Chapter 21

"Form a line and spread out in front of the first squad!" Chang Kaisheng, the squad leader of the First Squad of the New Army's First Battalion, roared. The 80 soldiers, dressed in blue uniforms and wearing large caps, quickly formed a line and spread out, maintaining a distance of about half a meter between each person.

Chang Kaisheng looked at the relatively neat formation and was somewhat satisfied. They had been training for almost twenty days, and these men were finally starting to shape up.

"First squad, quick march and fire! Ready, begin!" Following Chang Kaisheng's order, the 15 soldiers in the first squad, led by their squad leader, advanced quickly. Once they entered the range of the muskets, they began to load their weapons under the squad leader's command. After loading, the squad leader shouted, "Ready... Fire!" and 16 muskets fired a volley at the target 80 meters away.

"Second squad, half turn right and fire! Ready, begin!"

"Third squad, advance in a line; Fourth squad, half turn left and advance; Fifth squad, half turn right and advance; Third squad, fire! Ready... Fire!"

With each command, the soldiers of the entire squad continuously practiced the drills they had been doing every day.

"Report!" Chang Kaisheng was carefully observing the training when he suddenly heard the voice of the battalion messenger.

Chang Kaisheng turned around, saluted, and gestured for the messenger to speak.

The messenger was also a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越者" in English, but in this context, it means "a person from the future who has traveled back in time"), 19 years old, but very robust, and his uniform was a bit too small for him.

"The battalion orders: Full battalion drill at 10:00. All squads must assemble at the dockyard by 9:30. That's all!"

"Understood! Assemble at the dockyard by 9:30." Chang Kaisheng replied.

December 8th was the day set by the Army Department for the full battalion drill. From now on, the three squads would train together for a long time. Previously, each squad had trained separately, following the infantry drill manual to practice formations, military discipline, and basic skills.

Peng Zhicheng, the Army Commissioner and battalion commander, had observed the training of each squad a few days ago and felt that they were ready for full battalion drills, so he scheduled this training for today.

At 9:15, Chang Kaisheng led the 82 soldiers of the First Squad into the dockyard, marching in step. He was surprised to find that the Second and Third Squads had already arrived early.

Chang Kaisheng did not dare to delay and commanded his troops to change from a column to a line, forming five rows on the left side of the Second Squad. After the formation was complete, he and his deputy, Jiang Zhicheng, stood at attention in front of the first row, looking straight ahead.

Peng Zhicheng, who also served as the battalion commander, scanned the troops with a serious expression. Former PLA non-commissioned officer and current Deputy Battalion Commander Liao Meng stood to his right rear, and the messenger stood behind them. In front of them stood Zhu Liang, the author of the infantry drill manual and the battalion training officer.

"Attention! Look to the right!" Zhu Liang shouted in a loud voice and began to inspect each squad.

The entire battalion stood in three lines, with the First Squad on the left, the Second Squad in the center, and the Third Squad on the right. The two squad leaders of each squad stood two steps in front of the center of the first row, and the squad leaders of each row stood one step to the right of the right end of their row. The entire battalion stood at attention, silent, their eyes following Zhu Liang's movements.

After a brief inspection, Zhu Liang ran to Peng Zhicheng, saluted, and reported, "Report to the battalion commander! The entire battalion of the New Army's First Battalion consists of 250 soldiers, and all 250 are present for the drill today. The number is correct! That's all!"

The provisional establishment of the New Army's 250 soldiers (excluding logistics personnel) was as follows: 1 battalion commander, 1 deputy battalion commander, 1 training officer, and 1 messenger; divided into three squads, each with 1 squad leader and 1 deputy squad leader; each squad divided into five rows, with 1 row leader and 15 soldiers; totaling 250 soldiers.

"At ease!" Peng Zhicheng returned the salute and then walked among the squads, correcting a few soldiers whose uniforms were not properly worn, before returning to the front of the formation.

"Our New Army's First Battalion is the first unit of the Executive Committee, and we have been established for three weeks now. Everyone has undergone 20 days of training," Peng Zhicheng said. "In my view, everyone has trained very actively and diligently. Before joining, most of us were ordinary people, and only a few had military or combat experience. To achieve what you have in such a short time is very impressive, and I am proud of you! Our enemies are cruel and inhuman pirates who want to take our lives and steal our property. We will not allow this! We will defeat them and prove our bravery with their blood. We will fight for victory!"

"For victory!" At this moment, whether they were穿越者 (穿越者) or Swiss immigrant soldiers, everyone felt a sense of unity and determination.

"Next, the training officer will arrange the specific content of the full battalion drill." Peng Zhicheng stepped aside and prepared to observe the training.

"Our enemy is the pirates who roam the Caribbean, known for their fierce combat style, and their numbers are unknown," Zhu Liang said. "However, regardless of the enemy, we will follow our own methods. The First Battalion will focus on drills such as full battalion spread-out firing, full battalion marching firing, and full battalion small-row advancing firing. Additionally, we will conduct joint drills with the artillery. Of course, individual soldier skills training cannot be neglected. From now on, there will be a skills competition every week, either individually, by row, or by squad. The losing side will have part of their bonus deducted and given to the winning side."

"Now, let's begin the full battalion marching firing. Attention! Look to the right! Look to the front!" Zhu Liang shouted the commands: "Shoulder arms! March!"

"Load... Halt... Present arms... Ready—Fire!"

"Quick load... Present arms... Ready—Fire!"

"Lower arms... Halt and stand at attention!"

"Shoulder arms... March... Halt... Kneel and ready—Fire!"

"Form three rows to the left... Present arms... Ready—Fire!"

"Change from column to line, full battalion march... Halt... Four rows ready—Fire! Quick load... Ready—Fire!"

The more than 200 soldiers of the entire battalion mechanically performed the drills. Peng Zhicheng watched for a while, then left the dockyard with Liao Meng and moved to the artillery test range. At this time, an artillery unit was also conducting training there.

This artillery unit was the First Independent Field Artillery Squad of the New Army, led by Yang Xu, a former PLA artilleryman. The First Field Artillery Squad had 45 personnel, equipped with six 4-pounder guns, two 8-pounder guns, eight ammunition wagons, and 30 Finnish draft horses (on loan). The specific personnel included: 1 squad leader, 1 deputy squad leader, 8 gunners, 24 artillerymen, 10 horse handlers (on loan), and 1 veterinarian (on loan).

This artillery unit was a completely new force, unlike the coastal artillery, which had a certain proportion of experienced gunners. This unit was entirely made up of novices.

The accuracy of the artillery of this era was limited, and there were no good observation devices on the battlefield. Yang Xu did not know how his contemporaries in Europe measured distances, but he decided to teach his gunners the methods he considered reasonable under the current conditions. For example, for battlefield distance measurement, he decided to use finger and eye measurement.

This method, in essence, is quite simple, involving the principle of similar triangles in mathematics. By using the length of the thumb and the height of the object being measured, a similar calculation can be made. Multiplying this ratio by the arm length gives a rough estimate of the distance to the object.

Just as the artillerymen were practicing with their thumbs, Peng Zhicheng sent two military telescopes with ranging functions. Yang Xu's face turned black upon seeing them.

By accurately measuring the distance to the enemy, the artillery can effectively strike the enemy by adjusting the angle of the gun and the amount of powder. Of course, this requires a thorough understanding of the performance and parameters of the artillery, i.e., knowing how far the gun can shoot with a certain amount of powder and a certain angle. This requires a detailed firing table, which can only be obtained through extensive testing.

Fortunately, the artillery also needed to familiarize themselves with the firing process, and these two tasks could be done simultaneously. Moreover, these tests were not without other uses; the armory could use the data to improve design and production processes.

The Army was training intensively, and the Navy was not far behind. The coastal artillery under the command of Navy Commissioner Wang Qian did not need to be mentioned, as their training methods were similar to those of the Army artillery.

In addition to the coastal artillery, the Navy currently had several ships brought over during the穿越 (穿越 means "穿越" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越" in English, but in this context, it means "time travel"), including the Yunseng No. 1 passenger-cargo ship, one tugboat, and four unpowered barges. To be honest, these ships had almost been forgotten by the Executive Committee in the past year. The reason was that these ships were in a rather awkward position.

Although the equipment on the ships was well-maintained, the lack of fuel and spare parts made the Executive Committee hesitant to use them, so they were semi-sealed away, waiting for better times. However, when they heard that the enemy would come from the sea, the Executive Committee became anxious. Although it was said that the coastal defense artillery was powerful and the enemy would find it difficult to break through, these ships were the pride of the Executive Committee, and any damage would be heartbreaking.

Thus, Wang Qian had no choice but to have the former first mate of the Yunseng No. 1, Wang Tieshu, and the chief engineer, Han Dezhi, bring a group of former crew members back to the ship. They added sandbags to the exterior of the buildings on the deck and hung steel plates on the outside of the ship's sides. Finally, Wang Qian had four 24-pound and two 18-pound long-barreled ship guns from the latest production of the artillery workshop moved to the deck and surrounded by sandbags to form makeshift turrets. In this way, the ship took on a somewhat awkward appearance of an ironclad warship.

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