Chapter 84 Victory and Loss
Fu Youde couldn't wait any longer.
Because of his limited logistics, the current battle cannot be said to be a desperate one, but it is not far behind.
If you miss this time, I don’t know when the next time will be.
Ye Chen was actually not as incompetent as he thought.
Fu Youde used many methods to seize Ye Chen's neutral position. But they were all solved one by one by Ye Chen. In the end, it was because Ye Chen believed too much in Ye Bushou and was deceived by Fu Youde that he found this opportunity.
It can only be said that Ye Chen is still young, not experienced enough, and still too young in front of Fu Youde.
However, Fu Youde was still a little surprised by Ye Chen's command.
After all, it is difficult to hide the whereabouts of a large army, not to mention that on the Hebei Plain, traces of the army were found far away. Although Fu Youde led the cavalry and advanced quickly, Ye Chen also had cavalry, and the cavalry from both sides clashed first. Give Ye Chen some time to reorganize the army.
But not much.
Fu Youde had already calculated it.
It's impossible to leave too much time.
However, Fu Youde discovered that he only left Ye Chen's command a short period of time. Nearly half of Ye Chen's troops actually transformed from a marching formation into a combat formation. The speed was so fast that Fu Youde couldn't believe it, at least. More than twice as fast as the elites under his command.
He couldn't believe it.
Fu Youde's troops, as direct descendants of the Duke, have fought many fierce battles. Such elites are rare in the entire Ming Dynasty. As for Ye Chen's unit, Fu Youde also conducted investigations, and most of them were new recruits.
Of course, what Fu Youde said about recruits was relative.
Ye Chen's subordinate He Xi had been preparing for a long time, and all the soldiers had served for at least three years. As for the officers, they were also drawn from various ministries, not with bravery first, but with literacy and arithmetic first.
But such talents are not absent from the Ming army.
Such an army will not be considered new recruits in future generations.
But what is it like under Fu Youde?
Not to mention anything else, Fu Youde's headquarters is full of elites. Many of them are old people who have followed Fu Youde for many years. They are no longer able to impress after they are twice as old as they are, so they recommend juniors to take over. And these juniors have been trained in martial arts since they were young. They are equipped with bows and horses, and their determination is rare.
Most of them are around thirty years old, when they are in the best physical condition. They have been in the army for ten years, and almost everyone has seen blood and killed people.
He was even more loyal to Fu Youde and fought for him to the point of death.
Of course, there are not many such troops under Fu Youde's command, they are just his own guards.
But every guard commander is a smaller version of Fu Youde.
To be honest, fighting with cold weapons is far more cruel than fighting with hot weapons. The psychological impact of firing from a distance is absolutely inferior to that of fighting face to face, where a white knife goes in and a red knife comes out. When the Qing army was fighting the British, they could maintain their position by firing at each other, but in the face of the British army's hand-to-hand assault, the Qing army collapsed.
Although because of He Xi, the popularity of armor is extremely high. Even now, all the Ming army has armor, and at least one has a chainmail. The cheapest.
However, there may not be many people in the Ming army who can be called soldiers.
The two sides have completely different training ideas.
When fighting, it is a completely different idea. Ye Chen focused on using the power of firearms, but Fu Youde wanted to use his strength in hand-to-hand combat. These elite soldiers who had only been trained for ten years were Fu Youde's biggest trump card.
Fu Youde spent so much energy just to create a fair opportunity for hand-to-hand combat.
As far as the current battlefield situation is concerned, Fu Youde succeeded.
Although the speed of Ye Chen's entire team exceeded Fu Youde's expectations, Fu Youde was also very fast. Hundreds of cavalry, no, not cavalry, but infantry riding horses and mules. Under the protection of the cavalry, the Northern Army Dismount in front of the formation, put down the Crouching Tiger Cannon, and immediately light it.
For a time, more than a dozen squatting tiger cannons sprayed out countless iron sand, hitting the
In the dense military formation.
The army, which had not yet completed its reorganization, immediately fell into chaos.
Immediately, these hundreds of people rushed in, and the sound of killing was loud.
Fu Youde found a breakthrough and naturally seized the opportunity. He threw almost all his troops into this army and defeated it in an instant. Immediately, the Southern Army followed this gap and penetrated deeply into the Northern Army's array.
For a moment, Ye Chen fell into passivity.
Because of the transition from a marching formation to a combat formation, Ye Chen's troops were lined up along the official road, with not much depth in the middle. Ye Chen had no time to deploy, and was almost cut off by Fu Youde's arrangement.
What's more important is that when the two sides are caught in a melee, the power of firearms cannot be exerted.
To be honest, the blunderbuss and the bayonet are actually the product of compromise. If they really fight with each other, no matter the length or the center of gravity, they are far inferior to cold weapons. Especially when facing such elites, it is revealed.
Although, Ye Chen still has some remaining military structures in his hands, which are ready to go into battle at any time, and even have complete fortifications.
It’s nothing else but a car formation.
Ye Chen brought the vehicle not only to transport baggage, but also to serve as a mobile fortification. Although it is chaotic now, the fighting on the periphery provides time for the vehicle formation to be arranged.
It's just that there's a melee outside, and in the car formation, even if there are artillery, you can't fire indiscriminately.
Ye Chen gritted his teeth in his heart and said, "Change weapons and tell the soldiers below to use the old guy."
He Xi promoted an all-firearms army. Even after they had bayonets, Ye Chen did not believe in their hand-to-hand combat capabilities. Not only did Ye Chen not believe it, there were a large number of generals under Ye Chen's command who had come from the Ming army. Don't like it either.
Therefore, almost all soldiers have been trained in cold weapon combat, but they have not practiced military formations.
At this point, Ye Chen admitted that with the emergence of firecrackers, the Ming army's fighting method of holding large guns and launching large formations was outdated. Although Xu Da and others used this fighting method when the cavalry was scarce. He wiped out the world, and even in the battle of Mobei, he used this kind of formation to turn the tide, leaving Wang Baobao helpless.
But when faced with repeated shots from fire cannons, he was almost a living target.
Cold weapon military formation and personal fighting are two different things.
Instead of practicing military formations, just training in individual combat would save a lot of training.
Ye Chen had no choice but to grit his teeth and persist.
At least the outside got into a melee and completely lost control. If you attack indiscriminately, there will naturally be no problem at all. But Ye Chen couldn't do this. If he did such a thing, he would no longer lead troops in the future.
Ye Chen could only play according to Fu Youde's game rules.
However, Fu Youde felt that he could win by fighting with cold weapons. He underestimated the Beijun Army too much, and he underestimated Ye Chen too much.
As a cold weapon, bayonets are actually very inconvenient and far inferior to spears and swords. But why are there many examples of bayonets being successful in hand-to-hand combat with cold weapons? This is more because military battles, even in melee battles, test the cooperation between soldiers. .
It's not about whether the thing in your hand is easy to use or not.
In other words, it is a test of the military's organizational capabilities.
In fact, Qi Jiguang's Yuanyang Formation even achieved zero casualties against Japanese pirates, which is very illustrative of the problem. Qi Jiajun actually already has strong modernization characteristics. The Yuanyang Formation is very powerful, but except for the Qi Family Army, no other army seems to use the Yuanyang Formation. Don't you want to? It can't be.
It's the same today.
He Xi had put great effort into the training of the new army, especially strengthening the cultural education of middle and lower-level officers. It seemed useless, but it showed its effect at this time.
Fu Youde, the middle and lower-level generals, all have hard skills, dare to fight, and are very brave. However, the middle and lower-level officers under Ye Chen's command are no better than their opponents in hand-to-hand combat, but they are educated and have a high vision. Amidst the chaos, a weak organization remains.
Pull the soldiers under his command together as soon as possible. Even fight in various other ways, such as grenades.
Of course, if
If you keep a little distance, you should use a firecracker, and you will definitely use it.
Not to mention, Ye Shen had a solid rear by establishing a car formation. Ye Chen sent reinforcements from time to time and worked hard to bring back the wounded. In this way, the possibility of Ye Chen's army collapsing is greatly reduced.
After the initial collapse, it slowly stabilized.
