After testing the reliability of the firecrackers and coming to the conclusion that they were simply a pile of rubbish, Gao Pragmatic, who was completely disappointed with the North's military firearms, decided to find a few more reasons to add chips to his involvement in the military industry, so he faced Wang Chonggu and Ma Fang began to test the shooting accuracy.
Since it was not necessary to hit the barrel this time, Gao pragmatically ordered each three-eye gun to fire only two rounds, with ten people in a row, firing in twenty groups, and then recording the results to calculate the overall shooting rate.
Because the three-eyed gun has three barrels, firing two shots actually means shooting six projectiles. However, this does not matter. The important thing is that this thing has never relied on accuracy, so it is understandable that the results are a mess.
After the accuracy test was completed, Gao Shiji still refused to let go, and began to test the effective range and maximum range again. Sure enough, the results of this test are no exception. The range of these three-eyed guns stored in the warehouse that can effectively kill the enemy is only less than thirty steps - the average calculation result is only 27.1 steps.
Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but sigh. No wonder the soldiers of the Northern Army directly used it as an iron rod. With such a small killing distance, and the Mongolian cavalry on the opposite side, if there was a real fight, it is estimated that if the opposite side charges, they will already be in front of him in the blink of an eye. Then It's obviously better to just shoot something than just hit it with a stick.
However, Gao Pragmatic's approach to the Mongolian cavalry was obviously wrong. In fact, the Mongols have made almost no progress from the Yuan Dynasty to the present. Their favorite strategy is still the one used by Genghis Khan - Manguye.
It is said that the Mangu evil tactics summed up by Genghis Khan are called "Parthian Archery Method" by Westerners. In fact, to put it bluntly, the horse archers escape while shooting arrows at the enemies in the rear. The core of this tactic is to pretend to flee and induce the enemy to pursue, and its essence is speed and suddenness.
The essence of this tactic lies in three points, one is to attack the enemy from a long distance, the other is to continuously attack the enemy, and the third is to not give the enemy a chance to fight back.
Under such an attack, no matter how strong the enemy's spirit and armor are, theoretically speaking, it is only a matter of time before it completely collapses. At that time, most European knights were equipped with heavy helmets and armor. Although they were very powerful in close combat, their mobility was not comparable to that of the Mongolian cavalry. If you encounter a Mongolian cavalry archer, you will not only be unable to catch up, but you will also be unable to escape. You will only be used as a target.
Moreover, the Mongolian cavalry did not rely entirely on force attacks like the European knights. They only had to kill most of the enemy with bows and arrows before engaging the enemy in close combat. In April 1241, the Mongolian cavalry relied on this method of warfare to defeat Europe's most elite 100,000 Hungarian army (led by King Béla IV of Hungary) on the banks of the Danube River. They killed more than 70,000 enemies in one battle, using bows and arrows. A song called "The Bloody Danube" was played, which almost completely wiped out the European resistance.
This tactic has been used by the Mongols to this day. However, since the Han people have been at war with the Mongols for a long time, they have gradually found a way to deal with this tactic, which is to use strong formations and firearms.
However, the response method is only a response after all, and it is still very difficult to defeat them. If the Mongols insist on leaving, the Han army has no good solution because its mobility is far inferior to the opponent. This is also why the Northern Army always produces some results that are difficult to see in terms of numbers - when they come, you can only form a formation to meet the enemy, and when they leave, you can only follow behind and eat shit. Therefore, even if Qi Jiguang defeated the Japanese pirates, they would annihilate them all at every turn. After the battle, most of the people can only "break", "force the captives to retreat", etc., and beheading hundreds of people is considered a great result.
Fortunately, the Mongols do not always have only one set of tactics. They will also have the so-called "cavalry attack". At this time, the Mongolian battle formation is usually divided into five rows. The heavy cavalry formed the first two rows, wielding spears, battle axes and maces as the main striking force, and of course they also brought strong bows. Light cavalry wearing light armor or without armor formed the last three rows. Their main weapons were short swords and throwing spears, and of course strong bows were also indispensable.
When the two armies are fighting, other light cavalry units will first disperse to engage in small-scale battles with their opponents, and then turn to the wings during the battle to form the front with the main force.
When this step was completed, the light cavalry in the last three rows of the main force passed through the heavy cavalry array and fired arrows and spears at the enemy to cause chaos in the enemy array. If this action does not cause confusion to the enemy, the light cavalry will adopt the manguha tactic of retreating while turning around and shooting arrows, luring the opponent to pursue and causing confusion in their formation.
Once the enemy camp was in chaos, the light cavalry moved to both wings, leaving a clear path for the heavy cavalry to carry out a decisive blow.
If the light cavalry fails to achieve its goal, the leader will usually order the light cavalry on one wing to attack the enemy's flank from the side to attract the enemy's attention. At the same time, the heavy cavalry will outflank the flank and launch a fatal attack from the rear.
In view of this situation, as soon as Qi Jiguang's Southern Army arrived at Jizhen, they were all equipped with war horses and became "mounted infantry". The gunmen in his army also became somewhat like the so-called "dragon cavalry" in Europe.
Ma Fang, on the other hand, has a different style. He was captured by the Mongols for many years as a boy, and even gained quite a reputation there. After returning to the Ming Dynasty, he has always been a model of riding against riding, that is, Use Mongolian tactics to deal with the Mongols. However, since this method of warfare requires proficiency in bows and horses, the number of Ma Fang's direct cavalry servants has never been increased, and there are many Mongolians among them.
However, although Gao Pragmatic was distracted for a moment, he actually understood the Mongolian tactics. He even knew that the British lobster soldiers relied on hollow square formations to defeat the Mongolian Green Qin Manchu and Mongolian cavalry, so he specifically tested the three eyes. The effective range of the musket - of course, the result is that the effective range of this thing is not as good as the Mongolian bow and arrow. Even if you set up a hollow square formation, you will give away the record to the opponent in vain.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but admire Qi Jiguang, Ma Fang and even Li Chengliang. They were able to win often without the support of the hollow square array. They were really capable. Anyway, he felt that if it were him, without a large number of gunmen with strict military discipline and a hollow square formation, he would definitely lose...
However, this also strengthened his determination to get involved in the military industry, especially the production of muskets, because whether it was Qi Jiguang, Ma Fang, or even Li Chengliang, such military talents could not be copied in the late Ming Dynasty. Rather than expecting a steady stream of military geniuses to appear, It would be better to honestly improve the level of weapons and tactics, and rely on technology and wisdom to challenge the final glory of the nomads.
Not only Mongolia, but also wild boar skins, and even in the distant future, they might have to face the Tsar's sharp knife-the Cossack cavalry.
