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Later generations of military experts often overlooked the role of artillery when referring to infantry confrontations in the wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. You must know that the artillery of this era was not a support weapon placed behind the infantry position, but a "large musket" placed directly in the front line for direct fire. The effective range of this "large musket" is generally 500 meters away, which is much greater than that of bows and rifles. And beyond this distance, the cavalry advancing in formation could still be killed by the fire of a 9-pounder or 12-pounder cannon. If the Napoleonic cannon named after Napoleon III (a 12-pounder field gun, the pinnacle of the front-loading artillery era) was cast, the cavalry would not be safe at a distance of 1,000 meters.

The negative impact of this distance of 500 to 1000 meters on the cavalry should not be underestimated, because it not only means that the cavalry needs to charge against the enemy's artillery fire, but also that they have to charge at a greater distance! Otherwise the cavalry would have to wait for the order to storm under the bombardment of enemy artillery.

The increase in the charging distance is a great test of the horse's physical strength. After all, it was definitely a physical task to run at a speed with a cavalryman wearing a spear in armor. To this end, Western countries have used the method of artificial selection to breed horses with excellent physical strength, endurance and explosiveness, so that the distance of cavalry charging has been continuously increased. The Mongolian horses used by the Manchu cavalry had the advantages of being hard-working, adaptable, and having very low requirements for food. However, it also has disadvantages such as small size, poor weight, slow speed, and low explosiveness.

Of course, this is not to say that Mongolian horses are bad. In fact, in the era of the bow horse to take the world. Mongolian horses are easy to feed and have a huge numerical advantage. It has been decided that it is more suitable as a military horse than any other horse on Shijie. But after the cannon became the god of war. The physical disadvantage of Mongolian horses is clearly revealed.

"Dismount!"

1,000 meters away from the hollow phalanx of the Ming army, Fu Fang, the commander of the Qing army's horse team, gave the order to dismount and charge up. Unlike the pictures in later film and television works, where the cavalry galloped across the battlefield, the horse team led by Fu Fang slowly walked to the flank of the Ming army...... If they let go and run for a few kilometers, the horses will run out of stamina, and they will have to charge later--in fact, except for the tactics of one-man two-horse, three-horse, or even six-horse riding in turn, the mobility of ordinary cavalry with one man and one horse is not much better than that of infantry. This horse is a very delicate animal. You can't call them like donkeys.

And most of the combat effectiveness of the steppe cavalry also stems from this, their horse supply is extremely sufficient, and they are not afraid of running to death and thinning the horse, so the mobility is always higher than that of the cavalry of the Han nation.

An assistant leader of the Jianrui Camp Horse Team came over and saluted Fu Fang at this time: "Master Fu, it's better to rush directly into battle!" Let the traitors lead us to Manchuria's cavalry shooting! ”

"The rebels are in a hollow phalanx, which is the way of fighting of Western infantry and cavalry." Fu Fang also read Engels's "Taixi Military Strategy" and knew that the phalanx of the Ming infantry was not easy to deal with.

"Can this formation defeat the cavalry? Master Fu, don't be kidding. The co-leader glanced at the hollow phalanx of the Ming army and laughed.

Stepping riding isn't too hard! In fact, as long as the infantry formed a formation, they could usually resist the onslaught of the cavalry! Otherwise, how could the Han people, who did not have the advantage of cavalry, occupy the Central Plains, a treasure land that was first-class in the East?

The traditional heavy armor spear bow and crossbow are combined. can also be like a hedgehog, so that the cavalry from the grassland is helpless. Belch. It's not really helpless, they have two ways. One is the siege; The second is fatigue warfare. Because it is difficult for the infantry to resist the cavalry with strong impact power without forming a formation, and the infantry in formation cannot maneuver, the siege has always been the best means for cavalry to deal with large infantry formations. Fatigue warfare, on the other hand, is a repeated impact, not necessarily a real rush, of course, but a frightening impact, in order to consume the physical strength of the infantry and the cluster of arrows.

Therefore, in the history of infantry and cavalry confrontation, there is rarely a hammer deal, and it is often necessary to repeatedly compete for a whole day or even longer, which is really a very laborious work.

For example, the hollow phalanx set up by the infantry of the Ming army now, if it is not equipped with smoothbore guns and cannons, it is difficult to withstand the repeated impact of the cavalry. And in the era when smoothbore guns, rifles and cannons dominated the battlefield, the cavalry no longer wanted to repeatedly storm the infantry phalanx. Because most of the people who were hit by rifle buckshot and cannon shells were killed, even if they didn't die on the spot, the 19th-century killer doctors would have sent them on the road (although this situation has been partially changed by Zhu Jishi). Rushing a few more times, before the infantry collapsed, the cavalry died first.

"If you don't rush, you'll have to take a detour, at least ten miles more, or let go of the run, at least an hour." The co-leader frowned and said, "If you run over, it will take a lot of time to accumulate strength." When the time comes, this infantry formation may meet Zhu Yi......"

"Alas! We made a mistake! Fu Fang suddenly slapped his face, "We should bring 1,000 foreign guns and a few cannons!" I remember that most of the cavalry battles introduced in the "Taixi Military Strategy" were fought with infantry, cavalry, and artillery. If we have a foreign spear team and artillery in our hands, we can use the foreign spear team to attack its front and the cavalry to attack its flank, and it will not be difficult to break the formation! ”

"But now......" The assistant leader pointed in the direction of the frontal battlefield, "Master Fu, the monk king has already done his best to attack, if we don't move, the monk king will be defeated......"

As soon as Seng Lingqin was defeated, everything would be over, and relying on Fu Fang's 1,000 cavalry would not be able to save the overall situation no matter what.

"I can only spell it!" Fu Fang gritted his teeth and showed a tragic expression, "No matter what, you can't lose the face of your ancestors!" Tell the following, just buy and sell with a hammer. Blindfolding, rushing! ”

Under Fu Fang's order, the 1,000 cavalry all turned over and mounted their horses, and under the leadership of the co-leader Deming, they launched a wave of decisive impact without hesitation! The reason why he is so brave is because most of the children of the Eight Banners have never watched "Taixi Soldiers". In their opinion, with 1,000 Eight Banner Iron Cavalry, tens of thousands of Han infantry could be destroyed, and the thin large array in front of them was simply vulnerable.

The horse team surged forward like a torrent, and even if the solid bullets fired by the six 9-pounder guns pierced the entire horse team and overturned dozens of cavalrymen off their horses, it only made the horse team a little confused, and the momentum of the charge did not slow down.

Fu Fang did not lead the charge, this Qing army general who was born as a martial artist was familiar with "Taixi Military Strategy", so he was not very optimistic about the effect of this charge, but he had to rush. However, he has a useful body, but he still has to keep the emperor of the Qing Dynasty!

"Load your shotguns!" On the artillery position of the Ming army, four shotguns filled the chamber with the command of the artillery company commander.

"Fire!"

With a bang, countless tiny lead bullets flew out like raindrops, hitting the charging Eight Banners Horse Team head-on, and suddenly people turned on their backs, screaming everywhere.

Three hundred steps! It's only 300 steps at most! Fu Fang slowed down his horse and estimated the distance between the horse's forward and the enemy's formation.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

"It's a salvo of foreign guns!" Fu Fang's face turned ugly for a moment, and he said in his heart, "I made a mistake again, I shouldn't have directly attacked their frontal ......."

Seeing the Eight Banners Horse Team directly assault his own large array, Colonel French Mercer showed a smug smile. He had a battalion of light infantry under his command in front of him, and the firepower of 400 Bessemai rifles was no joke. 300 yards away, kill or bury!

"Light infantry! Fire! The old colonel waved his command knife and shouted excitedly.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

Another round of volleys, this time from a distance of 200 yards, rushed to the front of the Eight Banners vest immediately fell a large piece, and the back vest was mixed down by the people and horse corpses in front, and the formation of the charge was chaotic.

Deming, who took the lead in the charge, saw this scene with a straight eye twitch, 400 steps away was a shotgun, and 300 steps away there was a volley of muskets...... It's so accurate! Rush to 200 steps and play another round! This doesn't give the cavalry a way to live!

Just as he was thinking about it, the sound of a salvo of muskets rang out again, Deming only felt a pain in his chest, and then the strength in his body was quickly lost, and he looked down to see that there was a smoking, charred black wound on the heart of his cotton armor......

"Sure enough, it was defeated!" Seeing Deming fall from his horse, Fu Fang's heart suddenly sank to the bottom. (To be continued......)