Ma Dong and Ma Cheng'en each led more than a thousand cavalry (each had a number of Gao family cavalry under their command), and they were responsible for mobile harassment missions. They scattered and rushed back and forth in Jizi Bay, with the purpose of preventing the Chaohua Taiji from moving quickly. Effective concentration of forces, and continued "bloodletting" in the process.
Gao Jingshi joined this task at Ma Fang's strong request. Originally, Gao Jingshi only planned for the two of them to go off and charge along the landing line when the Mongolian army had just landed 78,000 to cooperate with the Jinghua fleet. Completely cut off the front and middle parts of the Mongolian army and disconnect them, and then temporarily withdraw the troops and wait for the infantry to carry out the finishing tasks after the three battles of artillery coverage, gun platoons, and bayonet formations.
But Ma Fang thinks it won't work - actually it doesn't mean it won't work. It's just that Ma Fang feels that Gao Pragmatic is too cautious in using the cavalry, as if these cavalry can't suffer any losses at all. If it weren't for the difficulty of speaking out, he would even want to say Gao Pragmatic The pragmatic use of cavalry seems a bit restrictive.
Ma Fang is the number one cavalry warrior in the Ming Dynasty. Although Li Chengliang now has 40,000 cavalry, which is more powerful than Ma Fang, he is recognized by the Ming Dynasty - and even recognized by the Mongols - as the number one cavalryman in the Ming Dynasty. The general must still be firmly placed on the head of "Master Ma".
In Ma Fang's view, the biggest difference between cavalry and infantry lies in their speed of attack and withdrawal.
If the attack is fast, the opponent will not have time to make any adjustments and deployments, and will be easily beaten by it; if the withdrawal is fast, the opponent will finally adjust and prepare to counterattack, but our cavalry has already withdrawn and is even preparing for the next wave of offensive.
Continuous sudden attacks, even if each wave of attacks is just one blow, is like stabbing someone with a small knife. Even if you don't die immediately, you are still losing blood. When the blood loss reaches a certain level, your expression will definitely become... Trance, strength fading.
At this time, your own cavalry can change the "speed type" to the "impact type" and launch the final formation-breaking charge to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop and secure victory.
Therefore, Ma Fang had strong objections to Gao Pragmatic's use of cavalry as an auxiliary unit, and strongly suggested changing the way of fighting - which is the current way of fighting.
Highly pragmatic and easy to follow advice - he has such self-awareness. Because of the infantry issue, he would have understood it when reading books and playing games in the past. Especially in this era, there is actually no particularly profound knowledge, which is the three major elements: Strict discipline, intensive firepower, and frontal attack.
Yes, there is no need for a surprise attack or any ingenuity. It just requires training a strong army to go up and fight hard. The reason why the Ming army in the original history had no solution to the Jianzhou Tatars in the later period was that in the final analysis, they lost because of one thing. In fact: it can't be beaten in a field battle.
No matter how clever you are, if you are defeated directly by the Tatars in the field, what nonsense is that?
"Sun Tzu's Art of War: Situation Chapter": "Any warrior relies on the right combination to win with surprise. Therefore, those who are good at surprising surprises are as endless as the heaven and the earth, and as endless as the rivers and seas." It seems to emphasize more on "strange", but it is I don’t know that his premise is "righteousness". Only when "righteousness" is not weaker than others, can "oddness" have a decisive effect. If your "righteousness" cannot be "integrated", what is the point of "strangeness"? ?
It's like a three-year-old child sneaking up on a thirty-year-old man and punching him out of the blue. This is naturally "odd", but what's the point? It is powerless and meaningless, and will be slapped away by you.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic's thinking on infantry has always been very clear. First, discipline must be strict. Whether it is improving treatment or increasing punishment, it is all based on strict discipline; second, firepower must be strong, and the development of new rifles and artillery must be Well, whether it is private military industry or not, it is all to enhance the firepower of the Ming army and reduce the failure rate of weapons.
As for the frontal attack, this is a matter of tactical command. In principle, Gao Pragmatic does not intervene directly, but is responsible for checking and selecting the predetermined battlefield before planning the operation to make it conducive to the display of one's own firepower.
As for the cavalry issue, he was really scratching his head.
In fact, compared to infantry commanders, cavalry commanders have been more "talented" since ancient times, because cavalry is actually more in line with the saying that "soldiers are impermanent and water is impermanent", and its characteristics change faster. Many times, generals need to make decisions on the fly - just like Ma Fang's plan just now.
There are no clear rules for when to harass and when to break the formation. Everything depends on the general's timing. It's like two people competing in martial arts. If the other party reveals a flaw, you have to judge the opponent's weakness in an instant. Is the flaw a real flaw, or is it tempting you to be fooled? Seize the real flaw and launch a decisive blow resolutely and decisively.
In the past, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to teach Huo Qubing the art of war. Huo Qubing confidently said: Gu Fanglue is too good at learning the ancient art of war.
There are at least four or five interpretations of this sentence in later generations, but a careful analysis shows that Huo Qubing may not have completely ignored the book of war. He only read it critically, because his later famous tactics were mentioned in the "Ancient Book of War". No.
The highest level in military science, Sun Tzu called it "the way of war", and Sun Bin directly called it "the way". Knowing the way of war or Tao is the highest state of military use. But how to achieve this state? Sun Tzu didn't say it, Sun Bin didn't say it, and other military strategists didn't say it either.
In fact, there may not be a specific and effective method at all. As Sun Tzu said: "The victory of this military strategist cannot be passed on first." - This thing is not good, the key is to rely on the commander to be there. To gain personal insights in practice may even require talent.
People like Huo Qubing and Ma Fang are obviously this type of talented players, and this type of talented generals are almost all cavalry generals in history - of course there may be many infantry generals who are extremely talented, but they are limited to The infantry itself is too slow. It is obviously more difficult than the cavalry to seize a flaw in the battle and immediately win the battle.
Now, Ma Fang has given Gao Pragmatic some inspiration, and even to a certain extent, he has imparted some experience: "There is no rule to tell when it is appropriate to switch from attacking to attacking, but generally speaking, you can start from the opponent's point of view. Judging from the performance in dealing with harassment.”
Ma Fang explained: "When the harassment first starts, the enemy still has some strength and can actively deal with it, and its dispatch is usually effective. But after several harassments, the enemy will probably become sluggish... Once you find out, in When you launch the next wave of harassment, the enemy has not even been able to complete the deployment of the previous wave of harassment. This is usually the time to launch a general attack."
Listening to you is really worth ten years of reading!
Such pragmatic experience gained through decades of actual combat cannot be learned no matter how many military books he reads!
Ma Dong and Ma Cheng'en were both preparing to receive military orders from Gao Jingshi at that time, and they also listened to Ma Fang's teachings. As front-line generals, they must have gained more insights than Gao Jingshi, the rear commander.
At this time, during the battle with the Fried Flower Department, the two of them also constantly observed the response of the Fried Flower.
At the beginning, when the Chaohua Department found out that they were ambushed, they reacted very strongly. Chaohua Taiji personally ordered the troops around him to attack Ma Dong, who was the first to attack and kill him, like a "counterattack".
Although Ma Dong wanted to have a head-on confrontation with him, he kept reminding himself to follow his father's teachings. He suppressed his desire to make a great contribution to repay Gao Bingxian Nobushige, and led his cavalry through an arc. Line, ordered his subordinates to "shoot freely with lances", and then quickly evacuated.
At this time, the Huahua Department was still a new force, and they responded directly with mounted fire. The losses on both sides were almost one to one, and Ma Dong did not take any advantage.
However, Chaohua Taiji had no chance to expand the victory, because Ma Dong had just made an arc to go around, and Ma Chengen arrived from the other direction, forcing Chaohua Taiji to terminate the pursuit and meet Ma Chengen again.
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