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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 645: Cavalry Showdown

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    The infantry is the main force of the coalition, the artillery is the new force of the coalition, and what really makes the coalition feel proud is their elite cavalry.  ¡ËBritain and France have vast colonies around the world, allowing them to recruit the most elite cavalry units from around the world to join their armies.

    The British Queen's proud Dragoons, the French Chasseurs who were favored by Napoleon, the ferocious Sipahi Cavalry of French North Africa, the martial "Probi" Sikh Cavalry Regiment of British Punjab, as well as those from British India  "Fern" Indian Cavalry Regiment, this war that took place in the small town of Majuqiao next to the capital of a big country in the Far East will witness the official showdown between the best cavalry in Europe, the best cavalry in North Africa, and the South Asian cavalry and the recent Eastern cavalry.  .

    The British Dragoon Guards had previously sent about 900 people to follow Major General Mitchell, leaving 300 cavalry to follow Grant.  The number of Punjab Sikh Cavalry and Indian Cavalry Regiment remaining in Tongzhou was 500, and their large forces also followed Major General Michael on the expedition.  The French Sipashi Cavalry Regiment is fully organized, with a strength of 800 people.  When they saw their own infantry being chased by enemy cavalry, the coalition's cavalry troops launched a charge. The remaining dragoons, Sikh cavalry, Indian cavalry and Sipahi cavalry, totaling about 1,600 people, were divided into left and right wings and faced them.  The enemy, the Taiping Cavalry Regiment launched an attack.

    This Taiping Army cavalry regiment is a divisional cavalry regiment of the Taiping Army's elite First Division of the First Army. There are about 1,700 cavalry. After losing dozens of cavalry in the pursuit just now, the number of cavalry is actually about the same as that of the coalition cavalry.  They are large, and they don't have the perverted horse firepower of the Taiping Guards Cavalry, so this should be a fair duel.  A duel of willpower, discipline and courage.

    I saw the coalition cavalry attacking on two wings, with the French 800 Sipah cavalry on the left.  The British Guards Cavalry and the Sikh and Indian Cavalry also numbered 800 on the right wing. The commander of the Taiping Cavalry Regiment saw this scene.  He immediately made adjustments. He mobilized more than 300 cavalrymen to rush towards the French cavalry regiment on the left, and then concentrated the remaining 1,200 or so people to press towards the British cavalry.  The intention of the Taiping cavalry commander is obvious. He hopes that more than 300 cavalry companies can resist the French cavalry for a period of time, and he can concentrate his forces on the right wing to form an advantage. He intends to rely on the strength advantage of the right wing to annihilate or defeat the British cavalry units first, and then  Then turn around and attack the French cavalry.

    When the infantry of the First and Second Infantry Regiments of the Taiping Army began to counterattack, the King of the West's apricot-yellow flag slowly appeared on the top of the hill. Xiao Yungui sat firmly on the saddle under the apricot-yellow flag.  After seeing the cavalry regiment of the Taiping Army divided in this way, he nodded slightly to express his approval of the command of the commander of the cavalry regiment: "The cavalry regiment led by Zhang Wenxiang is indeed the first cavalry regiment in the army, and it is also the best on the British and French allied forces.  The cavalry unit, let¡¯s see how powerful that cavalry unit is.¡±

    Although the Taiping cavalry were not equipped with the rifles and revolvers of the Guards cavalry, each of them was equipped with a loaded rifled rifle. When more than 300 Taiping cavalry rushed towards the French army,  At a distance of 200 yards, they fired the only bullet in the barrel at the French cavalry.  The first row of Taiping cavalry fired a volley without much success.  Only a few dozen people fell off their horses on the French side. This did not cause confusion to the French cavalry, but instead aroused the anger of the fierce Sipaxi cavalry, who formed a dense linear front of 8 people in a row.  They rushed towards the Taiping Army continuously.

    The Sipaxi cavalry inherited the discipline of the French cavalry and retained the fierceness of the Persian cavalry. They lined up in a row to charge in hand-to-hand combat.  After each line attacked the enemy, it did not fall into a scattered individual melee like ancient cavalry.  Instead, they forcefully withstand the enemy's shooting or slashing and quickly evacuate.  Regroup and charge in neat formation repeatedly.  This collective attack method that always relies on unified force and close cooperation between platoons and even regiments can easily defeat all traditional cavalry models.

    The Taiping cavalry is no stranger to this cavalry tactic. In the cavalry class at the Shanghai Lecture Hall, this tactic is the most talked about. However, unfortunately, this cavalry tactic cannot be used in a cavalry confrontation unless the other party possesses it.  Powerful continuous firepower, otherwise this tactic is almost impossible to solve.  Since the emergence of regular cavalry in the modern West, there has never been any case in the world where irregular cavalry tactics defeated regular cavalry in a frontal charge. This was the reason why the Manchu and Qing Mongolian cavalry were repeatedly defeated by the coalition cavalry.

    More than 300 Taiping cavalry also adopted the same tactics as the French Sipaxi cavalry, but instead of being arranged in a line of eight people, they were reduced to a line of four people.  The number is not much different from that of the French army, but the width of a single line array is smaller than that of the French army.

    When the first row of cavalry collided together, the scimitar of the Persian cavalry and the Gurkha scimitar of the Taiping cavalry flashed dazzlingly in the sun, and the limbs, heads and other body parts of the human body followed.  Blood splattered everywhere, the screams of horses and the dying screams of soldiers filled the sky above the battlefield.What a bloody and cruel fight.

    After the first round of charges and killings by both sides, both sides quickly evacuated and reorganized their formations. It turned out that the casualties on both sides were almost equal. Lieutenant Colonel Leon, commander of the French Sipasi cavalry, was secretly surprised that the enemy was less than half their number.  In terms of quantity, each Taiping cavalry had to withstand the blows of two Persian scimitars, but even in this case, the enemy could exchange the lives of the French cavalry at a ratio of one to one.

    The commander of the cavalry detachment of the Taiping Army was even more worried. More than a hundred casualties were suffered in a single encounter. This was something that had never happened before when fighting the Manchu cavalry or infantry. It seemed that the King of the West was right, the British and French  The coalition is indeed one of the most powerful armies in the world today.

    "Change your tactics! After the charge later, you don't need to retreat to reorganize your formation. Form a formation with your closest teammates and continue to pursue the enemy. Don't let them have a chance to reorganize. Fight with them. Even if you are seriously injured in the end.  Even if you die, you must fire the glory bomb and die together with the enemy. Don¡¯t be afraid of accidentally injuring your own people. The enemy is more numerous than us, and if you want to be injured, they will be hurt more!¡± The commander of the Taiping Army immediately decided to change his tactics and spread the order by word of mouth.  The message was passed on, and then the Taiping Army resumed their charge.

    "Brothers, rush forward and let these foreigners know how powerful we are! See you in heaven!" The commander of the Taiping Army's cavalry detachment raised his saber.  Shouting loudly, he led his cavalry and launched a tragic charge.

    The Sipaxi cavalry did not know that the opponent's charge this time was to fight for their lives. Lieutenant Colonel Leon pointed his scimitar optimistically and shouted: "There are not many enemies left. Just charge twice more and we will be able to do it."  Kill them all! Sparks! Charge!"

    On the way to the charge, Lieutenant Colonel Leon even thought of the following tactics. After wiping out the enemy soldiers on the opposite side, he should still have about 500 men left. Then they would quickly circle around and outflank the right wing to help the British defeat the enemies on the right wing.  cavalry.

    Lieutenant Colonel Leon's line formation was located in the middle and rear of the entire French cavalry. When Lieutenant Colonel Leon's line column rushed into the enemy formation, he found that what was rushing towards him was just a lone enemy cavalryman.  A huge gash was cut into his face.  His bones were visible and dripping with blood. His right arm was hanging lonely on his military uniform. This arm had been cut off long ago and could only be hung on it by relying on the military uniform. However, he still charged towards his line of formation firmly.  He came over, his left arm was placed on his waist, and there was no weapon in his hand.

    "What does he want to do?" This was the last thought in Lieutenant Colonel Leon's mind, when a Sipaxi cavalryman next to him beheaded the Taiping cavalryman.  Lieutenant Colonel Leon felt a huge burst of fire dazzling in front of his eyes, and a huge shock wave flew past his body with shrapnel. He fell off his horse and died on the spot.

    This charge of the Taiping cavalry was completely suicidal. When the Sipaxi cavalry was about to withdraw and regroup.  The Taiping cavalry did not let them go. They still rushed forward, or chased and killed them.  Or they might pull off the grenades on their waists and die together with the enemy. For a while, the French Sipaxi cavalry were in chaos.  They suffered heavy blows from the enemy.

    On the right wing a mile away, the Taiping cavalry relied on their numerical superiority and an almost one-to-one exchange ratio.  The Indian and Sikh cavalry were first defeated, leaving only the British dragoons still struggling to hold on. However, as the enemy struck more and more sabers, the elite dragoons could not withstand the impact. In three rounds of charges,  After that, less than two hundred cavalrymen of the dragoons could barely line up, while the Indian cavalry and the Sikh cavalry withdrew from the battlefield leaving more than three hundred corpses.

    In the end, before the fourth round of charges could begin, the British army blew the retreat bugle, and the dragoons turned around and retreated to the rear as if they had been granted amnesty. The Taiping Army did not pursue them, but quickly outflanked them on the left wing.

    The poor French cavalry was entangled by the desperate Taiping cavalry, and then was surrounded by the Taiping right-wing cavalry. Their courage was finally overcome by the fear of death.  The Taiping cavalry intercepted them, but in the end only a few dozen of the more than 800 Xipaxi cavalry escaped.

    After a tragic cavalry battle, the British and French cavalry troops suffered heavy losses. The British dragoons lost more than 100 people, leaving less than 200 people capable of fighting. The Sikh and Indian cavalry regiments had over 200 intact cavalrymen left.  After escaping back, the French Sipaxi cavalry was almost wiped out by the enemy.

    As for the Taiping cavalry, only 39 of the more than 300 cavalrymen on the left wing survived, including the seriously wounded. The troops on the right wing suffered more than 400 casualties. The Taiping Army lost more than 700 people in total, and the coalition cavalry suffered more than 900 casualties.  People, it seems that the Taiping Army has the upper hand.

    Seeing this scene, Montauban, an officer who was a cavalry commander, cursed the Indian cavalry and the Sikh cavalry for being cowardly. If they had persisted for a moment longer, the French cavalry would not have been completely wiped out by the enemy, or even?Can turn around and help them.  But Montauban cannot ask for too much. After all, the Indian cavalry collapsed after losing more than half of its men. It was already a very elite force.

    After driving away the enemy's cavalry, the Taiping cavalry did not continue the pursuit. They were called back by the Taiping King Xi to rest for a while, while the infantry regiments that had been lined up took advantage of the situation and pressed forward.

    Seeing this scene, Grant sighed and said to Montauban: "We should retreat. Tell the remaining troops in Tongzhou that we must throw away all unnecessary things immediately and retreat immediately" (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature  , the novel is better and updated faster!
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