"Bang-"

The incomplete combustion of gunpowder made an extremely dull sound in the barrel, followed by billowing smoke and dust rising into the sky. By the time the smoke cleared, the projectiles that had been pushed out by the gunpowder were long gone.

"The trees on the opposite side are all intact and don't seem to have made a successful hit." John shook his head and said, "The range of this thing is not as good as a slingshot made from leftovers, and the musketeers of this era can only be used as a medium-range or even melee class, and they can't independently list the weave of a musket legion." ”

"Not necessarily, brother." Although Sophia was not so optimistic about the combat effectiveness of these early muskets, she had a bolder hypothesis: "Although this musket has an embarrassing range and accuracy, it also solves the most important problems of the Empire." Among the Ottoman Sultan's guard, there was no shortage of heavy cavalry and armored infantry, except for the Phoenix Legion, the Sultan Guard was the nightmare of most imperial soldiers, but once the musketeer regiment could gather a phalanx of hundreds or even thousands of people, then the threat of full armor would not be so serious. ”

"Sophia, I didn't deny the musket's armor-piercing ability." John patted the little girl's head, "I believe very much in the ability of muskets to pierce plate armor, and I also said that sooner or later muskets will replace swords, but ......"

"What's wrong?"

"I understand what His Majesty John means." Giovanni stepped down from the platform and wiped the dust off his face with his sleeve, "Accuracy and range are not the most fatal flaws of the musket, after all, after the two armies are closer, as long as the phalanx is dense enough, these can be compensated." The most lethal thing about the musketeer regiment is his reload speed that is longer than his life! ”

Giovanni reloaded the musket and raised the barrel.

After another muffled sound, a huge hole appeared in a tree not far away. But after the projectile had completely penetrated the trunk, it was clear that the remaining strength was completely insufficient, and it fell to the ground lightly.

"Not to mention the cavalry, after a group of densely positioned infantry charged the musketeer regiment, a volley of the musketeer regiment, even if God favored it and all hit, it would only knock down the infantry in the first row at most, and the remaining dozens of seconds were to compact the gunpowder, load it into the projectile, and re-aim and shoot, this time was enough for the infantry to kill our musketeers five or six times." Giovanni said in a deep voice, "No matter how penetrating the musket is, it is impossible to pass through a whole column of enemies, so we can't treat the musketeers as ordinary ranged troops, and melee combat still needs to be trained." ”

"Melee combat...... John seemed to think of something suddenly, "Giovanni, show me the musket." ”

John stared at the musket for a long time. This is a general-purpose musket specially prepared by Genoa for the navy in broadside battles, and the slender body can make up for the lack of accuracy as much as possible, but it also makes this musket lose a certain range. In the broadside battle, because the two armies are quite close to each other, and it is not easy to engage in close combat, it is the most suitable platform for this kind of musket to play.

"If it's tailor-made for the Navy, it's not too strange."

The body of the gun was flat and smooth, and in John's eyes, he always felt that something was missing.

"General Giovanni, pick me up with your cane."

John knew that the staff that Sofia had given to Giovanni was not only a beautiful ornament, but also a short-edged thin sword hidden in the staff. It is possible to respond to unexpected situations such as assassinations.

And when John tied his staff under the musket with a string, he finally nodded in satisfaction.

"General Giovanni, doesn't it look a lot prettier like this?"

The greatest threat to musketeers is the cavalry, and the highly mobile horses can not only avoid bullets when charging, but also easily charge back and forth in the musketeer regiment without any means of resisting cavalry, as long as the cavalry approaches the musketeer regiment, it can kill a single piece of armor in five minutes.

However, if the musket is equipped with the long-pole spear head used to stab the phalanx, with the help of the narrow body of the musket, the musket guard can be instantly transformed into a spear phalanx.

"Does Your Majesty want to strengthen the performance of musketeers in close combat? It's not like I haven't thought about that. ”

Giovanni took the musket and stabbed the dummy nearby. Although the tip of the spear pierces the dummy, Sophia also sees a flaw: if you just stiffly combine the musket and the spear, the fragile structure of the musket will collapse in an instant in high-intensity melee combat. When the time comes, the musketeers will become bare-handed fish on the case.

"I didn't mean that, dear General Giovanni." John smiled and said, "Who stipulated that only one class is allowed in a phalanx?" ”

Giovanni pondered for a moment: "In the early years of study, almost all commanders would have learned such a lesson. The stiff combination of a phalanx of spears and a phalanx of swords and shields, paired with archers and axes, may seem flawless, but in actual warfare they only infinitely magnify each other's shortcomings. As a result, the phalanx usually uses the same troops, but carries more than one weapon. Similar to the early Roman legion phalanx, in addition to using swords and shields to ensure lethality and protection, they would also carry javelins as a means of long-range destruction. ”

"Yes, the stiff permutations are certainly not suitable for maintaining outstanding performance in frontal combat, but if they are reasonably coordinated, they will infinitely magnify the combat capabilities of a phalanx. Evelei, go get pen and paper, Sophia, and when the time comes, you will draw as I say. ”

"Of the three hundred muskets, we will send ten to Urban for subsequent production and improvement, and the remaining muskets are enough for us to form a powerful combined phalanx. Divide the musketeers into three rows, divided into ready, reload, and firing arrays. Minimize the vacuum period of musket phalanx firing. ”

In Sophia's writing, the early array pattern of "lining up to shoot" jumped onto the page. While admiring John's creativity, Giovanni could also see that this array mode was not so practical, and it was still powerless to fight back in the face of large-scale targeted charges.

"After that, surround the entire musket array with two layers of shield-holding spear phalanxes on the perimeter."

"What?"

"This is the shooting and spear stabbing phalanx, and it is also the most suitable combat array after the widespread use of muskets."

John's inspiration came from the reorganization of the Musketeer Regiment by the Spaniards after the Battle of Seminara. This type of phalanx was named the Great Castilian Phalanx, which later became known as the Spanish Phalanx. Such a line of traditional infantry and musketeers, which could be covered by fire at any distance, made Spain invincible for a long period of time.

It's just that, in this life, he will no longer be named after the Iberian state.

"Let's call it the new Roman phalanx, poor little Muhammad, and use him as a test again."