The Ming army generals in the rear rushed forward with their own soldiers, but this was unable to change the crisis of the Ming army's forward phalanx.
When Hao Bainian commanded his troops to launch a hand-to-hand charge against the Ming army's forward phalanx, it was basically possible to declare the collapse of the phalanx.
Although the Ming soldiers in this phalanx were protected by shields and shield carts at first, when they entered tens of meters, they were attacked intensively by hundreds of musketeers in a short period of time, and then withstood another
Four rounds of grenade bombing.
Even though they were well prepared and mentally prepared, and their will to fight was quite strong, they could not withstand such intensive firepower.
The two to three hundred people in the front row suffered over a hundred casualties in a short period of time. More importantly, the shields and shield vehicles in the front row were completely defeated, leaving the vulnerable archers and artillerymen in the rear directly exposed to the firepower of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
When the heavily armored spearmen of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty rushed forward with fast and steady steps, the more than two hundred archers could not figure out how the enemy could rush in front of them in such a short period of time.
Not long ago, they were still bending bows and shooting arrows, but they did not expect that in the blink of an eye, all the defense forces in the front row had collapsed, leaving them completely exposed to the firepower of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
Even if these archers are super elite, they cannot stop the advance of the heavily armored spearmen of the Tang Dynasty's new army at this time.
Not to mention, they are not super elites at all. To put it bluntly, they are just recruits who have been trained for only three months. Although their quality is much better than those of the guardsmen and ordinary young men, the training of the Ming army is naturally
It cannot be as cruel as the training of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
So they didn't resist at all, but dropped their bows and arrows one by one and ran back.
The archers ran away. We can't blame them. Archers have never been able to fight against the enemy's heavily armored melee units, so when the enemy got close, they either threw down their bows and arrows and drew their sabers to fight to the death, or
It's about turning around and running away.
These Ming troops fled, but this still could not change the situation where the Ming troops continued to charge.
The Ming army crossing the Yangtze River had a total of 2,500 men. Even if the forward phalanx was defeated, they still had 2,000 men.
And now, the two sides have entered the stage of close combat, which means that the firearms of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty can no longer exert their huge power. The two sides can now only rely on the most primitive hand-to-hand combat to determine the outcome.
Obviously, the Ming army on the opposite side was very confident in their hand-to-hand combat capabilities.
But they would not know that Hao Bainian and other generals of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were more confident in the hand-to-hand combat capabilities of their own troops.
The dense bayonet and spear charge of the new army of the Tang Dynasty were the bottom line for them to defeat the Ming army many times. Although the muskets and artillery were sharp, to be honest, they were just the icing on the cake. Most of the time, they relied on the final stage to defeat the enemy.
Charge with bayonet and spear.
This can be seen from the tactics of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
Why do the musketeers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty like to fire volleys in the last twenty or thirty meters? It is because firing volleys from this distance can cause a large number of casualties, severely damage the enemy, disrupt their formation, and create an advantage for the spearmen to charge.
condition.
It has never happened before that a direct decisive battle was won simply by relying on musketry.
With the Ming army rushing over like almost all over the mountains and plains, Hao Bainian stood up straight with his feet on the stirrups, holding the reins tightly with one hand and holding his sword high with the other. At the same time, he loudly issued an order: "Keep the formation and keep charging!"
The remaining 700 people of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty continued to charge forward in an extremely tight formation, as if they wanted to crush all obstacles in front of them.
Of course, during the charge, officers at all levels would inevitably shout to maintain their formation.
"Don't mess around!"
"Stay in formation!"
"Let's line up closer together and don't leave any gaps!"
Compared to the shouting of the officers, the soldiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were much calmer at first, but as the distance between the two sides continued to shorten, from tens of meters to only seven or eight meters, the officers also shouted "The New Army of the Tang Dynasty" The charge slogan: "The Tang Dynasty is invincible, charge!"
The officers' command swords were swung down fiercely in unison, and then both the spearmen and the musketeers rushed forward at the maximum speed.
The entire front line swept away like a strong wall!
At this time, perhaps in order to express the fear in their hearts, or perhaps to make themselves braver, the soldiers all shouted the slogan "Charge!" in unison.
A few seconds later, the two huge phalanxes of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Army collided fiercely!
This scene seems like two giant walls are approaching and then colliding together, making various huge sounds.
In an instant, countless people fell down on the entire front line. Screams sounded almost simultaneously on the entire front line. Blood sprayed in the air, staining the faces of the soldiers on both sides red.
Seeing that his own soldiers had already charged forward, Hao Bainian from behind was still standing straight on his horse, just quietly looking at the fighting soldiers from both sides in front. At this time, his expression was not at all the same as that of the other soldiers. He showed excitement or excitement, but was calm and terrifying, as if the battle ahead that killed countless people almost instantly was just a game.
On the other hand, Fang Xitong's expression on the side was very excited at this time. He grabbed the reins so hard that the veins in his fists became prominent.
At the same time, the Ming army general on the other side also rushed up and stared at the entire battle line. In his sight, his own soldiers ran into the array of the pseudo-Tang rebels, as if they had hit an extremely strong city wall. .
Especially the central army of the Puppet Tang thief army, those heavily armed spearmen seemed to be indestructible. The four-and-a-half-meter-long spears in the hands of these heavily armed spearmen formed a forest of spears that were almost like hedgehogs. The soldiers simply couldn't charge forward.
Only the same spearmen on our own side can cause damage to them at the same distance, but the spearmen in the front row are all wearing heavy armor, which can effectively defend against cold weapons.
But the spearmen on the Ming army did not receive such good treatment.
This created a very troublesome situation for the Ming army, that is, they simply could not stop the advance of the spearmen of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
And when the battle lines of the two sides collide, one side can continue to advance, which means that the other side is constantly retreating.
That's right, these Ming soldiers who fought against the spearmen of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were able to charge forward at the beginning, but they were no longer able to charge forward. Once they were unable to charge forward, facing the countless spears in front of them, human beings
Their instinct will make them keep retreating.
In this kind of brutal hand-to-hand confrontation, if you take a step back, it will turn into continuous retreat, and then turn around and run away.
This kind of head-on confrontation tests the tightness of the formations of both sides and the courage of the soldiers themselves.
Only with a tight formation can the combat effectiveness of the troops be maintained.
Only when the soldiers had enough courage could they launch a tenacious charge.
Regardless of formation or courage, they all rely on training and discipline, and these two points are the core of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
Today, it is obvious that the training of the new army of the Tang Dynasty is more difficult and the discipline is stricter than that of the Ming army. Therefore, the new army of the Tang Dynasty can launch a charge with 800 troops and face the Ming army that is three times the number.
Hao Bainian, who was in the rear, watched the enemy's Chinese army retreat gradually, with a slight smile on his lips, and then sat back on the horse, while saying softly: "We won!"
Not only was Hao Bainian able to see that although his side had fewer troops, it had already gained an advantage. Even Fang Xitong, who was on the side, could also see that although the Pseudo-Ming army had more troops, they were using a traditional square formation.
, such a square formation is also suitable for the characteristics of the Ming army and the width of today's battlefield. After all, the width of the battlefield is only a few hundred meters, so the actual combat width of the two sides is limited.
Even if the Ming army wanted to invest more than two thousand people at once and let every soldier fight against the new army of the Tang Dynasty, it would be impossible.
Not to mention the Ming Army, even the New Army of the Tang Dynasty cannot be like this!
In this type of frontal battle, which strictly emphasizes strict formations, the military line must not be too thin, otherwise your own front will collapse as soon as someone charges forward.
At this time, the military line was quite thick. There were six rows of spearmen and musketeers in the new army of the Tang Dynasty. If there were casualties in the front row, the soldiers in the rear would fill in.
The Ming army's military line was thicker, with eight or nine soldiers at the front and rear.
Therefore, to a certain extent, on a certain battlefield width at the same time, the number of troops participating in the battle on both sides can be said to be equal, and there will not be a two-on-one or three-on-one situation.
At most, one enemy dies and another one rushes up!
Of course, having more troops will naturally give you a huge advantage. This kind of hand-to-hand combat in actual combat is not like the battle scenes in movies or novels. Soldiers from both sides can fight each other for several rounds. In actual combat, one enemy must be killed.
Soldiers, it's very simple, just poke forward with a spear, and in most cases you can kill an enemy soldier.
In the same way, it is very simple for the enemy to kill you. They are also stabbing you with a spear. Even if you see the spear coming towards you in advance, you want to dodge but there is nothing you can do. You want to avoid the spear or sword that is stabbing you.
, is not that easy.
In such a battle, in addition to factors such as equipment, formation, and courage, the rest is naturally a comparison of whose troops have more troops. Because they have more troops, they can withstand more casualties.
The Ming army had more than 2,000 people. Their two or three hundred casualties were nothing, but Hao Bainian's troops only had eight hundred people. If they had two or three hundred casualties, they could basically be declared disabled.
However, these are all based on one basis, that is, both sides are evenly matched and have entered the stage of fighting for casualties!
But it was obvious that these Ming army soldiers simply did not have the courage to fight for casualties. The two sides fought for only half a minute, and the Ming army's central army was constantly forced back by the Tang army's heavily armed spearmen.
What happens next is obvious.
Just a minute later, hundreds of soldiers in the Ming army completely collapsed. They scrambled to turn around and escape faster than when they charged.
The central army collapsed, and the left and right wings could no longer support it. They also collapsed one after another within a few minutes.
The winner of this battle undoubtedly belongs to the New Army of the Tang Dynasty!
Looking at the fleeing Ming army, many Tang army officers after the battle couldn't help shouting: "The Tang Dynasty is invincible!"