Chapter 156 Dorgon's Choice; Explanation on the Military System and Military Formation
"Hong Chengchou, do you think our army should send troops to the Ningyuan area or to the outside of Miyunkou?"
"By the regent, the guilty minister feels that we should use troops in the direction of Ningyuan. The military strategy says that if we attack it, we will rescue it. As long as the Ningyuan area is disrupted, the Ming court will definitely use all its strength to rescue it. Ningyuan is close to the belly, so the army does not need to make an expedition, so it can wait for work. A great choice.”
Dorgon glanced at Hong Chengchou who was talking eloquently, and then waved his hand to tell him to stop talking. Lao Hong's words made sense, but Dorgon was a little suspicious of his motives. To put it bluntly, Dorgon just didn't want to talk anymore. I trust Hong Chengchou and feel that this person may not really help the Qing Dynasty.
Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan are indeed closer to Shenyang, but there are many military forts there and the narrow passages are not convenient for large armies to fight. Even if a large army is used to attack, there may not be any gains. For the Qing army, which has no shortage of horses, attacking Ningyuan and The situation was similar when going to Gubeikou. Hong Chengchou was not aware of this characteristic of the Qing army. Until now, he had never officially participated in a large-scale military operation of the Qing army. He still did not have a deep understanding of the basic situation of the Qing army, and his tactical thinking was still traditional. Which trick did the Ming army use?
Due to his subjective assumptions about Hong Chengchou and the fact that what Hong Chengchou said was not in line with the actual situation of the Qing army, Dorgon suddenly made up his mind and could not listen to this old dog's plan!
"Lao Qi, you said it was the Ming Emperor's personal guards who came out this time? Their combat power is extraordinary?" Dorgon, who had an idea, did not rush to express his position, but turned to ask Abatai. Abatai is Dorgon's Brother, but Dorgon didn't respect him very much. He just called him Lao Qi without any official title, and he didn't even call him "Brother".
After hearing Dorgon's roll call, Abatai quickly said respectfully: "The news reported by the Keten tribe is that the banner of the Ming army coming out of the customs is the Yongwei Camp New Army. Judging from the attire they mentioned, it can basically be confirmed He is indeed Emperor Ming's personal guard."
"After you entered Mingguan last year, you lost troops and generals. Did you fall into the trap of this personal guard? What are the characteristics of their tactics? Please tell me again so that I can weigh them."
"Prince Regent, this Ming army is good at using thunder, and its muskets are sharper than other Ming armies. They have muskets that can be loaded quickly, and their armor is not bad. What's even more troublesome is that they are good at using it. He is capable of disrupting formations, advancing and retreating freely, he is a powerful army."
"If such a powerful army existed for a long time, it would definitely be extremely detrimental to the Qing Dynasty. Do you think that in order to annihilate this army, would it be advantageous to fight in the field? Or would it be advantageous for them to stay in the city?"
"This naturally gives our army a better chance in a field battle. Although they have sharp firearms, they are still infantry. As long as we use cavalry to tire them out first, and then use heavy artillery to scatter them, it will not be difficult to destroy them."
"In this case, why do we have to transfer them to the front line of Ningyuan where there are many military forts? The vast battlefield outside the pass is a good place to bring into play the advantages of our army. Since Minggou has sent this elite out of the pass, it is so good This opportunity is not to be missed. Hong Chengchou, you are an old thief, you are considered a high-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor Ming still has an elite army at his disposal. You actually claimed that you did not know about it, and you want to protect this elite army for the Emperor Ming this time. You are so sincere. Execute him. From now on, he will not be allowed to participate in major military affairs, and he will be allowed to go home and think about his mistakes behind closed doors."
If he doesn't like people, everything he does is wrong. Dorgon is like this at this time! He thinks that Hong Chengchou suggested to attack Ningyuan in order to be loyal to the Ming Emperor and protect this elite. Ningyuan is full of forts, even if Emperor Ming's elite troops were transferred there and relying on the city wall, how could the Qing army annihilate him?
There is a fundamental difference in the deep combat thinking between the Ming army and the Qing army and the rogue bandits. When the Qing army and the rogue bandits fought, they first thought about how to make a lot of money, while the Ming army first thought about how to protect their capital. It is precisely because of this deviation in thinking that the old
Hong's thoughts will naturally be misunderstood by Dorgon.
"The King has decided to mobilize all his troops and mobilize the heavy troops of Kong Youde and others to the battlefield to annihilate all the Ming Emperor's personal guards who have left the customs. What do you think?"
After Dorgon announced the battle plan, several other political kings agreed and did not raise any objections. The matter was considered settled. Hong Chengchou was the only one who suffered in the entire military meeting. Not only did he not get the chance, but he was also punished.
Under house arrest.
——Separating line——
Let’s talk about the military system and military formations in this book (many book friends criticized this in the book review. I originally thought there was no need to explain it, but recently there have been more and more criticisms in this regard, so I will take up some space to explain it specifically.
one time.)
The organizational system of military divisions, brigade, regiments, battalions, companies and squads is not a modern military system. These organizational systems basically developed from ancient times. In the Song Dynasty of China, a fully-organized independent military unit was basically formed with a maximum number of between 8,000 and 15,000.
, the military units that exist above this are strictly theater units rather than military units. The Eight Banners Soldiers of the Qing Army also follow this basic regulation. This is an empirical consensus formed during the war. There is no specific time when Europe determined this norm.
According to research, it should be completely standardized during the Napoleonic period. In other words, the foundation of the entire modern military system is the Napoleonic military system.
When the Napoleonic military system came into being, it was an era of great replacement of hot and cold weapons. Therefore, it is unreasonable to say that this military system does not meet the characteristics of the cold weapon era. The biggest factors affecting the military system are management, information communication, and the movement of soldiers.
And the mode of transportation, thermal weapons did not change these conditions.
The big changes in the army's information communication and movement methods came very later. Under the modern military system, the army's divisions, regiments, companies, platoons, and squads are disappearing. The army is being reorganized into mechanized blocks.
For example, if the armored force continues to use the previous military system, even a company will have few armored vehicles to command operations. Especially now that large-scale support from combat platforms is required, a single armored company will not even have a single armored vehicle.
France can fight independently! Before the army realized mechanization and informatization, there was no essential gap between the ancient military system and the modern military system in the basic organizational form, and there were no obstacles that were difficult to overcome.
Let’s talk about the issue of military formations. There have been roughly two types of military formations in the world since ancient times, one is the square formation and the other is the scattered formation. Throughout the cold weapon era, the combat modes were not all square formations! When the hot weapons began
Strictly speaking, the platoon tactic is also a phalanx tactic. The phalanx was chosen not because it was easy to use in the cold weapon era, but because it was the easiest to implement for a semi-professional army. In essence, it was a phalanx tactic.
This was helpless. There was no evidence to prove that the heavy infantry of the Jin Army and the Qing Army fought in square formations, but they were still numerous and powerful armies.
The ancient long snake formation is a basic tactic similar to Napoleon's skirmisher line. Does anyone really think that the so-called long snake formation is the entire army arranged in a zigzag or a straight shape? It is not a march, no.
It's called fighting. The skirmishing line strategy is to attack the front, and then the teammates line up in a diagonal line behind them. When attacking, the head and tail can replace each other and serve as support points for each other. It is very convenient to advance in separate attacks, combine attacks, and advance in a roundabout way. Think about it carefully,
Is it basically the same as the description of the long snake formation in the military book?
Since the skirmisher formation has high requirements on the basic combat literacy and cooperation of sergeants, the armies of the Central Plains dynasty, which are mainly farmers and have little training, are generally rarely used. However, all armies with a high degree of specialization are doing a certain job.
One thing is to reduce the size of the square formation and move closer to the scattered formation. This is what Qi Jiguang's Yuanyang Formation is doing!
Since the mandarin duck formation and skirmishing line tactics can adapt to the battlefield in the era of hot and cold weapons, why can't the triangular tactical system adapt? Relatively speaking, the triangular tactical system can easily form an army quickly and is more convenient to adapt to the battlefield environment. How can it become a blind army?