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Chapter 578 The Last Honor 2
To the west of the square is a large beach, which is unobstructed and within the range of naval guns. With such a large and dense formation, whether they are here to surrender or to die, I can't decide for a while.

"It's the Spanish infantry regiment. It's introduced in His Majesty's army textbook. It's said to be quite powerful in Europe."

The staff officer around him also saw this situation and quickly explained it to Huang Nanping in a low voice. This is their job content, providing battlefield news and intelligence to the main general anytime and anywhere, and assisting the main general in making correct judgments.

At this time, the landing force of the Marine Guards had received the signal from the ship and was gathering on the beach to inspect personnel, ammunition, and firearms in preparation for the battle. But another troop rushed out from the woods in the southwest. There were no rows or columns, and there was no visible formation. They were just stragglers.

After seeing the Spanish phalanx, this group of people hesitated for a while, gathered and organized a little, leaving a large amount of debris on the beach, and then headed east to meet them.

"Send a flare, notify Zhu Qianhu, restrain the Annan soldiers, and don't let them come into contact with the Spanish army yet." Upon seeing this, Huang Nanping quickly asked the first officer to send a flare, trying to stop the reckless behavior of this unit.

The last group of people to come were Annan mercenaries, numbering nearly a thousand. Almost everyone carried a large number of non-combat items on their bodies, necks, and backs. To put it bluntly, they were trophies. Those that were too annoying were thrown on the beach, leaving a few people to guard them. Those that were not too annoying were still hung on the body and were not willing to abandon them.

Whether the Annan soldiers could defeat the Spaniards or not, Huang Nanping had no way to draw lessons from experience. Just comparing it based on military discipline, it seemed a bit difficult. There is not much difference in the number of both sides. The Annan mercenaries have slightly more troops, but the level of training of the Spanish army is obviously much higher.

"It's too late. Gao Qianhu's Marine Guards have just left Fort Santiago. They are still one mile away from here. Why don't you let the Marine Guards here go over and suppress them? It's so outrageous. They are busy grabbing things before the battle is over!" The staff officer around him did not stop the first mate from sending out flares, but he did not think it would be effective.

"The timing is not right. Going over to the Marine Guards at this time will only make the situation more chaotic. That's it, let them try it first. None of us have seen how Spain fights."

Huang Nanping didn't even think about this suggestion. He used hundreds of people to gather thousands of people in front of the enemy. How much he looked down on the Spaniards. Once they are taken advantage of to charge to the range of hand-to-hand combat, the Marine Guards will fall into a passive position, and even naval guns will not be able to support them.

"The Spanish infantry regiment's phalanx is not complete and does not exert 100% of its power, but it is more than enough to deal with these undisciplined guys." The staff officer was even more pessimistic and did not think that the Annan mercenaries with superior numbers could win. Chance.

They stopped when the two sides were still one or two hundred paces apart. The soldiers in the front rows put down their weapons flatly under the orders of the mounted commander. They were very long spears.

The Spanish phalanx did not panic due to the presence of thousands more enemies. They were still arranged neatly and approached slowly with a constant pace following the drum beat.

However, he was positive about the combat effectiveness of the Annan soldiers. At least they performed bravely when fighting the Li clan in the north and would not be defeated easily. As for greed, who among the soldiers is not greedy? They all paid for it with their lives, so why not take it?
The staff officer said this because he had little knowledge. The pirates he led back then also had this kind of virtue, and there were even cases where they would kill their own people in order to steal things on the battlefield. If you want to reach the level prohibited by the Marine Guards Order, in addition to year-round training, you must also have sufficient support and support. The general army cannot afford it, it is too expensive.

"If I go, the Annan people will be in trouble!" But after only watching for a while, Huang Nanping frowned.

"Take advantage of the time now to tell me what His Majesty's book says. What should a complete infantry regiment square look like?"

At this time, whether it was time to send Marine Guards to rescue, Huang Nanping and his staff made the same choice. They remained motionless and just watched the excitement. However, Huang Nanping was more curious. As a naval guard general, he wanted to know the army's combat methods, which belonged to the Spanish Army.

"If the commander is interested in these, he can study His Majesty's teaching materials carefully after returning to Dagukou. I have a set of them in my dormitory." The young staff officer focused most of his attention on his eyes now, wanting to see the Spanish Infantry Regiment. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the formation? I don’t want to distract my energy by talking about it, so I only recommend a set of teaching materials.

"There is no need to read books. Just drawing and functions almost cost me half my life."

As soon as he heard that the textbooks were available in full, Huang Nanping immediately backed down. These pirate-turned-soldiers are not afraid of anything, not even missing two meals a day. They are only afraid of one thing, books!
The foundation is so poor that I don’t even know the words, but I have to learn so many things. It’s too torture. But this is the rule in the navy. You can fail cultural classes and make up for the exam later on the job. However, there is no accommodation for professional courses. If you miss one point, you have to leave the ship and go to shore to listen to the lectures and make up lessons. When you pass the exam, you can be reinstated on the ship.

Because of this rule, hundreds of good pirates had to leave the battleships sadly and go to work in the more relaxed Marine Guards and Maritime Yamen, or directly transfer to the Army to settle the war.

There are more than a dozen pirate captains who have been sailing in the Southeast Asia for half their lives, but they are still lingering at the level of senior sailors and gunners. At most, they will never be promoted to bosun.

"Hehehehe, let's do it. Let me pick the key points. The Spanish Infantry Regiment Square originated from a naval general, Fernandez Cordoba, and was also the prototype of the Marine Corps.

He mixed three different arms together to form Tercio, which means one-third in Spanish. His Majesty believed that it could also be translated into regiment in the army. The initial mixed ratio was 1 officer, 3 musketeers and 6 spearmen, which was very effective against cavalry.

With the gradual development of muskets, the mix ratio of infantry regiments gradually changed. The musketeers can reach up to 6%, while the number of spearmen is getting smaller and smaller, falling to about 3%.

The number of people in a standard infantry regiment is not fixed. In addition to the commander, military staff, military police, chaplains, secretaries, doctors, and drummers, there will be 10 to 12 combat companies, each with a full complement of 250 to 300 people, for a total of 3000 Man, named after the commander.

The combat company consists of a company captain, a deputy company captain, a flag bearer, three drummers, a clerk, a chaplain, a barber and 10 to 12 squads of 25 people.

Each squad is a single type of soldier, including a company of musketeers and a company of spearmen. The proportion of companies in an infantry regiment can be adjusted at will according to wartime needs. Three to four infantry regiments form a Spanish square.

Those soldiers holding spears are spearmen, but they only have helmets and no body armor, so they should be classified as lightly armored spearmen. There is also a type whose upper body is wrapped in iron armor, called a heavily armored spearman.

During the war, they would be in front of the musketeers. When they encountered cavalry, they would step on the back end of the spear and raise it at a 45-degree angle to prevent the enemy from approaching and give the musketeers time to reload.

Once the formation is broken, the spearmen can also use short swords to engage the enemy in close combat. The red cloth strips they carry across their chests are used to identify ourselves and the enemy in melee. It's just that there are not enough Spanish soldiers here, especially there are too few spearmen, and they cannot provide sufficient protection.

...Okay, forget me. It’s not that Your Majesty made a mistake, it’s that the Annan soldiers are too weak and cannot be considered a regular army at all! "Explaining while watching the battle between the two armies on the battlefield is much more interesting and easier to understand than simply reading a book.

However, mistakes sometimes occur. For example, the young staff officer just commented on the formation weaknesses of the Spanish infantry regiment according to the introduction in the book. As a result, the Annan soldiers were frightened by the forest of spears halfway through the charge, and some of them slowed down. Part of it is stagnant.

(End of this chapter)