"Zhang Waijian, Master Zhishen, Master Xuanji, Brother Xiaoyi... Look, how is this armor-army like?"

Wu Haogu seemed to have no idea that Kaifeng Prefecture was brewing a huge storm. He was just busy with a lot of his own affairs on Yuzhou Island.

Today, a large number of people came to the island to discuss the equipment of the Great Educational Group with him. Including Zhang Dun's fourth son Zhang Yuan, the great monk Xuan Ji of Shaolin Temple, Master Zhishen of Jiehe Daxiangguo Temple, and Liu Wuji, the master of Wanshou Temple, all went to Yuzhou Island. In the courtyard of the Yuntai Academy Society where Wu Haogu temporarily lives, he saw Wu Haogu and a strong man wearing iron armor in an exquisite house.

Wu Chengjiu is now a "model", wearing a brand new armor. There is also a white battle robe on the outside of the armor. He also holds a wooden shield painted in white in cowhide in his left hand. However, it is not a Roman shield, but a fan-shaped shield, which is a large and wide first half and sharpened in the lower half. It is a shield commonly used by European knights in the 13th century.

The white fan-shaped shield held by Wu Chengjiu also has the word "Tianli" written in a black brush!

"The word 'Tianli' is not only the slogan of the Great Education and Reform Group, but also a symbol!" Wu Haogu pointed to Wu Chengjiu's shield and said, "Not only should the shield of the Knights of the Education and Reform Group be written, but the word 'Tianli' is also written on the banner of the Education and Reform Group, but also the Bagua Banner and Wanzi Banner.

And this armor, shield, long sword, rifle and crossbow are the armor and weapons used by the knights of the Education Group."

"Isn't it worthy of the horse bow?" Master Zhishen understood military affairs and interjected and asked Wu Haogu.

"No," Wu Haogu shook his head, "It is not worthy of a bow, it is only for crossbows. Because the knights of the Education Regiment are heavy cavalry, they only charge and do not ride and shoot, and they are only for crossbows to expel light cavalry."

The crossbows of the knights of the edification regiment are the earliest crossbows to the knights, and are equipped with crossbow holders (butt stocks) that can be placed on the shoulders to enhance stability. Although the knights cannot arch the crossbows during horseback combat, the fatal sharp arrows shot by the edification regiment can still cause a fatal blow to the enemy's light cavalry at a distance of dozens of steps. Light cavalry is a horse bow that can usually deal with targets that are thirty or forty steps away. At this distance, the special triangular crossbow arrows shot by the edification regiment have great damage to armorless or light armor targets. In this way, the knights of the edification regiment who operate collectively in units of 50 cavalry have the firepower to defeat hundreds or even more nomadic light cavalry.

Moreover, since the crossbow does not have continuous firepower, the heavy cavalry must cherish this arrow that can be used to save lives and will not be used until the critical moment. This ensures that in most cases, they rely on impact to fight.

"Dalang, this kind of armor and equipment costs a lot, right?" Liu Wuji, wearing a purple Taoist robe, looked at Wu Chengji, who was wearing a helmet and pierced armor, and asked, "And the armored cavalry is not easy to train, and it will not become a military force in just a few years, right?"

Wu Haogu waved his hand, "It won't take a few years, and a year and a half is enough. It's not like using farmers to train, just go to Lingzhou to hire... We just need to produce some doctoral students."

It is of course difficult to train a person who can't ride a horse into a heavy cavalry. This is one thing for Master Guan, but another for a cavalry! Master Guan can sit firmly on the back of a horse and not fall down. Cavalry must ride horses and fight, and they must also understand horses, serve horses, and can simply treat horses and trauma. Of course, they have to be able to train horses. If you start from scratch, it will be impossible in just a few years.

However, to train Ding Zhuang, who can already ride horses and raise horses, as long as you explore more scientific methods and carry out simplified and rigorous training, the difficulty will not be very high. Therefore, accumulating a group of cavalry officers and arranging a group of knight families in Hebei is the way to cultivate heavy cavalry. There is a process for big knights to raise small knights, and you must stay at home and hold hands with your wife.

Therefore, Wu Haogu must give the knight group in Beicangzhou time to rest and recuperate, otherwise there would be not enough knights to use in the future. It is now 1105 AD, and it is only 20 years before the Northern Expedition of Xuanhe.

If you don’t have a little more birth, there will be no knight to use it then!

Therefore, during this Western Expedition of the Educational Group, Wu Haogu did not use the knights in Beicangzhou, but only dispatched more than 100 doctoral students from the Order of the Educational Group, as the core of the Order of the Educational Group. Most of the educational knights had to go to Lingzhou to hire and train.

Because Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism were formed to fight, the more than 100 doctors needed to train not only the educational knights, but also monks and Taoist soldiers.

After showing off the knight's equipment, Wu Chengjiu, who played the guest model today, changed into a set of monk soldiers' equipment and appeared in front of everyone.

Wu Haogu continued to explain: "This set of armor and weapons for monk soldiers, including a vine hat, leather armor, a ring knife, a cassock, a rosary, and a long spear and a crossbow, which has not been sent to Yuzhou Island."

The so-called monk soldiers are actually variants of spear soldiers. The equipment is similar to that of spear soldiers in the new mansion soldiers. There is only one more foot crossbow produced by Jiehe Shangshi, which is actually a cavalry crossbow, which is equipped with a buttstock and is lighter. Because it uses a composite crossbow arm with stubborn sheep horns imported from the Liao Kingdom as the main material, its power is still greater than that of the foot bow, but its firing rate is slower.

The reason why monk soldiers were equipped with crossbows was mainly because Wu Haogu's military command (Ma Zheng was the commander) believed that monk soldiers had the responsibility to guard the temple and would likely fight alone without the support of knights and archers. Therefore, they needed to have powerful and easy-to-master long-range weapons.

"Where are the monk soldiers going to recruit them?"

Master Xuan Ji of Shaolin Temple always looked at Wu Chengji, wearing a cassock and holding a ring knife, and was always not a little used to it. Although Shaolin Temple has many monks because of Song Taizu's Yunke, Shaolin monks are just Baojia's level. It's okay to deal with fights in the martial arts of the martial arts world and drive away a few thieves who are thinking about Shaolin Temple's property. How can there be such a complete armor and machinery, and also equipped with a crossbow machine... Who has ever seen a Shaolin monk use a crossbow machine to compete with someone?

So Master Xuanji also knew that these monk soldiers could not come out of Shaolin Temple and would definitely have to be recruited temporarily.

"Monk soldiers and Taoist soldiers can be recruited in the Central Plains," Wuhao Gudao, "The official issued an edict to allow the Da Jiaohui Group to recruit 1,000 monk soldiers and Taoist soldiers in the Song Dynasty, and 3,000 auxiliary soldiers... The sect knights will be sent by the official to Lingzhou to recruit monk soldiers and Taoist soldiers and auxiliary soldiers. Otherwise, Daxiangguo Temple, Shaolin Temple, Jinglin Palace and Wanshou Palace will be recruited. This is a huge merit, and there are money to make. I think there will be many Ding Zhuang willing to try it."

After saying that, Wu Haogu asked Wu Chengjiu to change into the costumes and equipment of Taoist soldiers. In fact, it was similar to the monk soldiers, but he was not equipped with a spear, but was equipped with a gun axe that was less than ten feet long, which was a combination of spear and axe, which was equivalent to adding a not-too-large battle to the head of the spear. This kind of gun axe can both stab and slash. The spear tip can deal with cavalry, and the axe can break shields and armor. In addition, the length of less than ten feet can make it play a role in close-range infantry fighting, and it can completely replace the arrow and shield soldiers to protect the spearmen.

Of course, the crossbow is also given to these "Tao soldiers" who use guns and axes. In this way, they can also have certain independent combat capabilities.

"Recruiting hundreds of strong men is not a problem," said Master Xuanji. "You can recruit from the tenants in Shaolin Temple, but who will train them? Who will provide these equipment? How can the money be calculated?"

Liu Wuji also said: "We can find a way to recruit people, but we can't train in Kaifeng Mansion, right?"

Zhang Yuan held his beard and said, "Yes, Wushuosi, it's easy to get three armies, but it's hard to find a general!"

"Everyone goes to Lingzhou," Wu Haogu said with a smile, "Just recruit people and go to Lingzhou empty-handed. Taiwei Gao is there, are you afraid that you will not be able to train?

As for the general who leads the troops, he will ask the officials to draw candidates from the new Jinshi and the imperial guards... The Great Education Regiment is just a name, but in fact it is still the military force of the court!"

Zhang Yuan said in confusion: "Since it is the army of the court, why not just ask for the imperial guards to be transferred?"

"How can the imperial guards station temples, Taoist temples and academies? How can they be used to spread the great road?" Wu Haogu replied with a smile, "Even if the King of Xiping agrees, it will disrupt the status system... How can the temples, Taoist temples, and academies drive the imperial guards? According to the system, the general order of the Xuanfu Department and the General Manager of the Military and Horses must be required. Of course, there is no problem in the Central Plains, but it is not possible in the four towns of Anxi and overseas."

"How can't it work?" Zhang Yuan still didn't think it through. "The generals in the Northwest Army have great power, so there is no need to ask Shuai Si for instructions on everything."

"The generals of the Western Army, even if they are in charge of a state, are still officials of the Song Dynasty." Wu Haogu explained, "And the four towns of Anxi and the academies, temples, and Taoist temples opened overseas are all Jiedushi, and they must directly govern the people of the land!"

Wu Haogu said that "Jiangdu" is actually not accurate. The exact name should be the Fengjun or the lord's academies, temples, and Taoist temples in an environment with a high degree of feudalization (referring to feudal states and foundings), which is a special lord.

Since you are the lord, of course you need to have a direct army! If there is no army, how can you be the lord? As for the Central Plains to imitate the Central Plains and establish a complete bureaucratic system, considering the distant distance and completely different social environment, don’t dream.

In fact, even within the territory of the Song Empire, there are also many ties to the prefectures and counties.
Chapter completed!