Chapter 196: Wu Qing's cavalry battle

On the North China Plain in the south of Beizhili, the cavalry of the Wu army and the cavalry of the Eight Banners launched a number of large and small cavalry battles. After www.biquge.info the Wu army crossed the Yellow River and entered the North China Plain, it was completely different from being south of the Yellow River. The Wu army fought near Luoyang, where the terrain was hilly, mainly relying on infantry, and the task of the cavalry was to protect the flanks of the infantry, reconnoiter and spy on the enemy, and engage the Qing scout cavalry, and the final task was to pursue the Qing army when it was defeated.

After entering the North China Plain, it was the turn of the cavalry to sing the leading role.

Originally, the proportion of cavalry of the Wu army was not high, but thanks to the Qing army as a transport captain, in the decisive battle of Luoyang Wu Qing, the Qing army was defeated, and the Wu army captured a large number of war horses.

The victorious Wu army expanded the cavalry, and the Wu army, which was based on the original Guanning iron cavalry, and those veterans who fought all the way from Guanwai to Yunnan were the best cavalry instructors. After nearly a year of training, the Wu army trained many cavalry. In addition, Wu Sangui also recruited a large number of Xiangma mountain bandits who were active in the mountainous areas of northwest Hubei and southwest Henan, these Xiangma bandits were strong in martial arts, and were originally proficient in equestrian arts, good at riding horses and archery, after joining the Wu army, after being trained by the Wu army, they became the cavalry of the Wu army.

Zhao Chong was originally a horse thief in the Ruzhou area, his father participated in the invasion army, after the Qing army entered the customs, the invasion army was dispersed, Zhao Chong's father fled back to the mountains of Ruzhou, and returned to the old business, becoming the king of the mountain. After his father's death, the son inherited his father's business, and Zhao Chong led more than 300 brothers to work in the mountainous areas of this area, robbing homes and houses in the name of robbing the rich and helping the poor.

After Wu Sangui's army entered Henan, Zhao Chong keenly felt that a good opportunity to make meritorious contributions had come, so he led more than 300 brothers to defect to Wu Sangui.

With Zhao Chong's example, the horse thieves in the vicinity, large and small, accepted Wu Sangui's recruitment one after another, and turned into Wu Jun. Although he had to go through training after joining the Wu army, the army training in that era was not as strict as the Qiongzhou army.

Fortunately, Zhao Chong did not participate in the Qiongzhou Army, otherwise the military discipline of the Qiongzhou Army would have made him retreat.

The cavalry battle between the Wu army and the Qing army was not a collision of tens of thousands of cavalry, but a skirmish between a few hundred people, at most a few thousand cavalry. The scheming Wu Sangui's Northern Expedition marched steadily, step by step, conquering one city after another. When the Wu army was marching, a large number of heavy vehicles and soldiers traveled together, and they could form a chariot formation at any time. The Wu cavalry protected the infantry on both flanks and could drive away the Qing cavalry at any time.

In order to deal with the Eight Banners cavalry that may harass his infantry at any time, Wu Sangui let the cavalry attack everywhere after setting up camp every time he set up camp to find the Qing cavalry to fight.

In the territory of Yuancheng County in the south of Beizhili, Wang Pingfan, a fierce general of the Wu army, led 3,000 cavalry to roam around the county, looking for the Eight Banners cavalry to fight. Zhao Chong, who had repeatedly made military exploits, had been promoted to guerrilla general, and half of the 300 brothers he brought down from the mountains were still alive and became his own soldiers, and he also recruited more than 1,000 cavalry. Zhao Chong, who already had 1,200 cavalry, became a major cavalry force under Wang Pingfan's command.

"Report to the General! Tartar cavalry appeared in front! About 2,000 people! "The sentry in charge of the reconnaissance mission came back to report.

"Revisit! See if there are Tartar reinforcements within a radius of twenty miles, and if there are ambushes! Wang Pingfan shouted.

"No!" Wu Junshao rode a salute, got on his horse and left.

There were no major problems in the reconnaissance work of the Wu army's sentry cavalry and the return of battlefield intelligence. The cavalry of the Wu army was not lost to the cavalry of the Eight Banners, and the Wu army was equipped with a small number of rifled guns, and had such sophisticated firearms, so that the Wu army sentry cavalry would not suffer at all when fighting with the Qing army sentry cavalry.

After a while, the sentry came back and reported: "General Qiyu! No Tartar reinforcements or ambushes found! ”

"Probe!" The cautious and steady Wang Pingfan ordered.

Several groups of sentry cavalry returned, and the report found no other Qing troops nearby, only 2,000 cavalry of the Eight Banners a few miles away.

"There are no reinforcements on either side, so let's pull out and fight the Tartar cavalry face to face!" Wang Pingfan gave the order.

The cavalry of the Eight Banners of the Qing army also discovered the cavalry of the Wu army in front, and the sentinels of the two sides were basically evenly matched, and the Qing army also found out that the Wu army had no ambush troops nearby and no reinforcements.

Amida, the leader of the Eight Banners, said: "Since Wu Dog has no ambush and no reinforcements, then let our Eight Banners warriors open the formation and fight to the death with the Wu Dog cavalry!" ”

The cavalry on both sides was maintaining their horsepower and slowly approaching each other. Amida and his opponent Wang Pingfan were both generals who were familiar with cavalry tactics, and both knew that cavalry should not charge prematurely, and that cavalry could be converted into infantry at any time. In cavalry battles, it is not necessary to ride a horse to impact the opponent, but you can also dismount and shoot arrows, harass, and tempt. While the man dismounts, the horse recovers its strength. Wait until the time is right to charge. If the time is not ripe, simply wait on foot.

In fact, when they were outside the pass, the Houjin cavalry relied on a variety of combined tactics to defeat the Mongolian cavalry, after the Houjin Eight Banners cavalry dismounted, they could be used as archers, and they could also become pikemen, themselves they were more like heavy infantry on horseback, when they met the Mongolian cavalry, after the Houjin army dismounted, they used bows and arrows and spears to deal with the Mongolian cavalry, and when the opportunity was ripe, the Houjin army stepped on the war horse and launched a charge to the Mongolian cavalry. The Later Jin army was heavily armoured, and the Mongols' cavalry bows could not shoot through. Once the horsepower Houjin cavalry caught up with the Mongols, they could knock the Mongol cavalry off their horses.

From Lao Nu to Huang Taiji, the Later Jin army tried many tricks, and finally defeated Lin Dan Khan and other Mongol tribes with the help of the Horqin Mongols.

When the two sides were near, Wang Pingfan ordered all the cavalry to dismount, wait for the horsepower to recover, and sprinkle horse nails on the periphery of his formation, with archers in the middle, and lancers as pikemen on the periphery; Some of the elite cavalry with one man and two horses changed horses, and shot arrows from afar to test the Qing army.

"We've been walking for an hour and a half, and the horses are tired and resting! Wait for your time! Wang Ping said.

The Qing army's chief general, Amida, also adopted the same tactic, and the cavalry of the Eight Banners dismounted to let the war horse recover its horsepower, after all, it had been riding for two hours, but it was also a great consumption of horsepower. However, a group of Mongolian cavalry with one man and two horses rode around the formation of the Wu army, harassing them with arrows from a distance, and came back to change horses after a few turns.

Both sides are waiting for an opportunity, the cavalry fights, and if you are not careful, it will be irretrievable, whether it is Wang Pingfan or Amida, they are not willing to take risks.

The Mongol cavalry had barely approached the Wu army when they were beaten back by strong bows and rifled guns, and the powerful rifled guns left behind the corpses of more than a dozen Mongol cavalrymen.

The cavalry of the Wu army approached the Qing army, and the archers of the Eight Banners shot a row of feathered arrows, but only a few of the heavily armored Wu cavalry were wounded and not killed. The Wu cavalry whistled, rode their horses closer, shot a row of feathered arrows, and then turned back.