Marin was naturally happy to recruit such a great man as Frenzberg. Because it was a very proud thing to make the "father of the German mercenary" his thug. With Frenzberg's existence, Marin planned to start trying the real Spanish phalanx.

Marin felt that the infantry phalanx was very flawed. The biggest problem was that he was helpless with the plate armor. For example, in Fornovo's ambush, Marin had no choice but to find that most of the thousands of French plate armor knights who died in battle were stoned or pushed down the mountain by spears. However, no more than 50 were stabbed to death by spears or shot to death by bows and arrows.

In other words, the infantry phalanx before was only suitable for attacking Swiss mercenaries wearing fancy clothes. It is actually very powerless to deal with French knights who like to wear plate armor. Of course, if French knights ride war horses to attack the phalanx, that's another story. Can I stab the knight wrapped in a "tin can" to death, and can't I still stab the war horses to death?

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

Moreover, horse armor is basically armored, mainly for easy running. Plate armor restricts people's freedom of movement. When worn, people's movements are a bit like robots. If a horse wears plate armor, it will not be able to run.

The spear is lethal to the armor worn by the horse and can be pierced through. Even if it cannot pierce the horse armor, it can be lowered and specifically poked the legs or belly of the horse without armor.

Therefore, it is a very disadvantageous for the heavy armored knight to ride a horse to attack this square formation...

However, it cannot be said that the knights can’t do anything with the spear formation. If the knight abandons the horse and walks on the pure spear formation, it is very powerful. Because if both sides stab each other, you ordinary mercenaries are not wearing armor, and I am wearing plate armor. You are afraid of stabbing, and you will be done with one stabbing. I am wearing plate armor, and I am not afraid of you stabbing. If we stab each other, do we need to say the effect?

The archers in Marin's original square formation were also very weak to deal with the knights wearing plate armor. The bows and arrows were difficult to penetrate on the armor made of iron plates, leaving a deep mark at most. Even if they hit the joints, they could only hurt the enemy and were not fatal at all...

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

Of course, not using that kind of small musket, but using a large one...

The reason why the Spanish square in the early days was awesome was because it used a large amount of Spanish Mushket muskets. This was a heavy musket, weighing about 10 kilograms, which was twice as heavy as wartime muskets. Correspondingly, its caliber was larger and the projectile was heavier, weighing 50 grams, which is one or two.

One or two lead bullets were fired by a musket, and at a subsonic speed of several hundred meters per second, it hit the knight in plate armor. In addition to having strong kinetic energy, it also has a powerful shock wave. Under such a powerful blow, the knight had to fall off the horse and be injured, or even be killed directly. It would not be better if it hits the horse. If it enters the body, one or two lead bullets, the wounds caused by the wounds... plus the rolling effect of the lead bullet... Haha... you can arrange your funeral directly, and you can't save it...

Moreover, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, because the iron smelting technology was not up to standard, heavy muskets like the Spanish Mushket musket could fully ensure that the barrel was not easy to explode. If it was made lighter and thinner, like the Ming army musket, it weighed only five pounds, and before the enemy was killed, it would blow up the barrel and kill yourself first...

The Spanish phalanx is precisely because of the large muskets used by Mushket, which makes the phalanx not only good at melee battles, but also has very strong long-range attack strength, especially good at fighting the phalanx knights, no matter whether you are riding a horse or walking. Therefore, the Spanish relied on this phalanx and rampant Europe for more than a century, and forced the phalanx knights out of the historical stage. Later, the Count of Tilly also relied on the Spanish phalanx to fight from a small figure to an earl until he met the more awesome Gu Erye...

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

In short, the Spanish phalanx is a very awesome for the current European army. It can beat French knights and abuse Swiss spearmen...

In fact, before the outbreak of the Italian War, Marin wanted to form the Spanish phalanx. However, at that time, he had no suitable muskets and did not have enough money to buy muskets and the ammunition consumed by muskets. Therefore, he could only use archers instead.

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 the plate armor knights, but they only have effect on the armorless infantry. But the enemy will not be eager to give the armorless infantry to you to shoot, and maybe send the plate armor knights who cannot shoot. Therefore, having a musket is the better choice.

Moreover, musketeers are easy to train, and after one or two weeks of training, they can be brought to the battlefield. An archer needs to practice for more than ten years...

Of course, Marin himself actually looked down on the Spanish phalanx. He himself prefers Gu Erye's line formation. However, when fighting for the emperor, Marin was unhappy to take out the most powerful battle formation. Even if he took out the Spanish phalanx, it would be enough to beat the French knights and the Swiss spearmen. Frenzberg was the commander of the Spanish phalanx in Marin's eyes. When the emperor needed it, he asked this guy to take the Spanish phalanx and fight the enemy to the death. With Frenzberg's talent and the advanced nature of the Spanish phalanx, it should be nothing to sweep across Western Europe. And Maximilian I's next opponents were actually the Swiss (Swabian War), the French (Italian War) and the Hungarians. The Spanish phalanx was definitely enough.

As for the command composition of the square formation, the grassroots officers, Marin plans to choose from 400 subordinates, whether it is the company captain or the small team leader.

The families of these people were taken to Texel Island and must be responsible for themselves. Then the new army he was preparing to build must still be in his own hands. Frenzberg and Marin tempted it, as if they were a pure military officer, and their ability to fight politically seemed average, so it would be difficult to escape from his own control. After all, Marin recruited Frenzberg to help the emperor on his behalf, and could not find a natural rebellious person. Marin didn't care about anything else, but only cared about his use in the eyes of Maximilian I. If Frenzberg took the army away and went directly to the emperor, then his importance would decrease. And he would not be in harmony with the old nobles. If he lost the emperor's support, he would be unable to move forward.

With Frenzberg's joining, Marin planned to officially start the construction of the Spanish phalanx. Marin was not worried about the shortage of personnel. Because of the success of the Italian War, many German young and strong were willing to become mercenaries.

In addition, in order to improve the survivability of the soldiers, the soldiers in the front row seemed to be equipped with half-body Maximi armor and Spanish-style helmets.

In response to this, Marin decided to equip his soldiers with half-body armor and helmets to improve the soldiers' survival ability. In order to equip armor, Marin planned to send people to the southern German region to recruit a group of craftsmen who were good at making armor, and specially made armor and helmets for the soldiers.
Chapter completed!