On the second Wednesday of May, the weather was clear and the wind was beautiful.

The wasteland training ground outside the military fort in the north of the valley was a lively scene, and the competition of the Wells Legion was in full swing.

Both soldiers and officers attach great importance to this martial arts competition, for soldiers once they win this competition, it can not only bring them the reward and reputation they are waiting for, but more importantly, ordinary soldiers can also get the opportunity to be promoted to low-level military positions through this kind of martial arts competition, although it is only a military position that is not included in the ranks of officers such as squad leaders, but it is attractive enough for soldiers.

It is even more important for the officers, because the results of the jousting contest will be recorded by the officers of the legion command camp as an important basis for the officers' promotion, and they will not take this relationship with the rise and fall of their status, and besides, the corps commander Yat will come to this joust in person, how can the officers let go of this opportunity to perform at the same time.

The competition is divided into three major parts, the essence of which is the test of the army's daily training, namely-soldiers' individual combat skills, military formations, and confrontation.

The three items are further subdivided according to the arms to which they belong, and the individual combat skills competition is based on the squad, and the first team is used as a unit to compete in their respective squadrons, and the winning side will be able to enter the flag team scale competition, and the winner in the flag team can win the opportunity to participate in the corps competition, and it is a great honor for ordinary soldiers to be able to appear in front of hundreds of people in the legion.

Of course, the content of the competition between different arms is also different, and ordinary infantry is of course contradictory offensive and defensive, weightlifting competition, wrestling, running competition and other items; The heavy infantry is mainly swords, axes, hammers, shields, negative armor and other items; Cavalry, of course, is horsemanship, spear riding, horse slashing, etc.; gōng nǔ手 is basically archery; The Judge Advocate Corps was included in the sequence of cavalry for the competition. It is worth mentioning that the baggage team also participated in the competition, but their competition content was more special, mainly battlefield treatment, carrying grain and grass, driving horses and driving, and building camp tents.

These are all personal skill competitions.

The military formation and confrontation are the smallest competition units with the squadron as the smallest unit.

The military formation competition is mainly to test the halberd short spear formation, the wartime march and the battle array charge array; Confrontation training is to simulate the real battle on the battlefield on the basis of the military formation, but the weapons in the hands of the opposing sides are replaced by long sticks and short sticks for training.

This competition training has been prepared for a long time, and the two lieutenants of the legion commander's tent, Otto and Angus, led a group of camp clerks and flag captains to plan for a week, and finally announced the start of the battle after being revised by Art himself.

The competition lasted for three days, and today was the last and most exciting day.

On the training ground, except for the two squadrons of the 1st Company stationed at Wincheston Manor, all the soldiers of the Welsh Regiment gathered around the training ground to watch this final confrontation competition.

More than 130 soldiers of the two banner teams standing opposite each other rushed towards each other's formations amid the waving of the flags of their respective flag heralds and the sound of horns, and their goal was to capture the military flag that followed the commander in the opposing army's formation.

Behind the two flag teams are officers selected from several other flag teams, who are responsible for observing the "casualties" of the two teams, and their battle damage estimation is also a key factor in determining victory or defeat.

The cheering and shouting of the soldiers around the arena resounded in the sky, and on the point general platform on the side of the arena, several officers above the captain of the flag stood on both sides of Yat and discussed the competition softly.

As soon as the two flag teams came into contact, they fell into a "fierce battle", they were both legion infantry, they all received exactly the same training on weekdays, and the offensive and defensive forces of the army formation were almost identical, so neither could gain an advantage in the initial stage.

Just when the two flag teams were deadlocked, Colin seemed to be a little anxious, he actually transferred the halberders guarding the two wings to the middle to break through, and Andrew seized the fatal flaw of the "enemy", the flag team command flag suddenly waved to the right flank, and a reserve team under his command that resisted the front immediately moved to the right flank and concentrated on attacking the right flank of the Colin flag team, the right flank of the Colin flag team was broken through by Andrew's flag team, and several soldiers holding short sticks rushed to the right wing and crossed into the Colin flag team, constantly beating the enemy's side.

Weez, the captain of the third flag of the first company, looked at the Colin flag team who was beaten to the point of collapse, and couldn't help but say, "Colin, this is the case?" Even Andrew is struggling to cope, could it be the Andermatt Castle girl who is still missing the Spring Ball? ”

"Brother Weeds, do you mean that we Andrew should lose to Colin?" Tridork, the captain of the second flag of the second company, listened to Weze's tone, and it seemed that only Colin's mistakes would give Andrew an advantage, and of course he would not be convinced.

"I didn't say such a thing, it's just that Brother Colin is indeed battle-hardened, he should know that the weakness of the line formation lies in the flank protection, and he actually evacuated the flank protection in order to break through in the middle, allowing the opponent to attack the right flank, which really shouldn't be."

Tridork thought that Colin really shouldn't have made the mistake of letting the enemy break through to the right flank.

Colin, of course, was not fascinated by the big-breasted girl he met at the Spring Ball, he had long noticed that the right flank had been broken through by several "enemy soldiers", and he had noticed that the center of gravity of the "enemy army" was beginning to tilt from the front to the right flank like a lake that had burst its banks, and as more and more "enemy soldiers" were drawn to the right flank, the "enemy" formation on the front became thinner and thinner.

That's what Colin was waiting for, "Change formation!" ”

"Array !!" The two guards beside Colin shouted loudly, and the more than sixty soldiers of the Colin Banner suddenly shrank into a military formation, and the line formation immediately converged into a triangular wedge, and Colin was wrapped in the middle of the triangular wedge along with the military flag, and at the same time, the sharp protrusion of the wedge fell straight into the military flag of Andrew's banner......

In the stands, Angus looked at the Colin flag team that had turned the tide of the battle, and praised: "Colin is indeed more skilled in the use of military formations, and it is risky enough to deliberately expose flaws to attract the enemy to disrupt the formation." ”

Otto just nodded and didn't rush to respond to Angus's compliment, until Colin completely pierced Andrew's army formation and closed Andrew's military banner He sighed and returned: "Sergeant Major, this Colin is also too rash, if it is a real battlefield, his practice of transferring the halberdiers on the flanks to the middle is too dangerous, and the flanks of the spearmen without the protection of the halberd are extremely weak, and the battle damage is too great." And in the next competition, the number of soldiers in his hands will be reduced by at least a third. ”

This is, the outcome of the battle has been decided, Colin took Andrew's flag with more battle losses, and the soldiers of the first company cheered.

After a while, one of the officers of the regimental command camp came to the stands and reported to Art, who was watching from the center: "Legionnaire, the Colin Banner team won the first round of the competition, the Colin Banner team lost twenty-three people, and the Andrews Banner team lost eleven people. ”

Yate held the hilt of his sword in his hand and said to the officials in the audience: "The remaining soldiers of the Colin Banner Team have advanced to the second round of the confrontation competition, and are ready to meet the last round of this test in the afternoon, and it just so happens that there are only about forty people left in the Tuba Banner Team, which is also fair." ”

"It's the adults, and the next thing is the battlefield covering the rotation of the gōng nǔ squad."

"Ready to go!" Art ordered.

The officials ran back to the arena and announced the start of the competition with the gōng nǔ team of the legion waiting in the arena.

............

On the evening of the tournament, Art ordered the Welsh Regiment to hold a dinner, and the individual soldiers and squadron flags who won the three events were rewarded with some wine and meat.

The atmosphere in the stone house of Beiguan Military Fort was not as lively as it was outside.

All the officers of the Welsh Regiment above the rank of flag captain were sitting upright in the stone house, and the commander of the Legion, Art, was holding a military discussion with the officers to summarize the many problems that had developed in the Legion's contest in the past few days.

“...... The Battle of the North of the County has shown us the weakness of the Wells Legion, and our soldiers are indeed at a disadvantage in terms of individual combat skills compared to those elite professional frontier troops. This is understandable, after all, most of the soldiers of the Welsh Legion are civilians who have not experienced battle formations, and a short training in the training ground cannot quickly improve the combat power of the soldiers. ”

"When facing a real battlefield fight, it is okay when you are in an advantageous position, but if you are in a disadvantageous situation, it is difficult to ensure that the soldier will not collapse."

Art turned his gaze to Colin who was sitting on a low stool, "In terms of the daytime competition, Captain Colin Banner should have been praised for his ability to skillfully use the battle formation change to defeat the enemy. But the root of your victory is because your soldiers know that this is just a competition, and that there is no risk of death for everyone, so even if the right flank is broken, your formation will remain undisturbed. On the real battlefield, when the flank battle damage reaches one-third, the soldiers under your command may not be able to continue to maintain this array, and may even rout and escape. ”

"Today, I will not delve into the mistakes and mistakes in command, but we will mainly discuss the continuous improvement of our tactical formations and how to optimize our armament configuration, so as to exchange the greatest victory at the lowest cost."

"Alright, Patters."

Patus, the captain of the fourth banner of the second company, got up and bowed lightly to Art, bowed slightly to the people in the room, and said, "My lord, I don't know much about the battle law formation, but I suggest replacing the spears for the legion infantry, just like the super spears used by the garrison corps." Our soldiers are not good at individual combat skills, so we can only keep the enemy from getting close to the enemy by holding a super spear far beyond the length of the opponent's weapon, and I have seen the kind of spear phalanx of the garrison corps, once this kind of phalanx is trained, not to mention that the enemy is infantry, even if it is a heavy cavalry, he has a headache. ”

As soon as Pats's voice landed in Bangada, he raised objections, "The garrison corps is only guarding the valley, they don't need to run long distances to fight, as long as they line up in the wasteland in front of the North Pass to meet the enemy, super spears are of course suitable for them, but we are the main battle army, and our battlefield may be either home or foreign, it may be a battle in array, or a surprise attack." Do you expect to march and fight with such a bulky super-spear? And the flanks of the super spear are more fragile than the short spear we are currently equipping, and we can still fight face to face with the short spear, and you can try to fight alone with the super spear! ”

Patters was a little unconvinced, "I didn't say that the soldiers should be proficient in using the super spear in a day, and this kind of phalanx also has its own marching formation, I have heard that the army of the mountain people can carry this super spear for a long time, they can form a dense phalanx before the enemy can react, and then crush the enemy army with the beat of the drum." ”

"The combat power that those poor mountain people can still reach, can't we legionnaires who are trained every day? In addition, our super spearmen can be equipped with melee weapons in addition to spears......"

The two of them argued fiercely, and the other officers in the stone house were also discussing each other.

Sitting on the throne, Yat quietly listened to the heated discussion of his officers, and wrote the words "Swiss phalanx" on the birch bark with a carbon rod in his hand, and then drew a question mark heavily after the characters......

Rise in the Middle Ages

Rise in the Middle Ages