The sky gradually brightened, there was no wind, and the clouds drifted to the ground. They were the white smoke exhaled by the soldiers.
The ankle-deep snow covers the grass like a white carpet. From time to time, pheasants, rabbits, wild boars and deer from the surrounding mountains come here to dig through the snow and eat the grass.
Several dark gray lines appeared on the snow, causing the animals to scatter in all directions.
A wild boar the size of a van stepped on something while running. It suddenly fell to the ground, rolled around a few times, and probably lost its head. It then rushed towards the advancing team.
The hunter company spread out in a horizontal line three hundred meters in front of the main force. Most of their soldiers are hunters from the territory. They are good at fighting and tracking in the jungle. They serve as vanguards to expel and eliminate enemy scouts during the march. Now they are
The only unit equipped with live ammunition.
After a burst of gunfire, the huge wild boar fell to the ground again, and this time he could not get up again.
Metzger swallowed as he walked past the wild boar carcass. This was a steel-haired wild boar. The skin was very strong and the hair on it was very hard. Especially the bristles, which can be used as a brush to remove rust from metal surfaces.
Hunters would wear full-body leather armor made from the skin of this wild boar to hunt wolves.
Metzger was recalling the taste of his wife's wild boar stew with chestnuts when a bugle sounded from behind.
Then whistles sounded, and the team began to change formations under the leadership of grassroots officers.
It was a marching formation just now. Each of the two regiments advanced in double columns, with a distance of more than 200 meters between the regiments. The chasseur company was in the front, and the cavalry company was on the wings and rear.
Frederick observed the team carefully on the mountain. The thick dark gray lines turned into sections of thin lines, and then dispersed into small dark gray dots, and then these small dots were scattered regularly in the snow.
It is easy to see the arrangement of the army from high places.
A battalion has four peashooter companies and two cherry cannon companies. Three peashooter companies form a horizontal formation at the front. A company has three platoons, two in front and one in the back, and one cherry platoon and one in the rear.
Three platoons of the Pea Company formed a line, forming the second line of defense together with a Cherry Company in the rear.
According to the experience summarized by staff officers such as Richard Nall and Franz Jr. in training, a battalion can control the width of the front from 600 meters to 200 meters. The specific width depends on the firepower density required to destroy the enemy.
The width of today's training ground was limited, and each battalion was arranged according to the minimum width in anticipation of the enemy. Everyone stood side by side. The four battalions of the two regiments controlled a total width of about 800 meters.
On the left wing of the infantry, three companies of cavalry were also ready.
A cavalry company has three squadrons. The squadron is composed of three squads, with a total of 72 cavalry, equipped with explosive spears, sabers, pea carbines and revolvers.
The original plan of Wessenland was to form two cavalry companies and two magician companies. Now the magician company is the Wesenberg University militia company, so they have the money to form an additional cavalry escort company. When Frederick goes to the battlefield, they will
Responsible for protection.
There are more than a hundred people in the Magician Company. This number is currently a secret. If it is leaked, its deterrence will not be much worse than that of Richard Nar.
There was a long debate on whether magicians should be used centrally or deployed dispersedly in the army. It was finally decided that during wartime, each company would assign three magicians to be responsible for full-time defense, and the rest would be used intensively.
Frederick watched the entire formation process on the mountain, calculated the time, and was quite satisfied.
"It's great to be able to do this." Richard Nall said with great satisfaction. "They are still young and very talented. After fighting a few battles and growing up, no one will dare to look down upon them in the future."
Frederick nodded. The officers in the army at the foot of the mountain were all second-generation knights in the territory. Their age was terrifyingly low considering their positions.
Franz Jr., who is the commander-in-chief today, is 25 years old. Jurgen, who leads the escort cavalry company, is only 19 years old. Andrei and Lothar, who lead the other two cavalry companies, are also only 20 years old. The regiments of the two regiments
Commander Heinz, Bernd and Guede who commanded the mage company are now 21 to 23 years old. Matthias, Oliver, Michael, Miloslav who serve as battalion commanders and Stefan who is in charge of logistics are also between 20 and 23.
between years.
The age of the soldiers is also not high. The recruitment range is between 18 and 23 years old. Only the sergeants who manage the companies and platoons are mercenary veterans, and none are younger than 35.
The advantage of such a young army is that it has a strong ability to accept new weapons and is flexible and good at thinking about new tactics.
But the shortcomings are also obvious. Young and energetic officers can easily suffer the consequences of old foxes on the battlefield. They have learned many lessons in previous exercises.
Frederick had nothing to do about this. Except for a few geniuses, most of the officers needed to gain experience. The most he could do was to build a military academy after a while.
At this time, a burst of white smoke suddenly burst out from the snow, rushing toward the military formation like a huge wave on the sea.
When the trumpet sounded, everyone in the army immediately opened the gas mask box on their waist, took off their helmets, and put on their masks as quickly as possible.
The cavalry company is a bit more troublesome, they have to wear it on their mounts.
In the end, all the troops put on gas masks before the poisonous smoke arrived.
This poisonous smoke was provided by Friedrich. The main active ingredient is the juice squeezed from the tail of the tickle rat. If you inhale it, your nose will feel itchy and you will sneeze for a long time.
Metzger stood at the front row of the battle line. His vision was blocked by poisonous smoke and he could not see the situation in the distance. He felt a little nervous and his hand holding the pea gun was shaking a little.
The comrades around him were not much better. In the past, lining up for target shooting was one thing. Today, it is another thing to have iron cans charging into the formation. Who knows whether those horses will stop 10 meters away as promised.
.
"Don't worry, everyone!" Bobo said to his comrades, "The Heijiapu troops are well-trained troops, and they have no problem controlling horses... [Wesson uses expletives]! What is that?!"
When the poisonous smoke dissipated, the entire army, like Bobo, was stunned by the scene before them, and many people's feet were trembling.
No matter who it was, even Frederick would be intimidated when he saw thousands of heavily armed Alsaces riding invincibles in the distance, holding Frostmourne and preparing to charge towards him.
Richard Nall asked Frederick a little unbearably: "Isn't it... a little cruel?"
Frederick smiled and shook his head and replied: "No, that's good."
Naturally, he doesn't have the money to come up with such a luxurious lineup, but there is no problem in using 59 to pretend to be M1A2.
There are only 20 cavalry in the imaginary enemy force in Heijiapu. There is no need to think about the 20 iron cans. They all use thick enough metal armor to protect the front of people and horses, and then decorate it with cardboard and tin.
In front of the eyes is a palm-sized transparent magic shield to prevent bullets from hitting the eyes.
Frederick also hired a professor from Weissenburg University who was good at projection magic. A cavalryman created dozens of identical projections, while amplifying the sound of horse hooves and adding some special effects to stir up smoke and dust. As long as the projection was not seen at close range,
I can't tell the difference at all.
Little Franz was also stunned. Like everyone else, he only knew that the imaginary enemy force would simulate a cavalry charge. At first, he thought it was the 20 cavalry rushing over and then stopping in front of the battle line. He did not expect that this would happen.
He quickly calmed down and immediately ordered the cherry cannon to fire.