Chapter 228 227 The decisive battle is coming
"Master Tian, don't you also want to disobey Master Weng's order? You have seen those previous military orders."
Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Tian Shiwei naturally knew that this was a naked threat. If he did not agree, he would be detained like Liu Dazhang and become a prisoner.
In just a moment, Tian Shiwei thought of the pros and cons of this matter.
No matter what happens in the end, at least judging from the current situation, Wei Guangde cannot be disobeyed.
Once I am controlled by him, the result is really hard to say.
Why do you say that? Because Tian Shiwei has already thought of another way that Wei Guangde has never thought of, that is, once the battle is lost, Wei Guangde will kill him and silence him at the end of the road, directly kill him and Liu Dazhang, and then frame the blame for the defeat on on their heads.
Don't think that this is Tian Shiwei's insidiousness. In fact, although there were many hidden rules in Ming Dynasty officialdom at this time, there were still many ruthless people among the border troops.
Wei Guangde comes from a military background, who knows if he will also learn this trick.
Coming from a military family, there is no guarantee that his hands have never been stained with blood, and he himself admitted that he had chopped people on the battlefield.
Those who have killed people and those who have not killed people often have two different ideas when dealing with things. At this time, in Tian Shiwei's eyes, Wei Guangde has changed from a harmless little rabbit to an insidious and cunning tiger. Leopard jackal.
"Master Wei, my humble duty is to obey Master Weng's military orders."
Tian Shiwei chose to surrender decisively at this time. He was afraid that Wei Guangde would really do something and kill them and harm his family.
The Ming Dynasty, or the feudal dynasty, was not what later generations would call "one person does the work and one person is responsible". It had to be executed. If he had a problem, the family would never end it just because he died. Maybe the house would be ransacked. exile.
"Tian Shiwei, you"
Although Liu Dazhang was surrounded by people from Ji Town at the moment, he knew that the situation was over when Tian Shiwei said this.
If neither Tian Shiwei nor Liu Dazhang obey Wei Guangde, Wei Guangde will definitely not be able to command the soldiers in front. But if Tian Shiwei obeys Wei Guangde, Liu Dazhang is not sure whether his own people will also surrender.
An important reason why he dared to confront Wei Guangde before was that he had already thought of the consequences. Wei Guangde was afraid that he would be unlucky, and there was no need for him to accompany him on the road, so he chose to jump ship decisively, but he did not expect that.
"Please let Mr. Liu rest in the back first."
Wei Guangde said to Dong Yiyuan, and then Dong Yiyuan led people to surround Liu Dazhang in his cavalry, completely separating him from his servants.
"General Soldier Tian, you are the biggest here now. Please order the entire army to attack, capture the Tatar camp, and kill all the Tatars inside."
At this time, Wei Guangde began to give orders to Tian Shiwei, asking him to give orders.
What else could Tian Shiwei do? He was surrounded by Dong Yiyuan's cavalry, so he pushed the matter aside and just obeyed Weng Pu's orders and Wei Guangde's command. What about himself?
But now he had no time to delay, he immediately nodded with a smile and said: "It's easy to say, I will give the order right now."
After speaking, he ordered the soldiers outside: "Go down with the order and attack."
The soldier still hesitated slightly after receiving Tian Shiwei's order, not because he was questioning anything, but because he was not sure whether Tian Shiwei's order was sincere.
He just stared at it twice, but didn't see any hint from Tian Shiwei, so he turned to the soldiers nearby and shouted: "Beate the drum and march in."
"Dong dong dong"
The rumbling war drums sounded again, from being intensive at the beginning to gradually gaining a sense of rhythm. All levels of generals, guerrillas and others who were distributed in the infantry square looked around in unison.
Well, it should be said that today's battle was quite easy, with not many casualties, and of course the results were not very good either.
There seemed to be a tacit war going on between the Ming army and the Tatars. Both sides chose to shoot at each other with long-range weapons, and there was no such thing as the Tatar cavalry attacking the Ming army's formation.
For such a confrontation, the Ming army, with its tight military formation and powerful equipment advantages, was naturally happy to see it.
However, they have already approached the Tatar camp, why are they still allowed to attack later?
Didn't we agree yesterday that they were just feinting?
Could it be that Ma Fang's side was successful?
Ananda Khan is being hunted, so you want them to take this opportunity to attack with all their strength and harvest the heads?
The general in front was a little suspicious. When he turned around, he saw not only the dense military formations, but also the five-color flags waving forward in the distance.
In ancient Chinese marches and battles, five-color flags appeared very early and were used to command large armies in battle.
Because of such a battle, both sides have invested a lot of troops, and the range of the military formation is very large. It is a waste of time to just rely on messengers to rush back and forth, and the opportunity is often fleeting.
Five flags consisting of red, black, blue, white and yellow, commonly known as the five-color flag, came into being. It was important to use them to convey the general's orders and let the generals in front know what the general was going to do.
The five-color flag evolved from the art of the five elements, based on the theory of the five elements.
"The palms of the green dragon and the white tiger are in all directions, and the red bird and the black tiger follow the yin and yang. In front of the army, it is suitable to be agile, and the front is to use red bird; behind the army, it is suitable to be palace, and in the rear, it is to use Xuanwu; to the left of the army is yang, and the left is green dragon; to the right of the army is yin, and the right is white tiger."
That is to say, the front camp uses a red flag, the middle camp uses a yellow flag, the left camp uses a blue (green) flag, the right camp uses a white flag, and the rear camp uses a black flag.
When marching, the commander raises a green flag to indicate that there are mountain and tree obstacles ahead and a road needs to be opened; a red flag indicates that there are fireworks ahead and the need to guard against enemy fire attacks; a white flag indicates that enemy troops are ahead and our troops need to assemble. Respond to the challenge; raising the black flag means that there is a water source ahead, and you need to make corresponding preparations; raising the yellow flag means that the road ahead is clear and unobstructed, and you can march with confidence.
On the battlefield, the commander directed the battalions to coordinate operations through the use of flags of different colors according to changes in the battlefield.
In the formation of troops, different combinations of flags represent the different military formations that the commander wants the entire army to deploy.
After the formation is completed, when the commander-in-chief orders all the five-color flags to be raised, the generals of the five battalions will all place themselves in formation according to the positions designated before the battle and stand ready; when the commander-in-chief orders all four-color flags except the red flag to be lowered, the front camp will be ready to listen. The command changes; when the commander-in-chief orders all four colors except the white flag to fall, the right battalion will be ready to listen to the command change.
At this time, what caught the eyes of all the generals was naturally the five-color flags that kept pointing forward, which represented the attack of the entire army, and the rumbling sound of war drums, which was absolutely unmistakable.
The beating of the war drum is very rhythmic, and it is also a signal for infantry to attack. The infantry needs to advance according to the beat of the drum. One drum beat is one step forward, no more, no less.
A very important reason why the coach still needs to control the offensive rhythm of the infantry is that they need to control the rhythm of the army's advance and retreat, especially when attacking.
If the commander calls for an attack, the soldiers below will run forward desperately. They may be exhausted by the time they reach the front of the local queue, and they will not have the strength to kill people.
Therefore, they often command the infantry to advance at a certain speed and attack in a way that preserves their physical strength. Only when they attack the opponent is close, the sound of the drums will become intensive, which represents the signal to charge.
Use military drums to convey orders, and intensive drum beats should be used at the beginning. This is to remind the generals on all sides to pay attention, and the subsequent drum beats are the signal to march.
After confirming that the order was correct, the generals in the military formation could only act in accordance with the military orders at this time. The Ming army formation, which was defending in place, began to move forward again, and step by step, accompanied by the drumbeats, began to enter the Tatar military camp.
The news that the Ming army entered the camp soon reached the ears of thousands of Tatar households, and he immediately rushed to the Western Camp with the remaining one thousand households.
The Tatars here have already invested two thousand troops to intercept. They were divided into countless small military formations and fired arrows at the Ming army to block their attack.
It's just obvious that the effect is not big.
At this time, Tatar Wanhu had a cold smile on his lips, and then issued an order to Qianhu next to him.
After accepting the order, Qianhu immediately turned around and ran away, and several of his followers also ran back quickly.
When the Ming army broke through the remaining low fence and entered the Tatar camp, they did not continue to advance immediately, but rearranged their formation. The most prominent thing was that the sword and shield players were eliminated in the front, leaving only the gunmen holding bird guns. Then came the spearmen, and behind them was the team of archers, whose only task was to follow the command of the team officer and throw arrows in a certain direction ahead.
Several nearby tents have been completely burned, turning the place into a large open space. The Tatar archers are densely populated near the tents that are still intact in the distance. Indistinctly, if you have good eyesight, you will notice that there seems to be cavalry behind the tents. figure.
"Master Wei, do you want to start now?"
Tian Shiwei asked carefully after the Ming army formed.
"Wait for the Tatar cavalry to charge in and repel them, then order the left and right armies to expand to the two wings and try to surround them here."
Wei Guangde looked at the Tatar camp in front of him without looking back and replied: "It seems they want to use cavalry to drive me out, haha."
At this time, Wei Guangde burst into laughter, because just now, he wanted to understand one more thing. Perhaps many things cannot be felt without personal experience.
The ancients all knew that reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles, and practice is much better than reading.
In the past, Wei Guangde might not be able to withstand the pressure of the Tatar cavalry after the Ming army rushed in, and he would be chased out of the military camp. But just now, Wei Guangde thought that if the Tatars were to kill from the camp, they would indeed be able to do so. If the cavalry concentrates its attack, the impact will be very strong, but as long as it can be withstood, the cavalry will not have the final say.
Running horses in the camp is not like just going back and forth and galloping freely on the plain dam outside the camp.
While the camp restricted the response of the Ming army, it also restricted the mobility of the Tatar cavalry.
"As long as we can withstand their first wave of cavalry offensive, you will immediately let the left and right armies expand to the two wings, try to surround them here, and encircle and annihilate them."
Wei Guangde said a little energetically at this time.
Well, I thought the Tatars were very high-minded before, thinking that after the Ming army sneak attack, they would mount their horses en masse and play the game of "flying kites" with the Ming army. Wei Guangde, a later generation, had played computer games, so he naturally knew how to play BOOS. .
Hard top, that's a dead end.
Unexpectedly, the Tatars actually played a starting battle with the Ming army. What a great opportunity.
What Wei Guangde hopes most now is for the Tatars to launch a counterattack. As long as he can withstand it, he can push them back and then attack back to surround them.
"Let the rear army follow and surround the gap with chariots to prevent the Tatars from coming out from the front door to outflank us."
Although everything seemed to be going well, Wei Guangde still considered carefully before reporting back to a stable retreat, lest the Tatars really come out from the front door to kill them.
"When attacking, what is important is speed. The camp is so big, so don't push those chariots, as they will affect the speed."
Wei Guangde pointed to the tents in front and said: "Look, the roads in the camp seem spacious, but they can't let the horses run freely. There are still restrictions. They are crowded together and they are not as fast as our infantry." , what a great opportunity.”
Hearing what Wei Guangde said, Tian Shiwei suddenly felt that it made sense.
To withstand the charge of the Tatar cavalry, their men and horses must be squeezed into the open space between the tents and on the road to the camp. If you think about it this way, there is really not much threat.
"Let someone send a message to the generals in front. Try to gather the muskets and Franco machine guns as much as possible, and arrange them in the direction where the Tatars are charging. After the attack, they will rush in. There is only one Tatar left in the camp today. Don't even think about running past it.
As long as they are killed, the Tatars will not dare to harass Xuanfu for a few years, and everyone can have a good rest. "
Wei Guangde turned to Tian Shiwei and said that Tian Shiwei still had to do the job of delivering messages to the generals in front.
The military leaders below would respect him in person, but they might not agree with him if they turn around.
"good."
Tian Shiwei called over a few soldiers and told him to go immediately and convey the order here to the general in charge of the team in front.
Soon, there was a small commotion in the front military formation, but it soon calmed down.
Wei Guangde noticed that the Tatars seemed to be deliberately making way for them, and he guessed that they were planning to rush directly into the camp to drive them out.
Well, this is also what Wei Guangde likes.
Although he was still a little uneasy at this time, that is, if the front could not withstand the Tatar offensive, then the Ming army would be in bad luck. None of the soldiers in front would be able to escape, and they would all have to answer here.
But he did everything he could, concentrated his firepower, and won as long as he held on.
That's what war is like. It's not about drawing a few lines on a map, capturing here today, capturing there tomorrow, and living together.
Whether the fight will be won or not, victory or defeat, there are too many things that are unclear.
In ancient times, when marching and fighting, the real battles might actually only be one or two. At other times, the commanders of both sides were mobilizing their troops, arranging their troops, and putting pressure on each other.
Only in the end, one side is either forced or takes the initiative to launch an attack, and the moment of decisive battle has arrived.
Fighting in such a relatively small area, Wei Guangde felt that he was barely competent. At least he did not capture Tian Shiwei. I believe he could still cope with it on such a battlefield.
Now, the time to decide the fate of Wei Guangde is coming soon, and the time to decide the fate of this Ming army is also coming.
As the horns of the Tatar army sounded in the distance, although he couldn't see what was behind the tent and couldn't feel the earth shaking, Wei Guangde knew clearly that they were coming.