Chapter 166 Climax
The war has now reached its climax.
The entire Northern Army formation formed a horizontal "7" shape on the battlefield. Under Wu Li's command, a loud uppercut hit the Southern Army's weak spot.
But the Confederate army besieged the entire cavalry, Ma Xiao's salient.
Even under attack from two sides, Ma Xiao still gritted his teeth and unswervingly carried out flank attacks on the Confederate army.
Reduce the pressure on the main force.
For a time, everyone on the entire battlefield was working hard.
Wu Li and Sheng Yong were losing control of their respective armies.
The vast majority of the troops on both sides are already entangled.
Of course, this loss of control varies from person to person.
Sheng Yong is a member of quite a few reserve teams.
It's just that this reserve team is difficult to dispatch.
Too many people. The battlefield is too small.
The huge battlefield with a radius of several miles is already the limit of one person's command. In fact, He Xi and Ye Shen's previous considerations were correct. On a single battlefield, 30,000 to 40,000 are enough, but any more will not be able to command.
Battlefield power needs to be divided.
Wu Li made such a division, allowing Ma Xiao to conduct roundabout operations alone.
But Sheng Yong cannot do this.
All things are summed up as the same thing, that is, it is a human problem. The whole problem is put into this one thing, which is the problem of officers. The whole problem of officers must be divided into two parts, one is the middle and lower-level officers, and the other is the senior generals. .
Fu Youde followed the example of the Northern Army and carried out military reforms.
The problems he encountered were much more serious than those of He Xi and Ye Chen.
He Xi and Ye Chen still had some manpower reserves. But Fu Youde didn't have it at all. Moreover, Fu Youde faced the same problems faced by the upper-level generals of the Ming Dynasty, and also encountered them at the lower levels.
The Ming Dynasty did not fight for many years. There is no retirement system, and in the military, the father dies and the son succeeds. What's wrong with this is that there are not many elderly officers in the military, even among junior officers. People in their fifties and sixties naturally stop fighting. But he is in his forties and in the prime of life. Mentioning his resume, he also fought in a certain battle back then. Follow a certain general to send troops and horses. He doesn't know a single Chinese character, but his martial arts skills are quite good and he can move rocks and locks like flying.
But such a low-level officer is not the officer Fu Youde wants.
Just need to replace them all.
This was also one of the reasons why the Confederate Army and the Northern Army couldn't keep their composure when they were firing guns at each other.
Without an elite group of officers, it would have been impossible for Sheng Yong to conduct precise command.
Not to mention the upper-level generals.
It would be great if Fu Youde could really change the blood of all the generals in the entire Ming Dynasty. But he couldn't do it. In order for Sheng Yong to lead the way alone. Many veterans were pressed down. Only some generals with low qualifications can be promoted.
Of course, a general with little experience does not mean he is incompetent. But the experience may not be rich.
The experience of many wars is an immeasurable wealth for a general.
People like Tang Shengzong, Zheng Yuchun, and Lu Zhongheng.
You may not have extraordinary talent. But getting to this point step by step was more a result of fighting in battles.
There were no telephones on the battlefield in this era. Even if the messenger was running on horseback to deliver the command, something might go wrong, such as being killed by a stray bullet. Many times, the general needs to have a keen sense of the battlefield and cooperate with the main general on the battlefield.
You have to decide what to do without waiting for the general's order?
Otherwise, wait for the above command to come down. It's too late for anything.
In addition, not all of Sheng Yong's troops were re-trained troops. There were only a few who could skillfully use horizontal formations to attack. Unless part of the army is waiting for the front to break through and then press forward in a big way, it is naturally impossible to deploy in a roundabout way like the Northern Army did.
Of course, between the two comparisons, the most important thing is the staff system.
In fact, Wu Li himself did not feel that he had actually created a temporary organization. After this battle, perhaps the Northern Army will have to think about a problem. That is the army, and it is more appropriate to have a few guards under its command. And between the army and the guards, there is no need to establish another organization, etc.
In fact, there are 5,600 people in one health center. A camp, that is, a thousand households and a thousand people, may not be the most appropriate establishment.
However, the repeated reforms of the military were based on the original system of the Ming Dynasty. Now it breaks through the Ming Dynasty establishment every day. Of course, the problem between establishment and combat effectiveness needs to be reflected in each battle and continued reform.
Improving the staff system helps commanders do many things. In particular, after Ma Xiao confirmed the command authority, he immediately established a staff system to command the four guard posts with the staff organization of his own guard post as the core.
Liaodong is the place where He Xi focuses his work.
There should not be too many people studying He Xi's teachings, and there are quite a few military children among them. They were originally in different positions, and this round of emergency recruitment. Naturally, they came to the army one after another. Because they already have connections with the military.
Naturally, I won’t go anywhere else.
As a result, the Liaodong Army's staff system is almost the best among all military staffs.
Very familiar with the battlefield. At least he comes from a family background.
This is one of the reasons why the First Army organizes and trains faster than others.
Even after studying the battle cases, Wu Li's order was considered bold.
However, Wu Li's bolder decision is in the making.
Use Ma Xiao to attack from the flank. Wu Li obviously felt the positive pressure relax. However, after carefully looking at the front line with a telescope, he suddenly gave the order and said: "Everyone puts on their bayonets. Including the staff officers."
While speaking, Wu Li drew his sword in his hand and said, "Wait for my order."
The Southern Army seems to have forgotten one thing: the Northern Army is also a Ming Army. Even in terms of combat experience, the Northern Army's combat effectiveness and experience are much stronger than that of the Southern Army. After all, the Confederates hadn't fought in a war for many years. The Northern Army has been entangled with Mongolia for many years.
Even in hand-to-hand combat, the Northern Army was not weaker than the Southern Army.
I didn’t fight before. It is a weighing of gains and losses, and I feel that firearms are the advantage, and it is better to use firearms to kill people. After all, the fewer people killed on the battlefield, the better.
But now, it's different.
Wu Li was a veteran, carrying a knife as a pawn. When he climbed up step by step, Sheng Yong didn't know where he was. He is also not mediocre in cold weapon combat. Of course, let’s talk about it. Veterans like Wu Li from the Ming Dynasty can't be said to have the capacity to carry a car, but they are certainly not in the minority.
However, the age of firearms eliminated many people.
What is valuable about Wu Li is that he has mastered the tactics of two eras. His understanding of the tactics of both eras is not at the top level, but at this time, composite talents are very popular.
There is a saying about combat in the era of cold weapons, which is finally appropriate. That is husband's war and courage.
Fighting in the era of cold weapons requires extremely high levels of courage.
To kill someone with a firearm, just pull the trigger from a distance. But killing people with cold weapons requires facing dripping blood. Facing the opponent's desperate resistance. The one who dies accidentally is himself. That bloody scene.
Not everyone can bear it.
This places extremely high demands on soldiers.
The requirements for morale and courage are also very high.
This is why many armies can maintain firearms shooting. But you can't fight hand-to-hand.
Now, the Confederate army is launching waves of attacks at the risk of life and death. Is it courage?
In Wu Li's opinion, it was a greed for life and a fear of death.
Because there is a supervising team behind, if you retreat you will die. As for the advance and attack on the Northern Army's horizontal column, it seemed possible to survive.
But that's all it looks like.
If you measure it carefully. You will find that in fact, the lethality of maintaining a counterattack against the Northern Army is no less than rushing forward to fight hand-to-hand.
the reason is simple.
Although the Confederate army had to suffer additional casualties during the fire blunderbuss shooting, the fire blunderbuss was, after all, a fire blunderbuss, not a fire stick. It's impossible not to kill someone. Union troops were also killed. It's just that the Northern Army has stronger organizational capabilities. When losses reach a certain level, they will be rotated. So you can't see it.
And rushed forward to fight hand to hand. In the process of rushing up, they were simply slaughtered one-sidedly.
After entering the Northern Army formation, the Northern Army stopped resisting. What a joke.
The reason why the Confederate army won was because the horizontal column was thin and the rear column was more than a hundred steps away, so there was no support. But considering the overall death ratio, this is actually not very cost-effective.
Of course, personal feelings on the battlefield are often contradictory to cold numbers.
However, this also illustrates the problem Wu Li discovered. That was the Confederate charge, not of courage, but of cowardice.
Some people died, but not completely...
