In the history of Chinese warfare, there are many classic examples of winning more with less. For example, the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Weishui, Li Shimin's Battle of Luoyang, and so on. The commander of the successful side in these battles will be worshipped as a god by many later generals, because the winning side is ostensibly a bad hand and the winner is decided, but the end is a reversal against the wind, shocking, shocked, and eyeballs.

However, there is no fixed pattern for this kind of battle in which fewer win more, and the commanders concerned are often confused afterwards and do not know how they won. So in ancient warfare, was it useful to have a large number of people?

In fact, from the perspective of the entire history of warfare, the army is still very dominant because of its large numbers. The reason why less is more classic is because there are few cases, which is particularly rare.

In 1915, the British engineer Lanchester put forward the "Lanchester Equation", the equation is very complex, and the direct conclusion is that the strength of troops is the most intuitive condition for winning in wars, especially large-scale encounters.

Of course, this advantage may not necessarily determine the victory or defeat on the battlefield. Because the combat effectiveness of the army is not only determined by the number of people, but also often depends on the type of troops, formation, accidental factors, and so on.

For example, before the Northern and Southern Dynasties, stirrups and horse lances were popular, and the lethality of cavalry was much greater than that of infantry.

On the battlefield, the cavalry will attack and divide the ranks of the infantry, disrupt the original command sequence of the infantry formation, and cause the chaos of the infantry group or even the overall loss of control.

So, sometimes a small cavalry can defeat a huge number of infantry.

In the Battle of Shayuan during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty led 10,000 horses to meet Gao Huan's 200,000 army. As soon as the two sides came into contact, Yuwentai's numerical disadvantage was exposed. Unexpectedly, at this time, Li Bi, the commander of Yuwentai's right army, led the cavalry to charge the Eastern Wei army's large array, cutting the enemy formation with the advantage of speed and defense.

The bloody cavalry meets the infantry, just like a misplaced single in a basketball, causing the opponent to fall into chaos at once, and Gao Huan's army of 200,000 is easily crushed.

In addition, it is definitely not an easy task for a commander-in-chief to command a large army of tens of thousands of people in actual combat.

Due to the difficulty of communication in the ancient military formations, there were no mobile phones and telephones, and they could not post microblogs and moments of friends, so the soldiers' field of vision was limited, which could easily cause poor information and group tension. Qi Jiguang, a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, said: "If the foolish people lose their way for a while, it is difficult to recognize." "In the military array, it is easy for soldiers to become fools.

For example, in the battle of Weishui, a classic example of winning more with less, the two sides lined up across the water at the beginning, and there was no room for a decisive battle, and the Jin army proposed to let the former Qin army retreat a little, and the honest former Qin army really agreed. Unexpectedly, on the way back of the former Qin army, the Jin army slammed over, coupled with reactionary remarks such as "the Qin army is defeated" shouted by some people in the array, the soldiers of the former Qin army were panicked, and the former Qin army was about to collapse at the first touch, and the defeat was like a mountain.

Of course, the 800,000 troops of the former Qin army were defeated in the first battle, which is also related to the complexity of the composition of the army's soldiers. Although there are many people in this army, they are all patchwork, the cohesion of the army is poor, and the combat effectiveness can be imagined.

It can be seen that winning more with less is not actually mysterious, behind it is the result of a combination of external and internal factors. The fact that the army is large does not mean that it can be safely won, and the lack of troops does not mean that it is a death sentence.

Now Duoduo's Manchu, Mongolian and Han coalition forces have encountered the same as Fu Jian back then

The Qing army had more than 400,000 people, many of whom were of many ethnic groups, and communication was very inconvenient. The Manchurians were not bad, after all, there were less than 10,000 people, but the 20,000 Mongols were in trouble. These Mongols came from a variety of tribes, including the Korqin tribe, a staunch Manchu loyalist, and the Chahar tribe, a sworn enemy of the Manchu Qing. These Mongolians have evil intentions, and it would be nothing if the Manchus won all the way, but now that the Manchus have suffered defeat, the generals of the various Taiji departments can't help but have their own little calculations in their hearts.

The Han army banner is also 20,000 people, they come from the eight banners of the Han army, they do not have the problem of the Mongols, but they have become the most loyal subordinates of the Manchurians, but the number is too small.

The majority of the Qing army is the new annexed army, and these guys come from complex sources, including Gao Jie's Shaanxi Iron Cavalry, as well as Liu Zeqing's Shandong soldiers, Liu Liangzuo's Huai'an soldiers, and Wuchang soldiers who surrendered with Zuo Mengeng. Among them, the source of Zuo Menggeng's army is more complicated, including the liukou who surrendered from Li Zicheng, the local soldiers forcibly recruited in Wuchang, and the guards in Henan and Hebei. The soldiers came from the northern provinces of China, many with different accents.

The composition of the army was so complex that in order to prevent the new annexed army, the Manchu high-level officials were stationed in each ministry to command the new annexed army. This situation was not a big problem when the Manchus had the upper hand, but it became a big problem when it came to the current big defeat and retreat.

Duoduo's order was to retreat slowly, but there was a problem with Duoduo's order to convey to the various departments, and many of the Qing army generals did not understand Chinese, but where to find a translator at this time? Originally, those Han generals had the attitude that they had nothing to do with themselves, anyway, it was the problem of your Qing army generals, and it had nothing to do with us if something happened.

In this way, the orderly retreat at the beginning quickly turned into a rout, and tens of thousands of new annexed troops outside the Taiping Gate, carrying a small number of Manchurian Eight Banners and Mongolian Eight Banners, rushed all the way along the official road outside the Taiping Gate. During this rout, the rout encountered the reinforcements from the Xiaoling battalion, and these guys finally organized the formation according to Jin Shenghuan's orders, and were crushed by the soldiers who retreated from the front line as soon as they arrived at Taipingmen, and when they heard that the front line was defeated, these new annexed troops of more than 30,000 people joined the rout together.

The left side of the official road outside the Taiping Gate is Xuanwu Lake, the right side is Zhongshan, the road is not wide originally, now the Qing army of 50,000 or 60,000 people gathered in this place, and for a time formed the scene in the city, out can not go out, enter can not enter.

Ma Cheng in the city originally didn't expect this situation, at first he thought that it would be good to drive the Qing army out of the city, and he hurriedly organized the people to repair the city wall breach. But when Ma Cheng came to the city wall, he found that the Qing army just two miles away had this situation.

Ma Cheng saw that this was a big opportunity, and seized Luo Bingran beside him and asked, "Old Luo, what do you think is going on with these Tartars?" Why is it a mess? ”

Although Luo Bingran is not a general like Ma Bao and Zhang Guozhu, Luo Bingran knows the world very well, and immediately knows what happened to the Qing army after looking at it.

"Lord Junmen, these Tartars seem to be blocked on the official road!"

Ma Cheng nodded happily and said: "Lao Luo, you said a lot, now that the Tartars are in chaos, do you think we can use this opportunity to eliminate the Tartars in one fell swoop?" ”

Luo Bingran was taken aback when he heard Ma Cheng say this, even if the Qing army on the opposite side was in chaos, but there were only a few people outside the Taiping Gate, and fifty or sixty thousand people were killed, you must know that the total number of Qing troops is enough

There are more than 400,000. And the Ming army in the city only has 240,000, which is still counting those people and the guards, and they are not the opponents of the Qing army at all.

Luo Bingran hurriedly persuaded and said: "The Lord of the Military Gate is definitely not good, the number of Tartars is far above our army, if you go out of the city to fight, you may achieve some results, but let the Tartars react, then things will not be good!" ”

Ma Cheng shook his head hesitantly: "Lao Luo, what you said is very right, but the situation in the city is not good!" ”

Although there is no shortage of food in the city now, this is not a shortage of food based on the exploitation of ordinary people, if the Qing army is besieging the city for a year and a half, the grain in the city will always be eaten up one day, what will happen then? Do you want to learn from Zhang Patrol to eat human flesh like Suiyang? Now, although Ma Cheng found potatoes and corn, the quantities were too small to be counted on within two years, so how to solve the Manchu siege was the only way.

Ma Cheng knew that Luo Bingran was not a politician, and he would not consider the problem from the political aspect. Ma Cheng thought about it for a while and decided to try it, what if it really succeeded?

"Lao Luo, Dongcheng is handed over to you here, you take the people and the guards to hurry up to repair the city wall!"

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he said to the soldiers behind him: "Pass the order, the Shenji Battalion and all the new troops will gather!" Lao Tzu has something to say! ”

The new army under the city was cleaning up the battlefield, and after a night of fighting last night, the new army suffered heavy losses, and the fifteen thousand new troops suffered five thousand casualties. However, after all, the new army has received strict training, and when I heard that the military gate adults had something to say, they stood under the Taiping Gate one by one, waiting for Ma Cheng to speak.

Ma Cheng stood on a high place and saw his soldiers, most of the 10,000 new troops were wounded, and there was no problem with the 5,000 Shenji battalion, they didn't lose much last night.

Ma Cheng was very emotional when he saw his subordinates like this, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, you worked hard last night!" Without the hard work of your brothers, you can't get the Tartars out of the city, so this governor will ask for a reward for you in front of the emperor! ”

Ma Cheng looked at his subordinates after speaking, and then shouted: "But the brothers can't rest yet, the governor also knows that everyone is very tired, but the Tartars outside the city are even more tired, they are now in turmoil, it is a good opportunity for us to break the siege in one fell swoop!" Now the Governor orders to give everyone a quarter of an hour to repair, drink some water, eat some food, and follow the Governor out of the city to fight the Tartars to the death! ”

Ma Cheng's words made the new army silent, everyone knows what the size of the Qing army outside the city, even if more than 10,000 Qing troops were eliminated last night, but the total number of Qing troops is still 400,000. On the other hand, there are only 15,000 people on his side, 400,000 against 15,000, as long as you are not a fool, you know how small the odds of winning or losing are.

The generals led by Gu Changwei, Xu Dahu, Xie Guangkun and other senior officers saw that the soldiers did not speak, and they were about to open their mouths to scold, but Ma Cheng waved his hand to stop them. Ma Cheng slowed down and said: "Brothers, the governor also knows that everyone is very tired, and he also knows that there are many Tartars outside the city, but the governor has a solid relationship with everyone, there is not much military food in the city, only enough for everyone to eat for half a year, if the siege is not solved within half a year, then everyone can only eat human flesh." ”

After speaking, Ma Cheng pointed to a small flag in the crowd and said: "Xu Laosan, you are a person from Yingtian, you used to be a member of the Weisuo Army, and you were selected into the new army because of your bravery, and you also became a small banner." Your family is in the city, and you watch your family run out of food in half a year, and your family is starved to death? ”