Chapter 161 The Troubles in Nancha (Twenty-Eight) Rushing into the Formation
Under the shining fire, loud bangs were heard one after another. The Jinghua No. 3 artillery, known as the main field artillery of the Ming Dynasty, concentrated its bombardment. The salvos of dozens of artillery really shook the earth.
Someone was knocked off his back after being bombarded on the avenue.
With just one salvo, at least a hundred cavalrymen went to see Buddha or Changshengtian on the spot, and a larger number of Mongolian cavalrymen were knocked off their horses by ricocheting projectiles or the stumps of their comrades.
Being hit by a stump in such a high-speed rush is like a bird hitting a plane in later generations. It seems inconspicuous, but in fact, the consequences are often serious. Of course, the relative speed between the stump and the charging knight is not comparable to that of the plane and the bird.
But it is enough to make a person fall off his horse, or make a galloping horse stumble. And if you fall off your horse in such a dense and high-speed sprint of cavalry, the hope of survival is extremely slim.
In this round of shelling, at least 300 Mongolian cavalry were lost on the spot or directly lost their combat effectiveness. The increase in firepower of the Ming army made many veteran generals under Tumen's command change their expressions.
Once upon a time, the artillery exploded frequently, and the Ming army, whose three-eyed blunderbuss could only be used to shoot at close range and more could only be used as maces to hit people, actually had such a huge increase in firepower!
Once upon a time, only the servants dared to fight, and ordinary soldiers turned pale with fear when they heard the rumble of the cavalry. The two fighting armies turned out to be completely different!
Burihatu watched the battle from behind with a heavy face, the gloom on his face was just like today's weather. Tumen Khan glanced at the casualties in front with some uneasiness, controlled the horse that was about to move under his crotch, and turned to ask Burihatu
: "Do you really want to fight like this?"
Burihatu's face, which was so black that it seemed like it could drip water, was expressionless, and he said coldly: "If the Great Khan is reluctant to part with one or two thousand elites, this bayonet array will never be broken."
"Zhang Wanbang only has 2,000 men!" Tumen said angrily: "Do we, the Mongolian warriors, have to trade one life for one with these Ming army infantrymen who are like chickens and dogs?"
The anger of the Great Khan could be felt by everyone around him, but Burihatu still kept a straight face and said calmly: "The Great Khan made a mistake in his calculation. We are not exchanging one life for one, but two lives for one -
—We also have to bring in one or two thousand high-quality war horses."
"You!" Tumen sweated and raised his whip and pointed at Burihatu. He didn't know whether he was angry or speechless, but he couldn't speak anymore.
In fact, Burihatu had already told him in advance about the necessity of this battle, and the possible casualties were also concealed from him. It was not that Tumen didn't know, but when he faced such casualties, he still endured it.
I can't help but feel frightened, heartbroken and angry.
Over the years, have the Mongolian cavalry ever experienced such a comparison of casualties with the Ming army?
This casualty ratio, let alone one to one, even if it is one to five, or even one to ten, the Mongols cannot compare with the Ming Dynasty!
During the Dayan Khan period, Mongolia was divided into "60,000 households", that is, six "ten thousand households" large tribes. At that time, the population of Mongolia was about 1.6 million. After the Dayan Khan, it went through decades of development, especially during the Anda Khan period.
Tumut's strength led to population growth.
Although the left and right wings of Mongolia have been divided, the Northern Yuan Dynasty still barely maintains its authority. The approximate total population is still about 1.9 million, less than 2 million. [Note: The above data comes from
"A Preliminary Study on the Historical Population of the Mongolian Nationality (11th Century to the Mid-17th Century)" by Wang Longgeng and Shen Binhua.]
In this way, the total population of Mongolia is only two million, of which Tumed, Ordos, and Qinghai Tumut account for more than half, while Chahar and its eastern vassals only account for about 40%. And of this 40%, directly
Only a little more than half of them belonged to the Chahar Khanate, roughly no more than 500,000 people.
With a total population of about 500,000, Chahar can pull out an army of 60,000 to 80,000 in wartime. This is already a typical Mongolian characteristic. If he continues to pull out more troops, he will really have to join the old army.
Weak women and children all mounted their horses and raised their swords.
With such strength, how can one compete with Daming in a one-to-one exchange match? Isn't this asking for death?
But Burihatu had already explained the truth to him. If this battle was not fought, the Ming army would become increasingly difficult to deal with in the future. Not only the elite Ming army would learn the bayonet array, a tactic used to restrain the Mongolian cavalry, but
Even ordinary armies will develop like this. At that time, why should Mongolia still compete with the Ming Dynasty? They could have surrendered and paid tribute earlier.
To be honest, Tumen would not be able to consider it if he just claimed vassal status and paid tribute. Even if he is the "Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty", this title has long become a symbolic title. The Mongols have not used it for a long time, but only use it as
"The Great Khan of Mongolia" is commensurate.
Although the Great Khan of Mongolia was also the king of a country, the Mongolians who had ruled the Central Plains for seventy years actually had the idea that China was the "Celestial Dynasty" deep in their hearts. Therefore, even though the Great Khan of Mongolia gave him the title of vassal to the Central Plains Emperor, it was only a matter of face.
A bit ugly, but not unacceptable.
However, Burihatu believes that the situation is changing. If Mongolia continues to decline compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty may not directly take Mongolia into its pocket in the future.
The example Burihatu used to convince the Tumen was that the Ming Dynasty rebuilt Daning City. In the early Ming Dynasty, Daning City was a city specifically used to control Mongolia.
It was turbulent and was finally given up.
Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty recaptured and rebuilt the city of Daning. What else can be said about its meaning? It is nothing more than to completely control Mongolia. In other words, if the Mongols find a way to resist, there will not even be a "Mongol Khan" in the future.
Uncertain... In the future, there will be positions such as "Governor of Mongolia" and "Governor of Mongolia" in the Ming Dynasty, just like the governor of Yunnan.
This prospect made Tumen shudder. He could not imagine that the descendants of Genghis Khan would not only lose the Central Plains, but also lose their old Mongolian homeland. They could only prostrate themselves in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants and claim to be vassals - even though Han Naji had already done so.
Tumen's confidence was not sufficient, but no matter what, he had to give it a try as the Great Khan of Mongolia. If this battle can really break the myth of bayonet formations using footwork to control cavalry, maybe there will really be a rise within the Ming Dynasty.
The huge differences allowed Mongolia to breathe again.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Thinking of this, Tumen no longer said anything, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes.
The battle on the front line is still continuing. The Mongolian cavalry had already known the situation they were facing during the mobilization of Burihatu earlier, and also knew the importance of this battle. Although the first round of shelling caused them heavy losses, almost as much as
There were casualties in the ambush of the Ming army when they were hunting grass in the valley, but the Mongolian warriors did not flinch, but instead shouted in unison.
They reminded each other in the sound of shouts, letting everyone know that they were getting closer and closer to the Ming army. As long as they rushed in front of the Ming army and broke the defense line composed of some bayonets that were not too long, the Ming army infantry behind them would not be able to do anything at all.
There is no resistance.
Then they received the second round of shelling. The bad news was that they lost three to four hundred men again; the good news was that it could be seen from the distance that the Ming army's artillery had no time to fire the third salvo.
The front army's fanatical charge regardless of casualties inspired the courage of the rear cavalry, and they charged forward continuously. No one considered whether death or victory awaited them next.
The elites of the former army followed Burihatu's instructions and controlled the horses tightly to prevent them from being frightened by the loud noise and disrupting their positions, and from losing the courage to rush forward when facing the bayonet formation. Burihatu wanted to do this for this time.
The battle concentrated a large number of heavy cavalry, which were very valuable in the Mongolian army.
During the Mongolian Western Expedition nearly three hundred years ago, heavy cavalry accounted for about 40% of a typical Mongolian army, and light cavalry accounted for 60%. Heavy cavalry was mainly used for assault, and also for close combat when necessary.
During the Second Western Expedition (1235-1242), the most common armor worn by Mongolian heavy cavalry was iron plate armor (called lamellar armor by foreign historians). Some people also wore chain mail and leather armor. The iron plate armor itself can resist bending.
It can be used to chop with knives and pierce with bows, arrows and other throwing weapons, but swords can easily cut through the rubber bands that fix the iron plate armor, and repeated slashing may cause the iron plate armor to break.
European heavily armored knights of the same period generally wore chainmail all over their bodies (including their heads). The chainmail could not be damaged by slashing with swords, but arrows and spears could penetrate it, and the chainmail was heavy, which greatly reduced the cavalry's effectiveness.
Flexibility and speed.
Compared with heavy cavalry, light cavalry is more important in the Mongolian tactical system. It can shoot from a distance, lure the enemy, guard, outflank and even engage in close combat. The main means of attack is to fire arrows intensively.
However, although the light cavalry is important, it does not mean that their status is higher than that of the heavy cavalry. The light cavalry generally only wear round helmets and have little body and horse armor. The light cavalry use the Mongolian compound recurve bow (the back of the bow is made of wood
, made of horn and tendon), its performance was superior to the best British longbow (made of elm or yew) in Europe at that time. Foreign history experts concluded that the Mongolian bow has a pulling force of at least 166 pounds and an effective range of 320 meters.
, British longbows were 80 pounds and 230 meters respectively.
However, the effective range does not refer to the effective armor-piercing range. In front of the elite Ming army wearing armor, it is very difficult to break armor. Not to mention the current "cold iron armor", even cotton armor is difficult to be penetrated by arrows.
, Otherwise, how come there are often generals who are "taken by dozens of arrows" but still survive?
The melee weapons used by Mongolian heavy cavalry and light cavalry are scimitars, which are improved on the basis of the Arabian scimitar. The blade is small and light, has good curvature, and is more in line with mechanical theory.
"The scimitar will slide along the curved surface of the blade when it touches the enemy's body." It will not cut into the body and cannot be pulled out. It will not be easily knocked away when the armor is struck, so it can be chopped continuously. The light cavalry also carries a spear or gun with a hook.
, you can use the hook to pull the enemy off his horse. Since the gun head has a hook, it will not penetrate the enemy's body too deeply and it can be easily pulled out.
As the Mongolian left wing has been "trade sanctioned" by the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the number of heavy cavalry under its command has been decreasing day by day. Now it can only maintain about 10%, which is even more precious.
If the light cavalry was more responsible for "guerrilla" on the battlefields of various periods in East Asia, then the heavy cavalry was a specialist in breaking formations. This was most obvious in the Battles of Song, Jin and Song-Mongolia. Nowadays, all the Mongolian front troops are heavy cavalry.
The cavalry does not have hooks and sickles, and all use scimitars.
Such a configuration meant that Burihatu did not consider his own casualties. He placed all his hopes on the heavy cavalry causing direct damage to the Ming army after overwhelming Zhang Wanbang's troops.
Moreover, although this group of heavy cavalry set up a forward formation, that is, although the whole group charged head-on, some parts formed a typical "oblique attack" in cavalry combat. However, in such a head-to-head battle, the opponent also had a bayonet formation, and the front army
The heavy cavalry will pay a heavy price.
At this time, courage decides everything.
With the temporary curtain call of the artillery, the Ming army's three-stage attack behind the bayonet array began. The routine was a consistent routine. The first round of salvo caused nearly a hundred casualties of the Mongolian heavy cavalry - this figure is not as good as that of Monan and Liaonan.
The reason for those two times was that the front army of Burihatu was well prepared and all used armored heavy cavalry.
The first volley of muskets was deliberately fired at a longer distance in order to gain an extra round, so the lethality was slightly insufficient, and the casualties caused were naturally not too great.
The Mongols were indifferent and continued to charge forward. Soon, the Ming army fired a second round of volleys. This time the lethality was far greater than the first, and more than 200 heavy cavalry were lost instantly.
The Mongols remained indifferent, even shouted louder, and continued to advance forward. They were only a hundred steps away from the Ming army's bayonet formation. For the cavalry charging into the formation, this distance was at most enough for the Ming army to fight again.
A salvo.
The third round of volleys started without any surprise. Since the distance was only about fifty steps, both sides could almost see each other's eyes clearly and see each other's expressions.
The Mongols were fanatical with some anger mixed in, and the Ming army was cold and harsh with some worries. But no matter what, the effect of the third salvo was almost the same as the second salvo, and there were at least two hundred more Mongolian cavalry.
They were reimbursed on the spot. And this time, the Ming army could easily see that their armors were pierced and blood splattered everywhere.
But at this time, the test of the Ming army really came. The three-stage attack had been completed. Although the musketeers in the first row of retreats had replaced the paper shell fixed ammunition and could continue shooting at any time, the Mongolian heavy cavalry had already rushed in.
In front of the bayonet array.
Although this heavy cavalry charging team has obviously become much weaker than it was at the beginning. There were about two thousand heavy cavalry before the war. After two rounds of artillery fire and three rounds of musket fire, there may only be a thousand cavalry left. But once
Thousands of heavy cavalry rushed forward in front of the bayonet array. Can the bayonet array really be able to resist?
If you can't resist, what should you do next?
There was no time to think on the battlefield. The Mongolian heavy cavalry now had no threat from long-range weapons, and their pent-up anger was completely released, and they attacked ferociously without any hesitation. Their ferocious faces showed their unforgettable hatred for the Ming army in front of them.
Using footwork to control riding? Now let’s see how you control it!
But they soon discovered that they were only paying attention to the artillery and muskets of the Ming army, but ignored some "old weapons."
Zhang Wanbang's temporary "diji" was trampled on by the Mongolian heavy cavalry and flew wildly. Many of the "dizi" were trampled by the war horses and flew up, and the iron caltrops on the wooden boards hit the horses or soldiers hard.
The war horse equipment of the Mongolian heavy cavalry was not European-style, and the protection was not that exaggerated. The legs of the war horses were completely exposed. If they were hit by iron caltrops, they would immediately lose their combat effectiveness. So there was another wave of unavoidable losses, more than two hundred people.
The heavy cavalry fell in "the darkest hour before dawn."
The remaining 800 heavy cavalry were completely angry. Their eyes were red, and the anger in their hearts could only be washed away with blood. Burihatu exchanged 1,200 of the most precious heavy cavalry for the 800 heavy cavalry.
Near the front of the bayonet array.
No one had the time to consider whether it was a good deal or not, and a bloody battle began.
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