Chapter 12

First Volume_Chapter 12: No Wonder He's My Son

Although Liang Kingdom was founded on martial prowess, due to geographical constraints, it could not raise warhorses on a large scale, resulting in an abysmally small cavalry force, with infantry dominating its armies.

Infantry facing cavalry, without terrain advantage or city defense, were almost invariably slaughtered.

After decades of warfare with the Beidi, Liang had consistently suffered losses, and its border soldiers had long since lost their fighting spirit.

Not to mention crushing the Beidi cavalry outright—even if the two armies faced off, they would collapse at the first touch.

Seeing Qin Tianhu raise his whip, Qin Feng leapt far away, standing in the courtyard, ready to flee at any moment, yet still defiant:

"Liang Army soldiers aren't just the Border Army—each garrison holds heavy forces. If the Border Army is cowardly, send in valiant troops to replace them."

"You don't need to crush the Beidi cavalry head-on—just hold your formation steady against their charge, and that's enough."

"Replace basic infantry with archers, improve military equipment, and forge powerful crossbows. Organize five thousand archers into a single unit: the first two ranks fire powerful crossbows at long range, ensuring every cavalryman entering eight hundred steps is hit by a storm of bolts."

"When enemy cavalry reach three hundred steps, the third, fourth, and fifth ranks fire in sequence—this effectively kills enemy forces while disrupting their charge formation, weakening their initial impact as much as possible."

"In front of the archers, form three rows of infantry: the first row carries heavy shields, the second row holds long spears, the third row holds short spears—those damn cavalry, if they break through this spear line, I'll do a handstand and pull…."

"Cough cough, in short, I refuse to believe cavalry can fly over our heads."

"This formation only has weak flanks—so just defend the flanks, and you completely dominate cavalry."

"Station a unit on each flank armed primarily with Pu Dao, Qu Dao, Diao Dao, and other long weapons, supplemented by short weapons, instantly neutralizing the flank weakness."

"What damn cavalry? If they dare charge head-on, I'll make sure they come but never return—annihilated entirely!"

"If they adopt guerrilla warfare, small-scale ambushes, that's fine—powerful crossbows and longbows can kill raiding cavalry beyond their effective range."

"How? Are our Liang archers, standing on the ground, less accurate than those riding horses?"

"If enemy cavalry circle around, our flanking Chang Dao Dui can swiftly wheel around to defend the rear."

Qin Feng spoke at length, smugly thinking: he'd watched so many military films, read so many online military fanboys bragging, played so many Three Kingdoms war games—how could he be outdone by a few barbarian tribes?

Qin Tianhu, hearing Qin Feng ramble on, had grown increasingly contemptuous, about to roar at him to shut up and get out—

But then his eyes slowly widened.

Qin Feng's words had sounded like empty talk, mere paper strategy—but upon closer thought, this tactical arrangement was remarkably thorough!

If refined and its strengths fully exploited, it would form a complete military strategy, devastatingly effective against cavalry.

Unfortunately, Qin Feng's tactic had one fatal flaw: it could only defend in formation, not pursue after victory.

After all, cavalry had always been Liang's weakness.

Moreover, the Beidi cavalry lived off the land, sustaining themselves through war.

Merely forcing them to retreat empty-handed was already a military victory.

In that case, this tactic was highly viable!

At the same time, Qin Tianhu seized on a key point and glared at Qin Feng, who still refused to come closer, hiding in the courtyard: "What are these 'powerful crossbows' and 'Mo Dao' you mentioned?"

According to his past-life memories, this world's literature was backward, and its military technology lagged far behind his own.

Armies were roughly divided into three types: Ji Zhan Bing Zhong, short-archers, and cavalry.

As for archers, Liang's archers were literal archers—armed only with bow and arrow, with no other weapons; once enemies closed in, they could only wait to die.

Unlike archers in his own world, who carried axes, spears, or Diao Dao as auxiliary weapons alongside their bows.

Once enemy troops reached the formation, each archer could instantly transform into a close-combat infantryman.

Seeing Qin Tianhu stare fixedly at him, Qin Feng dared not approach, forcing a smile: "Pu Dao and powerful crossbows can't be explained in a few words—Father, if you want to know, I'll draw them, and you'll see at a glance. But…"

"Father must put down the whip first."

Seeing Qin Feng's timid, cowardly demeanor, Qin Tianhu grew even angrier.

But to understand what these Pu Dao and powerful crossbows were, he gritted his teeth and tossed the whip aside: "Come here then."

Freed from physical punishment, Qin Feng instantly sprang to life, strutting in with a swagger that made Qin Tianhu's face darken again.

Qin Feng took the paper and brush from Liu Hongyan, nearly lying flat on the table; since he'd never practiced brush calligraphy, he gripped the brush backward, tilted his head, thought for a moment, then began scribbling wildly on the paper.

Pu Dao was easy—drawn in a few strokes.

The powerful crossbow was more complex; Qin Feng pondered long, then sketched out its key components in crooked lines.

He tossed the brush aside, ran into the courtyard, picked up a tree branch, dipped it in ink, and used it like a pencil to label each part with its name and function.

Finally, he clearly wrote out the basic principle.

Qin Feng pinched the branch between his middle and index fingers, shook it, and beamed: "Done."

Liu Hongyan couldn't help rolling her eyes: "You're brilliant at poetry—but your drawings? They're… downright ugly."

Qin Feng shrugged, unconcerned: "So what if they're ugly? As long as you understand them."

Qin Tianhu stared at the diagrams for a long time, then slowly turned to Qin Feng: "Where did you learn of these two items?"

How to explain? Say he learned from military documentaries? Qin Tianhu would think him insane and kick him out.

Qin Feng instead embraced his shameless plagiarism spirit, face calm: "Of course I invented them myself—I used to tinker with them for fun when I had nothing else to do, didn't know if they'd work…"

Before he finished speaking, his forehead took a solid slap.

Qin Tianhu's eyes bulged, furious: "You wastrel! These two weapons, once forged, will be military treasures—if you'd revealed them earlier, my Border Army wouldn't have suffered so many losses!"

After scolding him, Qin Tianhu tucked the diagrams under his arm and stormed into the Book Room's private chamber.

Qin Feng tiptoed over, pressed his ear to the door crack, and heard Qin Tianhu deliberately whispering—but his excitement still leaked through:

"No wonder he's my son—truly, a tiger father has no dog son. With these two weapons, paired with military strategy, I'll make sure the Beidi come but never return—proclaiming Liang's glory!"