Chapter 238： hollow square one

"On the bayonet!" "On the bayonet!"

There was a clattering sound, and the Arda soldiers pulled out the bayonets from their waists and put them on the muzzles of their guns.

"Officer forward!"

With a loud roar from Bryce, the deputy commander Joyce immediately repeated his order: "Officer forward!"

No one moved, because the officers of the companies, platoons, and squads stood in the front row of their ranks at the beginning.

The cavalry of the Kent family was getting closer and closer, and they were less than 500 meters away from the phalanx.

"Get ready!" "Get ready!"

The soldiers in the outermost row on both sides of the phalanx facing the cavalry immediately knelt on one knee, the soldiers in the second and third rows remained standing, the soldiers in the third row passed their muskets through the gap between the soldiers in front, and the soldiers in the third row They all pointed their muskets forward.

"Hold on, hold on!"

"Don't shoot without an order!"

Makarov reminded the people around him in a low voice that many people can't help but shoot ahead of time when facing the enemy army rushing at high speed, regardless of whether the opponent is within range or not, especially those recruits who have never been on the battlefield .

Joss wiped the palm of his sweaty left hand on his body nervously, and then squeezed the trigger again. This guy was left-handed when he started using a musket. Everyone else held the gun with his left hand and pulled the trigger with his right hand. Only he held the gun with his right hand and pulled the trigger with his left hand. After a period of training, this habit was forcibly corrected by Sergeant Makarov, who strictly abided by the "1991 Infantry Training Regulations" (compiled and issued by the Staff Department). But in the tense moment of this great enemy, he unconsciously reverted to his primitive habits.

He was arranged to stand in the third row, which was to "take care" of their recruits, but correspondingly, the protection on his body was not as good as that of the soldiers in the first two rows. Joss' upper body was only covered with a leather armor, while the first two rows Most of the soldiers are basically wearing armor with important parts made of metal. After all, this is an era when cold weapons are prevalent, and with the fact that he can produce a lot of iron, Paul is not at all hesitant to increase the armor rate of his army to cope with hand-to-hand combat that may occur at any time.

…

The corners of Jayce's mouth turned up, and he laughed contemptuously.

He recognized the flag of the army blocking the way ahead, it belonged to the Greiman family, it was the family of the little lord who almost fought with the Kent family last year.

"Paul Gleiman! You are already extremely merciful for having spared you last year. I didn't expect that you didn't know how to be grateful and tried to continue fighting against us in vain!"

"Gleiman, look at your army! There are more than a thousand conscripted farmers, holding ridiculous weapons that are not sticks, and guns are not guns, and those horses are just poor horses used to pull carts and loads. Oh! The formation is quite neat, but what's the use of it?"

He ordered his lieutenant to wave the flag and signal to the other cavalry to break up the phalanx, one left and one right. Even the knights and retinues, the cavalry team led by him has a total of nearly 300 people. Although the number is far smaller than that of Arda's army, Jaes is confident that it will be easy to break up the phalanx.

The combat effectiveness of knights and peasants is very different.

The leading knight picked up the throwing spear hanging on the horse - unlike on Earth, the knights here do not think it is despicable and shameful to use long-range weapons - according to his previous knowledge, as long as he and his companions throw the spears in their hands, The group of farmers who just put down their hoes will lie on the ground with their heads in their arms, or they will simply disperse. When the opponent's formation is disrupted, they can rush in and trample on it wantonly.

And it was even more reassuring to see that there were not even crossbowmen in the opposite phalanx, they could "trick" each other unscrupulously. However, even with the presence of crossbowmen, with the inferior crossbows that ordinary soldiers can equip and the thick armor on their bodies, it is difficult to cause effective damage.

…

near! It's getting closer! Bryce raised his command knife high.

In Arda's army, the four sides of the hollow phalanx are called front, back, left, and right respectively. Now the four battalion commanders, the chief and the deputy, are in charge of each side, and Bryce is in charge of commanding the front troops.

Finally, the first enemy rushed to a place about 50 meters away from the phalanx, and the opponent held a spear in his hand and was ready to go.

"Fire in the first row!"

The command knife fell quickly, and Bryce's order resounded throughout the phalanx.

"Bump!" "Bump!" "Bump!"

The continuous roar of muskets sounded, and thick gunpowder smoke immediately enveloped the front of the phalanx.

The few knights who ran at the front immediately turned on their backs, turned backwards while maintaining the posture of raising their guns, and fell under the horses.

…

"Not good!" The knight who fell on the ground instinctively wanted to roll aside, he didn't want to be trampled into a pulp by his companion who couldn't restrain his horse's hooves.

But what made him feel bad was that the strength in his body seemed to be taken away all of a sudden, and it was very difficult to turn over.

Wait, what happened just now? The knight's brain realized something was wrong.

Just now I heard a sound, and then I felt as if I was hit hard by something, and then I fell off the horse.

What exactly is it, there is no trace of the attack at all.

The knight suddenly felt a burning sensation rising on the right side of his abdomen, and subconsciously touched it with his hand. UU reading

A big hole - the touch on his hand surprised him, that thing actually penetrated his thick armor!

Even more terrifying things followed.

Pain... a feeling of increasing pain... replaced the burning sensation before, and began to spread radially to the whole body.

"Damn it! It hurts!"

The knight grabbed a handful of grass from his side and threw it into the air as if venting.

What caught my eye was a horrible sight—something dyed the leaves of dead grass that should have been yellow.

…

"Shoot from the second row in front!"

The Kentish cavalry who followed suffered the fate of their companions ahead.

The two battalions on the expedition have been replaced with flintlock guns. Without matchlocks, the soldiers can be lined up almost side by side. One of the major effects achieved is the great increase in the density of firepower output during salvo.

Some of the cavalry who rushed over were shot, some were shot, and some were shot. However, thanks to the accuracy of the musket gun, many people survived. Some people were frightened by the gunshots on their horses, and ran around with their masters uncontrollably.

But there are still lucky ones who rushed within the throwing distance of the throwing spear and threw the throwing spear into the phalanx with all their strength.

Under the attack of these few knights, Arda's army suffered casualties.

The wounded were immediately dragged to the central open space of the phalanx, and some medical soldiers who had just been trained and mastered basic disinfection knowledge and bandaging techniques immediately treated them.

"Fire in the third row ahead!"

Bryce gave the order bitterly, and seeing the hard-trained soldiers injured made him suddenly feel distressed.

The third row of gunshots sounded, and the Kent family cavalry who threw their guns and turned their horses to try to break away from contact were swept away.

The first round of launching caused nearly 50 enemy cavalry to lose their combat effectiveness.