"Is this, is this still an Eight Banners soldier? They were fine during training, why are they so bad now?"
In Daguan Town, Prince An Yue Le, who was standing on a high ground on horseback to watch the battle, had his hands shaking violently and shouting silently in his heart.
When the cavalry from both sides launched an attack, Yue Le, who was watching the formation from a high place, immediately knew something was wrong. As soon as his Eight Flags horse team started charging, the team actually dispersed, even a few people scattered!
Some Eight Banners soldiers were so excited that they drove at full speed as soon as they came up, without considering that their horses would get tired. Some Eight Banners soldiers were obviously sneaking around, waving their spears like crazy, but the horses under their crotches were walking as fast as they could in the city of Beijing. Others honestly followed the training method, driving the horses to walk quickly, then trot, and finally speed up. However, the team immediately dispersed.
The cavalry formation, which was supposed to be dense, suddenly turned into a big mess. They obviously had a numerical advantage, but when they rushed to the front, they encountered only one or two hundred cavalry of the Wu army.
They were a "fourteen wall" composed of seven hundred horsemen. Although they began to disperse after running for a certain distance, the density, the formation, and the momentum of brothers working together and never looking back were comparable to the Eight Banners soldiers scattered in a pool. Too much.
When the two hit each other, there was no suspense at all. At least 150 of the one or two hundred riders who rushed at the front were dismounted by long bamboo spears! It's no good being knocked off your horse by the enemy on the battlefield. Even if their cloth-covered armor is strong enough to block the opponent's spearhead, there are still two dangers: a heavy fall and a horse's hoof trampling.
He would be seriously injured even if he didn't die!
Seeing that the comrades who were rushing in front were all knocked off their horses, those slickers who deliberately lagged behind did not have the energy to hurry up. Some people began to turn their horses around and prepare to run away.
At the same time, Wu Bing's attack continued.
In the first collision just now, the first of the "two walls" of Wu Jun's cavalry had fallen apart, but the second wall was still intact.
So after completing the attack, the Wu Army's cavalry dispersed to both sides, giving up the charging channel to the second "wall" behind them, allowing them to deal a heavy blow to the Qing Army's Eight Banners Cavalry that was already in chaos!
The position where Qin was located was excellent. Even if the second column of Wu Army's cavalry also hit him, his body was still intact, but his spirit suffered great trauma.
Because he witnessed the Eight Banners heavenly soldiers being easily stabbed off their horses by the enemy with bamboo poles, and three or four hundred of them were stabbed down in two waves. If there was a third wave, it would be his turn.
At this time, someone suddenly shouted: "Wu Sangui is here, retreat quickly!"
When the man looked up, he saw a handsome flag with the word "Wu" in the distance about three to five miles away, leading a large group of infantry towards him, and at a very fast speed, obviously running.
On such a hot day, you still have to wear airtight armor, carry dry food, water bags, weapons and other miscellaneous things, and run. This must be Wu Sangui coming to life to personally supervise the battle!
No way, it’s better to retreat first!
Thinking of this, the pro didn't dare to fight anymore. He quickly pulled the reins, turned the horse's head and retreated to the mountains to the east.
How is it possible that the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers lost so simply?
Prince An Yue Le, who witnessed this vanguard battle in Daguan Town in the southeast of the battlefield (the previous terrain description was incorrect), was completely stunned. Of course he knew that Wu Sangui's soldiers were very powerful. The Eight Banners soldiers had neglected training over the years and were not as good as before. But he never thought that the biggest problem of the Eight Banners soldiers was not that they could not keep up with training, but that they were afraid of death.
If these Eight Banners soldiers fighting Wu Sangui's cavalry were braver and could withstand 20% to 30% casualties and drag the enemy into hand-to-hand combat, entangled the cavalry of both sides, then Yue Le could continue to send more Eight Banners vests to join in. . Today, he has more than 6,000 cavalry in the Daguan Town area, and he can completely crush the enemy with his numerical advantage!
In fact, the 2,400 cavalry belonging to the left wing of the Eight Banners New Army have also completed their assembly at this time, and are on standby in the north of Daguan Town under the leadership of Fei Yanggu - Yue Le's original plan was to let them complete the assembly first The right-wing cavalry was sent to control the wilderness northwest of Daguan Town, and the left-wing cavalry led by Feiyanggu was sent to harass the more than 10,000 Wu army infantry who were advancing on foot.
However, this plan can be changed according to changes in the battlefield situation.
Thinking that he still had 2,400 cavalry available, Yue Le roared: "Send the order, let Deputy Fei lead the cavalry to attack!"
"嗻!"
A Gesheha who had been riding on his horse waiting to deliver the order shouted, and then flew out of Daguan Town.
Fei Yanggu was quite astute. When Yue Le's order came to him, he had already organized the 2,400 cavalry temporarily under his command into eight groups according to the colors of the flags, so he led the troops without a moment's delay. Then they rushed towards the wilderness northwest of Daguan Town.
At this time, Wu Sangui's general Ma Bao was commanding his bamboo spear cavalry to chase the retreating Eight Banners soldiers. In fact, he was as shocked as Yue Le at this time - he never expected that in just one charge, he sent The 1,400 cavalrymen defeated the 2,000 and 2,000 bannermen and horsemen.
Isn't it too easy to win?
Are these the real Eight Banners? Did Yue Le let his slaves wear the cloth armor of the Eight Banners soldiers to lure the enemy?
When Ma Bao was feeling anxious, 2,400 cavalry led by Fei Yanggu drove up. At this time, dusk was already deep, the sky was dark, and the visibility on the battlefield was very poor, so Ma Bao could not see clearly how many Eight Banners soldiers were coming up. He could only see the dust flying in the distance in the direction of Daguan Town, so he quickly ordered the gold medal to be scattered out. The lancers who were chasing the enemy were brought back.
Fei Yanggu, on the other hand, gathered the defeated Eight Banners soldiers and ordered them to find teams with the same flag colors to join him, while leading his troops to follow Ma Bao unhurriedly.
This Daguan Town is actually a town built along a mountain forest that runs from northeast to southwest. To the northwest of the town, there is an open area, and to the north of this open area, the terrain quickly narrows to less than five miles.
However, Yue Le did not place his troops in that narrow area to block the road. Instead, he followed the mountain and spread out from Daguan Town to the northeast, pulling out a front six or seven miles wide, facing the The open land northwest of Daguan Town (referring to the town itself).
This formation can not only occupy favorable terrain, but also ensure that the back route will not be easily copied by the tens of thousands of Wu soldiers coming from Nanxi Town.
But Yue Le did not intend to let his opponent comfortably set up their formation in this open area, so the cavalry led by Fei Yanggu followed the retreating Ma Bao Department and entered this open area.
At the same time, a group of Wu Army infantrymen who were marching in a hurry also entered this open area. The leader was Wu Sangui's commander-in-chief Gao Dejie. When he saw Ma Bao's cavalry retreating and seemed to be being chased by the Eight Banners soldiers, he did not hesitate to order the 2,000 men of his 1st and 4th battalions to form a large hollow square formation. .
Using a hollow square formation to attack cavalry is not unique to Western armies. It is also quite popular here in China. The infantry defends the four sides with lances, bows and arrows, shotguns, and small cannons, and the hollow space in the middle can be used to place baggage vehicles and Chinese troops.
But unlike the Western hollow array, there are four "doors" on the four corners of the Chinese hollow array. That is, this part of the array can be opened and closed at any time. When it is opened, there will be a path for cavalry to enter and exit. The channel appears.
However, Ma Bao did not choose to retreat into the phalanx. Instead, he detoured from the right side of the phalanx and retreated to the southwest. About half of his cavalry had used up their bamboo spears and had to go back to replenish them. However, several cavalry commanders under Fei Yanggu thought that their side had won the battle and were eager to make contributions. They actually led their cavalry to chase Ma Bao's cavalry, hoping to gain victory from high. The right side of the phalanx is bypassed.
Such a magical operation can make the battle-hardened Gao Dejie dumbfounded - because Ma Bao's cavalry circled close to Gao Dejie's infantry square, they were their own people, and Gao Dejie's people were not Will use guns to bombard friendly troops. But why did this group of Eight Banners soldiers follow them so stupidly? Will they fight? Who taught this craft?
"Right wing. Fire!"
Gao Dejie was not stupid for long, he immediately reacted and gave the order loudly.
"Boom! Boom!"
The two "red cannons" weighing several hundred kilograms mounted on the right wing of Gao Dejie's phalanx had already been loaded with iron sand bombs. After receiving the order, they immediately aimed at the Eight Banners soldiers who were chasing the enemy vigorously. Two shots were fired. The iron sand sprayed out from the muzzle of the cannon, and it swept into the cavalry of about 500 red flag cavalry. Although the cavalry was not very dense, there were still ten or eight Eight Banners soldiers who were beaten to a bloody pulp by the iron sand. He screamed and fell off the horse. Their horses were either killed or wounded by iron bullets, causing them to scream miserably. This time the Eight Flags cavalry team suddenly became a mess with people crying and horses neighing.
“Bang, bang, bang”
After the sound of the cannon, the shotgun fired again!
The proportion of Wu soldiers' shotguns is not as high as that of the Eight Banners soldiers, but they still have 30% to 40%. Gao Dejie's four battalions each have 200 shotguns. Now the two battalions on the right are firing at the same time. Hundreds of shotguns.
Although two hundred shotguns were not many, Wu Jun's shotgun soldiers were all veterans and their marksmanship was relatively accurate. Moreover, the two sides were also close. A burst of shotguns shot over and knocked down thirty-four more people!
This red-flag horse team composed of about 500 cavalry was first shot twice (iron sand bullets), and then shot by shotguns. Almost 10% of the soldiers were lost like this!
The soldiers on both sides were shocked at this time. These were dozens of "real Jianyi"!
Back in the Chongzhen Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, if a battle could cut off the heads of dozens of "real Jianyi", it would be called a great victory. Why is it so easy now? Gao Dejie and his men couldn't believe it - could it be that he had been "exchanging rebel experiences and improving rebel techniques" in Yunnan over the years, so he became more powerful?
No, you have to try again!
"Quick, reload the ammunition and keep fighting!"
Gao Dejie immediately shouted, and the gunners and gunners were all veterans. They were shocked and shocked, and they kept loading powder and ammunition. So as soon as Gao Dejie's shout ended, the sound of cannons and gunshots rang out again.
However, before the descendants of the "True Jianyi" could react from the shock, they were subjected to another round of gunfire, and as usual, dozens more people were shot and killed. At this time, the remaining people finally knew something was wrong. Who took the lead and exclaimed "Run". More than 400 riders fled in all directions like birds and beasts, leaving corpses on the ground. It was important to save their lives. Just throw away the body of the robe!
As they ran, they collided with hundreds of Eight Banners soldiers with blue flags behind them. Eight or nine hundred Eight Banners soldiers became a mess.
The kisser who had already run once before had to prepare for the "second run" at this time. His "first run" did not run well and was blocked by the cavalry led by Feiyanggu. However, they were not decapitated, but were incorporated. The one with the same flag color belongs to the cavalry team with blue flags on the left wing of the Eight Banners New Army. However, he had gone through the previous failure experience, and now he was more careful. He kept following the team. When he heard the sound of gunfire in front, he stopped his horse and prepared to run away again. But he was just preparing, not running immediately, because the Zhengbai Banner Cavalry led by Feiyanggu was right behind him.
He didn't want to be beheaded by that big lord as a typical example of escaping from battle.
Just when he was about to run away, the familiar shout came again!
"Qing Tian is dead, Zhou Tian should be established, equalize the fields and divide the land, and the world will be safe."
The kisser quickly stood up in the stirrups, stretched his neck and looked towards the place where the slogans came from. At this time, the sky was getting darker and the visibility was extremely low. He could only vaguely see a group of cavalry approaching him.
"Wu Sangui is here, run!"
Don’t know which one it is? Another voice!
As a result, the eight or nine hundred cavalrymen who were already panicking turned around and ran away like crazy, and behind them, Wu Bing's lancers also launched an attack at the same time!
Driven by Wu Jun's bamboo spear cavalry, these panicked Eight Banners soldiers went crazy and ran into the Zhengbai Banner cavalry led by Fei Yanggu.
Now Fei Yanggu had no choice. Even if he was willing to fight to the death, the Zhengbai Banner cavalry under his command would not do it. They all followed the trend and retreated to the mountains and forests to the east.
"We were defeated, we were defeated, why were we defeated again? Headquarters, it's not good, those Eight Banners soldiers are coming towards us!"
At the foot of Mojia Tomb Hill, Wang Zhongxiao, who was sitting on a pony, waving his fan and drinking wine and having dinner with Dai Zi, suddenly heard the words of Wang Leiyong, who was holding the title of General of the Zhenbiao, under his hands. voice.
Dai Zi was already a little uneasy, but now he looked at Wang Zhongxiao in a panic.
Wang Zhongxiao did not panic at all, and shouted loudly: "Prepare for war, don't eat when you are preparing for war. If there is a war, I will set up the shotguns and spears!"
"嗻!"
The people under his command were also quite shocked. They all shouted "嗻" loudly, then lowered their heads and took two bites of dinner, then slowly picked up their spears and shotguns and entered the position.
Wang Zhongxiao's mission today was to guard Dai Zi and the dozen or so Weiyuan general cannons. In order to "protect the artillery and control the enemy", he deliberately chose a mountain col that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and ordered people to deploy the artillery at the entrance of the mountain col. A formation to resist the horses was set up, and side cards were placed, so that they could be guarded very tightly.
As for the artillery position being too far away from the battlefield, that doesn't matter, as long as you can hear the sound!
Besides, those Weiyuan General's cannons are so heavy that they can only be used to attack cities and bombard enemies who don't like to move. For example, who is Galdan Wu Sangui who likes Butuo City? "Wu Paopao" likes sports very much. How can Weiyuan General Cannon beat him?
Moreover, if the artillery array is too far forward, the cannons will be snatched away by Wu Jun's cavalry. Those Weiyuan general cannons are all direct-firing cannons and cannot fire shotgun shells. If they encounter an enemy charging directly towards them, they can only stare blankly.
Not to mention, Dai Zi is a "good boy" who listens to advice. After hearing what Wang Zhongxiao said, he didn't venture in. An An followed him and hid in the mountain col, eating and drinking, which was quite happy.
But no matter how much Wang Zhongxiao could hide, he couldn't stop the panicked Eight Banners soldiers from luring Wu Sangui's cavalry over!
Hearing the sound of horse hooves and shouts getting closer and closer, Dai Zi was already anxious and kept shouting in Shaoxing dialect: "Shikai, save me, Shikai, save me."
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, brother Wen Kai is not afraid." As Wang Zhongxiao spoke, he took out his flintlock pistol and started loading bullets - when he couldn't do it anymore, he used this gun to shoot Dai Zi!
Dai Zi was a little surprised when he saw Wang Zhongxiao just playing with a small pistol: "Brother Shikai, what can you use this short gun for?"
It's enough to shoot you. Wang Zhongxiao said it, but he held it back and changed his words: "Brother Wenkai, why are you still standing there? Go and fire!"
"Open, fire? Where to shoot?" Dai Zi was stunned. His Weiyuan General Cannon is very powerful, but it is not very convenient to use. It is fine for hitting fixed targets. If you want to hit moving targets, you have to ambush first and then wait. The enemy has to move up or be lured over to fire. There is no target now. Doesn’t this random firing expose it?
"Fight as far away as you can," Wang Zhongxiao ordered. "Fight as far as you can! Of course, you have to fight where the rebels are coming!"
"Isn't this a random fight?" Dai Zi had not forgotten his responsibilities at this time. No wonder he went to Ninggu Pagoda in history.
"Why is it a random fight?" Wang Zhongxiao glared at Dai Zi, "This is called a bluff. Where there are cannons, there must be a main force! As long as the rebels don't come to us, won't we be safe? At this time, life is important!"
"But there aren't many explosive shells!" Dai Zi said, "If we lose them all, what will we do when the prince wants us to bombard the enemy camp?"
Wang Zhongxiao frowned, "Wen Kai, what are you thinking about? In this situation, it doesn't seem like we are going to win! Where is the chance to bombard the enemy camp? If you have such thoughts, you'd better think about it later. How to run!"
"Ah" Dai Zi was surprised, "Are you going to be defeated?"
Wang Zhongxiao waved his hand: "Go quickly, go quickly, don't let those Eight Banners soldiers lead the rebels to us! Otherwise we will become loyal heroes when we turn back!"
"Okay, I'll go right away"
(End of chapter)
