It is already February 12th, the seventh year of Hongxing in the Ming Dynasty.
Shi Kefa learned on the morning of February 10 that a Qing army group with tens of thousands of people was heading eastward from Renqiu. After confirming the accuracy of the news, Shi Kefa mobilized Xu Haijun on the advice of Qi Yuanbi and Prince Kong Dai. (Gao Jie's unit), the 10th Division of the New Army (division commander Wang Qi), the 12th Division of the New Army (division commander Qin Mingtao), the 15th New Army Division (division commander Shi Dewei) and other units, a total of more than 50,000 troops, left Tianjin The Wei front line (the Tianjin Wei encirclement circle was handed over to Huang Degong) quickly advanced to the southwest.
At the same time, the army led by Duduo came from Renqiu to the northeast. The two armies were facing each other head on, so during the day on the 11th, the forward cavalry of both sides began to come into close contact.
Unlike Shunzhi's approach, which was reluctant to send forward battalions to fight the forwards and instead asked the Mongols to plug the holes of the guns, Duduo was much more powerful, and all those sent out to fight the front were elites from the forward battalions. The elites of the forward battalion are the eyes and ears of the Dodo army, so they have to be used no matter how reluctant they are! Otherwise, how can we arrange our troops and prepare for the battle with all eyes darkened?
Since both sides were "dragon cavalry" who knew how to shoot black guns, the encounter became lively, black guns versus black guns! The entire front was filled with bursts of gunfire.
The coaches of both sides could only make a rough guess based on the fragmentary information collected by the black spearmen in front.
The first person to complete the guessing game was Duduo.
At noon on February 12, after confirming that the Ming Army brigade had arrived at the west bank of the canal between Jinghai and Qingxian, the brave Wang Duoduo, who was extremely experienced in war, immediately deployed his main force in Deshengdian and Between the big cities and counties, we have seized a quite favorable terrain.
Deshengdian is a wetland between Baiyangdian and the Grand Canal. The terrain is very complex and the water levels are of varying depths. It is neither boating nor wading. Deshengdian is also dotted with small islands. The plants on the islands are very dense. Trees are also planted around Deshengdian. From a distance, it looks like a large forest.
This kind of terrain may be good for the Black Lancers, but it is very unfavorable for the passage of the army. So Dodo handed over his left wing to Tokatsu Yoshin to "guard".
Duduo's right wing has been spread all the way to Dacheng County. Dacheng County is not very strong, and because a large group of black spearmen from the Ming Army have visited it, the city has been overheated and empty. The city is scorched black, even the city gate. Don't even know where to go? But the city wall is still there after all, and we can still rely on it.
Therefore, the right wing of Duduo's army was handed over to the custody of Dacheng County!
As for the back of Duduo, it is quite open, which is conducive to the entry and exit of cavalry.
There are many cavalrymen under Duduo, including the forward battalion, the heroic cavalry battalion, and the Bajala barracks, as well as the blue-flag-emblazoned vests from Datong and the red-flag vests from Datong. There are two of them together. There were as many as 14,000, accounting for almost half of the 50,000 soldiers that Duduo brought to the battlefield of Shengdian.
With so many cavalry, once they find an opportunity to attack in a roundabout way, it will be a big deal!
"Governor, the enemy has already occupied a more favorable terrain. It seems that we can only set up our formation near the canal in the north."
The one who was making suggestions to Shi Kefa in a camp on the bank of the canal between Jinghai and Qingxian was Prince Kong Dai. He had just returned from the front with Qi Yuanbi. He had already checked the terrain and generally knew how Duduo arranged his formation. .
A relatively accurate military map was unfolded in front of Shi Kefa, Gao Jie, Wang Qi, Qin Mingtao, Shi Dewei, Li Yuanyin and others. Qi Yuanbi placed small wooden signs with the words "cavalry", "infantry" and "artillery" on the map one by one between Deshengdian and Dacheng County.
"Is it a formation with its back against the water?" Shi Kefa asked.
"No, there is still a little distance," Qi Yuanbi said, "It would be better if we really formed the formation with our backs to the water."
Prince Kong Dai added in "rolling tongue" Chinese: "If we choose to form our formation with our backs to the water, the enemy is likely to choose to avoid the battle. Their cavalry is much stronger than ours... We only have 8 battalions on hand. There are less than 4,000 cavalry, and the enemy’s cavalry number is at least 15,000, which is enough to cover the transfer of their main force.”
Although Zhu Cixiang had been working hard to expand his cavalry, until the eve of the Northern Expedition in the sixth year of Hongxing, the Ming army, excluding the seven vassals of Pingxi, Shuofang, Beiting, Sichuandong, Sichuanxi, Jinou, and Jinghai, had only a total of There are 24 musketry battalions and 2 lancer battalions, a total of 26 battalions. There are also twenty or thirty cavalry companies (also black lancers) attached to various infantry divisions.
At full strength, the main Ming army had only 16,000 cavalry.
"What's their total strength?" Shi Kefa asked.
"Sixty to seventy thousand," Qi Yuanbi said, "the total number is a bit more than ours, but their old Eight Banners vests are usually followed by coated minions, so the number of soldiers should be about the same."
"That's fifty thousand versus fifty thousand..." Shi Kefa thought for a while, "They have the advantage of the cavalry, but our infantry and artillery should have the upper hand, right?"
"Of course!" Qi Yuanbi said, "We have 80 infantry battalions and 5 artillery battalions, nearly 90 3-pound regimental guns, and 9 12-pound field guns."
Combining 3-pound regimental cannon and 12-pound field cannon was a popular artillery combination package for the armies of powerful European countries in this era. The 3-pounder cannon was used to attack people, the 12-pounder cannon was used to attack artillery, and there was also a 24-pounder cannon used to attack cities. In the Ming Army Not many of them.
The current artillery battalion of the Ming Army's infantry division consists of three 3-pound artillery companies, one 12-pound artillery company, one baggage company and one engineer company, a total of 6 companies!
The 12-pound guns equipped in the infantry divisions of the Ming Army are relatively lightweight short cast iron cannons, but they are still very heavy. If it were not for the Perche Oceana imported from France, it would be impossible to pull them.
Shi Kefa glanced at Teacher Kong Dai - this guy was really good at blowing stuff when he was tutoring everyone in Nanjing, but now he's really beaten. Is there any way? Can you replace Kong Ming?
Prince Condé said: "The enemy's infantry has weak firepower, but the cavalry is very powerful. The normal tactic should be to use the infantry to attract our attention and create opportunities for the cavalry to attack our left wing and rear in a roundabout way."
"What should we do?" Shi Kefa asked.
When he was tutoring in Nanjing, Kong Dai asked questions like this to test everyone, and no matter how you answered, he could always tell you a corresponding failed battle example - Shi Kefa suspected that these battle examples were made up by Kong Dai.
"Our front should pretend to be defeated, retreat to attract the enemy's infantry, and lead them to the west bank of the canal." Condé said, "In this way, the enemy's cavalry will be forced to launch a roundabout in advance... and we need to Place a few really strong infantry battalions on the left wing and use them to withstand the enemy's cavalry attack.
At the same time, our eight cavalry battalions should pass through Deshengdian and make a detour towards the enemy's left flank.
When the roundabout is successful, we will invest the reserve infantry, storm the enemy's front, and completely defeat their infantry! "
What he said makes perfect sense!
"Your Highness," Shi Kefa said thoughtfully, "the key points are two. First, can our left wing block the impact of the Qing cavalry?
Second, will the Qing army set up an ambush in Deshengdian? "
Prince Kongdai nodded and said with a smile: "The Qing cavalry's impact is not strong, and it cannot attack the infantry phalanx supported by artillery.
As for the ambush in the victory lake, there must be one, otherwise King Dodo of the Qing Dynasty would not be a qualified military strategist... But King Dodo did not have excellent infantry. If he sent out infantry to win, If the lake is lurking, it won't be a problem.
If he sends out outdated dismounted knights, they will not be a match for our musketeers. The only thing that poses a threat is the so-called forward battalion cavalry.
But these troops are Dodo's trump card! I figured he would focus them on our left flank...so my plan would be successful! "
Shi Kefa was still worried. He finally asked: "Prince, what if your plan fails?"
Prince Condai shrugged and smiled: "If my plan succeeds, we will wipe out 20,000 Dodo people at the cost of 10,000 people. If we fail, then we will wipe out 10,000 Dodo people at the cost of 20,000 people..." ....That’s it!”
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