Chapter Twenty-Six: Retreat

As the victorious side, Chen Cheng and Lin Mengchu still have time to laugh and talk nonsense, and now Wadsey can't even speak. The charge of tens of thousands of soldiers turned into a great tragedy under the double blow of heavy machine guns and rapid-fire guns, well, it was just a tragedy, and it did not become a number.

Isn't there a saying that if a person dies, it is a tragedy. If 10,000 people died, it would be a great tragedy, and if 1,000,000 people died, it would be a number. The scale of the charge was so great that they thought they would be able to drive the Qing militia out of their positions, and then let the cavalry pursue them and wipe them out in the wilderness. Now many soldiers have been eliminated, but only on the side of the coalition forces.

Wadsey looked at the generals in the headquarters, all of whom had either shifted their gaze elsewhere or lowered their heads. His face was gloomy, such a huge casualty, it was necessary to find a scapegoat to extinguish the anger of the people, but unfortunately these guys are not stupid, no one is willing to bravely take on this responsibility.

He saw very clearly the tactics used by the Qing people on the other side, which was to use trenches to offset the artillery advantage of the coalition forces, and then rely on machine guns and artillery to eliminate those charging soldiers. The amount of ammunition required for this style of play is an astronomical amount, and even the firepower of the coalition forces is not so extravagant. According to his estimates, there were at least a hundred more cannons and the same number of heavy machine guns on the opposite side.

He knew yes, but he didn't have enough heavy artillery to destroy those fortifications, nor enough troops to fill them up and drain the opponent's ammunition. Although it was the Russians who died, he was not distressed, but felt that the more Russians died, the better, but now the commander of the coalition forces is him, even if it is only a nominal commander.

If he were to be in front of the fortifications, what would the people of Europe think of him? What will the king and the nobles of the country think of him? The world doesn't care what the situation is, but only puts the hat of defeat and incompetence on his head.

So, is it necessary to wait for the heavy artillery in the rear to be transported by rail over the attack?

Wadsey nip the idea in the bud at once, and he did not want to leave the king with a weak image more than the shame of defeat. And he sensed that after this war, the form of war was about to change significantly. The previous form of group charge was probably to be thrown into the dustbin of history. In front of a position armed with a sufficient number of artillery and machine guns, no amount of infantry is enough to kill.

But he did not know what the new mode of war would look like. As a latecomer to the lower reaches of history, it is natural to point out how the war will change, and also to point out the direction of military science and technology. However, for people in this period of military change, they can only feel confused and confused. Only that kind of peerless genius or person with great wisdom can see through the fog of history and see the direction of the future.

However, human beings have found a relatively better path from constant mistakes, so it is natural for Wadsey to think of a way to deal with the enemy. After collecting one of the officers of the Eight-Nation Alliance, he released the few cavalry in the coalition army, preparing to cut off the supply lines of the other side, and by the way, attack the back road of the opposing side.

This is a common tactic in military affairs, and no one will be surprised by the way this cavalry is used. Therefore, when the three or four thousand cavalry of the coalition army rode a high-headed horse and detoured behind Langfang Station, it was normal to encounter the Black Dragon Society cavalry cluster that had been waiting for a long time.

The advantage of internal operations is intelligence and mobility. After receiving the news of the early winter of the foreign cavalry, the cavalry placed behind by the Black Dragon Society quickly ambushed the enemy's inevitable path. The roads in this era are not very good, a small number of reconnaissance troops are enough, and there are only a few roads that large troops can pass quickly. As long as you put some vigilant troops in these places, you can quickly catch the traces of the other party.

The Eight-Nation Coalition did not just discharge some cavalry, behind those cavalry there was also an infantry unit of similar numbers. Wadsey's plan was that it would be best if their cavalry could cut off the enemy's supply lines or succeed in destroying the enemy's supply centers in the rear. If it can't be defeated, the infantry units behind can step forward and cooperate with the attack. He believed that the Qing militia would never be able to build all the places into strong fortifications. There is another weight in his calu, and if the worst-case scenario arises and the cavalry units in the vanguard are defeated by the opponent, the infantry units in the back can also take over.

As His Excellency the Black Dragon King once said: All bad ideas will look like good ideas before they go bad. Wadsey's tactical move was not a bad idea, it was just a very modest tactical detour. And this is the signature tactic of the former Prussian army, the current German ** team, after the Franco-Prussian War, they always relied on rapid maneuvering, and in a very short time forgot that they needed troops, piled up troops far more than the number of the other side, and then blew up the French.

However, in Europe, they still have mobile troops such as railways, and in China they can only rely on their own legs or those animals. After entering modern times, the more combat-ready the troops, the higher the logistical requirements. There is always a limit to the amount of ammunition an infantry can carry, and although it may not be possible to finish the more than 100 rounds of ammunition that you carry in a battle, it is very common to run out of shells and machine-gun bullets carried by front-line troops in battle.

Therefore, when a large army is dispatched, it always tries to carry as much ammunition and other supplies as possible. Therefore, even with the best efforts of the foreigners, their infantry units were still out of touch with the cavalry in front. This was not a mistake, the cavalry would have had to open a search net for the infantry to obtain information on the battlefield, or to cover the battlefield. It's just that they don't know what they're up against.

After receiving the news of the enemy's cavalry troops, His Excellency Lin Mengchu naturally said: "What good news!" ”

Good news? Chen Cheng didn't think there was anything good about this news, it was just one of the predictions made in advance. As long as we follow the plan prepared in advance, we can mobilize troops and counterattack in a step-by-step manner.

War is a very complicated thing, but it is also very simple, and framing A in the past is also a way of playing.