The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 70 Morris Phalanx

The horse's hooves made a clacking sound, and every step brought up some mud.

Zhu Linmi frowned and looked at the hoof prints behind her. The horse's hoof dug out a lot of overwintering grass roots from the wet ground on the river bank.

He raised the binoculars again, and saw that the order to change the formation of the entire army had been executed, and the infantry brigade of the Dragon Guards in front had changed from a marching column to a three-row horizontal formation, ready to meet the sudden appearance of the enemy at any time. fire.

At the same time, if the enemy is cavalry, then the horizontal formation only needs the soldiers on both wings to turn [-] degrees, and it can quickly become a hollow phalanx that is most suitable for defending cavalry.

The cavalry troops walked on both sides of the formation with their swords out of their sheaths in their hands.It can not only cover the artillery on the two wings, but also facilitate the charge in groups.

The tarpaulin coats of all the cannons have been removed, and the artillerymen dismount and walk. As long as the rear wheels of the gun carriages are removed, they can be loaded and fired immediately.

But there was no sign of the Qing army in Zhu Linmi's sight.

The hussars patrolled within two miles of the main force at all times, but no one detected the presence of the enemy until the Dragon Guards had completely entered the depression.

Zhang Jiayu looked at the hussars patrolling on the slopes on both sides, and was very puzzled. Could it be that he was wrong, and there were no ambushes of the Qing army here at all?

He thought about it again, that's right, the Dragon Guards' morale in the Fuzhou battle had completely broken down the morale of the Qing army, and the Qing army in Guangxin Mansion really had no fighting spirit, so it's not surprising that they left Shangrao and fled.

At the same time, at the edge of the nearly dry river in the lower reaches of Luxi that the Dragon Guards had just bypassed, Ke Yongsheng was signaling to the Qing army with sticks in their mouths to keep quiet.

The "big net" he had carefully arranged for a long time finally waited until the fish of the Ming army jumped in. Obviously, the Ming army was dazzled by the series of victories since entering Guangxin Mansion, and at this time they were defenseless in Xiangrao's "empty city" "Rush away.

It's time for him to draw in his nets and catch the fish!

After the soldiers behind the Ming army passed overhead, he immediately ordered the brigade to get out of the river where they were hiding.

The battlefield he chose was on the only way to Shangrao, and no matter how carefully the Ming army walked along the Luxi River, it was extremely difficult to find troops hiding in the dry river.Not to mention that there are very dense withered and yellow reeds on the riverside, even if you get close to within ten steps, you can't see anyone on the opposite side.

Naturally, the large number of Qing troops that suddenly appeared on the river bank could not hide from the patrolling hussars of the Dragon Guards, and the sound of warning horns immediately sounded all around.

Ke Yongsheng turned his head and saw that more than a dozen cannons had been dragged up the river, and he couldn't help showing a smug smile. After a few days of careful arrangement, he saw that a big event could be accomplished—there are slopes on the left and right sides of the Ming army, although they are still relatively gentle. , but it will definitely take a lot of work to climb up.At this time, the army that I hid in the river valley was blocking behind them. After a while, the more than 20 cannons fired a volley, forgive them for not escaping even with their wings!
Almost at the same time, Zhu Linmi, who heard the horn alarm, immediately looked back through the binoculars, and saw a brigade of Qing troops lining up nearly a mile away.

You must not continue to run forward at this time!He knew very well how dangerous it was to leave his back to the Qing army.The enemy may not be able to kill many people after chasing after them, but no matter how high the morale of the troops is, it is very easy to collapse when they are chased and killed by the enemy behind them.

He immediately said to the herald: "Order the whole army to turn around and prepare to meet the enemy!"

"Yes!"

The infantrymen of the Dragon Guards who had already lined up in a horizontal line quickly stopped and turned around, and then the assault infantry in cotton armor ran from the back row to the front row. It took less than a minute for the formation of thousands of people to complete their turn.

The new type of gun carriage used by the Dragon Guards was originally used to transport the artillery with the muzzle facing backwards, so it didn't even need to turn around at this time.Well-trained artillerymen quickly removed the wheels on the breech bracket, pulled the horses away, and the artillery was ready to fire almost immediately.

Several artillery teams have already begun to estimate the distance of the enemy.

And in Zhu Linmi's telescope, the Qing army is rapidly forming a strange formation.

The phalanx in the center is composed of more than ten rows of Qing troops holding strange spears.The entire gun was more than four meters long, and more than a dozen branches more than a foot long protruded obliquely from the front half of the gun. A word immediately appeared in Zhu Linmi's mind - wolf's whisk.It was Qi Jiguang's wolf whisk!
At the rear of the two ends of the Wolf Whiskers phalanx are two smaller phalanxes of bird musketeers, and each phalanx is neatly arranged in five rows and five columns.

In the long strip formed by the wolf gunners and the bird gunners, everyone is three feet apart, and there are dozens of such mixed squares connected left and right, forming a long snake array about one mile away.

At first glance, this formation looks quite similar to the line infantry formation of the Dragon Guards, but it is a mixed formation of wolf gunners and bird musketeers, and the distance between soldiers is also much larger.

Zhu Linmei almost blurted out, "Morris Phalanx!"

What Ke Yongsheng commanded the Qing army to deploy was the combat formation invented by the Dutch military strategist Morris in the early [-]th century, which was a huge improvement over the Spanish phalanx that was popular in Europe at that time.He adapted the bloated Spanish phalanx into a flexible, fast and more powerful small mixed horizontal formation, and then used the small horizontal formation to form a narrow and long formation.

This formation was the embryonic form of the line infantry tactics that later dominated all battlefields in the world.

You must know that the Morris phalanx has only appeared in Europe for only three or forty years. For the Ming Dynasty, where information is blocked, Ke Yongsheng can be regarded as using the world's most advanced military tactics!
However, Ke Yongsheng's prototype of the line infantry tactics will face the fully developed line infantry a hundred years later.

After that, Zhu Linmi saw more than 20 artillery pieces on one side of the Morris phalanx preparing for firing.A tall triangular wooden frame was set up next to each cannon. Some Qing soldiers used ropes to go around the pulleys on the top of the wooden frame, one end was tied to the cannon, and more than a dozen people pulled the other end of the rope vigorously.The heavy gun barrel gradually left the ground.

It can be seen that these more than 20 artillery pieces are assembled into an artillery position, which is completely different from the traditional method used by the Ming army to sandwich the artillery between the gunners.

This is another new tactical idea that has recently appeared in Europe-the concentrated use of artillery.

Speaking of which, apart from the fact that you are a traitor, I really have to praise you as a hard-working general.Zhu Linmei shook her head with "regret", "But no matter how hardworking a horse is, it will never outrun the train."

He immediately ordered, "The artillery on the two wings crossed and fired at the Qing infantry phalanx at an oblique angle.

"The hussars covered the infantry's flanks.

"Heavy cavalry and dragoons slowly approached the Qing army from both sides, but could not attack until the enemy infantry phalanx collapsed.

"The infantry line advances to meet the enemy, ready to execute approaching shooting tactics!"

He put away his binoculars, looked at the neatly arranged "advanced" phalanx of the Qing army in the distance, and seemed to be talking to himself, "In more than half a century, someone will tell you that the best tactic to deal with the Morris phalanx is Line infantry."

　There is something more important.

　　Regarding the name of the protagonist that book friends often complain about, I put a vote on the top of the book review (brothers from the starting point, please reply to the top post of Hooligan~Third Post).I hope everyone can vote to decide whether to change the protagonist's name to Zhu Linming (historical name) in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)