Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Sand Garden is located in the eastern part of the Guanzhong Plain, a dune grassland between Nanluoshui and Weihe River in Dali County. Dali County, now known as Wu Township, is the seat of Huazhou Prefecture.

The troops retreating from Tongguan did not need to pass through Shayuan. After crossing the river in Weinan, they could go straight to Huazhou. However, during the trip, Shihui received military orders and led his troops to Shayuan to temporarily station, waiting for reorganization and resettlement.

Therefore, Li Tai was also fortunate to accompany the army to visit the site of the Great War between the East and West Wei Dynasty, and feel the magnificent feelings of the army fighting back then.

When they came to Shayuan, there were already many camps and it was very lively.

When the team arrived at the Sand Garden, their dejection had subsided, and the atmosphere among the ranks was much more lively. People kept hearing people talking about the Battle of the Sand Garden that year.

"It was here that year that a team of our rural soldiers killed more than a dozen bandit soldiers and were given a lot of cattle, sheep and cloth. At that New Year's Eve, the whole town was filled with the smell of stewed meat, and the young and old were all dressed in new clothes..."

There was actually someone in Li Tai's team who had participated in the Battle of Shayuan a few years ago. Li Tai called someone over. He was a strong Han soldier in his twenties named Liu Sanqi. He was originally taciturn, but when he came When he arrived at the early battlefield of Shayuan, he became obviously much more active.

"Sanji, you were only a teenager back then, but you actually had the guts to join the war?"

Li Tai looked at the strong man and asked with a smile. The Battle of Shayuan took place in AD 537, six years ago.

"Well, at that time, Mr. Lang was so big now, how could he dare to join the war... The rebels suddenly crossed the river from Pujin, bypassed Dali City and crossed the Luoshui River. At that time, the villagers were just terrified. The rebels were all tigers and wolves in Beizhen. Not only did it violently harm Hebei, but now it has also rushed into Guanzhong..."

When talking about the old fears, Liu Sanqi still had lingering fears, but soon he became excited again: "Everyone fled into the wilderness under the leadership of the village elder Li Lao. After hiding for a few days, they heard that the East bandits were defeated. , and the king's generals from the countryside came to recruit troops, and all the young villagers followed, and they collected them all the way along Luoshui. Those weapons, staffs, oxen and horses were really fat!"

Dali City is the prefecture city of Huazhou and the seat of Wuxiang County. However, the names of administrative divisions in the Western Wei Dynasty changed frequently, and the villagers still used the same name.

It turned out that he just followed the main force and had a smooth sailing, but these words also revealed several pieces of information. The first is, of course, that Yuwentai has done a good job in united front work. Most of the people in the Guan Guan are resistant to Gao Huan's army joining the invaders. The second is that martial arts is a common practice in Guanzhong Township, and as long as the local tyrants recruit soldiers, they will eagerly apply.

Although Gao Huan and Yu Wentai were both born in Beizhen, due to the different power structures in which they started, their respective styles are also different.

Although the Six Towns Mutiny at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty was named as an uprising, it did commit many evil deeds, especially the destruction of Hebei that lasted for several years. It also made people in other regions feel very cold. They were naturally wary and wary of the Six Towns Rebels. Exclusion.

Gao Huan relies on the six towns as the basis for his fortune, and of course he must also pay attention to safeguarding the interests of the six towns. Just before the Battle of Shayuan broke out, history books vividly recorded a story of him condoning the lawlessness of the six towns.

This was not the case with Yu Wentai. When he entered the Guan, he paid attention to uniting the masses due to his weak military strength. He did not flaunt the Xianbei style, and also allowed some Guan Long powerful people to defect to him one after another.

The harmonious relationship with Guan Long Haoqiang was also one of the reasons why Yuwentai was able to succeed as the leader after He Batayue's death.

Guanzhong was called Tianfu in ancient times, but since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it has been overrun with mixed tribes. There are still many Di, Qiang, Huns, and Hu tribes who have been guarding the countryside for hundreds of years. The folk customs are also strong and brave. If it is effectively integrated, it will not be inferior to the so-called six towns. The country’s henchmen and minions.

Today's sand garden is no longer worthy of its name. The sand dunes are no longer covered with green trees. There are also large areas of pasture enclosed for grazing cattle and horses.

After the Battle of Shayuan, Yuwentai ordered each of the soldiers who participated in the battle to plant a tree. A few years later, not only was it effective in preventing soil erosion, but it also became a resort for many veterans of the Western Army to reminisce about the past.

Between the camps, old soldiers were often seen wandering in the forest, shouting excitedly from time to time: "I planted this tree, but I didn't expect it to be so big!"

There were also tears from the old soldiers: "Back then, I persuaded my brother to plant a longevity tree, but he planted a crooked willow instead... The tree is still there, but the people are not. In my lifetime, I will pay for it with blood!"

After hearing and witnessing various aspects of life, Li Tai gradually understood why Yu Wentai ordered the defeated soldiers to come to the Shayuan to garrison.

He didn't know if Yu Wentai had read the biography of Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, or if he had heard of the phrase "If a tree is like this, how can a man be so embarrassed?"

However, the feelings contained in the tree planting in the sand garden are much more magnificent than Huan Wen's emotion at that time. It records the most glorious victory since the founding of the Western Wei Dynasty. The cohesion and encouragement of the army's morale are undoubtedly worth a thousand words.

Especially those veterans who had been fighting for a few years had a lot of emotions in their hearts when they returned to their hometown, and the haze of the defeat in Mang Mountain was greatly dispelled.

After the team was stationed, Shuhui left Shayuan and headed for Huazhou Bafu.

Li Tai and his party also received preferential treatment and were given an independent small camp on the west bank of Luoshui River and were not mixed with other troops.

Although Shayuan has special meaning to the Western Wei army, he is not a veteran who entered the Guanzhong in his early years. He just sighed with emotion and left it alone without much emotional excitement.

But being infected by the atmosphere of this battalion, his mood inevitably became heroic and heroic, and he became very interested in studying the combat effectiveness of himself and his troops.

This person is not a noble playboy who is indifferent to all aspects of work and food. This is what makes Li Tai most satisfied.

As a soul who traveled through time in later generations, he did not expect to become a brave general and king of the three armies. However, since he had already joined the troubled times, he could possess a certain amount of fighting power as an individual, and he would naturally have more confidence when encountering danger.

After many days of marching, he had become accustomed to this body. He rarely rode horses at first, but he gradually mastered equestrian skills due to his body's memory. And before Shuu Hui left the camp, he shamelessly asked for a horse stem.

Outside the reed swamp by the river, Li Tai galloped his horse while holding the horse's shaft, and accurately cut off the turban on the reed end. The followers clapped and cheered from all around: "Alang is mighty!"

"This is still too light!"

Li Tai rode back and shook his sore arms. The memories and experiences naturally generated by the muscles in his arms were still somewhat unexhausted. This shows that the predecessor was by no means a playful person, and had indeed practiced various martial arts.

"Yes, this cup is too bad. It's a pity that Alang's old cup was left in Hengnong. It was made by Ah Lang himself. If the situation hadn't been critical at that time, he would have been reluctant to throw it away."

Li Zhusheng took the horse and weighed it in his hands, then shook his head and sighed.

Later generations talked about the horse tree and gave it various prestigious names. They even exaggerated the craftsmanship of the horse tree. How could it take three years to become a pole?

In fact, as a cavalry weapon, the horse spear does not have much mythology. It is probably longer than the spear. It is said that every inch is longer and every inch is stronger, and in high-mobility cavalry combat, the advantages of long weapons are even more obvious.

Before stirrups were widely used in the army, those who could gallop a horse while still being able to flexibly control long weapons were undoubtedly the first-class elite soldiers, and Ma Shan became synonymous with elite soldiers. After the popularization of stirrups, the cavalry's flexibility was enhanced and the standards for using stirrups were also lowered.

Therefore, in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the horse-horse has basically become one of the standard weapons for cavalry combat, and the term "horse" has become widespread. In general, the title "Tian Wang" was reserved exclusively for the Hu overlords in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but later it became a term used to praise literary and artistic workers.

But in the final analysis, the horse spear is just a type of long weapon for cavalry, and its production process, materials and spears are not fundamentally different. It cannot be said that it took three, five or ten years to complete.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wars broke out frequently, and it was inevitable for many descendants of the noble families to take part in battle formations. Naturally, the first choice was the cavalry weapon with its natural advantages, such as the horse. Therefore, powerful disciples such as Gao Aocao are all famous for their skills in the army.

These powerful children come from well-off families, and their armor and staff rations naturally strive for excellence. The level of their respective armed forces is obviously not universally representative. It is up to people to be rich and thrifty. Even if you spend thirty or fifty years to build a horse pole, build it in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and dominate in the late Sui Dynasty, it is still up to you.

However, it would obviously be biased to argue for Ma Shan's aristocratic character based on this.

The horse pole that Shuhui gave to Li Tai was not a pole made by the so-called bamboo and wood craftsmanship in later generations. It was a thick and hard wooden pole. It weighed less than twenty kilograms, but Li Tai had already swung it. You can feel that the lethality should be pretty good.

After all, the Western Army's defeat rate is really not high, even for generals, it's barely 30%, and for ordinary soldiers, it's even less.

Under such circumstances, if Ma Shan pursues the tedious craftsmanship of later generations, he will be unhappy for himself. Three years is enough time for a regime to establish and gain a firm foothold. As the main cutting-edge weapon for cavalry operations in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the first batch of Ma Shu has not yet been produced. Isn't this a joke?

Therefore, regarding Ma Shan’s understanding, excellence and standard equipment should be treated differently. The development of weapons is included in the development of tactics and is part of the history of war. It would be dogmatic to write a special book about a certain weapon alone.

Li Tai practiced by himself and asked his subordinates to take turns to fight, and their performance varied. Some are barely able to even ride a horse, and some are good at equestrian skills, but with the addition of horses, they are a bit reluctant. The best performers are the family members who followed them from Qinghe, Hebei.

After the drill, those who joined later from the Western Army looked a little embarrassed. The worst performer among them was Liu Sanqi, the Han soldier. He couldn't even sit firmly on his horse and was thrown off directly.

"I grew up in Wubi in the countryside and didn't have the opportunity to learn equestrian skills...I beg Master Lang not to chase me away. To kill the enemy in formation, not only with skill, but also with bravery! Give me a knife and catch them in a fight. I will be the one who survives!"

Liu Sanqi behaved the worst, ashamed and worried, lying at Li Tai's feet and pleading tremblingly.

Li Tai bent down to help the strong man up, patted the sand on his knees, and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter what the past is, as soon as you enter my door, you will be born again. One day you will be clumsy, tomorrow will be a coincidence. Who can predict it in advance? The world is uncertain, but my husband will not suffer. No merit, no matter whether it is good or bad, is all in the aftermath.”