In the stone house of the Beiguan Military Fort, high-ranking officers above the flag captain of the Wells Legion, including the commander of the patrol team and the border outpost, participated in the military meeting here, and several civil affairs chiefs led by Cooper were also invited to attend.

Angus had taken the cavalry to the Southwestern Farm, Wincheston Manor, and Ryan Manor two days ago, so Otto, the adjutant of the Legion, was reporting to Art about the army.

“...... The Phalanx of Super Spears may indeed be able to exert great power in infantry and cavalry battles, but it is still very cramped for a legion like ours with only two infantry companies, and we will not face a large-scale battle. ”

"Once the enemy throws in a large number of crossbowmen and we don't have enough means to counterattack, this formation that cannot be easily dispersed is simply a dense array of arrows under the enemy's arrows."

"The most difficult part of this phalanx is that it requires long-term training to become flexible, and in the attacking state it is not enough to rely on this super spearman, we need a large number of cavalry and crossbowmen to provide flank and long-range cover, in addition to at least one-fifth of the halberd chain hammer or sword and shield soldiers as a supplement in close combat."

"I believe that these difficulties can definitely be solved, but it will take a lot of time, and the biggest fear right now is time. The battle horn will sound at any moment, and the enemy's attack will not stop because we are not fully prepared, but on the contrary, they will take advantage of our weakness. ”

"My lord, I don't think it's time for the Wells Legion to change the main battle formation, and maybe we will have such an opportunity after this bloody storm is over."

A few years ago, the super spear phalanx trained by Patus underwent a matchup drill, and the dense spear phalanx played against the halberd (note) and contradictory phalanx (short spear) of the Welsh Legion, and the result of the battle was that both sides had their own advantages and disadvantages.

The dense spear phalanx has a very strong defensive power when it is passively defended, and under the flank cover of the heavy infantry and the arrow counter of the crossbowmen, this phalanx has few obvious defects, and the spears up to fifteen or sixteen feet long form a dense front full of spikes, so that neither the horse nor the horse dare to charge closer; However, once it becomes a state of charging or pursuit, the disadvantages of the spear being cumbersome and not easy to swing are fully revealed, the movement distance is slightly longer, it is difficult to maintain a dense formation, and the spearmen who are scattered in the formation are completely at a disadvantage when facing the contradiction of the "enemy" halberd.

The officers in the audience had a lot of discussions, these flag captains have experienced a three-person battle formation and a contradictory line formation in the past few years, and now the new army formation based on the six-man halberd contradiction formation trained by the infantry of the Wells Legion, and their recognition of the new infantry formation used in conjunction with the halberd contradiction is relatively high.

This new formation is based on a squadron of combat units, with two squadrons plus a squadron leader and escorts forming a basic line formation.

A flag team has four basic line arrays, and these four basic line arrays have two columns: the common ones are divided into two rows in the front and back, with thirty people in each row, and the short spears in the back row stretch out from the gap in the front row; The other is four rows of fifteen men in front and back, and this formation will only be used in narrow passages where there is a need for increased defensive depth.

The formation of eight two-row flag teams can be transformed into several different types of military formations of different widths and thicknesses according to the needs of the battlefield, plus cavalry, heavy infantry, crossbowmen and newly joined the training of the vehicle formation, the formation of the Wells Legion is indeed complex, and it has taken their effort to train the new formation based on the battle halberd contradiction formation to look like it, after all, most of the soldiers of the Wells Legion are farmers and civilians who have just put down their hoes, so that these people can go from being left and right to being familiar with the array. Therefore, the officers were actually reluctant to replace the super-spear phalanx that looked powerful at such a time (Note 2).

Art was also helpless, the things in his memory were just vague fragments, and he couldn't find the best formation for a while with his own experience, and for most armies in this era, it was already good to be able to rush towards the enemy with a weapon, so few of those armies and commanders were stupid.

He tapped lightly on the table, and the audience fell silent, "Pats, your hard work during this time is still fruitful, but I really don't have enough time and energy to study, so I can only put aside your super spear phalanx for the time being." However, I will send the officials in command of the camp to record with you the experience and perception of training super spears during this time, and we will discuss them when the time is ripe in the future. ”

"Yes, sir." Patters got up to answer the call, but his mood was a little low.

Art glanced at Patters helplessly, turned his head and continued: "That's it for the military formation, let's move on to the next topic, discussing the defense of the barony."

"Simon, you first defend the border, and by the way, I will tell you about the border overview." Adam named Simon, the commander of the border outpost.

Simon stood up suddenly, looking a little excited.

It's no wonder that in recent years, Art has focused all his attention on the north of the valley, and has hardly met Simon, and the tasks are also passed through the order letter, and on weekdays, the civil affairs officer Cooper and several civil affairs chiefs occasionally go to inspect the construction of the border territory, and the border outpost has changed a lot in the past year, and the development is also very rapid, and the commander has understood the importance of showing his merits upwards after being a commander for a long time.

Art's letting Simon report first actually has the meaning of reassuring people's hearts and showing their attention.

Simon bowed slightly to everyone in the room and said, "My lord, sir, I will give you a brief overview of the border outpost."

"After the end of the war in Provence, the number of pedestrians and business trips between the north and the south of the trade route increased, and the borders became more and more frequent under the command of the lords and the old housekeepers and the civil lords. At present, in addition to the garrison, the border post has 31 households and 106 people, including merchants, craftsmen and peasant households, 42 large houses, thatched huts and shacks, two wooden forts, three warehouses for goods, and one free market. The number of merchant travelers who came and went to the outpost to stop for trade increased, and the monthly tax on the entry of merchants alone amounted to 5,000 pfennigs. In addition, we have reclaimed all the barely cultivable land along the stream on the border and handed it over to the people of the registers, and although the food produced by that land is still not enough to feed everyone, it can still provide a part of the food rations. ”

"The above is an overview of the civil affairs of the border outpost."

Simon briefly introduced the civil affairs of the border outpost and began to turn to military affairs, "The border post has a standing garrison of thirty people, which is the upper limit of the standing garrison given to us by the legion. However, now that the number of people coming and going at the border has increased dramatically, many traders have detoured and secretly crossed the border in order to avoid entry duties, so we need to send a lot of garrisons to patrol along the border streams, plus the garrison checkpoints, military village defense and warehouse guards all need soldiers, the number is really not enough, so after obtaining the consent of the adults, we used part of the commercial tax to recruit ten security militia from the registered people, they are mainly responsible for maintaining the security of the free market and residential areas at the outpost, and occasionally help the garrison patrol to arrest those who steal the border. With the exception of the standing garrison attached to the legion and the vigilante militia recruited by the outpost itself, all the young and strong men at the outpost were peasants, and as long as a conscription order was issued, fifty-eight men on the border could take up arms. In recent years, Benjamin has been gathering the Peasant Soldiers for training. ”

"Since we repelled two waves of rebel bandits who fled north from Provence in the early winter of last year, we have not been threatened by foreign enemies, according to the information we have received, Provence has been basically stable, and the defense of the border area is mainly to prevent armed raids by caravans with malicious intentions, but the pressure will not be too great."

"I'm done, sir." Simon sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

Art quietly listened to Simon's words, paused for a while, and said, "Simon is good, but he does better." ”

"Simon, I won't have many compliments these days, I'll just tell you that the border post is more important to me than that southwest farm, and I'll leave it to you with confidence."

Art turned his head to look at the lieutenant of the legion Odo who was sitting beside him, and ordered: "Odo, the Wells Legion has changed its armament once, and you ask the baggage team to select ten sets of light armor and twenty weapons from the arsenal for Simon to bring back to the border." ”

"Yes, my lord." Otto nodded in response.

Art moved his head to Bass beside Odo, "Bass, you are the commander of the garrison, the internal defense of the Barony of the Valley. ”

Buzz was rubbing his forehead lightly, and when he heard Art's voice, he immediately stopped moving, and sat upright, "Yes, my lord." ”

"After receiving the military order, the garrison corps will continue to recruit peasants in four batches in accordance with the military order and police information from yesterday."

"According to the defensive deployment, after the Welsh Regiment soldiers leave the country, the patrol team will go north to temporarily station in the three territories of Lane, Wincheston and Southwest Farm, and after the patrol team goes north, the garrison camp of Boulder Town will be taken over by the garrison corps recruit team and standing peasant soldiers, and the Beiguan military fort will be garrisoned by the first batch of twenty peasant soldiers."

"If war breaks out and the Barony of Wales may be in crisis, I will immediately recruit and train the second batch of 100 peasant soldiers with the civil magistrate, ready to fight for territorial defense."

"As for the third batch of conscripted peasant soldiers, mainly to deal with the possible military food crisis of the Welsh Legion soldiers who are out to fight, once the Lord orders the transportation of grain, the third batch of eighty peasant soldiers and the caravan of the European merchant houses will be immediately conscripted, and a large amount of military rations will be sent over the location of the Welsh Legion."

"The fourth group is when the entire Barony of Wales suffers a catastrophe, and we will make every effort to recruit men from all the barons' domains from fifteen to forty years old, and the rough estimate is about fifteen hundred."

"The fourth batch of conscriptions should not be needed, but we will prepare in advance just in case."

"My lord, the main problem of the garrison corps recruiting peasant soldiers now is that there is a large gap in weapons and armor, and the armor is not extravagant, but the peasant soldiers must not participate in the battle empty-handed. I've already looked at the arsenal, and even if all the weapons in the arsenal are emptied, it will definitely not be enough to equip all the peasants. ”

Art is the commander, and his subordinates only need to ask questions, and the task of solving the problem is still up to them.

"Cooper." Art turned to Cooper, the civil officer, on the left.

"Sir." Cooper replied.

"Ordered the weapon workshop to suspend the production of armor and other weapons, first rushed to produce five hundred iron spearheads, and the short spear was schooled, and then ordered all the lords of the territory to go into the mountains to cut down the short spears that could make short spears, and the spears were changed to birch, and they were purchased from the lords at the price of one fennig per spear shaft. It was then handed over to the workshop to make an eight-foot spear and stored in the arsenal for later use. ”

"Yes, sir."

"In addition, are you ready for money, food, and materials to deal with the war situation?"

"Master, the reserves of the civil treasury are completely sufficient, and the grain is also being purchased by the caravans......