Before the sky was dawn, the sentry patrolled back and forth. Li Xingzhou was called out by Wei Yubai early in the morning, dragged him to the top of the mountain, and pointed to the other side of Lugou in the distance.

The water of the Lugou River was sparkling in the morning light. He soon saw the movements of Di Zhi's army on the other side of the river in the distance. Looking at their movements, Li Xingzhou immediately understood that Di Zhi was looking for a decisive battle with the Liao army!

The formation that Di Zhi set up was a famous hollow square formation, which was the formation that Li Xingzhou focused on training for the new army, in order to one day fight against a large-scale cavalry corps.

If any battle changes the entire European history, many people will definitely subconsciously think of the Battle of Waterloo.

The legendary fall of Napoleon, a genius in this battle, also marked the decline of France, which dominated Europe and the rise of the new overlord, Britain.

There are many statements about the outcome of this battle, such as the French army's top leaders' disagreement, lack of support in time, etc., but these are all macro reasons, many of which are even hindsight, far-fetched. From the objective facts, on the real battlefield, tactics determine the outcome of this battle.

The most famous of them is the hollow square formation of the British army.

France, the European overlord, always seemed to have an indissoluble bond with the cavalry. The heavy-armored plate-armored knights of the French Empire and the breastplate-armored cavalry on the battlefield during the Napoleon period were always the main force of the French army and the backbone of its dominance in Europe.

Moreover, although the appearance of the gun fired, the cold weapon infantry was eliminated, the cavalry was not eliminated immediately, because musketeers were also infantry and had natural disadvantages of maneuvering and were easily surrounded by cavalry.

In Napoleon's battle between Europe and China, the breastplate cavalry was always one of the main forces, and European countries at that time were difficult to choose. Is it better to be muskets or cavalry?

It was not until the Battle of Waterloo that the British musketeers and artillery combined defeated the elite cavalry army in one fell swoop, and Europe's weapons development determined the main direction. If Napoleon won this battle, European countries might also have to work hard to develop cavalry and put forward arguments such as "muskets uselessness". History is so interesting...

In short, the British army's hollow square formation was specially designed for anti-cavalry. Because of large-scale combat, musketeers were destined to be surrounded by cavalry, so they must have the ability to strike the enemy in all four directions before they were designed as hollow shape formations, with high ground in the middle and artillery set off to replenish firepower.

At the same time, such a square array is placed one at a distance, and several square arrays can support each other to ensure that the cavalry is hit by firepower from more than one direction.

The most important point is to use the power of muskets and artillery to divert the frontal cavalry. The cavalry could not withstand the frontal firepower and was naturally divided. They thought of surrounding the side, but they did not expect that the side was also hit. In panic, they rushed into the middle open space, thinking that they were invincible in close combat.

As a result, after rushing into the middle open space, I found that it was even more Japanese, with firepower from all directions. This was the tactic of the anti-cavalry firing guns and hollow square formations. At that time, the elite French breastplate cavalry were defeated by this tactic.

The north of Jing Kingdom, Liao Kingdom, and Mongolia all have powerful cavalry units. The northwest Xia Kingdom has the famous Iron Harrier, the Jurchen and Iron Buddha. This means that no matter who goes to war with Jing Kingdom in the future, it will face large-scale cavalry, so this formation has always been the focus of new recruits' training.

It is very difficult for infantry to face cavalry, and their physiological fragility is very difficult to make up. The heavy cavalry like the Iron Harrier in Xia Kingdom, who are fully armed to the teeth, and the men and horses are wearing cold forged armor and chains to connect people and horses. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, the weight of the vests and human armor and weapons reaches about 150 kilograms (not kilograms).

In addition to human weight, Iron Harrier is an elite. He is a tall and strong man among the Qiang soldiers. In addition, there are more than 150 kilograms. In addition, the largest horse breed in the world is about 1,200 kilograms. Yes, more than a ton!

The smallest adult horse is about 200 kilograms, with an average weight of between 0.5 tons and 0.8 tons. With harnesses, people, armor and weapons, it can also reach the weight of half a car. Imagine the feeling of thousands of cars coming back on the battlefield...

There is also the huge psychological pressure, the huge sense of oppression brought by the galloping of thousands of horses, the earth's vibration, and the blackness are unbearable for individuals to bear.

So in the past, in the military camp, Di Zhi often asked Wei Yubai to line up with his heavily armed heavy cavalry, rushing towards the musketeers with a formation like small tanks, and stopping at a very close distance, requiring everyone to remain motionless and not blinking. The training is very perverted.

This kind of training is a bit like letting soldiers lie on the ground in later military camps, and then dozens of tons of tanks rushed over. Many soldiers knew that the height between the two tracks of the tank could not be suppressed, but their legs became weak after they lifted, making it difficult to stand up.

The new army also had this situation when they were training at first. The heavily armed heavy cavalry rushed towards their faces. Many people were so scared that their legs were weak and even peeed their pants. However, the effect was very significant. After countless trainings, the new army was able to calmly raise their guns, load and counterattack against the cavalry's charge.

After understanding Di Zhi's intention to fight the Liao army, he did not delay and immediately ordered the army to march towards the river.

The bridges on Lugou have been demolished. They have no ships, so it is impossible to force the ferry, especially for the new army, going into the water means losing combat effectiveness.

"Concentrate all the firearms to the riverside and support the north bank." Li Xingzhou rode Mei Xue to the order, "Liu Ji, take 800 cavalrymen to the east to see if there is any place to cross the river."

Just as everyone was obeying the order and starting to prepare, Xiao Hongqi, a former Liao merchant, ran over and said, "Prince, I know where to cross the river."

Everyone looked at him one after another, and then they were stunned, with a complicated expression...

Xiao Hongqi's family is in Shangjing. He is a native of Liao. He knows Khitan, Chinese, Jurchen, and Mongolian. He is a talented person and he is the first to sell graphite to the royal palace. Li Xingzhou brought him this time because he knows Khitan. Everyone just didn't expect him to speak at this time.

After all, he is also a Khitan...

"Where is it?" Li Xingzhou asked with a smile.

"There are shallows upstream, and the water is only deep to the knees. The herdsmen drove their horses across the river from there. The cavalry could pass by, but it was very far away and it might take half a day to walk." Xiao Hongqi hurriedly said a lot.

Li Xingzhou nodded, "Liu Ji."

"exist!"

"Wei Yubai!"

"The last one will be here!"

"Liu Ji, you lead 800 cavalry, Wei Yubai leads all the light cavalry, follow Xiao Hongqi, cross the river from the upper shoals, and then detour the opposite side of the river, and choose the opportunity to support Di to the destination." Li Xingzhou ordered.

"I will obey the order!"
Chapter completed!