233 Fire at will!

17th July 1574 late night/very early morning

As stupid as it might seem to attack the moment the firing positions were finally ready, I had to somehow bait my opponent into attacking. With the edge that my weapons gave us over the enemy force, rather than allowing my men to get into the danger zone of hostile fire, I could simply place them at the very edge of their own effective range, forcing the enemy commander to respond to this action in any way.

"Men! On me!"

Not even bothering to draw my own weapon, I started moving forward. Step by step, the entire line of my men continued to close on our enemies. Looking at the other side of the soon-to-be battlefield, I could see that contrary to my own orders, they actually closed their ranks and formed in a half-circle formation, using the line of the buildings as the protection for their rear, just as much as I wanted to use it as an anvil on which my troops would smash them apart.

"Stop!"

Before any of my men would dare to step into the lethal or even dangerous range of the enemy muskets, I ordered a full stop.

"Take aim!"

I could already feel the exhilaration of the war. As if some kind of ancient warcry synchronised with my soul, I could see how the entire battle would play out. Despite it being physically impossible, I could swear I was capable of seeing the look of irritation mixed with contempt on the face of the enemy commander.

Who would make their troops fire at that distance?

"Fire!"

All at once, my men spewed fire towards the enemy encampment. With the accuracy of my rifles, shooting at the group of men trying to stick as close together as they could was easy even for those barely trained men of mine. 

As soon as the flash of our shoots disappeared and my eyes once again accommodated themselves to the darkness of the night, I could see several silhouettes of the enemy troops failing to the ground, with several more of them wobbling on their feet.

Just as ordered. 

The reaping this time wasn't as great as one could predict when taking all the benefits of my weapon, situation and formation into account. Yet it wasn't the imperfection of my troops' aim, but explicit orders for more than half of them to actually aim way above the heads of the enemies!

If I were to the full extend of my hand so early, it might scare the enemies off, prompting them to seek refugee amongst the buildings. But right now, I could portray the enemy commander shaking his head with disdain, silently judging the stupid, nervous me!

"Reload!"

Despite my rifles no longer using the scheme of muzzle-loading, all men in my line put the backs of their weapons on the ground and started messing around their rifles, as if attempting to load it in the traditional way. So far, so good.

"Line up!"

"March forth!"

Watching the movements of the opposing force, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous. If only I could get my hands on such a disciplined unit, then the entire world would lie down at my feet!

Without even a moment of hesitation, all of the enemy men moved up from their half-kneeling position, fixed their weapons in the set position and started marching forward. Completely disregarding their friends who have fallen, at one moment the enemies were waiting for the orders, and at the very next one, they were already reaching the effective firing distance of their rifles!

"Retreat!"

Seeing that everything was unfolding according to my plan, I shouted the simple order. In the current situation, if I dared to use anything even a bit more complicated, then despite all the time spent on training back at the mining town, my men would be doomed to make some mistakes that would quickly escalate and turn my entire formation into chaos.

Yet thankfully, my men somehow managed to follow this simple order. 

Retreating back to the firing positions they prepared beforehand, they quickly laid down directly on the ground, resting the muzzles of their rifles against the bags filled with earth. 

"Halt!"

Seeing my actions, I could tell how puzzled the enemy commander was. Were we so fast with our reloading that we managed to do it in the short window we had between shooting and the retreat order? I could bet that my counterpart on the other end of the battlefield knew some rumours about the new weapons, but I was just as certain that the details never reached his ears.

"Take aim!"

Finally, the enemy commander came to a decision. In fact, it took him only a few seconds to make it, yet with the adrenaline flowing through my veins in some kind of insane amounts, the time stretched itself for me, making every passing second seem like an hour.

"Fire!"

With how close the enemy troops now were, I didn't dare to stand in front. Hiding behind one of the trees that just happened to be beside me, I could hear the havoc that the enemy bullets made in the nearby scrub.

"Keep steady!"

Shouting my own words, I made sure they were loud enough to reach the enemy commander's ears. While not sure what kind of idea he had about my guns, I hoped that my order would only reinforce what I guessed his own guess was.

With both sides idle in this moment, I felt as if something strange was going on with my mind and body alike. This was the deciding moment of the battle. Would the enemy retreat to reload? Would he dare to press forth for the bayonet charge? In this one, incredibly short and tense moment, I felt as if the fate was wobbling on a thin line, unable to decide which side it would fall on.

Yet this moment passed as quickly as it appeared.

"On bayonets… charge!"

With his decision finally dooming his troops, the enemy commander shouted. Freed from the constraints of this strange euphory that took over my mind just a moment ago, I only smiled to myself before stepping in front of my entire line, raising my hand towards the enemy troops and shouting.

"Fire at will!"