Chapter 401 Go away, don't block the official escape
After Master Long withdrew from the battlefield with his soldiers and other Chinese generals, this also brought about a huge problem, that is, the remaining Ming army completely lost its command center.
Fighting in an era of underdeveloped communications, troop operations, especially such large-scale operations, are extremely dependent on flags, and the flags of the generals on both sides are even more important.
This is not only used to boost morale, but also has an irreplaceable command role. The presence of the commander's flag means that the subordinate generals and soldiers can find the backbone. When they look back, they can see their commander, but if they look back
If the commander's flag is no longer present, it means that the general has run away.
Yes, it’s not that he died, but that he ran away!
Because in the ancient army, after killing the general, there was no such thing as yelling that so-and-so was dead, and then the enemy army would collapse. People were fighting with the commander's flag. As for whether the general died or not, the ordinary soldiers below
I really don’t know. It’s impossible for you to say that the enemy’s general is dead means he’s really dead.
But if the handsome flag falls, it really means that the general is dead or has run away.
At this time, the army is equivalent to losing its command, and the fate of an army without unified command is predictable.
Just like the previous Ming army cavalry, they lacked unified command. Dozens of groups of cavalry basically fought in their own way. The fighting was extremely chaotic, and no one listened to anyone. But this is because they actually have a name.
Commander on top.
However, this commander was only temporary. The cavalry did not trust or even obey him. During the battle, this Ming cavalry general could not command other Ming cavalry subordinates at all. He could only command his headquarters and a small number of cavalry.
The cavalry of the Ming Army, which had a nominal commander under unified command, was like this. Now that the main infantry of the Ming Army has completely lost its commander, it is conceivable what kind of chaos will happen next.
And the most important thing is that as a civilian official, Mr. Long did not make detailed arrangements for the retreat like other professional generals, such as withdrawing which unit first and then which unit.
He just simply issued a retreat order. As for how to retreat? Come on, I am a genius in the imperial examination. If you ask me to memorize the Four Books and Five Classics and write an eight-legged article, there will be no problem at all.
But you asked me how to retreat, and my brain is showing you off. How could I possibly learn from those rude warriors? It is simply an insult to gentleness!
Get out of the way, don't stop me from escaping!
Master Long left sadly and despairingly, leaving behind the nearly 20,000 Ming army whose defense line had collapsed!
The defense line of this Ming army has completely collapsed, and it has lost its unified command. Several frontline generals are trying to reorganize, whether to resist or escape. But in this case, even if Zhao Zilong is
, if famous generals like Zhang Fei are brought out, the situation may not be restored.
The efforts of some senior Ming army generals on the front line turned out to be in vain. In the end, seeing that the situation was completely irreversible, they could only follow Lord Long and retreat with their soldiers. As for the ordinary soldiers, at this time
They have no control over the life and death of these people.
Anyway, for these senior generals, ordinary soldiers are actually cannon fodder, not to mention that more than half of the troops are young men and civilians recruited temporarily. Just take away the real core, that is, their own soldiers.
As many senior Ming army generals led their own troops to retreat, a complete collapse of the Ming army was staged.
In less than a moment, there was no organized resistance from the Ming army on the entire front. Whether it was senior generals or ordinary soldiers, everyone hated their parents for giving them two fewer legs and not running fast enough.
.
The collapse of the entire Ming army was also a test for the new army of the Tang Dynasty, because they wanted to keep these Ming armies as much as possible. Whether they killed them or captured them, they needed to give them away as much as possible.
Stay, otherwise, these broken troops will most likely be reorganized by the Ming army generals after they flee to the north.
When the time comes when these broken troops are reorganized, although their morale will not be too high, it will still be troublesome.
Therefore, when the Ming army completely collapsed, the new army of the Tang Dynasty also made corresponding tactical changes. From the previous extremely dense, the infantry square formation with the infantry battalion as the basic unit quickly dispersed to form a small square formation with the team as the basic unit.
Then began to hunt and capture Ming army soldiers.
Well, basically I was chasing him while shouting: "Don't kill if you disarm, kneel if you kneel, etc."
When the army completely collapsed, many Ming soldiers who could no longer escape would decisively drop their swords to save their lives, and then kneel on the ground and choose to surrender.
There will even be some middle and low-level officers leading dozens or hundreds of people to collectively choose to surrender, and even during the surrender process and afterward, they will help the new army of the Tang Dynasty maintain order among the prisoners.
This is due to the tradition of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty giving preferential treatment to prisoners. Many captives who surrendered to the Ming Army have mixed well in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. Many officers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty are actually officers of the Ming Army who surrendered in the early days.
And the most typical representative of this kind is Zeng Ziwen!
According to the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Ziwen had become a great traitor to the Ming Dynasty. He actually betrayed the court and joined the puppet Tang thief army. He also turned around and became a member of the puppet Tang thief army to fight against the Ming army. What's more,
The key thing is that Zeng Ziwen is still doing well with the puppet Tang rebel army, and it is said that he has been knighted.
Such Zeng Ziwen was the most dazzling guiding light in the eyes of many Ming army officers who were willing to surrender or were forced to surrender.
With the example of Zeng Ziwen, they would think that surrendering to the puppet Tang thief army might be a good choice. If you can't become a general of the Zhu family dynasty, being a general of the Li family dynasty is also good. Maybe you can also join one.
The title has been a centuries-old addiction to the founding heroes and wealthy families.
Surrendering after a defeat, and then joining the enemy forces to fight against the former friendly forces is not an unacceptable thing for many Ming armies. Well, not only for the Ming army, but actually for most ancient armies.
It's all very normal.
The New Army of the Tang Dynasty is no exception!
The reason why the New Army of the Tang Dynasty has not surrendered on a large scale is because the New Army of the Tang Dynasty has not encountered such a big defeat. Once it did, and if the Ming army could guarantee their lives, they would switch to the Ming army.
It’s also a matter of minutes.
As one group after another of Ming troops began to surrender, the number of Ming troops captured by the New Army of the Tang Dynasty also began to set new records.
Two thousand, three thousand...
By the time the total number of Ming troops who surrendered exceeded 5,000, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty could no longer find enough manpower to guard these prisoners, because at this time the New Army of the Tang Dynasty was still in a state of fighting.
The troops are chasing the fleeing Ming army ahead, and it is unlikely that too many people will be allocated to guard the prisoners and clean the battlefield!
In the end, we could only leave the tasks of taking in, guarding prisoners, and cleaning the battlefield to the Fifth Infantry Regiment, which had not participated in the battle much before.
The other troops continued to pursue and defeat the fleeing Ming army, and at the same time began to disperse in other directions to maintain vigilance and preparedness for the surrounding areas.
Chasing the enemy, taking in prisoners, cleaning the battlefield, and at the same time maintaining control over the surrounding areas, the new army of the Tang Dynasty, which already exceeded ten thousand people, felt that they did not have enough manpower, and the situation was once chaotic!
There was no way, the troops were too scattered, and the tasks were heavy. At this time, even Li Xuan, the commander-in-chief of the entire army, was busy and confused. It was extremely troublesome to command, and the same order even appeared and was passed on to two people.
An embarrassing incident for the army.
Fortunately, we are now in the final stage of the battlefield, rather than the most intense period of fighting, so there are no too serious consequences.
However, the difficulty of commanding in such a chaotic situation also gave Li Xuan the idea of finding ways to improve the command system, especially the communication method.
At this time, he missed having a radio command system very much. How wonderful it would be if there were dozens of walkie-talkies. Even if there were no walkie-talkies, it would be great if there were wireless telegraph machines!
Unfortunately, his idea is destined to be unrealizable, at least not until he lights up the radio technology tree.
Walkie-talkies did not appear until World War II, and military wireless telegraph machines that could move with troops were only used on a large scale during World War I.
Before this, many generals were trapped in a backward command system!
Many methods have been thought of for this purpose. Among them, the most effective short-distance battlefield command method is undoubtedly the traditional semaphore command. For slightly longer distances, orders can only be transmitted through messengers.
As for semaphore command, it is simple. To popularize semaphore, not only must there be a large number of professional semaphore soldiers, but middle and low-level officers must also understand semaphore.
However, the widespread use of messengers is more troublesome, because it involves a long-standing problem: the shortage of horses.
Within an army, the war horses ridden by the messengers are often the best, and are basically on the same level as the war horses ridden by senior generals.
For example, in the modern Japanese army, the highest priority was given to war horses, which were first supplied to senior generals and messengers, followed by artillery and cavalry.
Within Li Xuan's central military camp, the task of delivering orders to the subordinate troops was handled by the Guards Battalion. During this battle, there were more than twenty messengers who specifically delivered orders to the command center where Li Xuan was located.
There will also be many professional messengers in the subordinate units. If we count the total number, the number of professional messengers in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty can reach more than one hundred.
These more than one hundred people were constantly running between the various units, conveying various military information.
And these more than one hundred people represent the need for more than two hundred or more horses!
Especially for long-distance order transmission, in order to meet the deadline and ensure that the order can be delivered on time, the order soldiers often ride two or even three horses in rotation.
Without such an efficient command transmission system, it would have been impossible for Li Xuan to effectively command the Tang Dynasty's new army, which was scattered throughout the country and had expanded to more than 10,000 people.
However, even the existing size of the messenger army still cannot satisfy Li Xuan. If the scale of the new army of the Tang Dynasty continues to expand in the future and the territory it occupies becomes larger and larger, there will inevitably be a systematic command transmission system, that is,
Commonly known as the inn.
Without a post system, it would be difficult to effectively command troops that are getting larger and larger and occupy more and more territories.