During the charge phase, the cavalry who broke through the three walls of the army could obtain devastating impact with their highly dense formation. However, when these "walls" were trapped in the melee crowd, the overly dense formation also caused the three walls to collapse.
It is more difficult for wall cavalry to adjust their formation back.
The impact formation, destroyed by enemy cavalry, corpses and fallen horses, turned from a "wall" into a "net" riddled with holes, with flaws everywhere.
Anyone with extensive experience in cavalry assault operations will be aware of the difficulties encountered when restoring the battle line array after it is disrupted.
Before the cavalry team engages in battle, it is usually difficult to observe the obstacles they may encounter during the attack. In addition to terrain obstacles, there are also stabbed enemies, corpses of own soldiers, abandoned artillery and horses,
These things will destroy the wall-type charge formation of the three-walled cavalry.
After the first round of impact, the too dense formation will cause great confusion to the invading cavalry.
These knights rubbing shoulders with each other greatly reduced the space for reorganization. When a war horse fell, the other horse next to it had no room to escape, and fell down in the impact and confrontation.
Even your own knight who dismounts cannot avoid the fate of being trampled and injured.
The charge of the Three Walls Cavalry was indeed full of irresistible destructive force. Hao Yaoqi had already proven its power in the first wave of attacks by the Chuang Army.
This method of warfare allowed the intruder cavalry, which was inferior to the Manchu Bajala cavalry in both equestrian and martial arts skills, to gain a one-to-one, or even one-to-two advantage exchange ratio.
However, a dense formation charge is by no means an absolutely superior tactical form. It can only ensure that the intruder cavalry has the upper hand in the first wave of charge.
When the cavalry charge ended and the two sides fell into a close-range hand-to-hand melee, the shortcoming of the intruder cavalry's difficulty in reorganizing their formation in a short period of time was exposed.
The superb martial arts of Manchuria's Baja cavalry finally had a chance to show off their skills. They brandished swords, guns, maces, and fired heavy arrows at a very close range, immediately causing damage to the three wall-breaking cavalry.
Shocking damage.
One after another, the invading knights were knocked off their horses in the melee. Many were trampled to death by the hooves of enemy and friendly troops. The ground was littered with corpses lying on the ground.
A mass of soldiers wearing dark blue smocks froze on the battlefield. About half of them were killed by the powerful Baya Lajia soldiers, and the other half were killed by Li Guohan's Han army bannermen who finally lit the gunpowder.
The Han military flags were already in position. They could not identify their position in the dark, and they were all afraid that if the guns and cannons were fired together, they would most likely kill all the friendly troops. The friendly soldiers fighting fiercely in the formation were all Ba people from a wealthy Manchu family.
Alas, if these Han army bannermen accidentally wounded and killed them, the consequences would be hard to imagine.
However, Li Guohan made a decisive decision. He knew that based on the current situation, the Qing army was far inferior to the enemy in terms of military strength. Once the enemy broke through, it would inevitably turn into a catastrophic military failure.
Since Emperor Taizu raised his army with thirteen pieces of armor, the Manchus have never suffered such a tragic defeat. This precedent must not be started by their own hands.
"Hit me hard!"
Under Li Guohan's coercion, the Han army's gunners did not care about the Bajala elite soldiers who were still fighting with the invaders' cavalry in the formation. They immediately lit the gunpowder, and due to the influence of the morning mist and moisture, they also passed by.
After several failures, the cannon was finally ignited. After several roars, the red cannon hit the formation immediately.
Li Guohan couldn't see clearly where the artillery would land, but he knew that the situation was critical and everything could change in an instant, leaving him no chance to breathe.
"All guns and cannons, use them together!"
Except for the heavy artillery used for siege, which was not brought to the south bank of the Yellow River, the Han military flag equipment also included a large number of other types of light artillery and firecrackers. At this time, Li Guohan ordered the guns to be fired together and fired continuously. The strong firepower immediately entered the formation.
The moist and dense fog was immediately mixed with a lot of pungent and breathless gunpowder smoke.
Both the Qing army and the Chuang army's cavalry were hit a lot by cannons and cannons, but the Chuang army had more troops, so the number of those who were shot was naturally much higher than that of the Qing army.
Aide, the leading cavalryman of the Intruder Army who led the troops to defeat Obai's Bagala, was injured by a bullet in his right hand and was bleeding profusely. He could no longer use his entire right arm, so he had to throw the spear.
, he used his left hand to hold a Yanling long knife and continued to direct the battle.
Hao Yaoqi was also galloping left and right in the formation. He was wounded in several places on his face, and the tassels on his helmet were shot off by heavy arrows from the Qing soldiers. His face was covered with blood, and it was unclear whether it was his own or the enemy's.
After Hao Yaoqi used force to hold up a spear thrust from the left, the soldiers following him jumped out from the horse and directly took the Qing knight off the horse. The two rolled into a ball on the ground.
.Hao Yaoqi's soldiers were prepared, and quickly drew out their daggers and stabbed the Manchu soldier's eye sockets, and smashed the man's skull into pieces with one gouge.
The infantry units of the Chuang Army also arrived on the battlefield one after another at this time, and another cavalry unit commanded by Ma Bao rushed over. They were not as elite as Hao Yaoqi's cavalry and could not engage in intensive formation charges that required very strict discipline and training.
, but all carried handguns used by cavalry.
Although this kind of hand gun was not a flintlock gun, but a simple matchlock gun that had been improved so that the cavalry could operate it on horseback. But when they arrived, they immediately fired in turns and killed many brave men immediately.
Baja Lajia Cavalry.
Nearly two thousand infantry troops of the Protagonist Army also poured into the battlefield one after another. Although the night made it difficult for everyone to distinguish the battlefield situation, the flying flags and the sound of drums and horns still boosted the morale of the Protagonist Army soldiers who were preparing for a hard battle.
Greatly inspired.
"Drink, brothers Chuangjun, come rushing towards me!"
Hao Yaoqi shouted loudly, and the sticks in his hands were spinning like flying. Countless spearmen rushed forward, their spears stabbing like flying, and they immediately stabbed to death countless Eight Banners soldiers who were crowded together.
There are also many soldiers holding swords and swords in both hands. They mix among the spearmen and attack together. The swords and hooks and sickles can deal with the Qing cavalry and swordsmen who are squeezed into the crowd and lose their mobility.
All of them were skilled in martial arts. While they were giving wounds to the wounded Eight Banners soldiers, they were charging towards the Qing army's artillery positions.
Although Obai could not see the whole battlefield clearly, he could already feel that as the number of enemy troops continued to increase, the battlefield situation was rapidly slipping in a direction that was not conducive to the Qing army.
He gritted his teeth and looked at the situation around him, tried his best to call everywhere, and gathered dozens of Baja Lajia riders who were familiar with him, half of them were current warriors who served as the vanguard.
In order to reverse the unfavorable situation, Obai waited for the troops around him to gather to more than fifty cavalry, and then broke out from the side of the battlefield. Just this desperate breakout caused the loss of nearly ten people from the fifty cavalry around Obai.
.
Fortunately, Ye Bilong, who was also fighting for his life in the formation, noticed Obai's movements. He had already dismounted and was fighting on foot. Together with a dozen other Eight Banners soldiers, he helped Obai cover, allowing this group of cavalry to finally break out.
Obai did not take the opportunity to escape back to the rear. His purpose of breaking out of the encirclement was to gain space for the cavalry to accelerate and charge. After this small group of cavalry ran to the outside of the battlefield for a short while, they immediately followed a crescent direction.
He turned a corner and quickly came back.
He rushed straight to the direction where Hao Yaoqi and the vanguard of the vanguard army were, Da Zhu. The Baya Lajia cavalry fired heavy arrows while charging, and instantly killed more than a dozen infantry and cavalry soldiers of the vanguard army on the spot.
The charge of this group of cavalry was so decisive. Ao Bai still calmly chose the most suitable gap on the battlefield to attack in the chaos. Their timing and position were so accurate that it was hard to believe that this was a dark night and fog.
life and death duel.
However, the strength of the Chuang army was greater. Ma Bao, another cavalry general under Li Laiheng, also stayed on the periphery of the battlefield with dozens of pro-army cavalry. This very cautious Ming army general kept a supply of troops on hand at all times.
At this time, the mobile reserve team played the role of sniping and killing Obai.
They cut in from the side slope of Ao Bai's cavalry group. Because they charged from a relatively rear angle, it was difficult for the Eight Banners soldiers to use bows and arrows to counterattack.
Only the forward soldiers fell down with their upper bodies backwards, leaned on the backs of their horses, raised their bows and arrows and fired backwards, and were able to kill several of Ma Bao's soldiers.
However, more Eight Banners soldiers were defeated by Ma Bao's rampage. Their assault formation was in chaos. Obai jumped off his horse in a hurry. This was not a defeat, but the beginning of a new battle. The Manchus were not only excellent knights.
, and they are even more elite infantry who are brave and good at fighting.
However, after a few booms, the artillery of the Han army's flag hit the area. The sand and dust raised by the shells blocked the view of the invaders' cavalry. Obai seized the opportunity and retreated to the Qing army's battle line.
Although it was still dark, Ma Bao could see from the intensity of the attack of that group of Eight Banners cavalry that there must be a strong and well-respected cavalry commander among them to launch such a decisive counterattack.
Ma Bao clamped his legs around the horse's belly, kicked it, and secretly clicked his tongue, feeling very sorry for letting this man run away.