Chapter 2880: Equipment (1)

Once the seminar broke up, Yang Ning made his usual way to the General Staff cafeteria.

To conserve manpower, the Lingcheng government district ran a single canteen under the Agricultural Committee. Meals rolled out to the offices in insulated pushcarts. Senators ate from the same kitchen, though they could "order à la carte"—and their dishes were naturally a cut above what ordinary naturalized-citizen officers received.

Yang Ning ordered the "large navy curry rice." The stuff was ubiquitous locally, but he was the first person brazen enough to eat it in the General Staff cafeteria.

Social nuance was not his strong suit; he read rooms poorly if at all. He finished the curry without a care, then ordered hot black tea with lemon and drank it comfortably.

Dongmen Chuiyu, carrying a cup of some unidentifiable beverage, walked over and sat down across from him. "Yang Ning…"

Yang Ning had noticed him immediately and leaned forward. "What is it, Chief of Staff Dongmen?"

"I'm the General Staff Secretary," Dongmen Chuiyu corrected his title. "Your presentation was good. I plan to organize the materials in the next few days and formally report the cavalry development proposal to the higher-ups."

"I say, Secretary Dong, aren't you our higher-ups? Who else is there to report to?"

"I only manage the daily affairs of the General Staff—I'm not the chief. Besides, this matter requires not only He Ming's opinion but also the attitudes of Wu De, Ma Qianzhu, and Cheng Dong…"

"Damn, there's all that!" Yang Ning was somewhat surprised, but on reflection, cavalry burned through money far faster than infantry, so these bigwigs' opinions were naturally pivotal.

"The original armaments budget did include provisions for expanding the cavalry, but those were calculated based on the existing units' equipment. If we're now going to field your dragoons, the funding won't be enough…" Dongmen Chuiyu sipped his drink. "Think about it—can your Mongol horses even carry barding?"

"Well, first of all, our Jeju Island stud farm does have some imported horses, mainly Central Asian and Indian breeds. They'd serve perfectly well as heavy cavalry mounts. Second, the dragoons in my plan aren't fully barded—they'd only wear simple horse armor. The Mongol horses can handle that." Yang Ning hurried to elaborate. "Actually, providing a measure of protection for both horses and men is extremely valuable. After all, our opponents field barded cavalry. You know that Liaodong is a land of white mountains and black waters, of primeval forests and snowy plains—how could that possibly be good training ground for cavalry? Let alone mounted archery. Even if it were, the emphasis would still be on shock heavy cavalry. Throughout Chinese history, every border threat relied on the charge of heavy-armored cavalry. The Xianbei, Rouran, Tujue, Khitan, Tubo, Dangxiang, Jurchen, Mongols—their core strength was always assault cavalry clad in heavy armor. It would be very difficult for our light cavalry to stand against them."

Dongmen Chuiyu nodded slightly, recalling the report Huang Ye had sent back regarding the Eight Banners cavalry. The Eight Banners army also contained large numbers of light-armored or unarmored cavalry—by sheer numbers, far more than the heavy cavalry—but it was obvious that the combat core was those heavy troops wearing double layers of armor.

"Our cavalry and horses have not a scrap of protective gear, while every enemy we face is encased from head to toe. Send men into formation under those conditions and they take casualties while their own cuts and thrusts glance off armor. How do we expect them to stand fast and fight with single-minded devotion, instead of bolting after watching comrades fall and the enemy crash in? And our mounts are just as bare. Every opponent carries long-handled blades and horse-killing weapons. An injured mount becomes unmanageable; a cavalryman afoot is helpless as a cripple, at anyone's mercy…" Yang Ning paused, then sighed. "They say armor is pointless. By that logic, bulletproof vests are useless too—yet they're standard infantry gear. Any extra chance of survival, any fewer wounds, is worth it. And the armor we can make will outperform anything they have."

"We more or less agree on that. But you'll still need to fight for the specific equipment plan. You might need to do a few more roadshows. Have your materials ready in advance."

"I've got all the materials prepared—exhaustively!"

"Heh. What I mean is, you'd better have some physical prototypes, or at the very least blueprints. Those few are the type to split a single copper into three—where the money goes and why it's spent that way, you have to make it crystal clear in their minds, or there's no hope."

"Thanks for the tip, Secretary Dong!" At this, Yang Ning's interest was piqued. "Truth be told, I do have some private stock of my own."

"I knew you had plenty of private stock!" Dongmen Chuiyu chuckled. "Get ready these next few days. You should hear something soon."

Yang Ning still kept a unit in the Senator dormitory district of Bairen City. The General Office had sent someone to clean it before his return. But there was essentially nothing of his personal belongings left inside—everything had long since moved to Jeju Island.

"No maids, no hot water, nothing at all…" he muttered, dropping into the mass-produced Holy Ship desk chair and opening the thick stack of proposals. He sighed. Hadn't crossing over meant you could do whatever you pleased? Why was building a splendid, multifaceted cavalry force still such a struggle? Alas, my cuirassiers, dragoons, hussars, chasseurs, Uhlans, Cossacks, Kalmyks…

At this thought, he lost all interest, closed the proposal folder again, and decided to head to the farm café for a few drinks and meet up with old friends from the "Mosasaur Knights" for a proper chat…

The next morning, he rose early and hurried to the Lingao General Machinery Works. He had already delivered his latest saber blueprints there the day before.

When he arrived at the machinery works, he found that several Senators from the industrial sector had shown up—even Yu Zhiqian, who was about to depart for Shandong. Yang Ning was quite flattered.

Currently, the Fubo Army's cavalry had no standardized equipment—not even a unified saber. Because demand was so small and there was nothing decisive about it, the factory had no reason to set up a dedicated production line. So the cavalry's current blades were mostly captured Ming army weapons. The Shandong auxiliary cavalry simply used whatever they pleased.

Fortunately, the cavalry expansion had finally carried saber mass-production onto the agenda. Yang Ning had designed the weapon from multiple sources filtered through practical need. It was less a classic saber than a heavy cavalry sword with saber traits, and the training manual he had compiled emphasized thrusting over slashing in melee.

In a conference room at the General Machinery Works, the group fell silent for a long while as they regarded several prototype sabers laid out before them. Finally, Yu Zhiqian spoke: "Isn't this blade a bit too straight?"

Indeed, the saber before them differed greatly from the image everyone carried in their minds—of a thin, sharply curved blade. Its blade was thick and heavy; though it had some curve, it was nearly straight. It looked more like a longsword.

"It can't be helped. The sabers we commonly see, including the typical cavalry swords of the Napoleonic era, were all designed to deal with modern unarmored or lightly armored targets. Against heavily armored enemies, their effectiveness drops sharply, and they may even damage the blade itself. That's why our weapon emphasizes the thrust."

"If you need to slash at armored targets, the Ming army's thick-backed broadswords might be more effective—at least the blade is thick enough."

Yang Ning explained: "No matter how thick the blade, it will still chip. Historically, in engagements between heavy cavalry, troopers often also carried short flails or hammers—blunt weapons."

"But we have rifles, don't we? And pistols," Yu Zhiqian said. "No matter how much armor they wear, a volley will absolutely stop them."

"But close-quarters melee is unavoidable."

"For cavalry sabers to emphasize the thrust—Xiao Ning's view is beyond dispute. A thrust kills; a slash only wounds. And our enemies are fully armored now—without the thrust, you don't break through. Even in the twilight of cavalry, the dominant saber technique was still the thrust." Wang Ruixiang spoke up. He was no cavalryman, but as a traditional-weapon enthusiast he knew the tactics and fighting techniques well.

"No argument about using the thrust. But considering the current quality of our cavalry, we need to accommodate the slashing function as well. Our troops are all green recruits, and thrusting requires considerable skill. Everyone knows that when holding a weapon, slashing is a more instinctive motion than thrusting. Once they're on the battlefield, there's no telling what they'll do in the heat of the moment." Jiang Ye gestured with the saber as he spoke.

If this had been said in front of a few "young guard" army officers, Jiang Ye would undoubtedly have earned himself a "slandering the army" label. But Yang Ning showed no reaction—Jiang Ye was stating a fact.

"Then we should add an appropriate curve to the saber. If it's meant for slashing, a straight blade definitely won't work well. Either that or widen the blade, which would be somewhat impractical."

Xiao Bailang picked up a saber and gave it a few practice swings. "Actually, the saber doesn't even need a full edge. Everyone knows—the sharper the blade, the more easily it chips."

"Right," Yang Ning raised the saber in his hand, giving everyone around him a small start. "The front half of a saber isn't suited for slashing anyway—it's too hard to generate force."

"The guard needs changing too. A bent metal-bar guard like this is too complicated—too troublesome to produce. A disc guard would be better, much simpler." Wang Ruixiang examined the weapon and said.

…

After a round of discussion, the saber's final design was settled. Overall, it did not differ much from the original design. This future standard saber had a slight curve, a spear-pointed tip, a not-very-pronounced fuller, a leather-wrapped grip, and a steel scabbard, with a sword knot and suspension strap among its accessories.