Why was the Liaodong Iron Cavalry formed by Li Chengliang so powerful that the Mongols and Jurchens could not even raise their heads?

There are three reasons for this.

1. Use a lot of money.

According to the history of Ming Dynasty, Li Chengliang would select the best soldiers in the army and please them so that they would work for him.

Including but not limited to sending clothes, food, oil and salt, helping to find a wife for those who are still single, paying the bride price after the match is made, and then building a house for him and making furniture...

This is not the end yet.

Receive double military rations every month and a bounty at the end of the year.

In addition, most of the Liaodong cavalry were fathers and sons fighting together, so their combat effectiveness was very strong.

In that era, Li Chengliang's behavior was like the reborn parents of those people!

The soldiers had no choice but to be disloyal.

Nurhaci was originally a servant of Li Chengliang. He was well aware of the power of the Liaodong cavalry, which is why he launched a rebellion three years after Li Chengliang's death by issuing the "Seven Great Grievances".

The second reason why the Liaodong cavalry was so powerful was that the generals led the charge.

The generals of the Li family would always take the lead in charging in every battle. If the main general risked his life, the people below would follow suit.

The third reason is the understanding and use of tactics.

When the Liaodong cavalry encounter the enemy, they will divide their forces to attack the enemy as long as their own forces are not particularly small.

Some will block the enemy head-on, some will attack from behind, and some will take a detour to attack the enemy's base camp.

In addition, there are other tactics such as long-distance raids, surprise attacks, and night attacks.

The individual soldiers are powerful, the tactics are used properly, and the generals lead the charge.

With the help of various factors, the Liaodong cavalry was invincible.

Of course, the Liaodong cavalry also has weaknesses. First, their siege capabilities are weak, and second, their utilization rate of firearms is not as good as that of the southern soldiers.

Judging from the performance of the Liaodong Cavalry in Korea during the Wanli period, most of the soldiers were only equipped with bows and arrows and magpie swords, and their firearms were mainly three-barreled guns and bird guns.

In addition, the soldiers responsible for operating artillery, Portuguese guns and other weapons all came from the south (Qi's Army, White Spear Soldiers, etc.).

They were not as brave as the southern soldiers when attacking a city.

(The direct cause of the Jizhou mutiny was that the Qi family army completed the first landing when retaking Pyongyang, but the credit for the first landing was snatched away by the Liaodong army, which led to the mutiny.)

However, this does not affect the comprehensive field combat capability of the Liaodong Cavalry.

After experiencing the power of the Liaodong cavalry on the Korean battlefield, the famous Japanese general Kato Kiyomasa sighed: The Ming army relied on their four hooves to trample on our formation.

......

On the battlefield northeast of Luoshan County, Ming army vanguard Li Shunzu was making the final mobilization.

Except for the generals who were veterans, most of his subordinates were new recruits.

New recruits will be nervous before going to the battlefield, so they need more time to boost morale.

"It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but only a moment to deploy it! This battle is not only for ourselves, but also for honor and for the Ming Dynasty!"

"In this battle, we can only win and not lose!"

"Anyone who dares not charge after the flag is waved will be beheaded and his family will be exiled!"

This sentence did not scare the soldiers, but made them more excited.

Because they had already prepared for the charge.

"The Ming army is mighty!" Li Shunzu rode on his horse with the magpie sword raised high in his hand.

"The Ming army is mighty!"

Two thousand soldiers raised their weapons at the same time and let out a deafening roar.

Li Shunzu waved his flag and a thousand cavalrymen with bird guns on the right wing were the first to move out.

The iron hooves stepped on the ground, making a rumbling sound and sending dust flying everywhere.

Sun Kewang's troops were facing a powerful enemy and they all held their breath and looked forward.

I saw a thousand cavalrymen approaching quickly and stopped one mile away from the Dashi Army's formation.

The Dashi Army did not dare to move, and the Ming Army did not move either.

The two sides were deadlocked at the scene.

After a stalemate, Li Shunzu personally led the left wing cavalry.

It passed by Sun Kewang's right wing, then turned around and rushed straight to Sun Kewang's rear.

"Oh no!" Sun Kewang was shocked. "The cavalry is coming for me!"

His original intention was to let the infantry tie down the Ming cavalry, and then send the cavalry to end the battle when the enemy was exhausted.

Unexpectedly, these 1,000 Ming troops dared to go deep into his rear alone and actively seek out cavalry to fight.

Brave, so brave!

Before Sun Kewang gave the order to meet the enemy, the Dashi cavalry had already engaged the Ming cavalry.

The Ming army formed a horizontal formation and quickly rushed towards the Dashi army.

Fifty steps!

Buzz!

The sounds of bowstrings and arrows breaking through the air suddenly rang out, and a rain of arrows drew a parabola and flew towards the Dashi cavalry formation.

The commander of the Dashi cavalry was Bai Wenxuan.

Bai Wenxuan's real name is Bai Kezhe, a native of Shaanxi Province, who grew up farming and herding sheep at home. He is a burly man with extraordinary arm strength, and he likes to wield swords and clubs by nature.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, he joined Zhang Xianzhong's army with Feng Shuangli as a fireman. Because he had suffered a foot injury on the battlefield, people called him the Lame General.

Bai Wenxuan had already divided 4,000 cavalry into the vanguard and the center army. When he saw the Ming cavalry rushing over, he waved his flag and the 2,000 cavalry of the vanguard army rushed forward.

That's right, he felt that he had the advantage in terms of military strength, so he decided to hedge!

Even if he was defeated, his central army could still press forward and surround this group of Ming troops.

"Shoot, shoot!" Bai Wenxuan stayed firmly in the center of the army and ordered the messenger to wave the flag and give orders continuously.

When the two sides were forty steps apart, the Dashi Army fired the first wave of arrows.

The Ming army did not dodge at all and rushed forward towards the rain of arrows.

The cotton armor on their bodies and the iron plates inside were enough to block arrows, and even bird guns could not cause serious damage.

War horses also have head armor and breastplate protection.

Thirty steps!

After releasing the last wave of arrows, a part of the Ming army put away their bows and drew out their magpie swords.

The shining magpie knife exudes the breath of death in the sunlight.

Another part of the Ming army touched the fuse on the three-barreled gun with the matchlock in their hands.

Bang!

Thick smoke rose amid the explosion, and dense rain of bullets fired from the three-barreled guns fell on the Dashi Army.

The three-barreled gun can penetrate armor within thirty steps and severely damage unarmored soldiers within fifty steps, but has no killing power beyond a hundred steps.

The reason why the Liaodong Iron Cavalry favored the three-barreled gun was that they valued the area damage and charging ability rather than the single-target damage.

Amid screams, some Dashi cavalry were shot off their horses.

The remaining Dashi cavalry were not willing to be outdone, and they put down their bows and arrows and drew their swords.

The distance of thirty steps passed in a flash in front of the galloping warhorse, and the two sides engaged in close combat!

Soon after the battle, the Dashi cavalry showed signs of defeat.

Because they found that they were no match for this group of Ming cavalry.

First of all, their equipment was worse than that of the Ming army.

Although the cotton armor is the same, they do not have arm armor on their arms.

When they were swinging their swords at each other, the Ming soldiers used the arm armor on their left arms to block, and stabbed the magpie swords in their right hands at the gaps in the armor of the Dashi soldiers.

In contrast, the Dashi Army was in a miserable situation. They either had no armor on their arms, or even if they did, the armor was not as long as that of the Ming Army.

Secondly, the morale of the Dashi Army was low.

The news that Zhang Xianzhong had broken camp and set up camp had reached here, and they felt that they had been abandoned by Zhang Xianzhong.

The most crucial point is that the Ming cavalry had long weapons: three-barreled guns.