In the era of cold weapons, cavalry was said to be one to ten against infantry. Of course, today as the tactics for dealing with cavalry gradually mature, this statement is obviously an exaggeration. Various long-range weapons have matured, various field battle formations and various tricks have been explored.
Under this style of play, the cavalry's attack was no longer in a completely overwhelming situation.
When an enemy several times your own is in front of you, it is actually taboo for the cavalry to forcefully charge into the opponent's army. Therefore, recent cavalry attacks are generally based on flank attacks and move away as soon as they touch. By disrupting the opponent's formation, they can move quickly and pull.
The opponent's defensive formation allows the opponent to expose weaknesses. This tactic is often more effective.
Also, when chasing the enemy, the cavalry is obviously a nightmare. When the enemy flees, the cavalry can pursue and kill them without hesitation, because there is no need to worry about being trapped in the opponent's formation.
However, there is a premise for all this, that is, the opponent is a well-trained regular army, not the more than 20,000 rebels in front of them. It has only been more than four months since the uprising, and the rebels are constantly attacking.
I spent these four months without even having time to start the most basic three months of camp training.
The vast majority of the army are young and strong civilians, and their combat literacy is almost zero. At the beginning, Liu Liu, Zhao Sui, Yang Hu and others were still somewhat capable in combat strategies. But in those major victories, the victory was due to large numbers of people and surprise.
and the weakness of the opponent.
Talking about the details of the battle process, it is actually quite unbearable. A swarm of swarms fighting like pigs is not the fighting quality of a real army.
Now they are facing the Beijing camp cavalry. Yaowu camp and Zhenwei camp each have three thousand cavalry. They are the elite of the regiments. Especially Zhenwei camp, since Zhang Yanling took office as admiral, it has suffered a lot.
Practice the skills of killing enemies and hone the will to fight. The skills of horse control, riding and shooting, and hacking and slashing have all been greatly strengthened in the past year or so.
It is no exaggeration to say that the cavalry of the Zhenwei Battalion do not need to control the horse's reins, and can make the horse make any movement they want just by using their legs. This frees up their hands and makes them more flexible.
In terms of weapons, in addition to the long knives and bows and arrows before, Zhang Yanling equipped them with spears and firecrackers. Needless to say, spears are assault weapons. When sprinting with spears in both hands, any sophisticated armor will be difficult to carry.
Resistance. As for the fire cannons, they are all ordinary fire cannons originally equipped in the camp. They are used as a round of bombardment in close combat to break open gaps and disrupt the enemy's defensive formation. Generally, they are only used once and do not need to be used again.
.
Cutting into the enemy formation from both sides were the two thousand cavalrymen of the Zhenwei Battalion. One by one, they cut into the enemy formation diagonally like a sharp blade cutting through tofu, and like a razor cutting flesh and blood.
The rebel soldiers didn't know whether to live or die. At first, they swarmed upwards, but a round of bombardment caused them to fall in large pieces. Then, with spears in hand, they charged and stabbed all the way, killing the rebel soldiers until their souls were gone.
The war horses bared their big fangs and seemed to be laughing wildly. The cavalry on the horses were shouting loudly and formed a tight formation. They had spears in the front, long knives and firecrackers on the flanks. They walked all the way, leaving a trail of blood behind them.
The rebel army's formation was originally a meandering marching formation, less than 300 paces wide from east to west. Before the tea time, two intersecting cavalrymen fought through each other. The formation of the rebel army's Changshan Snake was cut into three parts by Lazy Yao.
"Shrink your formation, move forward from behind, go to the fields, don't crowd on the official road." Qi Yanming roared loudly.
He wants to lock up the formation to form a dense infantry formation. It doesn't matter what the formation is at this moment. As long as it shrinks into a ball, it will be difficult for the opponent's cavalry to rush in and cut easily.
But how could the cavalry give them such an opportunity? The rebel soldiers did not have such tactical literacy at all. After the intersecting cavalry rushed through each other, they turned diagonally and turned around to charge again.
At this point, the tactics of the cavalry have become clear at a glance. They are to continuously penetrate and cut through the flanks, piercing the opponent's long formation time and time again. When the enemy troops on the flanks are temporarily unable to form a formation that engages the enemy and resists horses, they use large maneuvers to penetrate multiple times.
Not only can it kill a large number of enemies and split up the opponent's formation, but it can also create favorable charging opportunities for the three thousand cavalry charging head-on.
On the front, when the Zhenwei Battalion cavalry completed their first insertion, the 3,000 Yaowu Battalion cavalry led by Xu Yande had already rushed towards the front of the formation. After a frightening wave of blood rolled and flesh flew everywhere, the frontal slashing
Start in the most bloody way.
The cavalry of the Yaowu Camp is not as fancy as the Zhenwei Camp. Their understanding of the cavalry is to trample and charge head-on, crushing the opponent.
Because of this, at the moment of rushing into the enemy's formation, the opponent's hastily deployed horse-rejection formation had a certain effect. The spear behind the shield formation pierced the chest and belly of the charging horse, piercing the charging knight.
body. Dozens of horses
The war horses neighed and rolled and fell, rolling up smoke, dust and mud on the ground. Under the action of inertia, the rolling men and horses smashed into the frontal shield formation like a sledgehammer hitting a door. Although dozens of cavalry were killed and injured, it set the stage for the follow-up.
The cavalry opened the passage.
The long knife was raised high, the light of the knife rose and fell, and the sharp blade cut on the unarmored flesh. Blood, wailing, and the sound of the blade piercing flesh came one after another. The horses' hooves trampled the wounded soldiers and corpses, and the flesh and blood melted into the grass and mud.
For meat sauce.
…
Under the continuous penetration of flanking cavalry, the rebels in the rear had no chance to move forward for reinforcements. The three thousand rebels who were divided and surrounded by the charge of three thousand cavalry only lasted less than half a minute before completely collapsing.
Only then did they understand that the officers and soldiers were not as vulnerable as the rebel generals had claimed. It turned out that in front of the opponent, they were just meat on the chopping board, ready to be slaughtered. Except for the initial fight in which more than a hundred cavalry were killed.
, in the end, they even lacked the courage to fight to kill a cavalryman.
When the opposing cavalry charged towards them with their swords raised and their horses bared their teeth, they had only one thought, and that was to turn around and run away, not having the courage to attack them.
In the face of absolute power, they are nothing.
The rebel soldiers began to flee in all directions. They dropped their weapons and began to run across the mountains and plains. After more than 3,000 people in the front army were killed and injured between 700 and 800, the remaining soldiers could not be restrained at all.
Even though Qi Yanming roared at the top of his lungs, he could not stop their defeat.
Qi Yanming knew that the situation was over, so he rushed to the rear with more than a hundred cavalry and loudly ordered to retreat. The more than 10,000 rebels in the rear group ran away after hearing the order to retreat. At first, they could maintain their formation, but soon it became
Sheep are herding all over the mountains and fields. On the wilderness, there are rebel soldiers running around with their heads in their arms. They only regret that their parents have lost two legs. They only regret that they were reincarnated as human beings. Even if they are a sparrow at this moment, they can spread their wings and fly away.
Xu Yande led his troops in pursuit until they reached the rugged mountain terrain five or six miles away, and then ordered the pursuit to stop.
The cavalry were quite satisfied. They had killed many people in this fight, and their confidence was doubled. Before the battle, there were still some worries and fears, but after this battle, everything disappeared.
Some people also complained that Xu Yande refused to continue the pursuit. It was still twenty miles away from Huaxian County. If they pursued Huaxian County, they could wipe out most of the opponent's more than 20,000 troops. They could even capture Huaxian County.
Xu Yande scolded them coldly.
"Remember our mission, it is our goal to prevent the bandits from crossing the river south. Defeat them and we will have achieved our goal. Entering the county seat of Hua County? Are you crazy? We are cavalry, are we required to defend the city? We just need
We can charge them in the wilderness and kill them so much that they shrink back. If we enter the city, won't we have to cut off our limbs?"
At dusk, the battlefield was cleaned and inventoried. In this battle, more than 3,000 enemies were wiped out, and more than 2,000 wounded soldiers were captured. More than 300 cavalrymen were killed and wounded in the regiment and camp. According to this ratio, one is equal to ten. It is not an exaggeration.
Xu Yande couldn't be happier. At this moment, he was extremely grateful to his brother-in-law. He allowed himself to bring the elite cavalry to the bank of the Yellow River, giving him a chance to show off. Because he knew that rogue infantry was not worth it in front of the cavalry.
Mention.
Just as he explained when giving the order, whenever there are enemy troops in the wild, he can attack without any scruples. In other words, he actually knows it very well. The cavalry is simply a god in front of these rebels with extremely poor fighting qualities and equipment.
general existence.
My brother-in-law is giving himself credit. With this victory in the battle, Xu Yande has been proud and proud in the court. He no longer has to be accused of being a nobleman who lives his life relying on the glory of his ancestors and fathers.
…
Qi Yanming returned with a great defeat and was extremely angry. That night, the rebels who fled one after another returned to Huaxian. In the end, only less than 10,000 soldiers and horses were left out of 20,000.
Under this situation, Qi Yanming knew that he would not be able to complete the task of occupying the ferry. His proposed strategy of crossing the river southward might also come to an abrupt end.
The situation suddenly became urgent. If they could not cross the river and go south, where would the rebels go?
Qi Yanming immediately rushed back to Daming Mansion that night. He arrived at Daming Mansion in the afternoon of the next day and reported the news of the defeat to Liu Chong, Yang Hu and others who were reorganizing their army and preparing to go south. After hearing this, Liu Chong, Yang Hu and others were shocked.
Endless.
Everyone urgently discussed countermeasures. Yang Hu proposed that even if the opponent has cavalry to intercept, the army will still go south. With a total of 70,000 to 80,000 troops, are they still afraid of the opponent's mere thousands of cavalry? Just engage in a firefight with them. Forgive them that they dare not block the way.
Hope arose in Qi Yanming's heart, and he also wanted to give it a try. But Liu Chong mumbled.
"Brothers, if the cavalry appears in the south, it means that the enemy knows our intentions. If the imperial court knew that we were going south, why wouldn't they send more troops and horses to wait for us in the south? Is it true that only the cavalry is blocking us in the south? I'm afraid.
It’s hard to say. Furthermore, once you leave Daming Mansion and go south, it will be a total disaster. Zhang Yan
The old soldiers and horses have arrived at Guangping Prefecture. As soon as we leave, they will occupy Daming Prefecture. There is no larger state capital near Daming Prefecture that can accommodate us. If we leave this city, I am afraid we will really become invincible.
The root is broken. When the time comes, once we fail to cross the river, we will have to live in the mountains and fields north of the Yellow River, drinking wind and eating dirt."
Yang Hu and Qi Yanming stopped talking. Liu Liu was telling the truth. They left Daming Mansion, which was the last Dafu city in the south of Hebei Province. Without this place, the rebels became lonely ghosts wandering in the wilderness.
Once the crossing of the river fails, within half a month, food and materials will be exhausted, and the morale of the army will be weakened.
In that case, where will the rebels go? Are they waiting for their morale to be weakened and all the soldiers to flee?
Either burn the boat or take a long-term view. This kind of decision that affects the life and death of the rebels is indeed difficult to make.