Many generals of the Ming Army who fought against the Tang Army actually had no feeling about the strict formation of the Tang Army. They just thought that their military discipline was relatively strict.
I was at best a little surprised by the artillery of the puppet Tang rebel army, even the heavy artillery, because artillery was not unusual, and the Ming army itself was equipped with many bowl-mouthed cannons.
Not to mention that in order to rush on the road, the Second Infantry Regiment did not bring the heavy artillery from the Second Artillery Battalion at all. It only had six battalion cannons weighing 150 kilograms. This kind of battalion cannon was not available in the Ming Army.
It's just a bowl-mouthed cannon, which they have seen before.
As for the muskets, this thing is a bit weird, but in their opinion, since they have archers, they are not too weak in a fight.
They rarely consider how powerful the fighting power is when these are combined!
So these did not shock them too much!
But there is one weapon that will definitely make them open their mouths immediately, and that is the grenade!
When the grenadiers continuously threw grenades and exploded in the array of their own troops, the scene was enough to shock every Ming army general!
At that time, Song Zhiwen, Master Shen, and Zhu Zhihai were all shocked by the explosive bombs of the puppet Tang rebel army.
However, before they could figure out how to avoid or restrain such explosive attacks by the puppet Tang rebels, their own troops would often completely collapse.
Regardless of Cen Xiong's reaction, the Second Infantry Regiment of the Tang Army, which had entered the final stage of the counterattack, could not stop at this time.
The pikemen have already raised their spears and are preparing to launch the final charge, the musketeers are preparing for the final volley, and the grenadiers continue to drop bombs!
Their bombing has not ended yet. Usually, if the situation is small, they will continuously throw two or even three or even four rounds of grenades, using intensive grenade explosions to completely defeat the Ming army on the opposite side!
When three rounds of grenades exploded one after another in the Ming army's array, the smoke completely filled the Ming army's array, so much so that the soldiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty could not even see clearly what was happening to the Ming army on the opposite side.
However, at this time, the officers of the Musketeers also gave orders!
"aim!"
"shooting!"
After the last round of shooting was fired, it was also the most powerful salvo!
The officers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, regardless of whether they were battalion commanders or captains, were already holding their command swords high and shouting: "Charge!"
"The King of the Tang Dynasty is invincible in every battle!"
"The grenadiers will fight to the death!"
After the order for the entire army to charge was given, the musketeers with bayonets and the heavy-armored spearmen rushed forward one by one with a steady and fast pace!
At this moment, behind the Ming army's formation, Cen Xiong still had a look of surprise on his face. Just now, he watched his troops fall in batches with his own eyes.
Before they could actually rush in front of the Pseudo-Tang thief army on the opposite side, they were already being killed in pieces by the Pseudo-Tang thief army's firearms!
This battle was completely beyond his understanding!
In a war, shouldn't everyone rush forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat? In the end, the soldiers who are extremely brave and fight to the death successfully defeat the enemy?
Why haven't we really rushed forward? Our own troops have already suffered heavy casualties!
In the violent explosion and subsequent volleys just now, it is conservatively estimated that at least two hundred more Ming soldiers fell, and most of these Ming soldiers were front row soldiers.
The front row of soldiers of the Ming army were all soldiers armed with spears and used for hand-to-hand combat. Behind these front row soldiers were some ordinary sword and shield bearers, crossbowmen and swordsmen. These people were usually used to assist.
The front row of spearmen.
Now that all the spearmen in the front row are almost dead, how can the remaining auxiliary troops behind the front row be able to block the dense forest of spears and bayonets in the front row!
They did not continue to charge as before, but looked around blankly on the battlefield. Many of them did not even know what happened, but they saw countless comrades in the front row falling in pieces.
Even if they wanted to charge forward, how could they, armed only with short weapons, engage in hand-to-hand combat with the countless spears and muskets with bayonets on the opposite side?
This is another close-quarters melee, but a head-on battle in which both armies form a formation. In this case, the power of the heavy armored spearmen will be brought into full play.
As for a soldier holding a short weapon, even a heavy armored sword and shield soldier would not be as effective as a light armored sword and shield soldier in such a head-on confrontation.
Because the large group of spearmen on the opposite side will not give you a chance to rush up and fight in close combat!
This kind of head-on confrontation in which the two sides formed a tight formation basically stabbed each other with spears. The competition was about the courage of both sides and the quality of the protective equipment, and of course the tightness of the formation.
However, the spearmen in the front row of these Ming army soldiers have almost been killed and wounded. How can the remaining group of sword and shield soldiers, crossbowmen and short swordsmen fight against the Tang army in front of them?
At this time, courage can no longer make up for their tactical disadvantage!
So most of them didn't dare to rush forward!
Occasionally, a few Ming soldiers wearing heavy armor would rush forward screaming, trying to avoid the spears, and then initiate close combat and open a gap for subsequent friendly forces.
But as soon as they rushed out, they were stabbed by the dense spears on the opposite side and turned into a hornet's nest!
However, this is a battlefield, and the advancement of the Tang Army will not stop because the Ming army stalls. In fact, when the infantry phalanx of the Tang Army launches a counterattack, the only way to stop them is
There are two possibilities, one is to defeat the enemy and win, and the other is that one's own side is defeated and retreated. Otherwise, it will not be able to stop at all.
Because when the entire army launched a charge, the senior generals at the rear were actually no longer able to maintain effective control over the troops at the front.
The red-eyed soldiers would look to see if they should retreat or move. They only saw the enemy in front of them!
The infantry phalanx of the Tang Army, which was marching in neat steps and lined up in a tight formation, soon counterattacked to the front of the Ming army's formation, and what followed was constant stabbing without any technical content!
Whenever the tip of a spear is stained red with blood, it means that it has stabbed a Ming soldier!
When most of the spearheads of the spearmen in the front row were stained red with blood, there were already hundreds of dead and wounded Ming soldiers on the ground!
And the Tang Army's counterattack continues!
But what is even more surprising is that after these Ming troops suffered such heavy casualties, they still did not completely collapse!
reason?
The reason is very simple. In the tactics of the soldiers, there has never been such a thing as retreat. They always push forward in battles, regardless of whether the comrades in the front row or the enemy are killed.
The soldiers in the front row actually wanted to escape despite the heavy casualties, but it was not that they did not want to retreat, but that they simply did not know how to retreat. As for the front row, they turned around and fled, while the Ming soldiers in the back row continued to advance.
Well, as soon as you turned around, you bumped into the swords and guns of your comrades behind you!
As a result, these three thousand soldiers of the Ming Army were like waves, constantly crowding up from behind, and then fell under the infantry phalanx of the Tang Army!
This situation lasts for tens of seconds or a minute, which is normal, but if it continues for several minutes, it is absolutely abnormal!
Li Chunjing saw that although the soldiers on the front line had killed many enemies, the front line was no longer advancing and instead fell into a strange stalemate. When the casualties of the front line soldiers also appeared one after another and became more and more, he finally gave the order:
: "The second cavalry battalion is ordered to charge towards the enemy's rear formation! Cooperate with the infantry to attack the puppet Ming rebels from the front and back!"
Although judging from the situation on the battlefield, his Second Infantry Regiment has a comprehensive advantage, and the ratio of casualties between the enemy and ourselves is even more than ten to one, but if the fight continues like this, he is also worried about reaching a stalemate.
If you win, I'm afraid you will also suffer relatively heavy casualties!
The Battle of Rongxian was only the first battle of his Second Infantry Regiment in Guangxi. They must not suffer excessive casualties here, as this would seriously affect subsequent combat missions.
When his Second Infantry Regiment went south, its strategic goal was not to stop at Rong County, or even Liuzhou, but Wuzhou, even Zhaoqing and even Guangzhou!
In order to avoid unnecessary casualties as much as possible, he ordered the Second Cavalry Battalion to launch an attack!
The Second Cavalry Battalion was originally on the right wing. After seeing the flag order from Li Chunjing, the commander of the Second Cavalry Battalion, Major Lu Yuzhi, immediately got on his horse and ordered to his subordinates: "Everyone mount up!"
Suddenly, one hundred and fifty cavalrymen got on their horses!
"Draw the sword!"
While speaking, Lu Yuzhi also took the lead in pulling out his saber and holding it up with the back of the saber leaning on his shoulder!
A group of cavalry under his command also drew their sabers at the same time!
"Goose-step!"
Lu Yuzhi issued the command again. At this time, the messenger beside him also slowly blew the horn in his hand!
After the gentle horn sounded, the cavalry began to urge the horses to advance slowly!
At this time, the one hundred and fifty cavalry were roughly divided into two queues, one in front and one behind. The cavalry in the front was about a hundred cavalry, and the cavalry in the rear was about fifty cavalry. There was about twenty or thirty meters between them.
distance!
On the left side of the middle of these two square formations, there is the deputy battalion commander of the second battalion and two messengers holding horns!
Lu Yuzhi rode at the front with his head held high, and behind him were the messengers and several officers!
At the rear, there is an array of cavalry advancing in neat formation!
After crossing dozens of meters, Lu Yuzhi ordered again: "trot forward!"
Suddenly, the messenger's horn began to sound urgent, rapid and rhythmic!
However, at this time, Li Chunjing on the hill behind frowned: "Lu Yuzhi, what's going on? Why did he go towards the enemy's flank formation? I asked them to attack the enemy's rear formation and cooperate with me."
The army is attacking from both front and rear!"
At this time, a staff officer also showed a worried look: "The cavalry battalion is charging in the wrong direction. The enemy still has a complete infantry square formation on the west side. I am afraid that if we rush over..."
"Damn it, how did you pass the order?" Li Chunjing frowned!
When a flagman on the side saw this scene, his face turned extremely pale. No one knew better than him. When he gave the order just now, he mistakenly said 'rear formation' as 'flank'!"
"Commander, tell Lu Yuzhi immediately to tell his cavalry to stop charging!"