Daqin Engineering Corps

Mao Dun also let people find out the location of Donghu's command center in advance, so he led his troops straight to its vital point and won the battle.

This battle broke up the powerful Donghu very simply.

Most of Donghu's horses, property, people, and slaves belonged to the Huns, and the Huns became stronger in an instant.

The Donghu remnant soldiers fled in two groups, calling themselves "Wuhuan" and "Xianbei" respectively.

3Chapter 17 Cavalry

Shen Bing also heard some rumors about the growth of the Huns.

These news came from the Huns herdsmen.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in the Northland, among them, it is inevitable that some of them will buy with the Xiongnu people, such as exchanging food and metal for some furs.

This is actually very normal. There have always been unofficial exchanges between the Central Plains and the Huns on the border, and it cannot be stopped no matter what.

Even some of the people in the Northland are of Hun blood... Some of these people migrated and settled in the Northland in the early days, and the other part are the prisoners of war during the Li Mu period and their descendants.

Their view of lineage and country has long been blurred, and it can be said that they have been assimilated by the people of the Central Plains... Nomads are used to living a nomadic life by chasing water and grass. If a small number of them can settle somewhere, they can still be called "nomadic" nation"?

Some news reached Shen Bing during the business between the common people and the Xiongnu common people.

This matter is reported to Shen Bing.

This day, Shen Bing was watching the training of the Shenwu Army, and the person in charge of the training walked up to Shen Bing in three steps and two steps and said:

"Does the general know that the Huns are growing stronger?"

Shen Bing said "oh", he knew that he could speak some Hun language, so he asked:

"Did you hear any news?"

Ke replied:

"My subordinates heard that after Mao Dun succeeded Shan Yu, he defeated Donghu and took over Donghu's territory and herdsmen."

Shen Bing couldn't help frowning.

Ordinarily, it will take at least a few years for this to happen.

but……

Touman Shanyu was killed by the Qin army in the first battle of Jiuyuan, so Maodun inherited the position of Shanyu in advance, so he defeated Donghu in advance and completed the great cause of unifying the northern nomads.

It's a bit ironic to say that the northern nomads also completed their unification almost at the time of the unification of the Central Plains.

There was nothing wrong with that.

However, after the unification of the Central Plains, Yingzheng began to be fatuous and misleading the country, followed by rebel riots everywhere, and then Chu and Han struggled again.

However, Maodun continued to expand outwards with great enthusiasm and ambition.

Under the ebb and flow of each other, there was the shame of the Han Dynasty bowing its head and proclaiming itself as a vassal, and in turn wanting to pay tribute to the Huns and marry for peace.

The destruction of Donghu is no small matter.

Although not many Donghu troops were incorporated by the Huns, almost all the nomadic people can ride and shoot, which means that the people are almost warriors.

Therefore, it is estimated that the strength of the Xiongnu has increased by more than [-] at least.

Let the big fish eat the small fish, or win the Yue clan to incorporate the herdsmen of the Western Regions... It is not a big problem to expand the army to 30 or [-].

What is the concept of having 30 to [-] cavalry on the grassland who are good at riding and shooting?

According to statistics, Mongolia's military strength in its heyday was only more than [-] people, but it destroyed the Great Song Dynasty in the south and set foot on Russia in the north to conquer Europe in the west... Even if the Great Song Dynasty was equipped with primitive firearms and entered the budding capital society, it would not help.

Fortunately, the 30 to [-] cavalry of the Huns were not equipped with saddles and stirrups, and their strategies and tactics were not yet mature, otherwise they would be invincible.

After hesitating for a while, Shen Bing asked:

"How is our cavalry and archery practiced?"

Excitedly replied:

"General, this method is indeed effective."

"All the ministries practice hard. Although there is still a gap between them and the Huns, they have made rapid progress."

"At this time, there are more than [-] people who can hold a strong bow and shoot on horseback."

The so-called "strong bow" is the 250 Qin Jin bow used by the Xiongnu.

If riding and archery is to compete with the Xiongnu, the first thing is to be able to pull the same bow on horseback. Otherwise, the objective fact is that the shooting range is not as good as others, so how can they be better than others?

Shen Bing's solution is to let the cavalry do anaerobic strength training like infantry.

Opening a bow, especially a bow that can draw more, is mainly about strength.

Shen Bing usually tried to practice drawing the bow, and found that the drawing of the bow was mainly accomplished by the joint contraction and force of several muscles such as the rear deltoid, latissimus dorsi and trapezius.

This is actually very easy to verify, especially for a novice like Shen Bing who has never practiced drawing a bow before...

He only needs to teach him the correct bow-opening posture, and then use his strength to open the bow over and over again in a short period of time. When he wakes up the next day, which muscles are sore and unbearable, those muscles exert the most force.

Needless to say, the training for cavalry is mainly for the shoulders and back... The deltoid and trapezius muscles are for the shoulders, and the latissimus dorsi are for the back.

Of course, you also need to exercise your legs and buttocks.

The reason is that riding and shooting is on horseback, and the cavalry must clamp the horse's body firmly with its legs and hips to stabilize it, and opening the bow also requires the hips and trunk to exert force.

Strength training must of course also be accompanied by nutrition.

However, this does not seem to be a problem for the Northland at this time, it only needs to sell a few more bolts of cloth.

In this way, it only took more than a month of training to achieve initial results. Among the more than [-] members of the Shenwu Army, more than [-] people can hold strong bows, ride and shoot.

It is true that the Huns grew up on horseback and played with bows and arrows since childhood, but they still cannot escape the two irreparable shortcomings of lack of nutrition and lack of scientific training methods.

Shen Bing believes that in time, the Shenwu Army can at least match or even surpass the Xiongnu in terms of range.

As for the quasi-head...

In fact, the range and rate of fire are more important in the confrontation between the two armies.

For example, when two cavalry troops with tens of thousands of people meet, is it really important to shoot accurately?

The crowd on the opposite side was full of people, and the cavalry changed positions at any time.

What is required at this time is to shoot far and fast.

A good shot is only useful when the squads meet.

Then he changed the subject again, and said with some worry:

"only……"

Shen Bing asked:

"Just what?"

Ke replied:

"Most people in the Northland don't know how to ride a horse."

"My subordinates have inquired that most of the people who can ride horses are recruited by Zhao Wangjia as cavalry troops."

"Either died in battle or was captured and turned into slavery."

"This means that it is difficult for my Shenwu Army to expand in size."

"If it is at this time that the cavalry army starts to learn how to ride a horse, I'm afraid it will take several years to achieve success."

Shen Bing nodded.

In fact, this is not a phenomenon unique to the Northland, it is almost the same in all countries in the Central Plains.

First of all, the Central Plains is a farming nation. Although it has a large population, there are few people who can ride horses. Those who can ride horses and shoot arrows are the only cavalry troops from various countries.

The second is that the Central Plains did not pay much attention to the cavalry at this time.

This makes it very difficult for Shen Bing to expand the cavalry... The cavalry training cycle is very long.

The reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to defeat the Xiongnu was that, on the one hand, the widespread use of ironware multiplied the combat power, and on the other hand, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty consciously encouraged folks to raise horses and ride horses.

As a result, horses are everywhere in the wilderness, and people go out on horseback even when scholars gather for a drink.

This shortened the cavalry training cycle exponentially, and the Han army could recruit a large number of high-quality cavalry in a short period of time.

But at this time, the North...was caught in the trap of having no source of cavalry.

This is also one of the reasons why Shen Bing has always wanted to get in touch with the Western Regions and recruit soldiers from there.

Chapter 348

When Shen Bing was discussing with Jiang, Fusu ran over nervously and said:

"General, I have something to ask."

As he spoke, he handed over a letter.

This letter was written by Yingzheng to Fusu. In addition to a few words of concern, he also asked Fusu about the choice of the system after the unification of Qin.

institutional choice?

The first thing Shen Bing thought of was Zi or She.

After thinking about it, how could there be any capital and society in this period? The so-called system should be slavery and feudalism, right?

But is there a choice?

Then Fusu's words made Shen Bing understand.

Fusu said:

"It is said that Prime Minister Wang Wan of the Left thinks that Qin should use the enfeoffment system, while Prime Minister Li Si of the Right thinks that the system of prefectures and counties should be used."

"The dispute between the two has not happened recently. My father suddenly asked me this..."

"I'm afraid it's to test whether my recent practice has improved!"

Shen Bing couldn't help but "oh" when he heard the words.

He understood two things:

First, the system that Ying Zheng mentioned refers to the system of enfeoffment and the system of prefectures and counties, both of which can indeed be chosen.

Second, Yingzheng's intentions may really be as Fusu said, wanting to test whether he has the ability to govern the country and his unique views.

No wonder Fusu was so nervous.

As for whether to use the enfeoffment system or the county system, each has its own strengths.

The enfeoffment system is to divide the land into several pieces and manage them by the princes as before, but these princes must obey the orders of Yingzheng, and Yingzheng also manages the largest piece.

The disadvantage is that if the vassal states are strong, they will not take Yingzheng, the central government, seriously.

This is how the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons and the Warring States Seven Heroes came about.

There is no need to worry about this aspect of the county system. The whole world belongs to Yingzheng, that is, how many counties the country is divided into, and then there are counties and townships under the counties, which are hierarchically managed in a pyramid shape.

This system is not a problem in modern times.

Because modern transportation is highly developed with trains, planes, and ships, sending troops from the center to the other side of the country is a matter of a few days at most.

But in ancient times, this system had the problem of "difficult to control".

Apart from other things, the small area of ​​Chu State cannot be reformed and cannot implement the prefecture and county system due to the objective reason of complex terrain, let alone the unified Qin State!

For example, if there is a rebellion in Xianyang, Jicheng or Ruyin by the central government and military power, but the local army is unable to suppress it, what should be done?

What if the local army itself rebelled?

The central government sent troops to suppress?

It will take more than a month just to march on the road.

There was also the problem of transporting supplies and reinforcements.

So it's not a question of which system to use, it's a traffic question in the final analysis.