What does a true elite team look like?
At least in this era of alternating hot and cold weapons, a powerful army that can move freely on land should use the following advantages.
First is a powerful cavalry! Including heavy cavalry for impact and light cavalry for reconnaissance, harassment, and battlefield control.
Because the battles in this era all started with long outpost battles. Countless light cavalry squads will repeatedly entangle, test, hedge, and fight before their respective main forces appear on the battlefield. The side that has the upper hand in this series of conflicts can control the battlefield to the maximum extent, block the opponent's sight, and cover the deployment of its own main force.
And heavy cavalry often plays the final word on the battlefields of this era!
Artillery bombardment, rifle shooting, volleys of thousands of arrows, and battles between infantrymen often paved the way for the charge of heavy cavalry. When the warring parties fell into chaos under the enemy's artillery fire, rifles, bows and arrows, and infantry fighting, it was the turn of the heavy cavalry wearing strong armor and holding long spears to come on stage.
If there is no heavy cavalry available and only relying on infantry to attack, it may be possible to win, but it is unlikely to achieve the maximum result.
And if the opponent has good cavalry, the victory achieved by artillery and infantry will be severely compromised.
In terms of light and heavy cavalry, the Qing Dynasty's advantage is unquestionable!
Because all the Eight Banners of Manchuria are light, heavy, foot and shooting four-in-one! The Eight Banners Mongolians are all cavalry, and a considerable part of the Eight Banners Han army is cavalry.
Among the total of 200,000 to 300,000 Qing soldiers, the number of those who can mount a horse and fight is only about 100,000!
Among the Manchu and Han armies of the four banners of Zhenglan, Zhengred, Zhengyang and Xianghuang who followed Hauge southward, there were no less than 20,000 men who could mount a horse and fight!
Next is the artillery!
What currently supports most of the hot weapon services is not the matchlock gun or the immature flintlock gun, but the artillery!
The dense infantry phalanx used to resist the impact of cavalry is at a great disadvantage when faced with the bombardment of new artillery... Therefore, the side without the advantage of cavalry must have a powerful artillery. Only in this way can it be in the formation. When fighting in formation, regain some disadvantages.
If there is neither strong cavalry nor superior artillery, then forget about any field battle.
No matter how beautiful the Morris Square was, it was nothing more than cannon fodder and prey in front of the Qing army's artillery and cavalry.
While the artillery could still support the situation, European-style tactics were introduced, and a large number of infantry were equipped with firecrackers. As long as they were used properly, their role should not be underestimated.
The Ming and Qing armies that participated in the Fengyang Battle in the 18th year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty each had their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of cavalry, artillery, and infantry.
The Qing army naturally had an overwhelming advantage in cavalry, so the Ming army heading north from the Jiangbei camp could only barely support a cavalry search curtain near the main army - this was only possible by relying on the home field advantage and the numerous rivers in Huainan. .
In terms of artillery, the Qing army had a large number of Hongyi cannons and was not weak in strength. But Zhu Cixiang's new army had a group of Western gunners and the New Army gunners they taught them step by step. Although they suffered from the caliber of the artillery (mainly three-pound regimental guns), they had obvious technical advantages and could still gain a slight upper hand.
In terms of infantry, the New Army's Northward Regiment, composed of 12 model regiments and 8 ordinary infantry regiments, certainly has an absolute advantage.
Just 20 regiments of 50,000 troops can overwhelm Haug in terms of numbers. Moreover, the 12 model regiments as the main force have completed the "Morris Tactics" training, and the equipment ratio of firecrackers and spears has reached one-to-one ratio. 1. Equipped with a total of nearly 12,000 bird muskets and turtledove foot muskets!
The firepower was so powerful that the Qing infantry, mainly composed of green battalions, could not withstand it... This was also the reason why Zhu Cixiang dared to fight decisively!
Zhu Cixiang is confident, and of course his opponent Hauge is also confident!
Now Hauge's Chinese army camp is located on the east bank of Haoshui River, only five or six miles away from the east wall of Fengyang City. This is a large cavalry camp with wide access roads, a large control area, and sentries placed far away. Next to the camp is Haoshui, which not only can be used as a support, but also convenient for letting horses drink. There was no deep trench or high fortification on the east side of the camp. Instead, a shallow trench was dug and a breastwork was built with the excavated soil.
The trench and parapet start from outside Linhuai County, which is adjacent to Fengyang City, and end at Donghaoshui, a tributary of Haoshui. The total length is more than ten miles. This line of defense with trenches and parapets is used to isolate the communication between Linhuai County and Fengyang - as the name suggests, Linhuai County is close to the Huaihe River. There is Linhuai Pier in the north of the city. The city has been modified into a fortress, and it is also the governor of Jiangbei, The place where Hou Xun, the governor of Fengyang, was stationed. To the east of Linhuai, there are three bastions of Wuhe, Sizhou and Xuyi along the Huaihe River, and Huang Degong's army is now stationed in Sizhou and Xuyi.
Therefore, in the opinion of Hauge, Obai and others, most of the Ming army's reinforcements came from the direction of Linhuai along the waterway. Therefore, after crossing the Huaihe River, we immediately went around to the east of Fengyang City, controlled the Haoshui River, set up a camp, dug trenches, built parapets, and even prepared to build a cannon fort at the intersection of the Haoshui River and the Huaihe River - this The fort is not far from the northeast corner of Fengyang City, only about three or four miles.
Therefore, the Hongyi cannon set up there can not only block the Huaihe River, but can also be used to bombard Fengyang City!
To the southeast of Fengyang, Hauge and Obai did not build any fortifications and relied entirely on cavalry for warning and blockade. With the capabilities of the Eight Banners Cavalry, the enemy can be discovered by them even though they are far away. If those who come are also cavalry, they will have the Eight Banners cavalry to deal with them. If a large group of infantry approaches from the southeast overland, haha, it is looking for death!
In addition to this Chinese army camp, Hauge also set up a front army camp at Minghuanglin in the south of Fengyang City, and a rear army camp in the south of Changhuai Guard City in the west of Fengyang City. Kong Youde and Shang Kexi were responsible for leading their troops to guard them.
In addition, a fort was built southeast of Changhuai Acropolis and northwest of Fengyang City, which could also block the Huaihe River and bombard Fengyang City Wall.
Three large camps, plus two forts built in the southeast of Changhuaiwei and Haoshuikou, surrounded Fengyang City.
Because Fengyang City was not piled up into a bastion, and the city walls were in disrepair for a long time. They were destroyed once by Gao Yingxiang's troops in the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, so they could not withstand the bombardment of thirty or forty Hongyi cannons!
So at this time, both Hauge and Aobai felt that they were invincible... Even if they couldn't lift Zhu Cixiang's army out of Nanjing and beat them up, they could just use Hongyi cannon to push Fengyang City away. What a great victory!
At this time, there was a crowd of people shouting in the camp. Several groups of sentinel riders who had been sent out to keep watch came back together for some unknown reason. The coated slaves took the tired horses to the edge of Haoshui River for a walk to collect sweat, then took off the saddles and brushed the horses carefully. Some Eight Banners gentlemen took off their cotton-padded armor and looked for a patch of vagina to drink water and wipe their sweat. Niu Lu Zhangjing, who led the three teams, did not have time to remove his armor and rushed towards Hauge's Chinese army tent. The command flag was shown to the white-armored soldiers guarding the tent, and then they were let in.
Hauge and Obai were both in the big tent, and Obai was studying "The Analects of Confucius" - now that Confucius could bless him with invulnerability, of course Oboi had to read "The Analects of Confucius", while Hauge, who was afraid of the heat, was sitting in a thin suitcase. There I read the newspaper sent by Mandahai. The contents of these newspapers were not only related to the war in Huaibei, but some also reported the war situation in Shandong and Xuzhou. Duduo finally surrounded Qufu City this time. It was not completely surrounded, but only in the southeast, northwest and northwest of Qufu City. Each built a large camp.
But at the same time, Duduo encountered trouble in Caozhou again! Li Huajing, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army, and Gong Wencai, the deputy general of the Ming army in Caozhou, were both very stubborn. They were surrounded on all sides and refused to surrender. Instead, they continued to attack the territory controlled by the Qing army, which made Doduo very angry. Therefore, Gushan Ezhenboluo was sent to lead his troops to conquer Caozhou, Juye, and Jiaxiang.
Just when Hauge was a little gloating about Duduo's troubles, three Niu Lu Zhangjing from Zhenglan Banner under his command walked in quickly and beat Qian'er. Then one of them loudly reported: "Your Majesty, I'm waiting for you. We encountered Nikan's cavalry in the area of Daqianling, Huangfu Mountain, and Shigu Mountain!"
