Chapter 40 The Arquebusiers

"Shoot!"

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Next line!"

The next row of arquebusiers move forward.

"Shoot!"

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Next line!"

Currently, Riz is on the outskirts of Bideford town, watching the knights training the soldiers to use arquebus at a newly built army base. It still looks crude but now is not the time to care about the details. It is located on the undeveloped north side of the town, near the already-existing knights' barrack. Due to that, it wouldn't arouse unnecessary attention if the soldiers were lingering around the north area.

The arquebusiers are practicing the volley fire technique where they were arranged to shoot row by row. The arquebusiers in the first row step to the front, shoot and return to the back to reload. The process was repeated. This technique compensates for the low effective range, low rate of fire and inaccuracy of the arquebus by maintaining a constant stream of fire.

The not-so-small group that the knights have selected to be part of the arquebusier team has been training for almost two weeks now. Riz handed the responsibility to select and train them to the knights.

The production of arquebus, gunpowder and lead ball began two weeks ago through his newly established Gatharix Weapon Company. This company will be responsible for producing weapons for him in the future.

Riz hired a lot of blacksmiths and woodworkers to produce the weapon. Astonishingly, the workshop is able to produce 50 arquebuses per day, far exceeding his initial guess.

This forced Riz to make a slight change in his plan. He expanded the size of the arquebus team from the initial 300 people to 600 people. Instead of recruiting new people, he slowly converted the existing soldiers.

Now, 600 of 8000 men have been transformed into arquebusiers.

"Leth, I want you to select another 400 men. We will have 1,000 arquebusiers for the war".

"As you wish, milord".

Leth is one of Charlotte's subordinates. She left her subordinate to serve Riz as he still doesn't have any power to command the knights yet. Only Richard has that right.

He plans to arrange the arquebusier team based on the arrangement of the modern army. The modern army structure on Earth can be different from one nation to another.

Riz began to write down everything that he remembers. As for the incomplete part, he just fills in the blank.

Squad -

consist of 10 men and led by a non-commissioned officer.

Platoon -

consists of 30 to 40 men (3 squads) and is led by a lieutenant.

Company -

consists of 120 to 180 men (3 platoons) and is led by a captain or major.

Battalion -

consists of 700 to 1,000 men (3 companies) and is led by a lieutenant colonel.

Regiment -

consists of 3,000 men (3 battalions) and is led by a colonel.

Division -

made up of 10,000 to 20,000 men (3 regiments) and led by a major general.

Corp -

made up of 30,000 to 60,000 men (3 divisions) and led by a lieutenant general.

Army -

made up of 100,000 men and led by a general.

Army Group -

made up of 1,000,000 men and led by a field marshal.

"Done! It might be different from the structure on Earth but who cares. In this world, I am the first one to make this structure."

He doesn't know if there is a thing such as the ideal number of men in a group or how it can affect the deployment duration or whatnot.

If there is a problem, he can just fix it later. He is the transmigrator but it doesn't mean he needs to do it all by himself.

Now what he needs to do is design a uniform for his arquebusiers. He will give them a dark red top and bottom, a chest plate called cuirass, a 16th-century morion helmet, simple boots, a bandolier, apostles and a powder flask.

Riz rushed to place an order with Aunt Tina, a seamstress that Arnold introduced to him. She is like a boss in the textile industry in Bideford.

It didn't take him long to arrive at her shop near the town square. Apparently, she inherited the shop from her late father who was also a respected seamstress. Her father doesn't have any children except her. She then married a tailor and managed the shop together with her husband. However, her husband died five years ago leaving her with a son and a daughter. They have been managing the shop together since then.

Riz pushed the door and heard a bell tinkle as he entered her shop. His presence attracted many eyes in the shop. The shop has two parts. The workshop for producing clothes in the back. It does everything from spinning, dying, weaving and selling. Basically, she runs her company with a centralised production method.

There are another two methods which are individual craftspeople where every seamstress made their own fabric or clothes and sold it by themselves. Another method is where seamstress made their own fabric or clothes and sold it to someone else, mostly to the shop owner.

On the front, there are a lot of fabrics with different colours neatly arranged on the shelf.

At a glance, he can say that this store bears a resemblance to that modern clothing store on Earth.

"How can I help you, Milord?", asked a woman in her fifties. Aunt Tina knows the identity of this teenager. She often saw him in town, mingling with the townsfolk. His company has become a talk among the women in town for hiring a female as a worker. Aside from her place, women don't have many options when it comes to jobs.

"Hello, I am here to place an order". Riz said as he took out his sketch and showed it to Aunt Tina. She had a surprised expression on her face when looking at the drawing.

The drawing provides all the details that she needs. Usually, she receives an order from the nobles or rich merchants, they only provide a verbal description. She needs to think about all of the details and materialize them which can be very time-consuming.

"Can you make it?", Riz asked again after seeing Aunt Tina staring at the drawing for quite some time now.

Riz's voice entered her ears and brought her back to reality. She immediately apologized for her behaviour, "Forgive my rudeness milord. May I ask if you want me to make everything in this drawing?".

"No. I just want you to make these red clothes and the bandolier. Can you do it?".

"Of course, we can", Aunt Tina smiled as this is definitely a large order from the Riz. "May I ask how much you want, Milord?".

Riz raised his index finger.

"One hundred?"

Riz shook his head and said, "One thousand. The dateline is two months". Today is 19th March and the war might break in late May or early June.

"One...one thousand?!", her shout made many eyes fall on Riz again. They don't know what the conversation was all about that can make their boss shout like that.

"I'm sorry milord, I have no problem making this bandolier but I don't think I can make the clothes". Aunt Tina lowered her head. She added by showing Riz the shelf, "As you can see this is all the textiles that we have. It is not enough to make one thousand adult-size clothing".

Riz ignored her words and asked, "Can I see your workshop?".

Facing an unexpected question, Aunt Tina became perplexed for a second. She quickly recovered before replying to Riz's question, "Yes, yes...Of course you can but it's a little bit messy back there".

"I don't mind it". Riz moved to the back on his own. Aunt Tina followed behind. She recalled the talks in the town stating that this lord is an unusual nobleman.

Riz can see the workshop was separated by its production steps from spinning, dying and weaving, resembling an assembly line. The workers who are all female stop working when they see Riz in the workshop. They don't know how they should act right now.

Riz waves his hand, "Don't mind me. Just continue your work".

He could see the part that halted the production process. He said, "You only have two floor loom".

"Yes milord. Compared to others, this is already considered a luxury. The floor loom is very expensive, 7,000 Ros each. Many workshops didn't have even one and can only work by hand".

"So, a lot of them can't compete with your shop and decided to just work with you. Thus, making you the largest producer of textiles in this town, am I right?". Riz guessing.

Aunt Tina shyly said, "Apparently that's what happened".

"If I give you another three-floor loom, can you complete my order?"

Hearing those words, Aunt Tina took a deep breath and asked, "Are you, serious milord?".

"Yes. Can you do it?", Riz didn't mind at all. He rarely spends his money anyway.

"Yes, milord!! I absolutely can".

"Good, now let's talk about material".

Aunt Tina starts explaining the material she has which is the same as typical of the medieval era on Earth.

There are wool, linen, cotton, leather, hemp and fur.

Riz settles with wool as that's the most abundant material available in Bideford, which means it's slightly cheaper.