Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 508 Queuing up to be shot
The power of a musket far surpasses that of a bow and arrow. Although its accuracy is poor, once it hits, even slightly thin armor is almost useless.

If you can ride a horse, it's not a big problem, and wearing heavy breastplates isn't an issue either, but it's too difficult for infantry.

Not everyone is a priest in a silent sanctuary, wearing heavy armor weighing over a hundred pounds and still able to wield a flail and chase after cavalry.

Therefore, going without armor in exchange for greater flexibility and ease of movement became the final choice.

Since they lacked armor, their muskets became even more crucial.

These soldiers used the Empire's Iron Thorn Type III musket, which had the advantages of simple structure, easy maintenance, good overall quality control, and was not prone to barrel explosion if used correctly.

The downside is that it's a bit too long; when you stand it on the ground with the butt facing down, the muzzle almost reaches the soldier's shoulder.

This makes loading somewhat difficult, especially when standing.

If you're lying on the ground, loading becomes extremely difficult.

Gwen mounted his horse and shouted for the resistance fighters to form a battle formation. They didn't have much time and only managed to deploy about a thousand men, twice the number of the opposing force.

We can't wait any longer. Wasting more time assembling troops would be no different from losing the battle.

Soon the two sides were within sight of each other, and the bugler on the other side blew the command, and the soldiers slowly formed ranks.

They vacated the front, not completely hindering the resistance's advance, and cleverly used the flank to engage the enemy. This forced the resistance to take a longer route if they wanted to pursue, and at that moment, the resistance was desperately short of time.

“An infantry battalion is basically the basic combat unit of the Imperial Army. The larger ‘regiment’ is just an administrative unit; it still operates as a battalion.” Isaac explained quickly.

"They are not at full strength, but they look like regular troops. I don't know whose men they are, but their training level is quite good. They are considered elite in the North."

"In the Rhine?" Gwen asked curiously.

Isaac gave a cold laugh.

"Calculate the filling line."

The opposing team completed their formation change somewhat chaotically, standing shoulder to shoulder in a single file. A drummer on one side struck a beat, and after the soldiers loaded their muskets, they marched forward to the rhythm of the drum.

"Ha, the Imperial Army's classic tactics, advancing directly without any cover, so classic it could be in a textbook," Esca remarked after squinting for a while.

Gwen also directed the soldiers forward. She was busy now and didn't have time to ask questions, but she still cast curious glances at them.

"Look, they're standing very close together. This is the optimal formation that the Empire has tested in actual combat. Lord Hughes calls it 'lined execution,' which is quite apt. Moving forward in a line to the beat of the drum actually makes it easier to get shot, and being too close together can also cause interference. But it has one advantage—"

"Intensive firepower."

"There is a sentence in the Royal Army's tactical manual that I really agree with: Any cost is insignificant in the face of firepower."

"Standing together makes it easier to get hit, but as long as you keep firing bullets in time with the drumbeats, you can kill the opponent more quickly."

"The faster you kill, the fewer of your own people die. Therefore, queuing up to shoot can actually reduce casualties."

Gwen looked at the muskets opposite her with a sudden realization. Although she had experienced many battles, they were all siege battles. The Allied forces had not sent out any elite musketeers, and the resistance army actually lacked experience in this kind of plains warfare.

For example, their ranks were crooked and there wasn't just one row—given the accuracy of muskets, standing at the back really meant you could easily accidentally hit your teammates. So no matter how many rows there were, only the first two rows could fire, but enemy bullets didn't discriminate between front and back rows. This formation was only used against cavalry, but the enemy didn't have any cavalry.

Gwen had a bad feeling, but they were about to engage in battle, and changing their formation at the last minute would be even more dangerous. Besides, the soldiers might not understand what she was thinking at that moment.

She could only instruct a few squad leaders to maintain the ranks, and then nervously waited for the firefight to begin.

The soldiers were getting closer and closer, now nearly four hundred yards away.

The distance was not yet close enough to fire; the accuracy of their shots was too low. The resistance soldiers were visibly tense as they watched the enemy marching in unison to the sounds of war drums and bagpipes. The sheer order and discipline they displayed was incredibly oppressive.

Gwen, riding on horseback, could see it most clearly: some panic had begun to emerge in the resistance; the ranks were becoming increasingly disorganized, and some people were even tripping over each other.

Morale has already started to drop even before the battle has begun.

That does not work!

Gwen bit her lip. The resistance was trained by Isaac, and the current situation was one of the worst-case scenarios Isaac had told her. If this continued, their morale would completely collapse after only a few rounds of firing!
It's less than 200 yards.

boom!
The sudden gunshot startled her, and she quickly turned around to look, only to find Isaac holding a strange weapon and carefully aiming it.

Bang bang bang bang!
He cranked the reel, and a series of gunshots rang out. Gwen suddenly realized that this must be the Gatling gun he had been talking about.

She turned to look at the battlefield and was shocked to find that with each gunshot, a cloud of blood exploded from the body of an officer or sergeant.

In line infantry tactics, the probability of officers and soldiers being hit is not much different, so officers often wear very conspicuous clothing so that soldiers can easily identify them and receive orders.

This greatly facilitated Isaac's aiming, essentially allowing the enemy to directly mark high-value targets for him, so he could simply pick them off one by one with his gun.

As Gwen looked over in shock, Isaac had already begun to put away the Gatling gun.

"We don't have many bullets left, so we can't waste them. The rest is up to you."

"This machine gun can actually aim? My God, I mean, it can fire with the precision of a bow and arrow, and the range is so long? My God!"

She glanced longingly at the Gatling gun, but knew it wasn't the right time. She turned, drew her longsword, and spurred her horse forward.

"Resistance troops, charge forward with me and crush these enemies!"

The resistance fighters responded loudly to her, disregarding any distinction between ranks, and charged straight forward after raising their guns and opening fire.

The enemy on the other side was startled by Isaac's sudden pinpoint kill and was in a bit of a panic when the resistance forces opened fire.

The shot was fired from a slightly longer distance, at about 100 yards, so the effect was so-so, but they immediately charged forward.

The soldiers instinctively looked at their officers, awaiting orders, but they soon discovered that almost all of their officers had been killed.

In other words, the entire command system of this army has been taken offline.

Immediately, the entire army was thrown into chaos.

(End of this chapter)