I want to be emperor

Chapter 537 Hauge's Doubt and Shock
Four or five kilometers to the north of Zhongqian, more than [-] Chu cavalry and several thousand cavalry artillery, heavy soldiers and other auxiliary forces are engaged in a brutal fight with [-] Donghu cavalry.

This is a super-large-scale cavalry hedging battle that has not been seen for many years. Even when the Dongyao people conquered Monan Mongolia before, although there were many cavalry on both sides, they still did not fight such a large-scale cavalry. hedge.

After all, traditional cavalry and archery mostly focus on small and medium-sized cavalry operations and cover infantry operations. Cavalry with more than tens of thousands of cavalry directly hedge against large-scale cavalry. This situation is actually very rare.

Not to mention, in this cavalry battle, both sides used a lot of cavalry cannons and muskets, which is different from a cavalry battle in the traditional sense.

In terms of intensity and even the ratio of casualties, it is far more than the traditional cavalry battles in East Asia in the past.

The reason why such a large-scale and tragic cavalry battle can occur is because the strength of the two warring parties is strong enough.

One side is the Great Chu Empire that has just unified the customs and dominated China, and the Great Chu Empire has a national power far exceeding that of traditional dynasties. Its strong original industrial production capacity, tax collection ability, and even its control over the grassroots are far from It is not comparable to the traditional feudal dynasty.

On the other side, they are the strong ones among the barbarians. After decades of fighting, the Dongbang people have devoted almost all their talents to war. Fight with the Ming army.

At the same time, they not only fought against the Ming army, but also launched wars of conquest against North Korea many times, and finally conquered North Korea. The three tribes of Mobei Mongolia and several tribes of Moxi Mongolia were forced to surrender.

Therefore, don't think that the Eastern Captives in the late Ming Dynasty were just a small force in the Liaodong area. In fact, their control area is huge.

Especially in the past few years after Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, he not only controlled the vast Northeast and even the outer Xing'an Mountains, but also actually controlled the Korean Peninsula and the wider Monan Mongolia.

Their actual control area is huge.

Therefore, the current Dongyao people, the army they can organize is not small. After all, the Dongyao people and the Monan Mongolia under their control belong to the system of all people, and they can pull out 10,000+ people in normal times. If the mobilization scale is larger, it will be able to pull out 10,000+ people.

One is a new civilized power, and the other is a barbaric power that has been mixed for decades. Naturally, sparks will fly when the two fight, and the scale will not be so small.

Some small and medium-scale battles between the two sides in the past two years were just a prelude. After the start of the Liaoxi Battle that will determine the outcome, both the Great Chu Empire and the Eastern Captives have invested a lot of main force.

Specifically, in the battle of Guangning Zhongqian, because the gains and losses of this city will directly affect the subsequent situation of the entire Liaoxi Corridor, neither side in the war will be sloppy.

The Chu army used all their strength from the beginning, and 10,000+ troops were killed.

The Dongyao people also concentrated their troops and emergency reinforcements around the Guangning Zhongqian. In order to defend the Guangning Zhongqian, the Dongyao in this direction directly gave up the small frontier fortresses such as Balipu and directly concentrated a large number of troops here. In just two or three days, the former guards of Guangning sent tens of thousands of cavalry reinforcements.

And there are more troops converging towards this area. It is estimated that in a few days, the other troops from the former Tunwei side, and even the troops from Jinzhou, will arrive in the Zhongqian area one after another.

At that time, the combined strength of the two sides here may exceed 30.

But there is a premise for this, that is, the East Captive garrison of the Zhongqian Institute can resist the fierce offensive of the Chu army in the early stage.

If the battle is defeated before the arrival of reinforcements, then for the Dongyao people, the entire situation in western Liaoning may collapse quickly.

Under such circumstances, there was this cavalry battle in the northern suburbs of Zhongqian.

Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa couldn't help frowning as he looked at the main cavalry of the First Cavalry Army who had also shown their defeat in front of them.

These Eastern captive cavalry on the opposite side are really hard to fight!
There are well-founded advances and retreats, and the mobilization of troops is also extremely flexible. More importantly, they have more cavalry.

And not long ago, it directly defeated the third cavalry brigade on the northern wing battlefield, forcing him to transfer the fifth cavalry brigade as a strategic reserve to step forward for reinforcements.

The Fifth Cavalry Brigade went up, which stabilized the situation on the north wing and bought enough time for the retreating Third Cavalry Brigade to regroup.

But even so, at least hundreds of cavalry were lost on the north wing, and even the dozen or so cavalry guns deployed at the front were also damaged.

Even because of the rush of time, the gunners didn't even have time to blow up all the cavalry cannons before they retreated. That is to say, if there were enough artillery crews on the opposite side, it might not take long for them to drag their own cavalry cannons.

On the battlefield of the Chinese army, the situation is also not good. The number of cavalry on our side is still a little less, and the traditional cavalry of the Great Chu Empire is inherited from the Ming army, which is not very strong in the first place. The cavalry is still inferior in terms of skills and tactics. one chip.

That is to say, with better equipment, more artillery power of one's own side and the cover of the infantry, the situation can be barely maintained.

But this kind of reluctant maintenance is destined to not last for too long.

Just a few minutes ago, more than [-] cavalry, the main force of the Dongyao people, suddenly rushed out, forcing the fourth cavalry brigade, the main traditional cavalry of the Chu army, to face it head-on.

However, what I didn't expect was that the Dongyao people on the opposite side were very cunning. They even dispatched more than a thousand cavalry from the flanks while their main cavalry was entangled. Directly rushed to attack their own artillery positions.

If Zhu Xingfa hadn't sent the two supply regiments up in advance and organized the defense line in time to stop the opposite side, I am afraid that his own artillery positions would have been greatly damaged.

Although the interception won this time, and even left at least hundreds of dead or wounded cavalrymen, it also sounded the alarm for Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa.

When one's own cavalry cannot intercept the opponent's cavalry, then the Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side can prevent the second, third or even more attacks. Line phalanxes cover artillery positions.

But the infantry only had two legs, while the cavalry had four legs. If they tried a few more times and ran two more steps, sooner or later they would be able to find an air strike under the cover of the heavy soldiers and destroy the artillery position.

Once the artillery position loses the fire cover of dozens of artillery pieces, it will be even more difficult for the cavalry to fight.

If this situation continues, I'm afraid it will be a big trouble.

And when will the cavalry detachment of the Guards come?

Zhu Xingfa once again looked to the south!

----

On the other side of the battlefield, Hauge watched the battle ahead with a calm expression.

In his line of sight, more than ten thousand cavalry from his own side were divided into more than a dozen groups, and they took turns attacking the Chu Manzi on the opposite side!

Among them are the large-scale cavalry of thousands of cavalry, the more elite cavalry used to contain the Chu barbarians, and the cavalry of hundreds or more than a thousand cavalry, constantly wandering on the battlefield looking for opportunities.

Just now, a group of Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry under his command found an opportunity and charged directly at Chu Manzi's artillery position, almost killing Chu Manzi's artillery position.

Unfortunately, I don't know whether Chu Manzi on the opposite side made careful arrangements in advance, or just caught up. Thousands of musketeers rushed out from the back of the dwarf mountain where they deployed their artillery, and repelled their own people after an emergency formation. cavalry, and also caused hundreds of casualties.

But even though he was repelled once, Hauge was still in a good mood.

The main cavalry of our own side has already entangled several large-scale cavalry on the opposite side, and the cavalry of the partial division can only enter once, so it means that they can enter for the second time and the third time... Chu Manzi's thousands of infantry You can defend the front, but you can't stand the flanks, and you can defend the flanks, but you can't defend the rear!
The greatest advantage of cavalry against infantry is mobility.

If it doesn't work once, it will come a second time, and the direction will be changed. However, as long as they find a chance and succeed once, it is enough to disintegrate their defense.

Once their dozens of cannons are eliminated, the pressure on the main force on the frontal battlefield will be much less, and it will be easier to fight by then.

He is absolutely sure of this battle!

Before the full-scale attack began, he had seen Chu Manzi's cavalry with his own eyes, whether it was maneuvering or actual combat, and he had a better understanding of them, and he ordered the entire army to attack.

Although there will inevitably be casualties in this battle, and even the casualties will be relatively large, but if Chu Manzi's main cavalry can be killed, it will be worthwhile.

Chu Manzi didn't have many cavalry in total, and there were only [-] to [-] cavalry in Shanhaiguan, and it was estimated that only [-] cavalry could fight.

As long as these ten thousand cavalry are killed, even if one is exchanged for one, it will be worthwhile for one's side to lose more than half of its troops.

Because at that time, the main force of the infantry and artillery of the Chu Manzi who lost the cover of the cavalry will be the turtle in the urn. Maybe they will be able to defeat or even annihilate the 10,000+ army of the Chu Manzi in one go.

As long as this battle is won, it may be difficult to enter the customs in the future. After all, Shanhaiguan is not easy to fight, and they lack the ability to attack.

However, defeating this main force can at least keep Liaoxi safe for several years or even ten years.

In the follow-up, the Qing Dynasty could even turn around and concentrate its forces to kill the Chu barbarians in the Liaodong Peninsula, and concentrate their forces to stabilize the situation in Monan Mongolia.

In this way, the crisis that the Qing Dynasty is now facing will naturally be resolved.

As the eldest son of Huang Taiji, Hauge is very familiar with the difficult situation that the Qing Dynasty is facing today, and he also understands that whether the situation is broken or not, the focus is not on Monan Mongolia, let alone Liaodong, but on the Liaoxi Corridor.

In the battle situation in the Liaoxi Corridor, Zhongqian is very important, and whether Zhongqian can defend it is very important to what his cavalry can do.

If you win, it's hard to say anything!
Losing... I'm afraid the situation will take a turn for the worse, even worse than before.

In this battle, Hauge will not lose, nor can he lose!
However, it didn't take long for Hauge's face to change dramatically!
"Your Highness, the south... the left wing in the south has been defeated!"

"Three thousand elite riders were directly dispersed by Chu Manzi..."

When Hauge heard this, he couldn't help mentioning the out of breath cavalry with one hand, and said with a sullen face: "How could it be possible to lose? The three thousand cavalry on the left wing are all selected from my Eight Banners." Carefully selected elites. How could they be scattered at once.”

The cavalryman who got it back quickly said: "The little one didn't speak, it's true, the little one watched them rush over with his own eyes, and the Chumanzi cavalry on the opposite side were dressed differently from the ordinary Chumanzi. Bright armor!"

"Impossible... Absolutely impossible!" At this moment, Hauge still couldn't believe that his left-wing elite cavalry was defeated by Chu Manzi's cavalry in a single charge, and they were the kind of routs!
Moreover, tens of thousands of cavalry were fighting, and they were defeated so quickly. It was so fast that Hauge had no time to get the news, and he was already defeated in front of him.

According to Hauge's common sense, the cavalry should roam around mobile, constantly looking for the opponent's flaws, go up and shoot a wave of arrows when they find an opportunity, and then retreat and look for opportunities to go up and shoot arrows.

Directly rushing up to fight... This kind of thing usually happens when chasing the enemy's rout, or attacking the enemy's rear position, or in a small-scale cavalry battle, or even in some special circumstances.

The cavalry confrontation on the north wing was already rare before, but even so, the confrontation between the two sides was actually limited to a few hundred people.

Even so, before the two sides fought each other, they shot arrows at each other, and after entering the melee, they broke away quickly, and then thousands of people from both sides entered the traditional cavalry combat mode... wandering, looking for opportunities to rush up and shoot arrows, and retreat Form a team, and then do it again... Only when the enemy can't hold on to the defeat, will he rush to chase and kill, but even if it is to chase and kill, he usually chases and shoots arrows, and it is rare to say that he chases and continues to chop people with a saber...

However, the person who reported the news said that the cavalry of the Chu Manzi in the south didn't even have bows and arrows, and they didn't even use muskets. Instead, they rushed over with spears and sabers at the beginning of the battle, forcing the cavalry of the Eastern captivity It is also directly facing the hedge with a saber or a spear...

And then... the three thousand elite cavalry on the left wing in the south lost for no reason.

The more Hauge listened, the more he couldn't understand. He even once suspected that the man in front of him was a spy of Chu Manzi, who came to deliberately disturb the morale of the army.

However, soon he saw a team of his own cavalry cavalry appeared in the south!

No, this is not a team, but a group of Dongyao cavalry... because they don't have the slightest formation to speak of, they just bury their heads in their horses and run wildly, wishing to let their horses run at full speed.

If you take a closer look, you will find that many of these Eastern captive cavalry have no weapons or helmets in their hands. Desperately urging the horse to run wildly, regardless of the exhaustion of the horse.

Even if he only took a glance from a distance, the experienced Hauge could see that this group of rout soldiers must be followed by pursuers.

Is this still the three thousand elite riders on the left wing under his command?
That's the three thousand elite cavalry who are considered first-class and elite in the Eight Banners. Why have they become so embarrassed?

Could it be...the Chu barbarian cavalry in the south are really so powerful?
Horrified, Hauge quickly ordered the more than [-] cavalry who had just assembled to attack the artillery positions of the Chu army to go south urgently.

They went south, not to meet their own rout, but mainly to prevent the Chu Manzi cavalry from the south from attacking their flanks.

I don't dare to say whether the cavalry of the Chu Manzi is strong or how they defeated the three thousand elite cavalry on the left wing in the south, but there is no harm in taking precautions early.

It's just that after [-] cavalry were transferred to the south to face the battle, it would be difficult to take down Chu Manzi's artillery positions.

After all, Chu Manzi's artillery is still very powerful. If the stalemate continues, many cavalry on one's side will be killed or injured by the opponent's artillery.

The doubts in Hauge's mind didn't last long. It didn't take long before a group of more than a hundred cavalrymen appeared on the top of a gentle slope to the south.

These cavalrymen carried muskets on their backs, held sabers in their hands, and continued to chase the Dongyao routs in front at a leisurely speed... You know, there are five or six hundred Dongbang routs ahead, which is several times larger than them. However, he didn't even have the courage to stop and fight.

It's just that they soon knew why they ran away, because behind the hundreds of Chu barbarian cavalry, several teams appeared one after another, and the total number was hundreds of cavalry.

And this is not over yet, there are still a large number of Chu Manzi cavalry coming slowly behind, but the latter group are all leading the horses, and the speed is not fast.

These Chu Manzi cavalry are indeed different from the Chu Manzi cavalry I have seen before. The most obvious thing is the armor on their bodies...all of them are shining... even, a little dazzling!

The cavalry-transformed light bust armor attached to the two hussar regiments of the Guards, although the protective performance is poor, it is also made of plate armor, which is different from the cloth face armor of ordinary cavalry. The most obvious appearance is that it is shining It is bright, because the plate armor has been polished when it is made.

However, the Chu army has a large number of hundreds of thousands of various types of cloth face armor, and the outer layer is cloth, and it is still a monotonous gray cloth face in the Chu army. Well, it looks like it's all gray.

In the early days, many gentry scholars in the outside world, and even the official documents of the Ming court, often referred to the Chu army as a "grey thief", because the general uniforms of the Chu army officers and soldiers were gray, and the cloth covering of the armor was still gray...

There is a huge difference between the gray cloth face armor and the polished plate armor. As long as you are not blind, you can basically see it at a glance. These Chu Manzi cavalry are absolutely different from ordinary Chu Manzi cavalry.

Hauge is no exception!

After seeing this group of Chu barbarian cavalry appear, Haoge said to himself with doubts: "Is this most of the body wearing steel armor?"

"Is it the heavy cavalry from Chu Manzi?"

When Hauge saw these hussars, he thought they should be heavy cavalry at first glance, because the armor on them was so eye-catching!
From the outside, the thickness of the plate armor can't be seen... And at first glance, it looks like a large piece of steel armor that blinds the eyes, let alone Hauge, other people who are not familiar with plate armor at first glance Looking at the past, you will feel that these are heavy armors.

But in fact, the cavalry-specific half-body plate armor these hussars equip, in order to control the weight and ensure a certain protective area, the thickness is very impressive...

However, Hauge couldn't see these things!
"No wonder the three thousand fine riders on the left wing couldn't hold back for even a moment in the hedge!"

"However, since the opponent is a heavy cavalry, why did the left wing confront them directly? Idiots know that heavy cavalry can't run, they hang from a distance, and they can win ten times in ten fights. Why did they charge up before? "

"A bunch of bastards!"

Hauge now felt that it might be the idiots who led the troops, maybe because they underestimated the enemy, or because they were too confident, so they brought their own group of cavalry and light cavalry, and the heavy cavalry from Dongyao came here once. hedge.

The result was a fiasco!

-

On Hauge's side, he was extremely annoyed by the appearance of the guard cavalry detachment, and when he was forced to hastily mobilize his troops, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa, who was opposite him, looked at the guard cavalry detachment that finally arrived and laughed.

"You are finally here!"

At this time, standing in front of him was a major of the guards who galloped over to report the news, and saw the major of the guards say: "Following up, our guard cavalry will directly attack the enemy's rear. Please also ask your department to conduct shelling in advance to provide us with fire support, and launch a counterattack to contain a certain amount of enemy troops!"

Zhu Xingfa still smiled and said: "There is no problem with the cooperation. Later, I will personally order to mobilize most of the firepower to support you. Before you launch an attack, we will launch a counterattack to contain the opponent!"

"However, there are still a lot of troops at the rear of the opponent's side. Look, that group of cavalry is heading towards you. According to visual estimates, there are more than two thousand cavalry. Are you sure about the guards?"

The young guard of the guards was confident: "My boss said, no matter what, our guards will charge forward, and the other party will definitely not be able to stop us!"

As he said that, the man continued: "Just now, my guards had just charged and fought once, and the opponent's three thousand fine cavalry were completely defeated in one charge, and our casualties were only dozens, and the opponent's casualties were hundreds. All run away in embarrassment!"

Zhu Xingfa had also seen the drills of the Guards, and even the reports of many new cavalrymen of the Guards. Although he was still a little confused about the results of the battle, he still believed it.

"Okay, then I'll wait for your signal!"

After the guards young man changed another batch of horses and galloped away, Zhu Xingfa quickly ordered some artillery units to slow down first, let the gun barrels cool down a bit, and prepare before the guards charged. , a rapid-fire fire support.

At the same time, an order was issued to make the cavalry of all units under his command, especially the [-]th Cavalry Brigade, prepare for a counterattack.

This time, he, Zhu Xingfa, is going to make a comeback and win a big victory!
He is looking forward to the defeat, and it is best to wipe out a large number of the main cavalry of the Eastern captives on the opposite side.

If we don't get rid of this Eastern captive cavalry, we can't talk about a smooth and safe eastward march, let alone kill Jinzhou or even Shenyang.

Perhaps, in this battle, he can still capture a few big prisoners, preferably a prince, county king or something from Dongyaoren.

When the time comes, hang them directly above the city gate to dry...

All kinds of dignitaries in the Ming Dynasty, whether they were clan nobles or high-ranking official families, he had done a lot of work, but he hadn't tried to kidnap the dignitaries from the east.

Thinking of this, Zhu Xingfa couldn't help squinting his eyes to look at the Dongyao people's queue ahead. There must be high-ranking Dongyao people there.

He is looking forward to it!
(End of this chapter)