Chapter 47: Phalanx

According to the direction pointed by the guy, I, Andrew, joined the nearest phalanx. There were quite a few yellow-haired soldiers (centurions wearing yellow feathers like us), while soldiers with nothing on their heads became a rare species.

"Hey, Andrew." I whispered to him privately, "Have we been deceived by that Anthony guy? I see centurions everywhere!"

"Hey, Luca, you don't understand this!" Andrew waved his hand at me and said, "Although we have a large number of people, we are well treated. We are a team of ten sergeants with high combat effectiveness, which is enough to show how much Sir Anthony values ​​us!" He described it vividly, but God knows if there is any truth in it, or if Andrew is just telling lies to comfort himself.

I was thinking if there would be any speech, but to my disappointment, the chief centurion said nothing in front of us. He waved his hand to his left and said, "You are all veterans who have experienced battles. It is difficult to impress you with some morale-boosting words. So I won't say much. Let's go and see if you can march in unison!"

Soon, a trumpeter holding a French trumpet ran out from each square and stood beside the centurion.

"Phalanx, turn right!"

Everyone turned right, and then the French horn player blew a rhythmic trumpet, which was the soldiers' footsteps. The soldiers in the first row took steps, and then everyone followed closely to the beat of the trumpet, moving forward step by step. Each soldier kept a certain distance, because everyone held a shield and a spear, and only Andrew and I had nothing but iron swords on our waists. Keeping the same pace was a skill that I was able to master during military training when I was a child. Such basic skills are just like riding a bicycle for me now. Once you learn it, you will never forget it.

"Keep your current pace and remember this rhythm in your mind. Not only here, but even on the battlefield, if your comrades are shot and fall, you must move forward according to this rhythm! Do you hear me?"

“Hooha!”

I was standing in the crowd, confused. This was a training method that I was not familiar with, but I still followed the pace of the call and walked around the small venue with everyone around me. This walking was much easier than military training, because military training deliberately required a nearly straight line for beauty, but here there were not so many requirements, just need to walk neatly.

Without so many rules and regulations, this kind of training is really easy for me. As I walked, the worry of being criticized in my heart gradually disappeared without a trace, and if possible, I could even hum a little song.

"Phalanx, prepare! Attack the tortoise shell formation!"

“Hooha!”

At the sudden command, everyone stopped. Before I could react, I bumped into the person in front of me with a bang.

"Damn it! Haven't you received any training?" I heard the man in front of me cursing.

I quickly rubbed my swollen nose and stood still in the square formation. I saw everyone gathered together. The soldiers in the first row and their centurions held their shields forward, and the soldiers behind them raised their shields above their heads one by one, forming a huge shield formation. I was confused because I didn't have a shield, and so was Andrew. It was hard to imagine that there were only two of us in the huge whole, and the chief centurion in front of the shield formation could see it at a glance.

"Hey, Lucas! Find two shields for the two new recruits in your phalanx. It's not right to be without shields during this kind of training!"

The centurion at the front stood up and walked out of the square. He glanced back at us with an extremely resentful look, as if he was blaming us for not following the rules. We lowered our heads quickly, and now we felt that everyone around us was looking at us with the same look. This square of hundreds of people stopped at their positions, waiting for the centurion to trot to the armory to take out two shields, then trot back, and laboriously handed the shields to Andrew and me from a distance of two shields.

"This shield belongs to both of you from now on. I don't want you two to develop a habit of losing things, which can be fatal on the battlefield." The chief centurion reminded, and then immediately issued a new order.

"Now! Forward!"

"Tick, tick, tick,"

The soldiers took steps one by one, and the entire phalanx slowly moved forward. In order to maintain the integrity of the formation, they took every step very carefully, fearing that a momentary negligence would cause a loophole in the entire phalanx. Everyone around me gritted their teeth and persisted silently. However, the chief centurion who was supervising in front of us was still not satisfied. He picked up a stone on the ground and threw it at us.

"ah!"

The stone passed through the gap between the shields and hit a hapless guy beside me who was a little slow to react. The hapless guy screamed and then covered his nose. Dark red blood oozed from between his fingers. This time he was really ruthless.

"What are you still standing there for? Follow the queue and don't mess up the formation!"

Chief Centurion Guy roared loudly, picked up another stone from under his feet, weighed it back and forth in his hand, and looked at us fiercely, "Let's go! You should be thankful that this is just a stone. It can't cause you much harm if it's thrown by hand. What if it's an enemy's arrow? Then it will go straight through your face. Although it won't kill you, it will be enough to make you feel miserable! Think about it, if you fall down, your comrades around you will be more or less unlucky! So here, cheer up! Push forward! Yes! Push forward!"

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Our huge tortoise-shell formation, under the command of the chief centurion, once again took a step forward and slowly moved forward.

"Bang!"

This time, without any hint, Guy attacked directly, hitting me this time, because I had never received any training and my unfamiliarity with this tortoise shell formation was obvious to all. This time, it was because I couldn't keep up with the advancing team, always moving forward or backward. The impatient chief centurion naturally wouldn't let me go. The moment the stone flew over, I subconsciously lowered my head, and the stone hit my helmet and then fell to the ground. I have to say that this helped me avoid the tragic situation of a nosebleed.

"Ha, you're lucky!" Guy saw me blocking his stone with my helmet, and immediately picked up a bigger one from the ground, playing with it in his hand. He looked at me with a smug look on his face and said, "This time, let's see how you can dodge it!"

(End of this chapter)