Chapter 77: Preparing to Build the Spanish Phalanx

Marin is naturally happy to have recruited such a talented person as Frenzberg. Because it is a very proud thing to make the "father of German mercenaries" his own thug. With the presence of Franzberg, Marin intends to start experimenting with a true Spanish phalanx.

The infantry phalanx he had trained before, Marin felt very flawed. The biggest problem is that there is some frustration with the plate armor. For example, in the ambush in Fornovo, Marin reluctantly discovered that most of the thousands of French plate knights who died in the battle were killed by stones or by being pushed down the mountain by spears. And there were no more than 50 people killed by spears and those shot by bows and arrows.

In other words, the previous infantry phalanx was only suitable for fighting Swiss mercenaries wearing fancy commoners. In fact, it is very powerless to deal with French knights who like to wear plate armor. Of course, if the French knights rode their horses into the phalanx, that's another story. I can't stab the knight wrapped in the "tin can", and can't I stab the horse?

You know, horse armor is different from human plate armor. Relatively speaking, the coverage area of ​​horse armor is much worse than that of plate armor, and it is only approved on the back and head of the horse. There is no armor on the horse's legs. Because horses are meant to run, if they are covered in armor, they cannot run.

Moreover, horse armor is basically tie armor, mainly for ease of running. Plate armor is too restrictive to people's freedom of movement. Wearing it, people act like robots. If a horse wears plate armor, it cannot run.

The spear, on the other hand, is lethal to the armor worn by the horse and can be pierced. Even if you can't pierce the horse armor, you can lower the position and stab the horse's leg or belly without armor.

Therefore, it is very disadvantageous for the heavily armored knights to ride their horses to attack this square...

However, it cannot be said that the knights can't do anything about the spear formation. If the knight abandoned the horse and walked on foot, it would be very powerful if he attacked the pure spear formation. Because, if the two sides stab each other, your ordinary mercenary does not wear armor, and I wear plate armor. You are afraid of being stabbed, and you will be finished with one stab, and I am wearing plate armor, so I am not afraid of your stab.

The archers in Marin's original phalanx were also very weak against knights in plate armor. Bows and arrows shoot on the armor made of iron plates, which are difficult to penetrate, leaving deep marks at most. Even if it hits the joints, it can only injure the enemy, not fatal at all...

After thinking about it, the best way to deal with a walking knight in plate armor is to use a musket...

Of course, not with those little muskets, but with the big ones...

The reason why the early Spanish phalanx was awesome was because of the extensive use of Spanish Mushkert muskets. This is a heavy musket, weighing about 10 kilograms, twice as heavy as a wartime musket. Correspondingly, his caliber is also larger, and the projectile is also heavier, weighing 50 grams, which is one or two.

One or two heavy lead bullets were fired by the musket and hit the knight in plate armor at a subsonic speed of several hundred meters per second. In addition to strong kinetic energy, there was also a strong shock wave. Under such a powerful blow, the knight had to fall off his horse and be injured, or even die. It's not good to hit a horse. If it enters the body, one or two heavy lead bullets will cause the wound... plus the tumbling effect of the lead bullet... hehe... you can directly arrange the funeral, but there is no way to save it...

Moreover, at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, because the iron smelting technology was not good enough, heavy muskets like the Spanish Mushkert musket could fully ensure that the barrel was not easy to explode. If it were made lighter and thinner, like the Ming army musket, it only weighed five pounds. Before killing the enemy, it would blow up and kill myself first...

The Spanish phalanx, because of the extensive use of the Musikt muskets, makes the phalanx not only good at melee combat, but also has a very strong long-range attack strength, especially good at playing plate armor knights, whether you are riding or walking. Therefore, the Spaniards relied on this phalanx and ran rampant in Europe for more than a century, and also forced the plate knights out of the stage of history.

Later, the Earl of Tilly also relied on the Spanish phalanx, and became an earl from a small person until he met the more powerful Second Master Gu...

Throughout the 16th century, the Spanish phalanx was the most powerful in Europe-until a Morris appeared in the last few years, and the Morris phalanx improved from the Spanish phalanx...

All in all, the Spanish phalanx, for the current European army, is a very bullish existence. You can hang French knights, you can torture Swiss spearmen...

In fact, Marin wanted to form the Spanish phalanx before the outbreak of the Italian war. However, at that time he did not have a suitable musket in a hurry, nor did he have enough money to buy the musket and the ammunition that the musket consumed. Therefore, he can only replace it with an archer first.

But the Italian war told him that the enemy will not arrange the right opponent for you as you wish. Archers have no effect on plate knights, only on unarmored infantry. But the enemy will not send you unarmored infantry to shoot and kill, maybe specially send plate knights who can't shoot. So, having a gun is a better choice.

Moreover, musketeers are easy to train, and after a week or two of training, they can be pulled into the field. As for an archer, it takes more than ten years to practice...

Of course, Marin himself does not really like the Spanish phalanx. He himself, prefers the line array of Second Master Gu. However, in fighting for the emperor, Marin was not willing to take out the most powerful battle formation. Even taking out the Spanish phalanx is enough to slaughter the French knights and the Swiss lancers. And Frenzberg is the commander of the Spanish phalanx in Marin's eyes. When the emperor needs it, let this guy take the Spanish phalanx and fight to the death with the enemy. With Frenzberg's talent and the advanced nature of the Spanish phalanx, it should be nothing to sweep Western Europe. The next opponents of Maximilian I were actually the Swiss (Swabian War), the French (Italian War) and the Hungarians. Spanish phalanx, absolutely enough.

As for the command and composition of the phalanx, the grass-roots officers, Marin intends to choose from 400 subordinates, whether they are company captains or squad captains.

The families of these people have all been brought to Texel Island, and they must be responsible to themselves. Then, the new army to be built must still be in his own hands. As for Frenzberg, Marin tried it out. He seemed to be a pure military attaché, with a seemingly average political fighting ability. It should be difficult to escape from his control. After all, when Marin recruited Frenzberg, he asked him to work for the emperor on his behalf. Marin didn't care about anything else but his usefulness in the eyes of Maximilian I. If Frenzberg abducted the army and went directly to the emperor, his importance would be reduced. And he himself is at odds with those old-fashioned nobles. If you lose the support of the emperor, you will be unable to move an inch.

With the addition of Frenzberg, Marin intends to officially start the preparation of the Spanish phalanx. Marin is not worried about the shortage of personnel. Because of the success of the Italian War, many young Germans were willing to become mercenaries.

In addition, the seemingly real Spanish phalanx, in order to improve the survivability of the soldiers, seems to be equipped with half-length Maximilian armor and Spanish-style helmets for the soldiers in the front row.

For this, Marin decided to equip his soldiers with half-armor and helmets to improve their survivability. In order to equip the armor, Marin intends to send people to the southern region of Germany to recruit a group of craftsmen who are good at making armor, specially making armor and helmets for soldiers.

Finally, the Spanish phalanx needs a classic weapon - the Mushkert musket. This thing is currently only available in Spain, but it has not yet been put into actual combat. Marin decided to send someone to Spain and recruit a group of Spanish craftsmen who are good at making Musquet muskets to build muskets for himself to supply the army needs...

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