Early morning on October 10th.
Hubei, by the Jianyang River, Shilipu battlefield.
One of the most typical major battles of this era is about to be staged in this open area located in the center of the Jianghan Plain.
Since it is the most typical main force battle, of course it is conducted according to the most typical routine.
The two warring parties set up their main camps first, and then engage in a decisive battle - a well-matched battle rarely decides the winner in one day, and it is normal for the battle to last ten days and a half, so It's impossible not to set up a camp.
Moreover, veteran generals at the level of Wu Sangui and Zhuo Butai are often very cautious when the decisive battle comes, so they will set up the camp more firmly when possible.
Wu Sangui did not bring all his troops on the Dangyang front line to the Shilipu front line. He also placed some troops in Dangyang County, Xianglu Mountain and Herong Town near Shilipu to protect him and bring him to the front line. fleet and provisions.
In addition, during the previous marches and battles, Wu Sangui's men also suffered some casualties, and some were sick and needed to recuperate.
Therefore, the total number of Wu's troops who followed Wu Sangui to the front line of Shilipu was just over 60,000. These people set up a large camp just north of Shilipu, along the Jianyang River. It is about ten miles away from the town of Shilipu where the Qing army was entrenched.
And the person actually commanding the battle in the Qing Dynasty was not Emperor Xiao Mazi himself. Otherwise, Wu Sangui would not be able to wake up from his dream?
After all, Emperor Xiao Mazi is a figure known as the "Holy Lord", and he always has a few brushes... In the original history, he was also the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty who had a serious imperial command. During the campaign against Galdan, he went on three expeditions in person! After him...if Xianfeng's northern expedition and Lianggong's western expedition were not counted as personal expeditions by the emperor, then there would be none.
The "Holy Lord" who can conquer Galdan three times certainly knows how much he weighs.
Therefore, Xiao Mazi did not go to Shilipu to command on the battlefield at all, but stationed himself in Jianyang Town on the north bank of Jianyang River. Nalan Mingzhu led about 5,000 cavalrymen from the escort camp to protect the "Holy Lord Mayan".
In addition to these 5,000 people, there are still about 70,000 Qing troops concentrated on the front line of Shilipu. Kangxi originally planned to mobilize 90,000 troops. But until daybreak on October 10, Wang Fuchen's 10,000 Green Flag Soldiers had not yet arrived.
In addition, Kangxi also stationed thousands of people in Jingmen Prefecture and Huya Pass to guard the retreat to Xiangyang.
So counting the 5,000 guards around Kangxi and the Qing troops deployed in Shilipu-Jianyang Town, there were only 75,000 Qing troops on the front line. After deducting the 5,000 that Kangxi took for self-protection, the rest were under the command of Zhuo Butai. Down.
Zhuo Butai, like Wu Sangui, first set up a stronghold and defended Shilipu Town and the pontoon bridge and wooden bridge (two bridges) on the Jianyang water, and then fought Wu Sangui decisively.
The confrontation between the two sides actually started the day before, that is, the afternoon of October 9 when the main forces of both sides were busy setting up camp.
The first to engage in the confrontation were the cavalry and small squads of hammer-throwers from both sides.
The cavalry and the hammer-throwers competed for control of the battlefield!
Compared with the hundreds of thousands of troops of the two families, the Shilipu battlefield between Jianyangshui and Zhangshui is still quite open, and apart from Shilipu, Jianyangqiao, and Herong Town, there is nothing to station troops and control. The main points of a large battlefield nearby.
The total strength of both sides is only this small. After they are really deployed on the battlefield, the territory they can occupy is also limited.
Whoever holds the remaining battlefield areas, or whoever can control more of the remaining areas, will undoubtedly have greater initiative. It can cover the opponent's various scouts, prevent them from spying on one's own camp and rear, and cover the deployment of one's main force. At the same time, it can better grasp the enemy's movements and harass the enemy's main force and logistics line.
According to the original battlefield "rules", whoever has more and stronger cavalry will definitely have a great advantage in the battlefield battle before the battle begins.
This is also the reason why the side from the north with more and stronger cavalry can always suppress the southern army in the cold weapon era, with few exceptions.
However, the emergence of the sugar medicine Tianlei Hammer (named by Wu Sangui) has greatly changed the "rules" of cavalry dominance... After Wu Sangui obtained a sufficient supply of "sugar medicine", he immediately A group of "hammer-throwing squads" who were good at throwing thunder hammers were trained, which was a twelve-man squad similar to Qi Jiguang's Yuanyang Formation. valley
The twelve men included a captain, a lieutenant, two swordsmen, two musketeers, four lancers, and two hammer-throwers. The captain and deputy are also equipped with bows and arrows.
Without the Thunder Hammer, it would be very dangerous for such a small team to encounter the Qing cavalry on the battlefield. Four spears would not be able to form a formation, and the firepower provided by two muskets and two archers would be too weak.
But now with the addition of two "bomb-throwing" hammer throwers, the team's combat effectiveness immediately increased exponentially.
Although it may not be a sure win against the Qing cavalry, it greatly increases the risk of the Qing cavalry.
One hit with a hammer, and a team of cavalry will be crippled!
Moreover, these hammer-throwing soldiers of Wu Sangui also carry fake thunder hammers. They look similar, but they are just wooden lumps. They will not explode when thrown, but the real ones are also very scary. And these fake thunder hammers are not valuable, so everyone in the hammer-throwing team is equipped with them.
When encountering an enemy, they would often throw out seven, eight or even a dozen hammers... but only two of them were the deadly True Sky Thunder Hammers.
This probability...it's all about the heartbeat!
In addition, Wu Sangui's small number of cavalry were also equipped with thunder hammers and upgraded to grenadier cavalry!
This is amazing! It was simply a mobile "fort". A single rider could sometimes blow up a group of Qing cavalry!
Although the probability of this is very low, the Qing cavalry on the battlefield are very scared!
They are all playing with cold weapons, but their opponents are playing with bombs... I'm scared when I see them!
So starting from the afternoon of October 9, "boom" explosions were heard from time to time on the battlefield around Shilipu.
The Qing cavalry sent by Zhuo Butai to compete with the Wu army for the battlefield felt twitching in their hearts when they heard the explosion.
In the end, the Qing cavalry on the battlefield simply avoided the Wu army's grenadier cavalry and hammer-throwing squads... If we can't afford to offend them, why can't we afford to hide?
Zhuo Butai, who had been watching the battle from the watchtower of the Shilipu camp all night, could only sigh deeply in the early morning of October 10th and ordered his cavalry to retreat to the vicinity of the camp, as long as the camp was firmly covered.
The first main battle of Wu Qing's Jianyang River Battle also kicked off at this time.
On October 10, at 3:30 pm, as a rapid sound of drums and drums sounded in Wu Sangui's camp, groups of thunder hammer soldiers and grenadier cavalry first drove out of the Wu army camp, and then launched on the battlefield. A "dispersed formation" that could be said to have never appeared before slowly began to approach the Qing army's camp.
"This is......"
At this time, Zhuo Butai had already left the Shilipu camp under the escort of a group of coated slave army forward battalion cavalry. He immediately stood on the battlefield and began to observe the enemy's situation - the army under his command was also heading towards the camp at this time. Open outside. However, he does not need to keep an eye on this matter personally. Bahai, Shuotuo, Tong Guoyao, Leerjin and others will naturally follow the plan formulated during the military meeting yesterday evening and move the 60,000 troops out of the camp.
The remaining 10,000 elite soldiers plus half of Kangxi's 5,000 cavalry, plus Wang Fuchen's 10,000 men who are expected to arrive this afternoon, will form a reserve corps... Give Wu Sangui a fatal blow at the critical moment!
Zhuo Butai, who had been worried about Wu Sangui's new tactics all night, left the Qing army camp after dawn under the escort of hundreds of cavalry.
Because he has discovered a very serious problem - Wu Sangui seems to be better at using the Thunder Hammer than people like Zhu Heji and Zhuge Sanhe!
This is actually a matter of course. Wu Sangui, Ma Bao, Wu Guogui, Wu Yingqi, Wu Shicong, Gao Dejie, and Han Daren can all be regarded as tactical experts. The new weapon "invented" by Zhu Heji will certainly be more powerful when it is in their hands!
Therefore, Zhuo Butai must try his best to find out Wu Sangui's new routine before the war begins.
