Aztec Eternals

March is coming with the wind, and it is already halfway through in a blink of an eye. The weather is still sunny and dry, which is a suitable day for travel.

Villagers from all over the world came with surplus agricultural products and went to the big market in the northern city of Tlatelolco to exchange what they needed. When they passed the northern gate of the capital city in the lake, the village of Tepiiaga, they would be surprised to find that the houses here had been temporarily requisitioned by the Alliance, and a new legion camp had also been set up outside the nearby school grounds.

In the vast school grounds, a total of eight thousand long spear regiments had already assembled to form a dense spear formation. Among them were 6,000 tough and obedient miners, 1,000 repeatedly selected village militiamen, and finally 1,000 warriors who served as the backbone.

They held two-meter-five-meter-long bronze spears in their right hands, weighing about six to seven kilograms, and their left hands held rattan plaques with a diameter of one meter, weighing ten kilograms. The rattan plate is firmly fixed on the left upper arm and hung around the neck with a tie. In front of the gun array, the leading warriors were wearing white cloth paper armor and brown rattan helmets. If you observe carefully, you will find that everyone has a white cloth tied on their left arm, which is quite eye-catching.

At this moment, thousands of militiamen with long spears stood solemnly and silently after receiving the order to "stand still". Surrounding them were hundreds of guards patrolling and inspecting, supervising and scolding the militiamen from time to time.

In front of the school field, there is a high platform built. An altar was built on the high platform, and Shulot sat cross-legged on the altar. He was wearing a complicated and solemn chief priest robe, a thick and dazzling feather crown on his head, and a gleaming gilt obsidian necklace around his neck, like a god's messenger in the world. The eyes of the "God Envoy" swept across the spear array, and the spear militiamen all bowed their heads in obedience and fear, not daring to look at them.

Under the warm sunshine, the militiamen stood still with solemn faces. The large shield and long spear reveal the power of the warrior. Wearing armor and helmets symbolizes elite equipment. The entire spear array stood like a forest, exuding a sense of majesty.

Seeing this scene, Xiulot nodded slightly satisfied.

"The spear militiamen have been training for two weeks. These miners are really well disciplined. However, after more than ten days of practice, they have a certain appearance when they stand up in a military posture. Let's take a look at their marching formation later. "

He looked serious and thought to himself.

"The spears and large shields are already in place, and the cloth paper armor and rattan helmets are still being produced one after another. It is still necessary to urge the armor master Matrall to complete the formation of the legion as soon as possible."

While thinking about it, Xiulot waved his hand, and the guards beside him went down to pass the order, signaling the trainer to start training in formation. Wearing this majestic attire, it is naturally impossible for him to leave the field in person and go to train the legion by hand. In fact, Xiulot knew very little about the specific training steps of the army. He just made suggestions to the chief officer of the training from time to time based on the clips he had seen in the past.

Two trainers stood in front of the high platform. The master of the training is Balda, a warrior eagle warrior. He has experience in legion drills and is an outstanding warrior himself, proficient in spears and shields.

Beside Barda was Ezpan, the leader of the descendants from Tarasco. A weather-beaten man in his mid-thirties, he was a squad leader in the Tarasco Lancer militia. After being captured at the Leman River, he was kept by Shulot, exempted from the fate of sacrifice, and soon returned to the Alliance. He had experience in the training of Tarasco pikemen, so he was appointed as an adjutant to assist in the training.

After receiving His Highness's order, Barda nodded and accepted the order. What was the "Standing Military Posture" link just now? It was His Highness's proposal. It is said that it can increase discipline and improve the spirit of soldiers. His Highness is becoming more and more powerful. Regarding this proposal, although he is noncommittal in his heart, he also regards it as an order and executes it.

Barda shook his head secretly again, he has been a commander for ten years, and he has sufficient confidence in army drills. Then, he shouted loudly to the left and right.

"Play the flute, march, beat the drum, and line up!"

The sound of the marching flute sounded immediately, and the Pike Corps began to spread out to both sides, divided into battalions of thousands of people, and each battalion had five teams of two hundred people. The battalion commanders of the Thousand-Men Battalion are all experienced warriors. Some of the captains of the 200-member team were elected by the miners, and most of them were still held by warriors. In each team, an additional person will be selected as the deacon accompanying the army, who will receive training in the teachings later.

Accompanied by the rapid sound of the whistle, the squad leader Guzman was sweating nervously. While shouting loudly, he tried his best to suppress the footsteps of his teammates behind him, so that they would try not to be scattered. Everyone's footsteps were still uneven, and within a few steps, the front and back queues collided. The front captain's gun was skewed, and when it touched the rattan badge of the rear team, it made a continuous "bang bang" sound, and it seemed to be completely twisted together.

At the critical moment, Guzman, the leader of the team, yelled "Stop", and the newly joined military deacon also tried to stop him, and the team slowly stopped and stood up to regroup. The team of gold miners is indeed the most disciplined, with dozens of backbones shouting back and forth, and rearranging the militiamen in a chaotic formation. After a while, the small gun array started to work again. Everyone bumped into each other and walked out, and there were a few rattan hats of unknown origin on the ground.

After walking a certain distance, the surrounding spear team gradually dispersed, and Guzman's team also became loose. There was a turn in the middle, and he shouted nervously in the face of this difficult collective action.

"Turn left, turn left, turn to the arm of the white cloth strip!"

Accompanied by the captain's continuous shouts, the gun formation paused and slowly turned to the left. The militiamen in the team reminded each other, and finally completed the change of direction without any risk. Guzman took a breath, and used the white cloth strip to distinguish the left and right, which saved a lot of training effort. He didn't remember to continue shouting until he reached the predetermined position.

"Gather, gather. The shield on the left covers the teammates on the left, and the spears in the back row support the teammates in the front row!."

Guzman didn't know what he meant by shouting. Everyone just imitated the small formation demonstrated by Tarasco's surrender more than ten days ago based on a general feeling. They lined up side by side in a dense formation and gathered into an irregular square formation. The first soldier pointed his spear obliquely, and then the rear soldier held his spear upside down, put it on the front soldier's shoulder, and moved backwards one by one. And three or four layers of spears protruded from the front of the most spear array, which looked a bit like a hedgehog.

After such a long time, the small gun array was completely formed. Everyone stands still, front and back, side by side, and can feel the rapid breathing of front, back, left, and right. Guzman, who was on the front side, was relieved. He tried to turn his head to look around, but he could only see the rattan helmet of the person behind him, not the rattan plate. Then he looked forward, but the salt workers were still bumping into each other, and he couldn't help laughing.

Shulot on the altar couldn't laugh. With a blank expression on his face, he looked at the phalanx of spears under the altar and tightly clenched his sleeves.

Although two or three quarters of an hour had passed, only one-third of the small formations had effectively deployed and gathered. The spear and shield soldiers of the brigade collided into several groups in the center, with no distinction between front and back, and it was difficult to distinguish left and right. The small captains and military deacons of each team screamed and tried to separate their teams, but they couldn't find anyone at all. Some teams tried to stop, only to be pushed together harder by other struggling teams.

There are many squeezed rattan hats scattered on the ground, and occasionally scattered rattan cards and spears. Shulot first counted the dropped spears, probably hundreds. He shook his head helplessly. Then, he counted the rattan cards that fell to the ground, and got an approximate number of one or twenty.

Shulot frowned. These shields are all tied to the arms, and unless the militiamen deliberately remove them, they cannot be dropped. Thinking of this, he turned cold and said a few words to the guard. The guard left in a hurry.

Soon, Balda nodded fiercely and smiled mercilessly. The chief training officer ordered again.

"Blow the snails, stop, spread out and wait!"

The ear-piercing sound of conch shells sounded, and hundreds of supervising warriors on the periphery took out wooden sticks, swung them to lead, and dispersed the gathered spearmen from the periphery. As the crowd gradually dispersed, the operation of the Long Spear Corps gradually returned to normal. One-third of the spear and shield soldiers formed a small formation, scattered on both wings at intervals. The remaining militiamen stood in place, trying to maintain a strict appearance.

After everyone stood still, Barda roared and shouted.

"On the battlefield, the shield is your life! The shield should be tied to your arm, tied around your neck, and you will fall with you. Whoever drops the shield will lose his life!"

Speaking of this, the chief training officer waved his hands mercilessly.

"Those who lost their shields, bring them to the front!"

Hearing the order, hundreds of supervisory warriors stepped into the loose militia group in the center again, dragged out the militiamen without shields, and pressed them to the forefront of the spear formation.

Guzman felt bad. He took a step back slightly, covering the fellow miners behind him. The rattan card in the opponent's hand didn't know when it was thrown away. Fortunately, their formation was tight, and the supervising samurai simply swept across and went to the loose militia group in the center.

A quarter of an hour later, more than a dozen militiamen who had lost their rattan badges were held in front of the formation. The two of them were fighting, already vaguely aware of the next fate. Among them, the sensitive salt worker kept shouting for mercy, but was strangled by the warrior behind him, leaving only half of his screams.

Balda swept across the audience majestically again, and swung his baton down violently.

"All executed!"

Without hesitation, the supervising samurai took out his close-fitting long dagger and wiped it on the neck of the militiaman in front. In just a dozen breaths, there were more than a dozen clusters of bright red spreading on the ground, and the person who fell on the ground could no longer make any sound.

Looking at the silent and dignified spear militiamen. Balda nodded in satisfaction. He ordered again.

"The army spread out. Take the thousand-man battalion as a group, and disperse the queues for training!"

Under the call of officers at all levels, the militiamen scattered and gathered again. Guzman's squad dispersed slightly and resumed their march. Everyone was silent and said nothing, they just tied the rattan tags tighter, and then clenched the spears in their hands. Guzman, the leader of the team, guided the direction of the team. He deliberately passed the scattered rattan plates to leave a gap for the companions behind. The miner also bent down to grab it nimbly, as if grabbing a gold mine from a golden river, and took the shield of life back into his hand again, and then fastened and carefully tied it tightly. He then leaned forward and murmured thanks to Guzman.

"Brother Guzman, you saved me! I will listen to you from now on!"

Guzman in front smiled and nodded. Soon, they gathered into a battalion of thousands of people, and under the command of the warrior battalion commander, they formed an array again.

This time, everyone's walking speed was much slower, but the actual time spent was shorter than last time. The scattered eight thousand-man battalions did not interfere with each other, and each battalion had five two-hundred-man squads, gathered into a sharp spear phalanx. Then the militiamen set up their spears again and stood still.

On the altar, Shulot observed carefully and nodded slightly.

In front of his eyes, forty small spear phalanxes appeared, thickly gathered into eight groups. There are tens of meters of gaps between the phalanxes, which gradually become smaller as the phalanx moves, until every five phalanxes form a roughly straight line. This will be the defensive front on the battlefield. Although there are still wave-like ups and downs on the front line, and some square formations have gradually turned into circular formations, at least they have certain actual combat capabilities.

Shulot thought to himself.

"This time, the formation of thousands of people is much better. It seems that as the size of the phalanx expands, the difficulty of formation will rise linearly. A large formation at the legion level is obviously beyond the capabilities of the current militia."

Afterwards, Xiulot sighed softly when he thought about the loose formation during the formation and the time it would take to form the formation again. In his vision, the template for this new army was the phalanx soldiers of early ancient Greece. It must have the ability to march in a phalanx, coordinate collective operations, and launch several rows of long spears when necessary to charge short distances. But now it seems that this new army is far from the early phalanx formed, let alone the Macedonian phalanx with stricter requirements.

Shulot recalled carefully that the new army organized now was more like the spear and shield soldiers that were common in the Three Kingdoms of China.

The length of the long spear is two meters five to three meters, and it can keep stabbing in three rows at the same time. However, due to the power requirement of stabbing, the frequency of attacks is actually not high, and more of them have the effect of blocking. The rattan badge with a diameter of one meter can provide effective protection against bows and arrows and batons, greatly improving the survivability of the militia. Of course, larger shields also further reduce their attack power.

All in all, the current positioning of this new army is more inclined to defend in situ, resist the attack of enemy warriors, maintain the stability of the front line, and act as a human shield to absorb firepower.

"You can't expect the militiamen who have been trained for several months to have the ability to attack like a warrior. The real output still depends on cross-firing crossbows and elite warriors who attack from both wings."

Shulot stared at the gun array in front of him, thinking quickly in his mind. In his view, the training of the spear militia has just begun. If you want to truly display the power of the phalanx, you may have to train for years and go through battles.

In the next month, he is also planning to arrange competitions between the teams, the winners will be rewarded with food, and the losers will be punished with chores. Then there is adaptive training for shooting with bows and arrows, and defensive training for facing samurai attacks. There are still many memories in his mind.

Xiulot thought for a long time, and the spear militia also stood in silence for a long time. After a while, the young man called in the guards and signaled for the disbandment of the spear phalanx, and each battalion separated for individual training.

Balda nodded to obey the order, and shouted loudly.

"Disband and divide into battalions. The Thousand-man Battalion trains shield defense and stabbing!"

After finishing speaking, the ferocious eagle warrior turned his head, looked at Ezpan, who had no sense of presence beside him, and chuckled softly.

"You Tarascos are really interesting. With such a phalanx of spears, you can also resist invincible warriors?"

Ezpan had a smirk on his face, and his eyes sparkled with agility. The training adjutant bowed his head and saluted Barda respectfully. Then, he tilted his head slightly, and quietly looked at His Highness from the corner of his eye, with infinite desire for the future in his heart.