Beating the old master to death with random punches may not be an appropriate description. But the result of the melee is that the side with more numbers and firepower has the advantage.
Both the enemy and our side occupied a relatively vast battlefield, with captives everywhere and musketeers everywhere. Lead bullets were fired from all directions, arrows flew and missed, and the fallen captives howled and fought hand-to-hand with the musketeers.
Losing the distance to sprint, the space to maneuver, and the power of a group charge, Jianlu rushed left and right, but was constantly hit by the musketeers who had broken into pieces and formed a team of 300 people.
Fighting independently is the most advantageous way for the Dongjiang Army, which has an absolute advantage in strength.
Facts have also proven this. Under the repeated attacks of artillery and muskets, the three thousand captives suffered heavy losses and were completely at a disadvantage.
The iron cavalry clanged, and the three thousand flying cavalry who had been waiting for a long time also made adjustments. They also broke into pieces, and two or three hundred cavalry formed a team and charged towards the stubborn Jianlu who were resisting everywhere.
This was the final blow. In terms of total strength, the Dongjiang Army already had a four-on-one advantage. There was no suspense about victory. It was just a matter of time.
Yanaha, who led the attack, was already lifeless. He was hit by several lead bullets and lay on the ground in a pool of flesh and blood. His eyes like dead fish stared blankly at the sky.
Doaro still has breath, but his life has entered a countdown.
He half-knelt on the ground slumped, his abdomen was hit by a heavy lead bullet, and his colorful internal organs flowed out. Looking down at this miserable scene, the last bit of strength was taken away from him, and he fell headlong.
There were only more than two hundred horses left beside Hu Xing'a. They were clashing on the battlefield where fighting was everywhere. Soldiers were constantly being hit, and the number of horses and men was constantly decreasing.
In front, to the left, to the right, and even behind, there are hundreds of enemies. Sparks are flying, and lead bullets of hatred are being fired from all directions.
That's right, the troops led by Hu Xing'a regrouped after being heavily bombarded, and even launched a charge, killing two small infantry formations of hundreds of people.
But this did not change the situation of the battle, and even had little effect. Under constant consumption, Hu Xing'a's army had become the largest army on the battlefield, and was attacked by more musketeers.
When facing the enemy's infantry battle formation, either not to fight, or to attack with all strength. This is the conclusion Hu Xing'a has come to with his life, but he has no chance to try.
"Charge, kill, kill out!"
Hu Xing'a had already replaced three war horses. Despair took over his heart. He no longer wanted to die heroically here. He howled and led the remaining men and horses to continue charging towards the road, trying to fight his way out to escape.
However, the Dongjiang Army has blocked the Jianlu's retreat. If they are lucky, they may be able to escape into the mountains, but the chance of survival is already very slim.
The sound of hoofbeats roared, and hundreds of flying cavalry came in pursuit, launching a fierce attack on this biggest enemy.
"Kill, kill, kill!"
Row after row of cavalrymen raised their sharp sabers high, undulated on their horses, and shouted passionately.
There is no doubt that the enemy has been defeated. The morale inspired by the victory is even higher, and the fighting spirit is getting stronger.
In front, on both sides, there were so many musketeers that Hu Xing'a felt desperate. He turned his horse around, raised his scimitar and gave an order like a wolf's howl.
Rather than falling cowardly to the enemy's gun, it is better to fight to the death, demonstrate the bravery and riding skills of the Jianzhou warriors, and kill more enemies, making up for the cost of failure.
Hu Xing'a held the horse's belly firmly, led more than a hundred horsemen and soldiers, accelerated desperately, and met the flying horsemen who were chasing after them.
The clash of weapons was shocking, swords and blood flashed continuously, people screamed and horses neighed, and the enemy's and our cavalry collided together.
Hu Xing'a fell off his horse with an incredible look in his eyes. Yes, he hit the enemy, but the enemy also hit him.
Is that all? Hu Xing'a's shoulder and neck were bleeding profusely, his consciousness disappeared quickly, and the last question came out in his mind.
The Jianlu cavalry, who had superb riding skills and superb martial arts, actually fell more than their enemies in the battle. This is indeed incredible.
But the fact is that this is not the first time such a result has been achieved. Two rows of cavalry were flooded, and although they suffered casualties, no Jianlu could stand and breathe.
The battle was not completely over yet, but it was already a sporadic, one-sided annihilation. The infantry and cavalry cooperated to eliminate the captives one after another, and they entered the end of cleaning up the battlefield in advance.
Li Weiluan touched his chin and occasionally stroked his forehead, showing confusion about the victory he had achieved.
It’s not that I doubt the victory itself, but that it’s hard to summarize how to sum up this victory, that is, how it was achieved.
But there are a few things that are certain, and they will become effective tactics for infantry against cavalry in field battles.
The small battle formation of 300 people was drilled in actual combat and proved to be fast, flexible and effective.
Two or three such small battle formations can not only form a crossfire that responds to each other, but if one is broken up, it will not have much impact on other battle formations.
If it is a large infantry formation, the room for maneuver may be very small. Once defeated, it will be difficult to recover.
Moreover, small battle formations with intervals are very flexible, can open up a large defensive range, and can better resist the enemy's roundabout attacks.
Artillery was still an important factor in victory. Although field artillery was not carried, the artillery position suggested by Guo Dajing was constructed.
However, the Franchise's cannonballs and the indiscriminate bombardment of rockets still caused great damage and confusion to Jianlu, creating better conditions for victory.
Li Weiluan finally cleared his mind and immediately sent a messenger to report to Guo Dajing. While cleaning the battlefield, resting and reorganizing, he was waiting for the next instructions.
At present, the distance between the front team and the rear team is further narrowed, which is a prudent move when approaching Hetuala. If the rear team travels at full speed, it will be able to meet up with the front team in less than two hours.
Therefore, Guo Dajing quickly received a report on the situation. After reading the letter and listening to the description of the messenger, Guo Dajing quickly made a decision.
Liu Qishi's flying cavalry battalion, who was accompanying the rear team, sent out two thousand cavalry and quickly moved forward as a supplement to the front team.
At the same time, he ordered Li Weiluan to use all the horses to form a spear cavalry, and to form a rapid assault force with Liu Xingzuo and Liu Qishi's flying cavalry, carrying rockets and a small amount of mines, to capture Hetuala.
Li Weiluan's infantry rested on the spot, while the rear troops accelerated on their way. The two troops joined forces and continued to advance towards Hetuala.
According to previous deductions and Guo Dajing's current estimation, Hetuala is already an empty city within easy reach. The only thing that needs to be considered is the reinforcements of Jianlu, which will greatly strengthen the strength of the assault cavalry group.
About five thousand flying cavalry, plus captured war horses, can form nearly three thousand lances. This is a powerful force capable of protecting itself.
The number of Jianlu reinforcements coming from the Liaoshen area should only be 18,000. The assaulting cavalry group can completely retreat and join forces with the infantry group behind to defeat the enemy.
Not only the estimation of the enemy's strength, but also the time. Guo Dajing believed that the reinforcements sent by Jianlu, at least the large reinforcements, might not come so quickly, and such an arrangement was prudent.
The intelligence should have been transmitted multiple times, and the arrival times in Shenyang were also sequential. Misjudgments would have occurred and wrong decisions would have been made regarding the strength of the Dongjiang Army entering Jianzhou.
The enemies of Tonghua may only report a few thousand cavalry, but after the enemies of Hetuala are annihilated, they may send tens of thousands of horses to Shenyang again. Perhaps, the Jianqi who were almost completely wiped out will not even send out the final information.
If the enemy is lenient, even the two intelligences can be sent to Dorgon. By the time he made the decision twice, almost four or five days had passed.
"Jianlu has declined to this point, and even the old nest is incredibly empty." Fang Zhenghua sighed again after seeing the good news.
Is it empty? Judging from the results of the battle, it is indeed so. But the fundamental reason is still the improvement of the Dongjiang Army's combat power and the secrecy of its operations.
Of course, this is another contest between the two sides since the Zunhua War. It is also time to re-examine their respective strengths.
Guo Dajing pondered for a moment and said slowly: "After this battle, Jianlu may realize the decline of their strength. They obviously have no accurate estimate of the impact of the Great Famine and the Zunhua War."
It is indeed difficult to judge how much of a blow the famine and the disastrous defeat of Zunhua had on the Jianqi.
After Dorgon led the remaining soldiers back to Shenyang, the overall layout of Jianlu did not change much, but it was very abnormal.
Excluding the factor of famine, the Jianlu captives lost tens of thousands of elite troops in the battle of Zunhua. This was not a small number, and it had already severely damaged the Jianlu captives.
However, Dorgon and Houjin officials obviously underestimated the decline in strength and the improvement in Dongjiang Army's strength. They still maintained the original front line and even sent troops to Haizhou to provide a larger buffer zone for Liaoshen.
The investment in southern Liaoning will definitely dilute the defense in other places. The negative consequences finally appeared, and they were exposed after Guo Dajing led his troops into Jianzhou.
Of course, the same is true for Dongjiang Town. It is not that easy to evaluate Jianlu's strength. But after this battle, we should have a relatively accurate understanding.
Fang Zhenghua asked as if asking for advice: "If Jianlu is defeated again, adjustments should be made. According to Guo Shuai, where should changes be made?"
Guo Dajing thought for a while and said uncertainly: "Maybe he will give up Haizhou, but this is a plan made by Dorgon after he succeeded to the throne. It will not save his face, and it also indirectly expresses his mistake."
If you fail, you need to find reasons and correct mistakes, but Dorgon's prestige is insufficient and he will not provide excuses to internal opponents.
Moreover, the threat from Liaonan direction is the greatest, so it makes sense for him to do so. However, he underestimated the Dongjiang Army's ability to attack long distances. In other words, he underestimated the strength of the entire Dongjiang Army.
Being able to launch attacks in two directions was something Dorgon never expected. After the Zunhua Battle, the Dongjiang Army's strength recovered so quickly that he probably didn't expect it either.
If he puts himself in his shoes, Guo Dajing also feels that there is no good way to get rid of passivity. Unless he digs up the grave, carries the coffin of the old slave back to Jianzhou, and gives up the prosperous land of Liaoshen.
In fact, this seemingly strategy of defeat without a fight is what Guo Dajing is most worried about.
As the saying goes, if you lose land and lose people, you will lose both people and land; if you lose land and save people, you will save both people and land. If you cling to your territory, it will only be continuously consumed and eventually you will be completely defeated and there will be no chance of recovery.
However, if he retreats back to his old nest and takes advantage of the time when Dongjiang Town is occupying territory, stabilizing its defenses, and expanding its army, a ten-year gathering and ten years of lessons will at least make Guo Dajing's plan to pacify Liao in three years face more difficulties.
After all, Ping Liao and exterminating the barbarians are basically the same goal for Guo Dajing, and it is not as simple as just recovering the lost land in Liaodong.
Fang Zhenghua blinked his eyes, thought for a long time, nodded slightly, and said: "No matter how we adjust the deployment, as long as the strength is insufficient, there will always be flaws. In Liaodong, the threat to Jianlu is getting bigger and bigger, and it is difficult to have both.
"
The core ruling area of Jianlu is in Liaoshen, which is a line from north to south on the map. Liaodong is on the flank of this line.
The Dongjiang Army in southern Liaoning has always been the main force that Jianlu has to deal with head-on, but the increasing pressure from the flanks has also become a problem that Jianlu has to solve.
Moreover, all conspiracies, or strategies, look like a joke in the face of absolute strength.
Nowadays, the fatigue of the Jianlu army is fully revealed, and its biggest weakness is also exposed, which is the small population and limited military strength.
If you want to attack the Dongjiang Army's stronghold, you can create a local strength advantage, but in the face of guns, artillery and fortifications, you will definitely have to pay a high price.
Not to mention one to one, even if Jianlu can achieve a casualty ratio of one to two, how many times can it withstand the consumption?
To put it bluntly, we can't afford to fight! After the Dongjiang Army's combat power increased rapidly, this became the Jianlu's biggest worry and a deadlock in their military operations.
They dared not attack for fear of repeating the mistakes of Lushun Fort and Nanguan Pass. They had to disperse their troops in defense, but the Dongjiang Army seized the opportunity and defeated them one by one.
Although Guo Dajing didn't completely agree with Fang Zhenghua's conclusion, he didn't want to go into details and just praised it with a smile.
While he was sending orders to adjust the deployment, he also sent orders to Tonghua. There were a small number of troops there who were helping the Liao people leave by boat.
From a time point of view, it was completely within time to send a small number of troops to transport the wounded from the two battles to Tonghua and leave quickly by water.
Through this battle, like Li Weiluan, Guo Dajing also had to think and analyze in order to perfect or improve the tactics of infantry and cavalry.
Obviously, the battle process also surprised Guo Dajing. Being able to defeat the Jianlu cavalry in a chaotic battle was not a plan he had imagined.
The small battle formations are scattered at random. In Guo Dajing's impression, they should be called plum blossom formations, which are also a deformed design of the large round formations.
The distance between the battle formations and the crossfire of the muskets are enough to strangle any enemy that rushes into them; when one battle formation is attacked, it will also receive support from adjacent battle formations.
Moreover, the battle formation can be moved, either forward or backward, allowing for more flexible combat.
However, this battle did not seem to be effective. Guo Dajing was not too harsh on this. After all, it was the first actual battle in the wild, and the soldiers lacked experience in adapting to emergencies.
But one thing is certain, artillery or rockets are indispensable and play a very important role in dealing with the Jianlu cavalry. This chapter has been completed!