Chapter 1210 Want to break the formation? A pile of rocks is enough!
Seeing that the fourth wave of cavalry had withdrawn safely, Xin Ai Huang Taiji did not immediately lead the entire army to retreat. Although the previous wave of attacks suffered a bit, it was not enough for him to lead his army to retreat.
After all, for an army of five thousand, two hundred casualties were nothing. He just chose to let the fourth wave of cavalry cancel the attack and retreat just because he found that fighting like this would not work.
Although our own cavalry attack also caused some casualties on the other side, they also caused a lot of casualties on themselves. The casualties on both sides remained one to one, and this battle loss ratio was unacceptable to Xin Ai and Huang Taiji.
of.
He changed his tactics to change the current damn situation.
When Xin Ai Huang Taiji chose to suspend the attack, Liu Mengyang smiled. He was very satisfied with the defensive battle just now!
He made a lot of money by exchanging two hundred infantry for two hundred cavalry. If he had the opportunity today, he would rather exchange his entire baggage regiment for the two or three thousand cavalry on the opposite side!
Because no matter from which point of view, competing with the opponent for consumption and exchanging one-to-one is an advantage for the Tang Army.
It's a pity that the Tatars on the opposite side probably won't give him such a chance.
"Continue to maintain the defensive formation and treat the wounded!" Liu Mengyang knew that the Tatars on the opposite side would not launch an attack for a while, but his side could not relax.
The defensive formation still needs to be maintained, otherwise it will be too late to change the formation if the cavalry from the opposite side rushes over.
When we were treating the wounded, we also collected some of the horses left by the Tatars. There were not many, only about a dozen. Although there were many Tatar cavalry killed and injured, most of the horses ran away or ran away.
Simply dead or injured.
On the battlefield, the guns and artillery of the Tang Army did not distinguish between humans and horses, but used covering fire. Theoretically, the probability of damage to the horses was much higher than that of the cavalry itself.
After treating the wounded, Liu Mengyang asked Cao Guangtao to send people to help carry the wounded to the four-wheel carriage transporting baggage, so that the military doctors could treat them directly on the spot.
But anyway, there are only some lightly injured people who can be saved. As for those seriously injured people, there is basically nothing we can do with the current medical conditions. We can only rely on them to survive. If they can carry it through, they can survive.
If you don't go, you will only become one of the dead.
Unlike Liu Mengyang, who was basically indifferent to the dead and injured soldiers, and even thought about continuing to fight and consume when he had the chance, Cao Guangtao felt a little sigh in his heart when he saw the wounded being carried back one after another.
In just a few minutes of fighting, more than 200 people were killed or wounded. Among the more than 200 people, many were killed on the spot by arrows in vital parts, and some were seriously injured. The remaining
About a hundred people suffered non-fatal injuries such as limbs.
But even for those soldiers who were slightly injured, it was not easy to survive, because the wound would become infected if they were not careful. Once infected, amputation or other minor injuries would be minor, and in severe cases, death would occur.
Why can even an arrow wound become infected?
Because the arrowheads on the arrows are not smooth and clean, there are a lot of rusty arrowheads, and some arrowheads even have barbs, and the arrowheads are often soaked in feces and urine.
It means that after hitting the enemy, the enemy will be infected.
Of course, arrow wounds are nothing compared to bullet wounds. Lead bullet wounds are quite terrifying. Lead bullets can easily roll over after hitting the human body, causing a cavity effect. At the same time, the lead bullet head is relatively soft.
It is easy to break, so after hitting the human body, the lead bullet often breaks into many pieces. At the same time, after the lead bullet hits the human body, it will also bring the fabric on the clothes into the body.
Therefore, cleaning the wounds of lead bullets is very troublesome. Not to mention the medical conditions in the 16th century, even in modern medicine, cleaning the wounds of lead bullets is still a troublesome matter.
This is why the fatality rate of lead bullets is so high!
Among the more than two hundred Tatar cavalry, some of the Tatar cavalry were directly hit by lead bullets. Unless something unexpected happened, most of them would not survive.
Comparatively speaking, the wounded soldiers of Datang were much luckier, but their luck was limited.
In war, there is no immortality!
Cao Guangtao knew this very well. When he actually saw hundreds of casualties being carried back and wailing constantly, he couldn't help but sigh. These are all citizens of the empire and army soldiers!
However, although he sighed, he did not have any thoughts about why he wanted to fight or whether he could not fight. Although he had compassion, it was limited to this.
As a mid-level officer in the Army of the Tang Dynasty, from the first day he entered the martial arts school, he was taught to be loyal to the emperor, patriotic, and brave to kill the enemy every day. Over the years, he has been doing this, and he will do so in the future.
Will do the same.
It's just that he is not like Liu Mengyang, who can watch the casualties of soldiers and remain indifferent, only treating the soldiers as cold numbers.
And this is actually the reason why they are about the same age and went to martial arts school at the same time, but he is only a major, while Liu Mengyang is already a lieutenant colonel.
A general who has a compassionate heart and is too concerned is destined to not be a good general, because war is inherently a numbers game. If you have to regard numbers as living life, then the battle will not be fought.
For example, if the Ninth Army goes north to fight, no matter how successful it is, it is estimated that there will be thousands of casualties. If these casualties cannot be tolerated, how can it go north? How can it regain the Hetao? How can it establish strategic security in the northern part of the empire?
Cao Guangtai sighed from behind, while Liu Mengyang picked up a monocular and observed the Tatar cavalry in front. Although they suspended their attack, they did not choose to retreat completely.
However, Liu Mengyang couldn't control so much. Since they didn't attack, no matter what conspiracy they had later, he planned to continue to implement his strategy, which was to keep moving forward.
So after standing there and staring at the Tatars for a quarter of an hour, Liu Mengyang once again ordered the troops to continue marching while maintaining a defensive formation!
Anyway, it is quite convenient for them to march. They transport their baggage with four-wheeled carriages and do not need manpower to push them. In order to maintain the defense against the cavalry, this time Liu Mengyang did not let the infantry march outside the carriages, but chose
In order to keep the carriages on the outside, the infantry were on the inside of the carriages. At the same time, the carriages were connected end to end, with a very small distance between them, and then there were multiple carriages running in parallel.
At the same time, in order to ensure flexibility, the five hundred carriages were also divided into two batches, each with more than two hundred carriages. These carriages were connected end to end, forming a narrow rectangular hollow formation.
This formation, to a certain extent, is a replica of the infantry's hollow square formation, except that carriages are used as peripheral barriers, and the formation is also a bit larger.
This is also a tactic that the Tang Army has studied for many years, using horse-drawn carriages to resist cavalry and ensure the safety of transportation troops. Although the marching speed is relatively slow when maintaining the formation, it is better than not being able to walk at all.
At the same time, it is better than simply using infantry to defend the perimeter.
Most of the artillery in the army was dragged directly on the march, and some shotguns were mounted on the roofs of four-wheeled carriages. Most of these artillery were loaded with ammunition in advance. As long as the Tatar cavalry wanted to
If you want to launch an attack, you can fire immediately. Those shotguns don't even need to stop to fire, they can fire directly on the roof of the carriage.
The heavy four-wheeled carriages of the Tang Army can carry a load of more than one ton. The recoil of field artillery is barely strong, but it can withstand the recoil of two or three kilograms of shotguns.
It’s just that if you hit it too much, it will fall apart.
Liu Mengyang asked the troops to move forward. Xin Ai Huang Taiji from the north saw this scene and was a little hesitant!
If we continue to charge forward and attack, that won't work, but we can't let them go!
what to do?
After watching Liu Mengyang's troops begin to march, Xin'ai Huang Taiji thought for a long time, and then said: "Let's go around to the front!"
"Are we going to take a detour to the front to attack?" one of his subordinates said.
Xin Ai Huang Taiji looked at him like an idiot and was too lazy to answer!
What an idiot would be to ask such a question as running to the front and launching an attack!
The car array of those Tang barbarians is like a moving castle, and the attack is useless.
These people are all cavalry, and they are not equipped with numerous artillery pieces like the Tang Army. Even their matchlock guns only have about a hundred guns and not many bullets. This proactive attack is seeking death.
At this time, Xin Ai Huang Taiji said: "Let's move forward quickly and set up obstacles in front to wait for them to come. This time, we will let them attack!"
It is impossible to forcefully attack the enemy's vehicle formation, but the enemy's vehicle formation also has one of the biggest flaws, that is, the formation is too large and the terrain requirements are too high.
Although this place is a vast grassland, not all places can allow hundreds of carriages to pass through at the same time.
He only needs to choose a place with a more suitable terrain in front and place obstacles directly to prevent these carriages from passing. At that time, if these Tang barbarians want to pass, they will have to force their way through or take a detour.
If it was a detour, he would probably go to another place to block it again. Anyway, his cavalry could run fast and could always get ahead of them. Although the grassland was vast, it was not something they could go around if they wanted to.
.
If you break in forcefully, then it is playing into his hands!
If you don't want to attack the car formation by force, why are you afraid that they will attack?
Xin Ai Huang Taiji has been fighting in the north and south for decades. Naturally, he is not a person who only knows how to act recklessly. He does not mind using some small strategies.
Therefore, it didn't take long for him to lead several thousand cavalrymen to a place about five kilometers ahead of the Tang Dynasty's transportation troops. This area was not a difficult terrain, but there happened to be a hill on both sides.
It's not high, and you can mount it with a charge on horseback. The distance between the two hills is about three kilometers.
They stopped and then got busy!
What are they busy with?
They dismounted and started moving the stones, and then moved the stones directly to the open road in the middle!
Xin Ai Huang Taiji looked at the piled-up stone wall and smiled for the first time today: "Although the pseudo-Tang chariot formation is sharp, a pile of rubble is enough to break it!