But until now, nothing has been able to replace the position of the noble lords, and the same is true for the legions of the Empire. ”

  "Your Majesty John......" Jin Qi was about to speak, but was pressed back by John's hand.

  "First of all, I admit that the era of armor will pass sooner or later, and I believe that in the near future, expensive and heavy plate armor will eventually be replaced. But at the moment, why is the Phoenix Legion always the absolute main force of the empire on the field battlefield, because the professionally trained armored cavalry or medium-sized cavalry has unparalleled impact power. The development of cavalry has reached its peak until now. The spear phalanx has been used as a template for restraining cavalry countless times, but the shuttle charge of several cavalry companies of the Phoenix Legion has even conquered this unbreakable truth! However, our investment in a knight in armor is hundreds of gold ducats, but the money required by the Ottomans to draw a phalanx of spears from the blood tax is not even enough to buy a horse leg! That's why we don't do this stupid thing, and use the cavalry to break through head-on. However, if it really comes to the end, in the link of fighting for their lives, only the knights in armor can stand up, fearless of life and death, and complete the breakthrough or even beheading without any resistance! That's the value of the Heavy Rider. But a musket regiment is surrounded, that is, surrounded! Gone! If you fight a battle, you will lose a few wings, is that what the current empire can afford? ”

  "Your Majesty John, but you also said that muskets and firearms will eventually replace the position of cavalry in the future, if the empire does not invest resources in research and development, once the technology lags behind, it is our knights who will charge in the rain of bullets, and bullets and artillery can easily kill our cavalry!" An infantry officer, who looked quite young, stood up and boldly retorted John's statement on behalf of the "Musketeers", "And in battle, of course, the musketeers cannot be left alone." Your Majesty's self-developed musket phalanx is the best example of this, and has become a model for the company of musketeers of the Fourth Legion. ”

  He didn't have a fresh face and didn't sound like a Roman, but his frankness made John admire him.

  Giovanni stood up and introduced John, "Your Majesty, this is Giuliano della Lovere. Also from Genoa. Now the foreign commander of the musket company of the 4th Legion. ”

  Giuliano...... Good! I'll tell you why the Empire can't give up the production of knights and armor now. As you said earlier, muskets and firearms replace cavalry, and that requires resources to be developed. But here are a couple of questions – how many resources do we need to invest? How long does it take? To what extent can it be developed to replace equipped soldiers on the frontal battlefield? It's all unknown. Mr. Jinqi, I think you are on the side of the musket faction, not because of the problem of combat effectiveness, but because of the funds that the Phoenix Legion needed to make up for the battle damage after the ambush of Prokupree, right? ”

  "Your Majesty is wise!" The set in the East, Jin Qi can use it as soon as he can. Although John was the co-emperor of Rome, Jin Qi could feel more and more that His Majesty the Emperor had a strange connection with the Eastern Dynasty, "but this treasury is the treasury of Rome, and the destruction that muskets and artillery can cause is indeed more pleasing to the eye than cavalry." Your Majesty must have smashed the fortified city with artillery more than once, right? ”

  "Yes. I have not denied the importance of firearms from beginning to end. If the Empire had to allocate a sum of money to develop firearms, I would have preferred it to be used in artillery, especially smaller-caliber and more mobile field artillery, rather than spending endless effort to improve muskets. If it is necessary to blast open the city gates, the new heavy artillery developed by Urban is enough, only in the field artillery, there has always been a vacancy in the Empire. As for the new Roman legions......" John glanced at Giovanni and saw that he did not react much, so he continued, "the new Roman legions are a bold attempt, in a sense, it has been successful for the time being. But all the victories of the New Roman Legion so far have been built on the support of the Phoenix Legion, a powerful fighting force that surpasses the entire era. The heavy infantry, mounted cavalry, Wallachian cavalry, and the light infantry of the special weapons brought to us by General Publius, including the unarmored scout infantry who shone at the Battle of Kepharonia, are the trump cards of the era, the perfect answer for every class of the era. Mr. Giuliano, have you ever wondered if the Phoenix Legion had only the New Roman Phalanx left, or if all the other classes were proportionally exchanged for musketeers, gunners, and spearmen to form one or more large phalanxes, would they be able to fight against the Phoenix Legion after the New Roman Phalanx had been eliminated? ”

  "This ......"

  "Can't you answer in the affirmative? I had this idea before, and then I threw it directly into the wastebasket. You know why? John smiled, "In this era, the performance of the musket is not enough to support his status as a main battle weapon. After the end of the ambush at Prokupure, dozens of muskets of the Phoenix Legion were damaged or even blown up due to the high frequency of fire. Muskets were also heavily affected by weather and terrain. In the case of rain or back-attack, the combat effectiveness of the musket will be greatly reduced, plus problems such as crosshair, range, etc. Yes, the lethality of firearms is incomparable, but even primitive weapons such as bows and arrows can not be inferior in the confrontation with muskets. The large-scale assembly of muskets is not yet the time. ”

  "These are the problems that we need to face in reality, and the production of plate armor can be reduced to a certain extent to make room for artillery or other firearms, but to replace, as John has already said, is not the time." Constantine XI slammed the end of his scepter to the ground, and a long muffled voice announced the outcome of the meeting, "By the way, Giuliano, if the Fourth Legion had to form a company of muskets like the new Roman phalanx......"

  "Wait, father, Mr. Giuliano, if the new musket company needs to be formally formed, we can wait until after the Mass."

  "Your Majesty, I take the liberty of asking, when the time comes, how will you reply to the question of His Majesty Athanasius II?"

  The royal family's decision to take a stand with John Palaioho at the memorial Mass was already on the table.

  "Want to know?" John turned to look at his courtiers.

  Everyone nodded.

  "Then wait a few more days, and the Mass will begin soon. But I can give you a thorough idea in advance, and if you spend so much effort discussing glory or gunpowder, you might as well think about how to fill Anatolia with the Eagle Banner, so that when you have enough money, all problems will not be a problem. ”