Chapter 55: Getting stronger with age
The wild goose gate is closed.
Geng Bingwen received the imperial decree, ordering him to go out to attack Datong and cut off the westward route from Beijing.
After Geng Bingwen received the imperial edict, he could not recover for a long time.
Geng Bingwen's son Geng Rui said: "Father, I sent troops to encounter the Northern Army once before. They are very difficult to deal with. Do you want me to find a way to get your Majesty to take back his order?"
Geng Rui married Zhu Biao's daughter, which was one of the reasons why Geng Bingwen was reused.
Geng Bingwen said: "No need. I have already prepared for today's situation. I just didn't expect to come and get it so quickly. Send the order, if the father and son are in the army, the son will return. If the brother is in the army, the younger brother will return. The only son will not fight. The remaining Reintegrate and come out with me."
Geng Bingwen had not fought many serious battles in Shanxi for two years. But after all, it has been at war with Beijing. He is very familiar with the combat power of the Northern Army.
He had been prepared for today's situation.
With an order, the army came out.
However, the Northern Army will soon find that Geng Bingwen's troops are difficult to deal with.
Because Geng Bingwen's troops had almost no infantry in the original sense.
Geng Bingwen's troops can be divided into two parts, namely chariot troops and cavalry.
There are more than 10,000 chariots and more than 20,000 cavalry. The chariots have different specifications and are divided into large Wugang chariots, small Wugang chariots and logistics vehicles. The Dawugang vehicle has eight people and can be equipped with artillery. There are four people in Xiaowu Gang's car, and there is only a shooting hole. For fire cannon attack.
As for the logistics vehicles, they are all loaded with logistics supplies.
As for the cavalry, it goes without saying.
There are more than 50,000 and nearly 60,000 troops in total, but almost all the livestock in Shanxi have been found.
It was also in these years that the price of horses in the north dropped sharply. Both the military and civilians had a large number of livestock. War horses may be scarce, but there is no shortage of ordinary pack horses. That's why it's such a big deal.
The Dawugang chariot requires at least four horses. In other words, regardless of the number of people, there are a lot of horses, at least one hundred thousand.
When encountering the enemy, the chariot array was outside and the cavalry was inside. If the Northern Army attacks in horizontal formation with infantry, Geng Bingwen will switch to cavalry to attack. If the Northern Army forms a square formation to protect itself, then Geng Bingwen will continue to advance. If the Northern Army bombarded with artillery.
The vehicle formation also had artillery counterattacks.
Although the Northern Army's artillery was superior in number to Geng Bingwen, the Southern Army was not without artillery. Coupled with its transportation capabilities, there was not much difference in the number of artillery between the two sides on this battlefield.
It's literally a turtle shell.
Geng Bingwen marched slowly with a turtle shell on his back.
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"What should we do?" Qu Neng called all the staff over and asked.
Facing Geng Bingwen's turtle shell, there was nothing he could do for a while.
"Sir, in my opinion, the only option is to use heavy artillery now." A staff officer said: "Surround Geng Bingwen and mobilize heavy artillery from the rear to bombard him. Other than that, there is no other way."
Because of the march, heavy artillery is rarely used in the army. No other heavy artillery is too heavy. Difficulty transferring. Ordinary infantry artillery can deal with infantry formations. Who knew that Geng Bingwen got this turtle shell.
Qu Neng certainly knew that bombardment with heavy artillery was useful.
With heavy artillery bombardment, not to mention a mere vehicle formation, even a city can be leveled.
But he had two questions to think about.
The first problem is time.
Although He Xi did not emphasize the suddenness of the northwest attack, and after consecrating the altar and worshiping the general, he entrusted all military matters to him, and almost never asked questions unless it was a major issue.
This is what He Xi wants to emphasize.
The boundaries of authority between military ministers and civil servants.
Before deciding to fight a war, it is the domain of civilian officials. After deciding to fight a war, it is the military commander's business how to fight. Of course, military generals do not have no checks and balances when fighting. Logistics, as well as staff, and even intelligence services. When military generals fight, it is impossible to hide all their actions from the court. But as long as the battle is won,
The imperial court would not intervene. At most, it would settle the accounts after the fight was over.
Therefore, all decisions are in Qu Neng's hands.
For Qu Neng, this is trust on the one hand and pressure on the other.
Needless to say, trust. The generals have enough room to perform. There is also a lot of pressure. Because once something goes wrong, Qu Neng has no excuse to shirk it. He even felt that if he lost the battle and killed himself, there would be nothing to say.
After all, everything is given.
So he has to think about the whole strategy.
Geng Bingwen's actions were essentially to understand the consequences of the Western Expedition.
It is not to capture Shanxi, although after annihilating Geng Bingwen, Shanxi will be empty. But after Shanxi is empty, can it be conquered? Qu Neng felt that he couldn't, so he had to fight Geng Bingwen as soon as possible, as long as he didn't dare to go north.
The longer the fight with Geng Bingwen lasts, the longer Shaanxi will have to prepare. The problem will become bigger.
He wanted a quick victory.
Second, Qu Neng is the Privy Councilor after all. Although after he went to war, this official position had become a virtual title, and someone else was already in charge of military affairs in Beijing. But Qu Neng also needs to think about the problem from Beijing's perspective.
Geng Bingwen and Fu Youde have completely different training ideas.
Fu Youde had a lot of contact with He Xi and got all kinds of news from Beijing. Fu Youde chose to learn from the Beijun army and almost replicated Beijing one to one. This is certainly one way, but Geng Bingwen took another way. . That is the fighting style formed from the original Ming Dynasty combat system after the addition of firearms.
It cannot be said that this direction is wrong.
The vehicle formation had excellent performance in the firearms era. However, as the firepower was strengthened, it disappeared from the battlefield, and later reappeared as a tank. It can only be said that the idea was not wrong, but the technical conditions were wrong.
Today, firearms are not very powerful.
Although Geng Bingwen's car formation is made of wood. But it can still provide a certain level of protection. If the fire cannon formation and the car formation were to shoot at each other, the result would be tragic.
There is no problem with bombarding with heavy artillery. But every time they encountered Geng Bingwen's dismissal, they would bombard them with heavy artillery. Since every battle did not waste a lot of time, it was impossible for the Northern Army to carry heavy artillery.
But the car formation is very easy.
After all, He Xi's arrival will have a great impact on this era.
Especially since the number of iron tools has increased so much, it is difficult for a lathe to cut iron like mud. But the woodworking lathe is very simple. Even woodworking lathes are the flagship products exported by Zunhua Iron Works. There are many places to purchase. It has been popular since the Lushun Shipyard.
Processing a large number of vehicles is actually very simple. Don't say more than 10,000 vehicles. As long as you are prepared, tens of thousands more vehicles will not be a problem.
If it turns out that Geng Bingwen’s idea is right.
Qu Neng could predict that the Southern troops he would foresee in the future would all be car formations.
Qu Neng thought for a while and said, "Anyway, let's try it on the battlefield first."
Without touching each other, you won't know the opponent's specific combat power. Without understanding the other party, it is impossible to come up with any way to break the formation.
So Qu Neng made up his mind.
A big battle between the two sides began.
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Along the Sanggan River.
Geng Bingwen formed an array south of the river.
Not to mention a formation.
The biggest advantage of the car array is that there is no need to set up camp. Because once the car array is set up, it is a campsite. Layers upon layers. The soldiers don't need tents, they just rest in their cars most of the time.
There are two biggest problems with the car formation.
The first is that the marching speed is too slow.
Although there are many pack horses in the car formation, the speed of the car formation is still limited.
The requirements for roads are also very high. Ordinary roads are not acceptable. Once a road fails, it needs to be repaired.
The second is that it consumes too much.
It is not that people consume a lot, but that animals consume a lot. Comparable to an animal
People's appetites are too big. Therefore, although tens of thousands of troops were dispatched this time, the logistics supplies required were at the level of 100,000. Or even more, the only way to fill so many mouths.
Even so, it can only last for a short time.
Marching for a long time is also unbearable.
Geng Bingwen knew this very well, so he never thought about continuing the attack and capturing Datong. He was ready to set up camp by the Sanggan River. After all, if you set up camp here, the entire Datong Basin will be on tenterhooks.
Because Geng Bingwen's location is almost in the center of the Datong Basin.
