GBP Chapter 570 The Cavalry's Nemesis Formation
Chapter 570 The Cavalry's Nemesis Formation
The area near the official road outside Changyi County is a wide expanse with only a few hilly terrains. Intercepting highly mobile cavalry in such terrain is quite difficult.
To prevent the Tartars from easily breaking through the blockade using their cavalry advantage, the Qionghai Army formed a large "品" (pin) shape along the official road, with the side of the "品" facing the Tartars. The three regiments were arranged in a staggered pattern along the road according to their unit numbers. In this way, no matter how the Tartars charged left or right, they would always be hit by fire from the front and sides. Even if they disregarded casualties and tried to cross the "品" in a serpentine route, they would be severely injured, if not killed, and would ultimately pay a heavy price.
The Qionghai Navy Command was located on a small hill in the middle of the Second Regiment. Liang Xiaoming stood on the high ground and used binoculars to observe the deployment of his own troops. He praised, "This arrangement is brilliant. It's better than both the column and the line formation. It expands the width of the defense without allowing the enemy to break through at a single point. Moreover, this staggered defensive formation can support each other and form a certain degree of crossfire, which is similar to the bastion!"
Liu Ye was also very satisfied, saying, "This idea was conceived by Su Hongtu and then refined by the Military Intelligence Staff. Although Su Hongtu comes from humble beginnings and has a poor educational background, he is very talented in warfare and is a rare talent!"
Xu Yifan, the commander of the Second Regiment, also said: "Although Commander Su came from a blacksmithing background, he worked very hard to learn to read and do arithmetic. He was one of the best trained by the Army Branch School and can be described as a typical example of the early bird catches the worm."
“He’s not stupid; he’s got a lot of clever ideas,” Liu Ye laughed. “But he worked very hard in the officer training program and later at the military academy. He’s talented and has a good attitude, so it’s only natural that he stood out.”
At this moment, shouts of battle rang out, and Gartu led two thousand cavalrymen to begin their assault on the First Regiment's position.
If it were any other Ming army, facing the charge of two thousand Tartar cavalry, neither spearmen nor musketeers would have been able to hold out—the former lacked sufficient willpower and courage, while the latter, due to insufficient fighting spirit and weaponry, would completely collapse once they were brought close.
The Qionghai Army greeted the Tartar cavalry with a hollow square formation. Faced with the menacing cavalry, the officers and soldiers of the First Regiment were both nervous and excited, ready for battle.
From the widespread use of firearms until the advent of machine guns, the hollow square formation was the best formation for infantry to counter cavalry. Especially with the introduction of bayonets, this formation became a nemesis of cavalry. The combination of bayonets and flintlock muskets completely eliminated the need for spearmen and other melee weapon units. Musketeers became a versatile unit, combining ranged and melee combat, effective in both offense and defense. They could use the range of firearms to engage at long range, while their bayonets could restrain cavalry charges at close range.
Those unfamiliar with the era of bayonet charges find it difficult to understand how a thin, hollow square formation could withstand the powerful impact of cavalry, assuming that once the cavalry charged into the formation, the infantry were doomed. This misconception stems from a lack of understanding of horse behavior. Regardless of breed, horses have an instinctive fear of sharp, shiny objects, even highly trained warhorses. Unless in extreme circumstances, warhorses will not charge into a bayonet formation. The soldiers in the front ranks of the hollow square formation are generally not directly charged by the horses; their role is primarily to frighten the horses and cause them to retreat. Furthermore, a square formation has no rear; even with superior mobility, cavalry cannot use flanking maneuvers to find weak points for attack.
The only effective way for cavalry to break through this formation is to use arrows or artillery to kill a certain number of soldiers, creating a gap in the formation, and then charge through that gap. However, Abatai's troops did not have cannons, so this route was already half blocked; as for the effectiveness of arrows, it had already been proven in the small-scale battle against Mawei's cavalry battalion—neither infantry bows nor horse bows had an advantage against a large number of muskets.
Gartu was about to attack a massive hollow infantry square. The First and Second Regiments each deployed four infantry battalions evenly on all four sides, with one thousand men on each side, divided into two ranks of five hundred each. The front rank crouched down with bayonets, while the rear rank was responsible for firing.
Thanks to years of combat experience and tacit understanding, the Later Jin cavalry and Mongols naturally divided their tasks during the run. The cavalrymen raised their sabers and formed a cone shape following Gartu's arrowhead—this charging formation was used to break through the infantry formation. Although the Later Jin cavalry were later regarded as mounted heavy infantry, they could still act as heavy cavalry against opponents with almost no cavalry. Meanwhile, the Mongols spread out on both flanks, preparing to launch a volley attack once they were within range of their bows and arrows.
On this continent, the largest ever battle between a firearms-equipped infantry phalanx and the invincible Later Jin cavalry began. Although the Qionghai Army had fought against cavalry with phalanxes before, this was the first time they had faced such a large-scale battle against such a formidable opponent.
Quartz calmly watched the approaching cavalry, not giving the order to fire until the cavalry was within seven or eight hundred paces, at which point he ordered the artillery to fire.
The artillery battalion commander issued specific instructions: "All artillery groups directly in front, fire! Mountain guns, slingshot!" The messenger waved a small red flag, signaling the artillery to open fire.
"Boom boom boom boom!" The 10-pound field guns positioned at the four corners of the formation fired first, their solid 10-pound shells whistling through the air as they flew towards the enemy. Because there was no flat terrain to provide cover, the guns had to be placed in the corners to avoid affecting the formation's frontal defense. The muzzles were angled, creating a crossfire between the shells fired from the two corner guns.
The enormous iron balls flew through the Tartar ranks, one after another, cavalrymen were smashed by the cannonballs, many had their heads smashed open, and others had their intestines ripped out.
Gartu, experienced as he was, knew that in times like these, it was crucial to charge forward; a retreat by cavalry was a cardinal sin in warfare. If the Mongols could muster the courage to open a gap with a hail of arrows once within range, allowing him and his men to break through, the outcome of the battle would be decided. He crouched low, pressed close to his horse's back, seemingly oblivious to the whistling cannonballs around him, and mentally rallied himself: "Gartu, you must charge forward! Let the Prince see that you are still the same Baturu who slaughters Ming soldiers like cutting melons."
A solid shot from a 10-pound field cannon is devastating against densely packed infantry, but its power and effectiveness are diminished against fast-moving, relatively sparsely formed cavalry—it's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. Even so, the charging cavalry felt immense pressure. In previous field battles, they had never been attacked by artillery fire at such a distance, and they suffered heavy casualties—Ming army cannons were mostly used for siege defense and were almost unusable in field battles against cavalry.