The cavalry of the Ming Army retreated, and the infantry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty remained indifferent and watched the retreat of the cavalry of the Ming Army. It was already quite good for these infantry to be able to defend against the impact of the cavalry of the Ming Army. Even so, they actually suffered heavy casualties.
The First Infantry Battalion, which bore the brunt of the attack, suffered no less than fifty or sixty casualties, and this number was actually quite a heavy casualty figure for an infantry battalion with only more than five hundred people.
If the other three infantry phalanxes are included, the combined casualties of the four infantry phalanxes of the Datang New Army in the short few minutes when they withstood the Ming Army's cavalry charge were almost more than 200 people.
However, even with such heavy casualties, they can still be regarded as outstanding military achievements. You must know that they are infantry. They fought against the Ming army's cavalry charge of 1,500 people and repelled the enemy's cavalry attack with only 200 casualties.
Moreover, it also caused the casualties of no less than two hundred Ming army cavalry.
This kind of achievement can be regarded as a great victory!
But this is only for the officers and ordinary soldiers of the first infantry and the baggage regiment, but for Li Xuan, this is still not enough!
Because the Ming army's cavalry is still there, it can still pose a serious threat to our own side!
The Ming army's cavalry, which killed and wounded two hundred people, was still 1,300 cavalry, and could still pose a great threat to one's own side on the battlefield!
Now that the Ming Army's cavalry retreated, Li Xuan was unwilling to let the Ming Army's cavalry escape safely. He wanted to expand the results of the battle, not to mention completely defeating the Ming Army's cavalry, but at least to take a serious bite out of it.
Come, only in this way can the pressure of subsequent operations be effectively reduced.
Immediately he sent an order: "Instruct the cavalry to attack and chase down the fleeing enemy cavalry!"
The flag messenger behind Li Xuan immediately waved the flag in his hand. In the direction of the cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, several hundred meters away, where the cavalry battalion and the guard battalion cavalry were located, Cao Mingda also saw several hundred meters away.
The messenger on the hillside waved the flag. As an officer, he has little education, but he still needs to master the basic flag language.
At this time, the flag messenger who was specially watching the flag flags of various departments on the battlefield also said loudly: "Report to the battalion commander, Your Majesty has a decree: order the cavalry to attack and chase down the fleeing enemy cavalry!".
When the messenger relayed the order, he did not dare to omit or add a word. Instead, he completely relayed Li Xuan's words.
Cao Mingda nodded immediately and said: "Reply: I obey the order!"
No matter that the flag messenger behind him began to wave the flag in reply, he had already mounted his horse and shouted: "Everyone: mount up!"
Because of the shortage of war horses in the new army of the Tang Dynasty, it was impossible to equip the cavalry with two horses or even three horses.
Therefore, in order to reduce the burden on the war horses, the cavalry actually do not ride the war horses for a long time. When marching, they always lead the horses and walk. Some cavalry are even reluctant to let their war horses carry their armor and weapons, but
Carry it yourself.
And when it comes to the battle stage, the war horses will be fed with concentrate in advance, and then try their best not to let the war horses engage in high-intensity exercise, let alone riding a horse.
And all of this is to preserve the physical fitness of the war horse to the greatest extent, so that the horse can exert its greatest combat effectiveness in battle!
Therefore, they also fight on horses, but ordinary officers do not have so many scruples when riding horses. They even ride horses when marching in peacetime, because ordinary officers do not need to charge on horses, and war horses are very important to them.
For them it is just a means of transportation.
However, full-time cavalry need to mount war horses to charge. The physical fitness of the war horses is more important than their own physical fitness!
So even if fighting started on the front line, the cavalrymen of the cavalry battalion and the cavalry battalion of the Guards Battalion actually led their horses into the battlefield slowly, and then stood there waiting for Li Xuan's order.
When Li Xuan's order was issued, they finally got on horseback for the first time in this large-scale battle!
After Cao Mingda got on his horse, the cavalry behind him also got on his horse in unison!
"Draw your sword!" Cao Mingda grabbed the reins with one hand, pressed his saber with one hand, and then drew the sword. Most of the others behind him also followed this tactical action.
Suddenly, bright sabers appeared in the cavalry queue. The sabers used by these cavalry were somewhat different from the cavalry of the Ming Army, and they were also different from the waist knives used by the infantry or the command sabers used by the officers.
The saber they used was designed by Li Xuan based on his impression of the sabers of later generations. The blade maintains an overall curvature and has a hand guard. The end of the handle is curved, and the most important point is its width.
The back is thin and the blade is actually heavier than an ordinary waist knife.
If you look at it from a distance, it is easy to confuse it with Japanese swords and waist swords, but in fact they are completely different types of swords!
This kind of knife is a typical knife used for cutting on horseback. It is the standard equipment of modern cavalry. Even in the 21st century, the sabers used by cavalry are still this style of saber. At most, the details are slightly different.
.
After the cavalrymen pulled out their sabers, they did not scream and wave the sabers, but put them on their shoulders. Before charging with the musketeers, they did not hold the muskets flat, but held the tail of the muskets with their hands.
The gun body is placed on the shoulder. In layman's terms, it means carrying the gun!
This will help save energy and prevent accidental injuries during the advance. Whether it is a saber or a bayonet on a musket, they are very sharp. If you are not careful during the march, you can easily stab the soldiers in the front row.
That's a big hole to poke. Of course, after entering the battle, you won't care whether there will be accidental injuries.
Carrying sabers, these cavalrymen wearing long leather boots advanced slowly on horseback!
But they didn't walk like this for long, because soon Cao Mingda gave the order: "trot forward!"
In an instant, this cavalry of only more than 300 people increased their speed. Although its momentum was not as huge as when the Ming army cavalry trotted forward, it was enough to attract the attention of most people on the battlefield, especially those observing the battlefield.
The senior generals from both sides who came up could see at a glance the cavalry unit that was already trotting to speed up the final charge, and it wouldn't take long for them to enter the final charge!
Cao Mingda, like the other cavalrymen under his command, sat neatly on the horse with his saber on his back, his whole body rising and falling with the running of the horse.
After starting to trot, the entire cavalry unit became faster and faster. At this time, they also crossed a distance of fifty or sixty meters, and in front of them were more than a thousand Ming Army cavalry who were retreating!
There is no doubt that Cao Mingda is preparing to lead his 300 cavalry to charge against the more than 1,000 Ming army cavalry, and it will be the most brutal kind of hand-to-hand charge!
Can he win? Cao Mingda doesn't know, will he die? He also doesn't know!
But he had no other choice, because Li Xuan had already given him an order. If he disobeyed, someone would immediately cut off his head and lead the cavalry charge in his place!
Countless horse hooves from the cavalry on both sides trampled on the ground, causing a rumbling sound of horse hooves, attracting the attention of the middle and senior generals on both sides on the entire battlefield. Then there were several infantry battalions on the front line who were fighting fiercely with the enemy infantry.
The captains and captains couldn't help but look back to the northwest, where the battle between the two cavalry was about to break out!
At this time, the Ming Army's cavalry apparently knew that they had seen the Datang New Army's cavalry coming from behind. At this time, the Ming Army's cavalry lacked unified command and was once again exposed.
There were about a dozen groups of cavalry, totaling six to seven hundred people, who broke away from most of them one after another, then changed their direction and galloped towards the direction of the cavalry attack of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. This was to take the initiative to fight.
But the remaining cavalry speeded up, and then headed towards the direction of their own central army without looking back. It cannot be said that they were timid, but that no one ordered them to meet the incoming puppet Tang rebel army.
Cavalry, they just act on instinct.
They did whatever the officers at the grassroots level ordered, and so many officers gave different orders, which caused the more than 1,300 cavalry to be divided into two, with one taking the initiative to face the cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
And one is continuing to retreat!
This change of the Ming Army cavalry made Cao Mingda feel happy. Originally, he had a certain death mentality and would bite off a large piece of flesh from the Ming Army cavalry no matter what, even if he suffered heavy casualties.
No matter what.
But now, these Ming army cavalry are actually divided into two. What is happening?
I don’t understand!
He didn't understand it himself. In fact, the Ming Army didn't understand it either. This was because after the Ming Army cavalry was divided into two, the two waves of cavalry quickly discovered something was wrong, and someone immediately tried to make adjustments.
Some of those who continued to retreat took cavalry around the bend and tried to come back for support, but some Ming cavalry who were originally going to meet the cavalry of the puppet Tang rebel army saw that the friendly troops did not follow them, and they did not want to fight alone, so they began to withdraw.
This coming and going made these Ming troops look even more confused!
When the Ming army retreated from the infantry phalanx of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, it was already quite chaotic, and more than two hundred people were killed and injured, so that morale was relatively low. Now that this kind of chaos has occurred again, the Ming army cavalry
It looks like a mess, with no order at all.
Seeing this scene, Cao Mingda's confidence increased unknowingly. When he saw that the distance was suitable for the final sprint, he almost stood up, relying solely on the stirrups on his feet to support his body.
Holding his saber high, he shouted: "Charge the whole army!"
"Come on!"
"The Tang Dynasty is invincible!"
"The Guards Battalion will fight to the death!"
Various slogans instantly rang out in the cavalry unit. At the same time, the cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty burst out of the embankment like a torrent and rushed towards the Ming Army cavalry on the opposite side!