Did Da Ming really die as a thief? If you only look at the results, it seems that this conclusion can be drawn, because it was Li Zicheng who broke through the Jingshi and caused Chongzhen to hang the coal mountain.

But in Zhu Youzhen's view, what really led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty was the brutal Jurchens! If it weren't for the war in Liaodong, the imperial court would not have stationed the elite of the whole country in Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan, and would not have levied three salaries. The main strength of the Ming army was also annihilated by the Jurchens, and Li Zicheng just took advantage of the emptiness in the pass to take advantage of it.

Therefore, although the thieves are more troublesome, Zhu Youzhen's eyes are always staring at the Jurchens. Ever since he left Liaodong, he had been pondering how to defeat the Jurchen cavalry.

If he had an aircraft tank atomic bomb, of course the problem would not be a problem. Not to mention these advanced weapons, even if there are machine guns, the threat of cavalry can be ignored. It's a pity that it is still an era of transition from cold weapons to hot weapons, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty does not have these things, even Europe has only popularized arquebuses, and even flintlock pistols have only just been used in actual combat.

The progress of science and technology was slow, and Zhu Youzhen himself did not understand these things, so he could only ask the craftsmen to start by imitating flintlock pistols and develop new firearms little by little. This process may be months, years, or even decades, and Zhu Youzhen is in a hurry and can't help now. Therefore, it is obvious that the hope of defeating the Jurchens with high technology is far away and cannot quench the thirst of the near.

Firearms are not good, Zhu Youzhen naturally thought of cavalry. Cavalry against cavalry is obviously a good way to restrain the Jurchens, and the Qin soldiers have also begun to gradually expand the cavalry team according to this line of thought.

But it also takes time to form a strong cavalry. Not to mention anything else, the purchase and stocking of war horses alone has already given Zhu Youzhen a headache. This is not counting the training of cavalry, you must know that the Jurchens are all "one man and horse", and if a new hand wants to reach this state, it will take at least ten years of hard training. So even with cavalry of the same size as the Jurchens, when the two armies faced each other, the Ming army was still at a disadvantage.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen felt that the most feasible thing under realistic conditions was to use infantry to fight against the Jurchen cavalry. However, it is impossible to change the innate disadvantages of the infantry's poor mobility and defense, so how can we make use of our strengths and avoid our weaknesses and make the infantry useful?

After repeated discussions and drills with the generals, Zhu Youzhen finally invented a new tactic: shield array!

This new tactic was inspired by Qi Jiajun's car formation. In the battle in Liaodong a few months ago, the chariot formation had been tested in actual combat, proving that it was effective against cavalry.

However, there are also weaknesses in the car formation, and the biggest problem is that the maneuverability is too poor. Because the body is heavy, it is difficult to move; If the plains are a little better, and the terrain is slightly undulating, the speed of the convoy will become turtle speed.

In addition, in order to form a circle, at least 20 large carts are required. This was obviously not flexible enough to cope with the surprise attack of small groups of cavalry.

The shield array, on the other hand, is the large iron shield as its main combat tool. The large iron shield equipped by the Qin soldiers was about a finger thick, all made of stainless steel, and extremely hard, completely immune to ordinary bows and arrows and bird guns, not to mention the swords and guns of the cavalry. The shield was nine feet high and three feet wide, just enough to protect the front of a soldier.

Of course, such a large shield not only weighs dozens of catties, but it is also very inconvenient to carry. In order to solve the problem of portability, the craftsmen led by Sun Yuanlong worked hard and finally came up with an ingenious method: divide the shield into three sections: upper, middle and lower, each section is three feet long; The three sections can be connected by a falcon, and the gap is fastened with a latch-like design.

When marching in peacetime, the iron shield can be dismantled and transported in a cart. When it was necessary to march quickly, the soldiers carried it on their backs. When the battle came, the three stages were combined into a whole. After testing, this method of connecting the falcon and the lock is very durable, and it is getting tighter and tighter the collision, so there is no need to worry about being scattered by the cavalry.

Of course, the shield itself will not stand, and in order to withstand the onslaught of the cavalry, it needs sufficient support in the back. The manpower of the infantry was obviously not good, so the craftsmen designed two more round holes in the shield. This round hole just passed through the iron gun shaft equipped by the Qin soldiers, and one end of the gun shaft was equipped with an iron ring similar to a nut, which could be stuck on the shield.

When it came time to fight, the infantry erected their shields and mounted iron spears behind them, the tips of which were dug deep into the ground. If the enemy's cavalry charged with brute force, they could only smash the iron spear deeper into the ground, resulting in a stronger shield.

And the biggest advantage of the shield array is that the big iron shield can be moved. If you can move, you can produce various changes, the formation can be large or small, you can gather or disperse, and the transition between offense and defense is extremely flexible. This inspiration was obtained from Qi Jiajun's mandarin duck array, and it can be said that the shield array is the perfect combination of the car array and the mandarin duck array.

From the day the Qin soldiers formed the army, the infantry's drill of the shield array never stopped. But for actual combat, this battle against Wu Shengzhao is the first time.

In fact, Qi Meifeng can completely change the formation, just use the shield array to seal the exit. But first, she wanted to test the effect of the shield array in actual combat, and secondly, she hoped to end the battle as soon as possible so that she could reinforce Li Dingguo, so she immediately ordered to change the formation!

With her command, several openings opened in the front of the shield array. The rogue cavalry on the opposite side came on horseback, even if the rider wanted to hit the shield array, but his mount was obviously unwilling to hit the iron plate with his head, and when he saw a gap, he subconsciously got in.

When I got into the shield array, I found that there were still high walls made of large shields on both sides, and only a narrow passage was directly ahead. Now that they have entered the small alley, it is obviously impossible to turn or retreat, so the thieves have to rush forward, hoping that if they can rush out like this, they can't cut the enemy.

But since the Qin soldiers let the enemy into the battle, how could they let them retreat with their whole body! The further the thief ran, the narrower the passage became, and he had to gradually reduce his speed. When I ran to the end, I found that there was still a cold shield in front of me, which was a dead end at all!

At this time, the speed of the thief's war horse was greatly reduced, and he was basically walking, and the impact advantage of the cavalry was gone. When he was in a hurry, the shield walls on both sides were loosened, and a gap could be opened somewhere, and a few infantry armed with spears stood at the gap, poking and stabbing at the horses!

The advantage of cavalry on horses is that they are agile and mobile, and if they are stuck in a small space, it is difficult to turn around, and they are not as good as ordinary infantry. In the face of the sudden attack, many thieves were caught off guard at all, and before they saw the Qin soldiers, the war horse had already been stabbed, and even the people and horses fell to the ground!