The people did not know about An Yina's death. Even if they knew, it was just the death of a member of the royal family.
However, the news was enough to stir up the situation in the north if it fell into the ears of sensitive people.
Jiang Pengji's face darkened. She inquired about the recruitment of soldiers and the training of the new recruits.
Due to the drought in the north, many members of the Tsing Yi Army or the Red Lotus Group felt that they could not live on. They left the organization and became refugees. Fengyi County was an oasis in the desert for these refugees. They tried their best to get close to it.
Jiang Pengji asked people to screen them carefully and select those with better qualities to enter the new recruit camp.
Thanks to the household registration policy of the female camp, the recruitment was quite smooth. Many women who were forced by life also wanted to enter. However, Jiang Pengji raised the threshold of the female camp. She only selected women who were physically strong, agile, and determined to ensure the combat power of the female camp.
In this era, the population could only be multiplied by women giving birth. However, the female camp stipulated that women could only get married and give birth after retiring from the army at the age of 24. If too many women entered the female camp, the population of the territory under her rule would inevitably be affected. This was what Jiang Pengji did not want to see.
Apart from that, winning a war did not depend on who had more people. The overall quality was also very important.
She would rather the number of people in the female camp be half that of the male camp, but the combat level must not decline.
Quality was more important than quantity!
Jiang Pengji asked with a serious expression, "How's the mining of the iron ore?"
Feng Jin said, "The Tsing Yi Army soldiers who were captured have been sent to mine. The iron ore vein is considered rich, but in terms of smelting … it's beyond our capabilities. I'm afraid we have to carefully look for skilled craftsmen. This is not difficult. I can think of a way to solve it. "
The territory had iron ore, which meant that they did not need to buy it outside at a high price. They could save a lot of money.
Last year, they bought thousands of sets of simple infantry equipment. It made Jiang Pengji's heart ache. They spent money like water.
Even if the money was contributed by the prodigal women of the North borderline, it was her money once it entered her warehouse!
Feng Jin said again, "But … I'm afraid it's difficult to deal with the cavalry of the North borderline …"
To deal with the North borderline, they had to face their cavalry.
According to previous understanding, the army of the three tribes of the North borderline was generally composed of infantry and cavalry. The ratio of the two was about 1: 2.
More than 10 years ago, the three tribes of the North borderline sent troops to attack Chongzhou's Shangyu County. They used 100,000 troops, including 60,000 to 70,000 cavalry!
After the battle, the enemy was unstoppable, taking down six cities in a row.
If not for the quick response of the Residence of Zhenbei Marquis, the entire Chongzhou would have been conquered by them if they had been delayed for more than ten days.
The three tribes of the North borderline were nomadic people. They dealt with horses all year round. To put it bluntly, children of seven or eight years old could ride a horse and gallop on the plains of the North borderline. If the nobles of Dongqing did not have the help of stirrups, they could not even climb up the back of a horse.
Stirrups had just appeared in this era, but they were not widely used. Only a few aristocrats would equip their horses with simple stirrups. It was not easy to ride a horse these days, but many people who were skilled in horsemanship did not like to use stirrups. Take Li Yun for example, he often rode a horse without stirrups. That was why he was teased by the audience in the live streaming room, praising his unparalleled waist strength and saying dirty things like how his wife would be blessed in the future.
The stirrups could be further improved to assist the cavalry in fighting on horseback. Even those who were not good at riding could quickly learn how to ride.
However, in terms of cavalry, even if Jiang Pengji started preparing now, it would be difficult to beat the North borderline in terms of quality, let alone quantity.
Unless —
While she trained the cavalry, she also trained a special unit that could restrain cavalry.
Jiang Pengji's eyes darkened, and her brain began to work. Feng Jin saw that she was in a state of deep thought and could not help but interlock her fingers. He knew that his lord was thinking of a solution, so he did not disturb her. He just waited for her to finish thinking.
"It's not impossible to deal with cavalry …"
For Jiang Pengji, there was no unit that was invincible.
Even if it was the Special Genetic Warfare Force formed by the Human Alliance, they were not invincible. They could still encounter "natural enemies."
Similarly, it was even more impossible for the simple and crude light cavalry like the three tribes of the North borderline to be invincible.
Feng Jin asked, "What do you have in mind, my lord?"
Jiang Pengji said, "I want to train an army that specializes in killing horses. The horse farms of Dongqing are in Cangzhou, and Cangzhou is the territory of the Meng's. They are not on the same side as us. If we want to buy enough warhorses through this channel, I'm afraid we will have to go bankrupt. If war breaks out in the North borderline, they will also keep an eye on the whereabouts of the horses. It is not realistic for us to make a last-minute effort to expand the cavalry. "
Zhang Ping, who was at the side, said, "My lord, do you want to play to your strengths and avoid fighting with the cavalry, and instead develop a way to restrain them?"
When it came to horse warfare, even Zhongzhao, which had the strongest national power, did not dare to say that it could defeat the North borderline.
Instead of competing with the cavalry, it was better to find another way and develop a special unit that specialized in restraining the cavalry.
This was indeed an idea.
Jiang Pengji nodded and said, "Warhorses are the other life of the cavalry. Once they lose their warhorses, the cavalry is as fragile as a snail with its shell removed. We can now produce our own iron. We can make long swords and heavy shields. If we let different units work together, for example, there are soldiers who specialize in holding heavy shields to resist the cavalry's first charge, and there are other soldiers who use long swords or long spears to stab and kill the warhorses … "
This was just an idea, and the actual implementation still needed to be tested.
For example, how strong the cavalry's charge was, what kind of heavy shields and strength could block the enemy, and how to protect the rear formation from chaos.
Jiang Pengji said again, "Huaiyu, you have seen the penetrating power of the bed crossbow before, right?"
Bed crossbow?
Using the bed crossbow to deal with the cavalry?
Feng Jin nodded and said doubtfully, "But the bed crossbow is heavy and not easy to move. If it's used against the cavalry, I'm afraid it's beyond our power."
Zhang Ping shook his head and said to Feng Jin, "Huaiyu, you are wrong. What my lord means is that if the bed crossbow can be moved like the cavalry, how much damage can it cause to the cavalry? The bed crossbow can be placed on the chariot, so it's naturally more convenient to move. Of course, we can also install wheels on the bed crossbow, but the tension of the bed crossbow is too great. Once the arrow is fired, it will move the entire chariot … "
The thinking of a technical geek was more agile than that of a normal person. Zhang Ping's direction of thinking was naturally different from Feng Jin's.
"We can give it a try."
Feng Jin recalled the penetrating power and shooting range of the bed crossbow, and he felt a little more confident.
Jiang Pengji poured a bucket of cold water on him. She said, "Adding wheels to the bed crossbow or installing it on the chariot can indeed make the bed crossbow more flexible, but compared to the cavalry, it's still too slow. It's a fantasy to rely on this to deal with the cavalry. At most, it can catch them off guard and pose a threat to the first charge. When the enemy realizes it, this move won't work. "
Jiang Pengji added, "Although the lethality of the improved crossbow is not as good as the bed crossbow, its mobility and flexibility are far better than the latter. If we build a unit that specializes in restraining the cavalry, we can let the soldiers use the improved crossbow. Such soldiers can be called archer infantry. "
Feng Jin could understand. It was equivalent to the previous troops, but the number of people was increased by more than ten times.
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