For a former navigator who had served as a ship navigator and now lived in the Canary Islands, far from the European continent, the Spanish Army's infantry regiment of spearmen and musketeers, the "Spanish Phalanx", seemed to have no direct connection to his life.

If the operational ideas of the Spanish Army columns, which dominated the entire European theater for a period of time in the 16th century, were forced together with a single navigator, it would only show that the fact that the navigator had exerted great power in arquebus operations in army operations was hearsay. And for Isabel Walton, a naval intelligence officer, the large-scale army battles that take place on land will not interest her either.

Therefore, she did not respond to the fact that the navigator Cassiano Avigliana had mentioned a topic related to the Spanish phalanx, but only asked the guards of the ducal palace to continue their training in arquebus handling procedures. As for the interval between the completion of the shot and the reloading, she simply told the guards about the combat idea of a fiery arquebus tactic that emerged in the 16th century, namely the three-stage strike.

After nearly a week of simulated training, the Nemesis and three other armed merchant ships were still sailing on the course towards the island of Spain. After lunch on Sunday, she again had six musketeers come out of full gear onto the open deck. As the musketeers stood in a row with their guns in hand, Isabel came to the line with her hands behind her back and turned to face the musketeers, "Guys, I think you must have a lot of complaints about me in your hearts, don't you?" ”

At this time, Fast, who was standing in front of the team, stretched out his left arm into the air, and Isabel glanced sideways at him, "Fast, say whatever you want." ”

"Yes, Captain." The well-fed Fast Bar clicked his lips and looked up at the sky where a few white clouds floated, "Well, Captain, my brothers and I dare not complain to you. It's just that my brothers and I don't understand why we have to repeat these processes every day. ”

Isabel twisted her face to the left and kept staring at Fast, who already had some image of an Army Musketeer. Then he walked slowly up to him and looked at the rest of the men, and said in a loud voice, "Men from the north with me, if one day you go into battle with arquebuses, will you kill one, two, or three enemies with swords, spears, tomahawks, or bells, or will you kill more with arquebuses and scare off the rest?" ”

A few of the musketeers didn't speak easily, but after you looked at me and I looked at you, they all looked at her and said, "It seems that you can kill more enemies with your arquebus." ”

"You're absolutely right. Therefore, I have trained you in the process of operation in order to make you more proficient in killing a large number of enemies with arquebuses. ”

"Captain, but we haven't fired a single shot these days." Fast mustered up the courage and whispered.

"Want to shoot? Well, can anyone tell me what you're going to do when you're aiming at the target? Isabel still looked at the line of musketeers, and spoke calmly.

A musketeer stretched out his left arm into the air, thought for a moment and looked at her, "Captain, close your eyes when you aim at your target." ”

"What about you? If anyone forgets to close their eyes, you can tell me that I won't punish anyone. Isabel looked at the others.

"No... Captain. Several of the musketeers shouted with all their might.

Isabel didn't have a smile on her face, but walked to the back of the line with a serious expression. Coming to Captain John Hawkins, he turned to look at the crowd, "This afternoon, I asked you to train you to light an arquebus and shoot a projectile. ”

"It's finally time to fire. I wasn't trained to operate an arquebus, but I was able to see it. John stood on one side, watching the sailors navigate the ship, and muttered to himself as he looked at the musketeers.

Isabel quietly watched the six musketeers excitedly reload, then glanced back at the Navigator. When she noticed that the young navigator had been looking into the eyes of the musketeers, she smiled softly, "John, you shoot too?" ”

John quickly withdrew his gaze and said hesitantly as he looked at her, "Yes, Captain, I... I've learned how to use an arquebus, so I don't have to practice firing. ”

"Really? I ask you, do you know what would have happened if you had forgotten to close your eyes when you opened fire? ”

"Hmm... I remember you said that gunpowder burns out my eyes. ”

Previously, Isabel had ordered the musketeers to be trained in the process of not firing in order to solve this troublesome matter. Reloading—Firing—Killing a knight in full-body armor who is riding a horse and rushing towards him is easy to do. However, it would be a very deplorable thing to cause casualties among musketeers due to the burning of primers in the cauldron.

"Prepare ......!" Cassiano, the navigator who was the instructor of the arquebus operation training, stood on the outside of the front of the team, his eyes fixed on the arquebuses attached to the arquebuses on the six arquebuses. At this time, the arquebuses on each arquebus have been ignited.

The navigator held his right arm flat and pointed to the empty sea and shouted: "Fire......!" ”

"Bah... Bang... Bang... Hoo ...... "As six deafening gunshots rang out on the sea, thick gunpowder smoke slowly rose in the air around the bodies of the six musketeers.

When the smoke cleared, Isabel and John approached the musketeers. After glancing at everyone's eyes from left to right, a hanging heart also relaxed, and nodded in satisfaction, "Guys, you guys are doing a great job. ”

Lowering the Flame Gun from the fork stand, Fast, who was standing with the gun in one hand, smiled at her, "Captain, this... Arquebuses are much better than swords, tomahawks, or bells. ”

Boatswain Brady Hawkins, who had been skeptical about arquebuses a few days ago, had just fallen silent after seeing the power of six arquebuses fired at the same time. Leaning against the fence on the port side of the open deck, he thought to himself, "How can this arquebus be so powerful?" ”

"Standing on deck with an arquebus, you can shoot the people on the opposite ship?"

"This arquebus is completely a cannon that can be held in the hand and fired!"

Brady couldn't control his excitement any longer, and hurriedly walked up to Isabel who was standing at the end of the musketeers, and looked at her with a serious and somewhat excited expression, "Captain, please allow me to try once." ”

Isabel glanced at John beside him, then at the boatswain and nodded, "I agree to your request. Also, everyone on this ship had to learn how to use arquebuses. ”