Firearms in a Fantasy World

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Starting from late July, Alden conducted several consecutive military exercises. After all, they were no longer dealing with third-rate pirate gangs but with the military forces of another territory. Hence, they needed to adapt in advance.

To ensure flexible use of forces on the battlefield, at Paul's suggestion, the staff began experimenting with linear tactics. Specifically, infantry battalions were arranged in a single line horizontally, with each battalion of pikemen arranged in six rows vertically, with each platoon responsible for two rows. Musketmen were deployed separately in rows of three, each row firing independently.

Compared to the popular phalanx tactics of the present, Alden's army had a broader front but shallower depth. The broad front could create a semi-encircling effect, and with the increasing number of firearms, they would be more effective against dense formations, delivering a substantial amount of firepower to the enemy in a short time.

Unlike the large battle clusters such as ten-thousand and thousand-man teams commonly used in this world, organizing smaller units like platoons and squads provided more opportunities for lower-ranking commanders to exercise initiative. Of course, this depended on having a large number of qualified junior officers. Paul was certain that no other power in this world emphasized the training of junior officers as much as he did. He even established a military academy specifically for this purpose. In most national armies, the thoughts of their lower-ranking officers were only slightly stronger than those of their big-headed soldiers.

Given the poor accuracy of rifled gun barrels, musketmen were not allowed to fire at will until they heard the officer's order, and there were generally two ways to do so: shooting in turns or shooting at the same time.

When shooting in turns, the three rows of soldiers fired one after another, while one row of soldiers shot, and the other two rows aimed or loaded ammunition. The soldiers then fired one after another, keeping up a continuous output of firepower.

When shooting at the same time, the soldiers in the first row half-knelt to shoot, while the soldiers in the second and third rows stood to shoot. This way, all soldiers could shoot at once. Although this simultaneous shooting could not maintain uninterrupted firepower, examples from European history proved that during the few minutes approaching the climax of a charge, a fierce volley could be very effective.

One simultaneous volley of soldiers could adequately prepare for the rigorously trained pikemen to launch an attack. Paul had seen in a segment of information from a previous life: such a simultaneous volley could not only inflict greater damage on the enemy but also cause three times the fear and shock compared to previous single-row volleys. It could greatly undermine the enemy's courage. The reason was simple: for ordinary people, the shock and terror caused by a long-lasting thunderstorm were greater than the sum of the shocks and intimidations caused by ten intermittent thunderstorms.

Paul believes that dealing with the temporary recruits of local lords, a single volley of gunfire can crush them.

The soldiers standing in the first row undoubtedly needed great courage. So a reward mechanism called