Chapter 148: The First Construction of the Cavalry Wall
Lushun.
In a vast wilderness, war horses were galloping, their hooves digging up the grass and soil, and dust flying into the sky. Hundreds of horsemen charged back and forth, showing the power of thousands of iron cavalry.
Li Weiluan and Liu Xingzuo, together with the officers and generals, stood at a high place, looking, observing, and discussing, with excitement on their faces.
Jianlu was good at riding and shooting. He had strong maneuverability and the ability to charge into battle. This has always been an advantage that the Ming army could not match.
"Even if we can't fight against the Jianlu cavalry, such a strict charging formation can also expand the results of the battle by chasing down the defeated enemy." Li Weiluan pointed with his hand and said: "The enemy's cavalry is scattered and chaotic, but our army is well-organized and strict, and we have a clear judgment from above.
"
After saying that, he turned to Liu Xingzuo and smiled: "I don't know, Guanglu Island's cavalry is better than I don't know. General Liu is well trained!"
Liu Xingzuo said humbly: "General Guo's method is good. I'm afraid only he can figure out such an ingenious idea."
Li Weiluan agreed with this. He never expected that such a tactical approach would narrow the huge gap between the two sides.
After hot weapons gradually became popular and took a dominant position, it was difficult for generals like Guan and Zhang to appear on the battlefield.
No matter how brave you are, a single lead bullet can end your life. If one fails, just get a few more. In a hail of bullets, unless you are extremely lucky, the probability of death does not decrease just because you can shoot.
The same principle applies to the cavalry wall charge. Facing a row of charging cavalry, with the bright saber held high in the air, even if you can perform acrobatics on the horse, it will be difficult to cross the cavalry queue with almost no gaps.
To put it bluntly, in the face of collective strength, individual martial arts and riding skills are almost useless.
To give another vivid example, in front of a battle formation full of spears, even if you are a martial arts master, you have no room to dodge or move, and there is no chance to defeat one enemy with many enemies. There are only two choices, either retreat or fight.
Needless to say, retreating, but fighting, a martial arts master and one or two ordinary soldiers are not at the same level in terms of severity and cost.
Jianlu is a master of martial arts. He has been practicing cavalry and archery since he was a child. When he grew up, he fought in all directions. Whether it is martial arts or experience, it took several or more than ten years of hard training.
As for the newly trained cavalry from Guanglu Island and Lushun Fort, their riding skills cannot be said to be superb, their martial arts skills cannot be said to be proficient and sharp, and their training time is only two months.
But the power of organizational discipline and collective combat is by no means as simple as one plus one equals two in terms of numbers. If there is a head-on confrontation with the Jianlu cavalry, the wall cavalry may achieve a one to two, or even one to one record.
That's right, according to Guo Dajing's understanding, the essence of wall-style cavalry charge is to fight against people.
One or two cavalrymen who have been trained for several months can defeat the Jianlu veterans and even elites who have been fighting for many years. In terms of cost, it is already a victory, and it is a price that the Jianlu cannot bear.
And, this is still theoretical.
When faced with a wall of cavalry charging forward and several sabers attacking at the same time, hesitation, hesitation, even dodging or retreating will mean either death or injury, thus changing the final casualty ratio.
The Egyptian Mamluk cavalry is a good example. They had superb riding skills and were brave and good at fighting, but lacked a strict organization and were ultimately defeated by the French army.
After the war, Napoleon left a famous conclusion: "Two Mamluk cavalry can definitely defeat three French cavalry, one hundred French cavalry can resist one hundred Mamluk cavalry, and three hundred French cavalry can usually defeat
Defeat three hundred Mamluk cavalry, a thousand French cavalry can always defeat fifteen hundred Mamluk cavalry.”
To express it in the language of philosophy, it is "many people collaborate, and many forces merge into a total, new force. There is an essential difference between this force and the sum of its individual forces."
It's a bit hard to pronounce, but it's still easy to understand. The power of collaboration and fusion is far greater than the simple sum of these forces.
In other words, if a hundred well-organized and disciplined cavalry fight together, their combat power will be greater than that of a hundred scattered cavalry.
The truth is simple and easy to understand. Everyone knows that a strict battle formation composed of a thousand soldiers and two thousand scattered soldiers may not be able to attack and win.
What Li Weiluan said was also in line with Guo Dajing's vision. He would not use wall cavalry to confront the Jianlu Cavalry Brigade head-on.
At least, the cavalry should attack when the Jianlu cavalry is scattered or retreating.
In the field, the formation of the cavalry changed again, with teams of ten and twenty fighting in groups. This was an attack on scattered enemy cavalry. The formation did not need to be too long, and it was more flexible and maneuverable.
On the left side of the queue is the squad leader, who is the most skilled in horsemanship and martial arts. He is holding a spear in his hand, with a large cluster of red tassels on the head of the spear.
As the tilt angle of the lance changes, the red tassel resembles a flag, reminding the cavalry to control their horse speed and maintain a relatively dense and orderly formation.
Using a spear on a horse requires a lot of skill. It is easy to lose your hand in a high-speed collision, or even be knocked off the horse. It is far easier to master than the blow with a saber.
"Each team should be guided by a gun flag as much as possible, which makes it easier to control the speed and formation." Liu Xingzuo introduced with a smile: "The requirements of the gun flag bearer must of course be higher."
Li Weiluan nodded in praise and said: "This is a good idea. It is General Liu's idea, right? It is not easy to think of this practical technique without personally participating in the training."
"It was a suggestion made by everyone during the training." Liu Xingzuo said humbly: "The sentry officer of the cavalry battalion is Liu Qishi. The ability to train these two hundred cavalry is mostly due to him."
Xiang Zuolin pointed and said, "But that officer with bright armor and galloping around?"
Liu Xingzuo nodded with a smile and said, "He is also General Guo's sworn brother. They formed a friendship by fighting the enemy side by side during the war to aid Korea."
During the war to aid Korea, Guo Dajing was only a small flag official, then a hundred households, then a thousand households, and now he is a guerrilla general, and he has not even spent half a year!
Everyone was filled with emotion, but they were soon attracted by the cavalry training. They discussed, admired, and put forward their own suggestions and ideas.
Although it is not necessary to engage in a cavalry battle with Jianlu, whether there is a force to resist is a completely different matter.
It's like two people fighting. They don't have to use weapons, but whether you have them or not is completely different psychologically.
Although the cavalry is small, it is a good start. It took only a few years for Dongjiang Town to develop from scratch to being able to contain the rebels.
Only those who have fought bloody battles with the Jianlu soldiers will understand how difficult it is to pacify Liao and exterminate the slaves. Who dares to tell the time of three to five years is not afraid of being slapped by the wind.
Therefore, the soldiers of Dongjiang Town knew how difficult it was to defeat the Jianlu, so they were not impatient and rejoiced for every progress and every increase in combat power.
The cavalry wall drill was finally over, and the officers and soldiers of the two groups slowed down and rallied separately.
As the commander of Lushun's cavalry, Shang Keyi came to Liu Qishi specially and extended his thumbs up to praise, "I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed. General Liu has trained his troops very well. Our troops are not even the slightest bit worse."
Liu Qishi felt proud, but he still pretended to be humble and said, "General Shang, thank you for the award. Both cavalry units have been trained well, how can there be any difference?"
Shang Keyi laughed and said: "General Liu, there is no need to be too modest. Without comparison, I am still complacent. This is indeed not as good as your department. However, I also benefited a lot and learned a lot from General Liu.
thing."
"It's enough to say that we stole lessons." Liu Qishi said with a smile, "It seems like we are hiding something secret."
Shang Keyi realized that the wording was indeed inappropriate, so he changed the topic and covered up the matter. He and Liu Qishi walked and talked, eagerly discussing their training experiences and insights.
The collective combat method of the cavalry wall greatly reduced the requirements for riding skills, allowing the trained cavalry to compete with the people on horseback.
The reason why this tactical approach is successful is that it captures the biggest weakness of nomadic or fishing and hunting peoples, which is that they have a small population and cannot afford to fight.
The advantages of the farming nation lie in their large population, vast resources, solid cultural heritage, high level of science and technology, and good weapons and equipment.
How many people have the Ming army lost since the Battle of Sarhu? If it were Jianlu, tens of thousands of people would be killed and injured at one time, which would be enough to break the bones.
As long as this principle is implemented and a continuous war of attrition is launched against the Jianlu, the Ming Dynasty's size will be enough to defeat the Jianlu.
It is a pity that there are very few generals like Guo Dajing who have a clear understanding and constantly take action, whether in Dongjiang Town or Guan Ning Army.
The desire to fight, the means to kill the enemy, and the confidence to win.
Guo Dajing has all three, and it is indeed unmatched by others.
For nearly half a month, Guo Dajing devoted himself to the rigorous training of staying up all night.
In this expedition, it was crucial to eradicate Jianlu's outpost, and he had to go out personally. If possible, he still needed to have the combat ability to reassure him if he didn't return home at night.
Disguising and lurking, climbing high and lying low, wading quickly through water, reconnaissance and assassination... these subjects are also trained in ordinary troops, but the requirements for staying out at night are higher and more difficult.
Complaints? I’m so exhausted that I dare not complain. General Guo is still very active and patrolling the sentries himself!
It's not shameful enough to give up and go back to the ordinary army. The salary is higher, and others look at you with envy and envy, but suddenly you are back to your original state, where can you put your face?
In order to have better food for their family and to save their own face, fifty people gritted their teeth and persisted all night, and finally persisted until Guo Dajing was satisfied.
Except for two who were injured during the training and could not participate in the operation, all of them passed the test and were rewarded with three days of vacation and money and horse meat.
This is a rest before the war, reunite with your family, and then rush to the battlefield to start a life-and-death battle with the enemy.
However, Guo Dajing did not rest. He checked the preparations of other troops and the quantity of weapons and equipment, and then barely had a day and a half of rest.
"Brother Jing, you are cheating." Ronger stuffed dumplings into her mouth and looked at Guo Dajing from time to time, showing a distressed expression.
Fujino Hide looked at Guo Dajing's dark face and said with some complaint: "Is it necessary to set an example and follow suit?"
Of course it is necessary, otherwise how to establish prestige and convince the soldiers.
Guo Dajing chuckled, not paying attention to the change in skin color.
After half a month of high-intensity training, he felt that he had returned to his peak condition, full of desire to fight and confidence to win.
Sister Li Xiu forced a smile and pushed the steaming dumplings that Sister Sun had just brought to Guo Dajing.
It was time to go on an expedition again. Every time at this time, I was always frightened and could not sleep at night. But Sister Li Xiu also knew that this was the responsibility and mission of her man. He was a soldier and a general.
Guo Dajing pushed the dipping sauce to his wife, picked up the chopsticks, ate the delicious dumplings, and laughed casually, hoping that his wife would temporarily put aside her melancholy.
"How did Zhao Guang and the others perform while training with the army?" Guo Dajing asked Fujino Hide, "Will they not be a burden?"
Guo Dajing kept training all night, while Liu Xingzhi and other officers were in charge of the troops. Even Fujino Hide also participated in the training with several doctors and nurses.
"Barely qualified!" Fujino Hide curled his lips and said, "I didn't expect them to persevere. Well, Liu Xingzhi also gave them a lot of care."
He knew that these three people would be gone soon and their end would be miserable. But Liu Xingzhi and other officers did not know that despite Guo Dajing's order, they tried not to offend the people sent by the imperial court.
Guo Dajing just asked casually. He had eyes and ears to monitor Zhao Guang and the others. After this battle was over, depending on the time, there would be no need to worry about them at all.
"Those two Jinyi guards are martial arts practitioners. I am quite surprised that Zhao Guang can persevere." Guo Dajing said with a smile: "The doctors and nurses you chose are also good."
"That's right." Fujino Hide raised his chin and said quite proudly: "You didn't look at my eyes, how could you choose the wrong person?"
With that said, Fujino Hide turned to Ah Qiao, who was silent and somewhat restrained at the table, and said, "Ah Qiao, General Guo is very approachable, you don't have to be so nervous."
Ah Qiao looked up, forced a smile and nodded, but still cautiously.
Sister Li Xiu gave Ah Qiao a full bowl and said with a smile: "Eat them all, don't leave any leftovers!"
Ah Qiao was stunned for a moment, then showed a grateful expression and whispered: "Thank you, madam."
Ronger giggled and said, "You are older than me, and you eat more than me. Look, I have grown taller again, and I am still very energetic!"
Guo Dajing said warmly: "The food in the military camp has also been improved today. It will be the same wherever you eat, so you are welcome."
Fujino Hide said: "Ah Qiao, if he doesn't have enough to eat at General Guo's house, it will be embarrassing for him if word spreads."
Ah Qiao nodded repeatedly, but still didn't dare to look at anyone seriously, but someone still saw the girl's eyes flashing.
This child has suffered so much!
Sister Li Xiu secretly sighed in her heart. Although she was only three years older than Ah Qiao, as a woman, she suddenly felt that she was an adult. To be precise, she mentally regarded the fifteen-year-old girl as a junior and a child.
If it weren't for Brother Dajing, I might not even be as good as her. Ah Qiao is on the island after all, but he has to struggle to survive under Jianlu's lust.
Glancing at her man, Sister Li Xiu's eyes flashed with gratitude and care.