The advantage of the column is that it is highly mobile, even on rough terrain, the column can quickly maneuver under the premise of maintaining the formation, and has a strong impact, but the problem of the column is that its front is too narrow, can not fully exert its strength, and is easily cut off by the enemy's flank attack. In order to make up for its shortcomings, generally speaking, generals will not simply organize their troops into horizontal formations or columns into battle, but combine the two formations to achieve the purpose www.biquge.info of learning from each other's strengths. For example, when the enemy's cavalry tries to detour or flank from both flanks, the column hidden behind the horizontal column can meet the attack, which is the origin of the famous hollow phalanx, which Caesar used in the Battle of Fasalu to defeat Pompey, who had a huge advantage in cavalry. The most common tactic used by the famous Swiss infantry was to divide their army into three parts, and when engaged, they advanced at high speed in three columns in a zigzag formation, each of which became a phalanx to resist on the spot when attacked, and then the other two columns changed formations to flank them. Hao Shaoqi's formation not only considered the convenience of advancing, but also considered the counterattack of the enemy's cavalry on the hillock, and he deserved to be a veteran general who had been in the army for a long time.

"I believe that even Huang Taiji himself can't make a better choice in this position! But now the situation has completely changed," Liu Cheng waved his hand: "Thomas, you can demonstrate it to us!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Thomas answered, turned to leave, and after a while, Zhao Wende heard a sound behind him, and when he looked back, he saw that a cannon was pushed up, and it looked like a six-pounder gun, and the gunners completed the preparations before the shelling at a fast speed, and fired at the grass people below the hill, Zhao Wende could clearly see the shells passing over the heads of the column, smashing at the end of the distance about seven or eight paces away, and then jumped a few times, and finally disappeared into the grass.

"Jiansheng, if you were that Houjin general and found that there was artillery on the top of the hill, what would you do?" Liu Cheng said with a smile.

"Rush up as soon as possible, so that the artillery will not be of much use!"

"Not bad, but not quite!" Liu Cheng smiled: "If it were me, I would also spread out the formation and become a horizontal team in the process of impact, because the cannon just now was already very close, and the enemy would adjust the muzzle, and the next shot would probably not be offset!" ”

As if to confirm Liu Cheng's words, the cannon sounded again, this time the gunners fine-tuned the muzzle, the solid cannonball fell into the end of the ranks, the huge impact tore the straw man to pieces, and then smashed to the ground, the huge impact made it bounce up a few more times, leaving only a mess.

"So fast!"

"Yes, it's fast! If it's on the battlefield, it's already a flesh alley! Liu Cheng smiled proudly: "So Dongyu will definitely suffer a big loss." The enemy group that was shelled had already lost a third of its strength and should have lost its offensive ability on the battlefield, but the commanders of the remaining two teams of the enemy reacted by turning their men into horizontal teams to reduce the losses when hit, but this also gave the defenders on the high ground more time to react! ”

Zhao Wende suddenly asked, "Then why won't the enemy soldiers keep this formation and rush up?" Judging from the time, it should be enough for them to take one more shelling, so that at least one team should rush to the high ground? ”

"You're right, but if you're the leader of a team, you wouldn't think so, because if you stay in formation and the other team becomes sideways, who do you think the enemy's next shell will fall on?"

Zhao Wende was immediately stopped by Liu Cheng's question, and the answer was very clear: if the shelling becomes one side of the horizontal team, one or two people will be killed at most with a solid bullet, and one or two people may not be killed if they are lucky; And if the shot is kept on the side of the dense column, the probability of hitting is almost zero, and as long as it hits, the opponent can be disabled, and the gunners on the high ground, as long as they are not fools, will definitely choose to keep the side of the column with the shelling.

"And what if they become columns?"

"Then it's time for the cavalry to go out!" Liu Cheng smiled and pointed to the straw men under the mountain, only to see the soldiers under the mountain waving white flags, pulling out the group of straw men that had been shelled, and turning the remaining two teams of straw men into sparse horizontal teams.

"You see, the infantry in a column can indeed avoid most of the shells, but their flanks become live targets for cavalry attacks. At this time, the commander will be in a dilemma: if they keep the horizontal formation, they will be flanked by the cavalry: if they shrink the formation and turn into a phalanx, they will be strafed by artillery, a dilemma! ”

"Then the artillery is so powerful, why has the Ming Dynasty not played a role before?"

"It's very simple, Daming's artillery road has gone astray!" Liu Cheng walked to the side of the artillery and patted the artillery mount gently: "Artillery should be divided into two types: siege artillery and field artillery, siege artillery should pursue high power and long range; But what field artillery pursues is mobility and high-speed firing. In field warfare, a high-speed light cannon that can follow behind the infantry can be worth two heavy guns that cannot be moved, and the artillery is the commander's clenched fist, sometimes pointing at one point of the war, sometimes pointing at another, smashing the phalanx, dispersing the ranks, opening the gaps, and tearing the formation. And the Ming Dynasty lined up the artillery in a horizontal row and distributed it equally, just as a sharp weapon to defend the city, it was naturally not possible! Artillery should be grouped according to different calibers, and given special vehicles and devices so that they can keep up with the pace of infantry and cavalry, and can be accurately aimed and fired quickly, so that it can exert its power. Speaking of this, Liu Cheng pointed to a device on the gun carriage: "Look, the secret of this artillery can have such a fast rate of fire is here!" ”

Zhao Wende walked into the cannon and found that the place where Liu Cheng slapped his hand was a disc, and the center of the disc passed through an iron rod, and the iron rod had spiral lines. He raised his head puzzled, Liu Cheng explained with a smile: "This is the screw, the original adjustment of the height of the gun is to hit the wooden wedge with a hammer, the speed is slow and inaccurate, and after each shot, it has to be readjusted to avoid the wooden wedge being loosened; And with the screw, the high ground of the muzzle can be adjusted by simply turning the disc, and there is a scale on it, so that the gunner knows if he has gone too far! Liu Cheng explained while rotating the disc, the muzzle of the gun moved up and down with the rotation of the disc, which seemed very flexible, and as he said, the disc was engraved with numbers, telling the gunner the elevation angle of the gun now, as long as it turned to the required angle, it could be used to pull the mechanism to kill, which was very convenient and fast. Zhao Wende tried twice, and it was really convenient, he suddenly remembered Liu Cheng's heavy reward for Liu Zongmin, and asked, "My lord, you just rewarded Liu Zongmin for this, right?" ”

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Of course, the screw is not just for this purpose, I didn't expect him to be able to build it so quickly, if not, this battle is not so sure, but it is unexpected!" ”

"But my lord, what if Huang Taiji shouldn't fight?"

"Huh!" Liu Cheng's face suddenly showed a narrow smile: "Shouldn't you fight?" Isn't Haug still in my hands? ”

Babutai was woken up by the creaking of the iron door.

"Who?" His voice was a little hoarse, the result of a long period of insomnia - it was not that Liu Cheng had mistreated him, the bed was covered with a soft and thick woolen mattress, covered with a thick quilt, the daily meal was quite sumptuous, and there was even a pot of wine, Babutai even felt that his jaw was much rounder. But worry kept him awake, as soon as he closed his eyes, Babutai was soon awakened by short knives, ropes, and poisoned wine, he was not a coward on the battlefield, but at that time he was armed with weapons and surrounded by hordes of guards, and now he was in a cell, alone, and the most suitable thing for weapons in his hands was the iron candlestick at the head of the bed.

"Who!" Babutai cleared his throat to make his voice louder, the candlelight streaming in through the crack in the open door, and he subconsciously narrowed his eyes to avoid the glaring light.

A dark shadow walked in from outside the door, Babutai subconsciously trembled, he was in the enemy's dungeon, everyone was Liu Cheng's minions, this person should not have come to be ordered to execute himself, right?

The candlelight moved, and the person was covered in the range, and Babutai could see clearly that the other party's bronzed face and very neatly trimmed beard under the chin were Liu Ben. He looked at Chin Butai's rather round face with interest and smiled, "It seems that my people have not treated you badly, right?" ”

Babutai touched his chin, the fat under his thick beard was squirming, as if there was an extra layer, and he smiled bitterly: "Three meals a day, eggs in the morning, fish for lunch, meat for dinner, and wine at noon and evening." To be honest, I didn't eat as well as this when I was in Shengjing! ”

"No, it won't!" Liu Cheng smiled and under the table, Hao Shaoqi put the candle on a small cabinet next to the bed, and then retreated behind Liu Cheng and stood with a knife.

"It's true!" Babutai smiled bitterly: "The weather in Liaodong has been bad in the past two years, the winter is too cold, the rain is not enough, the harvest is not good, like me is also two meals a day, only three meals during the New Year's Festival, and not every meal is japonica rice, all of which must be mixed with coarse grains." Like this, three meals a day, with fish, meat, and wine at every meal, I am afraid that only the Great Khan and the banner lord Baylor of the banners can do it! ”

"You've gotten to this point?" Liu Cheng's face showed a hint of surprise, he also knew that Houjin's economic situation before entering the customs had not been good, but he didn't expect it to be so bad, even Babutai, Nurhachi's own son, could only eat two meals a day.

"The main thing is that I have too many families, and I'm just a Fengguo general, not even a Baylor, if it was Baylor, it would be much better!" Babutai smiled bitterly: "It's just that the old rules have been set, even if you are like me, you can't be promoted to Baylor without military merits!" ”

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded, and gradually recovered from Fang Cai's surprise: "What about the ordinary Zuo Ling, Zhang Jing or something?" ”

Babutai didn't know that Liu Cheng was collecting information from his own words, but the Manchu Qing had to import a large amount of grain, tea, salt and other daily necessities from the outside world, and the information that Liu Cheng asked about was already a public fact, and now that he was a prisoner of the ranks, he did not have the strength to refute it.

"It's the same, but there should be more coarse grains, and there is not enough salt, so I often have to eat lightly!"

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded, his face was a little solemn, and suddenly he smiled slightly: "Babutai, you can go back to Shengjing tomorrow!" ”

"What?" Babutai was taken aback, he almost couldn't believe his ears, Liu Cheng let himself go so easily, didn't he know that doing so would give people a handle and give Huang Taiji a chance to spread rumors and slander? A few thoughts flashed through Babutai's mind, but his face remained as calm as possible: "Lord Liu, can you give me a reply?" In this way, I will go back and explain to the Great Khan! ”

"Of course, I'll write back to you right away!" Liu Cheng smiled suddenly, looking a little weird in the candlelight. At this moment a dark figure appeared in the doorway, and Babutai looked towards the door, and in the candlelight he could faintly see a thin shadow.

"Uncle Nine!"

"You-" Babutai felt the voice familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a moment. Liu Cheng smiled and nodded, and the knowing Hao Shaoqi raised the candlestick, only to see that the people who came were shackled with their hands and feet, their bodies were thin and scary, their hair was gray, and they were bent over their waists, looking pitiful. Babutai suddenly remembered someone and couldn't help but be startled: "Hauge? Could it be you? How did you become like this? ”

Haug cracked his mouth and smiled, and Babutai noticed that he was missing a few teeth and looked bitter. Babutai turned his head and stared at Liu Cheng angrily, Liu Cheng looked at him calmly: "What's wrong?" Isn't it normal for a murderer to be killed by someone? ”

"If you kill him, you will kill him, why do you humiliate him like this?"

"Really? Since he fell into my hands, he is my Ahha, isn't it up to me whether to kill or humiliate? Liu Cheng's calm gaze contained a huge amount of power, so that Babutai couldn't help but lower his head to avoid the other party's gaze. After a long while, Babutai said in a low voice, "What is Lord Liu asking me to see Hauge?" Let me bring him back? ”

"How is that possible?" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "How can there be such a good thing in the world? Didn't you ask me to write a letter to Huang Taiji? Well, I'll take something from his son as a letter to him! ”

Almost at the same time, Hao Shaoqi grabbed Haoge's right hand, and with a flash of the knife, he cut off his right hand, and the screams immediately filled the entire cell. The prisoner who lost one hand was immediately pulled out, and before the screams disappeared from the corridor, Liu Chengcheng shook the bloody severed hand in front of Babutai: "Look, this is my reply to Huang Taiji!" When you go back, tell him that I will go on a crusade this fall, and if he dares to fight, I will cut off his hands and match his sons!" With that, Liu Cheng threw the severed hand in front of Babutai, turned around and went out. (To be continued.) )