Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 373 Shaken Foundation of Cooperation

Li Ni, who was standing on a high ground in the distance, looked at the cavalry who were forced to slow down after rushing into the gap between the hollow square formations. They were like those who were stuck in a quagmire, unable to struggle, and were finally swallowed up by the quagmire bit by bit.

Li Ni and the two grassland princes all showed horrified expressions. This battle was beyond their imagination. Although the Zhou army used to rely mainly on firearms, their tactics were a mixture of cold and hot weapons, combined with chariots as obstacles. This kind of tactics could indeed cause great trouble to the grassland army, which was mainly composed of cavalry, but the situation today was completely different.

A simple matchlock gun combination could only fight two rounds at most when encountering cavalry, and then they would be dispersed by the cavalry and chopped up like melons and vegetables. When the most courageous soldiers of the Shenji Battalion saw the hope of chopping off the opponent, they showed their bayonets!

King Lin Dan looked at Li Ni angrily and asked, "Your Majesty, did you know something in advance, so you let the Lin Dan tribe and the Chahar tribe fight as the main force?"

Li Ni's face turned green when he was asked this question. His conspiracy theory was beyond description. However, his followers who had followed him from the Central Plains could not stand it. They glared at King Lin Dan and put their hands on the handles of their swords.

King Lin Dan's followers were not to be outdone and stepped forward one after another, their momentum not inferior at all.

"The decisive battle was your suggestion, but now you want to blame me?" Li Ni calmed down and did not get angry, but asked back calmly.

King Lin Dan did not say anything, but just snorted coldly, turned around and rode his horse to greet his retreating subordinates. The defeat was not unfair, and the warriors needed to be comforted.

The relatively calm Chahar King sighed. The internal disagreements arose so quickly that the battle could not continue.

"Your Majesty, give the order to retreat. If necessary, I will stay here to hold back the main force of the enemy and cover the retreat of the entire army!" The oldest Chahar King is not the one with a high style, but the most pragmatic.

At this time, a troop must stay behind to keep a distance and avoid the entire army being defeated.

"Okay, give the order to retreat, no more fighting. I will also stay to stabilize the morale of the army." Although he was not familiar with military affairs, Li Ni knew clearly that he could not retreat first. If he retreated, the whole army would be in chaos.

The various tribes on the grassland were not united to begin with, so when they saw Li Ni's banner leaving, it was inevitable that they would become chaotic.

Woo woo woo, the horns were sounding mournfully in relay. The Bahama and Khorchin tribes on the two wings were somewhat incredulous when they heard the orders. The attack effects on the two wings were not very good, but at least they had some results. After a few more rounds, the enemy's formation might be disrupted, and the opportunity for an impact would come.

But what can be said? Military orders are as heavy as mountains. The two divisions could only gather their troops and retreat one after another, with the most elite troops staying behind to cover the retreat.

"Commander-in-chief, the enemy army is retreating! Should we pursue them?" General Sun keenly noticed the change in the battle situation. The performance of the Xishan Camp in this battle was quite satisfactory. After an hour and a half (three hours), the formation was not disordered, the casualties were not great, and the casualties were not small. Not to mention the Shenji Camp, it was one of the strongest armies in the world.

"Notify all cavalry battalions to accompany the Shenji Battalion and press forward to press the enemy in front. If the enemy fights, then fight. If the enemy retreats, then the cavalry will pursue. Remember that the cavalry cannot pursue too deep, so as not to stray too far from the main formation and be surrounded!"

The wartime deployment could only be entrusted to the two commanders. In the real battle, Jia Lian had no way of giving orders. Even if he could, he dared not give orders randomly, for fear of becoming a master of micro-manipulation and losing his hair.

After the order was issued, the cavalry that had penetrated deep into the formation were cleared out, and the Shenji Battalion reorganized and advanced forward in a battle formation. If the enemy does not come to us, we will go to the enemy.

Seeing that the Shenji Camp, which was mainly composed of infantry, could only advance little by little on foot, Jia Lian was actually quite troubled. This tactic would be the norm for a long time in the future! If you want to improve mobility, the most effective way is to improve weapons and create breech-loading rifles.

Thinking of the breech-loading rifle, Jia Lian suddenly thought of a revolver. I already have a percussion cap, so why didn't I think of a revolver? The range and lethality are insufficient, so I should increase the caliber.

It's not that Jia Lian hadn't thought about smokeless gunpowder, but he didn't dare to think about it. The easiest thing to think of is nitroglycerin. Not to mention that this thing itself is unstable, Jia Lian has no idea what kind of diatom mud is needed as a stabilizer after it is made. It was just that when he was studying, he took a look at some information about how dangerous this thing was. If Nobel had had worse luck, the whole family would have been reunited long ago. There is also the purification of nitric acid. This thing is not pure enough, and there is only one result in the chemical reaction, BOOM.

The description in "Mysterious Island" is suicide in the eyes of chemistry dogs.

Thinking of this, Jia Lian couldn't help but worry about the wild chemist at home. It would be a pity if Bi Daoxing also BOOM.

Speaking of chemists, thinking of the explosion of modern science and technology, Jia Lian couldn't help but frown slightly. He couldn't continue to hide. After returning to Beijing, he must take action and start a school!
You can't wait until you enter the cabinet to engage in academic research. It will be too late to cultivate talents by then. When you return, you must give all the scholars in the world some shock from science!

"Commander-in-chief, the enemy is retreating!" Jia Lian, who was distracted, was brought back to reality by the news brought back by the messenger.

Looking through the telescope, the cavalry was advancing slowly along with the main formation, and the enemy's rearguard troops were also continuously retreating. The two wings of the Xishan camp were merely confronting the enemy's rearguard troops in front of them without launching any attack.

This resulted in the Shenji Camp not daring to press too hard and could only maintain a relatively safe distance to avoid being outflanked by the cavalry on both wings.

There is still a lack of coordination training!
Jia Lian could only sigh like this, and at the same time ordered: "That's it, keep a safe distance. Let the Night Guards and the mixed camp of family generals take the initiative to move forward and use bullets to scratch the enemy's rearguard troops!"

It's not that he didn't think about just pushing forward at full speed, but Jia Lian didn't have much capital, and with only one Shenji Battalion, he really didn't dare to take risks. The previous head-on battle was a risk. However, he didn't have enough cavalry, so it was difficult to effectively pursue the grassland army that was all cavalry. After returning, military reforms must be carried out, at least the Beijing Battalion must abandon the cold weapon troops and increase the cavalry troops.

Once the cavalry is equipped with rifles, they are no longer traditional cavalry, but more mobile infantry. If they can find a way to make a small cavalry cannon with a metal shell to accompany it, the combat effectiveness will be increased geometrically.

Speaking of which, because the Central Plains Dynasty has a vast territory from east to west and north to south, the troops suitable for fighting in the north may not be suitable for fighting in the south. I hope that after summarizing this battle, Emperor Chenghui is willing to spend a lot of money to completely reorganize the three major camps under the Beijing Camp and the Imperial Horse Administration.

Speaking of which, Jia Lian now deeply hates that he is not a science student, otherwise he can do more things. Of course, he may also become an ancient scientific research dog and be squeezed out of the core of power.

It would be very difficult to do anything if you leave the core of power.

Although there were only more than 500 cavalrymen in total, the mixed battalion equipped with carbines was very arrogant. If you are not retreating slowly, then I will force you forward. If I feel unsafe at 100 steps, then I will fire at 200 steps. I don't care about the hit rate, I will just shoot at the cavalry. If you want to chase me, I will turn around and run.

This tactic was very effective. Although the results of each shooting were not great, and each person could only hit a hundred targets at most, it was still effective. At the beginning, the King of Chahar wanted to show his bravery and ordered his most elite personal battalion to attack. However, the enemy did not fight at all and just turned around and ran away. You dared not chase too far.

When you turn around and retreat, the bullhide will catch up with you again and start scraping and shooting you again.

After three rounds, the Chahar army's formation loosened, and after three more rounds, the entire formation was scattered. Li Ni saw that the situation was not good and immediately ordered: "Everyone retreat, no need to cover, the enemy can't catch up."

Once they retreated, it would be very difficult to organize and fight again. Jia Lian, who had been observing the battlefield, did not need to give any orders. The 5,000 cavalrymen accompanying the Shenji Camp immediately began to speed up and pursue the fleeing enemy.

If they can't even seize this opportunity, the captains of the cavalry battalions can go home and take care of their children.

All we can say is that at this time in the war, the officers at the front had a high degree of autonomy.

A drama of rout and pursuit began. The Chahar tribe, who had no intention of fighting, fled backwards, ignoring the loss of horsepower, and retreated to Zhangjiakou as quickly as possible.

The Shenji Camp and the Xishan Camp left some people behind to clean up the battlefield, and the main force reorganized and continued to pursue. It didn't matter if they couldn't catch up, the important thing was to get close to Zhangjiakou and force the enemy to fight again.

The various grassland tribes can choose not to fight, but if they really give up Zhangjiakou, the scope of activities of the entire grassland expeditionary force will be greatly compressed.

It would have been fine if it was like the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Ming army retreated into the city and dared not fight in the field. But now it is the other way around, and the grassland cavalry does not dare to engage in a head-on battle. They were scared after being defeated once.

This fear is not simply because of the huge casualties that make them afraid to fight again, but because there are serious differences and contradictions among the four major tribes. No one is willing to take risks with their main force and give an advantage to their competitors.

No matter how hard the left army pursued, it would definitely not catch up with the enemy. The cavalry's maximum pursuit only achieved the result of less than a thousand people.

Normally, after a head-on attack, the Lindan and Chahar tribes, which were not seriously injured, could continue fighting. However, after King Lindan's words, it was impossible for them to continue fighting.

This incident exposed not only the conflicts among the various tribes on the grassland, but more importantly, it exposed Li Ni's foundation in the grassland, which was extremely unstable.

Li Ni, who withdrew to Zhangjiakou, called Bahama and Wen Naxing to discuss in the middle of the night. No one knew what they discussed, and few people even knew that the three had this late-night discussion.

Jia Lian, being cautious, stopped advancing ten miles away from Zhangjiakou. Although it was still early, he still ordered to set up camp on the spot. The subsequent baggage troops caught up with them. Part of the army maintained a combat posture, while another part joined the camp. The night guards and the family generals joined together and tried to move forward as far as possible, wishing to get under the city wall to scout the enemy. However, the grassland cavalry came out to drive them away twice, and they became quiet after harvesting dozens of corpses.

"Sir, after just one failed charge, Li Ni ordered the entire army to retreat in case Li Ni was cheating." General Sun was still very cautious. Although the results of the battle had not yet been counted, a great victory was certain.

Although General Sun did not say it explicitly, Jia Lian knew that he was advising him to retreat a distance before setting up camp. This was too close. In just ten miles, the cavalry easily completed the encirclement.

"You also know the news from the court. Now we are not afraid of the enemy's encirclement, but the enemy's fear of encirclement. Our army will focus on Zhangjiakou! As long as the reconnaissance is done well, there will be enough time for the switch from offense to defense."

Although Jia Lian was arbitrary, he still patiently gave an explanation. The differences of opinion between generals during wartime is itself a huge hidden danger, and it is necessary to unify the ideas.

After thinking about the mixed response's domineering long-range precision shooting that would make the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry dare not move, Commander Sun approved Jia Lian's order.

He kept repeating to himself that after returning, he must completely abandon the original combat mode and copy the homework of the Shenjiying.

After seeing the tactics of the Shenji Battalion, General Sun was completely convinced. Although casualties were inevitable, the Shenji Battalion's casualty ratio today reached 30 to 1. In contrast, the Xishan Camp's casualty ratio was barely 3 to 1. The statistics of the results have been sent to the central army camp, a total of more than 2,300 enemies were killed, of which the Shenji Battalion killed 1,800 enemies, 30 of them were killed, 50 were seriously injured, and 520 were slightly injured. In contrast, the Xishan Camp killed 500 enemies and suffered 300 casualties, which did not include the injured enemies who ran back, so it is impossible to count them specifically.

The killings and injuries of the Shenji Camp were all documented by the corpses. These killers were truly ruthless. Simply because an injured enemy who was not dead yet ambushed and injured one person, they ordered not to take any prisoners.

The mixed battalion's achievements during the pursuit were counted as part of the entire cavalry's achievements. In this battle, a total of more than 3,300 people were captured, no prisoners were taken, and there were no casualties on its own.

The casualties of just over 3,000 were not worth mentioning for the entire grassland army. However, it shook the foundation of cooperation between the grassland headquarters and severely hit the fighting spirit of the two major tribes. You know, today's casualties seemed small, and the losses were all the bravest soldiers. Those who ran back halfway did not have the opportunity to rush into the enemy's formation to face the hollow square formation.

(PS: I would like to emphasize that modern cavalry combat is never like in movies and TV shows, where the two armies bravely charge and intertwine. The above is not nonsense, but a summary of the Napoleonic Wars. During the entire Napoleonic Wars, the only record of large-scale intertwining of cavalry on both sides was achieved once by the Austrian cavalry and the French cavalry.)
The camp was still busy after nightfall, especially the camp for the wounded soldiers, which was filled with the smell of garlic. Without antibiotics, they could only use strong alcohol to soak garlic paste, which every wounded soldier had to drink.

The wound is also cleaned with strong liquor. The exact alcohol content cannot be measured, so I just estimated it.

Compared to the camp for wounded soldiers, other camps were filled with the aroma of meat. The big pots were filled with horse meat. Whether it tasted good or not was not important, it was fresh meat.

The meat comes from the dead and injured war horses. The war horses with minor injuries are all bandaged and well taken care of. These war horses are all good war horses.

This large-scale attack from the grasslands has fully exposed the slack in the armaments of the three border tribes, necessitating a large-scale reorganization.

The number of people can be reduced a little, but we must ensure that there are enough elite troops, good enough equipment, and enough cavalry.

There was no need to rush into this matter, so Jia Lian could only take note of it silently and report it in detail when he returned to see the emperor.

In the early hours of the morning, Jia Lian, who had just fallen asleep, was awakened. He looked at the person who came in a daze and said, "Second Master, wake up quickly. There is a fire in the city."

(End of this chapter)