Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1690 Cutting Yuan (卌四) Engagement
More than [-] soldiers, boundless.This statement may be a little exaggerated, but when both sides of the war are cavalry, and they are setting up battles on the grassland, the momentum revealed in this sentence really has a sense of dreams coming into reality.

The main force of the Chahar Mongolian army was [-], and the remaining [-] were sent to the right wing to monitor the Ming army on the crater.The Eight Thousand Elite Riders did not have uniform clothing, and the equipment of the armor was mainly divided according to their status.

The leaders and leaders all wore armor, and perhaps half of them were the Ming army's standard, but it was also a bit confusing. There were old and new styles, and there were all kinds of armor, fish scale armor, Mingguang armor, and Shanwen armor.

From the perspective of clothing, the military appearance of the Chahar Mongolian Army is really not very good on the stage, but if the sight can clearly scan every person on the horse, you can see the awe-inspiring and even a little face in their eyes. If you show fierce eyes, you can be sure: this is an elite army, they are eager to win, and yearn for the catharsis after victory.

The formation of the main position of the Ming army is more stable, and the central army and the left and right wings are clearly defined.No matter which part is uniformly dressed and armored.Although officers of different ranks still have a relatively clear distinction in armor shapes, even the most common cavalry soldiers are fully armored, not to mention that the horses are also uniformly half-dressed.

Looking from a distance, the uniform black armor, silver horse and red shirts of the Ming army can give people a kind of silent deterrence.To Gao Yushi's surprise, there was no fear on the faces of the cavalry soldiers of the Ming army. Half of them looked resolute, and half were eager to try.

Good equipment can bring confidence, which seems to be the same in ancient and modern times.Facing the Mongolian iron cavalry, which was able to suppress the Ming army ten years ago, and gradually showed insufficient stamina after the two battles in Monan and Liaonan, the confidence of the Ming cavalry has also been quietly formed in a subtle way.

However, previous victories were achieved either by Tumet cavalry under the command of the late Tutuo Qiataiji, or by relying on the firearms of Ming infantry to strengthen the formation.Facing the Mongolian iron cavalry, the Ming army cavalry itself still had too few victories. In the past 20 years, the victory of the cavalry against the cavalry in the Ming Dynasty was always inseparable from two veterans: Ma Fang and Li Chengliang.

If the cavalry of the Ming army wants to prove that they can push the waves ahead, they need a new victory, a victory of defeating the Mongolian cavalry head-on.Only in this way can we comfort the predecessors and live up to the present.

The [-] main force led by high pragmatism still has Ye Bangrong as the central army, Changping guerrilla generals Zhao Menglin and Xuanfu Siying Pogui as the right wing, and Jizhen's commander-in-chief the left battalion guerrilla generals Xu Long and Dingzhou The leading guerrilla general Wu Sixun's unit was the left wing, and the Tianjin coastal defense guerrilla general Chen Can's unit was the rear army.

In this main formation composed of the left, middle and right sides, the strength of the Chinese army is not strong.In addition to Ye Bangrong's more than 6000 cavalry, there are [-] Jinghua cavalry brought by Gao Yushi himself, and the entire army does not exceed [-].

On the left, the troops of Xu Long and Wu Sixun, the former has more than [-] soldiers, and the latter has nearly [-] soldiers. The combined troops of the two sides are about [-]; On average, both of them lead [-] soldiers and horses, and the total is [-].

There are [-] Chencans in the rear, about [-] flanking the crater, and a total of about [-] Ming troops—the error is due to the fact that the cavaliers brought by Gao Yushi himself did not make statistics.

This is a lineup in which the two wings are stronger than the central army, and Chahar can tell the clues at a glance.Perhaps because of this, the formation of the Chahar Army seems to have a sense of ignoring the wings and emphasizing the central army. The formation of the two sides seems to be reversed.

Roughly speaking, what Gao Yushi presented to the Ming army was a typical wild goose formation.The so-called wild goose formation is a battle formation that spreads out horizontally, with the left and right wings arranged forward or backward in echelons.For example, Gao Yushi's formation at this moment, that is, the two wings are heavier and forward, which is a "V" shape, like the arms of an ape stretched forward. It is usually a formation used to outflank and turn around, but the rear defenses are usually weak.

There is another style of the wild goose formation, which is the arrangement of the two wings backwards and the central army forward, which is an inverted "V" shape, which usually protects the two wings and the rear and prevents the enemy from turning around.

However, generally speaking, due to the diversity of arms, if the two wings are relatively mobile cavalry, they can get the protection and support of the infantry in the center when they are stationary, and can also exert the power of attacking cavalry to increase surprise.It is said that Alexander the Great's battle in India was similar to such a formation.

Of course, the latter formation has nothing to do with this moment. Gao Yushi's intention of setting up this formation is very obvious, which is to use the two wings to conduct an outflank attack.

In Brihatu's view, the geese-shaped formation put out by the Ming army is the perfect presentation of Gao Pragmatic's psychology at the moment, and it also conforms to his previous judgment.Gao Pragmatism wants to win big and defeat Mongolia once and for all. Whether it is the previous encirclement strategy of dragging nets or the current geese outflanking tactics, it is all a direct manifestation of this mentality.

But Brihatu's reaction is also very interesting. He did not put up a reverse geese formation that is more inclined to defense, that is, the inverted V-shaped geese formation just mentioned, nor did he put up with the high pragmatism because of the strong forces on the two wings. Strengthen your own wings.On the contrary, Brihatu's deployment of troops concentrated the main force in the central army, while the two wings were somewhat weak.

In war, when the formations of the two sides are set up, it is usually not too difficult to judge the intentions of the other side, and war is not a game, and it is generally very unrealistic to make major adjustments to the formation temporarily.Therefore, it can be said that both sides have made tactical decisions at this moment, and the next step depends on the command of the generals of each army and the courage and technical and tactical level of all soldiers.

However, Brihatu is different from Gao Yushi after all. Gao knows hundreds of years of history, so he also knows that there is a kind of wild goose formation that appeared in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, but in fact it has a different formation.Although this formation was only used when the troops were relatively small at the beginning, Gao Yushi discovered that it could also be used in battle with all cavalry on the grassland.

This is a battle formation of three teams arranged in parallel. The middle team has a small number of people, and the two wings have a large number of people. It looks like a crab, so it is called a crab formation.This kind of formation is extremely flexible, and it can change a lot according to the enemy's situation.

If the enemy is only divided into two teams on the left and right, then use the squadrons of the formation to divide the left and right wings into two teams.

If the enemy has a team at the front and back, the forwards on the left and right wings form a team, and the rear half of the left and right wings are combined with the middle team to form a parallel line, thinking that the front team is supporting;

If the enemy's left team has more soldiers, it will shift to the left formation; if the right team has more soldiers, it will shift to the right formation; if the enemy has four or five teams, it will also be divided into four or five teams to attack sequentially.

The formation of big crabs enclosing small crabs is particularly famous. Its method is to fight the enemy with a small formation first, and then surround it with a large formation, or to lure the enemy by deceiving defeat, and ambushes everywhere to surround the enemy.

Although the changes in the crab array are complicated, they lose left and right, and move back to front. The magic of its use lies in the fact that the general will temporarily command according to the enemy's situation.The rapidity of its advance and retreat, opening and closing only needs a few flag bearers to be skilled, and the whole army can go wherever the flag is looking.Therefore, with a few big banner bearers, an army can command thousands of people without any difference.

This kind of formation did not come from the Qing Dynasty, but from the Taiping Army.Gao Yushi saw it when he was looking up materials on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement for writing a thesis.

This crab claw formation is exquisite and not troublesome. It avoids increasing the difficulty of command understanding for specific soldiers, and puts the success of the formation on the shoulders of the commander and the banner bearer.In this way, as long as the commander responds quickly and accurately, and the banner bearer gives instructions in place, there will be almost no difficulty in changing the formation, which is extremely helpful for temporary changes.

Why the emphasis on temporary changes?Because the most pragmatic thing is temporary changes.

Brihatu's intention of concentrating his forces on the central army is very obvious, and it can be said that he was a tit-for-tat confrontation with his seemingly wild goose formation.As for the intention, it is not difficult to guess, he just wants to bet that the high-level and pragmatic central army is too weak, and he wants to concentrate his forces to penetrate it in one fell swoop—to penetrate the central army of the Ming army before the powerful wings of the Ming army break him.

In Brihatu's view, no matter how strong the two wings of the Ming army are, it cannot change a strategic fact, that is, the irreplaceable importance of high pragmatism in the Ming army.As long as the Chinese army is defeated, no matter whether Gao Yushi is killed or captured, even if he escapes, the Ming army will only be defeated immediately in this battle, and there is absolutely no possibility of turning defeat into victory.

The name of the first literary commander of the Ming Dynasty is not only the source of the confidence of the Ming army, but also the fuse of the collapse of the Ming army.If the high-practical Mongolian Yuan Jinglu banner is erected in the middle, the Ming army will feel that it will not be defeated; once the Mengyuan Jinglv banner falls, the morale of the entire Ming army on all fronts will inevitably plummet.

At that time, the Ming army that did not dare to confront the Mongolian army more than ten years ago will surely reappear.

So Brihatu's current purpose is very clear, which is to imitate Tang Taizong Li Shimin's classic "rolling the flag to cross the camp" - regardless of everything, directly kill the enemy's central army, then cut down the enemy's banner, and suddenly raised his own battle flag raised high.When the enemy army saw that the commander in chief of their own army was dead in battle, they immediately turned into eggplants beaten by frost, sluggish and ready to be slaughtered.

This move is like the so-called "beheading tactic" in later generations. By directly taking the enemy's center, it not only cuts off the effective command of the entire army, but also destroys the morale of the opponent. It can be called Li Shimin's most powerful tactic in the Qin Dynasty.

For example, in the Battle of Hulao Pass, Li Shimin defeated Xia Wang Dou Jiande's [-] army with [-] troops. Although Li Shimin used many strategies throughout the war to gradually accumulate the possibility of victory, the final victory on the battlefield depends on this in the final analysis. "Rolling the flag across the camp" with one hand. [Note: Of course, Li Shimin fell into heavy siege in his early years, but most of them were caused by this. ]
However, what Brihatu didn't know was that while he was deeply studying Gao Yushi, Gao Yushi also conducted an equally profound research on him, and he paid more and more attention to him, even more important than Tumen Khan himself.

The judgment of Brihatu is based on a comprehensive analysis of the situation he is currently facing and according to Brihatu's personality.Brihatu's military characteristics are actually very good from an ordinary point of view. He has always been cautious, but he is willing to spare at critical moments, which is a real general's style.

But the problem is that Brihatu is facing far bigger and more troubles than Gao Yushi.Many of Gao Pragmatism’s troubles come from Ming’s officialdom system, which mainly requires political means; Burhatu’s troubles are mainly due to insufficient productivity and population in Mongolia. Even if there is a way to solve this problem, it will definitely not be solved within one or two generations Yes, it requires not only means, but also a long time.

So the difference between the two of them was caused by the disparity in basic strength between Ming and Mongolia. As a military adviser with a shallow foundation in Chahar, Brihatu had little room for change, and the effect was naturally limited.

The population and productivity bases are there, so what if Brihatu has three heads and six arms?Even if Gao Pragmatic is replaced by him to help the Mongolians develop their productivity, the performance may not be so strong.

Therefore, unless Gao Yushi puts on a full defensive formation at this moment, Brihatu will put on an aggressive attacking formation.Without him, I can't afford it.

"Woo-woo-woo..." The Mongolian army's horn sounded, and the originally concentrated Mongolian army sent about [-] horses to the left and right sides and slowly drove out of the main position. Xu slowly accelerated, but there was no sign of charging yet.

Of course, each of the five hundred light cavalry is not suitable for launching a charge against the eight thousand and a half Ming army cavalry each in front of them, which is almost death.

But since the enemy cavalry is coming towards you, it is impossible for your own cavalry to sit still on the horse. This is not in line with the basic principles of cavalry combat.Therefore, Xu Long's and Wu Sixun's troops on the left and Zhao Menglin's and Pogui's troops on the right also moved without hesitation, moving head-on in a calm and unhurried manner.

Since the distance between the two sides was nearly four or five miles before the war (this refers to the distance between the Mongolian army and the Ming army's two wings, and the distance between them and the high-level Chinese army), both sides are very restrained in horse speed at this moment, to a certain extent In other words, this is also a warm-up for the horse.

However, the battlefield is not isolated. When the two wings move, Gao Yushi and Brihatu can't move, and the Chinese troops on both sides also start to move forward slowly.Originally, the distance between the high-practice central army and the Mongolian army was about six miles, but it was shortened to four miles soon after.

At this time, the two weak wings of the Mongolian army, five hundred cavalry each, had already shot the first wave of ultra-long-range arrow rain.This kind of ultra-long-range shooting has little practical significance, and its accuracy and lethality are almost equal to nothing.

The two wings of the Ming army, which had never entered the effective range of the Wanli II cavalry gun, reacted calmly. Not only did they not panic, but no one even fired back ineffectively because of panic.

However, this round of ultra-long-range shooting on the two wings of the Mongolian army was not intended to cause any damage. Their purpose was to test whether the Ming army was calm;

Soon, the two wings of the Ming army found that their current weak Mongolian cavalry seemed to start to cut diagonally.
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(End of this chapter)