After the Ming army's defense line wavered, or even a gap appeared, the morale of the Ming army soldiers became even lower, and they had no intention of resisting at all.
These Ming soldiers looked at the spears approaching behind them. How dare they stay there? They all rushed to escape one after another. Those who could not escape in time were dug into a hornet's nest by the spears from behind.
At this time, Zeng Ziwen, who was watching the battle from behind, said with joy on his face: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations, Your Majesty, the enemy army has been shaken and is about to collapse!"
Li Xuan naturally saw this scene. Under the charge of his own spears and bayonets, the front rows of many Ming army formations had all collapsed, and this collapse was spreading to the Ming army soldiers in the rear. As long as the front line troops continue to
If you work harder, you can completely defeat the opponent.
It's a pity that I don't have a second cavalry on hand now. If I have cavalry, it doesn't need to be more. Then two or three hundred cavalry can attack completely and completely collapse the enemy's defense line in the shortest time, followed by a large number of casualties.
them.
If there were still two to three hundred heavily armored lancers, it would be even more perfect!
However, even if Li Xuan thought so, the new army of the Tang Dynasty would not be able to obtain a large number of cavalry in a short period of time, especially lancers wearing heavy armor.
At present, the cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty are not equipped with armor. This is not only because armor is relatively scarce in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, but also because of the nature of the cavalry in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
At present, the cavalry in the new army of the Tang Dynasty are basically all light cavalry. Their main tasks are to detect and harass the enemy. When they need to charge in formation, they can use their speed to tear through the enemy's defense line. Once it is torn,
Behind the enemy's defense line, you can also use speed to harvest a large number of enemy lives!
They are born for speed and have no use for it, and it is impossible to equip them with armor!
In terms of their equipment and the nature of their tasks, the current cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty are actually very similar to the European hussars of the same period. In other words, they are a kind of hussars.
The previous charge battle with the Ming army was a very typical example of hussar combat. They used speed to tear through the enemy cavalry defense line twice, and did not stop during the charge, but continued to maintain rapid maneuvers, and then killed a large number of people.
enemy.
Of course, to use this tactic, it is best to maintain a dense formation and launch in a wall charge formation!
And if you want to simply charge in hand-to-hand combat, it is actually better to use armored cavalry specifically for charge combat. These armored cavalry can be equipped with sabers and muskets, as well as sabers and cavalry lances.
With the development of muskets, the protective effect of full-body armor on cavalry became worse and worse. In the end, full-body armor was simply abandoned and replaced with breastplates. At this time, the famous cuirassiers appeared. Well, in fact, after the flintlock musket
When it appears, the protective ability of the breastplate is actually almost non-existent, and its function is just to add a little comfort to the soldiers.
So in late modern times, around the 19th century, cavalry basically evolved into light cavalry, and armor became a thing of the past!
However, the development process of this kind of cavalry is closely related to the development of infantry!
At present, the main enemy of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty is the Ming Army. Their firearms level is not very good. If the cavalry wears armor, it can still play a huge role. However, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty cannot provide so much armor to equip the cavalry. At the same time,
If the cavalry wears armor, it is considered a heavy cavalry, and the requirements for horses are quite high.
Unfortunately, there are currently no war horses suitable for heavy cavalry in the new army of the Tang Dynasty!
Weapons such as cavalry spears can also be equipped in a short period of time, but they can only be equipped on a small scale and are not suitable for large-scale promotion at present, because if we look at the development history of cavalry in modern times, with the large number of infantry equipped with spears and infantry
After the musket is also equipped with a bayonet, the effectiveness of the cavalry lance on the battlefield will quickly decrease.
Why, because cavalry spears are much shorter than infantry spears. The standard for European cavalry spears is about 2.7 meters. If it is too long, it will be difficult to fight effectively.
However, the greatest role of cavalry in modern times is to fight against musketry and infantry phalanxes, because the infantry's muskets are not as long as cavalry spears even if they are equipped with bayonets. However, if they are used against pure spears and infantry phalanxes, their effectiveness is limited.
It’s not too big. The Ming army didn’t have muskets. Could it be possible that they didn’t have spears?
Under this circumstance, the cavalry abandoned their long spears and switched to sabers as their main cold weapons. At the same time, they began to gradually replace muskets, especially pistols, as their main weapons. This became an inevitable and logical thing in historical development.
Therefore, the cavalry in Li Xuan's mind in the future will still be mainly hussars and musketeers. The former will conduct reconnaissance, harassment, and rapid charge.
The musketry cavalry's combat method uses semi-rotational tactics, which simply means: charge, shoot, retreat, charge again, shoot, retreat, and so on.
It is somewhat similar to the Eastern Cavalry's mounted archery in combat methods, but the two are completely different concepts of arms. This difference is not just about the weapons they use, but also the different tactical concepts.
Taking into account the situation of the Tang Dynasty itself and the situation of the Ming army, Li Xuan believed that the new army of the Tang Dynasty needed to develop cavalry on a large scale, and it would be best to develop hussars and musketeers.
The main reason is that these two types of cavalry do not have high requirements for horses. Even the horses in the southwest can be used reluctantly. It would be better if a large number of Mongolian horses can be obtained in the future.
If there are more horses in the future, you can also play dragoons, um, that is, infantry that marches on horseback. The only advantage of this kind of dragoon is that it has the ability to maneuver quickly. With such a dragoon, it can greatly improve the overall performance of the horse.
Tang Xinjun’s rapid maneuverability.
It's just that even though these types of cavalry are cheap compared to other cavalry, it is still difficult for the new army of the Tang Dynasty to expand the size of the cavalry!
This is not just a matter of price, but the new army of the Tang Dynasty cannot get too many horses, even just southwestern horses.
Li Xuan was thinking at this time that after this battle was over, he might be able to capture hundreds of horses and capture hundreds of Ming army cavalry. By then, he might be able to expand the number of cavalry by several hundred more.
But this is all for the future. Now, he still has no cavalry on hand. The cavalry led by Cao Mingda is currently chasing the fleeing Ming army cavalry. Although they have not gone out of sight, they have fled more than a thousand
It's too late and it's impossible to come back to support infantry operations in a short time.
Moreover, Li Xuan also needed Cao Mingda's cavalry troops to continue chasing the Ming army's cavalry, without giving the Ming army's cavalry a chance to stop and integrate.
Otherwise, the Ming Army cavalry would become a new threat. It was difficult to defeat the Ming Army cavalry, and it was absolutely impossible to give them a chance to reintegrate.
Even though there was no cavalry, the First Infantry Regiment and the Chinese Army Commandos did not disappoint Li Xuan. The square formation they formed had greatly shaken the Ming army's defense line, and this kind of shaking was one step away from complete collapse.
remote.
When the First Infantry Battalion of the First Infantry Regiment also launched a bayonet charge, this unit, the most powerful force in the new army of the Tang Dynasty, penetrated the Ming army's defense line without any pause, and was the first to achieve a breakthrough on the entire front.
The breakthrough of the 1st Infantry Battalion also announced the beginning of the complete collapse of the Ming army's flank defense line!
One phalanx after another began to collapse, and then the soldiers of the Ming army began to turn around and flee, so that if you look down from a high altitude, you will find that the mountains and plains are full of fleeing soldiers of the Ming army.
Behind these fleeing soldiers, there was the infantry phalanx of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, whose formation was somewhat scattered, but still maintained a neat formation.
At this time, the spearmen, who were the backbone of the melee combat, were already unable to move quickly and were unable to pursue quickly. They were gradually left behind by the musketeers, so that in the subsequent pursuit operations, the musketeers became the main force.
However, the spearmen who were left behind at this time had also completed their mission. They tore apart the Ming army's defense line, causing the Ming army's defense line to completely collapse. The subsequent pursuit and killing mission was no longer theirs.
When the Ming Army's flanks collapsed, it soon affected the Ming Army's center and rear troops!
When you see all the friendly troops around you starting to run away, it will be difficult for you to maintain the courage to continue resisting!
As a result, the Ming army formations collapsed one after another!
In the central position of the Ming army, Qianhu, the old man with a rat beard, saw that his army had begun to collapse completely, and when this collapse situation was simply unstoppable, he couldn't help but said: "Sir, we... what should we do?"
Although he wanted to say it in his heart, he still did not dare to say anything about retreating and running away.
However, at this moment, Master Long suddenly sighed deeply!
Ever since the cavalry troops were defeated and chased by two to three hundred cavalrymen of the Puppet Tang Bandit Army, he had already anticipated the current situation, but even though he had anticipated the occurrence of this situation, he still had no solution.
He couldn't even order a retreat!
Because the two sides had officially entered the stage of close combat at that time. After the order to retreat was issued, although there might be some strategies such as alternating cover and cutting off the rear, it would be damning if it could be realized.
From ancient times to the present, few armies have been able to withdraw from the battlefield safely and orderly during large-scale battles. Often, after the order to retreat is given, it doesn't take long for the entire army to collapse.
This is more terrifying than the rout caused by the enemy breaking through the defense line!
So from that moment on, although he expected the scene in front of him, he did not make any reaction because he knew that it was too late to do anything now!
After sighing deeply, he said: "I'm ordering all the troops to retreat. Let's leave it to fate if we can escape!"
After saying that, he put aside the support of the rat-bearded old man Qianhu, then got on his horse with the help of his soldiers, and left the battlefield with hundreds of his soldiers without looking back.
The rat-bearded old man Qianhu behind him saw that he still dared to stay there. He immediately mounted his horse and chased after him. The other Ming army generals also chased after him without hesitation.
This battle can be defeated, but they cannot die here, and it is indeed unlikely that they will die here.
Their position is at the rear of the battlefield. Even if the troops collapse, if they leave now, it will be the first time they have withdrawn from the battlefield.
After they leave the battlefield safely, gather up the defeated troops, maybe they can fight again.
As for how many defeated troops can be collected, it depends on whether God will give him face, or whether he will give face to the new army of the Tang Dynasty!