Chapter 945 Those who rush into the battle will be killed without mercy.
The left wing battalion of the Datong Army had a dispute with the chariots and gunmen who had retreated from the front row, and Ma Baozhong's servants who were supervising the battle behind them. The two sides fought together, and the Tatars with white flags from Manchuria broke into the shield formation, which further shook the morale of the army.
First, the right side of the military formation was broken through by the Tatars and forced to retreat. General Ma Baozhong also commanded improperly. The friction between his servants and the chariots and gunmen was not resolved quickly, and he failed to send servants to attack in time to block the incoming attack.
The Tatar cavalry caused the entire battalion to retreat.
This is how a large army fights. Although the strength of an individual among thousands of troops is very small, in many battles in history, there are many examples where a few or even one soldier fled in fear, leading to the complete collapse of the entire army.
.
Just like today's left wing camp of the Datong Army, at first only a few chariot soldiers and gun soldiers retreated, but due to a moment of panic, they failed to abide by military regulations and stopped at the designated location to reload their ammunition.
However, Ma Baozhong's retainers were firstly unable to suppress the attack, and secondly, they did not command the front shield formation well enough. They did not immediately mobilize the rear retainers' cavalry to block the Tatar breakthrough gap, which caused the whole battalion to retreat.
In fact, the defeat of the left-wing battalion at the beginning was not irreversible, but this battlefield situation was the most severe test of an army general's ability to adapt to battle, and it was also the most severe test for an army.
Strict to the point where a slight mistake could mean life or death!
As soon as the left wing battalion engaged in the battle, the fierce and brutal Tatar soldiers broke through the shield formation, and then the whole battalion retreated, which instantly turned into a complete rout of the whole battalion.
In addition to the soldiers of the left wing battalion of the Datong Army who were surrounded by the Tatars in the cavalry formation, they were still forming small circular formations back to back, resisting desperately and making a final struggle.
Their roars were heard from afar, and they were full of despair. They seemed to be saying goodbye to their relatives in their hometown, and they seemed to be calling their comrades who were turning around to run away to come back and rescue them.
But those who had already thought of escaping and had given their backs to the Tatars, how could they easily turn around and fight again because of their fierce roars?
Their courage has been broken, and they will no longer turn around to face the enemy!
…………
As the flag of the Chinese army continued to wave, the Chicheng Camp of the Xuanfu Army and the Zhenbiao Camp of the Datong Army also moved. The "dong dong" of the war drums of the two armies was beating continuously, and they marched forward. Their military appearance was very strict and majestic.
Wang Pu is worthy of being the chief military officer of Datong Town. His main camp is indeed much stronger than the left and right wing camps. In addition to the more than a thousand elite cavalry with hundreds of servants as the backbone, the infantry and artillery in the camp are also quite capable.
The Datong Military Standard Battalion also has a row of light tanks in the front, followed by a spear-shield formation composed of shield soldiers and pikemen, and behind them are two rows of archers.
Behind the archers, some 40 to 50 steps away, were more than 1,400 Datong elite cavalry following them on horseback. They were not only the mobile force of the Datong standard battalion, but also a general presence as a supervisory team.
Before the war, the commander-in-chief Wang Puke gave a death order to his general Wang Zheng. No matter how tragic the war was, he must fight to the death. When the troops retreat, they will be killed. When the officers retreat, they will kill the officers. When the generals retreat, they will kill the generals.
Now, Wang Zheng rode his horse among the elite cavalry array of Datong, feeling anxious. He had no confidence at all for today's battle. After all, the cavalry were fierce and they were all monsters that could eat people without blinking an eye.
But in the army, military orders should be the main thing. Wang Zheng is also Wang Pu's brother. Since it is the superior officer and brother who has issued the death order, he only has the responsibility to carry it out resolutely.
According to the command of the Chinese Army, he marched forward together with the Chicheng Battalion of the Xuanfu Army, and led the army to the original garrison position of the left and right wing camps of the Datong Army, in case the left and right wing camps were defeated by the Japanese cavalry, so as to facilitate their retreat.
Everything was fine on Wang Zheng's side. Although the right wing battalion was also attacked by Adai's Mongolian Zhenghuang Banner cavalry, Fu Dianzuo, the commander of the right wing battalion, was able to suppress them effectively and commanded and dispatched well.
As a result, the right-wing battalion was able to withstand the first wave of Tatar offensive, and then slowly formed a formation and retreated. Its military shape remained undisturbed and its momentum did not decrease. It merged with the main barracks of the Datong Army that came up to meet them, and formed a defensive formation again.
On the other hand, the Xuanfu Army's Chicheng Camp was in a bad situation.
The defeat of the Datong Army's left wing battalion caused the Chicheng Battalion to lose the opportunity to form a formation. Zhang Guodong had no choice but to send out one hundred and fifty cavalrymen from his Chinese cavalry team to fight urgently.
Qian Baogen was also a veteran of the former Lu Xiangsheng Supervisor Biao Battalion. After the Battle of Julu, he, along with Chief Qian Zhang Guodong, defected to Zhang Cheng, who was still a guerrilla general.
Today, the veteran Qian Baogen is already a Qianzong under Zhang Guodong, in charge of the Chinese cavalry. He was ordered to go out to prevent the Datong army from collapsing in front and attack the Chicheng camp.
One hundred and fifty elite horsemen galloped out. They formed a cone formation. Qian Baogen galloped at the front. He controlled the horse with his legs, holding a broadsword in his right hand and a short-handed gun in his left hand.
He yelled loudly: "Spread out and don't rush into my military formation... Anyone who rushes into the formation will be killed without mercy..."
The knights behind Qian Baogen also shouted in agreement, and several cavalry from the left wing battalion, who were galloping back on their horses, caught up with them.
They didn't seem to take Qian Baogen's warning too seriously, and still rushed straight towards the Chicheng camp. Seeing that the warning was ineffective, Qian Baogen became anxious.
When he was more than ten steps away from the left-wing battalion cavalry, he raised his hand and fired a blunderbuss. There was a "bang" sound, the blunderbuss flew away in the smoke, and a knight from the left-wing battalion fell off his horse.
But the sound of the gunshot also completely angered the soldiers of the left wing battalion of the Datong Army who had fled back. I don't know which one of them suddenly shouted: "The Tatars are chasing our ass, and now the Xuanfu Army will not let us live. They Damn it, let’s fight..."
"Let's fight..."
"...One on the left and the other will die, and I'm afraid of a ball..."
"Rush... rush over and let the Xuanfu army block the Tatars for us... then we can survive..."
"... Rush over and you'll be alive... Rush..."
Naturally, Qian Baogen would not tolerate these defeated soldiers. He put the shot musket back into his gun bag, took out the second musket, and shouted at the same time: "Brothers, we must not let the defeated soldiers rush into the enemy's army." Our military formation has been overthrown. Anyone who rushes into the formation will be killed!"
"Kill...kill...kill..."
As the soldiers of the Chicheng Battalion Cavalry roared, the short-handed muskets burst into flames almost simultaneously, and the explosions of "Bang! Bang! Bang!" continued one after another.
As the smoke rose, the cavalry was like a wolf charging into the flock of sheep, invincible to those who stood in its way.
Although the shouts of the defeated soldiers of the left wing camp of the Datong Army were loud, they were actually very afraid of death. When they saw that the Xuanfu Army was really taking action, a cavalryman fell off his horse with the sound of a cannon, and they immediately rushed to both sides in panic. Get out of the way.
These defeated soldiers are nothing more than a bunch of bullies who are afraid of the tough. If you are soft, they can eat you, but if you are more fierce than them, all of them will suddenly turn into well-behaved little sheep.
However, driven by the desire to escape, they actually gathered in the center after the cavalry passed by, and rushed towards the Akagi Battalion's tank defense line.
Zhang Guodong's eyes widened, and he shouted loudly: "Liu Changliang, if a defeated soldier rushes into the army formation, just leave your head to me."
He shouted at the same time: "Send the order to Chen Dakuan and Huang Daguang to teach the middle and right troops to form formations and prepare for battle."
It turned out that the Chicheng Battalion was led by the ten side chariots accompanying the battalion's chariot fleet, and three soldiers followed behind. Liu Changliang's left unit was in the first formation, closely behind the side chariots.
As the Datong Army's left-wing battalion retreated, Zhang Guodong was worried about the retreat and rushed to Liu Changliang's left-wing army, so he issued the military orders to Liu Changliang in front of him.
At the same time, Zhang Guodong also sent an order to the soldiers in the middle and right behind, asking them to form a battle formation immediately to prepare for changes at any time.
After all, after the left-wing battalion collapsed, thousands of Manchurian Tatar cavalry with white flags came in pursuit. Even if they could drive the left-wing battalion to both sides without attacking the army, they would still have to fight against the Tatar cavalry immediately.
.
Army marching and battle arrays are completely different. Even on the battlefield, if a military horse needs to switch battlefields, it must immediately change into a formation that is conducive to the transition, and it must immediately switch to combat after reaching the destination.
Formation.
Although a well-trained army can also move the battlefield into a combat formation, or pursue fleeing enemies, the advantage of a combat formation is that it is conducive to combat, and there is a difference between offensive formation and defensive formation.
During the formation change, the requirements for the soldiers are extremely high. They must have a good training foundation and a strong psychological quality. Otherwise, if the formation change is improper and the enemy seizes the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, they may be defeated.
.
Because an unformed battle formation cannot resist the enemy's attack.
How many armies in history have been defeated by enemy surprise attacks while changing battle formations or moving battlefields?
And why are there so many ambush battles?
Even an army with tens of thousands of troops often ends up with the entire division defeated when ambushed by thousands of enemies. This is because in its marching formation, once an enemy ambush is encountered, it is difficult for the soldiers to immediately go into battle.
.
Even if some of the elites can join the battle immediately, they will be defeated quickly because they cannot form a battle formation immediately.
You must know that when the infantry is on the march, except for some leading soldiers who are responsible for the task, most of them are unarmored, and some soldiers even have their weapons on carts.
Once they encounter an enemy, they must not only put on armor and obtain weapons, but also quickly disperse into a battle formation, but the ambushing enemy will not give them this chance.
It is even more difficult for the cavalry. In order to maintain the physical strength of the war horses, the cavalry does not ride on the war horses during most marches, but leads the war horses. They even have to carry their armor, weapons, etc. on their backs.
What's more, when the war horse is marching, the girdle connected to the saddle is not tightened very tightly. This is to give the war horse some breathing space and prevent it from being tired from the long march.
But if you need to ride on a horse to fight, you should tighten the girdle of the war horse. This can not only make the saddle more stable to protect the safety of the knight, but also control the breathing rhythm of the war horse, which is conducive to fast running.
Therefore, once a sudden attack occurs, it is difficult for the cavalry to join the battle immediately. This is one of the main reasons why many large armies in history were defeated when they were suddenly attacked by small groups of enemies while marching.
Because of these inconveniences, even if the Chicheng Battalion was marching in a state of combat readiness, when encountering the defeat of the left wing battalion, it could only stop its advance in advance and form a defensive formation immediately.
At this moment, not only was the collapse of the left wing battalion approaching, but there was also the cavalry in front of them. The artillery on the ten side chariots was definitely unusable.
I saw the musketry soldiers on the left side of the Chicheng Battalion, following the orders from Qian Commander Liu Changliang, rushed forward one after another, relying on the chariots to form a defensive formation, and the Yunzhou Type 2 muskets with black holes poked out of the chariots.
Outside the side panel.
After the gun soldiers, the shield soldiers and spear soldiers have also formed a strict and strong shield formation, ready to go into battle at any time.
There were beads of sweat on Liu Changliang's forehead. Although the people rushing towards him were broken troops, they were still soldiers of the Datong Army. After all, they were all officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. He couldn't help but look at the commander-in-chief Zhang Guodong.
I saw Zhang Guodong looking at me with cold eyes, his face was ferocious and terrifying, and a roar burst out from his mouth: "Kill!"
"kill!"
Liu Changliang did not dare to neglect, because he also knew in his heart that if he allowed the defeated troops of the left wing battalion to rush into the army formation, they would not be able to resist the Tatar cavalry rushing behind them.
"Prepare the musket, strike!" Liu Changliang roared in a deep voice.
"boom!"
Under Liu Changliang's orders, the cannon soldiers on the left fired a beautiful volley, and the troops of the left wing battalion 60 steps away were instantly thrown down.
After all, a flesh and blood body cannot resist the power of a fire gun, let alone a well-made Yunzhou second-style gun!
Not to mention the left-wing battalion of the Datong Army, which was not fully equipped with armor, even the Tatar soldiers wearing heavy armor would hardly survive if they were hit by the Yunzhou Type II gun at such a distance.
"Fight...fight...fight..."
Liu Changliang gave the order, and his gun soldiers on the left performed the three-stage attack to the fullest. The four hundred and fifty-six Yunzhou second-style gun soldiers on the left were arranged in three horizontal rows, each with a hundred
Fifty-two fire cannons were fired in three rows, almost without interruption.
After just one round of volley, the defeated troops rushing from the opposite side obediently dispersed to both sides, and the middle position was immediately empty. Only a hundred, sixty or seventy steps away, the figures of Manchurian cavalry with white flags appeared.
At this moment, Qian Baogen had already led his 150 knights back from the flank. They divided into two teams and continued to drive the left wing battalion to retreat towards both sides of the Chicheng battalion.
Seeing that the defeated troops in front of his army had dispersed, Zhang Guodong suddenly felt much more at ease, but he did not want to let these defeated troops go. He shouted an order: "Send the order, Chen Daguang's right wing, immediately spread out to the two wings and gather Datong."
The troops are routed, but those who resist will be beheaded on the spot!"
"Here."
The flag-bearing soldiers in the Chicheng camp immediately received the order loudly, turned around and ran away.
…………
Ma Baozhong, the general of the left and right wings of Datong Town, looked at everything in front of him in shock. Even though there were corpses lying on the ground in front of him, he still couldn't believe that the Xuanfu army, who he once regarded as his brother and savior, would actually shoot at his own people.
pistol.
He looked up to the sky and roared: "Zhang Cheng, I'm sorry for your grandma... I'm going to go to Governor Hong to sue you... for killing our compatriots!"