An Ning always felt that the military school's courses were arranged a bit too slowly. They, the cadets, just practiced lining up infantry lines for almost three months.
When the first snow fell in Brienne in 1780, the teachers of the military school began to teach the cadets how to change formations and how to form anti-cavalry square formations.
On the first day of teaching square formation, in order to increase the practical experience of the cadets, the school specially brought people from the cavalry department of the school to give them a taste of what it felt like when infantry faced a cavalry charge.
This was the first time An Ning met Christina during school lessons.
She wore a shiny breastplate, and her long wavy hair was tied into a ponytail, emerging from the specially set aside slot on her helmet and dancing in the wind.
She put the spear under her arm and galloped into the wind, which reminded people of the "Girl of Orleans" hundreds of years ago.
Behind Christina were seven or eight girls, including the big-breasted girl An Ning once stepped on her feet.
Facing this group of cavalry, some of the cadets began to whistle.
The school instructor shouted angrily: "Stop whistling! Maintain your formation! Experience the horror of facing such an overwhelming impact on the battlefield!"
"Instructor! If you want us to feel scared, you shouldn't let the girls charge!" one of the cadets said loudly, "Now we just want to open our arms to them and let them rush into our arms!"
The noble children immediately burst into laughter.
An Ning heard Napoleon next to him mutter: "Don't these rubbish guys know that even a lady riding a horse can seriously injure someone?"
An Ning echoed: "That's right, and you have to be stabbed to the core with a spear before you hit him."
While talking, the girls began to circle around the phalanx formed by the cadets, and the instructor began to explain: "Even the most well-trained military horses will be afraid when facing the forest of neat spears, so after forming a phalanx
Can effectively resist cavalry.
"You must remember that the kneeling soldiers in the first row should put their rifle butts on the ground so that they can withstand the huge momentum of the cavalry when they charge forward.
"The soldiers in the inner circle are responsible for firing at the cavalry. Although it is difficult to hit the cavalry while running, the side cross-sectional area of the cavalry is also much larger than the front. As long as they continue to fire, they can always achieve some results.
"Long-term wars have proven that even heavy cavalry such as cuirassiers have no good way to use the phalanx."
At this time, a noble asked loudly: "Teacher, you said that the line formation is very vulnerable to cavalry charges, so why not use the square formation as the main combat formation?"
The instructor frowned and looked at the questioner: "That's a good question, you idiot. Can anyone tell this idiot why?"
At this time Napoleon raised his hand: "Me!"
"Napoleon!" The instructor frowned slightly, but still called out Napoleon's name. He deliberately imitated the Italian pronunciation, obviously mocking Napoleon's origin.
Yes, the instructors in this school are all aristocrats from old Paris, and they look down on Napoleon from Corsica.
Napoleon didn't care at all about the instructor's pronunciation and answered the question directly: "The frontal firepower of the phalanx is much weaker than that of the normal line array. For the same battalion, the frontal firepower of the same battalion is reduced to a quarter when it is arranged in a phalanx. It cannot defeat the phalanx."
From another battalion in the line."
Instructor: "Very good! You are a little bit right! Unfortunately, you are only a little bit right! Have you come and tell Napoleon what he missed?"
No one raised their hands.
Apparently the nobles simply didn't know the answer.
An Ning patted Napoleon on the shoulder, then raised his hand: "I'll do it."
The instructor snorted: "Huh, do it, son of a cobbler!"
An Ning: "It's artillery. I've experienced the baptism of artillery on the battlefield, and I've seen how those things can kill and injure people. The shells will roll on the ground. After the shells roll over in a line formation, they can knock down six people in two rows at most."
"But the shells rolled through the square formation, and there were definitely more than six casualties."
Instructor: "Very good, you are right. As expected of someone who has been on the battlefield, he actually knows that artillery shells will roll to the ground. That's it. The phalanx is very fragile when facing artillery shells, so it is generally used on the battlefield.
The cavalry forces the enemy into a square formation and then bombards them with artillery!
"You guys, think about it, you don't understand something that even a civilian and a Corsican understands!"
An Ning heard Napoleon muttering in a low voice: "Idiots are just idiots. It has nothing to do with their origin."
"That's right." An Ning patted Napoleon on the shoulder again.
In the next month, the main content of the queue training in the morning became the transformation from line array to square array.
The instructors asked the cadets to practice this mechanically, repeating it over and over again.
And so it was Christmas 1780.
That morning, An Ning ran to Napoleon and asked him to spend Christmas with him.
Tranquility has been planned. Napoleon, a Corsican, must be lonely spending Christmas alone. This time is a good opportunity to increase his favorability!
According to the system's prompts, Napoleon's good impression of him is now trust, and he is ready to continue working hard to see what the next level of trust is.
An Ning arrived at the place where Napoleon lived and saw him sweeping the snow on the ground at the door.
"Napoleon! Why are you sweeping the snow?" An Ning stepped forward and asked doubtfully, "It's your landlord..."
"I took the initiative to clear the snow because I found that doing this kind of work that doesn't require thinking helps me think."
An Ning: "Let me help you. After cleaning, we will go to Christina's manor to spend Christmas together."
Napoleon: "Are you sure that lady will welcome me, a country bumpkin from Corsica?"
"She already welcomes me, the son of a cobbler, and she probably won't care if there's another Corsican bumpkin." An Ning joked.
Napoleon: "That's different. You are his savior. Maybe she still likes you secretly. I'm just an outsider."
When An Ning saw that Napoleon might not come with him if things continued like this, he changed the subject: "What were you thinking about when you were clearing the snow just now?"
"Ah? I was thinking, since skirmishers have an advantage in fighting line infantry, why not use skirmishers as the basic form of infantry combat?"
An Ning shook his head: "You probably saw that in school, the students formed skirmish formations and were well organized, so you were misled.
"However, this is not the case. Everyone in the school is a cadet, and most of them are nobles, so when everyone forms a dispersal formation, order and morale can be maintained.
"In actual combat, the line infantry must be flanked by non-commissioned officers to maintain morale. Once the formation is disbanded and turned into skirmishers, they will retreat directly.
"The conscripted line infantrymen do not have as high a fighting desire and initiative as the non-commissioned officers.
"The skirmishers in various countries are either mercenaries who fight for money and can earn money in exchange for their war achievements, or they are criminals or robbers. These people like to kill people and steal goods.
"In order to maintain the morale and desire to fight of these people, various countries will also provide female bartenders to the skirmishers, who will bring strong wine and swaying breasts to stimulate the skirmishers' desire to fight."
Napoleon was shocked: "The bartender?"
"Yes, they are responsible for providing liquor and sex to the skirmishers." An Ning said, as if he had actually seen it.
In fact, he has never seen it on the front line, but he has seen Hugo's "1993". The opening chapter of this masterpiece describes a group of republican skirmishers and the female bartender assigned to them to act together.
Along the way, we were on the offensive and found a rebel female family member with her child.
Napoleon shook his head: "Crazy, I thought women went to the battlefield mainly in the form of Miss Christina and others."
An Ning: "There are still many things you don't know, so come with me and I will teach you one by one."
Napoleon curled his lips: "Okay, but I still don't want to go to Miss Christina's manor. She will definitely not welcome me."
An Ning: "How are you sure? Maybe one of Christina's aristocratic friends has already taken a liking to you?"
Napoleon shook his head: "Even if any young lady falls in love with me, I won't be happy. I have decided to dedicate my life to the liberation of Corsica."
——Don’t talk too much, Napoleon, you won’t say that when you meet that Josephine Beauharnais.
An Ning: "Come together, just treat it as your only friend."
He calmly put himself in the position of "only friend".
Napoleon sighed: "Okay. Just think of it as tasting the cooking skills of Miss Christina's Parisian chef."