Chapter 33: The Cavalry's Armor and Equipment
(Thanks for the rewards from three young friends: 堕落￥疯狂, lelouch268 and 麦扎玲)
Seeing the performance of the people in the account, Chen Kefu was also deeply moved and his eyes were moist.
When every life is willing to be sacrificed for you, what other emotion can be more touching than this? Through the ages, Chen Kefu finally has a family in Chenjiazhuang and many brothers in Broken Army Camp.
"My mind is made up, there's no need to say more. I remember that among the surrendered Goguryeo people's military equipment, there were still many horse armors and heavy armors? Can anyone tell me how many exactly?" Chen Kefu asked the various generals in the tent.
The officer in charge of the warehouse, Cao Can, hastily stepped forward and said, "General, you are not mistaken. There is indeed a batch of such materials in the warehouse of New City. I also asked Gao Qi about it at the time, and according to him, this batch of materials was originally intended to be transported to Liaodong City, but later, because Liaodong City was under siege by our Sui army, the Goguryeo people transferred these materials to New City. According to Gao Qi, these were all made at great cost by the Goguryeo royal family, and only this many sets were made, which have never been used before. They were originally intended to be brought to Liaodong City to deal with our Sui army, but unexpectedly fell into our hands instead. This batch of materials, according to inventory, amounts to three thousand sets, the Goguryeo people indeed spent a great deal of money on them, and the cost of these three thousand suits of armor is enough to manufacture twenty thousand suits of Mingguang armor."
Chen Kefu had only seen the item on the material list, but he forgot the specific number. At first, he didn't think much of it because he thought it wasn't a good deal and would have too many restrictions. However, now he remembered this thing. Three thousand sets, if he could get his hands on this, then his safety for this trip would increase by several folds.
"Take us to the warehouse right away, I want to see if those things are as reliable as the legend says. If they're really that amazing, then from now on we'll be relying solely on them." Chen Kefu said to Cang Cao Can Shi.
All the generals were somewhat puzzled by the conversation between the two, like a riddle. They didn't understand why it wasn't just armor and helmets. Although there were few armored horses in cavalry battles, many warhorses still wore leather armor. Was this batch of armor different? Everyone couldn't help but be extremely curious about this thing. Following the footsteps of Cang Cao's participant, everyone soon arrived at the central armory of the large camp. At this time, more than half of the warehouses in the middle of the large camp had been emptied due to the distribution of weapons and various defensive materials, but there were still more than half of the warehouses that were fully stacked.
As Cang Cao's attendants stepped forward, the crowd finally entered a tent-like palace. The warehouse was still full, without reducing half a bit.
Cao Zhen, the attendant of the warehouse, said to several guarding soldiers, "You, carry out a box and open it for everyone to see."
Several soldiers were busy lifting down a box, and from their strained expressions, everyone knew that the contents of this box must be very heavy. Several soldiers took out knives to pry open the wooden box, and as it opened, everyone finally saw what was inside - armor, all brand new armor that had never been used before. However, these armors were not quite like ordinary armors, they even looked so unfamiliar.
Chen Kefu looked at the armor in the box in front of him and couldn't help but feel a little excited, "Quickly take it out, arrange it well for me, I want to take a closer look."
Several soldiers rushed forward to take out the armor from the box one by one, and soon they were all laid out on the ground in front of everyone. Although it was placed on the ground, each piece was arranged according to its respective part, looking like a very complete set of armor.
Li Benlei was somewhat surprised, looking at everything in front of him, and trembled, saying, "Are these 'armored cavalry equipment' made by the Goguryeo people?" Li had fought many battles throughout his life, and he was very familiar with what was in front of him. Although they were no longer used much in the military today, he was still very familiar with them. In the border army and imperial guard of the Great Sui, there were not a few troops equipped with this armored cavalry equipment. This time, however, they had not brought these along on their expedition against Liaodong.
Hu Hai exclaimed, "That's right, this is the Jiaji armor, the most powerful heavy cavalry armor of our Great Sui. Damn it, how did those Goguryeo people also get their hands on the manufacturing method for these armors? Luckily they only made three thousand, and luckily that useless Gao Qi didn't let his cavalry equip with these armors last time. Otherwise, we might have lost the Battle of New City." He still had a lingering sense of fear.
Zhang He's eyes gleamed as he squatted on the ground, gazing at the armor and gently stroking it. This was the ultimate equipment for cavalrymen, and donning this armor meant being invincible. Although somewhat exaggerated, every cavalryman had fantasized about joining the heavy armored cavalry corps. However, such armor was too expensive to produce, and its usage was heavily restricted for heavy armored cavalrymen, who could only play a decisive role in large-scale battles. But with the Sui dynasty's continuous wars, the four seas had already submitted, and opportunities for heavy armored cavalrymen to take the field grew increasingly scarce. By now, the heavy armored cavalry had essentially become the emperor's ceremonial guard, used by His Majesty to showcase the great military power of Sui in front of foreign envoys, their presence rarely seen in actual warfare. Not even during the three campaigns against Goguryeo had they been spotted.
Looking at the reactions of those old generals, Que Kefu couldn't help but reevaluate his understanding of heavy cavalry. In his previous perception, after the Sui dynasty, heavy cavalry had withdrawn from the equipment sequence of the Central Plains regime. So he also thought that this clumsy heavy cavalry was something that should have been eliminated long ago, so when he first learned that they had captured these things, he was only surprised for a moment and didn't think about anything else.
But looking at the generals, one by one, with tears in their eyes, he understood that heavy cavalry would forever be the king of cavalry. When the heavy cavalry came out, no one dared to contend for the top. It seems that these three thousand sets of armor and horse equipment must be kept, who knows when they will play a big role.
Lu Shi Shen looked at everyone with some confusion and said, "General, isn't this just a deputy armor? Is it necessary to be so excited?"
As soon as the words came out, Li Benlei, Hu Hai, Zhang He and other old cavalry generals looked at him with a silly look. The old man said slowly, "As long as there are three thousand fully equipped heavy armored cavalrymen, they can withstand three million enemy troops in a head-on battle, especially when charging against the cavalry formation. If the two armies engage in a decisive battle, with heavy infantry on both sides and light cavalry on the wings, and finally with infantry phalanx at the back, then on the battlefield, they will be invincible, and no army can stop such an impact."
Lu Shi didn't think much of it and smiled with a smirk, "Isn't that what they call invincible rearmament? How come there's less and less now?"
Chen Kefu smiled and said, "It seems that you indeed have a bit of brains. Heavy cavalry and heavy infantry are equally important in formation battles, but what opportunities does the Great Sui have to fight such battles now? Nowadays, we all fight small-scale battles, even if it's like the conquest of Liaodong, it's just a siege war. The Goguryeo people don't engage us in direct combat at all, so heavy cavalry has no chance of taking the field in Liaodong. Moreover, heavy cavalry is not without weaknesses, and its weakness lies in its weight. This set of armor, horse armor weighs nearly 80 pounds, and a soldier's armor also weighs over 50 pounds. Adding weapons and other items, a horse has to carry a load of two or three hundred pounds, including the rider and armor. Therefore, heavy cavalry requires extremely high standards from both horses and soldiers, and it cannot engage in long-distance battles. So this high-cost, high-restriction heavy cavalry is becoming less and less common."
Li Benlei nodded and said, "Indeed, to deal with heavy cavalry, as long as the other side sets up ground thorns, lays out horse obstacles, uses longbows against the enemy, or uses the long spears of heavy infantry to counter them, then the heavy cavalry will also be unable to exert its effect. This is what is called 'one thing overcoming another'. However, the greatest use of heavy cavalry is still its deterrent force. The impact force of heavy cavalry is too strong and fierce, and if the enemy is not careful, they will be overwhelmed by this unstoppable momentum."
Under Chen Kefu's orders, Luo Lin quickly brought over Chen Kefu's Qingtiao. The equipment of the Western Regions' thousand-mile horse, such as the armor and saddle, was completely problem-free. The armor equipment of the Goguryeo people was exactly the same as those passed down from the Northern and Southern Dynasties era in China. The entire horse armor consisted of six parts: Face Screen; Chicken Neck; Chest Plate; Horse Body Armor; Rear Plate; and Tail Guard. The "Face Screen" was a narrow, long metal protective mask with eye holes, mainly protecting the horse's face; the "Chicken Neck" was actually a neck guard made of armor plates, with buckles on the front that could be fastened; the Chest Plate, Horse Body Armor, and Rear Plate were large protective armor plates for the horse's middle and rear sections. The Tail Guard had a distinctive feature - it was a broom-like object placed at the horse's tail section, pointing upwards, mainly protecting the rider's back.
When the entire armor was fully equipped on Qingyu's body, it instantly transformed from a beautiful and majestic white horse to a steel giant with a strong killing intent. The entire armor is black, and this set of armor was specially selected by Cang Cao Can Shi from the batch of armor equipment, estimated to be specially made for the main general. It can be seen that the entire armor is not only exquisite but also has sharp iron spikes on the face veil, about one finger long, and a long iron horn like a unicorn's horn on the forehead, which makes Qingyu look even more ferocious. After equipping the armor, Qingyu shook its head and snorted several times, shaking its head as if adapting to the extra-long horn.
Chen Kefu stroked the armor on the precious horse's body, and said with joy, "Since this great matter can be accomplished, everyone, let the one thousand soldiers who are going to battle select the best horses from the army immediately. Each person selects two horses. One is equipped with armor, and the other is not armored. In addition, each cavalryman is equipped with a bow, a crossbow, two quivers of arrows, a horizontal knife, and a horse spear. Wear an inner armor inside, and wear another layer of bright armor outside. Must use the best armor! Hurry up!"
Re-arming for a new campaign, who in the world can rival the cavalry? Chen Kefu will once again unleash the glory of heavy armor cavalry on this land of Liaodong today.
Ranked second in the new book list, eighth on the home page, and seventh is constantly vying for position. Just now I found that I was pushed down again by him, with only two points difference in score, fainting, the score is too tight. Everyone help out, give a boost of recommendation votes, let's thoroughly trample him down...
