Three days later, the Shaopi battlefield on the west bank of Feishui River.
The Ming army, which had advanced steadily for thirty miles every day, finally blocked the main force of the Qing army's Abatai tribe in this area, which was heading south to attack them.
Both sides had more than 100,000 troops on each side, flying with flags and banners, and their momentum was so impressive that they almost blocked the entire space between Feishui and Shaopi.
"Your Majesty is really clever. He was able to force the Tatars to take the initiative to go south and fight our army decisively on this battlefield where the terrain is not very favorable to them. I, the Ming Dynasty, will definitely win this battle!"
Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong used telescopes to observe the approaching Qing army in the distance. They were also full of enthusiasm. Their confidence in Zhu Shuren's layout skyrocketed, and they sighed and admired from the bottom of their hearts.
Zhu Shuren was covered in plate armor made of water-forged high-quality steel. He was riding on a tall and magnificent horse that was one of the best in a million. He also used binoculars to observe the enemy's situation, but he just smiled indifferently.
The magnification of his telescope is naturally better than that used by Cao Bianjiao and others, making it easier to see far away from the line of fire.
The equipment is so well-equipped and the behavior is so cautious. It's not because he is a coward, it's just for the sake of explaining to his wife in the future——
He personally went out to supervise the battle today, which actually violated his previous promise to the princess. At that time, in order to comfort his wife, he kept saying that he would only stay in Hefei city.
After some observation, he calmly pointed out to the generals: "Military is the continuation of politics. Today's decisive decision is not the best military solution for our Ming Dynasty, but it is a comprehensive consideration of politics and military.
Optimal solution.
But since the Tatars are unable to fight, we are willing to give them the opportunity to fight quickly. Of course, the initiative to choose the battlefield should be in the hands of our army. Otherwise, the time and place are not favorable. Why should I, the Ming Dynasty, accept the fight? Then continue to avoid war and delay
Go down.
The Tatars obviously also know this truth, so they chose the right time for our army and asked our army to choose the right location. Everyone felt that they had a chance of winning, so this battle could be fought."
The Qing army must have hoped for a quick battle, because neither the city of Shouxian County nor the fortified forts on Bagong Mountain could be conquered by the Qing army in a short period of time.
If time passes, the morale of the Qing army will only become lower. It is better to take advantage of the fact that the war has only started for more than half a month, and the morale is still good, so that we can fight decisively in the field.
The Qing army also had one factor that was not conducive to protracted wars, and that was that the Qing's national power was weaker in terms of money, food and materials, and the army could not afford to consume supplies for a long period of time. However, the Ming Dynasty already had an absolute crushing advantage in terms of money and food, so it was not afraid of consumption.
The battlefield in front of us has a total length of nearly forty miles from north to south. The northernmost end is Shaoshui, which flows into Feishui from Shaopei. The width from east to west is only six miles. The southernmost section is the southern edge of Shaopei, which is twenty or thirty miles away from Feishui.
inside.
The entire battlefield is trapezoidal or trumpet-shaped, wide in the south and narrow in the north. The average width is fifteen miles, so the total area is six hundred square miles.
In terms of military strength, there were a total of 180,000 regular troops in the Hefei Theater of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, there could not be that many people coming to participate in the decisive field battle - Hefei and other key cities in the rear were camped along the way, and troops were left to guard. Shouxian County in the front was besieged by the enemy.
, there are two places in Bagong Mountain, each with a force ranging from 10,000 to 20,000, and as many as 20,000 to 30,000 being surrounded.
Therefore, the field troops brought by Zhu Shuren were only a little over 100,000, and including the reserve troops immediately behind the camp, the number was about 110,000 or 20,000.
The situation of the Qing army on the opposite side is similar. They also have to leave at least 50,000 troops to surround Shouxian County, Bagong Mountain and other places. They also have to leave reserve troops to garrison in key areas such as Fengyang. So Abatai can be brought to the main battlefield of Feishui.
The total number of people is also around 120,000——
However, the senior officials of the Qing army did not respond to him at all, and no top general came to the line of fire. Zhu Shuren had no choice but to order the sniper team around him to hold back for the time being and not to open fire in advance to reveal their strength, otherwise the enemy would be alert next time.
Even if you need to open fire and snipe in the follow-up, you have to wait for a large-scale battle on the front line, with thousands of guns firing, and then mix it with ordinary rifles to prevent the enemy from discovering the trick. Try to hide this killer weapon for a while.
…
"The Tatars did not even give them time to criticize the formation and start a verbal argument. They clearly wanted to seize time and use their right wing to outflank our left wing.
Let the left wing speed up and advance. General Cao, you first lead our cavalry to harass and delay the Tatar cavalry advance. Huang Fei and Lin Chengcheng will follow with a phalanx of riflemen and advance to the southeast bank of Shaopi as soon as possible to completely cut off the Tatar cavalry.
They took a roundabout way and forced the Tatars to fight us in a decisive battle!"
After Zhu Shuren figured out the enemy's movements and intentions, he naturally did not hold back. He immediately issued a death order and fine-tuned the deployment of his troops.
Fortunately, before the Ming army came to the decisive battle, they had already roughly deduced the development direction of the decisive battle and several main possibilities. Therefore, the situation they faced at this moment was also within the scope of the several response plans of the Ming army, and each department could proceed step by step.
Some lose ground to deal with it.
Cao Bianjiao was the most famous cavalry general in the Ming army. He personally led half of the cavalry on the left wing and immediately took action, with more than 10,000 cavalry, to attack and delay the Qing army.
The men and horses brought by Cao Bianjiao have three thousand double-barreled breech guns and revolvers. Their armor and stomach are also very sophisticated. Most of their soldiers are Ming cavalry who escaped from the north. Their combat power is absolutely reliable. It can be said that it is single.
The combat strength of the troops is far superior to that of the Eight Banners cavalry.
Today's military composition of the Ming and Qing armies, the Qing army is better because it has more cavalry, because cavalry is not needed for sieges in the rear and can be used for field battles, so the main forces of three Manchu banners and two Mongolian banners have been brought in, which is enough
There are more than 40,000 cavalry and 70,000 to 80,000 infantry.
The Ming army had more than 10,000 less cavalry than the Qing army and less than 30,000 people. The number of infantry was basically the same as that of the Qing army, but the proportion of musketeers was frighteningly high.
Before the truce three years ago, the Ming army only had 5,000 new "Wuchang-made" rifles. Now it has 50,000. What Zhu Shuren brought to the Hefei battlefield accounted for nearly half of the entire army, more than 20,000.
.Coupled with the old version "Made in Wuchang", the bird muskets and Lumi muskets supervised in previous years, the total number of musketeers exceeded 35,000.
More than 40% of the 80,000 infantry are musketeers, as well as some crossbowmen. The number of pure melee soldiers such as pikemen has been reduced to one-third of the entire army. It can be seen that the composition of the army's infantry is not at all
What the Qing army on the opposite side could imagine.
…
"The Southern Barbarians want to use their cavalry to delay time, buy time for their infantry to extend to the northwest of the battlefield, and block our army's detour space!
Let Ekeqin and Banbulshan work harder. The shame caused by their white flags caused by Prince Yu three years ago must be completely wiped out today! I must break through the obstruction of the Ming army's cavalry! Let Suk Saha's white flag be
Hurry up and keep up!"
After the Ming army responded, of course the Qing army commander on the opposite side could see it. After Bolo and Yue Le reported to their father Abatai, the father and son quickly made a quick calculation and immediately ordered the cavalry with two white flags to speed up.
Strive to achieve a tactical breakthrough at any cost.
In today's battle, Abatai also had clear priorities in arranging his troops. Moreover, he expected that the competition between the right wing of the Qing army and the left wing of the Ming army would be fierce, so he gave it away to Duduo three years ago in vain.
The newly rebuilt White Banner Cavalry of the two Manchus are pressing in that direction.
The Liangbai Banners are direct descendants of Dorgon, but Abatai is not part of Dorgon's faction. On the contrary, when he helped to suppress Manjiadong in Shandong three years ago, he had a good relationship with Hauge. Since Dorgon hopes that the Liangbai Banners will be cleared with meritorious service.
Given the opportunity of humiliation, Abatai naturally wanted to take matters into his own hands, put the two white flags in the direction that was the most difficult and easiest to achieve military success, and fight to the death to avenge his shame!
Suddenly, Cao Bianjiao's more than 10,000 Ming army left-wing cavalry collided with Banbulshan and Suksaha's more than 20,000 cavalry with two white flags.
The Ming army's cavalry was smaller in number, but they had the advantage of strong armor and powerful soldiers. They ran straight into it and killed the Qing army's vanguard in the first wave! Long soldiers and sabers made of fine steel flew flying, and there were countless revolvers and double-barreled spray guns.
He shot wildly from a distance of more than ten steps from his face, and the instantaneous explosive power was extremely amazing.
Hundreds of elite soldiers under the two white flags of the Qing army were shot to death one after another the moment they encountered each other. Even if they were wearing iron-clad cotton armor, they could not prevent the kinetic energy of the sprays from penetrating their faces in ten steps.
For a while, the various units of the Qing cavalry were also a little disturbed. They subconsciously began to use their old tactics, taking detours to keep a distance, trying to harass with cavalry bows, waiting for the dense formation of the Ming cavalry to be stretched loose, and then taking advantage of the opportunity.
Pounce and bite.
"Fire arrows! Fight with the Nanmanzi! The Nanmanzi are all steel-armored heavy cavalry with short muskets. You can't fight head-on!" Many capable Qing army officers with rich actual combat experience subconsciously commanded like this, and the Qing army's attack momentum
That's why I suffocated.
The Ming army's cavalry came for close combat and decisive battles. The wedge-shaped charge formation was relatively dense. This formation had amazing breakthrough power, but it was also relatively fragile when faced with You Dou's long-range attacks.
Because when the distance between men and horses is relatively close, the enemy's long-range cavalry bow will be thrown randomly. Even if it misses the target, it will easily cover and accidentally injure the soldiers next to it. In contrast, if it is a loose cavalry-shooting battle formation,
As long as it misses the intended target, it is basically impossible to accidentally injure others.
The soldiers of the Ming army were all protected by heavy armor. They were not very afraid of riding bows, but after all, war horses could not wear all the iron armor. At most, they could wear some leather horse armor, and they could only focus on protecting certain parts, otherwise the horse would not be able to wear it at all.
Can't run.
After the Qing cavalry briefly turned into a free-for-all, the casualty exchange ratio immediately became better. The Qing cavalry's casualty rate began to decrease, while the opposite Ming cavalry was hit by arrows from time to time, throwing the cavalry off their horses and causing internal injuries.
This was the orthodox way that the Qing cavalry always fought against the Ming cavalry. However, today, this tactic only lasted for less than a cup of tea before it was stopped angrily by Suk Saha and Banbul Shan:
"You are not allowed to shoot with cavalry, and rush forward to break through the entanglement of Nanmanzi's cavalry! Now is not the time to consider casualties, what is important is to seize the time, break through and circle back to the enemy's side! We cannot allow the Nanmanzi's follow-up infantry to make up for the defense!"
Almost all the senior generals of the Two White Flags screamed like this, and whipped the middle-level officers they encountered with erratic tactics. This orthodox style of fighting, which is concerned about tactical losses, is definitely a mistake at this special moment today!
The two white flags of the Qing army fell into a brief chaos, and then they finally reunited their ideas and fought to the death with the Ming army's cavalry, without any fancy tricks.
And this happened to play into the hands of the Ming army's cavalry, which had poor maneuverability but high attack and defense! Cao Bianjiao was as powerful as a mad tiger, fighting furiously in the formation. The three thousand short-barreled spray firearms liked this kind of close combat the most, and their output was far better than in long-distance combat.
The fighting Qing army is much more comfortable riding bows.
After half a stick of incense and a fierce battle, the Qing cavalry suffered much higher casualties than the Ming cavalry, which was simply a shame to the Eight Banners.
Once upon a time, the Manchus boasted that they were invincible with less than 10,000 Manchus. Now there are more than 20,000 pure Manchu elite cavalry, but they were defeated in a fierce exchange by the Ming army's cavalry, which was smaller in number than them!
However, the Qing army exchanged lives for time, which could be regarded as gaining time to a certain extent.
Although delayed at first, the subsequent Qing cavalry broke through Cao Bianjiao's pull and finally came to the front of the Ming infantry who followed.
It took at least half a stick of incense later than initially expected, but it was not too late.
The Ming army's Huang Fei and Lin Cheng's infantrymen on the opposite side could only barely reach their positions and roughly opened a blockade.
However, because the march was too hasty and time-consuming, the various units under Huang Fei and Lin Chengcheng were somewhat out of touch, and the formations were also loose. There were many gaps between formations, which were much wider than normal corridors.
too much.
In other words, if the Ming cavalry was given a little more time to burn incense, the Ming infantry who came from the back to block the road would be able to complete their formation and make up for the gap.
From this point of view, it is definitely a good deal for the two white flag cavalry to pay thousands more casualties in exchange for shortening the time required to break through Cao Bianjiao!
Since it takes so much Paoze's life to gain this little time, naturally it cannot be wasted!
Banbulshan's face was spattered with blood, and he looked at the Ming infantry of Huang Fei's tribe in front of him with a ferocious expression. He immediately gave an order in a stern voice: "While the Nanmanzi are still in formation, rush forward and break them up and disperse them!"
Suk Saha, who was a little further away, had the same reaction. He was not as good as the whole team, so he let the Qing cavalry who had just broken through Cao Bianjiao rush directly towards Lin Chengcheng.
The more than 20,000 infantrymen on the left wing of the Ming army arrived at this battlefield almost at a gallop. The first two square formations of Huang Fei's tribe, who were at the forefront, rushed to the bank of Shaopi Lake, which was only a few meters away from the lake shore.
A position of more than a hundred feet.
However, although there is still some space ahead, we are not too afraid of the Qing cavalry taking a detour for the last two or three miles.
Shaopi in the Ming Dynasty has been in disrepair for a long time, and it is not an artificial lake with a solid shore. The shore has long since gradually turned into a muddy wetland, and the boundary between the lake and dry solid land is not clear. The place closest to the lake, at least,
No one can walk for a mile or two, and running horses will cause the horses' hooves to get stuck in the mud.
The new muskets used by the riflemen of the Ming army can easily block two to three hundred steps in front of them when shooting, causing certain casualties to the outflanking enemy. If the Qing army really has to be cautious and brave some muddy detours, it will definitely be gradually defeated.
The arriving Ming army riflemen attacked from the side and suffered huge casualties!
Therefore, the only chance for the Qing army was to stare at the gaps where the Ming army's infantry formations were running out of line, and drill through them directly!
Opposite Huang Fei and Lin Chengcheng have also been fighting for many years and have quite a lot of experience. In the past three years, they have also undergone rigorous training in the use of new weapons and new tactics.
Seeing Banbulshan and Suksaha rushing towards them, they all made the same choice:
"Each formation moves closer on its own! Form a hollow phalanx with rifles! Bayonets are facing out on all sides! Don't expose your weaknesses to the Tatars!"
The various units of the Ming army immediately began to fine-tune, and there was no time for the formations to move closer to each other to form a larger and more solid formation, so they huddled close together, forming a formation with hundreds of steps between each other, but at least it was solid enough.
It looks like a hedgehog formation.
In each small formation, the musketeers fixed their bayonets before aiming, and the muskets were directed in the four directions, front, rear, left, and right, with 20% of the soldiers in each. In the end, there were still 20% of the soldiers in the formation as reserves.
One side of the army will suffer heavy casualties and losses, and these reserves will have to fill in the positions.
"What the hell is this? There is such a serious disconnect between the formations, how dare you resist my Qing cavalry?" Banbulshan and Suksaha didn't understand, but they also knew that they couldn't waste time and delay the Ming army any longer.
They could form a better formation, so even if they couldn't understand, they just ignored it and ran into it with contempt!
"Kill! Kill all the Southern Barbarians! Anyone who stands in the way of our Qing Dynasty will die!"