Between Baoding Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture, there is a vast plain. There are no mountains to pass through the city, and there are no rivers to block it. It can be said that it is easy to attack and difficult to defend. However, the main factor that determines the outcome of the war is people. The favorable weather, time and place are all external factors. Strong soldiers and strong horses
That's the kingly way.
The headquarters of the Peking Army's Second Group Army was not located in Baoding Prefecture, but outside Baoding Prefecture. The 30,000 cavalrymen were divided into large armies, with 10,000 people in each army, and were stationed among the various defense areas, forming a horn-like situation.
With the advantage of rapid mobility, if one party breaks out in a war, the other two parties can rush to help in a short time, even if there are tens of thousands of enemies.
The person in charge of the Second Group Army is the Commander of the Second Military Region, Zhao Quanjie. He is younger than the Commander of the First Military Region, Zhou Tianshou, and has relatively little war experience, so he did not take part in the Battle of Xinjiang last year. This time, he got Wan Lei in the battle to defend the territory.
He personally ordered the generals, and finally had a chance to show off his talents.
And the Peking Army can rely on more than just one or two generals. From the commander and chief of staff to the company and platoon leader, all of them have attended military schools. Whether in theory or practice, they are better than those of the Ming Army who have been put together on the fly.
The miscellaneous army must be strong, and the soldiers have been trained for a long time, so they can fight with certainty and ruthlessness.
Wan Lei came to the front line to supervise the army. In fact, he had nothing to supervise. He just wanted to watch the battle process. If he found that there were deficiencies in the tactics, he could improve them in the future. And when he lived in the army, his greater role was to boost morale.
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As agreed in advance, Wan Lei was accompanied by Zhao Xue'er on the expedition. Perhaps it was because it was her first time to fight with a sword, but in short she was as excited as if she had been given a shot of chicken blood, and she shouted every day that she would go into battle to kill the enemy in person. Wan Lei
Lei would not let this little girl act recklessly, and secretly ordered the Jingzhong Guards to keep an eye on her.
In early February, after many days of sunny weather, the snow on the ground had melted away, and the weather was getting warmer. Both the Ming Army and the Peking Army were actively preparing for war, and an offensive and defensive battle was about to begin.
"Report, at ten o'clock, there are enemy troops ten miles away from our army, about five thousand cavalry." A scout rushed into the Chinese army's tent. Wan Lei and Zhao Quanjie, who were present, heard the news. Instead of being anxious, they secretly
The ground heaved a sigh of relief: the Ming army finally couldn't hold back its anger.
"Send the order, the whole army will set up camp, and all the army commanders will come to me to receive orders." Zhao Quanjie gave the order, and the whole army began to get busy.
Unlike the Ming army that often built strongholds of trees, the Peking Army's cavalry units never carried heavy weapons. Each person was provided with three days of dry food. Even the rear army in charge of military supplies only brought a small amount of tents and dry food, so the entire cavalry unit
The army is very mobile and can move out whenever it wants. Moreover, each person is equipped with two horses, so they can maintain horse power by switching horses, so even long-distance attacks are not a problem.
The officers and soldiers were busy setting up camp, and the senior generals came to the Chinese army's tent to receive various military flags and accept related combat tasks. For this offensive and defensive battle, the Military Commission and the General Staff had already formulated multiple plans, and the generals were executing them.
Just adapt to circumstances.
"Everyone, remember, our goal is to retreat from the enemy, not to completely annihilate the enemy. We just need to defeat the incoming enemy and defeat them." Zhao Quanjie did not forget to add this, and all the generals nodded to express their acceptance, and waved their hands at the end.
, "Go to war!"
Thirty thousand cavalry were divided into three armies and set off at the same time. Each army was divided into three echelons, front, middle and rear. The front team was all light cavalry, accounting for 30% of the force. The light cavalry horses did not wear armor, and the officers and soldiers only wore light leather armor. Light cavalry
The main task is to detect the enemy and provide cover, and to provide fire support for the heavy cavalry located in the center.
The squadron is heavy cavalry. The horses and personnel are all covered with heavy armor. They are the main force in frontal attacks, accounting for about 40% of the troops. The rear group is also light cavalry, accounting for about 30%. However, this light cavalry is different from the front group. The officers and soldiers are all
Wearing chainmail, in addition to holding bows and maces, they also carry muskets. They are mainly used to flank or outflank the enemy, encircle the enemy, and cooperate with heavy cavalry to destroy the incoming enemy.
Another advantage of this strategy of three teams at the front, middle and back is that if there are too many enemy troops encountered and it is difficult to capture them for a while, the rear team will join the front team to form two mutually covering fronts to cover the heavy cavalry's retreat.
, and make the enemy's battle line open, looking for opportunities to defeat them one by one. In short, it is to use the mobility advantage of the cavalry to defeat the enemy in motion.
The nine armies of the three armies formed a relatively open formation and marched slowly on the plain. The front line of the Chinese army soon came to a place called Liujiatai, where they happened to meet the leading troops of the Ming army. A big battle was about to begin.
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"Five thousand cavalry, no more, no less, just for practicing." Zhao Quanjie, who personally led the central army, smiled slightly and ordered: "The front team attacks, retreats while fighting, and draws the enemy troops over."
The yellow military flag waved a few times, and the front team a few hundred meters away received the order. The entire team of 3,000 people began to rush towards the Ming cavalry. Of course, this army did not rush over stupidly.
Fighting the Ming army desperately, when they rushed to the 300 meters in front of the Ming army's formation, they drew long arrows from their strong bows and charged at the enemy's formation at a 45-degree angle and fired a volley.
"Wow!" A rain of arrows fell on the Ming army's formation. Although the Ming army's cavalry were all wearing heavy armor, many people were still injured after being swept away by the rain of arrows. Seeing how arrogant the Peiping army was, the Ming army screamed.
At one sound, they rushed over and prepared to risk their lives. However, after firing a volley, they started to retreat. While retreating, they rushed behind and fired arrows. The generals of the Ming army could not stand such provocation. They chased and beat them all the way.
However, the Ming cavalry in heavy armor could not outrun the light cavalry in battle. The front team was running and fighting. They were always wandering about three hundred meters in front of the Ming army, and they were always shooting arrows.
, which made the Ming army even more angry and had no choice but to eat this shameless and dirty cavalry and archery team alive.
One side chased and the other ran, and the Ming army chased for about three miles. Suddenly they found that the light cavalry in front divided into two teams and dispersed to both sides. Before the Ming army had time to decide whether to split up and pursue, they felt the ground shaking violently.
They looked forward again, and what a surprise, there was a cloud of smoke and dust, and countless heavy cavalry suddenly charged towards them.
"No, we've been ambushed!" The Ming army general reacted quickly and shouted wildly: "Hurry, go and send a message to the Chinese army and ask for support."
The commander of the Ming Army was not only quick to respond, but also relatively calm. Even if he encountered an ambush, he could immediately consider countermeasures. While asking for help from the main force, he calmly responded to the battle and ordered the troops to form formations to cover each other and retreat. But it was a pity.
, what he encountered was the Peiping Army.
The Ming army had just organized their battle formation, preparing to fight the charging heavy cavalry. The sound of rapid horse hooves was heard from behind and on both sides at the same time, followed by a barrage of random arrows falling like raindrops. The Ming army found themselves surrounded and beaten.
We don't know how many enemies are surrounding us, but the originally strong battle formation immediately fell into chaos.
At this moment, the heavy cavalry of the Peiping Army had already charged over. Under the sunlight, the blue maces were emitting a death-like light. They were like death's scythes, mowing down a large number of people in one sweep.
, the Ming army had never seen such an offensive before, and it quickly fell into collapse...
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About twenty miles southwest of the battlefield, an army of nearly 50,000 people was marching mightily. There were cavalry and infantry, but the main force was still the infantry. The more conspicuous one was the firearms battalion of the Chinese army. This one
Each soldier in the army has a musket, brightly colored battle armor, and a sword, which makes him look very powerful.
This firearms battalion comes from Yunnan and is personally led by Pingxi Hou Musheng. It has nearly 10,000 people and is one of the most elite troops of the Ming army. But it is no wonder that Yunnan is located in the southwest border with many ethnic minorities and constant wars.
Of course the army is very brave and fierce.
In addition, the leader of the army, Pingxihou Mu Sheng, had a great background. His father, Duke Muying of Guizhou, was a famous general who founded the Ming Dynasty and was named King of Qianning. In the first year of Jianwen, his elder brother Mu Chun died of illness. Because he had no children, Pingxihou's
He inherited the title. He was originally ordered to guard Yunnan, but the war in the north was tense, so the court hurriedly transferred him, and of course the 10,000 Firearms Battalion went north with him.
As the former army commander, Mu Sheng led nearly 50,000 cavalry into Baoding Prefecture first. For safety reasons, he sent his confidant Xu Gong to lead 5,000 cavalry as the vanguard to explore the way, and the main force of 50,000 followed closely behind, hoping to
The method of concentrated army advance pushed the Peiping Army flatly.
It has to be said that although this strategy is unremarkable, it is undoubtedly correct. However, no matter how correct the strategy is, there will be problems when it is implemented, because ultimately it is people who determine the outcome of a war.
"Report!" A cavalryman covered in blood rushed to Mu Sheng and reported urgently: "The vanguard is ambushed, general, please go to the rescue quickly."
"Ambushed? How many troops are there in the enemy army?" Mu Chen was startled and asked hurriedly.
"I don't know, there may be more than ten thousand horses, all of them are cavalry." The cavalry sentry lowered his head and said, but there was a sly smile in his eyes.
"More than 10,000 horses?" Mu Sheng pondered for a moment, then said to a general beside him: "General Chen, you and your cavalry will go immediately to support you. My troops will arrive soon."
"The last general takes orders." The general picked up the reins of his horse and quickly went out into battle with more than 10,000 cavalry. Under the leadership of the bloody riding sentry, he quickly headed east. And Mu Sheng was not willing to accept it.
Falling behind, ordered the infantry to speed up the march and rush over to participate in the battle.
Because they carried a lot of food and grass, the speed of the Ming army's infantry can be described as a turtle's pace. Although the generals at all levels kept urging, the soldiers couldn't move faster even if they wanted to. After walking for more than an hour, they walked out of ten
However, the cavalry team of 10,000 people who went ahead ran very fast, and there was already more than ten miles between the two armies.
"Hey, why haven't you seen our army yet? Have you taken the wrong route?" After marching for more than 20 miles, we still couldn't see our army. The leading general became a little anxious and shouted to the riding sentry who was leading the team.
"General, I'll use my head as a guarantee. It's in this direction. That's right, we'll be there in about two miles." The sentry said hurriedly.
"This is what you said. If you don't see anyone after walking two miles, I will be the first to kill you." The general said.
The Ming cavalry ran for another mile, and sure enough they smelled a smell of blood, and faintly heard a cry of killing and the sound of swords clashing. Without saying a word, the general took the lead and rushed towards the direction where the sound came from.
Unexpectedly, the riding sentry quietly slowed down the horse and gradually fell behind the army.
The Ming cavalry ran for about another mile and finally saw a figure. However, what appeared in front of them was not the melee battlefield they had been expecting for a long time. Instead, what greeted them was a group of neatly lined up cavalry. The cavalry was still covered in blood.
, the knives in their hands were tapping gently, and the shouts of killing were also imitated by them.
Although the cry of killing was faked, there were thousands of corpses piled on the plain next to it, which could not be faked. As soon as the Peiping Army on the opposite side saw the Ming Army, the entire army fell silent without saying a word.
They rushed over like a tiger descending the mountain, without a cry of killing, but the tremors coming from the ground made all the Ming soldiers present tremble in fear.
"No, we've fallen into a trap! All the vanguard troops have been killed, and we've been ambushed again!" The general reacted quickly. He immediately remembered that the problem was with the sentry leading the team, but when he looked around,
Only to find that the guy was nowhere to be found.
And just when the general was scolding the riding sentry leading the way, the rapid sound of horse hooves came from both sides and behind him. He looked around and saw that the surroundings were densely packed with cavalry in bright helmets. Only to the north were there any cavalry.
A gap.
"Quick, break out to the north!" The general took the lead and rushed north. Naturally, his subordinates were unwilling to be followed, and they also fled with their horses. Behind them, countless cavalry were chasing after them. Once they were caught up,
, just a fierce shot, which scared them into running wildly, and some timid ones even started to abandon their armor.
"This group of cowards are less experienced than the cavalry just now, but they can run quite well." On a hill not far away, Zhao Quanjie looked at this scene with disdain, but it was no wonder that his companions had thousands of
With the corpse in front of you, anyone who sees it will be frightened.
"Mr. Wan, it seems that we have to change our strategy." Contempt for him, Zhao Quanjie would not get carried away with this. After all, he had only annihilated a small part of the Ming army. The main force of the Ming army was still there, so it was not the time to celebrate.
"You are the commander of the first army, you have the final say." Wan Lei smiled and shrugged.
Zhao Quanjie also smiled slightly and asked the chief of staff behind him: "Where is the artillery battalion?"
"It is about four miles behind us. It was originally intended to be used for ambushes, but now it seems that it is no longer needed." The young staff officer also smiled. It is expected that the Mining Army has more than 10,000 cavalry this time, and they want to eat it.
It was very difficult to defeat, so the General Staff Headquarters requested that the artillery battalion be transferred over as a backup. However, this Ming army was obviously less courageous than expected. They started running away before they could fight, and the artillery battalion became a decoration.
"The sun is already setting in the west now. It looks like it will get dark in two hours. Let's wait here and look for an opportunity to eat the biggest piece of meat tonight." Zhao Quanjie looked at the sky and said again.
: "By the way, send the order and let a thousand men act as suspects to chase the deserters and scare them away. Don't argue."
"Understood, my subordinate, this is the order." The staff officer understood immediately. As a staff officer, he naturally knew what the commander's next plan was. In short, the five thousand cavalry just eaten was just a small appetizer, a real feast.