Chapter 74 Cavalry Construction
In addition to the economy, Peter also did not fall behind in the construction of the army. With the Cossack Guards and Negru Corps as the core, the four Bulgarian legions began training for expanded military strength.
The infantry, cavalry, musketeers, and pikemen all started training after sorting out the land. Their weapons are uniformly deployed by the governor, their salaries are very good, and they will receive pensions after their death.
These people didn't believe it at first, but they believed it after Peter personally gave the pensions of the fallen soldiers to their families. So they all expressed their loyalty to Peter.
Twenty thousand troops began their own exercises and also conducted regular patrols along the border.
Of course, when Sigismund left, some knights were grateful for Peter's help and chose to stay.
At this time, Peter had 600 knights in his hands. These were trained to imitate the French knights, and their attack power was also good. Moreover, these knights also have followers, and if they are added, the number will be 1,000.
Although Bayezid won the Battle of Skopje, the power of the French knights shocked him as much as Peter. Several battles were almost overturned, which also reflected the power of Western heavy cavalry.
In addition to heavy cavalry, light cavalry is also a development point. The Wallachian cavalry began to absorb the experience of other countries, forming lancers and conducting wall charges.
This is a new tactic shown in the cavalry planning outline. The cavalry are leg by leg and shoulder by shoulder, using a neat and slow formation, holding the knight's straight sword flat, to attack the enemy.
Because there is no gap between the cavalry at all, the enemy cavalry that is confronting them has no space to take advantage of the passing opportunity and use their skillful horsemanship to kill their own cavalry, nor can they withstand the attack of their own cavalry. possible. Because our cavalry is too dense. If you block a cavalryman's rapier attack, you will never be able to block the rapier attacks of other cavalrymen right next to you.
Moreover, in wall charge, because the cavalry are next to each other, there is no need to worry about falling off the horse. Therefore, this formation is very suitable for those quick-form cavalry selected and trained from farmers. They don't need to learn horseback martial arts for many years. They only need to know how to ride on horseback and use the knight's straight sword to stab the enemy cavalry in front.
Of course, this is a choice when most of the cavalry under his command are farmers. If these cavalrymen were proficient in equestrian skills since childhood and were proficient in horseback martial arts, there would be no need to advance slowly. The knights who are skilled in equestrian skills can maintain a neat and dense formation and launch a fast wall charge. For example, Frederick the Great's elite Prussian cavalry could line up in a wall formation and launch a quick and orderly charge against the enemy cavalry...
Not only that, because when launching a wall charge, the cavalry are close to each other, so everyone does not have to worry about falling off their horses. Therefore, at this time, knights with strong martial arts do not need to use the knight's straight sword to charge. Instead, they can charge with a spear like the Polish Lancers. In this way, horse fighting is more advantageous when using spears.
However, the requirements of the Lancers are very high. According to records, Polish lancers serving in Napoleon's army had to undergo 55 different training projects, 22 against cavalry, 18 against infantry, and 15 types of basic training.
Such a level of complexity is definitely not something that the quick-form peasant cavalry can handle. Therefore, during the war, major cavalry countries such as France and Austria only had a few regiments of lancers.
The Lancers who launch a rapid charge in a wall formation are extremely lethal. Such an offensive would be difficult to resist, whether it was cavalry or infantry using spears.
And if you use a one-handed knight's straight sword to launch a wall charge, you can only defeat the opponent's cavalry. Against the infantry phalanx with a forest of spears, the cavalry using the knight's straight sword has no way. Because, before your knight's straight sword stabs the opposing infantry spearman, the opponent's spear has long stabbed your horse to death.
The melee light cavalry is more restrained than the mounted archers because under the high-speed pursuit of the melee light cavalry, the archers or musketeers have no time to reload their ammunition or arrows. If faced head-on, they will be quickly caught up and killed by melee light cavalry. If you are escaping, it is too difficult to turn around and shoot while running. Probably, only the fierce Mongolian cavalry during the Genghis Khan period could run calmly while turning around and shooting. Other archers or other cavalry can only be chased around like dogs by melee cavalry...
However, the cavalry archers can, in turn, restrain the natural enemies of the melee cavalry - the heavily armored knights. Because the heavily armored knight's horse cannot run fast due to the heavy load. Although its defense and attack power were amazing, it was difficult to catch up with the fleeing light cavalry. If you encounter a melee light cavalry, the heavy armored knight will not be able to catch up at best. But if you encounter horse archers or musketeers, you're doomed. Especially when encountering musketeers (also known as black-shirted knights), heavy armored knights will definitely be tortured into dogs. You can't catch up, you can't run away. There is no other choice but to wait for death. Unless, friendly forces come to rescue...
Although, if the lancers using lances and spears formed a wall-charging formation, they would not be inferior to the plate-armored knights. However, the result was too tragic and the casualties must be huge. Basically one life for another.
Therefore, the lancers are only a small part, and the cavalry units are still mainly light cavalry. The heavy cavalry was transformed by Peter into black-shirted knights.
The combat unit of the Black Shirt Knights is usually a squadron of 300-400 men, arranged in a tight formation, maintaining a 20-30 row. After the cavalry in the front row opened fire, they separated to both sides and retreated to the rear of the array to reload ammunition. After the opponent's formation was loosened by bombardment, the cavalry squadron swarmed forward and used swords and gun handles to drive away the enemy.
Each cavalryman usually carried two or three pistols, two in holsters beside the front bridge of the saddle and one hanging on the right leg. The number used by regular mercenaries is doubled, with four beside the saddle and one hanging on each thigh. They often wear black armor, not for awe-inspiring looks, but to prevent them from getting rusty. This is where the name of the black-shirted knights comes from.
Of course, there were no muskets at this time, so small crossbows were used instead. It is coated with highly toxic poison, which once shot, can kill the opponent in a short time.
Alas, muskets, muskets, are just heavy and clumsy things now. The power is still small, but the Wallachian troops are the troops with the most muskets. And it is still increasing, which cannot be separated from the promotion of the rulers.