On the battlefields of the Middle Ages, the most terrifying army in Europe was nothing more than the heavily armored cavalry. Their elite training and superior defense were basically the nightmare of other arms on the battlefield.
On the eastern battlefield, the most difficult thing to deal with is the Mongolian bow and sword cavalry that come and go like the wind. They can shoot arrows from a distance and wield swords at close range. They can "fly kites" when facing heavy infantry and charge into battle when facing light infantry. , can be called an all-round warrior, able to achieve a small defeat in defeat and a big victory in victory.
And when such an army faced the temporary recruitment of peasant soldiers, or the Ming Dynasty's guards who degenerated into serf-like soldiers, the battlefield situation became even more one-sided. When these people who had just picked up weapons and had no combat experience faced the impact of the cavalry, the only emotion they could feel was fear.
Driven by fear, these armies often disperse. In this case, there is no need to think too much, the failure of the fleeing side is obviously inevitable.
In order to solve this problem, military strategists from all over the world have tried various methods for thousands of years, the most effective of which are the spear phalanx and horse rejection. However, the spear phalanx and horse rejection also have disadvantages.
The training of the spear phalanx takes a long time, and there must be a sufficiently sophisticated organizational system, pension plan and other supporting measures to ensure that the soldiers actively fight; the laying of the horseback also takes a long time, and the shortcomings of the horseback are also The reason is that the mobility of the position is too poor.
All in all, everyone found that even with the spear formation and horse resistance, there was still an urgent need for a new way to resist the attack of the enemy's elite troops on the battlefield.
Coincidentally, at roughly the same time, both the Czech Republic and the Ming Dynasty had a combat unit that could fight cavalry - chariot soldiers. The tactics used by chariot soldiers are the famous chariot formations (car camps and chariot forts).
Let’s talk about the situation in Europe first. In the early fifteenth century, the Czech handicrafts and mining industry developed rapidly. As part of the HRE land and the direct jurisdiction of the Habsburg family, the Habsburg royal family has always adopted a high-pressure policy towards the Czech Republic - especially after the rise of the religious reform. Religious oppression.
This finally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Czech people and the small and middle-class nobles. Faced with the oppression of the Germans, the Czech people, whose national identity was originally West Slavs, decided to rise up and resist.
But resistance is resistance. Although the Czechs are high-spirited and commendable, when this temporary army of farmers and craftsmen actually faced the menacing imperial cavalry, most people immediately showed due fear, and then Scattered away.
In order to deal with this problem, the Czech nobles created a strategy of using moving four-wheeled carriages as barriers to protect the lives of peasant soldiers. This is the prototype of the European car camp - Huss Car Castle.
The advantage of the Hussite chariot fort is that it can not only provide protection for the soldiers on the chariot with its tall baffles, but also has strong mobility and can move freely on the battlefield.
The basic unit of a Hussite car fort is a team. Each car fort team generally has 10-20 people and corresponding ordnance. Above the group, a larger tactical unit is formed in units of 10 car forts, and above that is a company unit composed of dozens or hundreds of car forts.
Each group has a chariot. The chariot's personnel are 2 archers (equipped with matchlocks and cannons), 4-8 crossbowmen, 2-4 flailmen (fighting with peasant flails), 4 1 spearman, 2 shield bearers (large shields are used to protect people and horses during battle) and 2 charioteers. The driver is responsible for driving the horses and connecting the chariot after arriving at the camp. The chariot is commanded by the commander.
Car-fort combat is not an independent operation by a single arm, but a combination of infantry, cavalry, and vehicles for coordinated operations. The infantry of Hussite Castle was organized into a team of fifty, with a captain of fifty. The centurions commanded several squadrons of fifties, and the footman Heitman commanded all the infantry. Because the cavalry is lightly equipped and highly mobile, its mission is to conduct reconnaissance, marching alert, carry out counterattacks, and pursue fleeing enemies.
In addition to the mix of personnel, the car fort also uses artillery as fire support. The artillery force of Husci Fort is divided into field artillery and siege artillery. Field artillery included short-barreled howitzers that fired stone bullets and long barrels fixed on wooden mounts that fired stone and iron bullets.
Generally speaking, 5 tanks are equipped with 1 field gun. The main siege artillery is a mortar with a caliber of 850 mm and a range of 200-500 meters. Each chariot team is equipped with one.
It can be said that Hussite Castle was the dawn of modern army tactics, because it ended the myth of the invincibility of aristocratic knights, and also broke the medieval war characteristics of personal bravery, and placed more emphasis on the close cooperation between various arms.
Of course, Hussite chariots are not a patent of Europeans alone. In distant East Asia, the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty also independently created the chariot tactics.
In fact, the Chinese have used this kind of modern chariot very early. Probably at the end of the Hongwu era, firearms chariots already appeared in the Ming army. In the mid-fifteenth century, although chariots did not yet have mature tactics, they had begun to take on the important task of fighting the Mongolian cavalry.
During the Jiajing period, the Mongols repeatedly invaded the Hetao area. At that time, Emperor Jiajing appointed Yu Dayou as the commander-in-chief of Datong. From then on, China's Cheying process began.
But in fact, long before Yu Dayou, the governor of the three sides of the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Xian, proposed a plan to build a car camp. However, because the party struggle in the court was too fierce at that time, the central government refused to delegate power, so it was dropped in the end. From this perspective, Yu Dayou's Datong Motorsports Camp was established on the shoulders of Zeng Mian.
However, although Yu Dayou actually created the chariot camp for the first time and improved the Ming Dynasty's chariots, in essence, the Ming army's chariots at this time were still human-powered wheelbarrows, so they were inferior in terms of mobility and firepower. , still not as good as Husci Castle in the Czech Republic.
It was not until Qi Jiguang served as the commander-in-chief of Jizhou that the tactical level of the Ming army achieved a qualitative improvement. After arriving in Jizhou from Zhejiang, the enemies Qi Jiguang faced changed from the lightly armed light infantry in the southeast to the Mongolian cavalry in the north. Facing the Mongolian cavalry, the Yuanyang Formation that killed all directions in the south was not so easy to use - it was not that it could not be fought head-on, but that the Mongols simply would not fight him like this.
Therefore, Qi Jiguang needed a new tactic to fight against the powerful enemies on the grassland, and his choice was chariots, or chariot formations.
After learning from Yu Dayou's Datong chariot, Qi Jiguang discovered a bug in the Datong chariot formation - pushing the cart required too much labor, resulting in fewer combatants in each team. In order to maintain combat effectiveness, the number of people equipped for each tank must be increased. The end result is that the total number of tanks decreases, or the number of troops increases and the expenditure is huge.
It is true that Yu Dayou's setting at that time was 50 people per chariot, and 16 of them were responsible for pushing the chariot.
In order to solve this problem, Qi Jiguang invented a new type of chariot - a sidecar. This is even more coincidental. Like the Hussite chariots, sidecars use the side of the chariot to meet the enemy, because this can not only increase the defense area, but also use horses to pull the chariot, thus greatly saving manpower. .
It can be said that Qi Jiguang's Jizhou Motor Camp at that time contained all the advantages of Hussi Motor Camp, and there were even more excellent places.
The first is the firepower output on the tank. In addition to the light firepower output of the crossbowmen and gunners, each sidecar has two small Franco cannons, each equipped with 30 kilograms of gunpowder and 100 rounds of lead bullets.
The second is the problem of personnel equipment. The Ming army's armor is provided by the imperial court, so the equipment is relatively good (compared to the Hussite armed forces). High-quality cloth-covered iron armor can withstand most damage caused by swords, guns and arrows.
In addition, there is a big difference in personnel distribution between Jizhou Cheying and Hussi Chebao. The soldiers in the Jizhou Chariot Camp are divided into regular soldiers and surprise soldiers. The regular soldiers are also chariot soldiers, with ten people in a team. Six of them are responsible for the use of the Franco machine gun, and two boring and palladium operators with rockets control the battlefield. There is a helmsman in the direction of the car, and then a captain;
The team consists of ten people, four gunners, and is equipped with two-handed swords. There are two rattan players and two palladium players. During the battle, the surprise troops were positioned between the chariots. When most of the enemy troops were fifty steps away from the chariots, the artillery was fired, and the surprise troops fired a volley of muskets. After the enemy troops got close to the tanks, the musketeers changed their swords and killed the horses. The legs, the long spear and the palladium hand behind it are responsible for killing the enemy troops who land on the ground.
At the same time, the muskets and artillery fire at the back continued, acting as long-range protection. There is also the fact that the Qi soldiers are not allowed to go five steps further than the chariot...etc., etc. In short, it is like a mandarin duck formation, with all aspects taken into consideration.
In addition, the car camp also has an infantry system that specializes in collaborative operations-the killer team and the gun team. The Killer Team created by Qi Jiguang was improved from the original Yuanyang Formation used to fight the Japanese, but it was better at fighting Mongolian cavalry; while the Bird Gun Team was the result of early line tactics.
A killer team consists of 12 people, two card players, two wolves, two palladiums, two spears, two sticks, and a captain. A fire soldier, the battle formation is similar to the Yuanyang formation, moving with a chariot as the backing.
The ratio of the cannon team is relatively simple, with one captain, one fire soldier, and ten cannon players. During combat, the vehicles were arranged in three rows in front, using the three-stage attack that the Ming army had already mastered to provide continuous firepower.
In addition, the vehicle formation is also coordinated by the cavalry battalion. The cavalry battalion of Jizhou Chaoying consists of twelve people. The whole battalion has a total of 3,000 people, divided into three parts, left and right. The two left and right parts have two cavalry with muskets, quick rifles, boring palladium, and sword and stick cavalry. Another captain and a logistics fireman.
In the first round in the central region (Qi Jiguang used the word "bureau"), the first captain had eight cannons and three boring palladiums. In the second and third rounds, the first captain had four bows, four hooks, sickles, spears and two boring palladiums. The time for cavalry to fight is when the enemy is in panic. At its peak, there were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in Jizhou, and later the imperial court allowed armies from all over the country to take turns to go to Jizhou for training.
Like the Hussite Che Fortress, the Jizhou Che Camp also had field artillery, but the Ming army's general artillery at that time was slightly less powerful than the European long-barreled artillery. However, among the field artillery, there are also firebox carts with special Chinese characteristics and other former enemy-style hand-pushed chariots. Facing the lightly armored Mongolian cavalry, these chariots can indeed exert great power.
Compared with Hussite Chebao in Europe, Qi Jiguang's Jizhou Cheying can be said to be more hybrid of the times. Because in addition to the use of chariot tactics, Jizhou Chariot Camp also included early line tactics. In Europe at that time, line tactics were not yet popular. It is precisely because of this that Qi Jiguang will be considered the father of the modern army in the East in later generations.
However, even though car camping has many advantages, it also has a disadvantage that cannot be ignored - it relies too much on flat terrain. Once the terrain is rugged, it will be difficult for the vehicle formation tactic to exert its power. Therefore, with the passage of time, especially the rapid development of firearms themselves, the vehicle formation was eventually replaced by the new infantry square formation.
In the original history, this combat mode that replaced the car camp was the starting point of the famous modern army - the Spanish Grand Square.
Hey, have you noticed any strange problems? Yes, the problem lies in high pragmatism.
The emergence of Gao Jingshi brought the development of firearms to the Ming Dynasty and brought infantry line tactics that were more advanced than the Spanish Grand Formation. Therefore, Gao Jingshi did not engage in sidecars when leading his troops. He prefers to use a high degree of organization and high pensions and rewards to obtain the strict military discipline necessary for a modern army, and then use this as a basis to implement his "queue to shoot" and bayonet musket phalanx tactics.
As for why this is the case, as I said just now, sidecars have very high requirements on terrain, while gun platoons and bayonet musket phalanxes have greater advantages in versatility and can be used almost everywhere.
Another consideration is to simplify logistics. Gao Pragmatic attaches great importance to the versatility and simplification of equipment. Therefore, after he took charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs and actually controlled the Ministry of War, he cut off many of the flashy weapons and equipment in the border army and reduced the types of weapons and equipment as much as possible. This not only greatly improved the It improves production efficiency and greatly reduces the difficulty of replenishment.
Qi Jiguang was outstanding in tactics, but when it came to things like large-scale production, he was obviously not as good as Gao Pragmatic. Moreover, China has always been very particular about not being in charge and not seeking political power, so as a general, Qi Jiguang did not need to consider issues such as the convenience of military production and logistics dispatch. This kind of thing should naturally be considered with a high pragmatism.
However, it did not take very long for Gao Pragmatic to fully grasp the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War. The result of this was that among the various armies trained by Qi Jiguang, except for the last one - that is, the Imperial Guards - all the others His second stage car camp system was followed.
If the car camp tactics just mentioned are regarded as the first stage of Qi Jiguang's car camp, and the highly pragmatic and basically unnecessary car camp is regarded as the third stage, then what is in between the two is the second stage of Qi Jiguang's car camp. stage.
The main features of the second phase of the vehicle camp are the simplification of weapons and organization, but the operational thinking still relies on the protection of sidecars to ensure fewer losses of soldiers. As for its presentation, it can be seen on today's battlefield - but not completely.
In principle, the second stage of the vehicle camp is also a coordinated operation of vehicles, cavalry, and artillery. However, the situation of the troops is unpredictable, and it can also be adjusted temporarily according to different battle conditions and different opponents.
Just like what they are facing today is the Japanese army. Compared with the Ming army, the Japanese army can be said to be insignificant in terms of cavalry and artillery units. The battle method for which they are famous is the iron artillery unit, also known as the matchlock gun. Team.
In addition, although the Japanese troops are generally shorter in stature, due to more than two hundred years of fighting each other during the Warring States Period, the Japanese troops are relatively fierce in close combat.
Facing such an enemy, cavalry and artillery are actually useful, but the main force of the cavalry went to conduct tactical deception and has not returned yet. The artillery needs to continue acting to avoid exposing Shimazu Yoshihiro prematurely, so it can only rely on specialized The car formation using hedgehog tactics came to meet the enemy.
Fortunately, the car formation in the second stage can handle it. It goes without saying that the mobility and defense of Jinghua's improved sidecars have been improved. Although the gun holes were removed (the artillery was professionalized), the firepower density of the musketeers was increased.
The Japanese army had to endure several rounds of volleys before approaching. Even if they attacked the sidecar, they would find that the upper part of the car would have a reverse angled baffle, which was not easy to climb over, and it would become a close range. Take a shot.
In short, unless every Japanese soldier is a super soldier, they will all collapse sooner or later.
When Kato Kiyomasa discovered that the effective range of the Ming army's iron artillery was far beyond his own, he already knew that this battle would be difficult. When he saw the sidecar, he immediately understood that something was wrong, but now he could not allow him to retreat. , can only order to advance quickly.
What Kato Kiyomasa means is that since you have a sidecar that can defend against the volleys of our iron artillery team, then I will quickly approach and let the bamboo spear tachi behind the iron artillery team snatch the sidecar, and then we will decide the outcome in close combat. .
In terms of close combat, Kato Kiyomasa believes that his side will win. He had heard many stories many years ago, most of which were brought back to Japan by various "Navy Troopers" who "camped" along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. All the stories are almost the same, saying that the Ming army "may dare to fight if the cannon is fired from afar, but will be defeated and flee if the sword is exchanged".
Although after the year of Renchen, Kato Kiyomasa slightly revised this statement in his mind, believing that the Ming army cavalry still dared to fight and was good at hand-to-hand combat, but the infantry was still despised by him because they rarely fought.
Under the strict orders of Kato Kiyomasa, the Iron Artillery Team of the First Army managed to lose as much as seven to eight hundred, and finally approached the Ming army's sidecar defense line, and in the process stopped to fire two rounds of volleys. Unfortunately, since the Japanese iron artillery had difficulty penetrating the reinforced sidecars, the actual effect of these two salvoes was approximately zero.
At this time, Kato Kiyomasa no longer cared about the basic principles of the iron artillery team's use, and ordered the iron artillery team to retreat. The bamboo spear and tachi troops stepped forward to seize the vehicle in close combat.
Because of the limited financial resources of the Japanese army, even the First Army, a direct lineage of Toyotomi, had only 3,000 iron gunners out of 10,000 people before the war. The losses after entering Korea plus today's losses have made Kato Kiyomasa's iron gunners no longer available. It's less than two thousand, and if we continue to lose it, we will really be ruined.
Kato Kiyomasa could only make a big gamble, betting that his soldiers could break through the sidecar defense line in close combat, and even seize the Ming army's sidecar, and defeat the invading enemies of Hanyang in the subsequent close combat.
However, to his surprise, he suddenly heard the sound of gold ringing from the top of Hanyang City Tower, and the sound was extremely urgent.
Kato Kiyomasa was stunned and even wondered if something had happened to Shimazu Yoshihiro: I finally attacked the Ming army despite huge casualties. As long as I break through this car formation, I can turn defeat into victory and kill everyone. Sorry, now you no longer continue to beat drums and cheers for me in person, but instead offer money to ask me to withdraw my troops?
"Shimazu Yi...His Majesty Shimazu is in trouble. Is this the time to retreat? The entire army should not worry about Ming Jin and just continue to attack! If the first person to break through the Ming army's chariot is not from the Wu family, I will Grant him the title of warrior; if he is originally from the martial arts family, I will reward him with thousands of treasures of Yongle Tongbao!"
Identity, wealth, these exciting rewards have been made clear, the Japanese army all cheered up, and began to launch a fierce attack on the Ming army's sidecar formation.
At this time, the chanting of gold continued on the tower of Hanyang City, and the sound of chanting became more and more urgent, as if they would face disaster if they did not withdraw their troops. Kato Kiyomasa frowned deeply, but still didn't understand the reason. He simply pretended that Shimazu Yoshihiro couldn't control the situation in Hanyang, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the command of this battle.
Before the Japanese troops could defend themselves with the formation of sidecars, there were soon more than a hundred casualties, almost all of them shot and killed by the Ming army from behind the cars. At this moment, Kato Kiyomasa suddenly heard the sound of a large group of galloping horses approaching.
What made Kato Kiyomasa's face suddenly turn pale was that the voice came from behind Kato Kiyomasa!
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Thanks to book friends "Dr. Xu Jiahui", "First Landing", "Old Disrepair nn", "Heaven huwz", "Rainy Season Wind Blows", and "The Boy Next Door 1" for their monthly support, thank you!
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PS: I came back too late in the evening so the update was an hour late, but the debt has been paid off.
. Lewen
