It took Lorist five days to lead the cavalry squad to reach the lower crossing of the Midobro River when they ran into a war. The two lords were confronting each other with one or two hundred people each.
Well, Lorist admitted that using the word war seemed to be flattering the two lords, and the correct description should be that what was about to happen was a village-level fighting. Take a look at the equipment on both sides. There are only four or five people riding horses, and the leaders are all farmers and soldiers. Not to mention their rags, most of them are holding farm tools...
As a neutral party, Lorist was ready to appreciate the group fight, but unfortunately the two lords didn't seem to care much about the audience's feelings, they were still scolding for almost an hour.
Lorist was getting impatient. If he wanted to fight, he would fight quickly, and when the fight was over, he would get out of the way. This would occupy the road and not fight. What's the point of just scolding each other? Isn't this occupying the latrine and not shitting
"Pat, go and ask if they are still fighting. If not, make way for us to pass first."
If he hadn't brought five large carriages full of supplies, Lorist would have led the cavalry squad across the wilderness long ago without taking the road. But there is no way, the supplementary arrows of the archers, the camping supplies and cooking utensils for more than a hundred people, the food and grass, and the oats and horse feed for the mounts, etc., were filled with five carts by Sedkamp, which made Lorist sigh. If he and Pat are alone, there is no such trouble at all. The two small luggage can be rolled up and set off on the horse. There are so many people and so many things. Lorist regrets that he should not have promised Josk to take Set off with the horse archers.
This time, the horse archer squad led by Pete was only ninety-seven including him, not reaching the full number of one hundred and twenty. However, in order to carry the large carriage for supplies, Lorist brought another twenty guards. Er and Mo wanted to come along, so Lorist ordered them to take charge of the five large carriages with their guards.
Pat came back with a confused look on his face, "My lord, they want us to stay here obediently, and wait for them to decide the winner before asking us to collect road tax..." Pat said.
"What?" Looking back at the five large carriages, Lorist understood that the two idiot lords in front regarded him as the escort of the merchant convoy.
"Day, charge me the road tax?" Lorist smiled.
"Peter, take the cavalry squad up, and I'll give you ten minutes to drive them away. Oh, grab two of them and ask them why they are fighting." Lorist ordered lightly.
"Yes, my lord." Pete whistled, and the cavalry squad lined up in two rows behind him, and began to sprint forward on horseback.
Seeing that they were within a stone's throw of the battle formation of the two lords, the horse archers reined in their horses, then picked up the longbows hanging beside the saddles, and stretched the bows on the horses. At the sound of Peter's "left" and "right" orders Shoot a round of arrows at each of the two lord's teams.
The two lords didn't expect to be attacked by Lorist at all. How can there be any reason for the merchant caravan to leave in person without watching the excitement? A burst of arrows shot them into chaos, and howling suddenly...
Peter led the cavalry archers to shoot three rounds of arrows, and then whistled again. The cavalry archers put away their longbows, drew their long swords, and divided into two teams to attack the two lords' teams. As expected, the teams of the two lords collapsed. The two lords saw the horse archers rushing in and were the first to turn around and run away.
Pat praised: "Our cavalry archers are really powerful. They defeated hundreds of people without injuring a single person. No wonder your lord insists on forming cavalry archers..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard a "plop" and turned his head to see that it was Lorist who fell headfirst from the horse. Pat and the guards were shocked: "My lord, what's wrong with you...?"
Lorist got up from the ground in disgrace, and waved his hands: "It's all right, I didn't step on the stirrups and slipped off the horse..."
"Oh my god! Is this a cavalry archer?" Lorist could only feel ten thousand muddy horses stepping over his heart, and the scene he saw just now knocked him off his horse. "This is obviously a longbowman on horseback, okay? How on earth does Josk this idiot train horse archers..."
Pete brought a few captives over: "My lord, I asked clearly. It is said that there have been many family caravans passing through the ferry here in the past six months. What is that Viscount Davov set up a checkpoint at the ferry, and he is merciless in collecting road taxes?" , the two lords here are jealous, and want to imitate cats and tigers, and want to set up a road card toll on the road leading to the ferry, but this road is just at the border of their territory, so they all said that they should set up a road card toll on the road leading to the ferry. Card. Today we made an appointment to fight here to determine who wins or loses."
Well, I'm sorry to interrupt the two lords Huashan's Discussion of Swords. If you want to blame, you can only blame them for not choosing a good place, which happened to block Lorist's way.
"When was the checkpoint at the ferry in front set up? How many guards are there? What is the combat power?" Lorist asked a prisoner who looked like a squad leader, because he was wearing a half-length leather armor, which was more pleasing to the eye than those in tattered clothes. too much.
"A month and a half ago, my lord." The prisoner replied quickly: "There is a small group of garrison soldiers guarding the ferry. They turned out to be the new town defense team set up by the Viscount Davov, and they were transferred to the ferry by the Viscount to collect money. Combat strength I really don't know how, but they are well equipped, and there are several armors... "
armor? Lorist remembered, "Ruhr, Morde, come here." Lorist called.
"Yes, my lord, the last time we came here, we were resting in the small town next to this ferry, and then the guards came to arrest us and said we were horse thieves..." Ruhr said.
"Peter, take your cavalry archers to capture all the garrison squads at the ferry, Pat, take Ruhr and Mor to identify them, if they are the garrisons who attacked you, then hang them all Died at the ferry..." Lorist said to Pete and Pat that he was not going to watch another so-called horse archer's horse archer show.
"Okay, my lord, let's go now." Peter paused and asked again: "Then, my lord, where are these prisoners?"
The prisoners in front of them were trembling. Just now they heard Lorist ordered to hang all the guards at the ferry, thinking that they would also be in great trouble.
"My lord, please forgive me..." Several captives knelt in front of Lorist's horse, weeping and pleading.
"Leave it alone, that one, go to the car and get some wound medicine and bandages, and give them to them, let them bandage the pile of wounds over there. Let's go." Lorist said.
It was less than five miles away from the ferry in front of him. When Lorist arrived at the ferry with five carriages, he saw dozens of corpses lying on the ground, and dozens of captives squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands. Ruhr and Mo De are leading some cavalry archers to make a wooden frame.
Lorist saw several cavalry archers with bandages on their bodies, and asked Pete and Pat who came up, "What, are there any casualties?"
"Six minor injuries, nothing serious, they will be fine in about ten days. The main reason is that some guards were hiding in the house, and we were caught off guard when we went in to search." Pete replied.
"My lord, we have sent the ferry from the other side to come over..." Pat said.
Lorist looked around, seeing that a lot has changed since he set foot on the Northland for the first time more than half a year ago and revisited the old place now. First of all, two more ferries were added to the ferry on the opposite bank. Here, a group of bare-backed boatmen were desperately shaking four large pulleys to pull the four ferries from the opposite bank. Well, it seems that Baron Seuras on the other side earned a lot of money from the ferry crossing fee, and added two more ferries.
"When we killed those guards just now, those boatmen all jumped into the river, and it was hard to call them back. I promised to give each of them an imperial silver coin..." Pat said.
Lorist nodded, seeing the boatmen working so hard, he felt that the small silver coin was worth it.
The last time this place was still barren, it has only been half a year, and a small town has already been built on a small mound in the distance. However, this small town is heavily guarded, and there are many people on the city wall, armed with knives and robbing, pointing at the ferry. Obviously, the fight at the ferry just now let the garrison team in the small town know that Lorist and the others are not friends but enemies.
Ruhr and Mo De had already erected dozens of wooden frames, holding the captives and forcibly hanging them up. Only a few of them were hanged. Seeing that they could not escape, the rest of the captives broke out their desire to survive and ran away suddenly. They got up and fled in the direction of the small town together. Unfortunately, Pete was prepared and ordered the longbowmen on horseback to shoot wildly with arrows, shooting them all into hedgehogs.
There were howling and cursing from the walls of the small town in the distance, and Lorist was completely deaf to it. Now he was reprimanding Ruhr and Mod: "...what can I say about you, stupid, huh? If they don’t lock them up in a place where they can’t see the wooden frame, and hang them one by one, and hang their companions up in front of them, even pigs will run away! Now that they’re all dead, what should we do? Dead Hang it up for me too, it’s really brave to rob and kill the messengers passing by... Pete, write down their criminal evidence below, so that people who pass by will know why we hanged them!"
"As you order, my lord."
There was also a team of heavily armed guards at the opposite ferry at this moment. What happened at the ferry just now was also noticed by the other side. It is understandable to strengthen the guard against accidents.
"Pat, take someone across the river first, and tell Baron Seuras that an old friend is here, don't make yourself so nervous, and I will visit him after I cross the river."
"My lord, why don't you cross the river first," Pat said.
"No need." Lorist pointed to the small town in the distance: "There may be some evil plans there, and I'm going to teach them a lesson."
It still took more than three hours for more than a hundred people to bring five large carriages across the river. Lorist was the last boat on board. At the ferry here, there were only seven or eight people left who hadn't crossed the river. , Nearly a hundred people rushed out of the small town over there, wielding knives to snatch them, and rushed towards the ferry fiercely.
Lorist's spear and the arrows of Pete and the other cavalrymen made the twenty or so bravest ones in the front turn into martyrs lying dead in the field. Lorist and Pete jumped on their horses and raised their guns, killing them. For example, among the crowd, there was a burst of guns and swords, and the remaining thirty or so lucky people fled back to the small town crying and howling, and closed the gate tightly.
"Happy!" said Pete, shaking the blood off the point of the gun.
"Let's go, the ferry is here, let's get on board." Lorist said.
on the ferry.
"Peter, when I was studying in Morente City, I once read a book, which recorded that in the dark age, there was such a group of cavalry archers. Everyone of them could shoot arrows on the back of a galloping horse, and they could also Shooting arrows backwards on horseback, shooting the chasing enemies to death one by one. As long as they are staring at the enemy, no one can run away. They never attack the enemy head-on. Until the enemy is dragged to death and collapsed..."
Lorist is going to take this opportunity to instill in Pete the correct concept of cavalry archers, and create a Mongolian cavalry archers: "They gather and disperse freely, appear and disappear, and once they faced a team that was stronger than them. There were ten times more enemies than them, but after four months, they won a complete victory with very little loss. Every time their enemies sent out troops to chase after them, they would always be lured into a trap by them and use their running The way of shooting is far away from the enemy but can wipe out the enemy. The book says that their tactic is called kite flying tactic, which is to attack the enemy from a distance instead of close combat... "
"My lord, I understand what you mean. This is the kind of horse archer you want to build." Pete asked.
Lorist nodded happily, finally someone got the hang of it.
"It's a pity that we can't do it at all. The horse archers you mentioned can only exist in legends and books. It is impossible in reality." Pete said regretfully.
"Why?" Lorist was surprised.
"My lord, we don't have a suitable bow. In fact, although the riding bows used by the nobles to hold hunting meetings can shoot arrows on the back of a galloping horse, the range is not far and the strength is not strong. The range is at most 30 to 40 meters. It is enough to shoot pheasants and hares. But it is useless if you are facing monsters or going into battle. Among all the bows, the longbow has the greatest range and power, and it can even threaten people within a hundred meters of a direct shot. Golden Knight. Although it is not as strong as the hunting bow, the hunting bow is used to deal with monsters, and it uses heavy arrows, and its range is only half of that of the longbow."
Pete began to popularize the knowledge of bow and arrow to Lorist: "The longbow is recognized as the bow with the fastest firing rate and the most lethal power. It is the main long-range force for defense and attack. However, the longbow is not suitable for use on horseback. On the back of a horse, it is very difficult to exert force and master the balance. Now this cavalry squad can shoot arrows on horseback. Master Josk has spent a lot of effort. Master Josk is the only one who can gallop on horseback. Shooting arrows continuously on horseback, I can only shoot three arrows at most and I can't keep my balance."
"If you don't use a longbow, you can't match the range of the enemy's longbowmen. If you charge too close, you will suffer heavy casualties from the enemy's longbowmen. So build a cavalry archer like you said first. The problem to be solved is that the bows and arrows that can be used on horseback must not be less powerful than longbows. Secondly, we don’t have suitable war horses. All the war horses in Galintia can’t match the horse archers you mentioned request." Pete mentioned the second difficulty.
"...?" Lorist was puzzled.
Pete explained: "My lord, the mount of the cavalry archer you mentioned must have a strong body and excellent endurance. It also needs to be strong in recovery, good at long-distance running, quick in pace and quick in response. Sprinting must also be good at running in the mountains, so that you can get rid of chasing soldiers. In addition, you must be hardworking, not afraid of cold and heat, strong resistance and not easy to get sick. The most important thing is to have a good appetite, whether it is roughage or refined grain, you can eat it and digest it. , We can’t find such a horse on the Galingia continent at all.”
"Is this guy talking about Mongolian horses? Mongolians rode Mongolian horses to sweep across the Eurasian continent. This Mongolian horse is not a rare horse breed. There is no horse breed like Mongolian horses in Galintia. This species has too many resources. You must be poor." Lorist was depressed.
Pete added another knife: "My lord, look at our mounts. Compared with other horse breeds, this Northland horse is relatively average in ability, and it is also a kind of horse that is easy to feed. But if it is as you said, It is far from qualified as a horse for horse archers. Three of our five carts this time were filled with oats and fine grains. We were worried that these northern horses would lose weight if they were not available outside. After a long journey, these northern horses will be useless.
For the cavalry archers like you mentioned, if they use Beidi horses as mounts, then at least one person must bring seven or eight horses for rotation, and a large amount of refined grain as horse food to maintain their condition. Take the example of the cavalry archers you gave, even if a brigade has 2,000 men in a battle of more than four months, at least 10,000 mounts will be lost. Whether it is a Zeno horse or a Barriga li horse, they are horses that are good at running long distances and have excellent endurance, but their feeding is more delicate and demanding than that of the Northland horse. "
Well, what Pete said made sense. What Lorist wanted to form was cavalry archers, not horse dealers. One person brings seven or eight horses, not to mention whether they will take care of them or not. Someone will definitely come to ask how much the horse is sold on the road.
Rubbing his nose, Lorist felt very embarrassed. He wanted to form cavalry archers but didn't even understand the applicable bows and mounts. If Pete hadn't explained it, he would have wronged Josk for not doing his best. It's all because of the knight training instructors at Dawn Academy, saying that knights are upright and the main force in the charge, and using bows and arrows is a cowardly act, which made me neglect the training of bows and arrows, and now I can only do it with throwing spears. For long-range lethality.
Let’s do this first, after you settle down, find someone to study whether you can develop a recurve compound bow. That is much shorter than the longbow, and it should be very suitable for use on horseback. I just don’t know if the range and lethality are comparable to the long bow. Bow up. Lorist was thinking on the ferry.
…