the cavalry were cavalry swords and flintlock cavalry rifles, which could be accompanied by cavalry mobile artillery battalions. The tactics used later were very simple. With the support of artillery, it launched an impact on the enemy's formation. After entering the range, it used a flintlock gun to shoot at the enemy in turn, and assaulted the enemy's formation when it was scattered. The only weapons used were cavalry swords.

Shortly after the expansion, the cavalry participated in the First Northern Expedition. However, the cavalry still could not get rid of the infantry's independent combat, but could already implement rapid maneuvers, take on the task of covering the two wings of the army formation, and expelling the enemy cavalry's harassment. However, the infantry still needed the support of artillery fire during attack, so it was more of a passive tactic of defensive counterattack when fighting against the enemy cavalry, and was laughed at by the infantry as "a snail horse".

The only large-scale battle with the enemy cavalry this time was at the city of Yangzhou. At that time, the main force transferred south to carry out the battle to encircle and annihilate Yuxi Timuer. The remaining troops were insufficient, forcing the cavalry to take on the task of intercepting the enemy who broke through.

The cavalry that participated in the battle was mainly the cavalry brigade of the imperial front army. It can be regarded as the troops with the best quality, the best war horses and the most difficult training in the Song army at that time. However, they still did not gain much advantage in fighting against the enemy cavalry, and the losses were very heavy. When the battle was fierce, the emperors all boarded their horses and raised their swords to fight to kill the enemy. This battle was very fierce.

After this battle, the emperor forbids the cavalry from fighting against the enemy cavalry without effective artillery fire support, and began to reflect and summarize the reasons for the failure. After discussion, it was believed that the training and military quality were not inferior to the enemy. The disadvantage was that the tactical use of cavalry was not effectively combined with firearms.

Everyone agreed that the range and lethality of the flintlock rifle are better than that of the bow and arrow, but when shooting, you need to aim with both hands, and the hit rate is not high during movement. Considering the weight, length, loading difficulty and the possibility of igniting the charge by horse-racing, it is not difficult to understand that it has very limited use in riding battles.

If the Mongol Yuan cavalry can withstand the attack of their own muskets, their advantages of bows and arrows can be exerted, especially when the two sides are approaching, the enemy can continuously fire arrows, and even the skilled horse archers can shoot several arrows in succession within thirty steps, which will lead to their own side being passively beaten, causing great casualties.

After this war, the cavalry of the Song Dynasty rarely fought head-on with the enemy, but instead fought as mobile forces and relying on infantry battle formations. At the same time, the emperor designed a new tactic, and when fighting independently with the enemy, some of the cavalry dismounted and fired the enemy in turn; if the enemy retreated, another cavalry would pursue it. This way, it would attack in turn like waves.

However, this is still difficult to solve the disadvantages of the cavalry war, so after the war, the emperor summoned the cavalry generals to discuss the solution. At that time, there were three plans, one was to develop firearms suitable for cavalry use; the other was to increase the defense of armor; and the other was to add cold weapons to the cavalry to enhance combat capabilities.

After further discussion, the emperor believed that the biggest advantage of the cavalry was its strong mobility. Replacing the heavy armor would increase the burden on the war horse and lose its most valuable mobility. It is not realistic to add cold weapons as a secondary weapon at this time. A qualified cavalry needs to master a variety of skills, and mastering skilled cavalry and cold weapons combat skills requires long-term training, which is not conducive to rapid army formation.

Therefore, only a solution was found from the firearm. The emperor once again improved the flintlock rifle, shortening the gun body and holding it with one hand, which was called a pistol. A batch was created and handed over to the cavalry to try. It was found that although it was easy to shoot immediately, it had low power and short range, and it could still only be single shots. If you want to use it in close combat, you need to configure multiple pistols.

The emperor was not satisfied with the result and did not continue to manufacture it. However, the pistols were easy to carry in concealed and used for self-defense. They were loved by some officers and became the target of everyone's collection. Later, the emperor developed a multi-barrel flintlock pistol, which can load six rounds of bullets and achieve continuous shooting, but is heavier, which is not conducive to one-hand aiming firing. A batch was produced and stopped production and was not loaded.

Everything turned around after the development of the new gunpowder. The emperor invented the needle-type continuous-shot gun and developed a cavalry specialty cavalry. The cavalry's continuous-shot gun body and barrel were shorter than the infantry version, reducing the ammunition capacity, and there was no bayonet, which reduced the weight of the cavalry and was more suitable for immediate operation.

Although it has been simplified, it has no effect on cavalry combat. The barrel shortened, which reduced the firing distance, but it is still better than the cavalry bows equipped by the Mongolian and Yuan army. Moreover, when the two armies hedged, the firing time between the two sides was very short, the bullet capacity was sufficient, and the equipped bullet barrel was also convenient to reload.

However, when shooting immediately, you still need to hold a gun in both hands, and there are high requirements for controlling the horse. However, when the emperor showed everyone the "special skills" of shooting with one hand, everyone understood that even the gun could be used like this. Therefore, an innovative trend emerged in the army and many practical skills were developed.

After the continuous launch of cavalry lances, it can be said that the difficulties that were difficult to overcome in the past were solved. First, it brought a new impact method. When the cavalry mainly uses cold weapons, what they pursue is to complete high-speed impact in a neat formation. No matter how slowly or fast walking to maintain the formation, the moment of receiving the enemy must be improved to running or even attacking.

However, when cavalry generally use continuous guns as firepower output tools, they often do not need to accelerate the mount to running. Fast steps are often enough to serve as a footwork for the enemy, so as to disrupt the enemy's cavalry formation at a long distance, give the enemy a major killing effect, and seize the initiative in battle. However, they do not have to rush to the enemy near the rain of arrows to cause effective killing to it.

Secondly, pistols not only change the tactics of cavalry, but also change the composition of cavalry. Cold weapons seem simple, but being able to master them requires years of practice. The complex firearms allow more people to join the cavalry. As long as anyone learns to ride a horse, they can quickly master the gun on the horse, stretch out their arms, aim at the target and pull the trigger. This makes recruiting soldiers and training easier.

After all, as the emperor said, war means to exchange for relatively lowest cost for the highest results. No matter how individual cavalry combat power is in the new era, they have greatly reduced the cost of combat and completely changed the form of cavalry operations. After cavalry equipped with muskets, they can recruit a large number of soldiers, only solid horses are needed, without the need to use expensive horses and the relatively high equestrian level of soldiers.

Looking at the Mongol guards' personal cavalry equipped with muskets in front of him, Qian Lin found that they were walking the path they had walked. Each cavalry was not only equipped with a mezzanine, but also carried a bow and arrow, a scimitar, a long spear, and a variety of weapons that he liked.

These equipment seems to be able to take into account both long-range targets and close combat, but in fact it will only increase the difficulty of the cavalry's operation. You should know that the main function of war horses is to rush into formation and open the breakthrough. In a fast impact, the cavalry must first shoot with a convex gun in a short time, and then use a bow and arrow to injure the enemy. When you get close, you will pick up the sword and gun to fight with each other. If you don't get busy, you will already burn the incense.

Look at the Mongolian Yuan cavalry, all wearing heavy iron armor, and the war horses were also wearing armor in important parts to resist the power of the Song army's firearms. This greatly increased the weight of the war horses. Even if they could have multiple horses to rotate to ensure the physical strength of the war horses, wearing heavy armor lost its flexibility, consumed a lot of physical strength, and lost the most important mobility.

But the most important thing is that the Mongolian Yuan did not make any changes in cavalry tactics, but still adopted the old tactics, or simply copied the tactics that the Song army had used. This led to their rigid use of tactics and lack of changes. It can be said that they had grown a lady's body, but they did not have the life of a lady, and were limited to passiveness everywhere.

At present, the Mongolian cavalry retreated step by step under the constant advancement of the Song army. In order to restore the passive situation and try to gain as much time as possible for the infantry to retreat, Zhang Gui ordered a frontal charge, forcing the Song army to return to defense. However, the attacking Song army turned to their left wing under command and gave the frontal out, and what was greeted was a row of black muzzles.
Chapter completed!