Firearms in a Fantasy World

Chapter 65: War Preparation

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Starting from late July, Alden conducted several consecutive military exercises. After all, they were no longer dealing with third-rate pirate gangs but with the military forces of another territory. Hence, they needed to adapt in advance.

To ensure flexible use of forces on the battlefield, at Paul's suggestion, the staff began experimenting with linear tactics. Specifically, infantry battalions were arranged in a single line horizontally, with each battalion of pikemen arranged in six rows vertically, with each platoon responsible for two rows. Musketmen were deployed separately in rows of three, each row firing independently.

Compared to the popular phalanx tactics of the present, Alden's army had a broader front but shallower depth. The broad front could create a semi-encircling effect, and with the increasing number of firearms, they would be more effective against dense formations, delivering a substantial amount of firepower to the enemy in a short time.

Unlike the large battle clusters such as ten-thousand and thousand-man teams commonly used in this world, organizing smaller units like platoons and squads provided more opportunities for lower-ranking commanders to exercise initiative. Of course, this depended on having a large number of qualified junior officers. Paul was certain that no other power in this world emphasized the training of junior officers as much as he did. He even established a military academy specifically for this purpose. In most national armies, the thoughts of their lower-ranking officers were only slightly stronger than those of their big-headed soldiers.

Given the poor accuracy of rifled gun barrels, musketmen were not allowed to fire at will until they heard the officer's order, and there were generally two ways to do so: shooting in turns or shooting at the same time.

When shooting in turns, the three rows of soldiers fired one after another, while one row of soldiers shot, and the other two rows aimed or loaded ammunition. The soldiers then fired one after another, keeping up a continuous output of firepower.

When shooting at the same time, the soldiers in the first row half-knelt to shoot, while the soldiers in the second and third rows stood to shoot. This way, all soldiers could shoot at once. Although this simultaneous shooting could not maintain uninterrupted firepower, examples from European history proved that during the few minutes approaching the climax of a charge, a fierce volley could be very effective.

One simultaneous volley of soldiers could adequately prepare for the rigorously trained pikemen to launch an attack. Paul had seen in a segment of information from a previous life: such a simultaneous volley could not only inflict greater damage on the enemy but also cause three times the fear and shock compared to previous single-row volleys. It could greatly undermine the enemy's courage. The reason was simple: for ordinary people, the shock and terror caused by a long-lasting thunderstorm were greater than the sum of the shocks and intimidations caused by ten intermittent thunderstorms.

Paul believes that dealing with the temporary recruits of local lords, a single volley of gunfire can crush them.

The soldiers standing in the first row undoubtedly needed great courage. So a reward mechanism called "courage allowance" was created, and the soldiers in the first row received a reward of three times their daily salary. In order to give the soldiers in the first row adequate protection, the equipment department spared no effort to purchase and build a batch of iron armor, so that these heroes could confidently lead their brothers forward.

In order to eliminate the soldiers' psychological fear of the current era's main long-range weapon—bows and arrows, the equipment department also mobilized the masses to temporarily make 100 wooden bows, which were used to fire thin wooden sticks wrapped in cloth on the head. Of course, it is impossible to compare with the really qualified war bow, but it is enough to simulate the effect of simultaneous shooting of a hundred arrows. During the exercise, rows of soldiers held crude small wooden shields, stepped on drum beats, and moved towards the "enemy" with neat steps. During this period, anyone who could not withstand the psychological pressure and retreated or charged recklessly would be severely punished.

To fully leverage the role of cannons, the concept of "infantry-artillery coordination" was also raised. Of course, Paul's definition of "infantry-artillery coordination" is simple: cannons fire after infantry charges, and infantry charges after cannons fire.

However, this still greatly tests the mobility of the artillery. To improve the artillery's speed of movement and timely support for infantry, each artillery unit was equipped with four horses: two for pulling the cannons and two for transporting ammunition. Besides practicing to increase firing speed, artillerymen also practiced how to quickly load and unload cannons and set up firing positions.

Additionally, infantrymen needed to overcome the fear caused by cannonballs whistling over their heads. Artillerymen also needed to roughly grasp the different elevation angles, ranges, and trajectories of cannons, as hitting their own troops would be disastrous.

After several exercises, a set of battle tactics suitable for the Alden army was developed:

v When the enemy initiates an attack, cannons conduct long-range firepower strikes to disrupt the enemy's formation. As the enemy approaches further, musketeers and cannons loaded with grape shot engage in medium-range firepower strikes to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy's combat forces. Meanwhile, musketeers use volley firing to ensure sustained firepower. When the enemy charges the front lines, pikemen engage in hand-to-hand combat. If the enemy is overwhelming, musketeers switch to bayonets to join the melee. If evenly matched, they engage in close-quarters precision kills under the protection of pikemen, while cannons delay the enemy's reinforcements.

v When the Alden army launches an attack, cannons first disrupt the enemy's deployment with long-range firepower strikes, preventing effective assembly. While cannons fire, musketeers move forward with pikemen behind towards the enemy positions. Upon approaching, musketeers conduct a volley fire to cause heavy casualties and demoralize the enemy, followed by pikemen charging to break the enemy.

In previous battles, many veterans who were unfit to continue serving in the army due to injuries were recalled and stationed in various villages. With the assistance of local agricultural associations, they established and supervised the training of militia organizations. In Paul's plan, these local militias would serve as reserve forces and become an important part of the Alden military system.

The reason for strengthening militia training is due to a notorious yet effective war strategy among lords of this era—sending small forces to raid and plunder enemy towns to reduce enemy population and economy, ultimately forcing surrender.

While the army strengthened its own strength, Cecil, in charge of the intelligence system, was also not idle because people in this era had almost no sense of confidentiality, making it easy to track the movements of those few traitors in Byerldine.

Intelligence showed that Viscount Ebbert and two other barons had returned to their fiefdoms to recruit soldiers, while Viscount Ankiro continued to sit in Buteya, recruiting soldiers in the name of the lord's mansion in the directly affiliated territory of the Ganard family. According to estimates, the combined army size of these four could gather between 2,000 to 2,500 men.

Paul naturally disdained newly laid-down farmers. The only thing that worried him a bit was that there were more than 20 knights in the enemy's ranks, unlike the "water-inflated pork" of the Grayman family, these were genuine knights with strong individual martial skills.

"Should we practice hollow square formations?" Paul suddenly thought of this.

(End of the Chapter)

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