Don't be a coward, confront them head-on

After the new weapon demonstration, the soldiers were left to continue their drills, while Paul, Knight Schroder, and officers of company level and above gathered in the castle hall for a meeting.

In front of all the officers, Paul announced the appointment of Schroder as his chief of staff, explaining that this position was equivalent to the chief of staff in other armies. After introducing the army system he had created to the old knight, he awarded him the rank of major, while his squire Joyce was awarded the rank of captain and temporarily served as an ordinary staff officer.

Then came the summary of the reasons for the last failure. The officers took out the drafts they had written overnight, one after another, reciting their views on the last battle.

Finally, the young Earl said, "Everyone's summaries are very detailed. Basically, there are two main reasons: the recruits' timidity and unauthorized actions. To solve this problem, I decided to set up drummers and buglers in the army, so that the soldiers develop the habit of following the drums."

"When marching on the battlefield, the soldiers must advance in step with the drumbeat. They must not advance rashly, nor can they shrink back. The buglers blow two kinds of signals: the charge horn and the retreat horn. When the charge horn sounds, they must charge desperately even if there are mountains of knives and seas of fire in front of them. When the retreat horn sounds, they must not stay for a moment even if there are mountains of gold and silver in front of them."

"During combat, the provost marshals of each unit are responsible for supervising battlefield discipline. Those who violate the above discipline will be punished with the death penalty, depending on the severity of the situation."

"Bryce, you draft the detailed articles. I require every soldier to remember them and start training immediately."

Bryce responded, "Yes, Earl."

The old knight was surprised. Although this little lord from the countryside was not yet an adult, he had many unique insights into military affairs.

He suggested, "Earl, I have learned about the previous battle. Please find out the soldiers who disobeyed orders and retreated without authorization last time, and hang them in public to rectify the morale of the army."

"Ah... this... I have already punished them to serve hard labor in the mines..."

"Well, since you have spared their lives, let's forget about it this time, but don't have such unnecessary pity next time." Since a judgment had already been made, continuing to increase their punishment for the same mistake would obviously affect Paul's prestige.

"Let's talk about how to fight the next battle..."

After witnessing the power of firearms, the officers were very excited. Most people believed that as long as they were equipped in large quantities, they would be sure to win the next battle.

Schroder held a different view: "Gentlemen, the Earl showed us firearms to give us confidence, not to make us proud. We must know that 'pride comes before a fall'."

This old knight really understands me, Paul thought, secretly giving him a thumbs up.

Schroder continued, "Gentlemen, I believe that in the next battle, we must not rely on firearms. We must let the soldiers defeat the pirates by relying solely on melee combat, so as to overcome their inner fears and establish true confidence and a sense of honor."

"That's right." Paul agreed with this. Didn't Suvorov on Earth say, "The bullet is a fool, the bayonet is a hero"? Soldiers who dare to fight with bayonets are good soldiers.

This meeting decided to set up buglers and drummers, and temporarily proposed four kinds of bugle calls: assembly horn, advance horn, retreat horn, and charge horn. They would be gradually supplemented as the army was built.

The daily training content was adjusted to strengthen the intensity of bayonet training. In addition to training, an officer training class was established, taught by the old knight himself, to impart some military common sense of this era, such as setting up camp, ambush and counter-ambush, reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, and so on.

Of course, firearms still had to be manufactured and trained, after all, they didn't know how many pirates there would be next time, and the necessary trump cards had to be prepared.

In the pirate camp, a group of pirates were also discussing their plans.

"Quirk, Shark asked me to bring a message, telling you to know when to stop."

"Know when to stop? He's already got a full pot, and I haven't gotten much yet."

"You ran so far away from the coast and had a head-on conflict with the lord of this area. You're too bold. Grab a wave of civilians and go back to Franklin Harbor quickly."

"What's the point of bullying unarmed people? Besides, what's there to rob from them? If you want to do it, do something big. Old Greiman was ambushed by Shark and kicked the bucket. The entire territory is in a panic. It's a good opportunity to strike. Yesterday, their family's overconfident little brat led troops to fight us. His skills are just so-so. I'd feel sorry for my pirate profession if I didn't make a fortune."

"Hmph, speaking of Old Greiman, that bastard Shark actually killed a genuine fief noble. Aren't you afraid of causing the collective anger of the Northwest Bay lords?"

"What's there to be afraid of? Who told Old Greiman to break the 'agreement' between the lords and us, and ruin the rules of Northwest Bay? He asked for it. Besides, the Greiman Family was exiled here and has never been on good terms with the surrounding families. I guess some people are secretly watching the joke."

"You broke the agreement first, running so far away from the coast to cause trouble..."

"Hmph, then what did you come all the way here for? To uphold justice for the noble lords? Stop talking nonsense. In a few days, I'll lead people directly to Lakeheart Town to ask for things. If they're still not obedient, I'll entangle their main force, and you lead your people to sneak into the town from the other side..."

Nine days later, the pirates came to demand the property requested in the previous letter.

The pirates rowed small galleys closer and closer to Lakeheart Town. Upon receiving the report, Paul immediately ordered the army to assemble on the shore and stand ready, and sent an internal guard platoon to notify the residents to lock their doors and windows and prepare kitchen knives for the worst.

"They really are a bunch of bold bandits. It was fine when they planned to attack last time, after all, it was under the cover of night. Now they are so arrogant that they dare to provoke the ruling center of an Earl in broad daylight." The old knight found it incredible.

"Damn, I was too negligent. It would be bad if they used their water advantage to trap us to death. I really should have moved the residents of the island earlier." The old knight regretted his carelessness. The Greiman Family built the castle on the island to defend against enemies on the road, but today the enemy came from the water, which became the biggest weakness.

"Are there any people on the island who are familiar with naval warfare?" Schroder asked, but he quickly knew the answer from the way everyone looked at each other.

"Then we can only stimulate them to land and fight to the death..."

The pirates first sent a few small boats to repeatedly probe not far from the shore. After confirming that the defenders did not have any projectile weapons such as bows and crossbows, they brazenly began to land. It seemed that after winning a battle last time, they no longer took the territorial guard seriously, which relieved the old knight.

Seeing that the number of Pirates was much larger than last time, Paul originally wanted to stage a 'half-crossing strike'. However, when he consulted Knight Schroder, he was opposed. The knight believed that the Pirates were excellent swimmers and would jump back into the water if they saw the situation was not good. Moreover, landing on the island with so many people would most likely lead to the Pirates blockading Lakeheart Island with their ships, slowly trapping the soldiers and civilians on the island to death. What could they do then? Fight a boarding action with the Pirates in fishing boats?

"Alright, then let's have a head-on decisive battle." Earl Paul gritted his teeth and then reiterated the battlefield discipline in front of the entire army.

Thinking optimistically, their chances of winning this time were still very high. Even if the soldiers couldn't beat the Pirates in close combat, they still had a large number of hand grenades, and they had successfully rushed to produce six muskets, which would definitely give the Pirates a hard time.

Just as he was thinking, most of the Pirates had already landed and were rushing towards them.

"Boy of the Greiman Family, have you prepared everything that your grandpa asked for in the letter?"

It was that big bearded man again, with a really loud voice.

Keep your emotions in check, keep your emotions in check... The young Earl Paul recited silently in his heart.

"Last time, you overestimated yourselves anddelusion(deluded yourselves) to resist us. Originally, we should have asked you to add some tribute, but looking at your broken place, I guess you can't come up with anything except a few baskets of stinky fish. But your grandpa is generous, quickly offer up what we asked for before."

The big bearded man said arrogantly.

Paul ordered the bugler to blow the Advance Horn, and Bryce shouted loudly, "All troops, prepare toexterminate(exterminate) kill these bastards today and avenge the brothers who died last time! Advance!"

The drummer beat the marching drum, and accompanied by the drumbeats, the three companies of soldiers raised their spears and began to slowly advance.

According to Paul and Bryce's intentions, all four companies should have been pressed up, but Old Greiman firmly demanded that one company be left as a reserve team, as well as some military police, saying that they were for enforcing battlefield discipline.

"Oh ho... Haven't been taught enough, or what?" The big bearded man laughed loudly, "Brothers, anyway, this time we've arrived at their home, if they don't give it to us, let's take it ourselves!".

The people around him burst into laughter. "Boss Quirk is right, no one is allowed tokill stealing(steal kills) steal kills from me later," a Pirate clamored, tightly gripping a steel knife in both hands, his expression gradually becoming ferocious and terrifying.

The two sides gradually approached, and finally, they engaged in close combat