Chapter 85: Looking forward and sighing
This battle lasted from when the sun just emerged from the horizon to when it was three shots above the sun.
Fu Youde commanded this battle under the escort of hundreds of soldiers. At this time, I just felt very powerless.
First of all, this war can no longer be fought.
There is no need to hear about the fierce fighting that lasted for days and nights, from day to night. That was in modern times. As long as you had bullets, you could keep fighting. Hand-to-hand combat is too hard. Even if you recharge your batteries and fight for an hour, you will be exhausted.
Fu Youde can naturally feel it.
The soldiers are not as brave as before.
It's just that Fu Youde knows that if their side is not good, the other side may not be able to persist. That's why Fu Youde gritted his teeth and persisted.
Secondly, Fu Youde did not want to fight. The loss was so great that Fu Youde could only grit his teeth in distress. In less than an hour, Fu Youde had already heard the news that countless subordinates had been killed in battle.
Just as many of Fu Youde's soldiers have ten years of military experience, qualified generals in the cold weapon era were never trained, but fought. What is learned through experience is non-replicable.
In this short period of time, Fu Youde had killed so many generals that it would be impossible to replenish them for a long time.
If we continue to fight, we will lose more than we gain.
Not only did the gains outweigh the losses for the Southern Army, but also the losses outweighed the gains for Fu Youde's faction.
However, Fu Youde couldn't understand it at all.
Why? Why doesn’t the opponent always collapse during the fight?
Fu Youde even heard the sound of explosions from time to time.
Ye Chen's army is purely a firearms army. Because of this, these people lack everything, including gunpowder. At this moment, Fu Youde's troops also pushed them to the extreme. Many people lit gunpowder and rushed to the other side.
One for several.
Even though Fu Youde's men were all veteran murderers, they were frightened when faced with such a situation.
Little did he know that Fu Youde felt distressed.
Ye Chen felt even more distressed.
Much more distressed than Fu Youde.
At this moment, Ye Chen's eyes were about to burst.
He punched the carriage and blood immediately flowed out.
What Ye Chen really felt sorry for were the grassroots officers.
Is it easy for Ye Chen to find someone who is proficient in mathematics and willing to join the military? It's not easy at all. The fact that Zhang Ming can quickly go from a white man to a thousand households shows how much Ye Chen lacks such people.
And Ye Chen looked around and found that most of these officers were from Liaodong.
Otherwise, when He Xi was operating in Liaodong, he promoted education with private goods, and that was the earliest, and now it has become somewhat successful. .
He Xi did not intentionally put these people in the army, but he was not surprised that these people were in the army, and even expected it. Without him, the biggest beneficiary of He Xi's reform was to learn from He Xi's theory of people.
There are also people who are proficient in mathematics.
To be an official in Nanjing, you need to be proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics, but to be an official in Beijing, mathematics is a must. Apart from anything else, if you can't even read a report, what kind of official can you be?
Therefore, for the reform, the one with the strongest support in the world was Liaodong.
Many people born in Liaodong were slaves of the Mongols. It is because of learning He Xi's theory that they have the opportunities they have today, not only in the military, but also in politics and business. A huge Liaodong group is being formed.
These people are all beneficiaries of the new law, not only them, but also their hometowns.
Therefore, they were determined to fight the Southern Army to the end. Of course, Ye Chen's subordinate is a direct descendant of He Xi, and he is also the seed of He Xi's military reform. He Xi gives preferential treatment in all aspects, because a bowl of water needs to be balanced and cannot be overdone.
However, Ye Chen's treatment was the best in the army, second only to the emperor's personal guards.
In this case, it will naturally inspire them to dare to die.
This battle also crippled the backbone of Ye Chen's men.
Ye Chen pondered for a long time, his chest rising and falling.
It was like a bellows. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said, "Withdraw. Let them message behind the vehicle formation. If the enemy wants to pursue them, just open fire without distinguishing between ourselves and the enemy."
Ye Chen had no other choice.
He didn't retreat before. Not only did he not retreat, but he also sent reinforcements with the men and horses at hand. It wasn't that he didn't want to retreat, but that he couldn't retreat. How could he retreat when the men and horses on both sides were fighting together? One move could affect the whole body. Retreating is likely to cause a total collapse.
The battle ended like this, and Ye Chen felt that he had lost. But it is better to lose the battle than to be wiped out.
Gritting his teeth and holding on, there is still a turning point. But retreating will most likely result in the entire army being annihilated.
But now, Ye Chen has no choice.
It looked like I couldn't hold it any longer. He could only find a way to close in, use firearms to suppress the position, and separate the two sides. Even if there were a large number of indiscriminate shots, Ye Chen had no choice. As much as can be preserved will be preserved.
However, a situation happened that Ye Chen never expected.
That is, Ye Chen's side withdrew and the Southern Army did not pursue him.
Both sides were exhausted at this moment. Just taking a bite. Don't dare to vent. Now the Southern Army watched the Northern Army retreat without any order, but spontaneously. Because they can't fight anymore.
Seeing this situation, Fu Youde sighed and said, "Retreat."
Fu Youde originally wanted to defeat Ye Chen in one fell swoop, but after today's battle, this idea was ruined.
One thing that makes Fu Youde even more sad is the bankruptcy of combat ideas.
Yes, when the Northern Army was equipped with firearms on a large scale, Fu Youde also studied the development of firearms and felt the changes in firearms. Fu Youde also had his own ideas on tactics. It can be regarded as path dependence. Fu Youde has been directing cold weapon operations all his life. Firearms have always been a supporting role.
In this case, it is difficult for Fu Youde to change his mind. More importantly, in terms of firearms tactics, the Northern Army had a first-mover advantage. In this case, if they don't find another way, they will just catch up with the Northern Army. For a long time, they will fall behind.
Of course, there is another reason that is hard to explain.
Who is Fu Youde? The Duke of Ming Dynasty, a famous general in the world. And what is it that adheres to the new tactics of firearms? It was He Xi. He Xi's military reputation was far inferior to that of Fu Youde, and Fu Youde did not want to be inferior to He Xi and follow He Xi's footsteps.
Fu Youde just wanted to come up with new tactics.
One side is strong, but many people take it for granted that the other side is weak. The fire gun is very capable of long-range damage. However, Fu Youde saw the fire gun with a bayonet added. He still felt that after adding a bayonet to the fire gun, it was still inferior. Knives and guns work.
Fu Youde's idea is to engage in hand-to-hand combat with pure firearms troops as much as possible.
Today's battle is the embodiment of this tactical thought. In a word, the bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a hero.
It's just that this battle makes Fu Youde completely unable to believe it.
Yes, he admits that hand-to-hand combat with firearms troops is problematic. But this problem is not so big that it is a fatal flaw.
Fu Youde's staff was smaller than Ye Chen's. If we look at the casualties today, Ye Chen's troops suffered the greater casualties. From this perspective, Fu Youde is the winner, but Fu Youde is not that stupid.
The army led by Fu Youde was among the most elite in Nanjing. Fu Youde didn't think anyone could beat him in hand-to-hand combat. He even threw his own soldiers into it. The other party ate them all.
He even hit a counterattack that surprised Fu Youde.
That is a countercharge with gunpowder in hand.
In this situation, no matter whether you choose Lu Bu as a man or a red rabbit as a horse, you will become a scumbag.
Now Fu Youde has paid the price. Although he has not yet named it, Fu Youde knows that his army is severely damaged and cannot recover its combat effectiveness without a few months of rest. Even if it recovers its combat effectiveness, it may not be able to compete with others. It was in its heyday before.
After all, many generals cannot be replenished casually. .
But his strategic goal was not achieved at all. Facing the strong wall of Ye Chen's headquarters, which was seriously injured, not only these
The exhausted soldiers had no desire to attack, and even Fu Youde had no desire to attack. It was too much to say that he was afraid. It's just that Fu Youde knew that there would be no result at all.
Why let the soldiers suffer casualties in vain?
It was almost a lost battle.
Fu Youde is not a person who has never lost a battle. But this defeat left Fu Youde unable to find a way forward. This is the most important thing.
