Chapter 2879: Cavalry Seminar (2)

After a preamble he himself considered rather “programmatic,” Yang Ning moved into the substance: basic cavalry training—horsemanship, dismounted drills, saber and marksmanship, formations, breakthrough tactics—each section illustrated by hanging charts he had commissioned. At times he seized a pointer or a model to demonstrate, his voice rising, his gestures sweeping the room. The officers leaned forward, drawn in despite themselves.

It was a deliberate little ploy, learned from countless roadshows: bury the audience under technical background, data, and grand visions until they were dazzled half senseless, then unveil the actual proposal. The impact beat simply boasting about a project's merits.

When he opened the next folder—weapons, equipment, organization, tactics of the new cavalry units—the room shifted. This was the meat of the presentation, and every officer leaned in.

“As everyone well knows, our army’s consistent principle is to use whatever weapons and forces suit the fight at hand—and cavalry is no exception. And the most critical step in determining what kind of fight we will face is identifying the enemies our cavalry must confront. So, what enemies do our cavalry forces need to face? Based on the current strategic picture, there are two main fronts.”

“First, the enemy we must face directly is the imperial army—of this there is no doubt.” As a beneficiary of the Ming dynasty’s “driving out the Miao to expand the frontier” policy, Yang Ning was reluctant to utter the dynasty’s name aloud, so he substituted this vague term instead. Seeing no strange expressions on the faces of the Senators and naturalized citizens, he continued.

“The imperial army—I believe everyone here is most familiar with them,” Yang Ning smiled. “To date, our primary land combat opponents have been government troops, and they will remain our main adversaries in future land engagements.”

The Ming forces in the two Guangs had effectively collapsed. A few troops still clung to remote corners of Guangxi, but they no longer mattered. The suppression campaign the court was about to launch would be fought mainly by infantry—dictated first and foremost by the terrain of the two Guangs. The General Staff’s current “offense as defense” strategy, by contrast, kept operations confined to the middle and lower Yangtze. Plains existed there, but they were sliced by waterways and drowned in rice paddies, giving cavalry nowhere to run.

“…Regarding cavalry operations in this theater, I think my view is the same as everyone else’s: cavalry would be essentially useless. But if we broaden our horizons—” his pointer swept across the Yangtze on the map, “the Jianghuai region is a suitable cavalry battlefield. And once we begin our campaign in the Jiangnan area, reinforcements from the north must pass through here.”

“Though the area also has its share of rivers, the terrain is open, with no rice paddies, and cavalry can gallop freely. Historically, the Qing army’s fifth…” At this point he realized he had let something slip—that fifth campaign had not happened yet.

He scrambled to recover. “…Last year’s fourth entry through the pass, the Qing vanguard had already swept as far as the Shandong area, demonstrating that relying on cavalry mobility, they have strong motivation to push south.”

This statement contradicted what he had said earlier, and the naturalized-citizen officers wore bewildered expressions. Yang Ning quickly coughed to cover it up. “Of course, as military men, we cannot limit our gaze to the south alone. We must look out upon all of China! All of Asia! The entire world!”

Yang Ning’s voice suddenly cracked into a hoarse shout, arms flailing, face flushed—he looked ready to leap off the podium.

“Given this premise, our potential theaters of operation become far broader. So now the question arises: where must we strike to deal the government a fatal blow?”

He jabbed his pointer heavily at the circle marked “Shuntian Fu”:

“Speaking of where we should attack to deal the government a devastating blow, I imagine every comrade here has his own idea, and each has its merits. I will not presume to judge whose plan is right or wrong, superior or inferior. I will simply state my personal view: strike the snake at its neck, catch the bandits by taking their king—raid Shuntian Fu and utterly destroy the government’s central apparatus!”

A stir rippled through the audience. Dongmen Chuiyu frowned slightly: What nonsense! Launching small-scale, localized offensives in the middle and lower Yangtze was the established strategy. Fu Sansi knew that Yang was merely grandstanding, most likely still trying to prove “the utility of cavalry.” Sure enough, he pivoted:

“Of course, our current strategy does not yet extend to the vicinity of the capital. But if we do not act, the flies will not leave the house of their own accord. Sooner or later, our army will fight across the boundless plains of the Central Plains and the North China Plain. And at that point, cavalry—the flower of the army—will play an irreplaceable role!”

“The flower of the army… what kind of metaphor is that, sheesh!” Wei Aiwen muttered under his breath.

“In large-scale plains warfare, the coordination between cavalry, infantry, and artillery; the coordination between shock cavalry, dragoons, and light cavalry—these are the crucial factors that determine whether we can decisively rout the enemy. I am sure everyone remembers the second anti-encirclement campaign, when we fought the government forces at Chengmai. Several Senators here were personally present. Though we shattered the Ming army’s assault in the field and forced them into retreat, how did we ultimately finish them off? Comrades, we expended enormous effort, wearing down the enemy piece by piece, relying on naval support and the terrain advantages of prepared positions before finally encircling and annihilating them. One could say the Battle of Chengmai was conducted too perfectly—so perfectly that such favorable objective conditions could never be replicated. Yet even in such a flawless battle, our performance during the final encirclement and pursuit phases still had significant problems. And the most important reason for all of this was that we had no cavalry support. Especially when it came to delivering the final killing blow!”

Because they lacked cavalry, the pursuit phase at Chengmai had no fast exploitation force to expand the results. If not for the agricultural vehicles, roughly half the fleeing soldiers might have escaped. This was one reason why, during the Engine Operation, they had resolved to split forces and take Jeju Island. Only with Jeju could they even begin to discuss cavalry development.

By now Yang Ning’s voice had begun to fray. He took two sips of water and steadied himself. Fu Sansi frowned. The first half—training and tactics—had been genuinely eye-opening; the second half wandered in circles. He understood Yang was still trying to prove cavalry’s worth, but a commander should make his point clean and sharp.

“…Aside from the imperial army, the other force we will inevitably cross paths with and fight is the Manchu Qing. I will not hide it—personally, I am deeply wary of them. Let me put it this way: they are, in all the history I know, the most formidable, tenacious, and finest heavy infantry—at the very least, far more powerful than the government troops.”

A low hiss rose from the Senator officers, though for different reasons: Wei Aiwen resented Yang Ning’s “defeatist” tone, while Dongmen Chuiyu and Yu Zhiqian simply despised the fighting prowess of the “wild boar skin” chieftains. The naturalized-citizen officers, for their part, showed no objection.

“In the popular imagination, the Manchu Qing are ‘invincible in mounted archery.’ I used to think so as well. But in reality, the Jianzhou Eight Banners were neither ‘mounted’ nor skilled at ‘archery,’ let alone ‘mounted archery.’ They were through-and-through heavy infantry—or more precisely, their heavy cavalry frequently dismounted to fight on foot, and their archery was typically performed while on foot.”

The Senators had heard this before. Old-timeline scholarship had settled the point, and their own intelligence network—particularly the after-action reports from the “advisors” Sun Yuanhua’s Shandong New Army had sent to the Korean campaign—had filled in the details. For the naturalized-citizen officers, though, the perspective was fresh.

“What advantages does this confer? Let me now read some basic source materials. These are all first-hand intelligence obtained from the Ming and the Manchu Qing, written by men who had participated in actual combat. Their credibility is very high…” He picked up a folder and began to read aloud.

“‘Your servant has also seen men returning from Liaodong. They say the rebel soldiers’ helmets, armor, masks, arms, and hands are all of fine iron, and the same for their horses. Thus when the Korean camp stood opposed, the slave soldiers’ infantry surged forward and instantly tore away the chevaux-de-frise. The Korean soldiers had no shortage of muskets and arrows, yet could do nothing—for the armor was too strong. Our soldiers’ armor, crudely modeled on the Helian design and forged in camp, is all of wretched iron. Apart from chest and back, they are as good as naked. The enemy, within five paces, aims exclusively for the face and ribs—every shot kills. Who can withstand them?’”

“And here is another, written by the Manchu Qing themselves: ‘Soldiers are forbidden to make noise, ranks are forbidden to fall into disorder. When blades clash, those wearing heavy armor and wielding sharp weapons shall serve as the vanguard. Those wearing short armor—that is, two-piece armor—and skilled in archery shall attack from behind. Elite troops stand apart on elevated ground to observe, and are not permitted to dismount. Where the situation is wanting, they shall move to reinforce.’”

He set down the folder. “Neither passage is difficult classical Chinese; the meaning is plain. I cite them to make one point: the Manchu Qing are an army built around heavy-armored infantry and cavalry. Their strength lies in the pairing of high defense and high mobility—something the Ming cannot match, and a key reason they keep winning in the field.”

He swept the hall and delivered the line he had spent two hours building toward: “Therefore, our cavalry must also possess high defensive capability and high mobility.”