Chapter eight hundred and seventy second paper-like hollow phalanx
If you can use your own infantry to destroy the enemy's cavalry, even if the exchange ratio is larger, all modern infantry generals in the world will do it without hesitation.
This is because modern infantry is a cheap unit compared to cavalry!
Modern infantry musketeers, as long as their physical condition is up to standard, can be quickly trained in three months, and then they can be recruited to fight.
But cavalry, every cavalry requires at least several years of training, especially the Tatar cavalry, which cannot be achieved without several years or even longer training. The Tatar cavalry is basically
Starting from a young age, training takes even longer time.
The Tang Army lost tens of thousands of infantry, and it could be replenished in a few months!
In last year's autumn and winter battles, the Tang Army lost more than 10,000 troops. The casualties were actually very heavy. However, they were replenished while fighting. After finishing the autumn and winter battles, they rested for a whole month and the troops were fully equipped again. The combat effectiveness was
Not reduced at all.
But if the cavalry has more than 10,000 casualties, it will be extremely difficult to replenish them.
Chen Keqiao held the mentality that although his Fifth Infantry Division suffered heavy casualties, he would also inflict heavy losses on the Tatar cavalry in front of him. He issued the latest order and conveyed it to the entire division through flags, messengers, and officers shouting.
Got this order!
"The rise and fall of the country depends on this battle. I hope you all will fight bravely to kill the enemy!"
This slogan has been used by the Tang Dynasty Army several times, and every time it was a decisive battle with great influence. When they attacked Wuzhou City, it was when the Huguang Ming Army besieged Xingquan Prefecture, and the Tang Dynasty was in danger.
At the gate of Wuzhou City, Li Xuan conveyed to the entire army the slogan that the rise and fall of the country would depend on this battle to boost the morale of the army. Finally, he successfully conquered Wuzhou, opened the shackles of the Ming Dynasty on the neck of the Tang Dynasty, and gained the power to move south to Guangdong and Guangxi.
The final victory of the battle.
And now, Chen Keqiao also shouted this slogan, announcing to the entire army that this would be a decisive battle to the death!
After the order was conveyed, the officers at all levels below rushed up to the eight thousand Tatar cavalry who were approaching quickly, shouting different slogans:
"Master Wang of the Tang Dynasty, fight to the death and never retreat!"
"Long live the Tang Dynasty!"
"Long live the Eternal Saint King!"
The soldiers in several phalanx formations at the rear still fired and rushed inside. Those who were surrounded lost their high speed and could only continue running in the passage in despair, trying to rush out or simply attack the array on a small scale.
There are more than a thousand Ming Army cavalry, and these more than a thousand Ming Army cavalry are decreasing rapidly. If there are no accidents, it will not take long before all of them will be dead or injured.
The infantrymen in numerous square formations in front, under the leadership of the officers, are nervously organizing their formations to make the formations denser. At the same time, the soldiers who have just fired are also rapidly reloading.
At this time, the advantage of the flintlock gun is that it is more convenient and faster to load than the matchlock gun.
After being equipped with flintlock muskets at the same time, the queue of soldiers became more dense. Although it became only three rows, because there was no need to worry about match ropes causing comrades' muskets to misfire, the density between soldiers was very high, and they were basically shoulder to shoulder.
Compared with the previous matchlock soldiers, the density of troops and firepower is as high as in the sky.
The Tatar cavalry on the opposite side began to speed up. Their speed was faster than the previous Tatar cavalry, because the previous Tatar cavalry just wanted to go to the front and fire a volley, leaving a certain amount of energy to prepare for a turn. But now, these eight
The thousand Tatar cavalry wanted to break through the interception of the Tang army in front and rescue the more than a thousand remaining Tatar cavalry inside.
So they don’t have too many worries and their speed is even faster!
The Tatar cavalry began to speed up, and the naval guns also opened fire, including various cannons and shotguns!
If these Tatar cavalry and the previous two thousand Tatar cavalry took the initiative to disperse, these artillery shells might not be able to cause too many casualties to them, but now, in order to ensure the impact, they maintained a dense formation.
Even though the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty were not almost shoulder to shoulder, forming a dense formation like riding on a wall, for the classical cavalry, this was still very dense.
And what effects will a dense formation have?
Naturally, there were heavy casualties!
In previous Tatar cavalry charges, one cannonball would kill or injure at most two or three Tatar cavalry, but now, with luck, one cannonball could even kill or injure a dozen Tatar cavalry.
Not to mention, after the Tatar cavalry in front was knocked down, because the formation of the Tatar cavalry was too dense, the cavalry in the rear could not dodge in time, and then tripped, causing a second casualty.
However, although the artillery shells were powerful and caused great damage, they still could not stop the charge of the Tatar cavalry!
They came roaring, and some Tatar cavalry even ignored the increased possibility of being hit. They stood upright on the horse with their legs and bent their bows and arrows in their hands, preparing to reach within a distance of tens of meters.
Archery!
The courage of these Tatars in charging even Chen Keqiao from the rear admired them. This scene was just like the charge against the Ming army in earlier years.
In the early years, the Ming army was also full of confidence and strode towards the formation of the Tang Army!
Then, they were defeated miserably by the Tang Army. They came and ran even faster!
Today, he seemed to see the shadow of the early Ming army in the Tatars!
The Tatars charged at a very fast speed. After carrying the artillery fire and rushing to a distance of a hundred meters, all the musketeers of the Tang Army in front also opened fire!
Because if they don't fire at this time, the other side will continue to rush in and shoot large-scale arrows. Under the large-scale shooting of arrows by the other side, our own side will definitely reduce casualties.
Fire ahead of time and injure these Tatar cavalry before they shoot arrows, which can reduce the pressure on your own side from the bows and arrows that follow.
Hit by thousands of rounds of musketry, the charging Tatar cavalry seemed to be like waves, and the waves at the front were directly hit and disappeared by the continuous rounds of shooting!
These Tatar cavalry did not line up in a row and charge forward. Instead, they formed more than a dozen attack waves and rushed forward in sequence. The previous waves were only a few hundred cavalry at most.
!
And among these hundreds of riders, most of them were hit by such fierce shooting and were killed or injured or fell off their horses!
Such heavy casualties made Burgeud grit his teeth at the sight, but he did not shout to stop. In fact, he couldn't stop even if he wanted to.
His cavalry continued to attack. The wave of cavalry in front was maimed, but the cavalry behind rushed up again!
At this time, they were less than thirty meters away from the hollow square formation of the Tang Army infantry in front. These cavalrymen began to shoot arrows quickly, but they could not shoot many arrows because they were very fast and would soon rush to the Tang Army's formation.
front, and then directly fought with sabers!
The Tatars not only wanted to kill some Tang Army soldiers, but also wanted to break through the Tang Army's hollow phalanx and rescue the cavalry inside. Well, they couldn't help it if they didn't want to rescue them at this time, because when they rushed so close, they couldn't even turn around.
There is no chance, all we can do is grit our teeth and rush forward!
And a major commander of this hollow phalanx held his command knife high: "Grenadiers, prepare, drop bombs!"
Dozens of grenadiers in the middle of the array all threw grenades, and the grenades immediately exploded in the group of Tatar cavalry rushing forward, killing and wounding many Tatar cavalry.
However, after the explosion, more Tatar cavalry rushed over!
The major in the hollow phalanx was riding on a horse. Although there was a hint of panic on his young face, he still ordered according to the regulations: "Prepare for collision!"
Those musketeers in the front row who were lucky enough to survive the rain of arrows had actually already started their tactical actions!
Three rows of fusiliers mounted bayonets for each musket. The musketeer in the front row squatted down, resting the tail of the musket directly on the soil, and then pointed the gun forward diagonally. The fusilier in the second row pointed the musket
Holding the finger pointed forward, the shooter in the last row used his shoulder to press the musket forward.
It is worth explaining that in fact, the bayonet of the musketeer, like the spear of the spearman, is not really used to kill cavalry, but is mainly used to keep the horses away.
War horses are also afraid of death. When they see a forest of bayonets dazzling in front of them, they will not rush forward stupidly.
But this is just a general situation. If the war horse is well-trained and the cavalry charges forward regardless of the life and death of the war horse and itself, it can also urge the war horse to rush forward. At the last moment, the highly skilled cavalry will control the war horse to rush forward.
They jumped forward and rushed directly into the formation. Of course, very few succeeded.
Most of them were unsuccessful, and then they were finished, but the finished cavalry had completed their historical mission, because the force of collision alone could push away the infantry in front, or even kill them!
Then, the cavalry in the rear can follow up!
Because this time they were rushing into battle, the few waves of cavalry in front of the Tatars were relatively few of them specifically used to rush into battle. Armor was a must, and they were all well-trained war horses and cavalry.
They will act as vanguards and use their lives to open gaps for the cavalry in the rear. Otherwise, it would be difficult for ordinary war horses and cavalry to break into the infantry square.
When the infantrymen in the front row of the hollow square formation were ready, the Tatar cavalry finally rushed over. The Tatar cavalry at the front was extremely skilled. He controlled his horse and jumped up directly in front of the formation.
Then he will leap through the array.
However, at this time, the strength of the war horse may have reached its end. As a result, the flying height was lower, and the belly of the war horse was directly cut open by the bayonet.
However, driven by inertia, the war horses and cavalry still flew forward, and then fell heavily behind the array. The war horses fell to the ground, and the knights were also thrown to the ground!
However, this was just the beginning. Almost instantly, numerous Tatar cavalry rushed forward!
Facing hundreds of cavalry rushing up one after another, this hollow square formation composed of infantry battalions was as if it were made of paper and was directly pierced!
But the major commander of this infantry battalion did not show any strange expression. After taking a deep breath!
He shouted: "Long live the Tang Dynasty!" while waving the command knife in his hand and rushed forward!
A few seconds later, the major was cut down by a Tatar cavalry head-on. He was wearing a dark blue military uniform and fell directly from his horse, then fell heavily to the ground. After falling to the ground, he still kept his eyes open and looked at the situation.