Chapter 784： Rurik has unique riding and shooting skills

In principle, the selected people are to be completely full-time fighters, but due to practical factors, many people cannot give up their wealth, so they will get more benefits instead.

The first cavalry unit will serve as the highest-ranking guard of Prince Ross, and will also be used flexibly as a mobile army during the war.

They must be worthy of the food, clothing, and weapons provided by the prince, and they must be worthy of the monthly allowance of silver coins.

Just like the cavalry soldiers from the Sixth Banner, each of them gets a hectare of land and has a wife. When the farming is busy, they still need to cultivate in spring and harvest. In the rest of the time, they don't have to do other sideline jobs, just be careful of their own cavalry.

As for the cavalry fighters who came from the White Tree Manor, their social status has risen sharply. Get a stable allowance during the time of service, although for them, it is not a big disadvantage to retire and marry a wife until they are thirty years old. According to the prince's regulations, these people are destined to marry and give birth late, so there are loopholes in the rules, and the prince did not prohibit them from creating illegitimate children. When they retire, they will get a farm and a generous pension. Retiring at the age of 30 is not really retiring. If there is a large-scale war, once the cavalry is expanded, these veterans will serve immediately as reserve personnel.

All those who serve as cavalry must serve for a full ten years, and then retired with honor and become reserve.

Their children will also receive certain preferential treatment, and the sons of the cavalry will have the right to take the father's shift first. According to Rurik’s idea, a father who has been riding horses for ten years can teach many sons who are good at riding in advance through family education.

In this regard, Lurik intends to study the service system of the Roman Legion, and then make certain adjustments based on the status quo of the Duchy of Ross.

The natural and simple tradition that the Principality has long pursued, that all the people are soldiers, must be rewritten in line with the new era.

The fully infantry mercenary team of more than one hundred men can be described as the original standing army that was completely out of production.

The six flag brigades that were subsequently compiled and trained for the people were not very prepared. This complex military organization only has a clear military significance when a real war breaks out. In a sense, this is the so-called "one-minute man". The militia is capable of fighting and can immediately assemble into combat.

In the full sense, the private armed forces that belonged to Rurik's own mobilization are currently only two hundred and fifty men. Although the people of the mercenary team will be ordered to do some logging and fishing work, it is only a kind of financial supplement, and almost all of their funding sources come from the prince's funding.

These people live on the paid salaries, and all the expenses for food and clothing come from the princes.

With this complete economic binding, they can live a good life without worrying about food and clothing, good treatment, and a certain level of superiority. Really devoutly believe in a god? A hero on earth blessed by Odin? Give them enough status and money, this is the foundation of loyalty.

As the so-called management field is extremely large, during the seemingly boring winter, one of Rurik’s job was to organize the young scholars he had cultivated to settle the economic accounts for the huge Principality.

Can’t the quiet-hearted Ella Hestoria be a female fighter after all. She is busy with paper and pen work, and is now busy with the statistical calculation of the output data of taxes and other materials collected by the Principality of Russia, and then she will start the spring next year. Subsequent material consumption is made into a fiscal budget. The amount of calculation is quite huge, and that's the case. Quietly, she is very happy that she has established her unique position in the power center of the principality and has become more important.

Ella is the head of the bookkeeper, and more than a dozen local women who followed her studies are also improving their business, and at the same time accepting the prince’s own higher-level mathematics education.

This winter, the prince who personally learned horse riding and slashing during the day turned into a priest, teaching the book clerks the linear programming of advanced mathematics.

Those boring functional equations, all kinds of characters, and complicated formula systems are born to deal with real problems.

European powers contend for supremacy. Any technology that can be used to improve combat effectiveness is adopted by the monarchs of various countries. Operational research content such as linear programming is used in logistics material movement calculations and army operations calculations. The most direct effect is that it can contribute to the material consumption of military expeditions. The precise budget then becomes a calculation of the production and consumption of the entire country's material system, and finally reaches an extreme, causing a great attempt-a planned economy.

There are 100,000 people living in the Principality, and the population under control is only 60,000. Among them, there are more than 10,000 children. This is an extremely limited economy, and it is also a fast-growing economy.

Although it is not enough to create a functional department called the "Planning Committee", the Principality has established a calculation team based on this population, and it can indeed basically calculate the people’s demand and consumption of major bulk materials, so as to set an official price for the materials. And to ensure that the "oat-based" economic system can continue to operate safely.

Of course, this is the population of the Principality. In today's declining era in Europe, a kingdom of 100,000 people, with strong organization and strong combat effectiveness, can walk sideways on the continent of Europe.

Just like the Eastern Gothic kingdom defeated by Belisala three hundred years ago, the country could only mobilize 25,000 men from all over the country. After a great war, the kingdom was instantly destroyed by the collective extinction of men.

The Principality of Rus faced the same possibility, and the Principality simply couldn't afford a big defeat!

Unless, the priority for combat is not soldiers mobilized by civilians from the civilian population, but professional soldiers who eat money and pay.

Looking ahead, except for a Denmark that is obviously inflicted and the Frankish kingdom with greater infighting, the Principality of Rus has no strong enemies under the nose. If there is a gambling-style war against the army of thousands of people in the past few years, at least there is no visible future. possible.

The Principality wants to use this period of opportunity to develop its overall strength, and to further develop the standing army, but the number must be controlled.

"Build a cavalry and flag team with a strength of six hundred people. One team for ten people, one team for three teams, one team for ten teams, and one hundred team for ten teams. Six hundred teams and the flag team command center form the entire flag team. Then who will come? What about being the captain of the flag? Well, they have to compete against the strong ones."

The great plan was calculated in Rurik's head. According to his estimation, it was possible to support a 1,000-person full-time standing soldier with his current financial resources, but it would not be appropriate to just continue to expand the scale.

At the tail of November, the selected eighty riders began to increase the training of riding spears and stabs.

It's still the old rule. Before riding a spear, you have to get a whip before you can stab the target.

The snowy wilderness outside the city is freezing cold. According to the habits of the Pecheneg people, people and horses should not run around in this cold weather. It is the right way to hide in warm stables. These Turkic horses are hardy as a whole. After all, the Ukrainian-South Russian grasslands where they gallop, the lowest temperature in winter can reach -20 ℃, and now each of them grows extremely thick winter mane, making each one look more It's fluffy and fatter.

The meal treatment for the horses became better due to participation in the training, and Lurik naturally got more horse dung. Horse dung is a treasure that cannot be thrown away, and fermented compost can be used for fertilizer next year.

Horses breathe white mist, and riders with spears for infantry breathe white mist.

There is a column directly in front of the rider on which stands a leather ball the size of a football. Two large squirrel skins are stitched together, and the inside is filled with a lot of hay, creating such a cavalry thrust target.

Look! This young cavalry rode a horse and rushed to make a full impact, the spear was leveled, and the spear hit the ball in an instant! He pulled the reins lightly, the running horses slowly stopped, and stopped three times on the snow. He held up his spear again to signal the success of all the onlookers.

In combat, the cavalry will use spearheads that are easy to break, but any hitting the enemy will cause fatal injuries. What they are training now is to accurately hit the ball target. Everyone must be trained to do this easily.

Riding a spear and stab training for seven days, the man and the horse are actually exhausted.

However, after three days of rest, the highly anticipated riding and shooting training has finally begun!

Even Rurik himself participated in it on horseback.

The short Pechenegge Prince Kagan is now dressed as a Ross warrior, and he is not at all incompatible with the classic blue stripes on his underwear.

He didn't tie his weird braids behind his head, and simply learned to keep a "ponytail" from the prince.

More than him, a large group of cavalry students are born with straight or curly hair, and now they generally have rough "pony tails", so-called as elegant and brave as a galloping horse.

Many people have learned how to archery, so if there is no wonderful recurve bow, they will replace it with a hunting bow like a short wooden bow.

The Principality commonly uses finger-stripping and exile techniques, but in weekdays, everyone is accustomed to putting arrows on the left, just like a warrior always holding a sword in his right hand.

Kagan stood on the stirrups and declared to the crowd: "The arrow must be on the right, just where you hold the thumb of the left hand of the bow. Only then, you can draw the arrow from the quiver and hit the bowstring to shoot the arrow immediately. Excellent The archer can shoot ten arrows in a very short time..."

Kagan simply did some actual demonstration, not to mention the accuracy of the shooting, he did achieve what he claimed to be a very short time to shoot ten arrows, the whole action is called smooth and flowing.

Although the arrow on the right can be used for rapid shooting, how can an archer who is used to shooting on the left suddenly change his bow position to adapt quickly? Now all cavalry, including Rurik himself, are the ultimate beginners in riding and shooting.

The right bow was a little awkward. The riders simply dismounted and shot, and shot randomly with the right bow at the target. They didn't want to shoot accurately, but only wanted to master a new shooting feel.

It just so happens that the steed can also have a further rest.

The archery training camp has been tossing for many days. Even with a low-pound short wooden bow, as many as three hundred times a day can be shot. Who does not have sore arms?

Finally came the riding and shooting test that can show the success of the training. At first, everyone just sat on horseback steadily and shot the target sideways.

Those beautiful boys from the Sixth Flag team who have had sufficient archery training have adapted to the new archery mode and have the highest target rate.

The worst is the sons of the Boyar nobles of the Alliance Manor who were forced to serve as soldiers, the so-called sons of the nobles, but the stupid sons of the landlord's family. Their poor shooting skills are indeed embarrassing, which is not uncommon. A group of boys who may be destined to have nothing to do with hunting are now cavalry. They are beginners to archery with bows, and now they know nothing about riding and shooting. Their inherent arrogance was completely overwhelmed by the ruthless reality, but fortunately, their white backs would not be smashed by the whip.

They all seemed to be riding and pulling their hips, and Rurik couldn't help but pouting his mouth to show sorrow.

Because, his own horse riding and archery looks like a hip.

No one will accuse the prince of poor skills, because the performance of the group is not good.

Some people expressed frustration, and Kagan optimistically explained at the critical moment: "Don’t think about learning to ride and shoot in a few days. We Pecheneg learn to ride horses at the age of six, and at the same time take the arrow of our father to practice riding. Shooting. An excellent fighter needs to be trained until he is twenty years old, and more than ten years of riding and shooting training can produce a superb riding shooter! You need years of training to succeed."

Kagan seems to be exaggerating, but it also shows the fact that it is impossible for a horse archer to be quick.

Therefore, Rurik decided to cheat.

It was an ordinary winter morning. The sun is shining and dazzling today, the air is dry and cold, and the wind is like a knife.

The young cavalry gathered in front of the dormitory, and a large number of wooden-armed crossbows were laid on the ground.

Rurik said in public with his hands behind his back: "My Kagan brothers said that the horse archer can't be quick, obviously this is correct. Look at the crossbow in front of you, and take what you like."

Everyone is quite confused, since the prince has ordered it again, let's execute it.

They got the crossbow and listened to the Prince's order: "After all, the purpose of riding and shooting is to shoot arrows to the enemy's chest and neck. For this purpose, the crossbow can also be used. I can't wait for you to become excellent riding archers in ten years, that At that time you all retired. Now that you are riding a horse and shooting with a crossbow, follow this training first."

They took their light wooden arm crossbows to the stables to pick up their horses, and displayed them in front of Kagan in a unique posture, which really surprised the Pechenegians present, including the Pechenegg captain of each team.

"Is this your unique bow?" Kagan said as he stroked the crossbow that Ric was playing with.

"This is our standard weapon."

"The bow is placed sideways, and it can actually..."

"Yes." Rurik said with a sullen face: "It's like the arm is always pulling the bowstring, and when you launch it any time you want. You can even aim at the target and launch again. A stupid person can become a sharpshooter."

"I... I don't believe it." That was the case, Kagan was the first time he saw the unique bow of the Roth, which was a painful blow to his arrogance. ,

what for? After all, Kagan didn't really see the dignified division of the Ruth army, but he knew that he had some general and erroneous understanding of the Ruth army.

Even a simple saddle has a harder structural bulge at the front end, which happens to be a fulcrum. It could be used to tie the reins, and it can also be used to put the crossbow on the hoop. The wooden-arm crossbow has limited power, and it only fires ordinary light arrows. After all, it is a modification of a short wooden bow, and only some tendons are generally glued on the bow arm to barely increase the strength.

"Show you an arrow on horseback."

Rurik took back his crossbow and operated it in front of Kagan. The iron ring wrapped around the bulge, he pulled the bowstring with both hands, the whole person leaned back, and the string clasped the mechanism. An arrow was then inserted into the groove and slightly fixed by the steel shrapnel at the tail. This kind of crossbow was originally designed to have a shoulder rest, and Lurik shot precisely at a squirrel target that was hung up not far away like a musket.

"Ah! I was hit!" Kagan was taken aback, and he asked his soul almost at the same time: "Brothers, it looks like you have a lot of these..."

"It's a crossbow."

"I want to buy."

"Do you want to buy?!" Liurik was lifted up. It stands to reason that people who want to buy themselves can be sold, but when it comes to the deal, why not get a big ticket?

Rurik replied decisively: "Just use your recurve bow for me, a recurve bow for a crossbow."

"this……"

"Are you hesitating? Is this a wonderful deal for you?"

Rurik suddenly behaved very lively, and Kagan could see that his righteous brother really liked the recurve bow. According to the rules of the grassland, the brothers were treated with courtesy in Ross, and they had to give gifts anyway.

Kagan thought for a moment, then patted his thigh: "Then put on thirty recurve bows with you."

"The deal! It's just not now." Rurik sighed slightly, looking at his brothers on horseback and holding a crossbow, then at the target that was set up, and staring at Kagan's eyes: "Indeed, I can't finish riding and shooting. Quickly, if we use our crossbow, it should be much better."

"It doesn't matter Kagan shrugged: "If you can kill the enemy with a sling, no one thinks it is wrong to swing the sling. "

A crossbow cavalry was born? Do not! Whether the cavalry uses a crossbow or a recurve bow, or even the use of firecrackers, they are all a tactical aid, and they are all means to disrupt the enemy's array. The main weapon of the cavalry team is still riding a spear and a saber. At least the crossbow is used to make a group of beginners immediately become good shooters. It is to count on the rapid jet to perform "fire suppression".

The squirrel target began to hit arrows frequently, and the cavalry who was holding the crossbow sideways quickly passed by. They could better grasp the timing and pull the trigger.

In Rurik's view, the cavalry unit with preliminary combat capabilities that he dreamed of had succeeded. Although they had not undergone any actual combat tests, they at least showed decent abilities on the training ground.

There is no need to ask them too extreme. This group of young people can only train for a month at best. They have mastered horse riding, horse hacking, spear thrusting, and crossbow riding and shooting. Although they are not good, they have enough time to improve.

It can be said that in the eyes of ordinary people, the Ross Principality has successfully produced a cavalry force that looks majestic and majestic, which is indeed a great honor of the Principality.