The First Infantry Brigade in the troops going south was the only fully-manned main brigade in the Tang Army. The subordinate First Infantry Regiment and the Second Infantry Regiment each had three subordinate main battalions. Each battalion
The fifth team has half a team of archers, and its two reserve battalions each also have a team of archers!
The combined number of archers in these two infantry regiments is almost 700!
The five garrison battalions in the fifth garrison regiment also each have an archer team, with a total of more than 400 archers.
Well, most of the archers of the Tang Army were soldiers from the Ming Army!
At this time, due to the shooting range, some archers in the Tang army had not yet shot arrows. Even so, the number of archers shooting arrows at this time was more than that of the Ming army opposite!
The firepower composed of archers and musketeers was far more powerful than the Ming army's bow and arrow firepower, not to mention the Tang Army's more than ten shotguns that were firing continuously, and the heavy artillery in the rear did not stop either.
Through shelling.
The medium and long-range firepower of both sides are not at the same level at all!
As the distance came within a hundred meters, the casualties of the charging Ming army increased instantly. Even though they used bows, arrows and bowl-mouth cannons to kill some of the puppet Tang rebels on the opposite side, the comparison of casualties suffered by both sides was not in the same order of magnitude.
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This battle is impossible to fight!
At this time, many Ming army generals all looked towards the rear where Wei Yan was. They were waiting for Wei Yan to give the order to retreat!
When Wei Yan at the back saw this scene, he secretly sighed in his heart. He had already suffered heavy casualties before he even rushed forward. If he continued to fight, he might be wiped out like the three thousand soldiers in Rong County.
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Well, anyway, I let the troops fight it, and there was nothing I could do about it, so I could barely explain it after I got back.
Immediately he said: "The soldiers have done their best, please call back the troops!"
After saying that, he nodded slightly to the soldiers around him, and then his soldiers got on their horses and quickly retreated towards the river while protecting Wei Yan!
After giving the retreat order, Wei Yan retreated, and he was the first person in the entire Ming army to retreat!
Wei Yan gave the order to retreat, and he was already running first. The Ming army generals in front would still stay where they were and continue to rush forward foolishly. If they continued to rush forward, it would not be the cannon fodder soldiers who would die, but the cannon fodder soldiers.
It's me.
Didn't you see that just now a commander ordered his fellow Puppet Tang thief army to be hit by a heavy artillery? It was so miserable, the whole person was out of shape, and he didn't even let out a single scream before he died. He was instantly hit by the heavy artillery.
Cannonball kills!
The senior Ming army generals who oversaw the formation quickly rode on their horses and retreated with their direct lineage soldiers!
At this time, no one cared about the ordinary soldiers of the Ming Army on the front line, especially the soldiers who were at the forefront!
Even if the retreat order has been given, it is not easy to retreat. They are only a hundred meters away from the puppet Tang rebel army, and behind them is a dense crowd of our own people. You can't escape even if you want to escape backwards.
Ever since, something more terrifying than collapse happened on the battlefield. The Ming soldiers in the front row wanted to run back, but the people behind them blocked their way to escape. What should they do? They pushed and pushed. A few of them became red-eyed.
The people even pointed their swords and guns at their own people who were blocking their way out!
As a result, some soldiers of the Ming Army did not die under the swords and guns of the puppet Tang rebels, but died under the swords of their own people. More people were pushed to the ground and trampled to death by countless people!
In less than a minute, the Ming army was completely in chaos. The thousands of Ming soldiers in the back row were fine, and they could turn around and run away immediately, but the Ming army soldiers who were rushing to the front were completely in chaos!
Seeing this, Hao Bainian naturally would not waste this opportunity, and immediately ordered: "Send the order, the whole army charges!"
At this time, a strong drummer behind him waved the big mallet in his hand and slammed it against the big drum in front of him!
Boom, boom, the rumble of drums sounded. At this time, there was no need for flag soldiers to convey orders. The officers on the front line also knew what to do. The officers at all levels on horseback each raised their command swords and shouted: "Come on!"
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"The Tang Dynasty is invincible!"
"Come for His Majesty!"
"Kill, kill them all!"
The infantrymen on the front line launched the final charge!
They chased the Ming army who had already turned around and fled, and even trampled them!
The infantrymen of the Tang Army who launched the all-out charge no longer cared about maintaining a tight formation. In fact, this kind of pursuit charge did not require maintaining a tight formation. They only had to rush up and face those who had turned around and fled.
The Ming army only needed a spear and a bayonet to stab it.
At the same time, Lu Yuzhi of the Second Cavalry Battalion also got on his horse and ordered: "Everyone is here, mount your horse!"
"Draw the sword!"
"Go slowly!"
"trot forward!"
After picking up the speed, Lu Yuzhi at the front pointed his sword forward and shouted: "Kill!"
An instant later, the entire cavalrymen of the Second Cavalry Battalion began to charge at full speed!
This cavalry bypassed its own infantry from the right side of the battlefield, also bypassed the last row of Ming soldiers, and rushed directly towards the fleeing Ming soldiers in front!
The dense and high-speed cavalry phalanx was instantly like a sharp blade, inserted into the broken troops at the rear of the Ming army. Wherever it went, the Ming army soldiers were either hit to death or killed by sabers!
In order to survive, some soldiers of the Ming Army even knelt down and tried to surrender and beg for mercy. However, the charging cavalry phalanx would not pay attention to these surrendering soldiers, nor would they go around them, but kept their own.
The charge!
Then they will crush all the enemies blocking them in front, regardless of whether they have surrendered or not!
This is not to say that the cavalry were unwilling to let go of the surrendered Ming soldiers, but when the cavalry launched a wall charge, the cavalry troops charged forward as a whole, and it was impossible to make a detour or even turn in the middle.
Without turning, they will keep rushing forward until they completely break through the enemy's array, and then fight their way out from the other end of the enemy's array!
Now, this is what Lu Yuzhi's cavalry did. They charged in from the flank of the Ming army's rear row, and then opened a huge passage. The dead and wounded of the Ming army soldiers lay along the way.
After they rushed over, the cavalry led by Lu Yuzhi still did not stop. Instead, they drew a large semicircle in the open space in front, then turned around and headed towards the Ming army's broken formation to fight again. But this time,
The direction of their charge is no longer on the opposite side, but on the back row of the Ming army!
Yes, their charging direction was consistent with that of the retreating Ming army, heading towards the river after all!
Those fleeing Ming troops had no intention of resisting when faced with the Tang cavalry chasing after them!
The Ming army has all retreated. If someone stops and turns around to fight against the pursuing cavalry of the puppet Tang rebel army, few comrades will stop with you to fight against the rebel cavalry. Others will beg you to block the rebel cavalry.
longer to give yourself more time to escape.
There is a river a few hundred meters ahead. As long as you get to the river and get on the boat, you will be safe!
This is the thought of many Ming army soldiers!
The whole army has begun to retreat. If you don't run away, you still stay and resist the rebels. Isn't this stupid?
As a result, although the main force behind them has not been able to catch up and cause many casualties to the Ming army, the second cavalry battalion is like being in no one's land. Every cavalry can simply and easily kill the Ming army escaping in front.
Army soldiers. What they had to do was very simple, they just lay down on the back of the horse, then gently waved the saber in their hands, and then slashed at the back of the fleeing Ming army soldiers.
You don't need to use much force, just carry it gently. Then the speed brought by the horse can give the saber great lethality.
The two hundred cavalry were like sharp swords, galloping among the defeated Ming army, killing all the Ming soldiers in front!
It was impossible for the Ming soldiers who were escaping in front to escape the pursuit of the cavalry. After all, two legs could not outrun four!
The Ming army that was escaping at the back saw that there was a cavalry of the pseudo-Tang rebel army in front of them. They dared to continue running forward. Soon, some people consciously scattered to both sides and fled.
Although it is said that it will be safe if you escape to the river and get on the boat, you still have to evade the cavalry of the puppet Tang rebel army first!
At this time, the Second Cavalry Battalion gave full play to the power of a light cavalry, and launched a charge at the most suitable time, entering the battlefield from the best entry point. The resulting damage was astonishing!
When they were in Rong County, the Second Cavalry Battalion paid a huge price to break through the enemy's infantry phalanx, but now, there is no enemy infantry phalanx in front of them to block them, and some are just
Countless enemy troops were routed with their backs exposed to them!
Now, what they want is very simple, that is to urge the horses to run forward, and then use their swords to kill every defeated Ming army soldier along the way!
And the casualties it suffered were almost negligible, because no Ming army stopped and turned around to fight back!
The 2nd Cavalry Battalion was killing the Ming army in a rout. Li Chunjing, who was leading the infantry in pursuit, could not help but curse: "This Lu Yuzhi is here to steal the credit again!"
"Damn cavalry, it happens every time!" At the same time, the leader of the First Infantry Regiment, Chen Keqiao, was a little helpless!
In the frontal confrontation, their infantrymen worked extremely hard and suffered a certain amount of casualties. However, when the enemy army collapsed, our infantrymen were unable to pursue the enemy in time due to insufficient mobility.
Whenever this happens, it’s the cavalry that steals the limelight!
However, this was officially the reason why the Tang Army and even every army established cavalry, especially light cavalry.
In addition to harassment, reconnaissance and frontal charge, its greater use is to chase down enemy troops!
Their efficiency in chasing down broken troops is unmatched by infantry!
The 2nd Cavalry Battalion headed forward and continued to pursue them, and soon passed the fastest-running Ming army, which was defeated, and arrived at the river!
At this time, Lu Yuzhi also saw twenty or thirty Ming army cavalry escorting a civilian wearing a crimson official robe to the river and boarding the boat!
At this time, a second lieutenant next to him also said: "Look, that must be a fake Ming official!"