Chapter five hundred and ninth step to ride anti-suppression
In the era of cold weapons, infantry had obvious disadvantages against cavalry. Tang Ao naturally knew this truth. Considering that war horses were expensive and rare, it would be difficult to upgrade them all to cavalry in a short period of time, so how the infantry should be built and grown became an important issue.
The most important issue.
Tang Ao summarized all the wars in history and came up with such an infantry force that can use infantry to deal with cavalry. Before, it was only targeted training, but this time it was the first time to use it on the battlefield, so naturally
is also particularly important. After all, talking on paper and actual combat are two different things.
Tang Ao has full confidence. He believes that there will be no problems with his infantry formation. As long as everyone executes it in place, who says that infantry can't beat cavalry?
To put it another way, even if the infantry did not cooperate well this time and were defeated, he still had 5,000 cavalry in his hands who could launch an attack at any time and reverse the situation of the battle. It was with this confidence that Tang Ao could safely give the infantry
Give them an opportunity to perform and practice.
As one of the three guards who have followed Tang Ao since childhood, Shi Lei and Feng Xun are obviously more famous. On the contrary, Geng Liang is not well-known. Now, he has finally waited for the time when he can show off his talents.
In the words of him and his security members, today is the day for meritorious service and reward.
Although they had participated in a battle against five thousand bandits before, it was infantry versus infantry. With superior equipment, there was nothing to be proud of in winning. But now it is completely different. If
If you can defeat cavalry with infantry, it will be even more majestic to tell it.
For this battle and for the sake of honor, Geng Liang was taking the time to make all kinds of perfect preparations before the battle. After checking the general situation, he came to the small catapult and made sure that the sky thunder had been placed properly, and then he relaxed for a moment.
tone.
"Report to the general, the enemy has appeared, and is less than eight miles away from us." The scouts deployed in front ran in front of Geng Liang, and said as if they fell to their knees with a plop.
"Got it, order everyone to prepare for battle. Notify the nail-spreading team to take action." Geng Liang did not show the slightest hint of panic on his face. Such drills have been carried out dozens of times before, and what should be done has already been formed.
Habit. The only difference is that it was a drill before, but this time it is actual combat.
Under Geng Liang's order, two hundred people from the Nail Spreading Team quickly ran out. Their task was to scatter the caltrops in the bags behind them on the battlefield to ensure that when the opponent's cavalry arrived,
So as to give them a big "surprise".
Iron caltrops have always been the best weapon against cavalry. They are not commonly used in the army because of their high cost. But who is Tang Ao? In order to win, he has always been generous with gold and silver. As early as Wuxi
When he was young, he asked his ironworks workshop to forge iron caltrops. For this purpose, he has spent more than eight million silver intermittently to build more than a dozen carriages of iron caltrops. And he has no intention of stopping yet. Look,
It's a sure thing that it will cost more than 10 million taels.
Regardless of the cost, Tang Ao prepared a sufficient quantity of caltrops, which could be used to spread over a large area. This was also one of the confidence of the infantry against the cavalry.
Regarding His Highness King Ji's generosity, the five thousand cavalrymen in the center all twitched at the corners of their eyes. They were shocked by their master's financial resources. Tang Ao also saw this and was very satisfied in his heart. This is exactly what he wanted.
As a result, he wants to build a strong army, a strong army that can win a battle, and a strong army that even with the same number, the infantry dares to compete with the cavalry.
Perhaps Tang Ao has no idea of expansion yet, but he has long had the awareness of self-preservation. No matter what era, if you want not to be bullied, you must be strong. This is an eternal law.
As for investing more and doing everything for victory, what does it mean? Not to mention that the iron caltrops can be reused. Just like when the five thousand bandits were taken away, weren't all the bows and arrows shot by them?
If I pick it up again, can it be reused?
As long as we can win the battle and have the power to clean the battlefield, the loss in the number of caltrops will not be too great. It is just a larger initial investment, but it can have the effect of exciting people and improving morale, no matter how you look at it.
worth it.
The nail-spreading team followed the usual training and quickly scattered the caltrops in their backpacks one by one. After reaching an area four miles wide and four miles long, the enemy cavalry in the distance also revealed their figures.
, which is already less than five miles away from them.
The cavalry led by Xing Si did not attack immediately. This was due to Xing Si's caution. After all, he also got the news that five thousand bandits had previously intended to attack King Ji's convoy, but they failed in the end. This
It is enough to prove that the target this time is not completely unable to fight back.
Compared with other bandits, Xingsi has always been focused on obtaining the greatest victory at the lowest cost. It is this kind of thinking that makes his men, although they do not have many troops, but they are all elite men. Otherwise,
If so, Prince Zhong, who was familiar with the situation of bandits, would not ask him to be his partner.
"Master, they have spread a lot of caltrops." Tugou came to Xing Si and reported Tang Ao's reaction.
"Huh! What a fat sheep!" After Xing Si heard this, he looked not surprised but happy. King Ji's team could produce so many caltrops, which shows that they are very rich. Doesn't this further prove that as long as they can
If you win, there will be many benefits?
As for Tugou's previous statement that His Royal Highness Prince Ji also had cavalry in his fleet, he simply ignored it. Not to mention that it takes a lot of time to train a cavalry. Compared to actual combat, it is a life-and-death battle every day.
The mountain bandits would have rich combat experience, which is far beyond the comparison of others. Besides, the opponent clearly has cavalry in their hands, but they dare not send them out, which is enough to prove that these cavalry are nothing more than appearances.
Don't think that the soldiers riding on the horses are real cavalry. At most, they are just infantry and cavalry, and there is nothing to worry about.
As long as they can rush to the front of King Ji's motorcade and start killing, they will quickly break the opponent's will, and then the opponent's fighting spirit will collapse. At that time, they will kill and chop whenever they want. That's it.
For example, when Xing Si first came out, they only had a few dozen cavalry, but they still dared to attack the large caravans passing by. Many times, the number of caravan guards was several times their number, but in the end
Didn’t they end up winning?
Xing Si didn't believe that when he saw blood and faced life and death, these people under King Ji would dare to be enemies with him. I'm afraid that when that time comes, these so-called King Ji's cavalry will run faster than anyone else.
Everybody should be quick.
He was full of confidence and very optimistic about the outcome of this battle, but Xingsi was not a reckless person. Even if he knew that the other party had sprinkled caltrops, he had to remove them first to avoid unnecessary casualties.
no.
"Lord dog, you come to lead the battle. First pick up all the caltrops thrown by the opponent. I will hold the battle for you here. If they dare to come out to fight, let them know the power of the sword in our hands."
"No." Tugou Company immediately clasped his fists and agreed, then headed towards King Ji's motorcade with five hundred cavalry as the vanguard.
Tugou knew what his mission was, and did not launch a cavalry charge. Instead, as if on an outing, he arrived at a place four miles away from King Ji's convoy. Then he ordered everyone to dismount and began to pick up the lost items.
There were caltrops all over the ground.
"They are clearing away the thorns." Putting down the telescope in his hand, the guard captain Shi Lei reported to Tang Ao who was riding a horse.
"Well, don't worry, wait for them to pick it up for a while." Tang Ao smiled and said nonchalantly.
The reason why the cavalry can become a decisive force on the battlefield depends on their speed. Otherwise, they are not much stronger than the infantry. With the iron caltrops blocking the road, the cavalry cannot launch a charge.
It's like breaking one of their wings. How powerful will it be?
Tang Ao was not in a hurry and patiently watched the bandits clear away the iron caltrops all over the ground. Geng Liang, the vanguard general in this battle, watched the other party in action while constantly measuring the distance between the two sides.
Caltrops are just the first method to deal with cavalry. It is impossible to defeat them by pointing them at them. However, the ground is still covered with caltrops, just for the purpose of preparing the second meal for the opponent - the catapult.
Preparing for an attack.
Using the lever principle, one end is equipped with a heavy object, and the other end is equipped with a stone bullet to be fired. Before launching, the end where the ammunition is placed must be pulled down with a winch, pulley or directly by manpower, and the other end with the heavy object is also
At this time, rise, place the stone bullets, release or cut the rope, let one end of the weight fall, and the stone bullets will be thrown out to achieve the purpose of long-distance attack.
Before cannons appeared, catapults were the main means of siege. However, after the same catapult was improved in Tang Ao's hands, it was very different from ordinary catapults.
First of all, under the guidance of Tang Ao and the efforts of the craftsmen, the spring was produced early. Although it was still very rough and not precise, it was already a very advanced thing at the time. When Tang Ao put this thing on the stone
After hitting the force, the strength of the lever was instantly increased, so that it could originally hit up to about 150 steps (in Daqian, the emphasis is on five-foot steps, so one step is 1.5 meters, which is almost two forward steps now)
distance) is a little more than two hundred meters in later generations. However, Tang Ao added a spring to the catapult, which more than doubled this distance, reaching nearly 350 steps, or 550 steps.