I want to be emperor

Chapter 526 Sharp and easy to break
Five kilometers east of Shanhaiguan, Balipu!

This is a small fortress that is occupied by the Eastern captives and is the closest to the front line of Shanhaiguan.

Two years earlier, the captives recruited Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui to surrender. After marching into the Liaoxi Corridor, they galloped all the way west, trying to rush to Shanhaiguan before the Chu army.

But still one step too late!
The Dongyao people managed to kill more than ten kilometers east of Shanhaiguan. Seeing that they could reach Shanhaiguan in only one day, the Chu army took Shanhaiguan and built fortifications overnight.

On the second day, the Dongyao people continued to advance westward. After entering Balipu, they used Balipu as a forward support point and launched a large-scale attack on Shanhaiguan. They wanted to take advantage of the Chu army's capture of Shanhaiguan. Defeat the Chu army, and then seize Shanhaiguan.

But they didn't expect that the Chu army only spent one night to initially build the fortifications and deployed a large number of artillery. In the end, the Dongyao people paid heavy casualties and still failed to shake the Shanhaiguan defense line.

Then they were forced to retreat to Guangning Zhongqian, but although the main force of the Dongyao people retreated, there were still many troops staying in Balipu.

After all, this is an extremely important outpost, even if it cannot be used as the core defense system against the eastward advance of the Chu army, but as an outpost, it is used to monitor the movement of the Chu army and detect the enemy's movement as early as possible when the Chu army is attacking on a large scale. And it is also very valuable to slightly block the advancing speed of the Chu army, and gain time for defensive deployment for the rear center and front.

Therefore, the Dongbang people left several thousand troops here for garrison, and there were quite a few cavalry.

The subsequent Chu army did not launch a large-scale attack in this direction, while the Dongyao people took advantage of the time to continue to strengthen the fortifications of Balipu.

So much so that this small village-like place has become a fortress that can garrison thousands of troops and has solid fortifications at the same time.

According to the information previously detected by the Chu army, there are at least 3000 Dongren soldiers deployed here, and these 3000 people are very special. They are not infantry or artillery in the traditional sense, but cavalry.

And it's not a miscellaneous troop, but the elite of the Dongyao People's Headquarters full of Eight Banners!

These elites can ride and shoot when they are on horseback, and can fight in heavy armor when they are off their horses. They also have a relatively rare cavalry artillery unit in the Eight Banners.

The Dongyao people put this elite force at the forefront, and their strategic intentions are very obvious!
That is to use these elite cavalry to come back and defend freely.

If the Chu army has fewer troops to attack, then they will fight defensively!

Three thousand cavalry dismounted and put on armor to fight, that is, the most elite armored heavy infantry among the three thousand captives, and it was not a problem to block the small and medium-scale attacks of the Chu army.

It can even counterattack!

Three thousand cavalry rushed out, and if the Chu army on the opposite side did not have the corresponding cavalry to cover them, I am afraid they would suffer a big loss!
If the Chu army attacks on a large scale, then these three thousand cavalry can simply abandon Balipu, and then directly resume the cavalry combat method, threaten the strength of the Chu army through maneuvering flanks, compress the movement space of the Chu army's forwards, etc. All preparations take time.

Now, these Eastern captive cavalry are doing the same.

When they noticed that tens of thousands of cavalry from the Chu army were leaving the pass, followed by a large number of infantry and artillery, they immediately realized that the Chu army was about to launch a full-scale attack.

While urgently sending someone to send a message to the rear, they packed up their belongings and led the horses to withdraw from Balipu.

Before leaving, he did not forget to burn down the entire Balipu to avoid being used by the Chu army.

The Dongyao defenders in Balipu retreated cleanly. Although this gave the Chu army an undefended Balipu, it actually caused even more trouble for the Chu army.

After the three thousand cavalry gave up on Balipu, they didn't go far, just stayed by the side.

In this regard, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa, the forward cavalry of the Chu Army, the commander of the First Cavalry Army, has always been on high alert.

Although he was very confident that the three cavalry divisions under his command were enough to cover the flanks of the army, the Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side knew at a glance that they were elite.

As for things like elites, one cannot look at them with conventional eyes. If the combat power breaks out, you may suffer a loss.

Once one's own cavalry suffered a loss, the infantry, artillery, and even the large number of troops behind, facing the threat of a large number of cavalry captives from the east, would be unable to move an inch, let alone attack the central front.

In this regard, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa was very cautious, and directly dispatched the second cavalry division with the strongest combat effectiveness under his command to continue to monitor the Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side.

If the opponent wants to go around, stop them immediately. If the opponent doesn't take the initiative to attack or try to go around to the side, then don't worry about them.

Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa gave very serious instructions to the main generals of the [-]nd Cavalry Division, including Brigadier General Qi Lianghou, commander of the [-]th Cavalry Brigade: "We must keep in mind that our mission is not to kill or injure many enemy troops, nor to create such a great victory. , but to ensure that the main infantry, artillery and supply troops in the rear enter the battlefield smoothly and launch an attack on the enemy's city!"

"If we want to win this war and drive the Dongbang people back to the deep mountains and old forests, we must give full play to our infantry and artillery advantages."

"As for the cavalry, we must have a clear understanding. We are inferior to the opponent in terms of the number of cavalry, experience in cavalry, and the number and quality of horses!"

"On this point, you must have accurate and considerable cognition, and blind arrogance is absolutely not allowed!"

"As long as we successfully cover the infantry, artillery and supply troops to the front line, then we will win this war!"

"So, no matter what the circumstances, the sole priority must be to ensure the completion of strategic tasks!"

As he said that, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa looked at Brigadier General Qi Lianghou, commander of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade: "Old Qi, fight steadily this time, don't be too aggressive like before!"
Brigadier General Qi Lianghou nodded with a rare serious expression: "Don't worry, Commander, I understand!"

Qi Lianghou, Brigadier General of the Army, has a very hot temper. He even dared to scold General Zuo Yingzhe, the commander of the Third Army, when he was dissatisfied. directly crush the enemy.

This kind of fighting style has allowed him to lead his army to victory in many small and medium-scale confrontations with the Dongyao cavalry in the past two years, and beat the Mongolian cavalry controlled by the Dongyao people to the ground several times.

But this style of play is fine in small and medium-scale battles. After all, this kind of battle doesn't have a big strategic goal. When both sides are small-scale troops, the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road!

However, in such a large-scale battle with hundreds of thousands of troops on the surrounding battlefields, if the Fourth Cavalry Brigade continues to fight boldly as before, or even goes deep alone, it will be easy to be drawn into an ambush by the enemy, or be defeated by the enemy. Deliberately holding back and leading away, which in turn exposed a huge gap in one's own flank defense.

As a result, the rear infantry and heavy troops were directly threatened by the enemy cavalry!

Therefore, Zhu Xingfa focused on telling Qi Lianghou a few words!
In fact, he still feels very good about this person. Although he has a bad temper and doesn't know how to adapt, he really dares to fight and fight hard, and his fighting style is extremely brave.

Such a general leads troops, and even the Fourth Cavalry Brigade under his command has gradually developed this kind of brave fighting atmosphere.

And such a fourth cavalry brigade has also become a core main cavalry unit in the first cavalry army. Zhu Xingfa still counts on them to play a key role at critical moments.

But this is also a double-edged sword. If it is used well, it will be a sharp sword, but if it is not used well, it will be broken.

Now that Brigadier General Qi Lianghou's statement made Zhu Xingfa feel a little relieved.

Although this Qi Lianghou has one or another shortcoming, he still takes the overall situation into consideration on the whole, which is very good.

After instructing these few people, Zhu Xingfa sent the Second Cavalry Division up.

The Second Cavalry Division will not be too close to the enemy cavalry, but will stay at the side and rear, so as to guard against possible attacks by the enemy cavalry at the first time.

And he himself followed up with the [-]st Cavalry Division and the [-]rd Cavalry Division.

Sure enough, after the Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side voluntarily gave up on Balipu, they really had the idea of ​​attacking from behind.

He tried to maneuver quickly several times, trying to bypass the First Cavalry Army and go to the rear, but Zhu Xingfa responded calmly.

If there is a slight change in the enemy cavalry, the second cavalry division will go directly to block the enemy's route. At the same time, the two cavalry divisions in the rear are always paying attention and are ready to go up for reinforcements at any time.

Under such circumstances, although the enemy's [-] cavalry are elite, it is impossible to bypass them.

As for their forced breakthrough, they would fight the Second Cavalry Division as soon as possible, and then they would be caught in the outflanking attack of the three cavalry divisions of the First Cavalry Army in a short time.

The Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side are not stupid. Their generals are very clear-headed, and they have no intention of recklessly breaking through. Instead, they keep wandering around trying to find opportunities.

The Chu army cavalry is constantly maneuvering to intercept!

During this process, although there was no large-scale cavalry battle between the two sides, there were several small-scale cavalry battles.

Three of them were fought by the Second Cavalry Division, and to be precise, the cavalry sentry under the Fourth Cavalry Brigade.

The cavalry of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, influenced by Brigadier General Qi Lianghou's personal style, often fought very bravely in such small-scale battles!
Although in terms of riding skills, experience and even personal combat skills, the cavalry in the [-]th Cavalry Brigade was inferior to the Dongyao cavalry who had been battle-hardened and experienced on the opposite side.

However, in this small-scale battle, courage is actually more important.

In addition, the excellent national defense industry strength of the Great Chu Empire also gave the cavalry of the Chu Army better cavalry equipment.

The Fourth Cavalry Brigade is the main traditional cavalry and archery cavalry in the front line!
Naturally, their equipment is also the best. The sabers attached to the cavalry are all the best stainless steel sabers, and the bows and arrows are also carefully selected. Even the arrows used in the bows are fine. Made of steel, the armor-piercing ability of the heavy arrows is quite good.

Finally, the armor on them is also quite good.

This is the latest type of plate armor in the arsenal under the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire. Although it is only a light half body armor and basically has no protection against bullets, it is no problem to defend against bows and sharp weapons.

At the same time, while maintaining the same protection ability, this kind of armor is lighter than the previous cloth armor, which gives these cavalrymen better maneuverability.

Not only that, these cavalrymen went to the battlefield with two and a half catties of cavalry guns!

These two-and-a-half catty cavalry guns gave the cavalry of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade extremely favorable fire support. Several times, the enemy cavalry rushed over on the way, but they were killed and injured by the two and a half catty cavalry guns.

Sometimes the Dongbang people will retreat directly, and sometimes the Dongbang cavalry will bite the bullet and increase their speed at a longer distance, and even start sprinting at a distance of three to four hundred meters.

However, a premature sprint charge will greatly consume the physical energy of the horse, so that it will naturally fall into a disadvantage in the next confrontation with the Chu cavalry.

The three-year-style two-and-a-half-pound cavalry artillery of the Great Chu Empire was developed from the ordinary two-and-a-half-pound field artillery. The overall structure is similar, but the barrel is shorter, and the gun mount is also lightweight. resulting in a further reduction in weight.

Of course, the power and shooting accuracy at medium distances are also slightly reduced, but they are all within an acceptable range.

This three-year-style two-and-a-half catty cavalry gun can be pulled and galloped by one horse for short-distance maneuvers, and only two horses are needed for long-distance maneuvers.

Moreover, the design of the gun mount and the leading vehicle has also been specially optimized to enable faster and more convenient deployment to ensure that the cavalry cannons can be deployed and fired in the shortest possible time after the cavalry maneuvers in place.

After all, the maneuvering speed of the cavalry is too fast. If the opponent is also a cavalry, the speed of rushing up will be very fast, but it will not give the cavalry artillery much time to deploy.

And these three-year-style two-and-a-half catty cavalry guns can provide extremely powerful fire support to one's own cavalry in this small and medium-sized combat force.

The enemy's cavalry was still hundreds of meters away, and when they walked forward slowly at a walking speed, these cavalry artillery began to carry out long-distance coverage bombardment.

When the opponent enters 400 meters and starts to trot, the two-and-a-half catty cavalry guns will take advantage of the rate of fire of their fixed ammunition. A skilled gunner can fire three shells per minute, which is comparable to the two-pound gun used by a skilled shooter. Year-style flintlock.

When the enemy army enters 200 meters and is about to launch a sprint charge, the two-and-a-half catty cavalry guns will fire shotgun shells. After the shells are fired, each shell will emit many small iron balls, forming a large-scale coverage area. Kill the enemy's vital forces.

And because of the short distance, the hit rate is very high!
Therefore, when the enemy army enters 200 meters, the two-and-a-half catty artillery will often switch to shotgun shells.

The five-pound or nine-pound field guns will directly switch to shotguns to kill the opponent even after the enemy enters a distance of 300 meters.

At this medium and short distance, shotguns are better than solid bullets, and better than any grenade.

And now, the Dongbang cavalry in front were threatened by the shotgun shells fired by two and a half catties of field artillery!

A cavalry force of about 100 people began to enter the battlefield more than 600 meters away, trying to assault a cavalry post under the command of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade.

The cavalry sentries of the Chu army lined up to prepare for a counterattack, and at the same time the two cavalry cannons of the cavalry artillery unit launched shelling directly on the spot.

After being shelled, the Dongyao cavalry who had just trotted into the battlefield had to increase their speed, trying to quickly pass this distance, so as to avoid being called one by one by the Chu army cavalry artillery and unilaterally passively beaten.

Ever since... they started charging more than 400 meters away!

Just like this, he was also hit by shotgun shells from the cavalry artillery of the Chu army!
At the same time, they thought that they charged too early. When the cavalry of the Chu army charged back, the moment the two sides came into contact, the opponent's horses were almost exhausted.

In the following, the cavalry of both sides suffered a lot of casualties, but the casualties of the cavalry of the Chu army were only about half of the opponent's!
This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that when the cavalry of the two sides swept past and finished the hedge, the cavalry of the Chu army kept their speed, drew a small semicircle, turned around and rushed up with their knives. The cavalry horses can no longer run!
They can't charge in reverse, they can't even ride away!

Ever since, this Eastern captive cavalry was actively attacking, and when they fought against the Chu cavalry with comparable strength, they ended in failure!

More than half of them were lost on the spot, and only half of the cavalry fled in embarrassment. They were continuously chased and killed by the cavalry of the Chu army, and finally waited for the friendly cavalry to respond.

If there is no friendly army to respond, this cavalry of more than 100 cavalry may be wiped out.

In other words, when the cavalry post of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade was chasing the remnants of the enemy army, it almost ran into the ambush circle of the enemy cavalry. Outflank them.

Fortunately, I discovered it early, and when I saw that the momentum was not right, I turned around and ran away. Otherwise, the cavalry of the Chu army might have a big victory and a big defeat...

-

This sentry-level battle between the cavalry also declared that the two sides had entered a stage of fierce confrontation.

The Dongyao people no longer watched from afar, nor did they simply try to find opportunities by maneuvering, but rushed directly head-on.

It is impossible for the Eastern captive cavalry to watch the Chu army successfully enter the front of Daozhong. They must do something to delay the attack of the Chu army and provide time for the rear's defensive preparations and reinforcements.

Ever since, there was a small-scale cavalry attempting to take the initiative to assault.

On the one hand, it is to test the reality of the forward cavalry of the Chu army. If it is a soft persimmon, then it will be crushed directly;

Obviously, what they encountered this time was a stubble!

Although Brigadier General Qi Lianghou has shortcomings of one kind or another, he is really fierce in battle, and the soldiers he leads are also greatly affected by his personal style, and they are quite fierce in battle.

It's just that it's easy to get hotheaded... chasing a small-scale remnant enemy, and almost chasing them into the enemy's ambush circle.

You know, the actions of the cavalry from the Dongyao people are actually not very secretive. After all, the terrain is very flat, and at most there are some ups and downs. outflank.

As long as you raise your head and observe a little, you can basically find their traces hundreds of meters away.

It's a pity that the cavalry sentry of the Chu army was too high up at that time, and it was only when they got close to the range of about two to 300 meters that they discovered it.

If he didn't act decisively and run fast, he might be surrounded and suppressed!
This matter also alerted Zhu Xingfa: Qi Lianghou and his Fourth Cavalry Brigade are really not that easy to use.

This sword is sharp enough, but a little brittle and easy to break.

Immediately, he directly transferred Qi Lianghou and his Fourth Cavalry Brigade to the military headquarters of the First Cavalry Army, and in the name of serving as military guards, they belonged to him directly under his jurisdiction.

This sharp and easy-to-break sword has to be held directly in the hand, so that he can be at ease, otherwise he is worried that Qi Lianghou will send himself into the mouth of the Dongbao people if his mind gets hot...

-

That night, after a day of fighting, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa led his army to rest in a small existence a few kilometers east of Balipu. Not far in front of him, it was actually Guangning Zhongqian.

In the night, Zhu Xingfa also began to dictate while the adjutant wrote the battle report, emphasizing the several small-scale confrontations between the [-]th Cavalry Brigade and the enemy cavalry.

And according to the active surprise attack shown by the enemy cavalry after this evening, Zhu Xingfa judged that the enemy army at Zhongqian Institute is most likely not ready, otherwise the opponent cavalry would not be able to take such a big risk to launch directly Assault.

The enemy troops at the Central Front Office may not have been fully prepared, but this is extremely valuable information.

Of course, he is only reporting the actual situation and his inference.

But this is just an inference, and the specific situation is not known at all. As for the choice Zuo Yingzhe, the commander of the group army, will make after seeing the battle report, it is beyond his ability to interfere.

After writing the battle report, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa did not stay idle, but took advantage of the night to visit dozens of cavalrymen who were injured in today's battle!
In today's several small-scale battles, although the scale was not large, there were two consecutive hedging battles between the cavalry, and this kind of hedging battle, even if it won a complete victory, the casualties of one's own side would not be too high. small.

Dozens or even hundreds of war horses from both sides were engaged in a hedge, and if they were even slightly touched by the enemy's sword, it would be the result of injury.

What's more, there will often be melee after the hedge, and casualties are naturally inevitable in this case.

Therefore, in one day, the cavalry under his command had suffered nearly a hundred casualties, of which more than 30 were killed and more than 60 were injured.

Although these casualties, for many troops, those division commanders and army commanders didn't even bother to look at them, but Zhu Xingfa was different. He paid more attention to the situation of the wounded after the war.

So after the battle was over and he was busy with other things at night, he took the time to visit the wounded!

For some of them who were seriously injured, especially the disabled cavalry, this battle was over just one day after it started.

(End of this chapter)