The rise of the prince

Chapter 625 Hollow Formation

The sky was not yet bright, and the sentries were patrolling back and forth. Li Xingzhou was called up by Wei Yubai early in the morning, dragged him to the top of the hill, and pointed to the far bank of Lugou.

In the morning light, the water of the Lugou River was sparkling, and he soon saw the movement of Di Zhi's army on the other side of the river. Watching their movements, Li Xingzhou immediately understood that Di Zhi was looking for a chance to fight the Liao army!
Di Zhi's formation was the famous hollow square formation, which was the formation that Li Xingzhou trained the new army in order to fight against large-scale cavalry regiments one day.

If there is a battle that changed the entire history of Europe, then many people will definitely think of the Battle of Waterloo subconsciously.

The fall of the legendary Napoleon, the hero of the war, also marked the fall of France, which dominated Europe, and the rise of the new overlord, Britain.

There are many theories about the victory or defeat of this battle, such as disagreement among the high-level French army, untimely support, etc., but these are all macro reasons, many of which are even hindsight, far-fetched. From the perspective of objective facts, in the real On the battlefield, tactics determine the outcome of the battle.

The most famous of these is the hollow phalanx of the British army.

France, the overlord of Europe, always seems to have an indissoluble bond with the cavalry. The heavily armored knights of the French Empire at the beginning, and the breastplate dragoons on the battlefield during the Napoleon period have always been the main force of the French army and the backbone of its domination of Europe. strength.

Moreover, although the appearance of the Suifa gun eliminated the infantry with cold weapons, it did not eliminate the cavalry immediately, because the musketeers were also infantry, and they had a natural mobility disadvantage, and they were easily outflanked by cavalry.

In Napoleon's great battle across Europe and China, cuirassiers have always been one of the main forces. At that time, European countries also had a difficult choice. Is musket or cavalry better?

It wasn't until the Battle of Waterloo that the British musketeers and artillery combined to defeat the French elite cavalry corps in one fell swoop, and the main direction of European weapon development was determined. If Napoleon won this battle, European countries may have to develop cavalry desperately. Some arguments such as "guns are useless" have been put forward, and history is so interesting.
In short, the hollow phalanx of the British army was specially designed for anti-cavalry. Because of large-scale operations, musketeers are destined to be surrounded by cavalry, so they must have the ability to attack the enemy in four directions, so it is designed as a hollow phalanx. Build high ground and set off artillery to supplement firepower.

At the same time, such phalanxes are placed at intervals, and several phalanxes can support each other to ensure that the cavalry is hit by firepower from more than one direction.

The most important point is to use the power of muskets and artillery to divert the cavalry attacking from the front. The cavalry could not withstand the frontal firepower and was naturally diverted. They wanted to outflank the side, but they did not expect to be hit from the side as well, and rushed into the middle in a panic. In the open space, I thought I was invincible in melee combat when I rushed into the crowd.

As a result, after rushing into the open space in the middle, it was found that it was even more of a sun dog, with firepower in all directions. This was the tactic of the anti-cavalry firing into the hollow phalanx. The elite French cuirassiers were defeated by this tactic at that time.

In the north of Jingguo, Liaoguo, and Mongolia all have powerful cavalry troops. In the northwest of Xiaguo, there is a famous iron kite, and Jurchen also has an iron stupa. This formation has always been the focus of recruit training.

It is very difficult for infantry to face cavalry, and their physical fragility is very irreparable. The heavy cavalry, like Xia Guo's iron kite, is fully armed to the teeth, and the men and horses are dressed in cold forged armor. Look, the vest plus the human armor plus the weapon weighs about 150 catties (not kilograms).

In addition to the weight of the person, the iron harriers are all elites. They are tall and strong people among the Qiang soldiers. At least they are more than 150 kilograms. Adding horses, the largest horse breed in the world is about 1200 kilograms. , yes, more than a ton!

The smallest adult horse is about 200 kilograms. The average weight of a horse is between 0.5 to 0.8 tons. Adding harness, people, armor and weapons, it can also reach the weight of half a car. Imagine thousands of cars on the battlefield. Feel like coming back
There is also the huge psychological pressure, the huge sense of oppression brought by the galloping horses, the earth shaking, and the darkness covering a large area, which is unbearable for individuals.

So in the barracks before, Di Zhi often asked Wei Yubai to form a formation with heavily armed heavy cavalry, rushing towards the lined up musketeers like small tanks, and only stopped at a very short distance, asking everyone to stand up together. I can't move, I can't blink my eyes, the training is abnormal.

This kind of training is a bit like letting soldiers lie on the ground in the military camps of later generations, and then dozens of tons of tanks rushed over it. Many soldiers knew that the height between the two tracks of the tank would not be able to press them down, but their hind legs were weak after lifting. It's hard to stand up.

The new army also had this situation during the initial training. The heavily armed plate armored heavy cavalry rushed towards their faces. Many people were so frightened that their legs went limp and even peed their pants, but the effect was remarkable. After countless trainings, the new army has been able to Facing the charge of the cavalry, he calmly raised his gun, loaded it, and counterattacked.

After understanding Di Zhi's intention for a decisive battle with the Liao army, he immediately ordered the army to march towards the river without delay.

The bridge over Lugou had been demolished, and they had no boats, so it was impossible to cross by force, especially for the new army, going into the water was tantamount to losing their combat effectiveness.

"Concentrate all the firearms on the riverside and support the north bank with firepower." Li Xingzhou rode on Mei Xue and ordered, "Liu Ji, take [-] heavy cavalry and head east to see if there is a place where you can cross the river."

Just as everyone was listening to the order and starting to prepare, Xiao Hongqi, a businessman from the Liao Kingdom, ran over and said, "My lord, I know where I can cross the river."

Everyone looked at him one after another, and then they were taken aback with complicated expressions.
Xiao Hongqi's family lives in Shangjing. He is an authentic Liao native. He can speak Khitan, Chinese, Jurchen, and Mongolian. Khitan, everyone just didn't expect him to speak at this time.

After all, he is also a Khitan
"Where is it?" Li Xingzhou asked with a smile.

"Upstream, there is a shoal in the upper reaches, and the water is only knee deep. The herdsmen used to drive their horses across the river from there. The cavalry can go there, but it is a long way, and it may take half a day." Xiao Hongqi hurriedly explained.

Li Xingzhou nodded, "Liu Ji."

"exist!"

"Wei Yubai!"

"The end is here!"

"Liu Ji, you lead [-] cavalry, Wei Yubai leads all the light cavalry, follow Xiao Hongqi, cross the river from the upstream shoal, then detour across the river, and choose the opportunity to support Di Zhi." Li Xingzhou ordered.

"The last will obey!"

(End of this chapter)