The so-called double-row hollow formation is to divide a company of 120 soldiers into two rows. Liu Yi can group it in units of the general flag. Then the two rows of soldiers transform into formations to form a hollow square formation, with thirty people on each side, fifteen people in front and behind. Then the commander of the Baihu Company stood in the middle of the open space to command the battle. Of course, there was a drummer and a flag bearer in a company in the Napoleon era. They were protected by the soldiers and commanded the battle in the middle.

All the soldiers were close together. The first row of soldiers squatted down and leaned on the ground, just like the Scottish spear formation used by William Wallace. Pointing the bayonet at the periphery was equivalent to forming a dense forest of bayonets. If the cavalry rushed over, they would definitely be pierced. Similarly, the second row was still bayonets, but they all stood, with the bayonets aiming directly in front, taking into account the function of shooting.

Compared with the method, the hollow square formations that Pu's three rows of soldiers stood on and the solid square formations that Austria still used have made considerable progress, because it fully utilized the firearms and firepower, and made the opponent's cavalry and horses hit two rows of bayonets at the same time, making the field of vision wider. Moreover, because the two rows of soldiers formed double obstacles, it was even more difficult to be dispersed. This tactic was famous in the Battle of Waterloo, because the British used him to repel several repeated charges from countless French regular cavalry (including breastplate cavalry clusters), recreating the glory of the Battle of Cresci, which made Napoleon, who could be said to be the world's number one, deterred, thus establishing the position of the ultimate infantry formation in the era of dense formations.

In fact, the British Crusaders actually used similar synthetic hollow formations as early as the Crusades. The Lionheart King used a hollow square formation formed by spearmen and crossbowmen in the Battle of Alsov, thus successfully resisting the impact of the Muslim army with the dominant number of cavalry. They preserved their strength by surrounding the cavalry in the middle, and then attacked at the right time, and finally succeeded in one move.

(Fisherman's note, some people may ask, it makes no sense for you to say this. Can't cavalry rush into the center of the square array directly? In fact, this square array takes advantage of the habits of horses, that is, it takes advantage of animal habits. Many people may not understand now that horses are afraid of long, sharp and bright objects. In the era of flintlock, the bayonet length was generally more than 40 centimeters, and sometimes there was a coating, so it was more shiny. The horse would automatically avoid such objects. Even a war horse that had been strictly trained could not overcome this disadvantage. Therefore, this hollow square array would hardly not

The soldiers who squatted and raised bayonets in the front row did not kill the rushing horses. Their function was only to scare the horses and let the horses avoid it. The only way for the cavalry to break through this phalanx is to knock down a certain number of soldiers first and let the bayonets appear in the bayonets, and then the horses would rush in. If you can't imagine this kind of scene, you can go and watch the movie "Four Feathers", which contains a clip of British privateers forming a hollow square formation to fight against the enemy cavalry. After you watch it, you will understand what the war horses react when facing the bayonets.

Then some people will ask, even if this is not possible, just blindfold the horse's urethra and directly impact it, fishermen here need to popularize it. First of all, infantry formed formations on the plains. Ordinary light cavalry cannot form deterrent power, and the one who directly rushed to the formation must be heavy cavalry. How many heavy cavalry can a country have? Marshal Nei was killed in the Battle of Waterloo. Five mounts were still leading His Majesty the Emperor's most elite breastplate cavalry to charge. That's right

, it was the hollow square formation of dozens of British companies that had been continuously broken through, but the British army had more than 60,000 people. They formed hundreds of square formations on the plains, and the French army had only 4,206 cavalrymen. After attacking dozens of square formations, they were exhausted. Then, Blüchel, the vulgar guy, brought 50,000 Prussian troops to join the battlefield, and then pushed the emperor's army in the front line. Of course, Gruci, the nerd, failed to make a quick decision, was also a major factor.

Of course, another important reason why the hollow phalanx is not easy to break through is the improvement of infantry capabilities and the decline of cavalry capabilities. Since the 16th century, the cavalry could not even rush through several rows of infantry formations in depth. In the Battle of Bredenfield, Parbenheimer's imperial heavy cavalry regiment wore plate armor to strike the left wing of Swedish Marshal Benal of Gustav's phalanx. It hit seven times in a row, and the Swedes still stood firm. The depth of the phalanx was not even ten rows.

During the War period when I like to set hollow square formations, cavalry charges were used to attack infantry positions that were not arranged in a row, and the collision between quadrons was basically bloody. To put it bluntly, as long as the infantry was disciplined enough, infantry formations could fight against cavalry on the plains, and the extension of the range of heavy infantry strikes by muskets. This is the root of the so-called infantry equality since the 16th century. It is not only the technological progress of firearms, but also closely related to the professionalization of the troops. In addition, after the War, Clausewitz's summary also pointed out that cavalry relied on impact to attack infantry regiments with well-trained and well-formed formations, which were all suicides.

In the East, when the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, heavy horse-riding infantry were also the main force of the Qing Dynasty, and the impact cavalry was no longer so popular. Of course, the last one to ring the death knell for the cavalry was the Miner rifle and firing bullets. During the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, the British 93rd Highland Regiment did not even set up a square formation. Two rows of scattered soldiers directly shot back the Russian cavalry units that were attacking positions that were comparable to the defensive infantry. You should know that the British army was still using front-mounted guns at this time, and even rear-mounted singles.)

Since Liu Yi thought of the hollow square formation, he made a brief analysis of the war form. The final conclusion was that the main reason why the Ming army could not compete with the Eight Banners Cavalry was its own problem. As long as the Ming army was properly trained, had high morale, tight formation, and the quality of the firearms was passed, even infantry could definitely withstand the cavalry's charge. Even if one formation could not withstand it, there was a second and a third. Not to mention, there were only a few Eight Banners soldiers, and the full number of the Eight Banners were only 100,000. The Ming army's entire army was more than one million, and even if it was crowded, it would not lose to himself. Once an army lost the courage to resist, once it lost its ideals and became a tool for warlords to fight for power and profit, it would not be able to become a strong army, and naturally it would not be invincible.

As long as the Qingyi Army maintains its current strong fighting will and cohesion, Liu Yi is fully confident to use simple infantry to restrain the cavalry. What Liu Yi did not expect was that this opportunity to prove that Liu Yi's correct idea will come in the near future.

Since establishing the tactics of the double-row hollow formation, Liu Yi hurriedly asked the workshop to make 10,000 iron spears, and demanded that the weight of the new-style guns be about ten kilograms after being equipped with bayonets, and the length should be the same, about two meters. Then Liu Yi immediately distributed the ten thousand iron spears to the entire army, whether it was the new army or the militia, and immediately began to train the double-row hollow formation. The main training points are the timeliness of the array, the accuracy and efficiency of the shooting, the stability of the square array, and the psychological nature of the soldiers.

In order to achieve this goal, Liu Yi smoothed all the fingers into blunt weapons, and then organized all the horses to cover the urethra and crashed into the square formation. One company passed by one, each company lined up in the colonel field, and then received the impact of the cavalry, and truly simulated the battlefield situation. For example, 120 cavalry launched an attack, and when it was almost in front of the formation, some of the cavalry would be diverted. This simulated the cavalry that was killed and injured and exited the battlefield, and the remaining cavalry rushed directly.

Of course, all the soldiers were wearing thick protective gear and horses did not wear armor to avoid casualties as much as possible. However, this almost practical training still caused casualties. In the monthly training, there were almost dozens of soldiers casualties. Liu Yi also listed them in Xianzhong Temple. As martyrs of the Qingyi Army, the pension was the same as on the battlefield.

Although many soldiers could not overcome this psychological pressure at the beginning and dodged in an instinctive way, in the end, even the soldiers of the militia could not change color. This kind of training consumed more horses, either fractured or accidentally stabbed to death. However, Liu Yi didn't care about these things. It was better to consume horses than to consume human lives on the battlefield.

Soon, the Qingyi Army had a magic weapon to win against the cavalry. The autumn of the second half of the year came in a blink of an eye, and good news came from the General Administration of Manufacturing. After continuous improvement, the new musket can be mass-produced. According to the Qingyi Army's usual naming habits, this new gun equipped with a triangular bayonet was named Type 28.
Chapter completed!