Chapter 217: "My War!"

Uomoto was an orphan who had been taken into the church's charity many years ago by the parish priest in his hometown.

He spent his childhood there, and saw many children who had entered the charity at about the same time as him and died before they were minors.

Life in the charity was terrible and bleak, and Uomoto always regarded the adults of the charity as demons.

They weren't merciful to orphans, or they just didn't want them to die outside.

Uomoto left the charity when he grew up, perhaps because of God's gift, and despite his coarse food and frequent hunger, Uomoto was physically fit from an early age.

This sturdy physique allowed him to quickly find a job as a soldier, and by virtue of his cleverness and ability to endure hardships compared to others, Uomoto gradually gained a firm foothold in the army.

When the Knights of San Diego chose their soldiers, Uomoto signed up, like many others.

Although he was named Duke of Mondraya, Gonzalo preferred to be called the head of the Knights.

And his veterans are proud to call him that.

When he heard that the Captain of the Knight was going to build an army that had never been done before, and that the salary was very high, but it seemed to be very hard, Uomotto decided to give it a try.

Uomoto was selected for the Model Army, and what awaited him was more intense than ever.

The two-hour queue every day, with heavy spears and thick armor, practiced non-stop, and even during meals, when an urgent horn was heard, it was necessary to change into a full suit of armor and pick up weapons in a very short time, and then find a place in the chaotic ranks.

This kind of training began a few years ago, and many people either quit or were eliminated because they couldn't stand this almost tortured training method.

When Uomoto entered the Model Army, the Model Army was very large, and only about 2,500 people were eventually trained and awarded the flag by the Commander of the Knights.

Uomoto was one of those 2,500 men, and he became the leader of a ten-man squad.

The Model Army was different from any unit Uomoto had been in before, or rather, it was very different from the current era.

This convinced Uomoto that there was no more powerful army in the world than the Model Army.

In Andalusia, the weather is sunny and still cool.

The temperature difference between day and night here is a bit too large, and you need to cover yourself with a thick blanket when you sleep at night, but during the day, it is so hot that you want to jump into the river to cool off.

It was early in the morning when Uomoto crossed the river with his troops.

At this time, the river was still a little cold, and he carefully carried the equipment on his shoulders as much as possible so as not to get wet by the water, fortunately, the spear would not be distributed to everyone until the battle, and he did not need to carry it with him, otherwise the length and weight of nearly 5 pam would probably press him to the bottom of the river.

The boats used to cross the river were requisitioned from all over the river, so there were all kinds of strange things. Some of the big ones can hold some things in addition to being human, while the small ones have to be careful to sit for 2 people.

Uomoto was on a flat-bottomed barge with a wide and straight head and tail, and the owner had laid a layer of planks on the deck much wider than the hull for loading.

Uomoto was sitting on the edge of the plank with his legs dangling.

Because there were so many people on board that the hull of the boat was almost level with the water, he had to endure the discomfort of the icy river water wetting his pants from the cracks in the planks under him as the boat swayed, while struggling to carry the large bag containing all his belongings on his shoulders.

According to the military regulations of the Model Army, a soldier must be responsible for maintaining his equipment, except for officers and cavalrymen who have subordinates, and each soldier must do it himself.

This is different from other troops, many of which bring a large number of followers.

Whether it is repairing equipment, setting up camp, or digging trenches, these things are the work of the servants, and the soldiers only need to be responsible for going into battle.

But in the Model Army, these things are something that every soldier must do.

This alone is a discouragement for many people.

Uomoto didn't care, though.

He had worked more than that in the orphanage, and on one occasion he and his companions worked all night in the fields to harvest the garden of the parish priest's house before the frost fell.

When Uomoto heard someone shouting orders from in front of him, he immediately struggled to his feet, greeting his brothers as well.

The Model Army was really different from any other unit, at least not in the Castilian army.

The smallest unit of the Model Army is the squad, which consists of a squad leader and 10 soldiers, and the squad leader has the right to designate one of the soldiers as his deputy.

The number of squads is fixed, but the number of squads is not fixed.

Maybe 3, maybe 5, at most there was a squadron of more than a dozen squads.

There is no brigade above the squadron, and the unit composed of several squadrons is called a "battalion".

It was a unit that Uomotto had never heard of before, and its rather jerky pronunciation had led many to suspect that the Grand Master might have learned it from the Ottomans.

The soldiers scrambled to jump from the boat into the river and wade towards the shore, and Uomoto and his team did not jump out of the boat until the boat hit the bottom of the river.

The water was not deep, and it had barely reached the calf, and Uomoto greeted the brethren as he headed towards the camp flag that had been erected on the shore.

Several squads had already arrived in advance, and in the shouts of the battalion officers, the various squads were busy looking for their squadron officers, and for a while the shore seemed chaotic.

Uomo was in good spirits, and soon found his superior, and he saw from a distance that the squadron officer was struggling to hold the triangular flag above his head and wave it to greet his men, so he immediately led the men to run over.

"It's too late for you to come, or I'll die of embarrassment."

The squadron officer patted Uomoto on the shoulder excitedly, after all, at this time, the other squadrons had begun to assemble, and there was no one around him.

"What are we going to do, sir?" Uomoto wiped the sweat from his face, because he was too heavily equipped, he just ran out of the water to the shore, and he was already exhausted and out of breath.

"We're going to beat up the Sicilians." The squadron officer shouted loudly and beckoned to his men, "The Sicilians are commanded by their queen, do you hear me, a woman commands the army, let's go and teach them what it means to fight!" ”

The soldiers burst into laughter, and the words of the squadron officer made them laugh at the Sicilians for actually listening to a woman's orders.

It's just that Uomoto happened to see a knight not far away who looked like he was not low, and the knight in full armor was looking over with gloomy eyes.

Uomoto recognized the man as the commander of the "Great Battalion", but he had seen him far away before, and it was the first time he had come so close.

However, he only had time to take a look, so he hurriedly followed the squadron officer to gather his companions who had just crossed the river.

The knight, on the other hand, walked on the shore with some difficulty.

The armor on his body was so bulky that he wanted to take it off altogether, but it was a testament to his identity, and as the highest-ranking battalion commander of the first unit to cross the river, he had to be respectable.

The Model Army is not large today, or rather, it was just an experiment for Gonzalo.

Gonzalo's vision was that the Model Army would eventually form a large army of at least 20,000 men before it could fight a strong enemy like the French.

Gonzalo was not complacent about his previous victory over Charles VIII, and his goal was to build a strong army capable of sweeping across Europe.

Then one or two victories do not prove anything, and to always have an advantage in future big wars, then an army of sufficient size is essential.

The Model Army was created precisely for this purpose, but if Isabella were alive, she would naturally support him unreservedly.

But now that the person in the Valaridot decided whether he would be able to make it happen, Ferdinand made his change seem difficult.

Gonzalo had hoped that through this counterinsurgency, Ferdinand would be able to see the power of the new army, so that he could support him in continuing to expand the Model Army.

However, he also knew that this idea was somewhat unrealistic, after all, Ferdinand was so wary of him.

Even if he sees the advantages of the new army and is willing to promote it, it is likely that in the end this army will not be under his command.

Gonzalo wasn't unaware of the possibility, but he was still fascinated by the new army.

He had a strong premonition that future wars would be turned upside down, and perhaps the shackles of previous centuries would be completely broken.

What has changed all this is the hot weapon that is gradually showing its power on the battlefield.

This imagination led Gonzalo to experiment with new tactics, and as this tactical thinking took shape, his army changed dramatically.

The battalion officer couldn't help but shake his head secretly as he watched his subordinates rush ashore.

There was always a big gap between training and actual combat, and while the Model Army had previously proven its unimaginable potential through battles with the rebels, Gonzalo and his officers knew that it was because their enemies were "too weak."

The Andalusians were not unbrave, and if their opponents were the French, the Portuguese, or just the royal army, they would still be able to resist even if they were ultimately defeated.

But in several engagements, it was the Model Army that completely shattered their confidence.

But that was all in the past, and with the capture of Seville, they were bound to inevitably go to war with the Sicilians.

And the past performance of this opponent forced Gonzalo and his officers to be cautious.

The battalion officer looked up at the castle of the great knight in the distance, and he did not understand why the Sicilians would allow them to cross the river calmly.

Even if no troops were placed on the shore to intercept them, artillery should be used to bombard the troops crossing the river.

But not only did the Sicilians not do so, but even according to reports from the scouts, it seems that their army, which had been stationed very close to the riverbank, had retreated.

All this seemed to be a deliberate attempt to make way for the Castilians, which made the Grand Battalion Officer wonder.

It's just that his task was to seize the landing ground on the opposite bank, so after sending someone to report the situation to the general, he led his "big battalion" of about 1,000 men and quickly advanced towards the depth of the riverbank.

The "Grand Battalion" is a creation of Gonzalo and is a unit of a higher level than the "Battalion", consisting of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 battalions.

This combat unit, with a few hundred troops and a maximum of more than 1,000 men, was the true combat backbone of Gonzalo's ideal future model army.

With strict training and discipline, these "large battalions" could form a strong fighting organization in the phalanx.

Relying on the combination of spears and muskets, cavalry and artillery, Gonzalo envisioned a phalanx that could be a mobile fortress on the battlefield that could be attacked, retreated, and defended.

Uomoto followed closely in front of them, and on the way their battalion gathered two more squadrons, and by this time they had almost 500 men.

The rapid beat of drums came from the front, and Uomoto immediately shouted to his men behind him.

They followed closely behind a battalion in front of them to a clearing in front of the woods below the high ground.

On the other side of the woods, the occasional whistling and shouting made the waiting team extremely nervous, and everyone waited both worried and extremely nervous.

The commanders of the battalions kept yelling, urging their men to start arraying, shouting and shouting one after another.

Uomoto nervously clenched the musket in his hand, he was a musketeer and had good marksmanship, and because of this, he was promoted to the leader of this musket squad.

A gap appeared in the middle of the line ahead, and Uomoto knew it was for their musket squad.

According to the usual training, during the battle, they had to shoot at the enemy in front of the array, and then quickly enter the phalanx through this gap, and then rely on the cover of the spears in the phalanx to fire the second round of fire at the enemy who was still far away.

Uomoto was already familiar with what to do, so he led his team quickly past his companions and came to the front of the group that was already in formation.

The noise grew louder, and Uomoto saw several phalanx infantry making final preparations not far from his ranks.

With another trumpet, a phalanx in the farthest distance began to slowly move forward.

Uomoto wiped the sweat from his face as he wiped his wet palms against his clothes before clenching his musket again.

Bands of phalanx disappeared across the woods of the Highlands, and the sound from there was so deafening that it was impossible to hear what was happening on the other side of the Heights.

Uomoto gasped and strode forward, and around him was a whole line of soldiers marching forward as fast as he did.

Many people gasped, nervous and dazed, their eyes full of fear and excitement.

The top of the hill is on the other side of the woods, and when you reach the top of the slope, you walk from the dark woods to the light, and the harsh sunlight makes Uomoto raise his hand to block it.

But suddenly, an earth-shattering sound that almost pierced the ear piercing came from behind the slope.

Uomoto lowered his arm and looked down the hill.

Suddenly, a grand battlefield that stirred his heart and won it appeared in front of Uomoto's eyes!

Downhill, is a wide plain leading to the south.

On the plain, battle flags fluttered and smoke filled the air, and the Castilian phalanxes were packed together like the puppet formations of the tin iron soldiers in Gonzalo's house.

Rulin's spear made the entire phalanx look like a terrifying giant hedgehog, moving slowly but unusually firmly across the plain.

The cavalry galloped back and forth in formation with the trumpet orders one after another, raising puffs of smoke and dust.

On the opposite side, the Sicilian army, dressed in dark blue uniforms, was like a huge torrent across the plain against the dazzling light of armor and spears.

It can be seen that the Sicilian formation gradually sloped from east to west through the plain.

In the center of the battle line, on a high slope jutting out of the plain, a striking royal banner consisting of a large crown and the Gripen's cross coat of arms, a symbol of Sicilian legal heritage, fluttered high in the wind.

Under the banner, an army lined up in an equally striking look.

Unlike the other troops, there was no shining armor or sharp spears and axes in this army, except for a flag with a spear on the top of the handle, all the soldiers carried muskets on their shoulders and marched in unison to the rhythmic beat of the drums.

In the middle of their ranks, an erect Athena with a musket in hand was standing tall and proud of the Castilian army.

With a burst of high-pitched singing that went from faint to clear, Uomoto finally heard what the high-pitched noise that had sounded indistinct behind the high slope before.

Uomoto swallowed hard.

He had fought in many battles commanded by the Grand Knights, from joining the Aragonese army as a mercenary, fighting with Gonzalo in Italy, to fighting the Ottomans in Crete, and Ouomoto was already an experienced veteran.

In Uomoto's opinion, the Model Army was probably the most powerful army in the world, but now he found that he had never seen such an army.

This made him feel an indescribable nervousness.

"Forward, get in the ranks!"

With an order from the guide officer in front of him, Uomoto couldn't help but take a deep breath and follow the team towards the battlefield down the slope.

At that moment, he heard the fierce and rapid sound of drums from the opposite side, and Uomoto couldn't help but look into the distance.

Accompanied by the rhythmic beat of drums, the Sicilian army, which formed a formation in horizontal formations, began to advance slowly.

At the same time, the strange-sounding song became clear as the army approached.

"Soldiers, prepare to move forward~

Behold, the armor of the Ottomans is distinct,

Their feathers are so beautiful that you can't help but want to pluck them,

Oh ~ Grenadier, the Queen is there, let's pay tribute to her,

Let's get honors,

Oh ~ grenadiers, the Ottomans are there, let's pounce on the enemy.

Let's pick up the victory~"

The song was loud and loud throughout the battlefield, and the grenadiers of the Sicilian army, guided by the banner, gradually approached the Castilian army.

"It's going to be a decisive battle that will decide the fate of all of us."

Standing on the hillside in front of Leo, Josa whispered to her courtiers, her gaze determined and excited, as if she had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

"Believe me, no matter how this war is won or lost, it will go down in history."

In front of the woods on the other side of the plain, Gonzalo was talking similar words to the people around him, and although his expression was calm, he couldn't hide his desire to fight.

And somewhere on the front, Alexander was stamping a letter and handing it to the rosacea who was waiting there.

"Get the letter to you in time."

With that, Alexander turned over and got on his horse.

Looking at the battlefield in front of him, he suddenly opened his arms:

"Come on, my war!"

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