When the Mongolian cavalry appeared from the south, all the Ming troops felt a thump in their hearts: the Mongols did not leave.
Gao Yimin, who was the only one on the northern line, was a little surprised and stared at the telescope for a while.
It is understandable that the Mongols did not run directly out of the forest. After all, the distance from the forest to the place where the Ming army was arrayed was a bit short. If they came out of the forest directly to attack the Ming army, although the reaction time the Ming army could get would be shorter, But it was also difficult for them to get their horses to run up and speed up, and they couldn't meet the requirements for rushing into battle.
If they are just facing ordinary Ming army guards, Burihatu will obviously not mind this, because as long as the Mongolian cavalry rushes in front of them in the wild, their morale will collapse on its own, and there is no need to think about charging. Issues like insufficient speed.
However, the Ming army that went into battle this time was clearly elite from the equipment alone, so they couldn't expect to fight like chopping up melons and vegetables. They had to give full play to their advantages.
Gao Yimin could understand this, but he was surprised that the Mongols would choose to gather on the southern front.
The defenders on the southern front are Zhang Wanbang's troops. The banner with the character "Liaoyang Zuoying Guerrilla General Zhang" flying high in front of the formation can be seen clearly from a distance. It's not like no one in the Mongolian army can read Chinese characters. They have no reason. Wrong opponent.
Liaoyang originally did not have left and right battalions. The two positions of left battalion guerrilla and right battalion guerrilla in Liaoyang were recently added to adapt to changes in Liaodong's renewed military growth. Among them, the guerrilla general of the left camp is Zhang Wanbang, and the guerrilla general of the right camp is Ma Lin, but he has not yet taken office - Ma Lin was originally with the army in the northwest to quell the chaos. Now that the northwest is determined, he still has some military exploits to count, so he has not yet taken office. Come over in time.
Even if Zhang Wanbang's name is not as well-known in Mongolia, at least he is certainly not an unknown person. He twice defeated the Mongolian cavalry in front of the battle line, earning him the nickname "Bayonet General", which was also called by the Mongols.
This time, the soldiers were still targeting Zhang Wanbang's troops and gathering on the southern front. This move immediately alarmed Gao Yimin.
In battles, most of the time, it is important to attack the weak enemy first, because it is easier to defeat a weak enemy, and after being defeated, it is easy to form a breaking trend, leaving the opponent with no time to adjust, and the enemy will be defeated like a mountain.
But there are also times when it is possible or even necessary to do the opposite, attack the strong enemy first, defeat and frighten the enemy in one fell swoop. Before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had Chen Youliang upstream and Zhang Shicheng downstream. Chen Youliang was strong and Zhang Shicheng was weak. Most of the counselors believed that at this time, Zhang Shicheng should be defeated first to obtain the prosperous land of Suzhou and Hangzhou before competing with Chen Youliang.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang disagreed, believing that Zhang Shicheng was born a salt dealer and was a small businessman at heart. Although he occupied a wealthy land, he would not risk his life easily as long as he was not pushed into a hurry. This is not the case with Chen Youliang. This man is ruthless and murderous. He does not know what justice is and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.
If he attacked Zhang Shicheng first, Chen Youliang would not be able to sit idly by and ignore him. He would definitely seize the opportunity to raise troops. When the time comes, he would be attacked from both sides, and defeat would be inevitable. On the contrary, if Chen Youliang was attacked first, Zhang Shicheng would at best send out troops to see if he could take advantage of the opportunity, but would never attack with all his strength. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang defied all opinions and insisted on attacking Chen Youliang first, and finally won a hard-fought victory and laid the foundation for overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty. Foundation.
If Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of attacking strong enemies first is more often "predicting people like gods" and is not a simple tactical issue, then the Lunan Battle during the Red and Blue War before liberation is more illustrative of the problem.
At that time, the Battle of Subei had already hurt the Blue Army and frightened the Blue Army. All the attacking Blue Army units suspended their attacks. Xue Yue, director of the Xuzhou Appeasement Office, ordered the reorganized 74th Division that captured Lianshui to attack north.
However, Zhang Lingfu refused to move and had to wait for reinforcements from all walks of life to arrive before he would advance northward. Moreover, the various troops were closely attached to each other, covering each other's advance northward.
At that time, the distribution situation of the Blue Army was as follows: the reorganized 11th Division on the southern front was in Suqian, and the 74th Reorganized Division was in Chenshi'an, facing each other across the canal and Liutang River with the 6th Division, 9th Column, 2nd Column, and 7th Division of the Central China Field Army. The Blue Party's 7th Army is in Siyang and the 28th Division is reorganized in Lianshui.
On the western front, Ma Liwu's reorganized 26th Division and the Blue Party's 1st Rapid Column assigned to the Ministry of National Defense had already advanced to the east of Yixian County, preparing to attack Linyi, the capital of the Shandong Liberated Area. Zhou Yuying's reorganized 51st Division was stationed in Zaozhuang, and Feng Zhian's The 77th Division and the 59th Division were reorganized and stationed in Taierzhuang.
After the Battle of Subei, Chen Cheng, then chief of staff, went to Xuzhou to analyze the current strategic situation with Xue Yue, director of the Xuzhou Appeasement Office. Chen Cheng and Xue Yue believed: "The Eastern Front Corps successively occupied Yancheng and Lianshui in northern Jiangsu after hard fighting. The Red Army in central China had lost its base and could only retreat to southern Shandong. The Shandong Military Region of the Red Army relied on the Shandong Peninsula. , the Shandong Peninsula is deep into the sea, with mountains such as Yimeng and Laoshan rolling in it. The terrain is complex. The Red Army claims to have been operating for eight years and is deeply rooted.
In addition, Yantai, Longkou and Luda are separated by a river, making it easy to obtain foreign aid. Therefore, Shandong has become the best and longest-lasting base for the Red Army. Shandong's gains and losses will also play a decisive role in the domestic war situation. "
Chen Cheng and Xue Yue concluded that after the fall of northern Jiangsu, Chen Yi's Shandong field army must defend Shandong. The Blue Army can completely adopt the strategy of "attack what it must defend" and fight our Shandong field battle decisively.
At the same time, our army's General Chen Shuai and General Su discovered that the enemy's 74th Reorganized Division, the Gui Army's 7th Army, and the 11th Reorganized Division were attacking Shuyang in an attempt to flank our army.
The Central China Field Army had several battles with the enemy's 74th Reorganized Division in Huaibei. The 74th Reorganized Division became the old enemy of the Central China Field Army. Everyone in Huaye insisted on fighting to the death with the 74th Reorganized Division to avenge Huaiyin and Lianshui. As a result, there was a fierce debate within the top management of Huaye and Shanye around "where to fight and who to fight."
Huaye wanted to fight Zhang Lingfu's 74th Reorganized Division in Lianghuai or Northern Jiangsu, while Shanye wanted to return to Lunan, because the situation in Lunan was also very tense at that time: Ma Liwu's 26th Division and the 74th Division were reorganized in Southern Lunan. A fast column advanced all the way, only 30 kilometers away from Linyi, the capital of Shandong Liberated Area.
The lawsuit reached the center, and Mao instructed Chen and Su: "The Lunan battle has a bearing on the overall situation. Even if all the cities in northern Jiangsu are lost, victory in this battle will still be able to recover. You must concentrate on the first, sixth, eighth, fourth, and ninth , the 10th Division, the 1st Column, the Police Brigade and other units, and have necessary deployment and preparation time, in order to fight a larger annihilation battle than Subei. The first battle seems to be suitable to fight three brigades of the 26th Division, because This division is the main force in Lunan. This division has been wiped out, and the overall situation has improved. If we attack Feng's division first, we may not be able to solve the Lunan problem for a while. How it should be handled depends on the specific situation."
In the telegram, Mao clearly asked the Huaye and Shanye armies to go north to Lunan to organize the Lunan Campaign, and proposed to attack Ma Liwu's reorganized 26th Division first, and also asked Wang Jianan's Central Shandong Army to also participate in the Lunan Campaign. The concentrated strength of our army greatly exceeded that of the Subei Battle. Chen and Su resolutely implemented the central committee's instructions and decided to organize the Lunan Campaign immediately.
The specific process of this battle is not described much. The final result is that the Blue Army reorganized the 44th and 169th brigades of the 26th Division, the 1st Rapid Column Tank Battalion, the Engineer Battalion, the 5th Artillery Regiment, the Transportation Regiment and the 80th Brigade two infantry regiments. More than 30,000 people were wiped out by our army, and 24 tanks, dozens of American heavy artillery, and more than 200 trucks were captured.
Ma Liwu watched helplessly as the main force of his reorganized 26th Division and the First Rapid Column were wiped out by our army in Yixian County. The deputy division commander Cao Yuheng and others who had a chance to escape fled back to Yixian City with a few remaining defeated soldiers. The wounded soldiers cried out in misery. , making the garrison officers and soldiers frightened, and the city was in chaos.
Xue Yue was worried that our army would cut off the Jinpu Line, so he ordered Ma Liwu to gather his troops and hold on to Yixian County. At the same time, the 51st Division was ordered to reorganize Zhou Yuying's troops to defend Zaozhuang, and Feng Zhi'an's 97th Army to defend Lincheng, forming three isolated strongholds.
At that time, there was only one complete regiment of the reorganized 51st Division in Yixian City, plus the remnants of the reorganized 26th Division, a total of less than 10,000 people, 7 tanks and more than 30 artillery pieces. It was already a turtle in the urn.
After defeating the strong enemies, the weak enemies will be easier to deal with. Finally, when the 18-day Lunan Campaign ended, it set a new record on the East China battlefield, annihilating two reorganized divisions and one rapid column of the Blue Army at once, totaling more than 53,000 people, including prisoners of war. More than 17,000 people. 24 tanks, 470 cars, and more than 200 artillery pieces of various types were seized. We recovered Yixian, Zaozhuang and the areas east of it, shattering the enemy's plan to attack Linyi and eliminate the main force of our army in East China.
This battle was a reversal of Mao's tactic that our army should "attack weak enemies first, then strong enemies", but it was also the result of Mao's decision-making. The so-called soldiers have no permanent momentum and water has no permanent shape. This is clearly demonstrated here.
However, it is not common for people who can accurately grasp the key of "when to fight weak enemies and when to fight strong enemies". Gao Yimin did not quite understand why the Mongolian army chose to attack Zhang Wanbang's department at this time.
The most critical point here is that from the situation point of view, all Ming army departments are elite, and it is unlikely that the entire army will be shaken and collapse due to the failure of Zhang Wanbang's department. What's more, the most famous feature of Zhang Wanbang's tribe is to fight the Mongolian cavalry head-on. It is still unclear whether the Mongols can defeat him.
But reality no longer gave Gao Yimin any more time to doubt. After the Mongolian army appeared on the southern front and quickly completed its assembly, it launched an attack on Zhang Wanbang's department on the southern front of the Ming army without hesitation.
In this attack, the Mongolian army did not have the most habitual tactics of approaching with rangers, shooting, and then quickly retreating. The Mongolian army in front of Tumen Dahu directly launched an offensive, decisive and straightforward.
It seems that Burihatu learned the lesson from Xin Ai and Chao Hua, and knew that the range and lethality of mounted bows and arrows were not as good as the elite musketeers behind the Ming army's bayonet array. These musketeers armed with the Wanli Type 1 or even the Wanli Type 2 can cause heavy damage to the Mongolian cavalry when the cavalry and archery are out of reach. The tactic of approaching the cavalry and shooting and then leaving the battlefield cannot be used in front of them.
Therefore, Burihatu used his strengths to avoid weaknesses and simply maximized the power of the charge. From the beginning, it was a desperate charge.
While Gao Yimin was still in the rear (he was on the northern front) and was shocked by Burihatu's determination, Zhang Wanbang in the front had already sneered: "Have you learned well? You know that if you want to break the bayonet array, you can only risk your life? Very good, I will come today to see how many lives you plan to take!"
He yelled: "Spread on the ground, retreat ten steps and set up a formation!"
The Ming army in front agreed loudly, picked up pieces of wood from beside them and moved forward. These wooden boards are what Zhang Wanbang calls "ground iron". They are not ordinary wooden boards. On the upward side of the board, there are rows of Jinghua iron caltrops arranged in rows.
These caltrops are slightly different from the past caltrops. In fact, the effect is the same, except that the pure hand production has been changed to mechanical twisting. The machine driven by the water wheel is used to twist and intertwine two sections of iron wire into a four-cornered thorn shape. .
Tribulus can be scattered alone but in large amounts on the ground, or it can be made into this kind of "ground astringent". The main advantage of the ground astringent is that it is more suitable for guarding key locations where the enemy is attacking, and it is easy to recover.
Of course, the Mongolian army's war horses have horseshoes. Generally speaking, the horseshoes will not be worn out if they step on the thorns. However, if the war horses step on the ground, they will usually crack the ground and fly around. The flying ground is like a wooden plank covered with barbed wire. If it hits a person or a horse, it will be like a barbed wire covering their face. It is hard to say whether they will die or not, but if they lose their combat effectiveness in an instant, they will basically not be able to run away.
However, at this time, the Mongolian army obviously could not follow the past practice of "not willing to suffer casualties". They now made it clear that they wanted to attack by force, no matter the cost. Therefore, after these pieces of ground were quickly thrown out, the Ming army did not even take a second look, and immediately began to arrange them according to the standard state of the bayonet array.
Three rows of dazzling bayonets stood slanting in front of the formation, as sinister as a forest of knives in hell. Behind the bayonet is a typical three-stage musket reserve. The paper-cased fixed ammunition has already been loaded, and the gun's flintlock ignition device has been checked in advance. The bolt is pulled up and can be fired with just one command.
Further behind are the artillery pieces. Because artillery is expensive and used in conjunction with bayonet arrays, the artillery is deployed behind the bayonet array tactics. For this reason, it is necessary to adjust the muzzle firing angle on the artillery vehicle to form a projectile shape to avoid direct fire accidental damage to one's own infantry.
Zhang Wanbang watched with a stern expression as the Mongolian cavalry surged toward his formation and gradually increased their horse speed as the distance approached. He remained unmoved and just visually measured the distance between the two armies with experience.
He has more than one distance to calculate, including artillery firing distance, musket firing distance, etc. All of which require his calculations and immediate formation of command commands. Fortunately, the No. 2 gun usually does not participate in such field battles. At this moment, he only needs to calculate the firing distance of the No. 3 gun and the No. 4 gun, which finally reduces the workload.
"No. 3 gun salvo ready! One, two, three, fire!"
With Zhang Wanbang's roar, the battle of Yehe River officially started.
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