In the stone house of Beiguan Army Fort, high-ranking officers above the flag captain of the Welsh Regiment, including patrol team and border outpost commanders, attended the military meeting here. Several civil affairs officials headed by Cooper were also invited to attend.
Angus took the cavalry to inspect Southwest Farm, Wincheston Manor and Lane Manor two days ago, so the legionary adjutant Odo was reporting the army situation to Art.
…The super spear phalanx may really be able to exert powerful combat effectiveness in infantry and cavalry battles and large army battles, but it is still very cramped for an army like ours with only two infantry companies, and we What we are about to face will not be a large-scale battle. "
"Once the enemy deploys a large number of crossbowmen and we do not have enough means to counterattack, this formation that cannot be easily dispersed is simply a dense target for the enemy's arrows."
"The most difficult thing about this kind of phalanx is that it requires long-term training to become flexible, and in the attack state, only relying on these super spearmen is not enough. We need a large number of cavalry and crossbowmen to provide flanks and long-distance cover. In addition, at least one-fifth of the halberds, hammers, swords and shields must be deployed as supplements in close combat."
"I believe these difficulties can definitely be solved. , but it will take a lot of time, and what we are most worried about now is time. The battle horn will sound at any time, and the enemy's attack will not stop because we are not fully prepared. On the contrary, they will take advantage of us when we are weak. "
"Sir, I don't think it's time for the Wells Army to change its main battle formation. Maybe we will have such an opportunity after this bloody storm."
The super spear phalanx trained by Pats a few days ago underwent a confrontation drill. The dense spear phalanx faced the Welsh Army's halberd (note) contradictory phalanx (short spear). The result of the confrontation was that both sides had their own advantages and disadvantages.
The dense spear phalanx has a very strong defensive power when it is passively defended. Under the flank cover of the heavy armored infantry and the counterattack of the arrows of the crossbowmen, this phalanx has almost no obvious flaws. The spears up to fifteen or six feet long form a dense front full of spikes for people and horses. They didn't dare to charge and get close; however, once they entered the battle or pursuit state, the disadvantages of heavy and difficult to swing spears were fully revealed. If the movement distance was slightly longer, it would be difficult to maintain a dense formation, and the spearmen who were separated from the formation were completely at a disadvantage when facing the contradiction between the "enemy" and the halberd.
The officers in the audience were talking a lot. In the past few years, these flag captains have experienced the three-man battle formation, the contradiction line formation, and now the new military formation based on the six-man halberd contradiction formation trained by the Welsh Legion infantry. They have a relatively high degree of recognition of the new infantry formation using the halberd contradiction.
This new military formation uses squadrons as the basic combat unit. Two squadrons plus squadron leaders and escorts, a total of fifteen people, form a basic line array;
A flag team has four basic line formations. These four basic lines There are two ways to form this line formation: the commonly used one is divided into two rows at the front and back, with thirty people in each row, and the short spears in the back row protrude from the gap in the front row; the other is four rows in the front and back, with fifteen people in each row. This formation will only be used when the depth of defense needs to be increased or in narrow passages.
Eight two-row flag formations can be transformed into several military formations of different widths and thicknesses according to battlefield needs. With the addition of cavalry, heavy armored infantry, crossbowmen and the newly trained chariot formations, the formation of the Welsh Army is indeed complex. The new formation based on the Halberd Contradiction Formation can be trained to a concrete shape. After all, most of the soldiers of the Wells Army were farmers and civilians who had just put down their hoes. It was not easy for these people to know the array from left to right, so the officers were actually reluctant to replace the powerful-looking super spear phalanx at this time (Note 2).
Att was also helpless. The things in his memory were only vague fragments, and he could not find the best formation for the time being based on his own experience. Moreover, for most armies in this era, being able to charge towards the enemy with weapons was already very good, so few armies and commanders studied this.
He knocked on the table lightly, and the audience became quiet, "Pats, your hard work during this period is still effective, but unfortunately I really don't have enough time and energy to study, so I can only put your super spear phalanx on hold for the time being. But I will send the officials who command the camp to record the experience and insights of training the super spear during this period with you, and we will discuss it when the time is right in the future."
"Yes, sir." Pats stood up and answered the order, but his mood was a little low.
Matt glanced at Pats helplessly, turned his head and continued: "That's it for the military formation. Let's move on to the next topic, discussing the defense of the barony."
"Simon, you talk about border defense first, and by the way, give you an overview of the border." Matt called the name of Simon, the commander of the border outpost.
Simon stood up suddenly, looking a little excited.
It is no wonder that in recent years, Art has focused all his attention on the north of the valley. He has rarely met with Simon, and all tasks are delivered through letters. On weekdays, Civil Affairs Officer Cooper and several Civil Affairs Officers occasionally inspect the construction of border territories. However, the border outpost has changed a lot in the past year and has developed very rapidly. After being a commander for a long time, he also understands the importance of showing achievements upwards.
Att asked Simon to be the first to report, which actually meant to appease people and show their importance.
Simon bowed slightly to everyone in the room and said, "Sir, sirs, let me briefly tell you about the situation at the border outpost."
“After the war in Provence, the number of people traveling on the north-south trade routes increased day by day, and under the command of adults, old housekeepers, and civil affairs officials, border crossings became increasingly frequent. At present, in addition to the garrison, the border post has registered residents of 31 households and 106 people, including traders, craftsmen, and farmers. There are 42 large and small houses and thatched huts, two military forts, three warehouses, and a free market. There are more and more business travelers coming and going to the outpost for trade, and the monthly import business tax alone is 5,000 pfennigs. In addition, we have reclaimed all the land along the border stream and handed it over to the registered residents. Although the food produced by that land still cannot feed everyone, it can still meet part of the rations. "
"The above is an overview of the civil affairs of the border outpost."
Simon gave a brief introduction to the civil affairs of the border post and then turned to military affairs. "The border post currently has a standing garrison of thirty people, which is the upper limit of the standing garrison given to us by the legion. However, nowadays, the number of border personnel has increased dramatically, and many small merchants and hawkers have detoured and sneaked across the border in order to avoid entry duties. Therefore, we need to send a lot of garrison troops to patrol along the border streams. In addition, soldiers are needed to guard checkpoints, military fort defenses, and warehouse guards. The number is really not enough, so after obtaining your consent, we have We used a small portion of the commercial tax to recruit ten security militiamen among the registered citizens. They are mainly responsible for maintaining the security of the outpost free market and residential areas. They also occasionally help the garrison patrol and arrest those who cross the border. In addition to the permanent garrison affiliated with the legion. In addition to the security militia recruited by the army and the outpost, all the registered peasant soldiers in the outpost are peasant soldiers. As long as the recruitment order is issued, fifty-eight strong men on the border can take up arms. In recent days, Benjamin is gathering the registered peasant soldiers for training. "
"Since we repelled two waves of rebel bandits who fled north from Provence in early winter last year, we have never been threatened by foreign enemies. According to the information we received, Provence has basically stabilized. The defense of the border areas is mainly to prevent armed raids by caravans with malicious intentions, but the pressure will not be too great."
"I'm done, sir." Simon sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.
Matt listened to Simon's words quietly, paused for a while, and said: "Simon said it well, but he did it better."
"Simon, I won't say more words of praise today. I will only tell you that the border outpost is more important to me than the southwest farm, so I will hand it over to you with confidence."
Att turned to look at Odo, the adjutant of the legion who was sitting next to him, and ordered: "Odo, the Wells Legion has changed its armaments once. You ask the baggage team to select ten sets of light armor and twenty weapons from the arsenal for Simon to bring back to the border."
"Yes, sir." Odo nodded in agreement.
Att then moved his head to Bass next to Odo, "Bass, you are the commander of the garrison. Please tell me about the internal defense situation of the Valley Barony."
Bas was rubbing his forehead. He turned his head and immediately stopped moving when he heard Art's voice. He sat up straight and said, "Yes, sir."
“According to the defensive deployment, after the soldiers of the Wells Corps leave the country, the patrol team will go north to temporarily station in the three territories of Lane, Wincheston and Southwest Farm. After the patrol team moves north, the garrison camp in Boulder Town will be defended by the garrison regiment’s new recruits and standing peasant soldiers. The Beiguan Army Fort will be garrisoned by the first batch of twenty peasant soldiers recruited.”
"If war breaks out and the Barony of Wales may be in crisis, I will work with the civil affairs officer to immediately recruit and train a second batch of one hundred peasant soldiers, ready to engage in territorial defense battles at any time."
"As for the third batch of peasant soldiers to be recruited, it is mainly to deal with the possible ration crisis for the soldiers of the Welsh Army who are out fighting. Once your Excellency orders the transportation of food, the third batch of 80 peasant soldiers and the European trading caravan will be immediately recruited and assembled to transport a large amount of military rations to the location of the Welsh Army."
"The fourth batch is when the entire Baron of Wales suffers a disaster. We will do our best to recruit men over the age of fifteen and below forty in all the baron's territories. A rough estimate is that the number is about 1,500."
"The fourth batch of recruitment should not be used, but we will prepare in advance just in case." The main problem in recruiting peasant soldiers for the army is that there are huge gaps in weapons and armor, so armor is not an extravagant thing, but peasant soldiers cannot go into battle empty-handed. I have already gone to the arsenal and found that even if all the weapons in the arsenal are emptied, it will definitely not be enough to equip all peasant soldiers. "
Yate is the commander, and his subordinates only need to ask questions, and they still have to make their own decisions about solving the problems.
"Cub." Art turned to the civil administrator Cooper on the left.
“Sir,” Cooper replied.
"Order the weapons workshop to suspend the production of armor and other weapons, and first rush to make five hundred iron spearheads, short spears will be enough. Then order all the territorial residents to go into the mountains to cut down the birch wood that can be used to make short spear shafts, and purchase them from the territorial residents at the price of one pfenni per spear shaft. Then hand them over to the workshop to make eight-foot short spears and store them in the arsenal for later use."