Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 781 A packet of gunpowder is much more expensive than a Slav; let's use crossbows.

The first to engage the Polish-Lithuanian camp defenders were the Italians that Jessica had temporarily summoned.

By this time, the main Ming army force had been fighting the Poles all night. Regiment Commander Francis estimated that the elite troops on both sides were likely quite exhausted. However, they were still engaged in battle back and forth on the plain between their camps, and had not yet retreated.

In Europe at that time, night fighting was not uncommon. Especially for these relatively professional soldiers, who had undergone corresponding marching and combat training, armies from various countries had considerable experience in night combat.

In the general population, some people do experience night blindness, but the proportion is low and it's easily treatable. According to Roman records, ancient Egyptians had remedies using pig liver powder to treat this type of night blindness, and they were quite effective. Additionally, eating fish can help alleviate the symptoms. Considering that fish has always been a significant part of the European diet, those who are well-fed are unlikely to be troubled by this problem. As for those who are underfed… well, they basically wouldn't pass the tests to join a legitimate mercenary group like theirs, so they're out of the running.

Therefore, although they complained about the difficult march the whole way, the main difficulty actually came from the need for concealment, since the forest was really not easy to traverse. They only breathed a sigh of relief once they finally crossed the forest.

Right now, a group of enemies are already gathering.

A large number of Polish-Lithuanian infantrymen gathered at the camp gate. Driven by the nobles, they slowly emerged from the camp, numbering in the thousands. They were huddled together in a chaotic mass, still struggling to form ranks.

Commander Francis immediately summoned all the captains and began assigning them attack missions.

Although mercenary groups are commercial organizations, their unique needs have led them to adopt some military-style disciplines. For example, in the face of a major war, the leader possesses supreme and autocratic power.

If you don't approve of the leader, you can terminate your contract and leave beforehand. If you're dissatisfied with the leader's orders, you can request a shareholders' meeting afterward to file a complaint against the leader, demanding accountability and even dismissal. However, on the battlefield, "free" mercenaries cannot disobey the leader's orders casually; otherwise, they will either mutiny and kill the leader or be severely punished. This may seem redundant, but it's actually a rule that has been summarized from long-term combat to protect the majority of members.

Therefore, once Commander Francis understood the situation, he was able to order everyone to move out. Not to mention, this was a task that Manager Roberto had initially accepted.

In Italian mercenary groups, the manager's position is extremely important, even comparable to that of the commander. To save costs, when there are no orders, the mercenary groups, like the kings' armies, are not at full strength. Only the commander, trusted officers, and a few core veterans remain in their positions.

Even the largest and most famous "White Mercenary Group" only had a little over a thousand men before receiving the order to fight the Veronaians. The rest of the soldiers were dispersed to various places to make a living on their own. And this was already the height of Hawkwood's fame as the renowned mercenary leader.

Once orders and advance payments are secured, the mercenary leader will appoint a manager to recruit soldiers. These mercenary managers are mostly local Italian gentry with extensive connections. Based on the mercenary group's needs, they will acquire qualified soldiers at the lowest possible price. Therefore, a good manager is crucial for a mercenary group.

Some mercenary groups hire reputable local managers based on their anticipated battle locations to minimize costs, hiring time, and travel expenses; therefore, these managers are often outsourced temporarily. Others, like Francis and his group, are commissioned by their employers to recruit soldiers in other regions, and they bring their managers along.

Of course, most capable regimental commanders are also skilled at management. They themselves are the first outsourced managers. After all, in Europe today, almost no one can maintain an army for long, so the ability to temporarily recruit people is an essential skill for them.

Francis reasoned with the captains primarily to address this issue.

Even though they were all from the same hometown and had been working together in a foreign country for some time, he still often worried that the team leaders wouldn't understand his intentions, which would reduce the efficiency of execution. After all, discipline is just discipline; if the team leaders were unhappy, even if they were forced to obey orders, the results would certainly not be ideal.

However, after seeing the enemy's situation, the captains began to realize that they might have been overthinking things.

The Polish infantry's discipline was visibly chaotic. Although the commanders tried to maintain order, perhaps in a hurry, they rushed to drive them towards the front as soon as they could roughly form a "clump," reorganizing as they went. This was to avoid everyone blocking the camp and preventing those inside from getting out. The entire force was scattered along the road from the camp to the battlefield; there were absolutely no cavalry or sentries providing cover, let alone on the forest side, or in any of the surrounding directions. It seemed there had been no time to plan or adjust the defensive strategy.

In this situation, if we don't attack, all the military theories we've learned will have been for nothing.

Captain Francis, holding a notebook, began assigning attack directions and sequences to his captains in the dim light of dawn. The mercenary soldiers then spread out, forming a long horizontal line facing the enemy. After the captains returned, they immediately directed everyone out of the forest to begin the attack.

Leading the charge were more than two thousand crossbowmen who jogged forward and, once within range, unleashed a hail of arrows upon the enemy.

Previously, in order to make it easier to escape, they had simply discarded their tower shields, but even so, in a firefight, the enemy was no match for them.

The Polish-Lithuanian army had a strong "Oriental" influence, with a high proportion of archers and soldiers of all branches carrying bows and arrows in combat. Therefore, compared to other armies, it was considered to have relatively strong ranged firepower.

However, the enemy was completely unprepared. They didn't even know who the enemy was or what they were supposed to do, let alone how to retaliate. Some soldiers, seeing people suddenly emerge from the forest carrying unfamiliar flags, screamed in terror and were even beaten by their officers, who told them not to disrupt morale, that there was no enemy there, and to quickly form ranks and go to the front to provide support.

It wasn't until the Italians were hundreds of meters away and began cocking their crossbows that someone noticed something was wrong and started calling for the infantry to change positions. However, getting the chaotic infantry to reposition themselves wasn't so simple. The mercenary crossbowmen, following protocol, first took their positions at a distance of 450 feet—roughly 150 meters according to Guo Kang's "standard unit group of natural philosophy." Here, they made a final calibration of their crossbows before firing a volley.

Italian crossbows have always been renowned for their exquisite craftsmanship. Even after the Purple Horde brought firearms and Eastern crossbows, these crossbow bolts did not disappear; they were simply modified. The biggest change now is that people have begun to widely use Eastern-style crossbow mechanisms, replacing the original long lever.

According to the mercenary leaders, the new crossbow, while maintaining performance, also improved sensitivity, resulting in less interference during firing and improved accuracy. The crossbow's shape could also be changed from a straight line to a curved one, saving considerable space and making it easier to hold. This was extremely helpful for carrying it on the march. Therefore, it quickly spread thanks to everyone's promotion.

As for the Eastern-style bow, it wasn't as popular. This was because there wasn't a sufficient supply of raw materials locally, nor a large number of skilled craftsmen, which kept the price high. In Italy, crossbow users were mainly urban residents who didn't have the money to purchase expensive Eastern-style bows from Constantinople. While the domestically made steel crossbows were more labor-intensive, their performance was comparable, they were easier to maintain, and cheaper, so they sold much better.

The crossbowmen in the ranks were essentially their standard infantry—these men were not incapable of close combat; on the contrary, they were the main force maintaining the battle line. When the crossbowmen were firing arrows, their formation was relatively loose, but as soon as the enemy got close, they could immediately tighten their formation and begin fighting with their melee weapons.

Especially the infantry in the front ranks, almost all of them were equipped with plate armor on their upper bodies, and the quality of their armor was probably better than that of most knights. As one of Commander Francis's direct subordinates and core forces, their diet was also well maintained.

By Venetian and Neapolitan standards, a standard mercenary diet included barley, wheat, bread, and biscuits as staples; olive oil, vinegar, cheese, sugar, pepper, saffron, and honey as seasonings; a variety of meats such as pork neck, pork ribs, pork tenderloin, lamb, ham, cured eel, and cured crab; as well as vegetables like beans, and even local wines and wines imported from the Eastern Roman Empire. It could be said that they not only did not suffer from hunger, but their diet was even more abundant than that of many nobles. Sufficient nutrition, coupled with long-term training, ensured they were not at a significant disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat.

Seeing these men fire arrows and advance, the Slavic infantry in the Polish army began to waver—from afar, they only saw a row of silver armor reflecting the golden light of the rising sun, and instinctively assumed it was enemy infantry approaching. They immediately tried to retreat and tighten their formation, further disrupting the already uneven lines.

The Italians advanced more than ten paces before stopping. The second rank of crossbowmen stepped forward and fired another volley. This time, they were closer to the enemy, and their crossbow bolts were more accurate. Arrows flew like locusts across the sky, and many more fell in the enemy ranks, creating gaps in their formation.

The crossbow bolts that came with the Italian crossbow were simply a thick, short wooden stick with two symbolic wooden pieces attached. If Eastern crossbows were not good at curved shots, then this thing was basically useless at all.

In Europe, good arrows were considered a luxury, so many places that valued bows and arrows had strict laws regulating arrow production, even including abstract regulations like "all the goose feathers in the country had to be handed over to the king." In comparison, sacrificing the inherently unreliable curved trajectory for reduced costs and improved armor-piercing ability was a decent choice.

This niche was actually quite desirable on the European battlefields, so Italian crossbowmen were frequently hired and fought in various wars. The only problem at present was that there was too much overlap between steel crossbows and firearms, leading to constant competition for their business.

However, modern firearms still struggle to achieve the accuracy of crossbows. The dense smoke and noise of firearms, along with the significant danger of firing them, can easily distract the operator, making it quite difficult to master their use.

Of course, good firearms weren't nonexistent; Manager Francis had seen them in Zhu Wenkui's army. However, this only strengthened his belief that the current crossbow was still very viable.

The musket in the prince's possession was a collaborative creation between him and a master craftsman named Guo Kang. Guo Kang was a renowned sage in the Eastern Roman Empire, known for his expertise in mechanics from a young age. This type of musket, like the Eastern crossbow, was limited in production and price, making it unaffordable for most people and preventing the obsolescence of their crossbows.

More importantly, gunpowder is a crucial strategic resource that is used up quickly and is not easy to replenish. In Commander Francis's view, gunpowder weapons should not be used to kill people, but should be concentrated to deal with strategic targets that are more valuable, even exceeding the value measured in ordinary monetary terms, such as important fortresses.

Because there are many ways to kill the enemy—modern crossbows can also deal with most soldiers' armor; and to capture castles and fortresses as quickly as possible within the strategic window of opportunity, gunpowder weapons are the most suitable. The time saved, the losses avoided, and the resulting strategic advantages all fall into the category of "beyond ordinary monetary value."

Therefore, when Commander Francis saw that he could actually see the glow of gunpowder in the night sky, he was quite astonished and thought it was too extravagant.

In his view, even if Zhu Wenkui gave him a musket and gunpowder, he certainly wouldn't use it now. He was joking; one shot required a small packet of gunpowder, plus a piece of lead. The cost was far greater than that of a single Slavic infantryman. If it weren't for the strategic objective of the enemy camp, he would have even thought crossbow bolts were too expensive. Only those fools in the Ming army would fight such a losing battle…

The battle unfolded much as he had anticipated. The crossbow bolts were already sufficient to inflict casualties on the enemy.

After another minute and two volleys, the infantry line had advanced in succession, reaching a position about 100 meters in front of the enemy.

The enemy, regaining their composure, began to muster a large number of infantrymen to retaliate with arrows. However, at this distance, the Italian crossbows were virtually invincible. The Slavic infantry's chainmail armor offered no protection against their crossbow bolts.

Some soldiers carried shields, attempting to protect themselves, but these single-person shields could not cover the entire body. Moreover, Francis's army included many elite archers who had participated in numerous battles between the Italian city-states.

Although these battles were considered child's play by northerners, exchanges of fire between shield-bearing crossbowmen were actually quite frequent—sometimes even the entirety of the fighting. It was commonplace for crossbowmen to shoot at each other's exposed weak points. Therefore, some soon began specifically aiming their arrows at the exposed knees or faces. After a volley, another tier of the enemy's front line fell, and even without their massive shields, their arrows could only dent and scratch the crossbowmen's helmets and plate armor.

Finding themselves completely outgunned by these "knights," the infantry lines began to falter. Left with no other option, the Polish-Lithuanian officers urged their infantry to begin their charge as quickly as possible.

(End of this chapter)