Liu Zhaoji's three thousand infantry lined up in front of the formation. The first three rows were all spearmen, followed by sword and shield soldiers. Behind the sword and shield soldiers were several hundred cavalry. These hundreds of cavalry were the servants of Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the only soldiers who could fight were basically servants. Wu Sangui's rise was also due to the 3,000 servants under his command.

The training funds for these three thousand servants were not provided by the Wu family. They all came from the arrears and deduction of military pay from ordinary soldiers. In fact, they used the blood buns of ordinary soldiers to train their own army of cronies.

These servants are only loyal to their master. They will do whatever the master asks them to do. They don't care even if they betray their own country, because they don't have a country but their master in their hearts.

Dorgon gave an order, and the Zhengbai Banner Mongolian cavalry under their command immediately rushed out. Three thousand cavalry rushed towards the Ming army's front line, the Liaodong Army.

"Da da da……"

Although there were only three thousand cavalry, the power of the charge together shocked the hearts of the Liaodong Army. They held their spears tightly in their hands, but their legs were trembling.

For many years, the Liaodong Army had been defending in the city and did not dare to go out of the city to fight in the field with the Jiannu. Today, facing the attack of the Jiannu cavalry, they really had no confidence.

Liu Zhaoji knew the thoughts of his soldiers, so he shouted loudly:

"Soldiers, Jiannu are human beings just like us. The idea that the Eight Banners are invincible is all fucking lies. They are like chickens and dogs in front of the National Guard.

Compared with my Liaodong soldiers, they are just more barbaric. They robbed your land and killed your relatives. Don't you want to take back the land and defend your relatives to avenge it?

Now that the Ming army has risen strongly under the leadership of Emperor Shenwu, the Ming army under the command of Emperor Shenwu will definitely regain Liaodong and regain our homeland.

After the victory in the Battle of Liaodong, the court will redistribute the land to you. At that time, you can take your family to cultivate your own land without any worries.

In order to avenge our relatives, to regain our own land, to live a stable life in the future, and to receive rewards for meritorious service, our Liaodong Army will fight to the death today. Soldiers, prepare to kill the enemy!"

The very nervous Liaodong soldiers, encouraged by their commander-in-chief Liu Zhaoji, suddenly felt their blood boiling, and Jiannu seemed not so scary in their eyes.

For the sake of their family members who were killed by the Jian slaves, and for a stable life in the future, they had to fight against the Jian slaves. At worst, they would die in battle, but they could still enter the Loyal Soul Shrine after they died.

If they could not see hope before, it is different now. Emperor Shenwu personally conquered Liaodong. Under the attack of more than 200,000 national defense troops, they believed that Jiannu would be killed.

Three thousand Liaodong troops held spears, swords and shields in their hands. They stepped forward and shouted in unison:

"Kill, kill, kill..."

Not to mention, when they shouted kill, kill, kill, they felt that their strength and morale seemed to surge instantly, and the spears in their hands were even more eager to stab Jiannu's body...

Hearing the shouts of the Liaodong soldiers in the front, Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui in the rear felt a little strange. When faced with the charge of Jiannu, when did the Liaodong soldiers have such momentum...

"Da da da……"

Seeing Jian Nu rushing into the battle about fifty steps in front, the Liaodong Army's long gunners immediately raised their spears and pointed rows of shining spear points at the Mongolian troops' charging horses.

Unexpectedly, the Mongolian cavalry suddenly spread out to the two wings at about fifty paces, and fired a shower of arrows at the Liaodong Army:

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

The Mongolian cavalry all use light bows. If the cavalry of the National Protector Army or Guan Ning Army is heavily armored, it is difficult for the Mongolian army's horn bows to cause damage to them.

But the Liaodong Army couldn't. Except for a few hundred servants, their other soldiers basically had a layer of iron armor or cotton armor. This kind of armor was difficult to defend against the Mongolian arrows.

"Puff puff……"

Facing the sudden rain of arrows falling from the sky, many Liaodong troops were hit by arrows. Some were hit by arrows in the eyes, and some were penetrated by an arrow in the throat...

For a time, the Liaodong Army's formation was filled with screams. Under the heavy blows and continuous shooting, at least two hundred people fell to the ground after being hit by arrows...

"Sword and Shield Soldiers, hurry up and protect..."

Upon seeing this, Liu Zhaoji hurriedly ordered the sword and shield soldiers to come forward to protect him.

After receiving the order, the sword and shield soldiers in the rear formation immediately stepped forward and used the shields in their hands to block the arrows fired by the Mongolian army. There were more people and fewer shields, but some soldiers were still hit by arrows, and the spear formation soon showed its flaws.

However, Jiannu did not attack to take advantage of the victory. Prince Dorgon of Jiannu Rui saw that the Ming army did not dare to take the initiative to attack. He gave an order and five thousand archers immediately dismounted and formed a formation.

Five thousand archers were arrayed in front of the formation. Not only did Liu Zhaoji frown, but Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui also showed great fear in their eyes.

In people's accustomed impression, the Jianzhou Jurchens who rose up in the Baishan and Heishui areas in the late Ming Dynasty made their fortunes by riding and shooting, and eventually entered the Guan Pass and headed south to establish themselves in the Central Plains.

The invincibility of cavalry and archery has also been shown as miraculous in many literary works or film and television dramas, which seems to have strengthened our inherent impression of the Eight Banners Army's superb cavalry and archery abilities.

Among the many battles before entering the Pass, especially the battles before and after the founding of the Later Jin Dynasty, the Eight Banners Army relied most heavily on infantry battles.

As we all know, Jianzhou Wei Jurchen belongs to a mountain tribe. In the Ming Dynasty, it was a place rich in excellent heavy infantry, and the famous Tietou infantry was one of the representatives.

The geographical location of the Jianzhou Jurchens was in the eastern mountainous area of ​​today's Liaoning Province, which was mostly covered by dense forests and snowfields. There was no favorable place for large-scale training of cavalry.

Moreover, the vast mountains and forests there made the Jurchens accustomed to walking through the mountains, fighting in the ice and snow, and fighting with jackals, tigers and leopards, so their foot combat was naturally superior.

Although the Eight Banners Army had a lot of horses when it was first founded, most of its soldiers could not be called cavalry, but more like mounted infantry like European dragoons, that is, they used horses to maneuver long distances to save physical strength.

, when entering into battle, dismount and fight on foot.

In previous confrontations outside the pass, the Ming army, accustomed to fighting with northern nomads, often used carts and horses to form field fortifications in front of the battle to resist the opponent's attack.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Obviously, facing such a position, it is difficult to defeat it by directly using cavalry to launch a horseback assault. In the Battle of Sarhu, the Eight Banners Army finally drove a large number of cattle and sheep to break through.

He resisted the horse, then charged with infantry to get close and fight to defeat the opponent.

Just like when fighting the Ming army, in the process of unifying the Jurchens, Nurhachi faced the armies of other Jurchen tribes, and the Eight Banners Army often relied on infantry battles to win.

When conquering the Ula tribe: Buzhantai led 30,000 troops on foot and lined up to wait. The two armies were a hundred steps apart, and the Manchu soldiers also dismounted and marched into battle.

Seeing that the arrows of the two armies were like the wind blowing and snow falling, their sound was like a swarm of bees, and their murderous intent was soaring to the sky. All the kings, ministers and soldiers rushed forward bravely. The Ura soldiers were defeated, with sixty-seven casualties out of ten. The Manchu soldiers took advantage of the momentum and rushed to seize the gate and took the city.

.

It can be seen from this that the Eight Banners Army's infantry combat capabilities are quite powerful.

So when it comes to Eight Banners soldiers, their true duty is infantry. Riding horses is just a way of marching, and dismounting and fighting on foot is their specialty.

After the Battle of Saarhu, the Eight Banners Army gradually summarized a mature style of play, which is to put chariots in the front, followed by heavy armored infantry, and then use archers to suppress the enemy with firepower.

According to historical data, the archers in the Eight Banners Army used walking bows with larger draw force, which were not suitable for mounted shooting.

The archers of the Eight Banners Army basically did not shoot indiscriminately like the Ming Army used firearms. Generally, they rarely moved after launching the chariot, and they did not shoot until they were very close to the Ming Army, or even five steps away. This greatly improved the accuracy.

Compared with Nurhachi's Jianzhou Jurchens, their rival Haixi Jurchens are better at riding and shooting. Most of the horses of the Haixi Jurchens were purchased in Mongolia and were raised in captivity using the methods of farming people, not the free-range methods of nomadic peoples.

But even so, his riding and shooting skills made Nurhaci very afraid.

It was not until Nurhaci annexed the four Haixi tribes, moved its people to Jianzhou, naturalized them and made them their own subjects, and officially established the Eight Banners of Manchuria, that he had a considerable cavalry force under his command.

Later, the Eight Banners Army conquered Mongolia and got the Horqin Eastern Mongolia to join them, and obtained good horses, a large number of pastures and real prairie cavalry.

And organized them into the Eight Banners of Mongolia, which greatly improved the cavalry strength and cavalry shooting level of the Hou Jin and even the Qing army.

Therefore, people used to say that the Eight Banners cavalry is invincible in cavalry and shooting, which actually refers to this part of the Eight Banners Army, not the troops during the Jurchen period.

The powerful Eight Banners were good at riding and shooting, which was actually only a partial portrayal of the later Mongolian Eight Banners.

For a considerable period of time after the formation of the army, the Eight Banners Army relied entirely on heavy armored infantry to dismount and engage in tough battles, plus the combat power bonus brought by artillery to defeat the enemy.

As for many people saying that the Eight Banners Army got its start by relying on cavalry and archery, this is actually just a case of the slave rulers using cavalry and archery as an example to call on the people to not forget the martial spirit.

In ancient Japan, whether they were good at riding or shooting was a necessary condition for selecting outstanding generals. But can we say that Japanese samurai conquered the world by riding and shooting?

Therefore, there is no direct relationship between attaching importance to riding and shooting and relying on riding and shooting to make a career and conquer the world. If you cannot see this clearly, you will easily be misunderstood by the history that was tampered with by slaves.

…

Kong Youde not only brought artillery and artillery manufacturing technology to Jiannu, he also brought some Portuguese people under Sun Yuanhua to Jiannu. Jiannu’s artillery manufacturing technology came from these Westerners.

It can be said that Kong Youde's surrender to Jiannu made Jiannu's style of warfare more mature. They used artillery bombardment combined with infantry warfare and had almost no defeat against the Ming army.

Because the Ming army was completely unable to withstand artillery bombardment and built slave infantry battles, laborious tactics such as infantry and bows gradually became less common, and many Guan Ning armies had never encountered them.

Historically, Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui fought against a stone. In the end, Jiannu won the victory with a volley of infantry bows and heavy armored infantry.

After Zhu Cihong traveled through time, he intensified his efforts to create firearms. He not only created flintlock guns, but also rifled guns with a longer range. Even rifles with better performance have begun to be installed in the national defense army.

The power of Jiannu's infantry bow volley was completely destroyed by the Ming army due to the range when it encountered the National Protector Army and Zhu Cixi's direct troops.

But facing Guan Ning's army, which does not have fire guns, the power of the infantry bow volley will soon become apparent.

"Bow bow, volley!"

Dorgon gave an order, and the five thousand archers began to fire volleys at the Guanning Army and the Liaodong Army:

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

Five thousand archers fired a volley, and five thousand arrows were fired at the Ming army. Jiannu's goal this time was to cover the entire Ming army formation, not just to target the Liaodong soldiers under Liu Zhaoji's command.

In an instant, arrows rained down on locusts, which were better resisted by shields. The soldiers without shields in their hands, Guan Ning's army in the rear were hit by arrows and fell from their horses, and a large piece fell instantly...

Of course, the Liaodong Army under Liu Zhaoji bore the brunt of the attack and suffered even greater casualties under the attack of Jiannu's infantry bows. The soldiers who were not protected by shields were shot down by arrows...

While Jiannu kept firing volleys of infantry bows, the Mongolian army also carried out cavalry archery. There were about 8,000 Jiannu and Mongolian troops shooting at the Ming army, which was a fatal blow to the Ming army.

Although Guan Ning's army did not have flintlocks and fire guns, they did have some three-eyed blunderbuss, which could be used as cavalry weapons. Guan Ning's army did not give up using them.

Seeing that some of his subordinates were hit by arrows and fell from their horses, Wu Sangui, who was hiding under the shield, became anxious and hurriedly shouted to Zu Dashou, who was also hiding under the shield:

"Uncle, it's definitely not possible to passively eat arrows like this. Immediately gather the three-eyed guns to attack the Jiannu rifle archers, otherwise the casualties will be unbearable."

Without saying a word, Zu Dashou immediately ordered his subordinates to gather all the three-eyed guns under Wu Sangui's command, hoping that Wu Sangui could solve the problem at hand.

While Jiannu was shooting arrows, Guan Ning's army was also shooting against Jiannu, but their shooting skills were obviously not as good as Jiannu. Due to the range problem, arrows rarely hit Jiannu, and the hit rate was so terrible that it can be completely ignored.

Guan Ning's army had a total of more than 500 three-eyed muskets. At Wu Sangui's prompt, they quickly gathered under the rain of arrows.

However, they were not used. Instead, they were sent to the Liaodong Army under Liu Zhaoji's command. The intention was very clear, so that the Liaodong Army and Jiannu could fight against each other.
To be continued...