It was a scorching summer day, and the June morning sun cast its golden rays upon the boundless sea, turning the water a brilliant gold. A dry, hot wind swept across the surface, creating ripples, and the cries of seabirds occasionally echoed through the air.
West of Rome, the vast expanse of the Tyrrhenian Sea along the Fiumicino coast was the site of the Papal States' joint land and sea exercise for the past few days.
At this very moment, almost all of the Papal States' active naval and army forces were gathered here, and a grand joint land and sea exercise was about to commence.
The army numbered nearly 30,000, standing in strict formation along the shore, their spears and swords glinting in the sunlight. Various new equipment also made their appearance, exuding an imposing aura.
The infantry phalanx was composed of pikemen and musketeers. The pikemen were positioned in the center of the phalanx, wearing expensive three-quarter plate armor and helmets, forming a rectangle surrounded by musketeers.
The musketeers on the periphery wore flexible and lightweight leather armor, primarily using muskets for attack, while also equipped with close-combat weapons like swords to engage enemies who reached them.
The proportion of musketeers in the phalanx was as high as 75%, a ratio unprecedented in Europe at the time. Quantitative change led to qualitative change; the exceptionally high proportion of musketeers distinguished this phalanx from other existing phalanxes in various countries.
Compared to the Spanish Phalanx, this phalanx reduced the depth of its columns and extended its lines to increase the coverage of its volley fire, posing a threat to the enemy's flanks, thus gaining an advantage over the Spanish Phalanx.
This infantry phalanx, in fact, had already incorporated some reforms from the later Gustav Phalanx. It was jointly created by Karl and Duke after fully considering Augustus's suggestions and making improvements based on practical circumstances. This phalanx was given a sacred name: the Papal Phalanx.
Far behind the infantry phalanx was the artillery position. Each artillery position, in addition to the artillerymen operating the cannons, also had a considerable number of pikemen guarding the position.
As for the cavalry, they did not attend this grand ceremony because they were inconvenient to command and deploy in this exercise, and their numbers were already extremely small.
In contrast, the naval forces appeared slightly inferior. There were fewer than 8,000 naval soldiers, and fewer than a hundred ships in total, with only seven galleons being heavy ships. The light ships were varied: galleys, galleasses, hoys, and galliots—all kinds were present, many of which were cobbled together.
However, even though they were inferior to the army in terms of numbers and equipment, the navy's spirit was no less impressive. The soldiers on board, between the sea and the sky, were radiant and high-spirited.
After a few days of adaptive training, most army soldiers were already capable of basic naval combat, and naval soldiers could also perform simple coordination with the army.
On this day, Augustus was invited by Karl, Duke, and Giovanni to inspect the results of the soldiers' training, and also to boost morale and display national prestige before the major war.
Due to limited technological capabilities, a truly meaningful confrontational exercise was out of the question. Therefore, this review was primarily a performance.
The core members of the Papal States who also attended were Faol, Dracula, Enzo, and Stirile. Of course, to uninformed outsiders, Stirile was just an insignificant figure, attending merely as an attendant to the Pope, just like any ordinary member of the guard, and naturally not comparable to the others.
Katerina was also fortunate enough to be invited as an accompanying person. Since the goal was to display national prestige, it certainly couldn't be just for internal viewing. It was essential for Katerina to selectively report some positive news and then disseminate it through the Rome Newspaper.
Augustus and his entourage, along with Karl, Duke, and Giovanni, stood high on a pre-selected hill, looking down, and the mighty military formation and fleet were all within their sight.
On land, there were thousands of soldiers; on the sea, there were ships stretching for a thousand li. At this moment, a fervent passion surged within Augustus's chest. In this chaotic world, what he could truly rely on were these tens of thousands of troops! In the near future, the Papal States' army would undoubtedly be larger and stronger!
"My valiant soldiers, you are the pride of the Papal States! I stand with you! God is with you! God will bless you, making you invincible and victorious! Now, let God witness your bravery!"
"Invincible and victorious! Invincible and victorious!" Tens of thousands of people shouted in unison, their thunderous cries echoing in the wind, shaking the world of Europa.
After the shouting ceased, the chief drummers in the center of each military formation began to beat their drums to convey orders. For a moment, the sound of drums shook the heavens. Following this, the various military formations, standing ready, began to move slowly.
Perhaps with the intention of competing, the National Defense Force and the Field Army deployed the same number of troops and were clearly divided into left and right formations, with a gap between them much larger than that between typical military formations, making them very easy to distinguish from above.
Augustus watched the changes in the two armies with interest, silently comparing them in his mind. Karl and Duke also stood on either side of Augustus, their faces beaming with confident smiles.
Accompanied by the uniform drumbeats conveying orders, more than twenty infantry formations began to move forward slowly and orderly, at an extremely slow but exceptionally steady and impregnable pace, like the towering Alps.
The drumming abruptly stopped, and the advancing formations simultaneously halted. After a moment of silence, the artillery from the rear positions suddenly roared, and dozens of cannonballs whistled through the air, landing on and near the straw man formations in the distance, kicking up flying dust and debris, throwing the straw men at the center of the explosion high into the air before they crashed down heavily.
Immediately following, the musketeers in the first row of the phalanx raised their already loaded muskets. At the commander's command, the muskets fired in unison, and in an instant, thick smoke billowed from the front of each phalanx.
After the first row completed their volley, they quickly turned sideways and retreated through the gaps in the ranks to the back of the last row of musketeers, reloading their gunpowder. At the same time, the next row of musketeers moved forward for a new round of volley fire, then retreated to the back like the first row. This was the same reverse loading method with rotating fire as the Spanish Phalanx.
This cycle repeated several times. As the scattered gunshots from the slower formations ended, the firing ceased, and silence returned to the coast.
At this point, several rows of straw men in the front "formation," even if they had survived the artillery bombardment, could not escape the hail of bullets. They were riddled with dense bullet holes, left leaning haphazardly in place.
Looking at the devastation of the straw man formation after the successive attacks, Augustus was first stunned, then burst into laughter.
Such powerful firepower, if facing an enemy cold-weapon army of comparable numbers, would cause them to collapse before even reaching our army's phalanx, unable to withstand the casualties.
Seeing the Pope applaud first, the people beside him also began to applaud.
Faol didn't understand but was greatly impressed, and he could also tell that Augustus was very satisfied with this, so he also genuinely clapped his hands.
In the recent exercise, the Field Army performed exceptionally well in all aspects, and Duke's joyful mood was evident.
Only Karl seemed a bit unhappy. The formations that lost rhythm and completed their firing last all belonged to the National Defense Force. Besides, the overall time required for the National Defense Force to complete its firing was also considerably longer than that of the Field Army. Being outdone by Duke, Karl frowned, and his applause was not heartfelt.
Augustus did not take this minor difference to heart. Duke's Field Army had its own established foundation, making training naturally much easier, while Faol's National Defense Force was almost a blank slate, needing to be taught everything from scratch. Achieving this level of performance was already quite good. Augustus was very satisfied not only with the Field Army but also with the National Defense Force.
In the vast expanse of the world, the nascent sun was still rising, not yet reaching the center of the clouds, but its infinitely radiating light and heat already enveloped the entire Apennine Peninsula.
The drumming, which had been covered by gunfire and then ceased, resumed. Unlike the slow and even drumming from before, this time it was urgent and powerful, giving a sense of facing a formidable enemy.
Augustus's eyes lit up, and he understood. This meant a change in formation.
The musketeers in each square formation systematically contracted towards the center, while the pikemen, originally in the center of each square, moved to the outer perimeter and quickly arranged themselves neatly.
Before long, each square formation successively completed its change, and the drumming stopped. At this point, the square formations had transformed into pikemen surrounding the musketeers.
The pikemen at the front consisted of three ranks, used to resist the enemy's frontal assault. The first rank knelt, holding their pikes diagonally upwards in their arms; the second rank held their pikes horizontally at waist height; and the third rank held their pikes high above their heads, forming a dense pike wall.
The pikemen on both sides and at the rear were all in a single rank, to counter enemy flanking maneuvers. When pikemen on the sides or rear were reduced, adjacent pikemen would fill in, and pikemen from the rear ranks of the front could also move to the sides and rear, ensuring the formation's integrity.
Looking down from above, each square formation resembled an angry porcupine, raising its most lethal weapons, intimidating the imaginary enemy that was closing in.
Augustus nodded thoughtfully. The pikemen were initially positioned in the center of the square, not affecting the musketeers' firing, thus maximizing the muskets' lethality against the enemy.
When the enemy approached, no matter from which direction, the pikemen could move to the front of the musketeers to defend at the fastest speed. The musketeers would retreat into the formation, and under the protection of the pikemen, they could continue their fire attack.
This formation only lasted for a moment before it changed again with the sound of drums: each huge thousand-man square formation suddenly dispersed, like a collapsing snow mountain.
Under everyone's astonished gaze, the dispersed soldiers regrouped and formed in three directions. After a brief adjustment, the original formation split into three, with a certain distance maintained between each formation, forming a 'pin' character shape, with each small formation having fewer than four hundred men.
Another round of war drums sounded, and the formations rapidly expanded. After a long period of rearrangement, they formed various large and small hollow square formations.
Hollow square formations were not originally a product of this era. In the original timeline, they became famous during the Napoleon era, were widely used by Russia before that, and first appeared during the War of the Spanish Succession, which began in 1702.
The reason they could appear here at this time was the result of some theories provided by Augustus and the continuous practice and refinement by Karl and Duke.
Compared to solid square formations, which are difficult to reorganize once broken, hollow square formations are much more flexible and mobile. The hollow center is also more conducive to the adjustment and movement of soldiers.
The empty space in the middle of the formation could also be used to appropriately place some ranged weapons and cavalry. Once a small number of enemy troops managed to break into the formation after great difficulty, they would immediately face ruthless combined annihilation.
This type of hollow square formation has a very strong counter-effect against cavalry and is more resilient under artillery attack. The disadvantage is that, with the same number of personnel, a hollow square formation occupies a much larger area and has a much larger engagement range than a solid square formation. It also has fewer ranks and is far less dense than a solid square formation.
However, as far as the current situation is concerned, the Papal States' army is far less proficient in the use of hollow square formations than other formations.
With the same number of people, the hollow square formations were not only of varying sizes, but some lines were also crooked. What should have been rectangular formations had warped into trapezoids, and some, belonging to the National Defense Force, had an uncountable number of sides.
As the formations grew larger, the number of ranks decreased, there were fewer reference points, and the middle was empty, making it even more difficult to judge distances. The difficulty of using hollow square formations is inherently higher than solid square formations. Coupled with the fact that hollow square formations started training relatively late, it was not the soldiers' fault.
Despite the flaws, Augustus laughed heartily: "Not bad, not bad. Our army can use hollow square formations so quickly. We will have another option on the battlefield in the future."
Augustus had not finished speaking when the formations changed again.
This time, all the square formations completely broke apart, forming one column after another. The pikemen gripped their pikes tightly, while the musketeers put away their muskets, drew the swords from their waists, and stood ready.
At a command, all the columns surged forward one after another like a fierce mountain torrent. For a moment, the earth shook, and battle cries echoed through the sky.
After charging for a certain distance, all the columns successively stopped and orderly opened up into lines.
Augustus nodded; this was a column charge.
This was originally a tactic from the Napoleon era. Compared to a line charge, which is easily torn open and routed by a strong attack, a column charge has a smaller frontal impact area and is less likely to be hit.
The two skirmish lines in front and back are 10 to 20 meters apart, avoiding being hit by a single cannonball simultaneously. Depending on the situation, there can be many skirmish lines, and they can also perform wave-like charges, which is often referred to as human wave tactics.
After completing the charge, the columns could not only quickly transition to close combat but also reform into hollow square formations.
Accompanied by the long and lingering drumbeats, the soldiers reformed into square formations, returning to their initial formation. The army's drill concluded here.
"It's the navy's turn," Giovanni said, excited.
Because the Papal States' current number of ships was limited, it was impossible for all the ground forces to board simultaneously. Therefore, the National Defense Force and the Field Army each selected a comparable number of soldiers to participate in the joint exercise.
The selected soldiers jogged along, boarding the sailing battleships, light vessels, galleys, and transport ships in an orderly fashion.
With a little attention, one would notice that the National Defense Force and the Field Army, upon boarding, still separated into two sides on the water.
As the last soldier boarded, the navy sailed away from the shore. All the ships formed a long line according to the battle line, and the navy's performance officially began.
Under the command of the various captains, the towering sailing battleships spread their sails and slowly turned their hulls sideways. The side gunport covers opened, revealing several rows, totaling hundreds of neatly arranged cannon barrels.
Then, Augustus heard the roar of cannons. Thunder erupted instantly, and the pre-set naval artillery targets on the shore were instantly obliterated in smoke and fire, leaving behind only scorched earth.
What great power! Augustus secretly marveled. When attacking coastal cities, naval artillery assistance would surely yield twice the results with half the effort.
The long line split in half in the middle, with the rear half circling around from the side and sailing forward until the two fleets were side by side.
Immediately after, the two lines of ships slowly drew closer, and one side threw hooks to the other, fixing the two ships together. Then, the soldiers on board jumped onto the opposite ship, and after a "contest," jumped back onto their own ships.
This was simulating a boarding action. However, since it was an exercise, they couldn't truly risk their lives. Damaging the limited number of ships for the sake of a real battle in an exercise would not be worthwhile.
Precisely because of this, without actual confrontation, most naval tactics could not be demonstrated, making the navy's exercise much more monotonous compared to the army's.
Just as Augustus thought it was too simple, suddenly, a soldier fell into the water. One soldier falling into the water affected a group of surrounding soldiers, resulting in a series of falls, with seven or eight falling one after another, leaving Augustus dumbfounded.
This shouldn't be happening. They haven't even truly engaged yet; they're just switching ships. How could so many fall into the water at once? If this were real naval combat, wouldn't it be… Augustus pondered privately.
Fortunately, the water near the shore was shallow, and with timely rescue from teammates, there was no danger, and no casualties. Since the Field Army and the National Defense Force were clearly separated, it was immediately apparent that all these fallen soldiers belonged to the Field Army.
Duke's smile vanished, and his fists clenched. Karl, on the other hand, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, finally gaining an advantage.
"Katerina, this section can be selectively omitted," Faol whispered, turning his face to the side to remind her.
"Understood."
"Also, regarding some things related to tactics and combat methods, don't write too specifically. They will still be used on the battlefield," Augustus added.
"Clear," Katerina replied briefly.