Chapter 1360 Battle of Infantry and Cavalry
Although Sun Zhen had participated in many combat operations after joining the army, this was the first time he had faced off against a horse on foot in the wilderness. Although there have been many training camps before, and there are targeted combat plans for various situations that may arise in this battle situation, it is still inevitable to be a little nervous when the situation comes.
Sun Zhen's right index finger gently rubbed the edge of the trigger of the rifle. He knew very well how powerful the weapon in his hand was. As long as he had this rifle with him, he would have the courage to stand here and face the Houjin Iron Cavalry. This new type of weapon has only been gradually equipped into special operations battalions this year, and each batch of new guns shipped from the south is only enough to equip one or two platoons. It is conceivable that the production capacity of this type of rifle is extremely limited. .
He recalled that Battalion Commander Takahashi once mentioned at a meeting that the manufacturing process of this new rifle is very complicated and the cost is extremely high, so it can only be installed in batches in a small number of troops. The special operations battalion and cavalry battalion are also one of the first limited elite units in the Haihan Army to be qualified for deployment. This can be regarded as a great honor and praise.
The single-shot fixed-load rifles previously equipped by the special operations battalion were far more powerful than their opponents on the battlefield. However, even so, the military insisted on equipping the special operations battalion with the latest weapons. This A large part of the reason for this move is that the enemy the special operations battalion has to face in the northeastern region is the Houjin armed forces, which are mainly cavalry. Only powerful continuous-fire individual weapons can ensure that the Haihan Army infantry can defeat the brave and fierce Houjin Cavalry even when their troops are at a disadvantage.
However, Sun Zhen had a big heart, and the nervousness in him was fleeting and was forgotten in the blink of an eye. He stared at the Houjin cavalry slowly coming out of the forest, knowing that the battle was about to begin. In the platoon on his side commanded by company commander Amakusa Shiro, buglers had already sounded the battle horn, reminding each squad and platoon to stop advancing and enter combat status.
The combat formation of the special operations battalion is slightly closer than when marching, so that the squads and platoons can take care of each other. The soldiers checked the condition of their weapons one last time, then knelt down on one leg and prepared for the battle with a more stable aiming method.
When the Houjin cavalry saw that their opponent did not flee in a hurry, but stopped to form a formation to fight, the fighting spirit in their hearts immediately rose. The leader of the cavalry whistled, clamped his feet on the horse's belly, and began to move forward at a faster speed. The Houjin cavalrymen drew their sabers one after another and rushed towards the Haihan Army at a faster speed, shouting slogans with unknown meanings to add momentum to their charge.
Although the place where the Hou Jin Cavalry appears is nearly two miles away from the location of the special operations battalion, the horses will rush forward very quickly after they start running. If they are inexperienced infantry, they will not be able to judge the distance and speed well enough. If it is accurate, it will be easy for the cavalry to break through the fire net. Once a close battle occurs, the soldiers in the special operations battalion who do not even have armor are completely meat on the chopping board and can only be slaughtered by the Houjin cavalry.
Sun Zhen did not have much experience in battles between infantry and cavalry, but the relevant training had clarified the safe distance and life-and-death line for firing against cavalry. Sun Zhen naturally kept these standardized combat rules in mind. Probably only an army like the Haihan Army in the world can quantify these training contents based on relatively more stable weapon combat effectiveness. As for the effect of this training method in actual combat, it will be verified immediately from this battle.
"Raise the gun! Aim!" Sun Zhen's voice echoed in the air, and the muzzles of the nearly 60 rifles in the four squads he commanded were all pointed at the Houjin Cavalry who were riding in.
The Houjin soldiers shouting loudly on horseback and the gleaming sabers in their hands did not affect Sun Zhen's attention. He had been paying attention to the distance between the two sides. Firing too early will make the opponent aware of the risk, while firing too late will put your own troops in danger, so this balance must be properly grasped.
The troops of the Houjin Cavalry had spread out in a fan shape. This was also a method adopted to disperse the opponent's firepower, and it had been tried repeatedly by the Ming army. Like the Haihan people, who were divided into small combat groups in units of dozens of people, in their view, they were simply seeking death. This performance was even worse than that of the Ming army. Now all he had to do was drive his horse towards them and scatter them, and then he could happily harvest their heads.
The Houjin cavalry increased their speed extremely quickly, and in a blink of an eye, the cavalry in front had rushed within 100 meters, and this was the best firing distance for the special operations battalion. Sun Zhen blew the bronze whistle in his mouth, and then there was a row of gunshots. Dozens of bullets flew towards the approaching Houjin cavalry. Immediately, a dozen cavalrymen and their horses fell to the ground.
But this sight did not make the Houjin Cavalry flinch. Instead, they clapped their horses and charged even more excitedly, because they knew that this kind of musket weapon could only be fired once, and it would take a long time to reload after the shot. Haihan used to rely on A linear array was used to maintain the frequency of fire and the density of firepower output, but today there was only such a thin row of infantry in front of them. After this shot, everything became a decoration, and what followed was a unilateral massacre. This situation has occurred many times in the past against the Ming army. The Houjin Cavalry has a strong ability to grasp the opportunity of the battle. When they saw this, they rushed to the front, wishing that they could chop off a few more heads to claim credit.
However, today's situation is really special. After firing, these Haihan soldiers did not seem to realize their situation. They did not turn around and run away, nor did they start reloading ammunition in a panic. Instead, they continued to kneel on the ground with one leg. Keep your aiming and shooting posture unchanged.
Could it be that these Haihan people have been frightened out of their wits? If he was still pointing the gun at himself like this, could there be a second bullet in the gun? The charging Houjin cavalry could not help but have similar thoughts flashing through their minds, and then they heard the sharp copper whistle again in various small positions, followed by a burst of gunfire, and those Haihan soldiers The musket in his hand actually spurted sparks again!
What is going on! Before the Golden Cavalry could react, more than a dozen more were knocked over by the dense rain of bullets. It was only a few breaths away from the first shot fired by the Haihan soldiers. No one saw these Haihan soldiers reloading ammunition or changing guns. They just stayed in the same shooting position. You can continue to fire and shoot. What on earth is going on?
However, as the survivors continued to charge forward, the Haihan soldiers on the opposite side also maintained a stable firing frequency. They continued to fire under the command of the copper whistle, and it seemed that there was no need to reload at all.
The main reason why the Houjin cavalry dared to charge against opponents using muskets was that they knew that this weapon only had one chance to attack, and then it would turn into a fire stick. However, the muskets in the hands of the Haihan soldiers seemed to break this rule. They actually Being able to fire continuously without reloading ammunition was completely beyond the understanding of the Houjin Cavalry. Maybe there are one or two smart people among them who can think of the weirdness of this gun, but the vast majority of people have no time to think deeply about this issue at this juncture. They must make a decision about their own life and death immediately - in the fourth After the sound of gunfire, it seemed that only half of the cavalry were left. At this time, they were still nearly twenty feet away from the Haihan battle line. Maybe when the next round of gunfire sounded, he would be the one who fell. This short distance may not be crossed in my lifetime.
At this time, the platoon commanded by Sun Zhen had gathered its formation back together, forming a linear array with the squad as a single column. Although the shooting surface has become narrower, the shooting frequency is faster. Each squad must fire the last three bullets in the gun at the charging enemy as quickly as possible, then exit the shooting position and go to the rear to complete the action of loading ammunition. This is actually an improved use of the traditional queuing and shooting tactics. However, four shifts completed a total of twelve rounds of rapid continuous shooting within a distance of twenty feet. It took a very short time, and the firepower density was already quite terrifying. .
After closing the formation in this way, while the shooting surface becomes smaller, the defensive area also becomes smaller. If the Houjin cavalry wanted to continue charging, they would have to brave a denser rain of bullets, otherwise they would have to choose to bypass this strike surface and pass between Haihan's infantry arrays. But the vast majority of people had no time to make a choice in this flash of lightning. The Haihan Army's most intensive close-range shooting had already begun.
The cavalry that rushed towards Haihan's formation from the front didn't even have time to wait until the infantry on the opposite side poured out the bullets in their guns, and almost all of them fell on their backs in an instant. In order to pursue the success rate when aiming and shooting, the infantry did not deliberately aim at people. Instead, they almost always aimed at the largest part of the target's horse body. However, after the war horse was shot and fell, the Houjin soldier riding on his back If you fall to the ground at high speed, even if you don't die, you will often only have half your life left.
The few Houjin cavalry who were not within the strike range were lucky enough to pass through this death charge and rushed past the formation of Haihan infantry. But what greeted them was the Haihan cavalry who rushed over.
Except for the heavy armored cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, the Houjin cavalry had not encountered any nemesis before. Even the Mongols, who were famous for their cavalry, were no longer the opponents of the Houjin cavalry. But starting from today, there is another enemy that is difficult to defeat in their battle record, the Haihan Cavalry, which is also equipped with repeating rifles.
This is equivalent to putting a war horse under the buttocks of these terrifying Haihan soldiers, greatly improving their mobility. Facing such an enemy, the Houjin cavalry could not even get a chance for a close confrontation. While they were avoiding the pursuit of the Haihan cavalry, they also had to deal with cold shots fired by the infantry, which was quite difficult to withstand.
From the moment when the Houjin cavalry charged into a distance of a hundred feet until they were wiped out by the combined formation of Haihan infantry and cavalry, the battle came to an end in just a few moments. The battle situation was not at all like Hou Jin's side expected to easily defeat the Haihan infantry. On the contrary, the Hou Jin cavalry who launched the charge were defeated in a very short period of time, and it can even be said that they were defeated without the ability to fight back. , simply rushed over and turned into a bunch of living targets for Haihan soldiers to shoot at will.
Muteb was also dumbfounded from the top of the city. He saw two lines of cavalry he was ambushing outside the city appearing, and then launched a charge. After a burst of gunfire that sounded like firecrackers, his own cavalry had already been killed seven times. Seven or eight. There was almost no suspense in the ensuing battle. Under the joint attack of Haihan's cavalry, the few remaining men and horses were quickly eliminated. In the process, the number of people who took advantage of the opportunity to turn around and escape from the battlefield was probably not even one tenth.
Muteb really didn't understand what was happening on the battlefield outside the city. There were only a few Haihan infantrymen, and they were not formed into a large formation. How could they release such dense gunfire and kill two teams of nearly five people? The Houjin cavalry of Baiqi were beaten to pieces. He realized that Haihan might have adopted some new tactics that he had never heard of, but just watching the battle from such a distance could not understand the specific situation. Fortunately, he saw that numerous horsemen and horses had escaped back immediately. Just asking these survivors should be able to know the tricks of the Haihan people.
However, things were not as simple as Muteb thought. After listening to the survivors' reports, he still didn't quite understand what happened. Can the rifle in the hands of the Haihan soldiers keep firing without loading? What the hell is that?
Muteb recalled the various rumors he had heard before about the Haihan people knowing strange magic. Could it be that the Haihan people had cast some evil magic on the battlefield? It seems that only this can explain why the Haihan people were able to deal with hundreds of cavalry sent by themselves with a small number of infantry.
But how to crack this thing, Muteb has absolutely no idea. It is obviously unwise to send cavalry to fight the enemy head-on. The battle just now has proved that this approach is completely in vain, and Muteb has already lost. Hundreds of cavalry were purchased, but the local cavalry force could not bear to continue to squander it like this.
Defending the city was probably the only way that Muteb could think of in his limited capacity. Since you can't defeat your opponent in mobile warfare, you can only settle for the next best thing and choose to stick to the city, hoping that the opponent will retreat despite the difficulties.
But Mutebu also knew that the Haihan people had not launched a formal siege battle before coming here. The so-called defense of the city was actually just what the Jin army was talking about. Not to mention that Hou Jin was not good at defending the city. Without the cavalry troops to contain the enemy outside the city, it was extremely troublesome. This means that the Haihan people can safely and boldly transport artillery and other baggage to the city, and then slowly bombard the city with heavy weapons. Muteb was really unsure whether this small city snatched from the Ming army could withstand the bombardment of Haihan artillery.
(End of chapter)