Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 201 "Basil's Hammer"

Not long after, the leading guard of honor entered the square.

At the head is a large group of horsemen, surrounded by two generals in red robes and exaggerated feather crowns.Cheers erupted from the crowd, and the riders also signaled to the crowd.They came to the side of the square, reined in their horses and stood still under the viewing platform.

"Who is this?" Zhu Wenkui asked.

"My cousin Guo Zhaowen, and Yang Fugui, the commander of the 'Basil's Hammer'." Guo Kang said: "The unit that received the highest merit this time is the 'Basil's Hammer', so Triumph is also based on this unit. Lord. The two of them, as the directly subordinate legion commanders and battle regiment commanders, acted as the forerunners in the guard of honor according to the custom."

"The name of this battle group is very interesting." Zhu Wenkui asked curiously: "Is there any allusion to this?"

"This is a siege regiment." Guo Kang said: "In most cases, the war regiment is the armed force of the military government, and it will not be dispatched as a whole when participating in the war. Our habit is called 'people take turns to fight, and the ground takes turns to rest'." .Even if a large-scale conscription is required, generally only individual brigades will be drawn from the local battle groups.”

"However, later wars became more and more complicated, but the scale of local battle groups was limited. Some arms that required relatively high professional skills were unable to support a large-scale army. The first to encounter this situation was firearms. "

"This thing requires a special process from production to use. And there is a big difference in efficiency between large-scale use and scattered use. Therefore, we began to form a special battle group and centrally equipped with special Weapons, special training."

"In the northwest of us, near Hungary and Alemanni, there are a large number of fortified fortresses. After discovering that the Crusades could not destroy us, the lords there tried their best to build more, trying to prevent us from attacking Into their hinterland. In order to deal with this situation, we have also prepared a special army to fight tit for tat."

"This kind of siege battle group was specially formed by Dadu Khanting himself. The engineers and soldiers in the group are also selected from the entire Khanate. So they are very powerful, especially like this time. With multiple castles to be pulled down, it's no surprise they got the top job."

Guo Kang was also very proud of this, and explained it enthusiastically.While he was speaking, a large group of infantry had already reached the entrance of the street.The leading officers waved their flags and told the soldiers to get into formation.Everyone slowed down a little, and entered the square in a neat formation.

There were more and more citizens watching, and many people followed the team and squeezed into the square from the side of the street.The aristocratic area faces the buildings of the Niangniang Temple, and some people simply climbed up.

The window on the second floor of the small building opened, and a bald Greek stuck his head out, cursing and trying to drive the audience away.However, everyone ignored him completely, and even took out the rope and started climbing like a climbing tiger.

The following people also sang:
"Look at that bitch Frajos,

He chatters like a fly!

Look at that sheep-like Frajos,

He is gesticulating and rowing, which is disappointing! "

Seeing that everyone was targeting him, the homeowner hastily retracted his head and hid.There was another burst of laughter from the crowd.

"What are you doing over there?" Zhu Wenkui asked curiously.

"That's Master Vlahos, Michael Vlahos." Guo Kang seemed to recognize the man, and said with a smile: "He is a stingy old guy who is famous all over the city. You will definitely know him in the future."

The little farce passed quickly, and under the expectant eyes of everyone, the infantry in heavy armor entered the square.

In the small phalanx headed by everyone, everyone was wearing thick armor with a chest plate on the outside, and the same red cloak as the head of the group was draped on the back.Many pieces of armor show signs of damage, and soldiers proudly display the scratches, holes and smoky black spots.

The crowd surrounded a big flag, which was just a simple white cloth with a bucket drawn on it with a few strokes.The flag was mutilated and one corner was burned.In the upper part of the center, two holes were broken.

"Is this their team flag?" Zhu Wenkui asked, "Why does that pattern look like a barrel? What does it mean?"

"That's indeed a barrel." Guo Kang nodded: "This is the first brigade of the 'Basil's Hammer', responsible for the production and management of gunpowder. When fighting, they especially like to dig tunnels, and then use piles of Gunpowder kegs blow right through the city walls. That's why everyone else calls them 'barrel boys'."

"These people are not simple. Nearly half of the soldiers in the regiment are long-term non-commissioned officers. The rest are rotated like ordinary regiments. But unlike other regiments, they do not have a military mansion to which they belong, that is to say There is no conscription place. They are recruiting soldiers from the entire Khanate.”

"This rotation is also to train the talents of other troops, so that other battle groups can also use their experience and technology when needed."

"No wonder the armor is so thick. These are all warriors who climbed first and fell into battle." Zhu Wenkui said with emotion.

"According to our rules, if a castle guarded by 50 people is captured, it will be counted as a hundred heads, and if there are soldiers inside, it will be counted as another. For a large fortress defended by 500 people, if it is captured, it will be counted as two thousand heads. This time they went all the way. More than 20 large and small fortresses were blown up, and more than half of the military exploits were taken by these people." Guo Kang smiled and shook his head: "Others are a little unconvinced. I heard that every legion also wants to organize their own blasting What about the team?"

"There is such a thing..." Little Rangna was also a little surprised: "I thought the siege of the city with firearms meant the shelling of cannons."

"The shelling is too slow." Guo Kang shook his head: "The current artillery is still not effective. Moreover, our goal of attacking the city is not the castle itself, but the need to quickly break through the enemy's fort blockade, break into their rear, and force the enemy's main force to come out. Fight us in the wild."

"In this way of thinking, the most important thing is to use a large amount of gunpowder together to quickly destroy the fortress. Small cannons are not effective, ordinary siege cannons are slow to move, and giant siege cannons are almost immovable and can only be cast on site. "

"Compared to the attack with artillery, it takes a long time to smash it with shells. But directly cutting the foot of the wall and stuffing it with explosives is much faster."

"The upper limit of this method is also higher." He explained the technical problem: "Even the thick rammed earth wall of the Central Plains, the kind of earth mountain that ordinary artillery can't do anything about, can be destroyed by gunpowder blasting, not to mention that it is much thinner here. A small castle. We only need to carry lighter ordinary artillery, suppress the soldiers and defensive equipment on the enemy’s wall, and then everyone will dig.”

"Then what if the defenders have been destroying the tunnel?" Little Jeanna asked.

"The tunnels used for blasting are not as demanding as the tunnels for people to enter the city or dig down the city walls. In places with shelter, they can be excavated directly close to the city wall." Guo Kang said: "Although Western Europeans also We will judge the location of the tunnel and intercept it through various techniques, but we are not going to dig through it, we just need to dig a hole under the city wall."

"If you are still worried that they will make accurate judgments and then use tunnels to attack the attack, you can dig more. This time when they attacked the fortress, the 'Barrel Boy' led the auxiliary army and dug 17 trenches and tunnels at the same time. Even if the enemy It's useless to use 'earth listening', because there are digging sounds in all directions, and it will definitely not be able to stop so many."

"As a result, the mercenaries inside surrendered directly before the digging was finished." Guo Kang said with a smile: "Our current difficulty is only the production of gunpowder, and other aspects are actually not a problem."

Little Jeanna was quite curious about this, but at this moment, the first team had already stood in the square, and another group of soldiers came in.

Their attire was similar to those in front of them, except that they were obviously bigger and bigger.They also fly a simple black-on-white flag with a laurel wreath painted on it.

"This is the second team 'Olympia'." Guo Kang took the initiative to introduce: "The pattern on the flag means the winner of the Olympic Games. Because this team was first recruited from the winners of the Games."

"Huh? Selecting people for the sports meeting?" Zhu Wenkui still didn't seem to understand: "I've heard of the ancient Olympics from my Greek master, but can people be selected like this?"

"Their requirements are quite special." Guo Kang explained: "This team, at the beginning, was dedicated to experimenting with Thunderbolt. We found that this thing is especially useful in sieges and street battles."

"However, if this kind of weapon wants to reach the standard, it must be very large and heavy. It is difficult for ordinary people to throw it too far without training."

"At that time, someone remembered that in the classical era, there were also soldiers in the Roman army who specialized in throwing large stones, and suggested that we should follow suit. And everyone immediately remembered the shot put and discus throwing events in the ancient Olympic Games. Therefore, this method It was also promoted."

"In the beginning, the sports meeting was only held in the army, but later it was gradually relaxed, and civilians can also participate. According to the regulations, as long as you get enough good results in the competition, you can join this team."

"So, their brigade is actually more exaggerated than the first brigade. Except for the non-commissioned officers of other regiments transferred to train and study, the other soldiers are basically recruits. They basically don't do other jobs anymore, but use sports and War is the main business. Of course, the premise of this higher treatment is that their selection conditions are much harsher. It can be said that there are only one warriors in the brigade."

"Just looking at this physique, it's amazing." Zhu Wenkui praised.

"Yes. Another advantage of their brigade is that it has attracted many Greeks to join the army." Guo Kang said: "Many people think they are strong enough, so they rush to take this as their goal."

"Anyway, the Greeks like this kind of sports games very much. Now there are quite a few Greeks here who come from above-average families and specialize in sports and philosophy. So don't look rough, their average quality is actually quite high. "

"Of course, this has also brought a lot of trouble to the normal soldiers in the team. Some strange Greeks always like to harass them... I suspect that they regard the 'Olympia' team as a Holy Order." Guo Kang scratched his head: "This It's a side effect, and I feel like there's nothing I can do about it..."

(End of this chapter)