On the battlefield where the drill was about to take place, Ma Chao's cavalry and Roman soldiers were inspecting their equipment. From time to time, he looked up at his opponent, but his eyes were full of fighting intent. If you inadvertently intersect with someone on the other side, then the staggered gaze seems to be bursting with electric sparks.

If the cavalry on Ma Chao's side had long wanted to fight with the hoplite phalanx, then the current Roman soldiers were also holding back the fire in their stomachs. These guys were used to having a sense of superiority before, they felt good about themselves, and they were all arrogant like something, but they were first overshadowed by Chen Li, and then they were thrown into prison for several days.

In their opinion, Chen Li used very unkind tricks, and they suffered a big loss because they couldn't move their real character, so they were naturally very unbalanced in their hearts. This is like saying that a game master, who obviously has an extraordinary level, but loses in the hands of the other party's plug-in, can he not be angry?

Now that Lu Ren said that he wanted to have a fair military confrontation drill, they naturally wanted to get the field back at this time...... In fact, this is also the result of Lu Ren's intention, because what Lu Ren wants to see is the real combat level of Roman soldiers, and only in this way can it help Lu Ren make a relatively correct judgment on certain things. If they all wilt and wilt, then there is still the true strength of a chrysanthemum.

I won't talk much about this, except that the time for the agreed war will soon come. With the sound of a cannon shot from Lu Ren's here, the two sides entered the combat area in a whole line.

I have to say that although the performance of these 500 Roman soldiers was not very good before, and they were simply some ruffians to put it mildly, but when they really arrived on the battlefield, they were well-groomed and full of momentum. After all, these 500 Roman soldiers were one of the most elite phalanx heavy infantry companies in Rome at that time, and their battle sequence could be said to be the Roman emperor's guard. And how can such a company be crooked and inferior?

Let's talk about the military structure of the ancient Roman period here.

The first is the type of troops, the ancient Roman system roughly divided the infantry into four categories, namely young soldiers, young soldiers, mature soldiers and adult soldiers.

The young soldiers lacked training and formed light infantry. Equipped with ordinary javelins and throwing darts;

The young soldiers had a certain amount of combat experience and formed the first column of the corps. Armed with two heavy javelins, a broad-bladed dagger and a round shield;

The age of the middle-aged soldiers is generally around 30 years old, and they are the core of the army, forming the second horizontal column of the legion. Equip two heavy javelins, a broadbladed dagger and a round shield.

Adult soldiers are the oldest and most experienced, and usually form the army's reserves. The third horizontal column that makes up the corps. The equipment is the same as that of the Prime, but it is equipped with a spear.

In terms of equipment, the dagger is a close-range weapon, about two feet long and two inches wide. The sword head is sharp, suitable for assassination and slashing. The hilt of the sword is made of wood, bone, ivory, or metal;

The shield is a rectangular convex body, about four feet tall and two feet wide. Wooden, covered with animal skins and reinforced with narrow strips of metal. And the short sword and the square shield should be said to be the signature of the Roman infantry, at least in some classical dramas in modern society, as long as it is related to the Roman soldiers, then these two things must not be missing.

Then there was the heavy javelin, a long-range weapon of the Roman infantry of the time, with a maximum projection distance of about sixty feet, with a long metal pole of four and a half feet at the front end, to which an iron tip was attached. At the rear end is a four-and-a-half-foot wooden pole with a rope wrapped around it, which is pulled at the moment of projection, causing the javelin to spin forward and pierce shields or armor. The front and back ends are usually fastened with two pins. The most important feature of the javelin is that it is sharp and thin, so that after killing and injuring the enemy, the head of the gun will be bent and deformed, preventing the enemy from picking it up and throwing it back.

Next came the basic combat unit of the Roman legion, which was generally a squad of two centurians forming a basic tactical unit. However, the actual number of a 100-man squad in Rome was actually between 60 and 80 men, so the actual strength of a squad was usually 120 to 160 men, and if it was an adult squad full of adults, there would be only one centenarian.

Three such squads make up a brigade, and a brigade is about four hundred and fifty to five hundred and seventy people. Among them, the three queues of young soldiers, young soldiers, and middle-aged soldiers are generally 120 to 160 people, and then there are 60 to 80 adult soldiers, and there is generally a team of 30 cavalry auxiliaries.

Ten such brigades formed a Roman legion, which generally numbered between 4,500 and 6,000 men. At the same time, a Roman legion would have a subordinate legion, also known as a combined legion. The structure between the two was broadly similar, but the cavalry of the attached regiment was 600 men. The two Roman legions, together with the two subordinate legions, formed the army under the command of the consul (who was also the tribune), commanded by an archon.

The basic unit of the famous Roman Queue was squads, and each squad formed a group. It is a common misconception to confuse it with the Greek phalanx. Or should it be said that the Roman phalanx was a modified version of the Greek phalanx.

The Roman procession consisted of twenty men in each row and six in length. The distance between the two is 1.8 to 2 meters, and the distance between the horizontal squads is about 30 meters. The squads are staggered.

The entire queue usually consists of three columns. The first column of young soldiers, the second column of mature soldiers, and the third column of adult soldiers.

In this three-column method, the first column of young men advanced first, and when twenty yards from the enemy, heavy javelins were thrown, and the regiments began to evacuate. Evacuation is often completed after the javelin is thrown, and the soldiers of the first column begin to charge, the first two columns of soldiers engage the enemy with short swords, and the soldiers of the sixth to seventh column behind throw javelins.

A few minutes later, the second column, composed of middle-aged soldiers, was replaced, and the first column retreated to rest. At this time, the light infantry, composed of young soldiers, was responsible for covering the flanks and the back of the legion, and at the same time retrieving the still usable javelins to replenish the first column that had withdrawn. A campaign usually involves several rounds of substitution, with the adult soldiers serving as the reserve of the legion.

The above is the basic military structure of Rome, and the five hundred Roman soldiers who came to Lu Ren here are actually the establishment of a large brigade, and because they are elite soldiers directly under the command of the Roman emperor, there are no young soldiers and young soldiers in the team, and they are basically soldiers in the prime of life above the age of thirty. In addition, the Roman cavalry at that time belonged to the auxiliary arms, and was generally only responsible for reconnaissance and transmission of information, and rarely participated in formal combat missions, so at this time, the forty Roman cavalry did not play, and they were completely shouting and cheering on the periphery. In other words, it's a standard heavy infantry vs. cavalry showdown.

After the cannon sounded, the war drums of both sides also beat wildly, and the five hundred Roman soldiers immediately set up their "tortoise shell" phalanx, and began to approach the cavalry on the opposite side with a uniform pace. At this moment, Lu Ren was watching carefully through a telescope on the high slope, but he couldn't stop nodding after seeing the battle formation of the Roman soldiers.

How to say that? Lu Ren has seen some blockbuster films about Rome, and there will inevitably be some such scenes in the film. But the shots in those blockbusters can only be said to have nothing in shape and no gods, and you can't expect those extras who received boxed lunches to really perform the state of those Roman soldiers in ancient Rome, right? Anyway, in a word, the shots in blockbusters, as long as they can flicker and flicker, they are also unknowledgeable viewers, right?

But what about now? There is a world of difference between a real warrior and a group performance of a boxed lunch in terms of their own temperament and momentum, and it is unlikely that modern people will have the kind of wildness that the warriors of the classical era have. And when these ancient wildness are combined, that aura of slaughter will come to the face, which is enough to make the faint of heart shudder.

Lu Ren couldn't help but nod, and said in his heart that the real ancient Roman battle formation was indeed worthy of its reputation, and Paleus, who was standing next to Lu Ren, couldn't help but show a little smug look on his face when he saw Lu Ren like this. Although this guy is not very good with the general, he is a Roman after all, and now seeing that the Roman soldiers are so majestic, he still has a sense of pride in his heart.

It's just that what he didn't expect was that after Lu Ren looked at it for a while, he suddenly turned his head to Chen Li on the other side and asked, "Ah Li, how do you see this Roman battle formation, how does it compare to our Qin and Han battle formations in Huaxia?" ”

Chen Li squinted his eyes and said: "Neat and rigorous, the combat power cannot be underestimated, and it is indeed worthy of its reputation." But if it is to be compared with the Qin and Han battle formations on our side of China...... It's not that I'm arrogant, but it's really hard to say if it's right. ”

Lu Ren also smiled when he heard this, and didn't say anything more.

It is said that it is talking about the Qin and Han battle arrays, but in fact, it is mainly talking about the phalanx of the Qin Dynasty.

The Qin military array can be said to be the concentrated embodiment of the centralized control and strong military system of the Qin state, and the regular distribution of crossbows, infantry, chariots, and horses in the phalanx is easily reminiscent of the organizational chart of modern enterprises. According to the topography and the comparison of the superiority of the enemy's and our forces, the commander of the phalanx arranged his troops, sometimes waiting for the formation, sometimes flexibly adjusting the change of the formation, and mobilizing internal organizational resources in the most effective way.

There was a kind of infantry phalanx in the Qin army's formation, armed with a seven-meter spear, which was flattened and stabbed the enemy soldiers by its long advantage. The Qin Dynasty's crossbow had an effective range of up to 150 meters, which was the most accurate weapon in the world at that time, and even had its own aiming system, so when the Qin people were fighting, when there was no short-handed encounter, they would hit the enemy's main force through the Qin crossbow.

No matter what happens, these soldiers in the front row have to move forward with their spears in their arms. When the front row falls, the back row immediately fills up, keeping the phalanx unchanged. And in order to turn thousands, tens of thousands of people into an impregnable phalanx, the soldiers had to undergo rigorous training. In terms of weapons and combat methods, spearmen are the most lethal infantry unit. The head of the gun is like a forest, the phalanx is like a mountain, and the huge impact is unstoppable.

The Qin army had a lot of advantages in the battle with the Xiongnu at that time, which was inseparable from the scientific nature of this battle array. In a sense, the battle formation of the Qin army is very similar to the Macedonian phalanx in Greece in some places, but the coordination of multiple arms seems to be better than the Macedonian phalanx......

The Han Dynasty inherited the battle formations of the Qin Dynasty, but in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, perhaps due to many factors, some things were not completely inherited. Especially in the northern region, due to the vigorous development of cavalry by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the wars were mainly in the Central Plains or the plains in the north, making the cavalry one of the mainstream arms of the Han Dynasty.

It's just that these things have nothing to do with Lu Ren, and Lu Ren's territory, except for Liaozhou, which was completed later, is basically not very suitable for cavalry operations, so Lu Ren is very concerned about the development of infantry. Considering that the information on the tactics of the Qin Dynasty battle formation is not very complete, and Lu Ren can't afford to fight the kind of battle with too many troops, Lu Ren took the route of elite soldiers, and at the same time learned from the Macedonian phalanx in Greece, and improved the infantry battle formation suitable for his own use here. For this reason, when Lu Ren was still in Jingzhou, he discussed this issue with Zhuge Liang.

In other words, the infantry battle array on Lu Ren's hand is a "hybrid improved variety", with modern tactical ideas, the shadow of the ancient Greek Macedonian phalanx, and some of Zhuge Liang's eight formations. It may sound a bit chaotic, but if it is really handed over, it will definitely make people who despise Lu Ren's battle formation want to cry without tears.

Moreover, the battle formation created by Lu Ren has been spread to Cao Liu and Sun's three families, but because Cao Liu and Sun San's family does not have Lu Ren's complete equipment system here, they can't beat the complete power of Lu Ren's battle array. Roughly speaking, it can be considered that Liu Bei and Cao Pi's battle formation is probably only six to seventy percent of Lu Ren's complete battle array. However, Cao, Liu, and Sun all had no shortage of capable people, so they all made corresponding changes to the infantry battle array. The changes they made experienced actual combat in the battle with the Western Regions Coalition Army, but they also proved the scientificity and rationality of the infantry battle formation organized by Lu Ren from the side.

All in all, although the infantry phalanx put out by the Roman soldiers is good in Lu Ren's eyes, it is just good, if Lu Ren is asked to command his infantry to fight against it, even if Lu Ren knows that his military level is not good, he dares to say that he can defeat these five hundred Roman soldiers in minutes.

If nothing else, it's too far behind in terms of equipment alone. The tortoise shell composed of the square shield is very hard, and Lu Ren's conventional bow or musket here may not be able to penetrate it, but each infantry of the regular army has four grenades hanging from his waist, so just throwing two rounds of grenades over, maybe the Roman soldiers on the opposite side are almost the same......