"Welcome back to the city!" At the north gate of Wakae Castle, all the retainers lined up to greet them under the leadership of Nagano Yoshimasa. I didn't often hold all-staff meetings before, but I didn't expect that there were now more than 100 subordinates at all levels.

"Everyone has worked hard, let's go into the city together!" I jumped off the "gold" and saluted the people in the front row, and then pulled Nagano Yesho into the city on foot. "The situation at home is fine, everyone's letters are here!" At the entrance of the castle tower, I asked Shimakatsu to distribute the letters, and then walked into the castle tower with a dozen or so "core" retainers. Most of my subordinates are Owari and Mino, and most of my family members are in Gibu.

"What's the situation here, how is the training going?" As soon as I sat down, I eagerly asked that this was the most urgent matter at the moment.

"Everything is going very well!" Nagano Yoshimasa reassured my heart with a word. "The Iron Artillery Team has officially completed the reorganization of the battle sequence, please ask Mr. Philip to introduce the specific situation!"

"Your Highness, you can rest assured! As far as the current situation is concerned, your iron artillery team is already among the best in Japan! Just ......," said Philippe•Luc Besson, pausing to consider the wording. "There is no such thing as absolute perfection in the world, especially in a country like Japan, where iron artillery can only be regarded as a preliminary popularization! There is still considerable room for further development and improvement, but there will be some necessary investment, and I am afraid that it will be quite large! ”

"Mr. Philip, you should say 'ours', not 'your'!" I corrected him a little. "What do you mean by 'super-first-class'? What do we mean by 'room for improvement' and 'necessary input'? Can you explain it to me? "A matter of life and death, I have to ask carefully.

"First of all, the advanced iron cannon we are equipped with is not comparable to others, and the extremely high rate of fire and stability will produce more than three times the power! Secondly, their training is not very systematic, and the basic formation does not deviate from the inherent pattern of gunmen......" he said as he made a gesture, and his expression of professional issues was quite straightforward. "The 'room for perfection' and 'necessary investment' I speak of are both aimed at a phenomenon in Japan: due to the rarity of iron cannons and their high price, most daimyo are kept in sealed storage in normal times and are not used for daily training, and especially rarely shoot live ammunition, which makes soldiers lack the necessary 'gun sense'! The direct consequence of this is that it is not performing well in a tense situation on the battlefield. ”

"Will this have a serious impact on the power of actual combat?" I couldn't grasp what he meant right for a while.

"Of course!" Philip was quick to answer. “…… No matter how proficient you are at mastering the essentials, you will inevitably lose your movements when you are nervous, let alone the accuracy of your shooting! The situation on the battlefield is usually very chaotic, and after the first round of shooting, it is even more full of gunsmoke, even if you are calm, you may not be able to shoot, and it is not difficult to imagine the panic results that usually do not go through much actual operation! ”

"Will it be of great help to strengthen the usual live-fire training?" It was Sadakatsu Murai who asked this, and he was sensitive to any proposal to increase the use.

"That's for sure!" Philip nodded firmly. It's like anyone who brings food to their mouth and doesn't even have the intention to open their mouth, because it's the instinct of all people! My goal is to train all Iron Running Ashigaru to have an instinctive 'gun sense' that multiplies enemy casualties on the battlefield, but it is also extremely costly! ”

"So be it! I'll tell Sakai to send two more professional repairmen, and the supply of lead bullet and fire will also increase, so you can do it! "After some calculations, I think the investment is affordable compared to the results achieved." How's the cavalry reserve training? …… Why didn't Mr. Mayinhull come? "That's when I realized that there was no Prussian in the crowd.

"Mr. Song sent those 1,000 sets of armor a few days ago, and he is busy with adaptive training these days!" Keiji Maeda answered my question. “…… Since there were not enough horses, they had to come in turns, so they didn't dare to delay at all! If there is any problem, it is better to make up for it in time. ”

"Done so quickly?" I stood up. "Then let's go to the military field to have a look!"

***********************************************************

"Stop! Salute! "Seeing our group on the sidelines, Mainhull uttered two simple words aloud. With his command, 500 cavalrymen instantly pinned themselves to the spot, and at the same time stood upright in front of me with the scimitar in their right hand in front of them.

"Good! That's nice! I nodded my head in satisfaction, and I was under the impression that the British royal guard of honour was nothing more than that. Probably because of the lacquer, all the armor has a dark luster in the black, and the shining 'starry sky' copper nails are even more heroic. The helmet is a short-brimmed hand swab helmet that is more common in Japan, and although it is not as ornate as the front helmet, it increases the protection at the front door. "You are doing a very good job, Mr. Mainhull!" I said to Main Hel, who dismounted and walked beside me.

"You've won a prize!" He still had that cold look on his face. "I'm just doing my job!"

"How far do you think this cavalry has come now?" I gave up trying to make the Prussians easy-going, and it was better to simply take matters into account.

"It's still a long way off!" His words are always straight to the point. "For the cavalry of Kyushu and, there is no one who can compare with this cavalry, and I have never seen the Echigo and Kai cavalry that are well expected by the people in your country, so I dare not say it! But I am taking as a reference the combat effectiveness of the cavalry of Russia and Ottoman Turkey, which is far from being able to compete with the equal amount of Eastern European and Arab cavalry! ”

"Russia? Ottoman Turkey? …… Is this possible? "I've never had such high expectations.

"In terms of physical fitness alone, it will never be possible!"

"Impossible?" I don't understand what it does if it's impossible!

"It's not possible to be physical, but I'll make up for it with something else......" his explanation is also simple and straightforward. I will demand them with Prussian discipline, which will greatly improve the overall strength and can largely compensate for the lack of physical fitness! ”

"That's good!" I breathed a long sigh of relief, and suddenly saw Song Haitian standing on the side. "Mr. Song, so much armor is really hard for you!"

"It's nothing!" Song Haitian smiled easily. "It's all Boss Masuda, and their supplies are complete, I'm just putting a little effort into it!"

"By the way, how high do you think the flag is?" I asked, staring at a cavalryman. "It won't affect the use of equipment, right?"

"I'd like to talk to you privately about that request you made of me?" He leaned in and whispered to me.

"Huh?" I looked at him in amazement. "Got a result?"

He nodded slightly to me.

"You all take a closer look and make any suggestions!" I shouted to everyone, and then walked with Song Haitian to a quiet place. "Is there any way, can you just say?"

"I've made all sorts of assumptions based on the assumptions you made about me......," he frowned. To be honest, it's a bit difficult! At first, I wanted to use a light hand crossbow, but although both sides gathered around the fence, after all, the iron cannon would be closer and much more stable, and the lethality of the hand crossbow was difficult to play effectively, and it was necessary to use two hands to reload the arrows, which was not suitable for sword and shield cavalry, and finally I rejected this idea! Come to think of it, I think this is the best! As he spoke, he magically took out a short spear more than five feet long and thick as longan from a pile of things, and handed it to me.

"Javelins?" I was stunned, and I was a little surprised by this simple solution.

"It's a javelin!" Song Haitian smiled. "The iron cannon is a surface attack and can only shoot the people in the front row, and only the people in the front row can shoot, while the javelin is a parabolic sheet attack that not only allows everyone to shoot together, but also attacks the depth of the enemy. Due to the low rate of fire of the iron cannon, it is very likely that there will be a 'three-stage' or even 'four-stage' firing method in the future, but this will increase the depth and thickness, and a 'rain of guns' at close range can completely deal a devastating blow to them! It is impossible for the iron cannon to shoot through the fence from a distance, because then most of the lead bullets will be completely ineffective on the fence, so the cavalry and javelins can definitely suppress the iron cannon in the field! Another advantage of the javelin is that it can be operated with one hand, so that it can also be protected by a shield in one hand. ”

I weighed this javelin, and it was about two to three pounds. "That's it! Equip each cavalryman with five javelins behind his back, and ...... No more flags! ”

——————————————————————————

Bear in Winter: I see that you have some opinions about the involvement of the Russians, and here I would like to introduce the basis for my writing. Ivan IV, Grand Duke of Moscow, came to power in 1547 and was crowned Tsar, conquered the Kazan Khanate and the Astrakhan Khanate in 1552 and the Siberian Khanate in 1557. It then entered Alaska in North America via the Bering Strait and the Northern Islands. Seven or eight years after the conquest of Siberia in the book, even a little early is not too outrageous. But I don't know if any Russian immigrants have ever been to Hokkaido, or if any have stayed for a short time! The Russian invaders entered the northern part of our country a little later, because due to the limitations of natural conditions, the Mongol tribes in the south of the desert and the four tribes of the Jurchen Haixi in the north of the desert were much stronger than the Siberian Khanate in the north of the desert!