The lines of both sides were approaching quickly, and shouts with different accents could be heard from time to time.
However, no matter how you listen, you will feel that the soldiers on the Hussar side are more energetic, while the soldiers in Cao's camp down the slope, who clearly have better bunkers and fortifications, seem a little panicked.
The spears are like a forest.
Flags are flying.
Even though there are artillery, cold weapons still play the main role on the battlefield in this era.
When Xu Chu issued the order, Fei Qian did not give any guidance, nor did he express any attitude. Because Fei Qian knew that in an army, orders must not be inconsistent or unclear.
In fact, the same is true in any organizational government, or in a country. The clearer the order, the more conducive it is to the implementation at the bottom.
China actually likes to use words such as "in principle", but in fact the more such words are used, the more unfriendly it will be to subordinates, and it will also cause structural damage to the entire family.
"Agree in principle" means "I won't stop it, but if something happens, you will be responsible."
"In principle it is not allowed" means "This thing is not allowed, but there is pressure that makes me have to allow it, so the responsibility after something happens is borne by you and the person who put the pressure."
"Don't do it unless necessary" is saying, "Don't do such-and-such, unless a better situation arises, or there is a sufficient reason to go through the process, otherwise you will definitely be settled by the future, and you will have to take the blame."
"If necessary" means "I have anticipated that this situation will occur and authorize you to make a plan to do it, but I will not bear any responsibility for you to do this."
To put it simply, all of the above are just passing the blame.
In the Chinese feudal dynasty, low-ranking officials were increasingly scolded for their inaction, greed, laziness, and neglect of duty. But have you ever thought that this situation was also because when those who issued edicts and clauses and issued various official documents in the court, they became more and more
Are there more and more words like "in principle", "in theory", "in law", etc.?
"In principle" appears to be acknowledging the "principle", but in fact it is wielding a hoe and digging out loose holes in the "principle". Even the most rigid law, through this ingenious "principle"
The above treatment also provides sufficient reasons for violations of the law.
This is actually a violation of the law, an insult, and a violation that looks flexible on the surface but is actually the "flexibility" and bold "excuse" of corrupt officials.
Therefore, when Fei Qian issued instructions to Xu Chu, he was always sure of whether he could do it or not. He would not tell Xu Chu anything about "in principle" or "in law"...
When soldiers attack, there are no "principles".
Advance or retreat, life or death, the more important the moment, it must be simple and clear.
The soldiers of Cao's army down the slope have been passively being beaten.
But when Xu Chu's infantry line advanced to a stone's throw away, the counterattack in the camp down the slope began.
Although arrows and crossbows cannot hit Xu Chu's line, catapults and crossbows can.
However, I don't know whether it was because there were not many catapults and crossbows in Cao's camp down the slope, or for some other reason, so there were only two or three catapults and no more than five crossbows shooting.
After suffering a counterattack from Cao's army's ballistas and hurled stones, Xu Chu issued an order for the front line to form a dispersed formation.
A neat and dense array means that it has to withstand greater damage, while a relatively dispersed small queue is more flexible. And facing Cao Jun's long-range weapons that are "slower" than artillery, they can
When attacked, do some evasive actions, such as crawling on the ground to avoid it.
As for Xu Chu's dispersed array, Cao Jun's camp obviously had no effective countermeasures.
The crossbow chariots in Cao's camp roared to throw stones, but most of the attacks fell into the air.
As Xu Chu's infantry line pressed forward, the other two bronze cannons were dragged down by four horses each to the front line of the hussar army, and began to prepare for erection. Although artillery is more accurate than catapults
, the destructive power is greater, but compared with the artillery of later generations that can strike at fixed points, it is still far behind.
Previously, the distance was farther, and the hit rate was obviously much worse. Now the artillery position is being pushed forward again in order to strike more accurately on the cracked wall of Cao Jun's lower camp.
Artillery is a newly developed item, so even if you have experience in aiming catapults, you cannot use it on artillery.
At the same time, today's artillery is still a smoothbore cannon. If you want to light up a more accurate rifled technology tree, it is definitely not something Fei Qian can do with just one sentence...
According to the current metallurgical technology, smoothbore guns can obviously withstand higher chamber pressures, which is equivalent to extending the life and number of uses of the barrel. However, if the metallurgical technology is not up to standard, the rifled gun will be used.
When it comes out, it is forbidden to fire one or two rounds and then explode directly on the spot, hurting yourself before hurting others.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
The craftsman directing the artillery bombardment blew the copper whistle to remind the hussars and infantry in front to get out of the way of the artillery bombardment.
The hussars' infantry front is not really a skirmish line, but is similar to a small array and exists as a defensive force for the artillery. Therefore, when the artillery fires, it needs to leave a shell channel so that the artillery can support the infantry front.
In combat, the infantry line can also defend against enemy artillery counterattacks in time.
Soon, the rearranged artillery began firing again.
A cannonball weighs about six pounds and six taels.
Han Jin.
Larger shells will have greater destructive power, but they also require stronger gunpowder explosive power to propel them.
This was not a standard set by Fei Qian, but when he saw this standard, he couldn't help but have some bad taste rolling in his heart.
After many tests, the craftsmen determined that the weight of the artillery shells was set within the range of six pounds and six taels.
Ever since, every roar of artillery seemed to be roaring "666"...
The artillery shells flew towards Cao Jun's camp down the slope, and wherever they hit, sawdust flying from the walls of Cao Jun's camp was filled with blood.
A big Han flag, which was hit by a cannonball or rolled up by the airflow of the cannonball, was thrown high into the air, then slowly swayed, and then fell slowly.
Liu Zhu, who was in Cao's camp at the bottom of the slope, saw that the hussars did not rush to attack the camp immediately. Even his infantry line was within a stone's throw. Although his catapults and crossbows could injure the attackers.
Killing these hussars and infantry, but the efficiency is obviously very pitiful, and more arrows and crossbows are stored, but they are of no use for the time being.
This caused the morale of the archers arrayed behind the camp wall to keep collapsing. Especially when the opposite artillery bombarded the wall, these Cao Jun archers couldn't help but exclaimed, and even some archers
Unable to bear this terrifying pressure, he collapsed on the spot and ran away, but was directly killed on the spot by the soldiers of Cao Jun, the central leader supervising the battle from behind.
Facing this brand new combat tactic of Hussar, Liu Zhu seemed very confused and couldn't make up his mind for a moment.
Originally, Cao Jun's strategy was just to fight against the hussar cavalry...
As a result, the hussars' cavalry are now on both wings, but the attackers are infantry. Moreover, the hussars' infantry are completely different from the previous fighting mode of filling pits and digging trenches. This makes Cao's army camp down the slope continue to be passively beaten.
.
If an attack is ordered to deal with the artillery in the hussars and infantry array, let's not talk about what "surprises" are waiting for Cao Jun in the hussars and infantry array. Just talking about the hussars cavalry wandering uncertainly on both wings is enough.
Let these Cao soldiers who left the fortification bunkers have a good drink.
But if you still don't attack, let alone the final fate of the camp walls in front of you, the morale of Cao's soldiers is constantly collapsing. If it falls to the critical point and the entire army collapses, it will really happen.
There is no chance of rescue!
What to do?
Liu Zhu felt that his head was buzzing, as if the roaring sounds of artillery penetrated into his brain again and again, and then did not echo back, stirring wantonly.
The smoke from the artillery filled the air, and the sound was like thunder.
The destructive power of artillery shells is more brutal than that of catapults. This is probably because the stone projectiles dropped by catapults generally fall. As long as they are not near the point of fall, there is generally not much danger, even if
It happened that a stone bullet hit him. As long as he didn't hit him directly, he would only be bruised and bruised by the splashed stones and mud.
But the main direction of force of artillery shells is horizontal...
If it hits the wall of the camp, it will immediately cause the wall to crack, shake, and collapse. Everything on the trajectory of the artillery bombardment will seem to be destroyed by it.
The elite leaders of Cao's army are somewhat better. On the one hand, they are all veterans and their salaries are high. On the other hand, they stand a little further back, so the relative psychological pressure will not be so great.
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The situation is worse for the ordinary Cao soldiers closest to the wall of the camp. Some of these ordinary Cao soldiers have little combat experience, and some are soldiers from counties and counties in the east of Hedong. Their training is relatively poor and their morale is not high. When facing the hussars,
Under the long-range artillery attack by Ma, their spirits became more and more tense, and the screams around them gradually increased, causing many ordinary Cao soldiers to have dry mouths and trembling hands and legs.
After another round of artillery bombardment, another section of the wall was hit on an important connecting structure, and the entire wall collapsed.
The ordinary Cao army soldiers who were waiting behind the village wall, even though they were protected by horses and trenches, still howled in fear. The entire array suddenly collapsed and collapsed like the village wall, and it spread to other Cao army arrays in an instant.
.
"Behead those who retreat!" Liu Zhu shouted, "Behead those who rebel against the army!"
The central leader rushed forward and hacked to death the ordinary Cao soldiers who were running around in front of the formation. Even Liu Zhu came forward with his guards and killed almost all the soldiers in the formation before barely controlling the formation.
Collapse.
But this treats the symptoms rather than the root cause.
The number of Cao's soldiers who were directly hit by artillery were not many. Compared with the total number of people in Cao's camp down the slope, they were probably less than a fraction. However, those who were killed because they were timid and ran away were killed by artillery fire.
Several times!
The smell of blood spreads, causing a collapse in morale that is irreversible.
The defensive fortifications of Cao Jun's camp down the slope are now only destroyed, including the wall, the trench in front of the wall, the horses in the camp, the traps, and the half-man-high earthen wall. Basically, these fortifications are still intact.
The state of Cao's army could not bring a psychological sense of security to Cao's soldiers.
The Hussars only used four cannons at the front and rear, and successfully caused chaos in Cao's army in the camp down the slope.
With the advent of hot firearms, the fighting mode between soldiers is also constantly changing, and due to the existence of the martial arts lecture hall established by Fei Qian, the experience between soldiers, soldiers, generals and schools can effectively communicate and exchange with each other, learn and
growing up.
Zhu Ling's improvement of the rhubarb crossbow is one example, Sima Yi's change of cavalry into archers is one example, and Wei Yan's change from surprise attack to bribery and inducement tactics is another example. These originally outstanding generals in the history of the Three Kingdoms, with more powerful backup support,
No longer stuck to a fixed model, it is more flexible and shines with more dazzling brilliance.
The same is true for Xu Chu.
He restrained his desire to go directly to the front line to fight, but instead used his own advantages as much as possible to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and formation, and gradually adapted to the new changes in warfare during the operation and attack of his soldiers.
Yes, skirmishing is indeed an effective tactical means to restrain hot weapons such as artillery and guns. But the problem is that it is easy to disperse but difficult to recover. The skirmish line has very high quality requirements for soldiers and middle- and low-level non-commissioned officers.
high.
Even if Liu Zhu had an idea or a counselor like Guo Jia thought of using a skirmish line to deal with Fei Qian's firearms, it would still be of no use, because in the current Shandong military system, even if it is something
None, except that during normal marching and working, deserters may occur anytime and anywhere.
In order to prevent soldiers from escaping, there is even a system of sitting together in the army. If a soldier escapes, everyone will be punished, and if a soldier escapes, every commander will be unlucky, so fundamentally Cao Jun cannot implement skirmishing tactics.
The integrity of the infantry array that Cao Jun has always emphasized has now become Cao Jun's nightmare.
Relatively speaking, when Fei Qian first raised his troops, the number of soldiers on the Hussar side was seriously insufficient. They could not recruit thousands at every turn like in Shandong. This led to Fei Qian's attitude towards soldiers being even more cautious.
Prudence eventually evolved into a fighting thought of striving for refinement rather than more, and then evolved into a general habit of generals under the hussar, disrupting the opponent's rhythm, destroying the opponent's array, and ultimately defeating the opponent at a relatively small cost.
Tactical specification process.
Therefore, even when Xu Chu went into battle for the first time, he still showed similar tactics, instead of relying on the large number of soldiers at his command, just shouting and then causing trouble...
In fact, the soldier drills of the Hussars have been changing and improving. However, the soldier drills in Shandong still stayed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Some places even did not even have drills at all. They just recruited a group of soldiers and distributed some long spears and short swords.
It's considered an army.
However, each bombardment by Hussar's artillery cost eight hundred to one thousand Hussar copper coins...
The cost of gunpowder accounts for about 30%, while the cost of cannonballs accounts for 50%, and the rest is other wear and tear costs.
If ten cannons fire in one round, it is a "magical power" that can be used to "throw a million dollars at a time".
Advanced technology and tactical barriers actually require the accumulation of a large amount of resource wealth, whether in ancient times or in modern times.
Just the collection and smelting of copper and iron materials cost Fei Qian a lot of manpower and material resources. If it weren't for the craftsman system and factory model established in the early days, Fei Qian could implement his ideas just by patting his head?
The designation of standards, the inheritance of craftsmen, the unification of tools, and the customization of standards. If there is a slight deviation, the final artillery must be all kinds of strange, with different shapes, different iron bullets and charges. So what?
Can it form an effective combat force?
Fei Qian now wants to use this model to let the gentry children in Shandong who feel that the laws of their ancestors are immutable and the ancient Zhou rites cannot be violated, and who would rather enclose the land for generations and seek perfection, can experience the centralized power of an empire.
After resources and technology, the earth-shaking changes brought about!
However, neither Fei Qian nor Xu Chu nor even Liu Zhu expected that the first thing that caused a huge change on the battlefield was not the collapse of Cao's soldiers on the front line, but the hostages behind the camp...
The guard's courage is obviously not as good as Liu Zhu's.
The reason why he became the warlord was just because he followed Cao Cao earlier, not because of his personal ability as a hostage officer.
If the hussar adopts the battle mode that Huzhi is familiar with and attacks against the various fortifications in Cao's camp, then Huzhi will be able to persevere even if he is timid. But he did not expect the attack of the hussar at all.
It is so different that the first attack almost broke through the frontal camp wall!
This almost broke through Hu Zhi’s bottom line!
Originally, he thought that it would take at least three to five days before the outer trenches would be filled in, and then another three to five days before the hussars would have a chance to break through the camp.
But it’s only the first day!
Even the sun hasn’t set yet!
"Get ready..." The hostage's voice could not help but tremble, and he said to the guards around him, "As soon as it gets dark, we will... break out... This camp can't be defended, it can't be defended!"
When the hostage guard heard this, he hurriedly responded.
The camp wall that was so thick and took so much hard work to build was destroyed in the blink of an eye!
Even if Liu Zhu was made of iron, how many nails could he drive to fill such a big hole?
If a gentleman does not stand behind a dangerous wall, since the situation is already very bad, then the meaning of perseverance is lost.
The hostage officer knew that once he retreated, the entire army would be involved.
But he is just a warlord, not a general, so if he retreats early, the most he can do is to go back and be reprimanded, and be fined with some salary and be demoted to a lower level or something. When the limelight is over, he can still come out and make a living.
.As for warnings, instructions, self-criticisms, etc. among the whole army, it is just a formality, eating and drinking when necessary, singing and dancing without stopping.
And if he is still here, there is no way he will delete his account!
Keep the green hills...
Of course, in order to avoid directly triggering a large-scale rout of soldiers, the hostage suppressed his own fear and set the time for his transfer to be at night.
But the hostage had forgotten one thing. Now the soldiers in Cao's camp down the slope were very nervous and their morale was very low. They all relied on Liu Zhu's constant shouting and encouragement at the front line for support.
Although the hostage said that the retreat time would be at night, his guards always have to be prepared. Gold, silver, money, food and grass are all more or less necessary.
If it were normal time, that would be fine, but during this tense period, the behavior of the hostage guards was like kerosene meeting sparks, immediately triggering a chain reaction...
"General Hu is running away!"
I don't know who suddenly shouted like this, and immediately more soldiers started shouting.
"General Hu has escaped!"
"escaped……"
The shouts reached the front lines of the camp.
The array of Cao Jun's soldiers in front was already shaky. Now they all ran away when they heard the hostage, and they had no intention of seeking the truth. They just looked at each other, shouted immediately, dropped their swords and guns, turned around and ran away.
