Three hundred and ninetieth chapters a huge retreat
Whether it is infantry or cavalry, whether it is an ancient army or a modern army, unified command is crucial, otherwise the troops will fall into fighting independently, or even chaos.
The current cavalry of the Ming Army clearly lacks unified command!
After more than 1,500 cavalry rushed up in a chaotic manner, almost every cavalry group made a slightly different choice.
The Ming cavalrymen who charged forward with spears or sabers thought that their comrades behind them would follow and charge with them.
The cavalrymen who dismounted and fought on foot thought that the others would also dismount, and then approached the pseudo-Tang rebels step by step.
Those cavalrymen who bent their bows directly on horseback thought that other cavalrymen were as skilled in bowing and horseback as they were and could achieve accurate mounted shooting.
As a result, the Ming cavalry inside made different choices, so that some people charged directly, some dismounted and fought on foot, and some rode on horseback with bows and arrows.
This resulted in a rather tragic result: a small number of Ming army cavalry who rushed forward were immediately killed by the spears of the 1st Infantry Battalion!
Some of the cavalry who dismounted and bent their bows or fought on foot were scattered by their comrade-in-arms cavalry in the rear, and some were shot dead by the musketeers of the puppet Tang rebel army.
As for those cavalry who were able to play mounted archery, they yelled at their comrades that they were a bunch of cowards, then turned around and started to circle around!
However, these cavalry were only the cavalry on the inner perimeter, and the more Ming cavalry on the outside actually did not really get close, because there were more than a thousand Ming cavalry. How could they all rush to the first infantry battalion in a swarm.
Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, more than a thousand cavalry of the Ming Army had already swamped the First Infantry Battalion. However, at this time, the Ming Army's cavalry could only be regarded as surrounding the First Infantry Battalion, and it was still completely surrounded.
, but there is a distance of twenty or thirty meters between the two sides.
The Ming army cavalry launched various tactical attacks at this distance. As mentioned before, some people wanted to rush forward, some dismounted and bent their bows to shoot arrows, and some people shot arrows on horseback.
Some people want to go around it, but there are all kinds of people.
And this caused even greater confusion among the Ming cavalry!
The orders issued by various officers are different and even conflict with each other!
Although the Ming Army cavalry in the inner circle surrounded the First Infantry Battalion of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, they rushed forward, not to mention breaking up the formation of the First Infantry Battalion.
The Ming army cavalry on the periphery began to circle around. They bypassed the first infantry battalion, and then ran towards the three infantry square formations composed of the Datang New Army's baggage regiment and other units not far away.
The phalanx formed by the troops of the baggage regiment is also a square formation, but the baggage troops do not have many musketeers, so they can only rely on passive defense with spears. There are not many musketeers who shoot, and more musketeers
Or rely on archers to bend their bows and shoot arrows.
But even though the baggage regiment has fewer musketeers and weaker combat effectiveness, its three infantry phalanxes and the first infantry battalion work together to form a mutually coordinated infantry super phalanx, and the Ming army's cavalry is there
Shuttle back and forth between these square formations.
Try to make a breakthrough!
But it is a pity that the spears of these phalanxes are enough to make any Ming army cavalry afraid, and horses are also living creatures, and they will instinctively stop or go around when they look at the spears in front of them.
Unless the knight forces the horse to charge forward!
A direct hand-to-hand charge did not occur, so the Ming army could only dismount and fight on foot. Some people held up shields and tried to get closer, and some people bent their bows and shot arrows.
Some Ming cavalrymen also bowed and shot arrows on horseback!
It has to be said that these Ming army arrows also caused certain casualties to the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, but their own casualties were even greater!
They did not dare to charge forward, but exchanged fire at a distance of twenty or thirty meters. In this kind of exchange of fire, the new army of the Tang Dynasty had a huge advantage.
Although the fire rate of the muskets of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty is not high, they can shoot continuously, and the hit rate at this distance is extremely high. More importantly, they are extremely powerful. One shot can often hit the enemy and cause damage to the enemy.
Fatal casualties, even if these Ming troops were wearing heavy armor.
However, at this distance, the bows and arrows of the Ming army did some damage to the new army of the Tang Dynasty, but they did not do much damage to the backbone of the phalanx, that is, the heavily armored spearmen.
After all, these spearmen were wearing heavy armor, and most of the bows and arrows used by the Ming army's cavalry were light bows. Needless to say, those riding skills were far less powerful than the infantry bow, and even the cavalry who dismounted and fought took out infantry bows.
A bow is used for archery, but most of the arrows shot are light arrows.
There are many types of arrows, including heavy arrows specifically designed to break armor, light arrows designed for range, and many other types.
As for heavy arrows, because they are relatively heavy, if you want to have range and power, the strength of the bow is relatively high, and you generally need a strong bow.
The strong bow also has relatively high requirements for archers. Archers who are not physically strong enough will not be able to pull it at all!
Naturally, these Ming army cavalry cannot be strong archers. In fact, they are not even professional archers. They are cavalry, or mounted infantry, and archery is not their strong point.
For these cavalry, dismounting and fighting on foot is actually their strength!
But it is a pity that if you dismount and fight on foot, if you want to rush forward and face such a dense forest of spears, you are basically courting death.
When the two sides were in such a stalemate, casualties also increased rapidly. The New Army of the Tang Dynasty suffered a lot of casualties, and the cavalry of the Ming Army was not much better either.
Soon, corpses fell one after another in front of both sides!
Most of the casualties on the side of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were caused by arrows, while the cavalry of the Ming Army suffered mostly casualties due to being shot by guns and cannons. In addition, a small number of people were shot and killed by archers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
However, its most important casualties were actually caused by the artillery of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty!
About ten battalion guns and ten heavy guns were aimed at these Ming cavalry!
Each round of shelling would knock down a large number of Ming army cavalry!
Over at the First Infantry Battalion, the spearmen in formation remained motionless. Many of them did not even look straight ahead to see the Ming cavalry. Their only task was to hold the spears in their hands and remain motionless.
, the cavalry who were on guard against the Ming army rushed forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
The rest basically has nothing to do with them!
As for the musketeers, they were very busy. At this moment, the musketeer officers had already ordered free fire. Although free fire could not form a very threatening volley, it was to increase the rate of fire as much as possible.
speed.
After all, the shooting speed of soldiers is not uniform. Some veterans reload very fast, while some recruits are much slower. In the same time, veterans can fire three shots, but recruits can only fire two shots.
The musketeers were busy loading and then firing, mechanically and rigidly. When one of them fell down after being hit by a bow and arrow, the musketeers in the back row would step up expressionlessly to fill the gap, and then continue to load and fire.
His movements, until he was hit and fell down, were the same as those of his comrades who were already lying silently at his feet!
As the musketeers continued to fire, the Ming cavalry on the opposite side also suffered more and more casualties, and more importantly, now they not only had to face the shooting of the first infantry battalion, but also the baggage regiment.
The three core infantry phalanxes were also fighting the Ming cavalry.
More importantly, the artillery in the rear never stopped firing!
Under this situation, the casualties of the Ming army's cavalry increased rapidly, from dozens of cavalry dead and wounded at the beginning to hundreds, and then to more than two hundred.
At this time, their casualty rate had exceeded ten percent, and this casualty rate had almost reached the limit that an ordinary army could bear.
Without anyone taking the lead or giving orders from the officers above, the Ming cavalry on the front line began to involuntarily distance themselves.
But there is actually no use in moving from a distance of twenty or thirty meters to a distance of fifty or sixty meters. The powerful power of the musket can penetrate their armor!
What's more, the distance between the four infantry phalanxes in which the New Army of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Army's cavalry are fighting is only about a few dozen to a hundred meters. The Ming Army's cavalry rushed into the air raids between these phalanxes, but they were also
This means that you will be attacked from two sides, and there is no way to retreat. You must either turn around and return, or bite the bullet and continue to rush out.
No matter which choice they make, they will not be able to avoid the attack from the new army of the Tang Dynasty in a short period of time!
At this time, it fully demonstrated the great defensive capabilities of the square formation of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty in the face of cavalry attacks.
But a four-corner square formation is nothing, but if there are three or even four such square formations combined, then with mutual cooperation and combat support, those cavalry who dare to rush into the air attack between the infantry square formations will basically
The city was attacked from multiple sides, resulting in heavy casualties.
The end point of the development of this kind of square square is actually pure musketeers, and it is also a hollow square formed by fusiliers and musketeers. And the hollow square is a great weapon to restrain cavalry!
Today, the new army of the Tang Dynasty used this kind of four-cornered square formation specifically to defend against cavalry charges for the first time today. Although the effect displayed may not be as good as a pure hollow square formation, it is not bad. At least it makes the cavalry lose their temper.
.
Now these Ming Army cavalry faced the four square infantry square formations of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, and they felt a sense of embarrassment that was hard to swallow!
I wanted to rush forward, but I knew at a glance that the forest of spears was not easy to mess with. I wanted to go around behind and encircle them in a dispersed manner, but the phalanx of the puppet Tang rebel army was different from the traditional infantry phalanx.
It is not simply targeting one side, but facing enemies on all sides. More importantly, these four square formations can also cooperate with each other to fight. If the cavalry passes through the middle of the square formation, it will be flanked by two or even three sides. It feels like that, let alone
How bad.
Under such circumstances, staying here has no effect at all except increasing casualties!
At this time, not only the ordinary cavalry wanted to retreat quietly, but even the cavalry generals saw something was wrong and had already begun to shrink their troops and then retreated with them.
Seeing that the friendly troops had withdrawn, the other Ming cavalry units naturally did not stay where they were and waited to die, and naturally followed suit and retreated quickly.
Hence, these Ming army cavalry came with great force and left with great force!
Except for leaving a large area of dead and wounded on both sides on the ground where the two sides fought, nothing has changed. Everything is back to the way it was before they charged!