Chapter Forty-Seven is very good and very powerful

  The invention of the stirrup in the development of human civilization is almost as important as the invention of the wheel. With it, cavalry freed their hands and could easily perform various actions on horseback.

  Very few inventions have been as simple as the stirrup, yet had such a profound impact on history.

  Before the invention of stirrups, cavalry were used as auxiliary troops in battle, usually performing tasks such as scouting, flank harassment and pursuit.

  Thus, with the appearance of stirrups, human warfare history ushered in an era where knights were invincible. The emergence of cavalry promoted the rise of a knightly class of small and medium-sized landowners and ultimately led to the collapse of the slave system.

  To put it bluntly, humans stepped into feudal society on horseback.

  In Normandy, the mainstay of battle was citizen-soldiers who formed a legion of five thousand. The cavalry were manned either by hired foreigners or provided by Norman protectorates.

  But in purely Norman armies, there were also contingents of infantry who were mounted on horses, but they were called mounted infantry and the horses were merely a means of transport. When they arrived at their destination, they would dismount to form battle lines.

  Lei Jiangjun saw Ye Feng at that time in Xiniya City, after a big defeat of the pirates, finally realized the importance of horse stirrups and saddles for cavalry.

  For a typical soldier like him, this is simply the stuff of legend, like the Blue Sky Flying Winged Horse and the Fierce Fire Blazing Sword, something that every man dreams of having to defeat his enemies. Moreover, compared to those two things which are hard to come by, stirrups and saddles are much more practical and also a lot cheaper.

  At the same time, he keenly realized that such simple things, once seen, are easily plagiarized by others, thereby losing their tactical advantage.

  So, in order to train the elite cavalrymen and to keep this secret as much as possible, he went to great lengths to think of a way, finally building the Sinaia Cavalry Training Camp in a place that could be said to be isolated from the world.

  The cavalry's training camp was located in a small mountain valley several miles outside the city. The terrain here is treacherous, easy to defend and hard to attack. There is only one small path that can be traversed.

  With just a few soldiers standing on the mountain top by its side, it can be defended against the strategic location, and there is a situation where one man can guard the pass and thousands of men cannot open it.

  As soon as you enter the mountain pass, it will suddenly become clear. The terrain inside is wide and flat, Lei Bi Da passed by here at the beginning and chose this place at a glance.

  That morning, Nia left her study and account books in an unusual manner, and together with Diana, pulled Ye Feng and Oola out of bed.

  He had to go today to instruct General Lebida in training the cavalry. So, without even having breakfast, he was forced to leave by two women.

  In the early morning mist, the camp was bustling with activity. The thick soup on the campfire was rolling out hot air, and the soldiers were going in and out of their tents. The groomers were bare-chested, pouring bucket after bucket of cold water over the horses, then scrubbing them vigorously with brushes. Both humans and horses were emitting steaming hot air from their bodies. Even from a distance, one could smell the pungent stench emanating from both humans and animals.

  Ye Feng glanced at the sky and said, "Have we arrived a bit too early?"

  Diana gave Ye Feng a white look: "Not early, just in time for breakfast."

  General Lebidai, who had been staying here since the establishment of the training camp, walked out of his tent with big strides to greet them. He said to Yefeng, "How is it? This place is still quite ideal, both confidential and allowing horses to run freely."

  Ye Feng glanced around and sized up the terrain, feeling rather unimpressed in his heart.

  This is just a valley, the narrow and long terrain has enough distance for cavalry to exert impact force, but the too narrow width can only barely accommodate these fifty people training in formation coordination.

  According to the medieval cavalry tactics he had seen before, only a well-formed group charge could bring out the killing power of heavy armored cavalry to the extreme. The momentum that was enough to make all enemies suffer from "comprehensive cavalry phobia" and then disappear like rabbits under the horizon. Of course, this excludes the only branch in the cold weapon era - the invincible Yue Family Army.

  If the cavalrymen did not form a phalanx, but instead charged forward like a swarm of bees, they would only be surrounded and cut off by the enemy. At that time, even farmers holding pitchforks could hum a tune while picking them off from their horses and chopping them into mincemeat one by one.

  Moreover, the strength of fifty knights is still too little for the current Duke and Nia, absolutely insufficient. To gain absolute control over Xinya, more manpower must be added. Just knowing that last time the pirates who came to attack the city were as many as four thousand people.

  Don't look at the time when Ye Feng was charging into the battlefield with a mighty aura, but at that time he was facing only a group of mobs, and also took advantage of the pirates' weakness. Also, taking advantage of their never having seen a knight before, they were caught off guard.

  Even so, he took advantage of the pirate camp being unmanned and launched a surprise attack. Then cut off the pirates' flag, hurriedly slipped away with greased feet.

  After these fifty men are trained, they will have to train more heavy cavalrymen. This camp will definitely not be able to accommodate them. At that time, we will have to find a suitable place to set up the camp again, which will delay the training progress and waste time.

  Ye Feng told Leibida about his concerns.

  Lei Bida smiled wryly and said, "Time is pressing, and we can only do this. You also know that the finances of Xiniya were not good for a while before, we couldn't take out anything, these soldiers are still riding their own horses, and they're wearing the infantry armor of the city guards, not the custom-made cavalry armor you mentioned before."

  "But," said Lebid, his tone changing to one of pride, "their quality is absolutely reassuring. They are all veterans who have served in the Siniya Guard for nearly ten years and have participated in countless battles. Not a single one of them is inferior to the centurions in the legions."

  So, they must have started being soldiers at the age of sixteen or seventeen. Ye Feng looked at the soldiers in front of him, all twenty-six or seven years old, strong and healthy young men. Their every move was full of a unique military style, indeed an elite team of warriors.

  Diana handed over two breakfasts to Ye Feng and Lei Bida. Ye Feng took the large pancake that Diana handed over, nibbled a few bites, felt a bit hard to swallow, and couldn't help but sigh that these days he had been living too corruptly, even this ordinary food could not be eaten. During the two people's hasty meal, the soldiers had already started their morning exercise.

  Ye Feng found that their training method was also very simple, using some stone-lock-like tools to exercise muscles, and then putting saddles on the horses, starting to slowly walk the horses.

  Lei Bida gathered everyone this time and began the real riding training. On the other side of the valley stood a grass target, and the cavalrymen held wooden long guns to practice attacking targets at high speed.

  Ye Feng watched for half a day, and the cavalrymen were just practicing charging in groups of several people, resting when they or their horses got tired.

  Each cavalryman was also fighting individually when charging in groups, and they didn't form a line formation at all. Instead, they were fast and slow, with gaps of five or six horse positions between them. The attack had no continuity at all and couldn't be connected.

  Ye Feng shook his head in dissatisfaction and then said to Lei Bida: "Attack immediately, now let me see how they fight collectively."

  Leibide gathered all the cavalry together, and they lined up in a row at one end of the valley. With General Leibide's order, everyone shouted loudly, like wolves howling, charging towards the target at the other end of the valley. The momentum of fifty horses galloping together was also quite astonishing.

  General Lei Bida looked proudly at his cavalry, thinking that under such power and momentum, no infantry would be their match.

  Ye Feng was stunned by these cavalry.

  Upon hearing the command, all the cavalry charged forward with all their might, without paying attention to keeping in line with their comrades and maintaining a good horizontal formation. Having just run out 50 meters, they had already opened up a large distance between each other.

  And these fools would use up all their strength at the beginning, if they were fully equipped cavalry, it's possible that after one charge, the horses would be exhausted and unable to run again.

  All the grass targets were subsequently pierced and shattered by the cavalrymen with wooden spears.

  Lei Bida pointed at the fragments of the grass target and said to Ye Feng, "How's that? I've been training according to your style when you attacked the pirates that day."

  Ye Feng was speechless for a long time and finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Very good, very powerful."

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