When a battle breaks out unexpectedly, both sides of the battle must be in some confusion. This is the case at all times and at home and abroad. There are many factors that determine victory or defeat at this time, such as training, courage, the reaction of the generals, the gap in weapons and equipment, etc. .
However, when they were both Mongolian cavalry, the difference in these factors between the two sides was not too big. Even Tuotuo's reputation would not be as effective as usual after the fight started.
The biggest variable in this battle is Li Rusong and his five thousand cavalry. As Li Chengliang's "head of the frontier commander", these five thousand cavalry are not ordinary five thousand cavalry. They can be said to be of the upper class in terms of combat experience, physical fitness and desire to fight. Needless to say about the equipment, Yishui's private equipment is by no means comparable to the dregs of the previous government workshops.
As we all know, Li Chengliang's military management was different from that of Qi Jiguang. Qi Jiguang was famous for his systematic leadership, while Li Chengliang relied on his personal prestige and charisma, rewarded meritorious soldiers generously, and relied on honors and wealth to boost morale. Therefore, later on, "The power of all the battles in Chengliang was attributed to Jian'er. Later Jian'er, Li Pinghu, Li Ning, Li Xing, Qin Deyi, and Sun Shoulian, were all rich and powerful, and they supported the city, but it was difficult to revive their twilight spirit."
The enterprising spirit he had in his early years was lost, and his achievements gradually declined. First, there were reports of cowardice, and then there were reports of covering up defeat and taking credit for success. Although these were all done by his subordinates, Li Chengliang could not escape the blame after all.
However, those things only started to appear in the original history around the 20th year of Wanli. At that time, Zhu Yijun adopted Li Rusong, intending to use him to replace the old Li Chengliang. Therefore, the Liaodong cavalry was stimulated for a while, and it was not until later that Li Rusong died unexpectedly in battle, and this "dead energy" was truly irreversible.
At this time, the Liaodong cavalry was still basically at its peak, and various "indicators" had not declined significantly. The reason why the Liaodong cavalry has been able to defeat the powerful Mongolian and Jurchen cavalry forces for nearly forty years is not, as some say, relying on the so-called "three-eyed blunderbuss" that can be used as both a continuous fire and a hammer. But it relies on two things: being willing to spend money and not being afraid of risking your life.
Being willing to spend money is a good habit that the Tieling Li family is famous for. The sentence just mentioned "The power of all the battles in Chengliang was due to the athletes. Later, the athletes Li Pinghu, Li Ning, Li Xing, Qin Deyi, and Sun Shoulian were all rich and powerful. Special city." This is proof. It is said that there must be a brave man under a heavy reward. An ordinary warrior who originally had no hope in his life suddenly has such a bright future. Who wouldn't be willing to give it a try? However, the reason why this method does not last long is precisely because after the generals become too rich, their life goals are achieved, they start to indulge in pleasure, and they become "unable to recover".
As for not being afraid of risking one's life, the specific manifestation during this period of Li Chengliang and Li Rusong was to charge personally. Li Chengliang has personally led the charge for so many years, so his subordinates dare not risk their lives. However, Li Rusong has a tougher temper than his father and must be in front of the battle in every battle. Therefore, his cavalrymen are even more convinced by him.
In terms of tactics, the Li family's cavalry "used their cavalry mostly in battles. They formed a horizontal formation and fired their bows and arrows at the thieves. If the thieves' formation did not move, they would slowly retreat and then charge again. After more than ten times, no one in the strong formation could not fail." ." It can be seen that the Liaodong cavalry in the original history, like the Mongolian cavalry, were archers, not pure musketeers.
However, in this life, due to the emergence of high pragmatism, the range, accuracy and lethality of the cavalry guns produced by Jinghua have surpassed ordinary cavalry bows. Therefore, Li Rusong spent only half a year after taking office in Taiyuan, and spent huge sums of money to change the equipment of his troops. Wanli style lance.
According to the information reported to Gao Pangshi by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Beijing, this incident was still a bit of a fuss within the Tieling Li family at that time. Many Li family members questioned that Li Rusong did this because he did not take Li Chengliang as his father seriously. At that time, Li Chengliang had already joined the Heart School, and his relationship with the Practical School was quite tense.
The attitude of many people is: Since you have already fallen out with Gao Pragmatic, why should you buy his firearms or give him money? From this, he began to doubt Li Rusong's position.
However, the Li family's affairs obviously had to be decided by Li Chengliang in the end, and Li Chengliang's decision made everyone dumbfounded. He only said: "It may have to be done in Shanxi." Then he stopped interfering.
This attitude left everyone confused. The news Gao Pragmatic received was that after the family meeting, Li Rusong's two uncles had a secret talk with his eldest brother Li Chengliang, but it was unknown what they talked about. No matter how powerful the "Black Top" is, it is not at the level where it can bribe Li Chengliang's biological brother.
In fact, Li Rusong thinks very simply. He doesn't care who his father is hanging out with now. The principle he believes in is simple and crude: If the people under me listen to me and can fight, then I can face anyone. All fearless.
Even though he is already in his thirties, he is actually similar to Huo Qubing back then. He believes in the supremacy of bravery and that all difficulties can be overcome with courage and force.
Since the Jinghua lance was better than the bow, of course he changed it, for no other reason. And this change of equipment also played a corresponding role in this battle. During the charge, he fired at will, and three shots defeated the 5,000 Huoluo Chibu cavalry who were in a state of preparation for battle. The reason for the three shots was not Because the Jinghua lance can already fire continuously, and because the lance is much shorter than the rifle (so the performance is worse), Li Rusong's department is equipped with three of them each, and they are loaded in advance, relying on the advantage of the flintlock gun. Come and fire three shots in a row.
The difficulty in this is just to change guns quickly, and this difficulty will definitely not trouble the Li family's cavalry. How good are their riding skills? The heads of the Mongolians and Jurchens who died in their hands can prove it.
In fact, speaking of it, the words "Liaodong Iron Cavalry" are not more suitable for the later "Guan Ning Iron Cavalry" than for Li Chengliang's army, because the actual record of the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry is really too low, most of the time. Transferring - what is transfer? If you don't dare to fight, run; if you can't fight, run.
In many books of later generations, the "Guan Ning Cavalry" was praised as the most powerful team in the late Ming Dynasty, and the only army that could "frontally fight hard" with the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers. But if you really delve into history, you will find that the powerful reputation of the "Guan Ning Cavalry" is mostly blown out. This cavalry is nominally a cavalry, but it is engaged in city defense battles; it is a Ming army in name only, but it cannot defeat the Manchu Qing Dynasty no matter how hard it fights. However, when it defeats the Southern Ming Dynasty, its combat effectiveness is beyond the limit. Such an army cannot be called "cavalry". "It's hard to live up to the reputation.
For example, according to the Records of Mingxi Zong, in the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Sun Chengzong took the initiative to attack Houjin. Seven hundred Guanning cavalry and eight hundred infantry were defeated by the Eight Banners Army of less than a hundred people in the Battle of Liuhe. The commander, vanguard, and supervisors were all killed. This was the only time in history that Guan Ning's army took the initiative to attack Houjin.
Later, in the Battle of Hunhe River, 5,000 Baigan soldiers and 3,000 Qi soldiers fought bravely against 60,000 Eight Banners troops. The main forces of the Eight Banners had their teeth broken and were struggling to wait for reinforcements. As reinforcements, 30,000 Guan Ning cavalry went to rescue, but they were easily repelled by Huang Taiji's 20,000 troops. Then Guan Ning's army was so frightened that he quickly fled back to the city and refused to fight from then on until the Baigan soldiers and Qi's army ran out of ammunition and food, and the entire army was annihilated.
In the subsequent Battle of Dalinghe and the decisive battle of Songjin, Wu Xiang (Wu Sangui's father), the commander-in-chief of the Guanning Army, took the lead in escaping, resulting in the annihilation of all foreign reinforcements.
Later, in the hands of Yuan Chonghuan, the Liaodong War followed the so-called "rely on the strong city and use huge cannons" strategy. As a cavalry, the Guanning Cavalry "repelled" several Eight Banners Army attacks during the city defense battle. This is also It's rare for Guan Ning's cavalry to achieve good results.
After Yuan Chonghuan's death, the supreme leader of the Guan Ning Cavalry became Zu Dashou. Under the leadership of Zu Dashou, the Guan Ning Cavalry continued to fight against the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty. Finally, they lost to the Jin Army in the Songjin Battle in 1641. Zu Dashou Dashou led his troops to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
However, only a portion of Guan Ning's cavalry followed Zu Dashou in surrender, and some were led by Zu Dashou's nephew Wu Sangui. Later, Wu Sangui also surrendered to the Tatars. At this point, most of the Guanning cavalry became the Eight Banners Army. Under the command of the Tatars, they entered the pass and fought against Li Zicheng and the Nanming army. 17
Although they were unable to defeat the Qing soldiers, after they shaved their heads and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Guan Ning's cavalry was invincible in attacking Nanming and Li Zicheng, and their combat effectiveness was explosive, making great contributions to the Qing Dynasty's takeover of China.
The reason is that the Guan Ning cavalry was ultimately derived from Li Chengliang's Liaodong cavalry. In order to obtain military pay from the court, Li Chengliang raised the bandits with self-respect. Compared with the private soldiers of other Ming army generals, this cavalry was "privatized" "The degree is even higher, and the worst thing is that they do not always regard themselves as a "national army" like the Qi Jiajun, but only regard joining the army as a shortcut to promotion and wealth.
Compared with other armies of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the Liaodong cavalry had various privileges, such as double pay, the right to distribute spoils of war, shares in military camps, and even many various benefits and generous settlement allowances, and even Things like disability, re-employment, and retirement pay.
As a result, the Liaodong Cavalry has in fact become a military group that is responsible for its own profits and losses.
Nurhachi's Eight Banners system was also born out of the Liaodong Cavalry. Therefore, the "Guanning Cavalry" and the "Eight Banners Cavalry" are essentially from the Liaodong Cavalry. The only difference is that the two camps are different. The most fundamental essence is that they are both A self-financing military group.
However, compared to the Eight Banners cavalry, the Guan Ning cavalry is much more inert than the latter. Because Guan Ning Cavalry also has an important source of income, which is the military salary given by the Ming Dynasty court, but the Eight Banners Army does not have it, so he has to grab everything by himself.
In this way, you can tell the level of strength. The children of the poor have long been in charge. They have to rob everything by themselves. When you sit in the city, the court will pay you. Who has a stronger will to fight and who is more willing to risk his life? Win the battle?
Although Yuan Chonghuan's strategy and tactics were a mess, at least the Guan Ning Cavalry seemed to "obey the instructions" when he was alive. However, since Yuan Chonghuan's death, Zu Dashou has basically been in a state of obeying orders but not announcements. In fact, it became an independent armed force independent of the Ming Dynasty's military system.
When the interests of Guan Ning's cavalry were affected, Zu Dashou agreed with the Ming Dynasty against Hou Jin, appearing particularly patriotic. But in order to preserve his own strength, he can also announce his surrender to Houjin.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the further collapse of the Ming court's economy, it became increasingly difficult for the court to issue military pay. When Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, Wu Sangui's Guan Ning cavalry had not received military pay for almost a year. At this time, they were still counting on an army. How much loyalty the military group has to the imperial court, which is responsible for its own profits and losses, is basically a dream.
And what about after the surrender to the Tatars? The combat thinking of Guan Ning's cavalry has completely changed. At this time, the Central Plains in Guan Nei is no longer the object of their protection, but a treasure land full of food, treasures, and women, waiting for them to plunder. Guan Ning's cavalry no longer has to use it. They crowded in Liaodong to resist the Eight Banners cavalry in exchange for "dog food".
This is "liberating productivity"! (To avoid being criticized, I specifically stated that this sentence was in a sarcastic tone)
Therefore, the combat effectiveness of Guan Ning's cavalry suddenly exploded.
Sad, ridiculous, or deplorable?
The reason why Gao Jingshi insisted on standing opposite Li Chengliang was mainly because of this, rather than Li Chengliang's other problems - most of the Ming generals had those problems, and Gao Jingshi couldn't deal with them for a while, and basically didn't do anything about it. Mind you, in addition to killing good people and taking credit, many of them were turned a blind eye by Gao pragmatism.
Gao Pragmatic is not an idealist who just came out of the ivory tower. If the fundamental problems of the Ming Dynasty do not change, how can it be expected that those military generals will give up their efforts? He doesn't make money, but goes to fight with soldiers like beggars? That's to die.
Now that he has made money, do you still expect everyone to spend all the money on maintaining the army like Qi Jiguang? Why don’t you expect everyone in Ming Dynasty’s official circles to be like Haigangfeng?
At this time, after Li Rusong's troops defeated Huo Luochi's former army, three lances were inserted on the right side of the horse's back. They all drew out cold weapons and continued to charge forward without stopping.
This move often appears in cold weapon combat. The purpose is to directly defeat the opponent's command system and form a situation of overwhelming defeat. It is similar to Li Shimin's Xuanjia elite cavalry's "rolling the flag and crossing the camp". It is the best way for elite cavalry to give full play to their advantages. One of the tactics.
Tuotuo and Yilduzi had already led their troops to kill them at this time. Although they both fought based on experience, they were just right for the situation at the moment - Li Rusong's troops had already cut in like a blade. As long as the wound continues to be opened, the opponent will either die or be injured.
Of course Huo Luochi and Zhuli Rabbit knew that this sudden change put them in danger. At this time, Zhuli Rabbit was relatively close and had no time to make other assumptions. They rushed over with their own soldiers, intending to block Li Rusong and strive to create opportunities for others. If there is an opportunity, the Mongolians can use the most accustomed method of fighting and retreating at the same time - of course, it can also be conversely said, retreating and fighting at the same time.
According to Zhulitu's idea, as long as this goal is achieved, even if today's defeat is inevitable, the casualties will still be controllable and there will still be a chance for a comeback.
However, the rabbit made a mistake. As soon as the two armies met, he was discovered by Li Rusong. The Taiyuan general who believed in martial arts came roaring and clapped his horse. He raised his sword and chopped off the head of the force rabbit who could not react in time.
A major defeat for the "Qinghai Erqiu" has inevitably occurred.
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