The second Wednesday in May was a sunny day with clear weather.
The wasteland training ground outside the Beiguan Army Fort in the valley is a bustling scene, and the Welsh Legion's martial arts competition is in full swing.
Both soldiers and officers attach great importance to this competition. For soldiers, winning this competition will not only bring them the rewards and reputation they are waiting for, but more importantly, in addition to battlefield military merits, ordinary soldiers can also get the opportunity to be promoted to low-level military positions through this competition. Although it is only a military position such as squad leader that is not listed as an officer, it is attractive enough to the soldiers.
It is even more important for the officers, because the results of the tournament will be recorded by the officials in the legion command camp, and serve as an important basis for the promotion of the officers. They will not take this matter of status promotion lightly, and the legion commander Art will personally attend the tournament. How can the officers let go of this opportunity that is both life-threatening and good at performance.
The martial arts competition is divided into three major parts, which are essentially a test of the military's daily training, namely - soldiers' personal combat skills, military formations, and confrontation.
The three events are further subdivided according to their respective arms. The individual combat skills competition is based on squads. The squads are first tested in their respective squadrons. The winning side will be able to enter the flag team-sized competition. The winner in the flag team will be given the opportunity to participate in the legion competition. Being able to appear in front of hundreds of legions is a great honor for ordinary soldiers.
Of course, the contents of competitions between different arms are also different. For ordinary infantry, of course, there are conflicting offense and defense, weightlifting competitions, wrestling, running competitions and other events; for heavy armored infantry, it is mainly for swords, axes, hammers and shields, charging into formations without armor, etc.; for cavalry, of course, there are events such as riding, riding spears, and horseback slashing; for archers and crossbowmen, it is basically shooting; and for military law guards, the competition is included in the order of cavalry. It is worth mentioning that the baggage team also participated in the martial arts competition, but their competition content was more special, mainly involving battlefield rescue, transporting grain and grass, driving horses and driving, and setting up camps.
These are the content of personal combat skills competition.
Military formation and confrontation are based on the squadron as the smallest unit of competition.
The military formation competition mainly involves testing halberd and spear formations, wartime marches, and battle formation charging arrays; confrontation training simulates real fighting on the battlefield based on military formations, except that the weapons in the hands of both sides are replaced by long sticks and short sticks for training.
This competition training has been prepared for a long time. The two adjutants Odo and Angus of the legion commander's camp led a group of camp officials and flag captains to plan for a full week, and finally announced the start after Art personally revised it.
The martial arts competition lasted for three days, and today is the last day and the most exciting day.
At the training ground, except for the two squadrons of the first company stationed at Wincheston Manor, all the soldiers of the Welsh Army gathered around the training ground to watch this final confrontation.
Those who advanced to the final duel were the second flag team of the first company and the third flag team of the second company. More than 130 soldiers from the two opposing flag teams rushed towards the other party's formation amidst the flag waving and horn sound of the messengers of the respective flag teams. Their goal was to capture the military flag that followed the commander in the opponent's military formation.
Behind the two flag teams are officers selected from several other flag teams. They are responsible for observing the "casualties" of the two teams. Their battle damage assessment is also a key element in assessing victory or defeat.
The cheers of cheers from the soldiers around the arena resounded through the sky. On the general point stand on one side of the arena, several flag captains and above officers stood on both sides of Art and softly discussed the competition in the audience.
The two flag corps fell into a "fierce battle" as soon as they came into contact. They were both legion infantry and received exactly the same training on weekdays. The offensive and defensive formations of the military formations were almost exactly the same, so no one could gain an advantage in the initial stage.
Just when the two flag teams were in a stalemate, Colin seemed a little impatient. He actually moved the Halberdiers guarding the two wings to the middle to break through. And Andrew seized the fatal flaw of the "enemy", and the flag team's command flag suddenly waved to the right wing. Wu, a reserve team under his command that held the front immediately moved to the right and concentrated on attacking the weak right wing of Colin's Flag. The right wing of Colin's Flag was broken through by Andrew's Flag. Several soldiers holding short sticks rushed across to the right wing of Colin's Flag, beating the enemy's sides.
Weitz, captain of the third flag of the first company, looked at the Colin flag team who was beaten to the point of collapse in the audience, and couldn't help but said: "Is this what happened to Colin? Even Andrew is struggling to cope. Could it be that he is still missing the girl from Andermatt Castle whom he met at the spring dance?"
"Brother Weitz, do you mean that Andrew should lose to Colin?" Terrydock, captain of the second flag of the second company, heard Weitz's tone. It seemed that only Colin's mistakes would give Andrew an advantage. Of course he was not convinced.
"I didn't say anything like this, but Brother Colin is indeed experienced in battles. He should know that the weakness of the line formation lies in the flank protection. He actually took away the flank protection in order to break through the middle and allowed the opponent to attack the right wing. This is really inappropriate."
Treddock thought about it and realized that Colin really shouldn't have made the mistake of allowing the enemy to break into the right wing.
· Colin was certainly not fascinated by the busty girl he met at the spring dance. He had long noticed that several "enemy soldiers" had broken into the right wing, and he even noticed that the center of gravity of the "enemy army" was beginning to tilt from the front to the right wing like a lake that had burst its banks. As more and more "enemy soldiers" were attracted to the right wing, the "enemy army" formation on the front became thinner and thinner.
Collin was waiting for this opportunity, "Change the formation!"
"Change the formation!!!" The two guards around Colin roared at the top of their lungs. The sixty-odd soldiers of Colin's flag team suddenly shrank their military formation. The line formation immediately converged toward the center and became a triangular wedge shape. Colin and the military flag were wrapped in the middle of the triangular wedge shape, and at the same time, the sharp protrusion of the wedge shape faced Andrew's flag. The flag of the team was stuck...
In the stands, Angus looked at Colin's flag team, which had turned the tide of the battle, and praised: "Colin is indeed more skilled in the use of changes in military formations. It is risky enough to deliberately expose flaws to attract the enemy and disrupt the formation."
Odo just nodded and did not rush to respond to Angus' praise. It was not until Colin completely pierced Andrew's military formation and surrounded Andrew's military flag that he sighed and returned: "Sergeant Major, this Colin is too rash. If it is a real battlefield, his approach of transferring the flanking Halberdiers to the center formation is too dangerous. No more The flanks of the spearmen guarding the halberd were extremely weak, and the battle damage was too great. Moreover, the number of soldiers in his hands would be reduced by at least one-third in the next battle. "At this time, the outcome in the battle field was determined. Colin captured Andrew's flag with more battle losses, and the soldiers of the first company cheered.
After a while, an official from the legion command camp walked under the stands and reported to Art, who was watching in the middle: "Lord legion chief, Colin's Banner won the first round of the confrontation. Colin's Banner lost twenty-three people, and Andrew's Banner lost eleven."< br/>
Hate held the hilt of the sword in his hand and said to the officials in the audience: "The remaining soldiers of Colin's flag have advanced to the second round of confrontation and are preparing for the last round of this test in the afternoon. It just so happens that there are only about forty people left in Tuba's flag, which is fair."
"It's my lord, the next step is the battlefield coverage round fire of the crossbow team."
"Get ready to start!" Art ordered.
The officials ran back to the competition ground and announced the start of the competition for the legion's crossbow team waiting in the competition ground.
….
On the night after the competition ended, Art ordered the Welsh Legion to hold a banquet. The individual soldiers and the squadron flag team who won the three competitions were rewarded with some food and wine.
The atmosphere in the stone house of Beiguan Army Fort was not as lively as outside.
All officers above the flag captain of the Wells Corps were sitting in the stone room. Legion Commander Art was convening a military meeting for the officers to summarize the many issues that had developed during the legion competition in the past few days.
…We have shown the weakness of the Wells Army in the Battle of County North. Compared with those elite professional frontier soldiers, our soldiers are indeed at a disadvantage in terms of personal combat skills. This is understandable. After all, most of the soldiers of the Wells Army are civilians who have not experienced combat, and short-term training in the training ground cannot quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. "
"When faced with a real battlefield fight, it is okay when you are at an advantage. If you are at a disadvantage, it is difficult to ensure that the soldiers will not collapse."
Matt turned his attention to Colin, who was sitting on a low stool. "Take the day's competition as an example. Captain Colin's skillful use of battle formations to defeat the enemy should be praised. This should be praised. . But the reason why you won is because your soldiers know that this is just a competition, and no one is at risk of death, so your formation can remain stable even if the right wing is destroyed. On the real battlefield, when the flank damage reaches one-third, your soldiers may not be able to maintain this formation, and may even collapse and escape."
"Today I will not delve into the mistakes in command. We are mainly discussing how to continuously improve our Zhanfa army formation and how to optimize our weapon configuration, so as to obtain the greatest victory at the minimum cost." I don’t know much about formations, but I suggest replacing the spears for the legion’s infantry, like the super-long spears used by the garrison. Our soldiers are not good at individual combat skills, so we can only keep the enemy from getting close by using the soldiers’ main combat weapons and holding a super-long spear that is far longer than the opponent’s weapon. And I have seen the spear phalanx of the garrison. Once this kind of phalanx is trained, even the heavy armored cavalry will have a headache.”
Pats raised an objection as soon as his voice landed in Bangeda, "The garrison is just guarding the valley. They don't need to travel long distances to fight. They just need to line up in the wilderness in front of Beiguan to meet the enemy. Super spears are certainly suitable for them, but we are the main battle army. Our battlefield may be the homeland or the enemy." It may be a battle in formation or a surprise attack. Do you expect to carry such a heavy super spear in marching combat? And the wings of the super spear are more fragile than the short spears we currently have. We can still fight face to face with the short spear. If you switch to the super spear, try fighting alone!"
Pats was a little unconvinced, "I didn't say that the soldiers should be proficient in using super spears in one day, and this kind of phalanx also has its own marching formation. I have heard that the army of the mountain people can carry this kind of super spears for long-distance operations. They can form a dense phalanx before the enemy can react, and then crush the enemy with the beat of drums."
"Those poor mountain people can achieve combat power, but we legionnaires who receive training every day can't? Besides, our super spearmen can also be equipped with melee weapons in addition to spears..."
The two were arguing fiercely, and other officers in the stone room were also discussing among themselves.
At the head of the table, Art quietly listened to the heated discussion among his officers. He wrote the words "Swiss Square" on the birch bark with the carbon rod in his hand, and then heavily drew a question mark after the characters...