The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 101 Cavalry Charge
"The situation has changed. The Jiannu are bombarding the shield formation with artillery. Pass on my order. The cavalry must stop resting and change horses to fight!"

"The cavalry battalion will charge like a wall, while Ligdan Khan's troops will provide flank protection. Pikemen in front, halberds in the center, and grenadiers in the rear! Act now!"

At the foot of Longquan Mountain north of Shenyang City, General Xuanwu Liu Zhaosun stood on his horse and gave orders to the cavalry, with Jin Yuji, dressed in military uniform, standing next to him.

The cavalrymen in the central army, holding a blue flag, waved the general's flag and passed the order to each cavalry battalion.

Longquan Mountain is actually a low hill located five miles north of Shenyang City. Five thousand cavalrymen are lurking in the valley.

Half an hour ago, a part of the cavalry battalion launched a surprise attack and killed all the Later Jin sentries on guard nearby. The cavalry had planned to rest here.

When Li Yuchen heard that they were going to launch an attack immediately, he whispered:

"Sir, the horses are tired after a day of rapid marching. If we charge like this, the casualties will be great. Even if we can withstand it, these Mongolian riders may not be able to withstand it."

Liu Zhaosun looked at the setting sun in the west, and the crumbling shield formation of the white-pole soldiers in the distance, and suddenly said angrily:

"I don't want any casualties. I only want the Hunhe position!"

"Go tell Ligdan Khan's men that 20,000 troops from the Bordered Blue Banner and the Plain White Banner are pursuing us, only half a day's journey away. The Mongols robbed Hetuala and killed the Jianzhou Jurchens. If we can't defeat the Later Jin army in Shenyang, we'll be burned to death by Nurhaci! If you want to grab the silver, you'll have to fight for your life with me!"

"You have to bear it even if you can't! This is a military order!"

After Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he rode his horse down the mountain without even looking back.

Li Yuchen hurriedly followed, and the twelve hundred Kaiyuan elite cavalry slowly descended the hillside.

At the command of the battalion commanders, the cavalry battalions lined up at the foot of the mountain.

These 1,200 men were Liu Zhaosun's most elite cavalry and his source of pride.

Of the 250,000 taels of silver General Liu brought back from the capital, at least 50,000 taels were spent on maintaining war horses and training cavalry.

Liu Zhaosun was skilled in archery and horse riding. After traveling through time, he focused on dense battle formations and charges in his cavalry training.

This so-called wall-charge cavalry tactic often has a devastating effect when dealing with second- and third-rate cavalry opponents.

Of course, this is just theory.

The wall charge tactic is extremely energy-consuming and requires high-intensity cavalry formation training. It also requires the cavalry to have extraordinary discipline and courage. Therefore, it is difficult to actually implement it in reality.

All of Liu Zhaosun's subordinates were his diehard followers who had followed him since Hunhe River. They were the kind of diehards who were willing to die at any time. They had no problems with discipline and bravery. In addition, Liu Zhaosun's financial resources in Kaiyuan were enough to maintain this cavalry of a thousand people.

After many discussions and repeated practice with officers, Liu Zhaosun made subtle adjustments to the wall charge.

Simply put, a third row of grenadiers was added and the distance between war horses was increased.

The cavalry battalion was divided into four cavalry bureaus, each with 300 men, three flag teams in each bureau, and each team only used one type of weapon.

During the attack on Shenyang, the weapons equipped by each team of the cavalry battalion were: long spears in the front row, hammers and halberds in the second row, and one-handed sabers in three rows.

The third row of cavalrymen were equipped with sabers, and some were equipped with flintlock rifles and wooden-handled stone mines.

Twelve hundred cavalrymen were arranged into twelve echelons, with the front and back rows each armed with spears, halberds, flintlock rifles, and grenades, launching a continuous attack. The Chahar cavalry covered the flanks, preventing the Khorchin cavalry from harassing the charging Ming army.

Each flag team attacked without interruption until they broke through the Later Jin army's formation.

Since the spearmen had not yet arrived at the battlefield, after the gap was opened, the subsequent cleanup was completed by the Chahar cavalry.

If Nurhaci temporarily assembled the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty and formed a square formation for defense, Liu Zhaosun would bypass the square formation, flank the two wings of the armored soldiers, and wait until dark to launch a night attack. This time, General Liu prepared many surprises for the Jiannu.

In this era, a light cavalry attack on a heavily defended infantry phalanx was tantamount to suicide. Therefore, he would not foolishly use cavalry to fight the Eight Banners infantry to death. As long as he could break through the enemy's defense, he would win.

A total of 1,200 cavalrymen from the four cavalry bureaus formed twelve neat rows of formations, with one hundred men in each row, and slowly spread out in the flat and wide Hunhe River Valley.

The afterglow of the setting sun over the Hunhe River illuminated the earth. The cavalry battalion's tilted spear tips and halberd teeth shone with a cold light. Under the bloody sky, it looked like a slowly moving forest of steel.

The front row of cavalrymen were all wearing armor with a pattern of sandpaper and equipped with 15-foot-long spears. The second row was equipped with improved 7-foot-long spears. The third row was equipped with one-handed sabers. They were also equipped with short flintlock rifles and stone mines, which were used to attack enemy camps.

The distance between infantrymen in the same row is three steps, which is the distance of a swing of weapons, and the distance between queues is five steps. Compared with the traditional wall charge, this distance is slightly wider.

Liu Zhaosun rode his horse slowly.

He was now the captain of the flag in the front row. On his right, Jin Yu Ji was standing on horseback, holding a 15-foot-long spear in her hand, looking up and slowly gazing ahead.

The first row of cavalrymen all followed Liu Zhaosun's lead, constantly adjusting their horses' speeds to maintain a tight formation. These rigorously trained cavalrymen were highly skilled in all combat maneuvers, and after more than three months, each had developed a close rapport with their horses.

At this time, the front row of cavalry was less than two miles away from the white-pole soldiers' shield formation. The captains of each row of flags shouted at the cavalry to maintain their formation, while raising their seven-foot lances and commanding the cavalry to charge.

The earth trembled slightly, and thousands of war horses trampled on the river valley. The sound of their hooves was like a mighty war drum, resounding on both sides of the Hunhe River.

Five hundred steps away from them, the Khorchin people were in high spirits. Under the cover of the Portuguese cannons, they swarmed in through the gaps in the White Spear Soldiers' shield formation and shot the unprotected White Spear Soldiers with their horse bows.

Amid the rumbling of artillery, no one noticed the approaching cavalry behind them.

The Khorchin cavalry who stayed behind in the camp were the first to discover the cavalry camp.

Large groups of Khorchin cavalry emerged from the river banks on both sides, shooting arrows at the cavalry camp from afar, trying to stop the suddenly approaching Ming army.

Liu Zhaosun ignored these cavalrymen, raised his iron arm to block a few weak arrows flying towards him, and shouted loudly to the cavalrymen in the front row to speed up the charge.

This is the "Lava tactic" most commonly used by Mongolian soldiers.

They usually use a team of a thousand men to form a wide arc-shaped line of skirmishers to harass the enemy formation. The thousand-man commander controls the combat of the skirmishers to lure the enemy out of the formation or make them waver. The group in the rear formation will look for the enemy's weak points to launch a concentrated attack, thereby causing the entire enemy formation to collapse.

Lin Danhan's cavalry entered the battlefield at the right time to reinforce Liu Zhaosun and his men to fight against the Khorchin people who tried to harass the cavalry camp.

The two Mongolian groups hated each other but were also familiar with each other. The Khorchin riders' Lava tactics were neutralized by the Chahar people.

When enemies met, they were extremely jealous of each other. The Mongols on both sides soon fought each other, and the Hunhe battlefield became chaotic.

These Mongolians, who were skilled in riding, controlled their horses flexibly and fought each other with horse bows as fast as the wind. From time to time, someone would fall off his horse with a scream, and then be trampled into a pulp by the messy horses' hooves.

The dogfight between the Mongolian cavalry soon attracted the attention of the Khorchin people attacking in the front.

The Khorchin people who were crowded outside the shield formation and were about to go in and kill the white-spear soldiers saw the enemy attacking, so they left the battlefield and retreated.

These dismounted cavalrymen were only equipped with horse bows and swords, and many of them were not even wearing armor.

Looking at the armored Ming cavalrymen suddenly charging from behind, and then looking at their own horse bows, they knew they could not gain an advantage. Moreover, they had just killed many white-pole soldiers, and this Ming army would definitely not let them go.

The Mongols hurriedly raised their horse bows and shot a few arrows at the Ming army, then turned around and looked for their horses.

"Nurhaci is truly a genius for using cavalry as infantry."

Liu Zhaosun looked at the panicked Mongolian riders in front of him and couldn't help laughing.

The fleeing Khorchin people ran head-on into Bayala, who was leading the battle from behind, and were beheaded without mercy.

The murderous Bayara used heavy arrows and long swords to force these slippery Mongolian riders to turn around and fight against the Ming cavalry that had caught up with them.

After dozens of people were beheaded, the Khorchin people finally accepted their tragic fate.

They hurriedly formed up their battle formation outside the white-pole soldiers' shield formation.

At this time, screams were heard from the shield formation, and the white-pole soldiers were fighting back against the advancing Mongols.

The Khorchin people outside didn't care about the life and death of their brothers who rushed into the shield formation, and blew the conch shells and trumpets.

More Mongols were attracted, and thousands of them gathered in a black mass. They held up their sabers and imitated the Later Jin soldiers to form a simple spearman formation, ready to compete with the Ming cavalry.

"A phalanx of spearmen without spears."

Liu Zhaosun squeezed the horse's belly, and the warhorse, with whom he had been for more than half a year, began to jog in tacit understanding.

The front row of cavalry approached to within a hundred steps of the shield formation, the formation remained strict, and the cavalry raised their spears.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves is like a sudden thunderclap, and the jumping red tassels on the cavalry's helmets are like burning flames. Being on the ancient battlefield of the 17th century will give people a strong sensory impact.

Liu Zhaosun looked excited. He raised his hand holding the reins and gently pressed down on his helmet. This was his action every time before charging into battle, and it had almost become a habit.

He skillfully adjusted the horse's speed until the sound of the horse's hooves gradually became similar to the sound of his heartbeat.

Suddenly, he sped up his horse, raised his lance, and pointed it diagonally at a Mongolian with a bow twenty steps ahead.

(End of this chapter)