As expected, the rear army was larger in size, but its strength was inferior to that of the Beijing camp.
Although the Beijing Camp was established in May and June, with a small number of new recruits, most of them were veterans.
After training for more than half a year, I became familiar with military law and formed a military formation. With sufficient salary and food, the Beijing camp was almost completely transformed.
As the rear army, the Jianghuai soldiers are composed of Sichuan soldiers and state soldiers on the one hand, and the four towns in Jiangbei on the other. They are not the same as the Beijing camp.
In particular, the officers who determine whether the army is strong or not may seem good on the surface, but in fact they are still afraid of the Qing army.
Therefore, in Zhu Yixi's eyes, although the rear army's shell was hard, there were still gaps exposed under the persistent attack of the Qing army.
And they are like turtles. After breaking through the outer shell, the flesh and blood are soft inside, and they are so killed that they are stunned.
Just like the characteristics of war in this era, the condescending cavalry is like a heavy tank, constantly harvesting human lives. The resisting infantry either cowers or gathers to fight.
But at least the emperor was upstairs, and the soldiers were tenacious, fighting and retreating.
"It will be bad if the battle formation is in chaos."
Relying on the cavalry's sprinting ability, the Qing army continued to surge forward, seeming to want to penetrate the entire military formation.
The emperor was not in a hurry.
He turned his head and said to Li Jingwu: "Is the cavalry camp still there?"
"Your Majesty, considering the difficulty of defending the city, the cavalry battalion has been staying in the rear to recuperate its strength."
"Then go out!" The emperor couldn't help but said: "Should we keep it for the New Year?"
"Yes!" Li Jingwu nodded quickly, feeling even more distressed.
As the ballast stone for his control of the Huaihai defense line, the importance of the cavalry battalion is self-evident. Over the years, its scale has reached 15,000 people, one man and two horses.
Although he knew that there were more than 40,000 cavalrymen below, he could only grit his teeth and order the cavalry battalion to attack.
Because only cavalry can slow down the opponent's cavalry offensive.
As if knowing his thoughts, the emperor said calmly: "Cavalry are used for fighting, not kept in boudoir."
As he said that, Li Jingwu saw the emperor raising his arm and pointing at the group of Mongolian Eight Banners. The Han Eight Banners said: "Although it is not credible to say that slaves are created, the Mongols are greedy and unloyal. After the war, the captives will still fill the cavalry camp."
"Look, there are so many war horses. If there are horses, there will be cavalry. These are us."
Looking at the cavalry galloping below the city, Li Jingwu's breathing began to quicken.
Why doesn't he want to have so many cavalry?
Following the order, the cavalry battalion, which had been prepared for a long time, left the city and rushed towards the rear army like a meteor.
There were tens of thousands of Manchu and Qing cavalrymen there.
"Creak——"
Dong dong dong——
The heavy horseshoes hit the ground, and a large amount of gravel began to vibrate, as if a heavy drum was being beaten, which made people panic.
"This is?"
In the distance, Jierhalang on the high platform was stunned, and his eyes couldn't help but open wide.
Hauge and Luck Dehun, who were also watching the battle, also looked at each other and were also surprised.
I saw thousands of cavalry in heavy armor moving forward at a constant speed.
Both men and horses are wearing armor, and all of them are tall and burly, making people shudder at a glance.
"Heavy Armored Cavalry——"
Gu Hui
Ji Erhalang gritted his teeth and said word by word.
The rise of the Manchus was not the cavalry they were proud of, but heavy infantry - horse-mounted and armored heavy infantry equipped with muskets.
Just like everyone always thinks that the Ming army is the army with the highest level of firearms. In fact, shortly after Nurhachi raised his army, its firearms level was among the highest in the East.
For example, Nurhachi stipulated that each of the Eight Banners should send a hundred armored soldiers, with ten men to be Baiba Yala, and two cannons.
For the artillerymen who surrendered from the Ming army, "the first-class artillerymen were rewarded with eighty taels of silver, and the second-class artillerymen were rewarded with fifty taels of silver." Finally, Li Yutian, the governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, said: "The power of slaves... casts cannons and makes medicine, ten taels of silver."
It’s twice as powerful as my divine weapon!”
The Mongols have always been the best in horsemanship. For example, the Liaodong Army led by Wu Sangui often fought with the Manchu Eight Banners to kill each other.
Furthermore, in the endless grassland of Liaodong, light cavalry is the king of war, while heavy cavalry is just a living target.
However, this is also comparatively speaking.
In the south where the terrain is narrow, heavy cavalry has the final say, and the final appearance has full effect.
For example, at this time, the cavalryman was like a monkey entering the sister-in-law's belly and raging to his heart's content. He was so happy that the sister-in-law kept screaming.
At this time, the heavy cavalry appeared, like a colonoscope, constantly squeezing the cavalry, causing the cavalry to fall into a quagmire.
As we all know, once the cavalry cannot run, it can only become a target and be slaughtered.
"Move the cavalry!"
Jilharang said with a serious face.
Immediately, there was a burst of military drums.
But by this time, it was already too late.
The three thousand heavy cavalry were like an awl, inserted directly into the gap of the infantry, like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, crushing the cavalry along the way to pieces.
The Qing troops who were making trouble in the rear were instantly frightened and hurriedly divided their troops to meet the enemy.
If in the wild, the heavy cavalry cannot run fast at all, and will be easily hunted by the light cavalry.
But this was in the military formation. After the Qing army's offensive slowed down, the infantry swarmed up like a tide and carefully surrounded the cavalry.
At this time, the Qing soldiers had only one way to break out of the encirclement.
With their superior strength, this is easy.
But facing thousands of heavy cavalry, and more than ten thousand cavalry behind them, the Man Eight Banners were not afraid, but wanted to fight hard.
Because they understand that as long as it lasts for a while and a half, the heavy cavalry will be exhausted and become their trophy.
And as if they knew what they were thinking, after the cavalry battalion entered the rear army, they immediately targeted the Meng Eight Banners who were not determined to fight.
As long as the Mengba Banner, which accounts for half of the cavalry, retreats, it will be enough to reverse the situation.
As a result, both sides began to fight for their own goals.
At this time, a situation also occurred in the former army.
It turned out that after the heavy armored infantry showed no effect and suffered a lot of losses, Jilharang immediately replaced it with a shield vehicle.
This kind of shield car was specifically invented to restrain the Ming Dynasty's weapons.
The shield cart is half a foot high and more than a foot wide. It is like a flat wooden cart with a wooden shield. It can protect five or six people including archers and musketeers at the same time.
The shield cart has a layer of cowhide on the outside and a layer of iron on the inside. Small bricks and stones will not move when hit, large bricks and stones will roll down when hit, and firewood will not burn if thrown.
Even a heavy matchlock gun like the Turtle Dove Gun can penetrate 4 mm iron plates, but it is powerless against the level of defense of a shield vehicle.
Obviously, after seeing the power of the Ming army's muskets, the Qing army had to come up with a trick.