Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 428 He ran away?!
Zhu Cilang had extremely high expectations for the dragoons.

On the one hand, this expectation came from the capabilities demonstrated by the dragoons on the European battlefield, and on the other hand, it came from his understanding of the military branch.

Initially, the French only regarded this newly emerged type of troops as a rapid reaction force. The classic battle was the French marshal in the Italian War who ordered the musketeers to mount on horseback to deal with the Spanish legion that might appear from the rear at any time.

In that battle, although the highly mobile dragoons performed their mission brilliantly, their combat style was closer to that of infantry and could hardly be called cavalry.

In the nearly 100 years that followed, dragoons were basically used as mounted infantry. Due to the popularity of flintlock rifles, the frequency of dragoons' appearances became more and more frequent.

By this time, except for cavalry teams like Poland, which were very local in character and had brilliant battle records and still maintained heavy armor and spears, European countries had modified their cavalry to varying degrees. Some radical countries like England had even converted all their cavalry into dragoons.

But there is a problem here.

These dragoons either used their muskets merely as a tool to break up the enemy's phalanxes, firing a few shots during the charge before returning to the traditional heavy cavalry's combat style; or simply treated the dragoons as mounted infantry, using their mobility to achieve strategic goals.

Of course, there are always exceptions.

Gustav II of Sweden grafted the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry onto the dragoons.

In his army, all dragoons were not allowed to dismount, and all actions such as loading and shooting had to be completed on horseback. With such innovation, he led the elite dragoons to counterattack Denmark, which had always suppressed Sweden, when he was still a crown prince.

Later, Gustav II, realizing the powerful fighting capability of the dragoons, could not stop.

Russia, Lithuania, Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, the Catholic League, these powerful enemies eventually forged the reputation of the "Lion of the North" with their own failures.

If he had not been hit by a stray bullet in the Battle of Lützen, it is unknown whether Sweden would have become the overlord of Europe.

Of course, this achievement was not achieved simply by using new troops and new tactics, as he was a man of great talent and strategy. However, after suffering a great loss at the hands of Gustav II, the Russians also learned such tactics and demonstrated extremely powerful combat effectiveness in the war with Napoleon.

During the Battle of Borodino, Russian dragoons were ordered to attack the artillery positions on the French left wing together with 5,000 Cossack cavalry.

Their army first repelled the Italian cavalry corps, and then defeated the Bavarian cavalry corps. When the battle situation became unfavorable, they were even able to engage in head-on combat with the French cuirassiers who came to rescue them to cover the retreat of the Cossack cavalry, truly demonstrating the powerful combat capability of the dragoons.

Ultimately, the battle ended with Russia's defeat, and Napoleon successfully entered Moscow after his victory. However, due to the dragoons' containment on the left wing, Napoleon was hesitant to send his Guards Regiment into battle, and the Russian army was able to preserve its manpower.

Knowing this, Zhu Cilang naturally knew the correct way to use dragoons.

Li Chengdong's troops did not disappoint his expectations. After defeating several Khoshut cavalry units of equal strength, they were able to escape the siege with an almost intact organization.

just
"Marshal! We're out of gunpowder!"

Facing the report from the general beside him, Li Chengdong said nothing.

As the commander of this new cavalry, he naturally kept an eye on the situation on both sides. When the sporadic sounds of musketry gradually stopped, he understood the current situation of his own men.

Because they were not equipped with bows and crossbows, the dragoons without gunpowder were unable to fight against Dayan's troops. The rest of them had to flee as fast as they could and return to their own camp before the enemy caught up with them.

It sounds quite simple. As long as Li Chengdong escapes from the camp gate into the main camp, he can escape the enemy's pursuit. However, this is not a simple matter of putting an elephant in a box in a few steps.

The camp gate was only that big, and without the cover of their own troops, their two thousand cavalry would have been blocked outside the camp gate.

By then, he wouldn't have to consider how long it would take to get back to the camp. The rain of arrows from the enemy soldiers behind him would be enough to kill most of his men.

Take a gamble.

At worst, I can just go half a circle.

With this in mind, Li Chengdong secretly planned his route. After three or five breaths, he was the first to change direction and headed straight between the camp and the city.

It has to be said that the grassland people's skills on horseback seem to be innate.

Even though Li Chengdong's troops had been cavalry for many years and their men had made great progress in the training over the past six months, when they suddenly moved forward, Dayan behind them still caught up steadily, and the distance between the two sides even got closer.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

By this time, the dragoons that fell behind had already entered the enemy's shooting range. As waves of breaking air sounds came one after another, the muffled sounds caused by the war horses falling to the ground also reached Li Chengdong's ears.

He knew very well that whether he was shot in the vitals or not, he would have no chance of survival if he fell off his horse at this time. However, the dragoons were now unable to launch any counterattack against the enemy. He could only secretly pray that the friendly forces in the camp would respond in time.

"Go through that place!"

Just when the dragoons completely changed direction, a loud shout suddenly reached Li Chengdong's ears. When he looked carefully, he saw that small formations composed of red-armored soldiers had disappeared from his sight.

After all, it is your majesty! He is truly as wise as a god!

Seeing this situation, Li Chengdong naturally breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't know that Chen Si, who made that loud shout, was so nervous that his palms were sweating.

After their rear army was transferred out by Your Majesty, they first fought the Dutch in Taiwan, and then suppressed the Sha Dingzhou rebels in Yunnan. When they entered Sichuan this time, they fought several battles with the elite Eight Banners, which was famous for its formidable strength. They can be said to be experienced in battle.

In short, they used extremely dense formations to deal with the enemy's attacks. Even if they were divided into several formations due to tactical needs, those formations were all composed of thousands of troops.

At this time, they not only had to face the attack of more than 10,000 cavalry, but their formation was also composed of a hundred teams.

Faced with such a situation, he couldn't help but worry whether the firepower could stop the enemy.

Forget it, I don't want to.

Since this formation has been decided by Your Majesty, it will be able to stop the enemy.

With this in mind, Chen Si focused all his attention on the front. When he saw that Li Chengdong's troops had already rushed to the front of the battle array forty or fifty steps, he shouted at the top of his voice: "Raise your guns!"

After he finished speaking, he couldn't help but look around, and seeing that several small formations under his command had raised their muskets, and the other thousand-household teams had also taken action, his heart suddenly calmed down.

When he first saw the young man in prison clothes, he was still making some inexplicable plans. Later, he didn't know how the situation changed again and again, and the Qing army, which had defeated the Ming Dynasty without any chance of fighting back, suffered defeat after defeat. He truly realized how powerful His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was.

It was strange to say that as he watched Xiang Rensheng and his men gain higher and higher status, he, a laborer from Yingtian, secretly felt a little dissatisfied. But at this moment, when more than 10,000 cavalrymen were approaching, he actually calmed down because this method of meeting the enemy was approved by His Majesty. "Let go!!!"

The change of his mind did not attract much of Chen Si's attention. When half of the dragoons had entered the gaps between the formations, he had already given the order to fire.

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

"Bah!"

As bursts of musket fire continued to be heard, the Khoshut cavalry that had already entered the range fell down immediately. At this time, he was extremely surprised to find that figures on the enemy's flanks also fell off their horses one after another.

这 是
Absolutely!

Chen Si was not an idiot as he was able to manage five or six soldiers in Yingtian. Although he had previously felt that it was difficult to defend such a long line with thousands of soldiers, when he saw the effect of this round of shooting, he immediately understood the advantages of this arrangement.

Since its formation, the rear army has relied on intensive firepower to defeat the enemy from the front.

Such tactics can bring a strong deterrent to the enemy, but when they were cleaning up the battlefield, they found that every fallen enemy soldier had been hit by several bullets and was almost shot into a sieve.

Obviously, with the power of the automatic gun, there is not much difference between being hit once and being hit several times. Chen Si, who has only been in the army for a year, has not thought about it carefully.

However, although the firepower was slightly reduced due to the widening of the front line, the attack area was much wider. Even the enemy soldiers on the flanks were shot and fell off their horses while being protected by their comrades in front.

Seeing this situation, Chen Si immediately thought of the arrangements made by His Majesty when attacking Yangping Pass, and he also tasted the essence of it.

"Raise the gun!"

As his mind raced, the front row soldiers had already retreated along the edge of the formation after finishing their shooting. But just as he issued the general order, the Khoshut people who were closely chasing the dragoons suddenly changed direction.

Dayan wanted the flintlock rifle very much.

But this does not mean that he has the courage to force his way into the gun formation composed of thousands of flintlock soldiers.

Why do you think the grassland tribes were so submissive to Tsarist Russia?
When we return to our roots, we have still experienced the baptism of the flintlock rifle.

Seeing that the muskets held by the Ming soldiers did not have long fuses, he knew how powerful the enemy was.

Honestly speaking, if he could really muster up the courage to charge directly into the Ming army's formation and withstand several rounds of shooting, he would be able to break through to their front. However, in this case, the troops he thought were the foundation of his survival would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

More importantly, he didn't think he could clean up the battlefield in front of the Ming army.

In the final analysis, Dayan's gains had become extremely uncertain due to the escape of the dragoons, and the price he had to pay had reached the limit of what he could bear.

Faced with such a situation, decisively stopping loss is probably the most reasonable choice.

"Taiji! Hanzhong also has a city gate on the south side!"

Seeing that his leader was no longer resisting the Ming army's spear formation, the general who had been whipped earlier could not help but give a reminder.

This is not because of his loyalty, but because nomadic tribes have always been composed of small settlements, and small tribes formed the Khoshut, Dzungar and other tribes.

Although they all entered the Han area under Dayan Taiji's command this time, every warrior who died in the battle was a direct subordinate of these generals. If there were really many casualties, their own cattle, sheep, and living people would be taken away by other settlements in the blink of an eye.

They themselves were unwilling to resist the Ming army's spear array with their flesh and blood.

But everyone thinks about their own business. When he thought that his Taiji was going to withdraw from the battlefield, Dayan just cruised along the edge of the Ming army's gun formation and had no intention of entering the city from other directions.

"Let's go check out the city!"

Dayan knew the thoughts of his generals very well, but he had suffered too many losses this time. Since he could not gain any benefit from the Ming army, he had to find a way to get his money back from the Qing army.

The Ming army has already deployed its troops, and the Qing army will certainly respond. If they suddenly attack while the two armies are fighting, they may be able to gain some benefits.

But he has his own plans, and Hauge also has his own plans.

When the sounds of musket firing became clearer, he was surprised to find that outside Hanzhong City, there was nothing but red flames except for some corpses wearing Qing army armor.

this.
Why?

Could it be that Hauge has been driven back into the city?
That's probably the case.

But the city wall is in tatters. Can we defend it even if we retreat into the city?
Thinking of this, Dayan immediately regretted being deceived by Haoge, but he had already entered the game, and even if he was dissatisfied, he could only wait until he could get out of it before settling with Haoge.

"Go to the South Gate!"

After all, they grew up on horseback, so the Khoshut knights did not slow down too much after the sudden turn. It only took half an incense stick of time for the ruined city gate to appear in Dayan's sight.

Alas~~~~!

What a loss!
I'm not going to mention cattle, sheep, and live people. As long as you have a strong fist, you can snatch them from others. But today, first there were dragoons, then there were Ming army spear arrays. In total, I'm afraid that five or six thousand warriors were killed. Such a loss.
Seeing the safe area, Dayan finally had time to feel sorry for today's losses.

But all this was done at the invitation of Hauge, so he had to find a way to make it up to him.

"Spread the word that the Ming army has 5,000 dragoons. We were worried that they would attack the Qing army from behind, so we tried our best to engage them. However, the Ming army's flintlock rifles were too powerful, and we could only kill 3,000 of them."

"Tai Taiji, those are three thousand dragoons. In the hands of the Swedish prince, they can sweep across all the countries."

As soon as Dayan finished speaking, the general beside him responded with a surprised look on his face. However, after hearing this, he showed disdain on his face and sneered: "What do the Jurchens know? They are just a bunch of wild people in the mountains. If it weren't for those lamas getting in the way, how could we be their vassal?"

As the words spread, the surrounding generals seemed to agree with this judgment. Then the cavalry slowly slowed down, and when they were about twenty or thirty steps to the left of the city gate, a burst of slightly contemptuous words were heard.

"They really don't care about their heads, and there's no one even at the city gate."

Facing the ridicule from his generals, Dayan just raised the corner of his mouth but did not agree with them. Then he was the first to enter the doorway, but he could not see any shadow of the Qing army except a sea of ​​red rushing towards him.

Hauge ran away?!
(End of this chapter)