1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1490 Combination of foot and ride
Sun Zhen has always envied the cavalry who came and went like the wind during his service. Although his special operations battalion is one of the Haihan ace troops, most of the marching tasks can only be completed by two legs. There are at most a few pack horses in charge of the baggage, and only the messengers and a few senior officers with limited company headquarters can be assigned mounts.

And this situation was finally improved after the special operations battalion was stationed in Liaodong. A large number of war horses captured from the Houjin Army were distributed to each company, and Sun Zhen's company basically reached the number of manpower after replenishing war horses several times in a row. There was still a little extra for a warhorse, and in the end, the establishment was directly changed to a mobile company, which usually cooperated with the cavalry battalion.

Horse riding is not difficult for Sun Zhen. With his physical condition and athletic talent, he can learn it in less than a day.After this period of practice, although the level cannot be compared with the guys in the cavalry battalion who deal with horses all day, at least ordinary marches and short-distance charges are no problem.It's just in the battle with the proof of the Houjin Army, because the opponent's cavalry ratio is quite high, Haihan's side generally does not take the risk of directly throwing the mobile companies that are not proficient in riding skills directly into the battlefield, but let them play the role of firefighters. , which is specially responsible for quickly rushing to rescue positions in tight situations.

Sun Zhen has a burly stature, so the war horse he challenged is also a rather sturdy dark horse. It looks very mighty when riding on the back of the horse, but he knows very well how outstanding his appearance is. If he wants to attack on horseback, he can only give him The cavalry battalion next to him struck.He is connected with Wang Jinmin, a cavalry officer who also holds the position of platoon leader.

The two escaped from Shandong together at the beginning, and now they have both made a name for themselves in the army. However, the momentum of expansion of the cavalry battalion is obvious recently. Wang Jinmin will be promoted to company commander soon without any accident. Wei Yin was half a step faster than Sun Zhen.

Of course, as former hometowns and current comrades-in-arms, Sun Zhen and Wang Jinmin will not have the mentality of competition and comparison because of these things. Both of them have straight temperaments. Occasionally, when they talk about the promotion of military service, they can at most Complain a few words that there have been no large-scale battles recently, and it is more difficult to get promotion opportunities by making great contributions.They could only stare at the infantry and artillery as they formed a formation without rushing, and slammed the rear golden cavalry on the attacking, easily reaping the enemy's life.

"Let's watch the fun again today!" Sun Zhen looked at the ongoing battle ahead and couldn't help but feel a little jealous.It was originally thought that after upgrading from infantry to mobile units, more combat opportunities would be obtained, but the reality does not seem to be the case.

Wang Jinmin also looked enviously at the cavalry comrades cruising outside the position. A part of the company of the cavalry battalion was assigned the task of guarding the rangers outside the position. It must be more than his company who could only wait for orders inside the position. Lots of fighting opportunities.Especially after the enemy cavalry units were dispersed, the Haihan cavalry would often rush to pick up the leaks and hunt down the lone enemies.Wang Jinmin used to get this kind of errand often, but now he can only watch his comrades earn military exploits easily.

"This wild boar skin really didn't take a beating, and it evacuated after a single rush!" Wang Jinmin couldn't help sighing as he watched the retreating golden cavalry.Recently, the offensive of the post-Jin army is often collapsed at the touch of a button. Wang Jinmin also knows that this is not because the opponent's strength has become weaker, but it has become more cunning.In this way, if the Haihan Army wants to concentrate on eliminating the opponent's living forces, it will not be as easy as it was when they first arrived in Liaodong.

Of course, if the strength of the cavalry can be multiplied several times, then there is no need to worry about the rear golden cavalry. With the advantage of weapons, the opponent can never get out of Jinzhou City at all, let alone gather troops in the wilderness to organize an offensive.

After thinking about it, Wang Jinmin is only a company commander, and it is definitely not his turn to make such a strategic decision.Even Harrugon, who now wants to expand his troops, can't train a group of qualified cavalry in a short period of time.Therefore, the troops of the special operations battalion were first armed and used as light cavalry, at least to a certain extent, the problem of insufficient mobility of the main combat troops was solved first.

"Hey! Boarskin is not planning to withdraw troops today!" Sun Zhen suddenly raised his voice excitedly.He noticed that after the golden cavalry returned to the distant field to regroup, they did not retreat immediately, but were preparing for the next wave of offensive, and suddenly felt that there was still hope to fight.

"It seems to be infantry... Their cavalry can't do anything to us. Sending infantry out to fight the main force is not a death sentence?" Wang Jinmin took out his binoculars and confirmed that the opponent's army deployment seemed somewhat unreasonable.

"Infantry is good!" Sun Zhen's thoughts were completely different from Wang Jinmin's: "They fought with infantry, and we fought with cavalry. Isn't this just hitting their weak spot? We have all the advantages of weapons and mobility, you What else can they use to fight us?"

"It doesn't seem that simple! Take a closer look." Wang Jinmin handed the telescope to Sun Zhen: "These infantrymen seem to be equipped with muskets."

Sun Zhen took the binoculars and looked at it for a while, and then he said, "This should be the rebels who crossed the sea to take refuge in the wild boarskin during the Denglai Rebellion! I saw the word "Geng" on the flags in the formation. The general should be Han Chinese."

"If it's really the rebels who escaped from Shandong, it's a good reincarnation of heaven!" Wang Jinmin sighed: "It's finally time for you and me to take revenge!"

Both of them were refugees who escaped from Dengzhou during the Denglai Rebellion. The main culprit for them to leave their homes was the rebels who defected to Liaodong after the Dengzhou Rebellion and then defected to Liaodong to join the logistics.Both their families in Shandong were mutilated by the rebels, so this hatred is also unforgettable. Now that the enemies meet, they are naturally jealous.

When the two were discussing about going to fight with their superiors, a messenger had already sent orders from Qian Tiandun and Harrugong to let them fight immediately and wait for the opportunity to attack the weaker flanks of the enemy.The two of them couldn't help shouting that God has eyes, and it really made them look forward to the opportunity to compete with the Shandong rebels on the battlefield.

The troops led by the two were assigned to the west side, and another cavalry, also composed of mixed groups, went to the east side, and in the meantime was the Han army flag troops slowly pressing on.

In addition to the arquebuses built by the Daming Ministry of War, Geng Zhongming's army also had a large number of muskets and artillery originally bought from the Portuguese by Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai.As for whether there are any weapons produced in Sanya that flowed into the Shandong Ming army through the hands of the Portuguese, it is not known for the time being.However, judging from the number of arms purchased by the Portuguese from Haihan in the past few years, it is not surprising that even this rebel army has small weapons produced by Haihan.

Of course, the weapons sold by Haihan are basically monkey versions with significantly reduced performance. Compared with the versions equipped by their own troops, there will be a significant gap in performance.And even if there are export weapons that flow into Shandong, they are old models that have been eliminated long ago in terms of time, and their performance is far from the weapons currently equipped by the Haihan Army.Therefore, Qian Tiandun and Harrugong had the confidence to let the mixed cavalry attack both flanks and wait for an opportunity to launch an offensive against the Han army flag.

Sun Zhen and Wang Jinmin would not consider such a complicated issue. They will only consider one thing now, and that is how to make good use of the fighters in front of them to deal the greatest blow to the enemy on the opposite side.

Although the fire of hatred has begun to burn in their hearts, they did not impulsively order to go straight to the opponent's army formation, but follow the instructions they received, first outflank the flanks and leave enough safety distance to avoid premature engagement. Unnecessary casualties - after all, the opponent is also a troop equipped with muskets, stray bullets have no eyes, and no one dares to say that they can be invulnerable.What's more, they are only light cavalry, they are not protected by armor, and maintaining a safe fighting distance is a combat code that they must abide by.

Of course, Geng Zhongming's troops are not all composed of infantry. In fact, the arms of the Han army flag are very similar to that of the Haihan, and they are also combined with infantry and cavalry. , but the traditional melee cavalry with cold weapons as the main weapon.Most of these cavalrymen wore cotton armor, and the officers were equipped with iron armor of different standards, which provided a certain degree of protection.In terms of protective measures alone, the equipment of the Han army flag is actually better than most of the post-Jin army, but it is only a little worse than the elites like Bagala.

Because of this, Geng Zhongming still has a certain degree of confidence in the strength of his troops. He believes that even if he can't defeat the Haihan Army head on, he still has some confidence in self-protection. If the momentum is not right, he should retreat in time to retain his strength.

As for the two cavalry troops in the Haihan Army, they were divided into left and right flanks. Of course, Geng Zhongming also saw it.But the number of these two cavalrymen was really too small. Although he saw it, he didn't take it too seriously.The enemy just put two hundred cavalry on his left and right flanks, and the distance was far away. Geng Zhongming thought that this was a deliberate harassment to distract himself. How could such a simple routine succeed.Geng Zhongming just ordered his own cavalry on the flank to pay attention to monitoring the opponent, and it would be convenient to dispatch if necessary to disperse.

If Geng Zhongming had come to Jinzhou a few months earlier and had seen the real power of the Haihan Rangers on the battlefield, then he would probably have slapped himself a few times in the face for such a rash deployment.For the Houjin Army, the most troublesome thing is not the head-to-head confrontation with Haihan, because in the current combat environment, neither side has fallen into a dead end, and they can leave the battlefield if they find that they are too weak. .But if you are entangled by the Haihan Rangers in the wild, you can only ask for more happiness.

These Haihan cavalry are all equipped with bursting muskets, which have a long range and strong firepower. Often only a small group of people dares to provoke the troops of Houjin's side with Niulu as a unit.The Haihan cavalry opened fire in the distance, and if the later Jin army were to fight, they would be divided into soldiers to drive them away. The man's nose twirled in the field.A little relaxation, they will kill the carbine again, making it hard to guard against.As a result, when the Jin Army encountered groups of Haihan cavalry in the field, they often took the initiative to maintain a safe distance to avoid fighting with each other.

Although Geng Zhongming also learned about such battle cases before the war, he believed that this was because the tactics of the post-Golden Cavalry were too simple, and there were almost no other means of combat besides rushing.If it is against the Haihan cavalry, then you can rely on the cavalry's protection and combat experience to slowly deal with the opponent, find a suitable fighter and then shoot.After all, one's own troops have a huge advantage, how could it be possible for the other party to lead him by the nose.

However, he soon tasted the bad result of underestimating the enemy. When the Haihan cavalry operating on the east and west flanks found that the opponent did not seem to care about their existence, this was a fighter not to be missed for them.

Sun Zhen immediately ordered all his company to dismount. Although they could barely complete the mounted shot, the accuracy was completely incomparable to the shooting with two feet on the ground.Therefore, for the sake of combat efficiency, Sun Zhen ordered the soldiers of the mobile company to dismount and fight.Of course, at a distance of [-] meters, the opponent's cavalry cannot be killed in an instant.

And Wang Jinmin didn't care too much. Except for a few old cavalrymen who were stable on horseback, the other cavalrymen also dismounted and aimed at the enemy's army formation, just like the mobile company.

These cavalrymen on the periphery of the Han army flag were at a loss, wondering why the enemy had to dismount at a distance of a hundred zhang. Could it be that they planned to abandon their horses and form an infantry formation to fight this battle?At this moment, a burst of gunfire erupted, and it was not until someone was shot and fell from the horse that they finally realized that the purpose of the Haihan cavalry dismounting was really to fight.It's just that the range of this rifle is too far, the power is beyond their imagination before the war, and the armor on the body does not seem to have enough protection, and almost all of the bullets fall off their horses after a whimper. .

Geng Zhongming noticed that his side fell into a passive state immediately after the battle between the two flanks, and immediately ordered the flanking cavalry to attack to drive these annoying Haihan cavalry away.And the other party doesn't seem to be reluctant to fight. After only firing three rounds of guns, seeing that Han Junqi has slowed down and is ready to make a move, even if he gets on his horse again, he takes the initiative to open a distance.

To chase or not to chase, that is the question.Against Sun Zhen's side, the Jin Army officer decided after a while to decide whether to be safe or not to chase, but Sun Zhen didn't intend to give up. A pistol was placed on his back.As soon as the Jin army reacted, the Haihan cavalry took the initiative to withdraw some distance.After repeating this several times, not to mention the commander who fought against the Haihan cavalry, even Geng Zhongming, who was in the middle army, began to have a headache.

(End of this chapter)