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Chapter 1196 Thousands of Horses Galloping
Hong Tao had a rough conclusion as to why the Venetians sent mercenaries to fight alongside the Ottoman Empire since he received the secret letter from the General Staff. The reason was not complicated. To put it bluntly, it was just one word: benefit.

But the details are definitely not that simple. When power and interests come together, simple things will become complicated. Specifically in this matter, the Venetians are just manipulators standing in the front, and the real decision-maker should be the Holy Roman Empire, or the Habsburg family.

The reason is very simple. Just look at the Hungarian Hussars, Polish Federal Winged Hussars and Lancers from somewhere unknown who are lined up in front of you.

It is true that the Republic of Venice is rich, but money alone cannot hire these cavalrymen. They are the elite of various countries, and only the Habsburg family has this ability.

Didn't the prisoner Derviš of the Guards say that Ferdinand III's envoy had recently visited Istanbul secretly, and Murad IV suddenly changed his attitude towards the Suez peace talks after a secret conversation with him?

Why Ferdinand III and Murad IV hit it off immediately is hard to guess now, and there may never be an accurate answer. There is no need to tell Wang Chengen these things, because he won't understand even if I tell him, and it would be a waste of words.

"… Murad IV is a tyrant. If he had come to ask His Majesty for advice, there would have been no need to lose troops and generals. He would have gotten more than the Venetians would have given him."

In fact, Wang Chengen still didn't fully understand the simplified theory, especially the question about the status of the merchant class. But he had his own way of thinking and came to a conclusion.

"Tick-tick...tick-tick..." Now it was Hong Tao's turn to grin. He had been talking for a long time, but it was like playing the lute to a cow. He didn't know whether to praise or scold. Just as he was thinking about how to define the merits and demerits of Murad IV, the loud trumpets sounded one after another. The battle began!

The Ottoman army put in all its efforts from the beginning, and five or six cavalry formations were launched almost simultaneously from the west to the southwest. Just by trotting, the ground was stomped to the beat of a drum by the big feet of tens of thousands of camels. Even standing on the roof of the car, one could feel the shock, and the smoke and dust raised covered the sky.

They probably understood that neither side had a third option in this battle, which would decide both victory and defeat and life and death. At this time, the main force of the Ming army was fighting in the mountains, and the camp must be empty. A full-scale attack and a quick victory would guarantee victory.

"Your Majesty, please come down quickly, it's dangerous up there!"

Seeing the emperor still standing on the roof of the car with a telescope, Wang Chengen couldn't help himself. Although the dining car was behind the second line of defense, the enemy also had muskets, and if any bullet flew over, it would be a disaster.

"Don't make a fuss. It's hard to see such a scene of thousands of horses galloping again. I am a sinner!" Hong Tao was unmoved. He still stood on the roof of the car, muttering to himself as he looked at the smoke and dust that was getting closer and closer in the distance.

In his opinion, cavalry combat is one of the most spectacular scenes in the history of human warfare, on par with naval warships firing cannons at each other and propeller planes dogfighting in the air.

The high-speed sprinting mounts, the neat formations, the distinctive armor, and the overwhelming momentum were enough to make the blood boil and the heroic spirit surge in everyone present, and they couldn't help but want to follow and rush forward and slash hard.

Unfortunately, with the extensive use of hot weapons, this ancient military unit is about to come to the end of its life. In particular, the introduction of breech-loading rifles has turned the scene full of masculine masculinity into a slaughterhouse. This is not a guess, but something I saw with my own eyes. The Mongolian cavalry that once swept across the Eurasian continent put down their bows and arrows in the face of muskets and artillery; the Jurchen cavalry that could make the Mongolian cavalry bow their heads in dejection under the hail of bullets; the Yarkand, Bukhara, and Kazakh cavalry sheathed their scimitars and dared not move eastward even a step.

Now these elite cavalry from Europe are about to follow suit. No matter whether they are the fierce hussars, the gorgeous winged cavalry, or the lightning-fast Sipahi light cavalry, under the combined attack of muskets and artillery in preset positions, they will not show the combat effectiveness that matches their reputation, and may not even bring much damage.

It seems that only the lancers who also use muskets as weapons can pose a certain threat to the Ming army soldiers, but that depends on luck, provided that they are not defeated by artillery fire before they reach the sprint distance, and can rush to a distance suitable for musket shooting and fire smoothly.

After the devastation of this war, the cavalry that once made European countries proud would immediately fall from grace. If the knights could not inflict enough damage to the enemy, why spend a lot of money to keep them?
Recruit some farmers, give each of them a musket, and they will have good combat effectiveness after a month of training at most. Moreover, musketeers cost less and have more usage scenarios.

If it wasn't necessary, Hong Tao really didn't want Europeans to see the application scenarios of large-scale musketeers and artillery too early, because once they saw it, it would not stop them from following suit in research.

When most armies were equipped with firearms, there was no longer any virtue on the battlefield. The two sides would compete to see who was dirtier, more cunning, more deceitful, and more efficient in killing.

"Boom boom boom... Boom boom boom, boom boom boom... Boom boom boom..." A series of dull artillery sounds interrupted my thoughts, and the army's field artillery opened fire.

Since not too many artillery pieces could be used in mountain warfare and the Ming Army relied more on artillery assistance, each centurion was equipped with two artillery pieces, leaving nearly 60 field guns in the camp.

Although the caliber is not large, the large number of them makes the scene of firing shocking enough. As the muzzle spews out flames more than one meter long, smoke and dust are shaken up several meters high on the ground, and they are rushed forward by the negative pressure, like a group of monsters breathing out.

Dozens of small black flowers suddenly appeared near the cavalry line one kilometer away, and against the backdrop of the khaki smoke, they looked like a dark-toned landscape painting. If you zoom in a little, you can see a little bit of blood red.

"Ah..." Suddenly hit from a long distance, the cavalry formation was slightly in a panic. Some camels ran away in fright, while others simply lay down and refused to fight.

But the cavalrymen quickly returned to normal under the command of the colorful flags, shouted angrily, and urged their horses... no, camels... to charge ahead of time.

From this point, it can be seen that the cavalry commanders of several different origins all have rich combat experience and on-the-spot command capabilities.

They didn't know why the enemy's artillery could fire so far and so accurately, and the shells were so powerful that they could kill or injure all the riders nearby, but they were very clear about one thing: they had to shorten the distance between the two sides as quickly as possible to avoid being hit by more artillery fire.

(End of this chapter)