In the past year or so, during the frequent battles between the New Army of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Army, they also encountered many Ming Army cavalry, and also captured a large number of horses from the Ming Army.
The cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty was actually based on the captured cavalry of the Ming Army!
However, I have never encountered so many Ming cavalry. In the past, even among the tens of thousands of people led by Song Zhiwen, there were only two hundred cavalry.
However, this does not mean that the army has few cavalry. In fact, the Ming army has quite a lot of cavalry, or infantry on horseback. For example, many of the personal soldiers and servants of middle and high-level generals fight on horseback.
In addition, many of the middle and lower-level officers at all levels also have horses.
However, these mounted infantry were not concentrated, and it was difficult to have thousands or even thousands of horsemen like the northern frontier army.
Because there are many mountainous areas in the southwest, large-scale cavalry operations are simply impossible. The cavalry is more often an auxiliary unit.
Just like the cavalry in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, they were actually used scatteredly!
The cavalry battalion, the cavalry team in the guard battalion, and the cavalry team in each infantry regiment are all cavalry. The total number of these cavalry is not small. There are more than 400 cavalry in total. Well, most of these cavalry have surrendered.
Prisoners of the Ming army who came over.
These cavalry plus the officers who fight on horseback, the artillery troops, and the draft horses in the baggage troops, then the number of horses in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty is actually quite large.
It's just that no matter how many horses there are, there are not enough. In addition, it cannot meet the needs of the new army of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Li Xuan and others subconsciously thought that the new army of the Tang Dynasty had very few cavalry and war horses.
The situation of the previous Ming Army was similar to that of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. Most of the cavalry were used dispersedly. In an army of tens of thousands, there might be one or two thousand soldiers fighting on horseback, but these two thousand were dispersed.
There are different guard posts, and pure cavalry guard posts are generally not set up in inland areas, so it is difficult to see large-scale cavalry troops.
Now seeing the Qianqi of the Ming Army, Li Xuan couldn't react for a while!
When Hao Bainian, Li Chunjing, Fang Xitong, Wang Shanxu and many other frontline generals saw the Ming cavalry several miles away, they all looked unhappy. It was normal for the Ming army to come with hundreds of cavalry. They
Although they pay attention, they don't take it too seriously, but this time, there are quite a lot of Ming army cavalry, more than a thousand of them.
And there are no more Ming cavalry behind!
I'm afraid it won't be easy to fight this time!
Although they all ride southwest horses, and their ability to charge and fight in formation is very weak, but after all, they are still cavalry.
Just letting them go around to the rear to attack the artillery position, or simply attack the infantry square from behind, would be enough to make the new army of the Tang Dynasty drink. Even if they can't rush up, or don't dare to rush up, they will still be able to do so.
This greatly restricted the deployment of troops by the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
With such a cavalry of more than a thousand cavalry watching eagerly from the side, how dare you let the new army of the Tang Dynasty let go and engage in a decisive battle with more than 20,000 infantrymen of the Ming army? What if they were stabbed in the back by the Ming army's cavalry?
, then the trouble would be big.
Zeng Ziwen was also a little stunned. He was originally a member of the Ming army, but he knew the Ming army guard system very well, especially the guard station here in Guizhou.
As far as he knew, there was no pure cavalry unit in Guizhou. He only heard that there was a cavalry unit in Fubiao, the provincial capital, but the number was not large, only 500 cavalry.
Not to mention Guizhou, Yunnan, Guizhou and even Guangdong and Guangxi are included. If you want to find soldiers who fight on horseback, there are many thousands of them. But if you want to find a pure cavalry unit with thousands of horsemen,
That's basically impossible.
However, where did the Qianqi Ming army in front of them come from?
Although the distance was still quite far, they could still see that this Ming cavalry coming from afar was not simple and would most likely cause many unexpected changes on the battlefield.
This kind of unexpected change is what Li Xuan, Zeng Ziwen, and Hao Bainian tried their best to avoid.
Although the process of war is always full of surprises, most of every battle will not go according to the general's wishes from the beginning to the end. Otherwise, there will be no winner or loser in the war.
However, almost every general hopes that the battle will proceed according to his own plan, because successfully completing the plan means that victory is already in his hands.
The Ming cavalry in front of them was obviously not within the expectations of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, and many of the consequences that resulted were also beyond their expectations.
And this is very dangerous!
In response, Li Xuan turned back to Zeng Ziwen, Hao Bainian and others: "While there is still time, revise the planned battle plan immediately!"
There was no need for Li Xuan to explain in detail why it was necessary to modify it and what it was for. Zeng Ziwen and Hao Bainian had already nodded in unison. They knew better than Li Xuan why the planned battle plan needed to be modified and how to modify it.
At the same time, on the side of the main force of the Ming army, a middle-aged man in casual clothes with a big belly climbed up a small slope surrounded by a group of Ming army generals. Although the small slope was not high, it still allowed the middle-aged man to climb up.
The young man was tired and panting.
But even though he was tired and out of breath, this man seemed to be in great spirits and had a smile on his face!
"Lord Long, in front of you is the Bronze Drum Guard City. Those people outside the city should be the puppet Tang rebel army. From the looks of it, there seems to be a lot of them!"
The place where the Tonggu Acropolis is located is not a remote ravine. Although there are hills around it that can allow the new army of the Tang Dynasty to hide their tracks, it is impossible to hide them all. After all, the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry is not for nothing, even if it is just observing from a distance.
, you can find that there are thousands of puppet Tang rebels outside the Tonggu Guard City.
Of course, it was impossible for them to see all the troop deployments of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty from such a distance.
It is impossible to say that tens of thousands of people are all gathered together, but are scattered within several miles in units of battalions and regiments. After all, the new army of the Tang Dynasty, which relies on line tactics as its core, needs a certain distance to maximize its effectiveness.
Using all the firepower, even if they are lined up in a dense formation, they can form a line formation several hundred meters long.
There is no way to fight if tens of thousands of people gather together!
What's more, since they were planning a surprise attack, they naturally needed to hide some of their troops so that the entire Ming army could not notice them.
The middle-aged man with a big belly on the side of the Ming army still had a confident smile on his face, and then said in a breathy tone: "These pseudo-Tang thieves are quite courageous. They just besieged Tonggu Acropolis two days ago. Now,
Seeing my King's Master arriving, he didn't even turn around and ran away. I want to see if their firearms are as sharp as the rumors say!"
At this time, Qianhu, an old man with a rat beard next to him, immediately showed a charming smile and said: "The puppet Tang thieves have few major generals. Although it is rumored that the firearms are sharp, Master Long, you are already as good at predicting it as you are, and you are already ahead of schedule."
Gather the cavalry from each guard post of our king's division. Even if the rebel army has sharp firearms, they can only fire one or two rounds at the enemy. After they release the firecrackers, our king's division's fine cavalry will rush over. The rebel army will definitely attack.
A huge defeat!"
"In this way, after the governor arrives at Xingquan City, Mr. Long, you can greet the governor's car in Xingquan City!
Hearing the compliments from the rat-bearded old man Qianhu next to him, Master Long laughed even more!
But after a moment, his expression turned serious, and he said seriously: "After defeating Quanfu City in Fuxing, the first one to enter the city should naturally be Mr. Zhu!"
That rat-bearded old man Qianhu's face froze when he was told this!
But his stiff expression did not last even for a second before he regained his previous demeanor. He licked his face and continued: "Mr. Long, you are right. The honor of being the first to step into Xingquan City can naturally only belong to the governor."
of!"
"However, we are the vanguard of the North Route of the Governor, and Mr. Long, you have won the trust of the Governor, and have been entrusted with important tasks in suppressing the puppet Tang traitors. You command the North Route army and wipe out the puppet Tang traitors.
The military’s contribution is indispensable to you!"
After hearing this, Master Long laughed again!
Several Ming army civil and military officials nearby listened to the conversation between the two people in front. Some turned their heads and looked away, some behind them showed a trace of frown, and some showed disdain.
A Qianhu who fell at the end muttered in a voice that only he could hear: "Shameless!"
After Lord Long laughed, he turned his eyes again to the puppet Tang bandit army in the distance, and then said loudly: "Send the order, let the sons and daughters speed up the pace!"
When I spoke, I was full of confidence and looked like I had a chance to win!
At the same time, Li Xuan and his ministers from the New Army of the Tang Dynasty discussed how to modify the battle plan directly on the hilltop.
The core element of revising the battle plan is to guard against the thousand cavalry of the puppet Ming thief army!
It doesn't matter where this cavalry came from, but since it has already appeared, it must be given high attention. Otherwise, the situation that has been smooth and smooth in recent months will suddenly take a turn for the worse.
Although today's Tang Dynasty has increased in strength and its ability to withstand defeat, it still cannot withstand defeat in today's strategic decisive battle, even if it is just a small defeat!
They must defeat this Ming army today, and completely defeat or even annihilate it, so that they can be free to turn around and head to the west of Liping Prefecture to deal with more than 30,000 or more Ming troops led by Zhu Zhihai himself.
Therefore, Li Xuan and the others must be cautious and cautious, because they cannot afford the consequences of failure!
After the time entered noon, although the troops on both sides were still relatively far apart, ranging from hundreds of meters to more than a thousand meters apart, strictly speaking, the two armies had officially entered the battle stage.
At this time, if one party, like the forward led by Qiu Yu, dares to turn around and escape at the last moment, it will definitely turn into a rout with heavy casualties!
Therefore, no matter what the strategic arrangements of both sides are at this time, regardless of whether the generals of both sides are willing or not, the battle will definitely break out until the winner is determined!
Waiting for the afternoon, after seeing part of the Ming army entering the effective range of his own artillery, Li Xuan issued the first combat order in this battle: "Order the artillery battalion to fire at the enemy artillery team directly ahead!"