At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were roughly two types of border cavalry formations.

The inventors of these two formations were Qi Jiguang and Sun Chengzong respectively.

Take a single cavalry battalion as an example.

Qi Jiguang's cavalry battalion consisted of twelve people in a squad, three squads formed a flag team, and three flag teams formed a team of one hundred people with one captain.

There is a battalion commander above the four hundred commanders, and a thousand commander above the two battalion commanders.

A cavalry battalion has three captains: left, center and right.

The cavalry weapons under the three thousand commanders are slightly different, and are divided into pure teams and flower teams.

A pure team means that all troops are equipped with the same weapons.

The Hua Team refers to troops that are equipped with different weapons.

The captain of Qi Jiguang's cavalry squad of twelve people was equipped with a flag on his back, a flagpole, a Qi family sword, a bow, two bowstrings and thirty arrows. (Armor and other auxiliary equipment are not mentioned here.)

The left and right sergeants under the squad leader were not equipped with bows and arrows, but only carried Qi family swords and bird guns.

The ammunition supply of the bird gun is very large, with three hundred lead bullets and corresponding gunpowder, as well as five spare fuses.

Under the sergeant are the quickshooter, the driller, the knifeman and the clubman.

The gunman (the extended version of the three-barreled gun) is not equipped with a bow and arrow but with a sword, while the sword-stick and clubmen are not equipped with a sword but with a bow and arrow.

The Tongpai Hand is neither equipped with a sword nor a bow and arrow. Instead, he carries sixty rockets with him. When encountering the enemy, he mounts the rockets on the Tongpai and uses them as long-range weapons.

Sun Chengzong's cavalry battalion was simplified a lot, with each team consisting of 25 people, half of whom used firearms and half used bows and arrows.

The main firearm is the three-barreled gun.

Theoretically speaking, Qi Jiguang's cavalry formation was better. It could not only attack but also defend, and it could even fight tough battles.

but...

This cavalry formation requires a lot of time and training before it can exert its due power.

Frequent wars in the late Ming Dynasty led to increased casualties among soldiers. The imperial court would not give new recruits so much time and energy to train, so this formation fell along with Qi's army.

Sun Chengzong's cavalry formation was simple and easy to learn, and gradually became the mainstream formation of the Ming army's border troops.

Li Xingzhong's cavalry used Sun Chengzong's formation.

The fleeing Ming army immediately looked up when they heard the three-barreled gun.

The soldiers looked at the squad leader, the squad leader looked at the flag general, the flag general looked at the hundred general, the hundred general looked at the captain general, and the captain general looked at the thousand general.

Under the watchful eyes of several captains, Li Shunzu's central army flag circled on the spot, then accelerated and rushed in the direction from which it came.

General Qian followed without hesitation.

Immediately afterwards, the captain-general, the captain-general and other generals of all ranks quickly followed.

When the ordinary soldiers saw their superiors leading the charge, they immediately urged their horses to follow.

Thousands of war horses gathered strength in their hind legs, changing their posture from galloping to braking, and then their bodies turned along with the horses' heads, completing the turning action.

"Kill!" The noisy shouts of killing drowned the entire battlefield.

Before Bai Wenxuan could finish his puzzlement, he saw the Ming cavalry counterattacking.

The Ming army, which was in disarray the moment before, formed small cavalry formations under the leadership of the squad leader the next moment.

These cavalrymen maintained their formation and quickly rushed into the middle of the Dashi cavalry, fighting with the Dashi army.

Bai Wenxuan's cavalry formation was quickly broken by the Ming army.

Cavalry has no offensive capability without formation.

Under the organized and disciplined attack of the Ming army, it was difficult for the Dashi cavalry to inflict effective damage to the Ming army.

Due to the unequal offensive, the Dashi cavalry showed signs of defeat.

The smarter soldiers seized the opportunity and turned and ran.

"Someone is deserting! Someone is deserting!" The soldiers who saw it shouted.

There were loud shouts and cries of killing on the battlefield, and the situation was in chaos; these words could not reach Bai Wenxuan's ears at all.

In fact, even if he heard it, Bai Wenxuan would have no way to deal with it.

How to deal with it?

According to the law, those who desert the battlefield should be executed!

There are so many enemies that we can’t kill them all, and there are no idle troops to kill our own people.

"Stop! Don't be a deserter!"

"Come back, come back soon!"

"Boss, Li Laoba is a deserter! Wang Laowu is also a deserter!"

"Is there anyone in charge? Is there anyone in charge? Huh?"

"No one cares? Humph! I won't serve you anymore!"

The situation on the battlefield changed suddenly.

The Dashi cavalry collapsed at the first blow and retreated in succession.

The Daxi infantry who were chasing behind were stunned.

Because those rushing towards them were not enemies, but comrades.

To block or not to block?

Sun Kewang in the infantry formation encountered the same situation that Li Dingguo had encountered before.

At that time, Li Dingguo did not hesitate at all and directly ordered the deserters to be shot in front of the battle.

Now it's his turn to decide.

At this time, Sun Kewang was like a fly in a spider web, unable to escape the pain of choice, but eager to find a way out.

Just as he was hesitating, Bai Wenxuan's cavalry fled in front of him.

boom!

The two armies collided and the horses rushed into the crowd.

The huge impact force directly crushed the soldier in the front, but the warhorse continued to move forward and knocked a path through the crowd.

Some soldiers were lucky enough not to be killed, but before they could celebrate, the hooves of the war horses stepped on them.

Under the iron hoofs, bones are as fragile as branches.

Amid the wailing of their war horses, the Dashi soldiers screamed in agony, a sound like a knife scraping against bones, making people's hearts tremble with fear.

Sun Kewang's troops collapsed directly.

The defeated soldiers surged northward like a tide.

Sun Kewang and Bai Wenxuan wanted to organize a counterattack, but no one listened to their orders.

The two of them were also caught in the defeated troops and fled to the north.

Li Shunzu waved his hand and said, "Chase!"

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