In the sixteenth century, there were roughly two regions of the world where firearms had long been used in military units and in actual combat.

These two regions, one is the European continent and the other is the Ming Dynasty.

Because the arquebus is a flat fire, the rate of fire is slow, different from the bow and arrow can be thrown, and the rate of fire is relatively fast, so the European continent, the Ming military has been looking for a formation, play the maximum power of the arquebus.

In the Ming Dynasty, after Qi succeeded Guangnan to pacify the Japanese invaders, he transferred the Great Wall north to prevent the Mongolian nomadic cavalry.

At that time, the popularity of firearms in the Ming Dynasty army was extremely high, and Qi Jiguangzhen set up a car battalion in order to give full play to the advantages of firearms.

The tactics of the car battalion are to use strong chariots as defensive barriers, install firearms on the vehicles, refuse to defend when encountering the enemy, and use birds, rockets, and franc planes to take turns to strike.

However, for Li Xiao, the tactics of the car battalion were not suitable for the battle, because the camp was more mountainous and less plain, and the car camp was inconvenient to drive, and there were not so many pack horses to pack the carts.

In fact, in addition to the mixing of spears and muskets, the Spanish phalanx had a fundamental tactical innovation compared with the chariot formation of the Ming Kingdom and the mandarin duck formation with firearms and infantry invented by Qi Jiguang.

Shima Katsumeng, Shigang Kazuha, Kohata Xiaoxian, Kinoshita Koichiro, and Dazang Chang'an The five of them looked at each other, throwing out one new term after another at Li Xiao, one after another a new concept, and now it is a foggy situation.

Li Xiao suddenly had a sense of superiority as a traverser, this is the power of knowledge, who said that playing games all day long, you can't play knowledge.

The Spanish phalanx is Nobunaga's Ambition, Nanban Technology, the Western Phalanx of Spain's last technology tree.

Li Xiao pretended to be knowledgeable, and said: "This new tactic, I named him the Western Phalanx, which is to imitate the Taixi Kingdom, oh, no, you call it the Southern Barbarian's tactics." ”

"The tactics of the Southern Barbarians? The tactics of those blue-eyed, big-nosed Southern Barbarians? "Island Shengmeng, Tibetan Chang'an is the only one in Li Xiao's retainers who have seen the Southern Barbarians, they are all they have traveled in Hakata back then, and they have seen the Southern Barbarians when they were studying.

"That's right, the iron cannon was invented by our Ming people, and then passed on to the Southern Barbarians, and then the Southern Barbarians passed it to Yuben." In order to strengthen their confidence in the new tactics, Li Xiao gave some explanations.

Hearing this, Shima Katsu Takeshi, Shioka Kazuha, and they all nodded together, and they knew this about the introduction of iron cannons from Tanegashima to Samoto.

"The Western tactics are in Taixi, that is, on the side of the Southern Barbarians, which is the mainstream tactics that are very powerful, and they designed the iron artillery team into 8-12 platoons according to the characteristics of the iron artillery."

"Rows 8-12? Why is it so long? Xiaohan Xiaoxian asked questions on the spot, he was the head of the iron cannon team under Li Xiao, and he naturally knew the iron cannon very well.

Generally speaking, in this joint battle, the iron artillery team stands in the forefront of their own spear foot light formation, either standing or kneeling in a row, or standing, kneeling in two postures, standing in two rows and firing a salvo at the same time.

After firing a single shot, the iron cannon quickly slipped back to the back of the line.

In Kohata Xiaoxian's understanding, the iron cannon can only shoot flat, not like a bow and arrow, if you stand in the 8-12 row, it doesn't mean that the people in the back row shoot, it is easy to hit the front row, or you can only shoot into the sky.

Li Xiao nodded to Xiaoman Xiaoxian, and said: "You are right, but when encountering the enemy, the iron artillery team of the Western Phalanx can only shoot in the first row, and then after the first row of iron cannons is shot, they retreat in the gap between platoons and platoons, and retreat to the last row to reload, so that the second row of iron cannons can shoot lightly." Such a tactic, I call him a backward reloading tactic! ”

As soon as Li Xiao's words came out, everyone present was suddenly in a fog, and only Xiaoman Xiaoxian showed a look of joy on his face.

He said: "My lord, this tactic is very clever, so that our iron artillery team can shoot from beginning to end without interruption. ”

As soon as Xiaohata Xiaoxian's words came out, everyone realized slightly, not that other people's understanding was bad, but that most people didn't understand the new matter of iron cannons.

Li Xiao smiled slightly and praised Xiaohata Xiaoxian's comprehension.

The so-called backward reloading tactics, as he just said.

That is, when encountering the enemy, after the first row of musketeers fired a volley, the musketeers of the first row retreated to the last row to reload in the gap between platoons. After the muskets in the front row had been fired, the musketeers in the first row had already reloaded and fired in the last row of the original formation.

In the end, the formation of the musketeers, instead of moving forward, is in the process of firing, step by step, which is called coutermarch.

It is said that the Spaniards said that if there were more than 10 rows of muskets and sufficient ammunition, the Spanish phalanx could guarantee that the musket fire would continue from beginning to end.

The Spaniards first used the tactic of retreating and reloading in the battle of Pavia (1525 AD) with King François I of France in the battle of Pavia (1525 AD), and then defeated the French army, and King François I of France was captured.

The Spanish phalanx, with this backward reloading tactic, overwhelmed the old feudal armies in the European theater, and even more than a hundred years later, when the flintlock pistol was introduced and gradually perfected, this method of warfare was still the main means of compensating for the slow rate of musket firing.

However, the retreat reloading method is not unique to the Spaniards, and the general Mu Ying in the early Ming Dynasty, the monk of Honganji Temple, and the Demon King have all taken similar three-stage strikes.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and he said quite optimistically: "My lord, this tactic is really wonderful, so that the iron artillery team will not need it, and I am worried that after the first salvo is fired, there will be no follow-up firepower, and I have to retreat." The Iron Artillery Corps can remain on the battlefield forever. You can destroy as many enemies as you come. ”

Li Xiao smiled slightly after hearing this, Xiaowan Xiaoxian took it for granted.

Li Xiaozheng was about to explain in detail to Kohata Xiaoxian's so-called three-stage attack tactics.

At this time, Dao Shengmeng took advantage of this to say to Li Xiao a question: "My lord, there is something unclear about your subordinates, this backward reloading shot, compared with ordinary salvos, in fact, the rate of fire has not increased, but has slowed down. ”

After a pause, Dondao Shengmeng sorted out his thoughts and said: "In the case of our newly formed eighty-man iron artillery team, in the case of only one projectile, eighty iron cannons are fired in a salvo, or eighty iron cannons are reloaded and fired, and the projectiles fired by the two are eighty rounds. ”

"In the case of two reloads, eighty iron cannons can fire one hundred and sixty rounds in two salvos, and in the case of backward reloading, only ninety rounds can be fired at the same time. If the enemy is in front of the battle at this time, the artillery team can only retreat, and this does not deduct the time spent by the gunners in the queue. Isn't it less lethal? ”

When Shima Shengmeng said this, everyone showed a contemplative look.

Li Xiao was also surprised, it wasn't anything else, he didn't expect Daosheng Meng's children's shoes to learn the mathematics so well.

Xiaohan Xiaoxian hurriedly explained to Li Xiao: "Lord Shima Shengmeng, you are wrong, in fact, the lord's tactics are not to increase the number of shots of iron cannons. For example, if an adult leads an army and attacks the iron cannon ashigaru defense that I preside, what will the adult do? ”

Shimakatsu frowned and thought slightly, and said: "I will move forward slowly at a distance of twenty miles away from your iron cannon ashigaru, and use the bow ashigaru to release arrows in the distance to disturb you, and after your iron cannon volley, I will order my subordinates to charge in front of you with all their strength in the gap between the iron cannon ashigaru projectiles." ”

Kohata Xiaoxian nodded and said: "That's right, Lord Shima Katsu Takeshi, worthy of being the chief general of the family, has a lot of experience, because the adults know that although the range of the iron cannon is twenty, shooting at a distance of twenty is not only the least lethal against Ashigaru, but also the worst hit rate." Therefore, Your Excellency harassed me with a bow and forced my iron cannon to defend myself. In this way, after the iron cannon is shot lightly, the reload gap is a long time. Adults can take advantage of the opportunity. ”

Shima Katsu also suddenly realized when he heard this, and said, "I see. It turned out that the purpose of reloading was to maintain uninterrupted firing with iron cannons. ”

Li Xiao remembered that at that time, the Mongolian cavalry used various methods such as long-distance cavalry shooting, galloping and spinning away, etc., to lure the Ming Dynasty soldiers to be unable to hold on, and fired firearms in a long-distance salvo in advance, and then took advantage of the gap of reloading, and then approached to cut and kill.

This situation is not only strict discipline can be restrained, people are herd mentality, if one person is injured or scared, and the iron cannon is shot in advance, then the rest of the people will not know it, and they will follow suit.

Li Xiao turned around and said: "Not only that, for example, at a distance of twenty cannons, ten iron cannons can only kill and injure one person in a salvo, and at a distance of fifteen, the same ten iron cannons can kill two people, and ten, the iron cannon salvo can kill and injure three people, the closer the shot, the stronger the power and accuracy of the iron cannon." And the lethality of non-stop fire is definitely stronger than a long-range salvo. ”

Hearing Li Xiao say this, everyone was more confident and looked forward to this kind of western phalanx, and some people even thought that as long as the whole army was equipped with iron cannons, it would be almost the same number of troops, and there would be no opponent at all.

Li Xiao shook his head at this, this is another kind of assumption, but he did not correct this statement, in the future training, they will find the advantages and disadvantages of this Western Phalanx.

However, in the history of Europe, the Spanish phalanx did have an epoch-making role, revolutionizing the mainstream tactics at that time, and was popular for more than 100 years, and the later Swedish king Gustav II, and the founder of the Prussian Army, the great Friedrich II, who fought all over Europe, were based on the Spanish phalanx, and carried out tactical innovation.

Compare with the Spanish phalanx.

Qi Jiguang's mandarin duck array, later in order to deal with Mongolia, was also improved, equipped with bird guns, three-eyed guns and other firearms, but the use of these firearms, similar to bows and arrows, is only a kind of formation matching, and does not highlight the role of firearms.

Eleven years later, the Demon King shot three stages of the battle of Nagashino, he was the iron artillery team to which each reserve team belonged, and used it together, which was a method of fighting that listed the iron artillery team separately, compared to the Spanish phalanx, there was no concept of mixing spears and iron cannons.

This era was far from the era of iron cannon invincibility, and of the 12,000 people killed by the Takeda clan in the Battle of Nagashino, Oda Nobunaga's 3,000 iron cannon Ashigaru was killed by a three-stage shot, and it was only a part.

In the coming decades, the protagonist on the battlefield will still be cold weapons.

The Spanish phalanx was only one of the processes in the history of the transition from cold weapons to hot weapons, and it was not outlawed.

As far as Li Xiao knows, for the Spanish phalanx, without bunkers, horse fences, and terrain cooperation, the chances of winning against the impact of large-scale cavalry are still not high.

This trend only changed later, when King Gustav II of Sweden used his freshly shaped Swedish Army to defeat the elite Polish hussars (i.e., the most senior hussars of the Imperial Era 2).

At that time, Gustav II also introduced the concept of infantry and artillery coordination on the basis of the improvement of the Spanish phalanx, and it was his Swedish cavalry that finally defeated the Polish cavalry.

However, Li Xiao didn't think about it so much, what he was doing now only needed to innovate the iron cannon combat method, and on the original basis, enhance the lethality of the iron cannon, this step was enough.

Now in the Western Array formed by Li Xiao, it is also divided into two teams: the Iron Artillery Light Team and the Gun Light Team.

The phalanx was arranged in a line and lined up in eight rows, that is to say, Li Xiao's eighty iron cannon ashigaru were divided into eight waves and fired in turn, with ten people shooting each time.

Li Xiao will be in the center with the spear ashigaru team, and the iron artillery team will be divided into left and right flanks.

Because the iron cannon technology was not mature at that time, it was still very expensive, and it was impossible to equip it on a large scale, so Li Xiao decided to form a phalanx with a ratio of two to one with the gun and the iron cannon.

That is to say, his spear foot light team is one hundred and sixty people. The spearhead team is also divided into eight rows of columns, with twenty men in a horizontal row, so that with the iron artillery team of forty men on each wing, they form a rectangular phalanx of 8*30,240 people.

However, in many Spanish phalanxes, musketeers were surrounded by spearmen, which could complete the role of attacking the enemy from all sides, but such a formation was too luxurious for musketeers.

Li Xiao had the iron artillery team distributed on both flanks, and the spear foot light team in the center, a little closer to the Swedish phalanx created by Gustav II.

But Li Xiao also knew that such a Swedish phalanx had an obvious disadvantage, that is, the frontal firepower was strong, but the two wings were very weak.

If the enemy army is attracted by one army in front, and the other army is divided to storm the flank of the phalanx, then Li Xiao's western phalanx can only be reduced to a joke and completely finished.

Historically, King Gustav II of Sweden used well-trained cavalry to cover the flanks, and his army was well-trained enough to follow orders to achieve a lateral shift of the front to the left and right at 90 degrees during the decisive battle.

This makes it possible to always keep the phalanx facing in the direction of the enemy's attack.

Li Xiao did not have a strong cavalry team, so he could only retreat to the second, and he arranged a hundred people on each flank of the western square as a flank cover. These 100 people were always armed with 70 guns and 30 bows.

In this way, there are enough troops to cover the flanks of the Western Phalanx, and the remaining sixty standing reserves are incorporated into Li Xiao's direct command as his personal guards and the last reserve on the battlefield.

In this way, Li Xiao's 500 standing reserves will truly become an army.

(To be continued)