Although the officers of the 1st Infantry Battalion used the most decisive and tough methods to deal with and boost morale, four people still escaped from the battle, and these four people undoubtedly became the supervising officers at the first time.
The ghost under the sword!
"Hold still, they can't rush forward!"
"Our First Infantry Battalion has never been defeated since the founding of the army. Today, we will definitely win!"
"The Tang Dynasty is invincible!"
"For Your Majesty!"
The officers shouted various slogans to boost morale. Even Li Xuan from the rear made a temporary decision in order to temporarily boost morale: "Anyone who participated in the war today will receive an extra half month's pay, and those on the front line will receive an extra month's pay."
Pay and silver will be counted as double military merit for any meritorious service!"
Then he sent an order to all the officers: "The officer who made the first contribution today will be crowned a count!"
Then an order was sent to the whole army: "In this battle, ten people with outstanding military exploits will be selected to be crowned viscounts or barons. All officers and soldiers can be knighted!"
Such a promise before the battle could be regarded as barely stimulating the morale of the army, but this did not allow the frontline soldiers in the 1st Infantry Battalion to ignore the Ming army's cavalry attack.
The Ming cavalry's charge was so terrifying!
The hands of the musketeers holding the muskets on the front were shaking. Many soldiers could not even aim their guns. Facing thousands of cavalry rushing towards them, even the musketeers from the first infantry battalion, the most elite of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
They will be scared too!
Because this is human instinct, an instinct that cannot be erased no matter how harsh the training is. What they can do is, even if they are afraid, they still stick to their positions and make relevant tactical actions.
.
And those who can do this can be called an elite and powerful army!
At this time, the square formation of the 1st Infantry Battalion was already in the most perfect posture waiting for the Ming cavalry to rush up. On the four sides of the square formation, the spearmen in the front row inserted the end of their spears into
On the ground, they raised the spear diagonally, while they themselves were half-kneeling on the ground, holding the spear tightly with both hands, while turning their heads to look at the ground, not looking straight ahead!
Behind them, there is a row of spearmen. They hold the spears flat in their hands. They also do not look straight ahead, but slightly lower their heads to look at the ground!
The reason why the soldiers in the first two rows lowered their heads or turned their heads and did not look straight ahead was to prevent the soldiers from seeing the cavalry charging from the front and causing panic.
It is impossible for a person not to be afraid when he sees hundreds or thousands of cavalry rushing towards him!
So in order to solve the problem when facing a cavalry charge, to maintain the courage of the soldiers to the greatest extent, either blindfold their eyes or let them look down at the ground!
Anyway, for these spearmen, as long as they raise their spears and prevent the enemy's cavalry from charging up, their mission is completed. Killing the enemy is not their mission, that is the mission of the musketeers.
After the musketeers, there is a row of musketeers. They need to look straight ahead because they need to aim and shoot. However, their front is protected by spearmen and they will not directly face the threat of Ming cavalry charges, so
There will be less fear!
The musketeers at the four corners were gathered together, and they were also protected by spearmen, so they would not be directly threatened by the Ming army's cavalry.
After the Ming army's cavalry crossed fifty meters, the officers' orders were issued!
"Fire!" was the order from the musketeer officer.
"Be prepared for an impact!" the spearmen's officers also ordered!
After a burst of intensive gunfire, the Ming cavalry swept towards the First Infantry Battalion like a huge wave. From a distance, the First Infantry Battalion seemed to have disappeared, and all that could be seen was the emanating from the mountains and plains. The Ming cavalry makes the sound of huge horseshoes!
When Li Xuan from the rear saw this scene, he couldn't help but become worried. What happened to the First Infantry Battalion?
Were they completely overwhelmed by the Ming cavalry?
Is their formation scattered? Can their square formation withstand the impact of the Ming cavalry?
At this moment, Li Xuan has too many questions, but at this moment, the first infantry battalion has been completely covered by the Ming army cavalry. All Li Xuan can see is countless Ming army cavalry, and the Ming army cavalry is completely covered by the Ming army cavalry. The first infantry battalion was surrounded by military cavalry, and not even a single person could be seen!
"Your Majesty!" At this time, Zeng Ziwen beside him couldn't help shouting. This "Your Majesty" even shuddered!
Zeng Ziwen seemed to be so unsure that his tone of voice was filled with fear.
In fact, not only Zeng Ziwen, but also the others' demeanor at this time was not much better. Qian Mengjiu opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out for a long time.
On the contrary, Ma Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of War, said firmly: "The first battalion is the most elite of our King's Division. The battalion officer, Major Xu Ke, is both loyal and brave. His talent is definitely among the top three among the more than ten battalion officers of our King's Division." Most of the soldiers in the first battalion were veterans who had joined the army in the early years.
Even though the enemy cavalry is coming fiercely, the first battalion will definitely win!"
The last sentence was so decisive that it was as if the First Infantry Battalion was the strongest army in the world and could defeat three times the number of Ming cavalry with only 500 troops.
However, after Ma Wei's words, Zeng Ziwen next to him also calmed down. After taking a deep breath, he said: "Master Ma is right. The First Infantry Battalion is the elite of our King's Division. Even if it cannot annihilate them all, The enemy may come, but self-protection is more than enough!”
Even though he had regained some confidence, Zeng Ziwen obviously still lacked confidence. He only said that the 1st Infantry Battalion could protect itself, but he did not say that the 1st Infantry Battalion could defeat the Ming Army cavalry.
In fact, it is indeed impossible!
Even though the First Infantry Battalion was powerful, the nature of its infantry and the characteristics of the square formation determined that they could only defend, but could not launch an attack, not even a small-scale counterattack.
If it can maintain its formation and not collapse under the attack of thousands of cavalry, then the First Infantry Battalion can already be regarded as an elite in the modern army.
In fact, the 1st Infantry Battalion did not reach this level!
At best, the First Infantry Battalion only has more veterans, and the concept of veterans refers to veterans who have been in the army for more than half a year!
If we look at the modern army in a broad sense, the First Infantry Battalion is just an ordinary modern army. The word "elite" has little to do with them.
Li Xuan listened to the words of his subordinates and did not speak to him, but continued to stare ahead!
He not only looked at the First Infantry Battalion, but also saw the other three infantry phalanxes headed by the baggage regiment slowly approaching. In fact, they were only less than a hundred meters away from the First Infantry Battalion. Those Ming Army cavalry After rushing over, it won't take long to get close to them, and a battle will break out.
In fact, even now, the musketeers on the baggage regiment's side have continued to shoot at the Ming troops charging over.
At the same time, the battalion artillery troops continued to fire at the Ming army, but the firing speed of the artillery was relatively slow. After firing one round of artillery before, they had to wait for a long time before firing the second one, which caused trouble to everyone. It created an illusion, as if on the battlefield at this moment, only the infantry and the cavalry of the Ming Army were fighting, and the artillery and other troops were just watching the show.
But the actual situation is not like this. Every time the battalion artillery unit fires, it will take away the lives of many Ming army cavalry. So far, most of the casualties of the Ming army cavalry are caused by the artillery unit.
At this time, if there is a wise general among the Ming cavalry, their first choice of combat goal is not to attack the first infantry battalion and the infantry in the baggage regiment, but to bypass the infantry and then attack the artillery of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. The position, whether it is a battalion artillery unit or a heavy artillery unit, as long as it can rush in, the artillery unit of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty will be destroyed.
To put it bluntly, the Ming army won half of this battle!
Of course, the Tang Dynasty New Army also knew the fragility of the artillery. There were spearmen defending the front of the artillery position, and their only mission in this battle was to protect it.
The artillery force also has its own musketeers.
There are more than a hundred people in an artillery team, half of whom are not artillerymen, but musketeers. Their mission is only one, and that is to protect the artillerymen and artillery!
In addition, there is an artillery transport team in the artillery unit. Although this unit is not a professional combat unit, it can be pulled up to protect the artillery at critical moments.
What's more, if the Ming army's cavalry wants to rush over to their artillery position, they must first pass through the interception of the first infantry battalion and the baggage regiment!
Li Xuan and Hao Bainian were not stupid, and they would not foolishly leave the artillery position alone and let the enemy cavalry attack.
The charge of the Ming army's cavalry was naturally watched by the senior civil and military officials of the Ming army. After Lord Long saw that his cavalry overwhelmed the first infantry square of the puppet Tang rebel army, the smile on his face became even stronger. !
The rat-bearded old man Qianhu next to him also complimented him in a timely manner: "Congratulations, sir, congratulations, sir. In this battle, this bandit army has obviously been defeated. I believe that it will not take a moment for the bandit army to collapse!"
However, at this moment, the battle between the Ming Army cavalry and the 1st Infantry Battalion, which was extremely concerned by the senior generals of both sides, was not as tragic as outsiders imagined!
This is mainly because the charging Ming army cavalry did not act in unison. Some cavalrymen tried to charge directly and tear the infantry square of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. Most of the cavalrymen who did this were cavalrymen holding spears. .
But there was also a cavalryman who started to turn his horse's head, then took out his bow and arrow and tried to shoot an arrow on the horse's back!
Some even simply turned over and dismounted, bowing and shooting arrows directly on the ground!
Logically speaking, this scene should not have occurred. It does not mean that it is not good for the army to directly charge in hand-to-hand combat, mount fire, or dismount and fight on foot, but it means that these Ming troops did not have a clear and unified command.