The imagined battlefield: enemy cavalry charges, friendly infantry in neat formations, aiming their muskets repeatedly, taking down an enemy with each shot.
The actual battlefield: enemy cavalry charges, friendly infantry scattered behind makeshift barricades of corpses, aiming roughly by feel before firing, then quickly reloading to fire again.
In the era before the Maxim gun, soldiers also had to prepare their bayonets, always ready for close-quarters combat if the cavalry broke through the lines.
If it were like the movies and TV shows, forming ranks and aiming repeatedly would only result in the infantry's formation being shattered by cavalry charges and being slaughtered at will.
Let's state a cruel reality: although Zhu Yuanzhang used a large number of cannons when driving the Mongols north, cavalry played the truly crucial role.
And an even crueler reality: the reason our country had to aim repeatedly on the battlefield back then was that we couldn't produce bullets, and could only improve accuracy by aiming repeatedly.
The soldiers of the Great Ming today certainly don't have to worry about having enough bullets—according to the standards of the Great Ming, each soldier carries three hundred bullets and ten grenades. At the regimental level, there are already professional logistics support teams responsible for ammunition.
Coupled with the artillery equipped at the regimental level…
So, when the Ottoman commander Katona, holding a telescope obtained from certain French merchants, began to survey the battlefield, the scene that met his eyes utterly stunned him—his own cavalry, and elite heavy cavalry at that, were charging forward on horseback, waving their sabers, only to be inexplicably blown apart by cannonballs!
Cannonballs?
Looking in the direction from which the cannonballs were falling, a bewildered Katona saw the Ming artillerymen slowly moving their cannons forward. Katona counted several times, and the number of Ming cannons moving was always eighteen.
So, the question arises: according to Katona's knowledge, the Ming army opposite them was roughly a regiment in strength. Based on the firepower configuration standards of the Ming army, a regiment would have an artillery battalion below it, and an artillery battalion typically had eighteen cannons, with each battery having six cannons.
Now, all eighteen cannons were being moved forward. Where did the Ming army get the cannons to bombard their own cavalry?
While Katona was frowning in thought, the Ottoman cavalry dispatched by Katona suffered greatly—Ottoman warhorses were indeed good horses, with excellent stamina and explosive power for charging. If two cavalry units clashed head-on, the Ottoman cavalry would definitely have the advantage in mobility.
However, Ottoman warhorses had not undergone specialized training for artillery.
The shrapnel and muzzle flashes from the exploding cannonballs, the pungent smell of gunpowder, and the flying dust were all furiously agitating the warhorses beneath the Ottoman cavalrymen.
When the first warhorse showed signs of panic, it was followed by a large number of warhorses becoming agitated.
Panicked warhorses cared not who was riding them; they only wanted to escape the battlefield and get away from the gunpowder smoke and cannonball shrapnel.
What was even more fatal was the warhorses themselves. These creatures were very intelligent. They immediately judged that the cannonballs were coming from the front, so they instinctively chose to flee to the sides and the rear.
This spelled disaster for the Ottoman army—the warhorses fleeing to the sides were somewhat manageable, but those fleeing to the rear were charging into the Ottoman army, especially at the very rear, where the Ottoman artillery, and the cannons acquired at great expense, were positioned!
"Stop them!"
Seeing his own warhorses about to charge his own artillery positions, Katona no longer had time to ponder how the Ming army had extra cannons and issued one order after another, attempting to dispatch men to stop the panicked warhorses.
But it was useless.
Warhorses obeyed orders when calm, but when startled, there were no commands to be heard. They would only try to smash through anything blocking their escape route! Be it people or anything else!
To completely stop those panicked warhorses, there was only one path open to Katona—to order the shooting of his own warhorses to protect his own artillery positions!
But what was that old saying?
Both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh!
The cannons bought at great expense were Katona's darlings, and those elite cavalrymen were too!
Losing either would be enough to make Katona's heart bleed!
However, the situation on the battlefield was always changing rapidly—while Katona hesitated whether to kill his own cavalry, those panicked warhorses had already reached the artillery positions left in the rear!
"It's over, it's completely over," Katona murmured, looking at the panicked warhorses from a distance beginning to charge his rear formations, "The infantry is finished, the cavalry is finished, and I am finished…"
After this battle, not only did they fail to scratch the Great Ming army's skin, but they lost an infantry unit and a cavalry unit—although the casualties were not too high, it was a fatal blow to Ottoman morale!
Neither the Grand Vizier Suleiman nor Mustafa Pasha would ever spare Katona!
But Katona had no time to lament.
As his own cavalry's impact on his own artillery positions grew more severe, Katona had to harden his heart and ordered, "Transmit the order: immediately shoot the frightened warhorses. Order the reserve cavalry units to control their horses and cover the artillery's retreat!"
...
"Is that it?" Student Zhu Jianyong looked at his squad leader Hu Xianliang with bewilderment: "Did we just move to capture the position?"
Hu Xianliang spat hatefully, then said sheepishly, "What else? I told you those artillery bastards wouldn't give us a chance to charge into battle. See? Was I wrong? If you want to experience a real battle, you'll have to wait until all their cannonballs are fired."
After scolding their own artillery, Hu Xianliang shifted his target to the opposing Ottoman commander Katona: "That Ottoman commander is also a waste. Didn't that idiot find out the news before fighting? Who told him that our Great Ming army's artillery battalion only had eighteen cannons?"
Listening to his squad leader muttering, Student Zhu Jianyong couldn't help but laugh: "Squad leader, is there a possibility that our 'Great Ming Newspaper' told him that our Great Ming army's artillery battalion only had eighteen cannons?"
Hu Xianliang's expression froze, and he immediately stopped his highly maternal output—it was fine to curse the Ottoman barbarians, and it was also fine to curse their own artillery brothers, but going all out against the 'Great Ming Newspaper' was another matter entirely.
The 'Great Ming Newspaper' was created by Emperor Zhu. In the hearts of the Great Ming people, it was Emperor Zhu's platform for speaking, and the people of the Great Ming… although the people of the Great Ming often cursed the government and officials, no one had ever cursed Emperor Zhu.
Of course, not cursing didn't mean not criticizing. For example, because Emperor Zhu often exempted taxes and levies, he was criticized as a spendthrift emperor. For example, because Emperor Zhu disliked selecting many concubines, he was criticized for not being close to women and not being a good emperor.
It sounds very funny. The common people of the Great Ming generally considered Emperor Zhu's lack of interest in women a flaw—as a good emperor, the most important thing you should do is choose more concubines and have more children, don't you understand!
If the common people are like this, the army of the Great Ming is naturally no exception.
The Great Ming army, which almost worshiped Emperor Zhu as a god, usually held their heads high, acting as if heaven was first and they were second, looking down on this and that, even the army, navy, and balloon corps of the Great Ming mutually disliked each other. However, when it came to Emperor Zhu, these "hill soldiers" seemed to have completely changed.
Heaven is paramount?
No one can compare!
Under the heavens, only His Majesty the Emperor is the true Son of Heaven!
Thinking of how he almost went all out against the 'Great Ming Newspaper' just now, Hu Xianliang let out a cold snort and then resumed his highly maternal greetings to the Ottoman commander Katona: "I just don't understand, does that idiot opposite really know how to fight?"
"Damn it all, his own army was charged by his own warhorses. Is his level of fighting learned from his mother? Or are these dogs actually no different from the Jian-er?"
"If I were the Ottoman commander opposite, I would just find a piece of tofu and kill myself, to avoid being such a disgrace here!"
Zhu Jianyong smiled and stopped Hu Xianliang, saying, "Squad leader, I think the Ottoman commander opposite won't give up so easily. Maybe they have other strategies?"
Hu Xianliang curled his lips disdainfully and mocked, "Other strategies? If it were the Jian-er's Green Standard Army, I would still worry if they would switch to night raids, fire attacks, water attacks, or other tactics. But as for the Ottoman army… being able to send cavalry at the critical moment when the artillery positions were advancing was already their greatest capability."
This was not Hu Xianliang intentionally belittling the Ottoman army, but a conclusion drawn from fighting several battles against the Ottoman army and combining it with historical battles of the Ottoman Empire.
Although he looked down on them, the necessary caution was not lacking in the slightest.
Hu Xianliang said thoughtfully, "Now that the barbarians' attack has been frustrated, we must be extra careful when on night watch and guard against barbarian night raids. After all, we can't expect the barbarians to remain stupid forever."
Student Zhu Jianyong's smile faltered: "Night watch? Can't we take advantage of this opportunity to pursue and kill them?"
Hu Xianliang immediately slapped Zhu Jianyong on the back of his head: "Pursue and kill? The Ottoman cavalry may be useless, but that doesn't mean the Ottomans have no cavalry left. The artillery positions are difficult to move. Are you going to chase the Ottoman cavalry with your two legs? Isn't that like sending yourself to be butchered? Besides, can you catch up?"
In fact, as Hu Xianliang had predicted, new military orders soon came from the Great Ming rear, requiring the infantry that had advanced to capture the positions to clean up the battlefield and station themselves there immediately after the Ottoman army retreated.
After this battle, the Great Ming army indeed achieved zero casualties, but the consumption of cannonballs was also enormous—a total of twenty-four cannons had fired, and over a hundred cannonballs were fired with great satisfaction. However, logistics also couldn't help but issue highly maternal greetings to the artillerymen.
As for the infantry… although the bullets consumed by the infantry were nothing compared to the consumption of the artillery, according to the Great Ming army's consistent extravagant style of not treating bullets as money, each soldier's bullets were only about two hundred left. The bullets consumed by the three infantry battalions combined were also a astronomical figure. It was unlikely they could advance further before replenishment.
This made Student Zhu Jianyong feel a bit lost.
Is the real battlefield really like this?
The fighting just stops, and when it stops, it stops for a day or two. There are no flashing swords or whistling arrows, nor rain of bullets. It seems like a round of cannonballs are fired, and then the problem is solved?
It wasn't until Zhu Jianyong, with his mind full of questions, found Hu Xianliang that he got the answer from this old soldier.
"Do you know what the toughest years for our Great Ming army were like?"
Hu Xianliang looked at the bewildered Zhu Jianyong and smiled, "To be honest, I didn't experience the toughest years of our Great Ming army, because I joined the Great Ming army in the fifteenth year of the Holy Emperor, and I've only served for eleven years so far."
"But I've heard it from the old soldiers."
"In the toughest times, going hungry one meal and eating well the next was the norm. While it wasn't like starving for three days and eating for nine, starving for one or two meals in three days was common. Sometimes, when fighting in winter, there wasn't enough time to cook, and those old soldiers would eat a piece of cornbread with snow."
"Sometimes, when areas newly captured were suffering from disaster, the old soldiers would give their rations to the common people, and they themselves would have to dig for grass roots, catch mice, catch snakes, and if all else failed, they would strip bark. Eating? Forget it!"
"Even before the fifth year of the Holy Emperor, the Great Ming army's situation was not good—at that time, His Majesty said that the army had to yield the way to the people, and most of the national treasury's money was used to build roads and reservoirs, so very little could be allocated to our army."
"Only after defeating countries like Siam and Burma, and obtaining a large sum of reparations from the Portuguese, did the Great Ming army's situation improve slightly."
"Do you know what those old soldiers envied the most at that time? It was the troops stationed in Joseon and Japan. Their food and drink were supplied by Joseon and Japan, and their conditions were much better than our local army in the Great Ming."
"At that time, how many bullets did the average soldier in the Great Ming army have? Only fifty! Fifty bullets for that darn flintlock gun, what good could that do?"