Chapter 3 Morning Star (Five Downs)

When the Japanese devils marched, they were lined up in four columns in a habitual manner. They suddenly encountered attacks. Only a dozen people walking in the front three rows could fire and fight back. The others had no room for action. When the Japanese in the back row changed into actual combat formations under the organization of the lower-level officers, they set up light and heavy machine guns, and the Chinese soldiers riding war horses had already run out of the precise range, leaving only light green smoke and dust in the sky, blowing by the evening breeze on the grassland, floating around in front of the Japanese.

"Baga." "Coward, don't run if you have the ability." The Japanese soldiers who were unwilling to be teased pulled the trigger and fired in vain at the backs of the Chinese cavalry. The figures that were getting smaller and smaller in the distance and as the war horses ran were running were difficult to be hit by bullets. Although the target of the war horse was large, the damage effect of the bullets was very limited. As long as it was not fatal, it would not be possible to stop the war horses immediately. Driven by the nature of herbivores, the injured mounts would chase the brigade more desperately until the last drop of blood was exhausted, and they would not live to fall into the hands of the chasers. (Note 1)

It took only about 40 seconds per second, and the attacking Chinese cavalry had run away. The head of the first squadron, Saburo Suzuki, ordered his subordinates to stop shooting and organized people to count the casualties. After the final statistics were reported, he became more and more angry and smoked.

Three people were killed in battle and fourteen injured, only one of them was seriously injured. If it were in the past, this number of war damage could be almost negligible. However, today, it almost caused the entire First Squadron to collapse, making him not angry and crazy, how could he remain calm, pick up the team leader closest to him, and slapped two big slaps in the face, "Baga, you have only been away from Chenyang for a few days. Have you forgotten how you fight? Being beaten by a small team of Chinese people, you have lost the face of the imperial soldiers."

"The chief scolds him, the chief scolds him, the subordinates are incompetent, please punish him." The team leader Sanada Village, who was beaten, arched his body and even apologized for guilt. The performance of him and his soldiers just now was indeed too out of standard. Not only did he far from meeting the requirements of the elite of the empire, they were probably much worse than the garrison troops in the places that everyone despised the most. When they saw more than 30 tall horses rushing towards him in a diagonal thorn, even he, a veteran who had been through the battlefield, felt his calves tremble. If he hadn't thought that the number of people on his side was more than ten times that of his opponent, he would have turned around and fled on the spot.

This is not the response that an imperial soldier should have, so the captain Sanada is willing to use any method to wash away the shame. However, his immediate boss, the captain of the first squadron, Saburo Suzuki, suddenly lost his interest in pursuing his subordinates' responsibilities. He sighed and whispered, "Forget it this time, you go and organize the team. I'll go and ask Captain Kawada for instructions, how should we deal with the next situation."

"Hii." Sanada Muchi agreed gratefully and trotted to reorganize the team. The squadron leader Saburo Suzuki shook his head at the listless soldiers under his command, turned around, and walked towards Kawada Kunaki's car.

In the bright cab, Kawada Kiyoshi and Shiro Shirakawa had already seen the embarrassing performance of the first squadron. Although he knew that the enemy would not cause too much damage to him, his heart was still as heavy as a lead block. Two sneak attacks were exactly the weak points of the imperial army. The Chinese army commander hidden in the dark was like he had been dealing with the Imperial Army for many years. He knew the advantages and shortcomings of the Imperial Army. However, he had no information on the name, resume and combat habits of the Imperial Army. He only knew that the current leaders of the Imperial Army were all born in the Green Forest and grassland, and no other details were found.

This is not a green forest. Even graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy may not be able to reach such a level of command ability. Especially in the application of cavalry, in Kawada Kunaki's memory, he has never seen any Chinese army adopt the same tactics, ambush in advance, attack at close range, and immediately flee far away after taking advantage. In modern cavalry, there is absolutely no such trick, and people who can train dozens of cavalry so harmoniously will never take cavalry seriously.

"The battle just now is not your responsibility." Before Suzuki Saburo could apologize, Kawada Kunaki had already jumped out of the cab and said loudly, "Let your team stop. After I discuss with Shirakawa Jun, I will make new tactical adjustments. Watanabe Jun, you go and notify the second squadron and the baggage team, so that they can stop first and stand by on time."

"Hii." The messenger Miji Watanabe agreed loudly, riding a horse to pass the order. Kawada Kunaki poked the ground with a command knife and continued, "Suzuki, what did you feel when the cavalry rushed over just now? Can you tell me in detail?"

"Subordinate, subordinate." Suzuki Saburo, who originally thought he had escaped, immediately felt sweat on his forehead and blushed, apologized. "Subordinate, subordinate, was too panicked at the time and could not organize a firepower counterattack in time. Please, the superior will punish him."

"There is no need for punishment. I am not trying to hold you accountable. I just want to understand why even you, a top student who graduated from Army University, suddenly performs incorrectly." Kawada Kunihara smiled, shook his head slightly, and was slapped twice in the face. He no longer dared to have any contempt for the Chinese resistance forces active near the Black Stone Village. Instead, he seriously regarded the resisters as opponents at the same level as him, and began to summarize the experience and lessons seriously, and began to study the combat characteristics of the opponents.

"They, they appeared too suddenly." Saburo Suzuki reached out and wiped it on his forehead, and then responded quickly. Just don't push the responsibility to himself. If he doesn't push the responsibility to himself, he will have the opportunity to take revenge. "It seems like he was coming out of the grass. When you see them, they have already killed you. Our marching habits are not suitable for dealing with such sudden attacks. If you don't put the formation open, the bullet may accidentally hurt your own people. When we put the formation open, they have already run away."

"Yes." Just now watching in the car, Kawada Kunaki felt the same way. The enemy's two charges made full use of the convenience of easily hiding people in the hilly areas, and the tactics used seemed to be practiced many times against the shortcomings of the imperial army.

"The enemy, when the enemy charges, the formation is very neat and constantly changing. The closer we get to us, the smaller the distance between horses." Suzuki Saburo continued to say, "When they evacuated, they tried to disperse the team as much as possible, and would release the horse's reins with both hands and turn around to shoot. Although they could not ensure accurate heads, they could not aim calmly."

"Oh." Kawada Kunaki didn't notice this detail. He only noticed that the soldiers under his command suddenly became extremely panicked, and there was no accurate idea when the bullets were fired.

"Well, their riding skills are indeed very exquisite, the most exquisite I have ever seen." Saburo Suzuki recalled and whispered again, "It is no worse than the cavalry of our Great Japanese Empire, and it may even be better, especially the array transformations carried out during the charge. My subordinates have never seen them in the cavalry units of the Empire."

"It's the Mongolian classical cavalry tactics." Shirakawa Shiro, who had been listening, suddenly interrupted, and his fair face was filled with shock. "Someone tried to reintroduce classical cavalry tactics into modern warfare. This person is really a genius and really brave."

"Classic cavalry tactics." Kawada Kōta and Saburo Suzuki all turned their heads and looked at Shirakawa Shiro, their eyes full of confusion.

"This tactic has disappeared for many years. Specifically, since the emergence of muskets, this tactic has become less and less suitable for war. When the machine gun appears, it has been completely eliminated." Operational staff member Shirakawa Shiro nodded and explained patiently.

Seeing Kawada Kiyoshi and Suzuki Saburo still looked confused, he continued to explain patiently: "The very important tactical feature of medieval cavalry is that they rely on dense formations and the momentum brought by war horses when they attack, to crush their opponents from both the outside and the heart. However, after the machine guns that can be shot continuously appear, they can intercept the group charges. The denser the formations, the more one-sidedly they are slaughtered by machine guns. Therefore, in modern cavalry, whether it is Europeans, Soviets, or Japanese Empire, the standard tactics are based on the high-speed maneuver of horses, interspers into weak areas of the enemy, and then jump off the horse, build positions like infantry, lie in the trenches to attack or intercept the enemy."

"Well,." Kawada Kiyoshi Showa and Suzuki Saburo recalled the textbooks they had when they were in the military academy and nodded repeatedly.

"So strictly speaking, modern cavalry has completely become lancers, or infantry riding war horses. Except for being able to maneuver at high speed, it is no different from ordinary infantry in other aspects." Combatant Shirakawa Shiro thought for a while and continued to add, "The small group of Chinese cavalry that appeared just now has never left the horse's back. Attack and retreat are like flowing water. After a blow, they immediately broke off contact with us. This was the classic tactic of the Mongolian Empire when it conquered Asia and Europe. It was only when the bow and arrow were replaced with rifles and light machine guns, and the Mongolian scimitar was replaced with Cossack sabers." (Note 2)

"Hiss,." Kawada Kiyoshi and Suzuki Saburo took a sip of air conditioning, and their brows frowned into the character "Chuan". If the enemy and us fight each other, with the heavy firepower in their hands, they can easily massacre the Chinese cavalry, and they will not lose one soldier on their own. But if the Chinese cavalry has been using this method of suddenly coming out of the hills and running away after fighting, I am afraid that the next time the two sides will contact each other, they will still be furious. After all, the marching habits that have been developed for decades cannot be changed by just wanting to change. The hot weather and extremely simple road conditions are not allowed to move slowly towards their destination step by step.

"However, I think they will take the initiative to retreat after one more attack after two such attacks." Shirakawa Shiro, who is familiar with various war classics, is not as depressed as the other two. He smiles and comes to a conclusion with confidence.

"Why do they take the initiative to withdraw?" Kawada Kunaki was surprised and happy when he heard this, and asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, don't they want to continue to take advantage?" Suzuki Saburo was also puzzled. If he had changed his place with his opponent, he would definitely have to take advantage of it at one time. How could he take the initiative to go home before the opponent found a countermeasure?

"Their tactics have very high requirements for cavalry and war horses. People with poor physical coordination and too timidity cannot adapt to this tactic. The war horses under their crotch cannot always maintain the same physical strength and spirituality." Shirakawa Shiro nodded with a smile, explaining with confidence, "Every time they charge, the people and war horses are in a state of high excitement and high tension, and the mental and physical energy consumption is at least five or six times, or even dozens of times that of normal. If this is repeated three to four times, even if the person can still hold on, the war horses will be exhausted."

"Besides, we don't have any countermeasures at all." Fearing that Kōta Kiyoshi and Suzuki Saburo thought they were talking nonsense, Shirakawa Shiro thought about it and proposed to take out another emergency measure. "What they rely on now is nothing more than the speed of war horses. What they use is nothing more than the shortcomings of the machine guns that are not easy to be put into use during our army's march. If we empty a car, add a machine gun in front and sides of the car, and install a small team of elite soldiers in the car, they dare to use the same method to attack next time, which is equivalent to seeking death."

"Oh hey, Shirakawa, you are really amazing, you are really my lucky star." Kawada Kunaki jumped up with a thumbs up and praised him repeatedly.

"It's Shirakawa Jun, his brain is very fast." Saburo Suzuki jumped up and shouted excitedly, "I personally led a team to drive the road in front of me by car. I'll go in person to see if those Chinese dare to kill again."

"The two cars will be allocated to you." Captain Kawada Kuniha nodded and decisively adopted the strategy of combat staff Shirakawa Shiro. "Suzuki, I will allocate two cars to you, and I will also give you four heavy machine guns. Next time I see the Chinese cavalry, please be sure to fight me hard."

"Hii." Suzuki Saburo saluted the military salute, and was originally depressed and cheered up to the top. "I promised to complete the task. If the Chinese dared to show up, no one of them would let them go."

Note 1: Not only horses have this habit, but the herds on the grassland, such as antelope and sika deer, have formed similar instincts in evolution. When herbivores encounter natural enemies, the greater the chance of escape. Even if they are injured, as long as they do not stop, they will have a chance to recover in the future. Otherwise, they will be eaten by wild wolves.
Chapter completed!