Flowers, Swords and France

It was late autumn, and the sun was no longer as blazing as it was a few months ago, but lazily giving warmth to the world. It was a beautiful morning, and the climate was so comfortable that it made people feel relaxed and happy. This was a good day for a picnic in the suburbs.

In the wilderness outside Paris, a large group of people were enjoying the warmth of autumn.

Soldiers wearing flat-topped cylindrical military caps and blue jackets, with rifles on their shoulders, marched slowly forward under the leadership of officers and drummers.

Because they had to keep the formation neat, their marching speed was not fast, but the uniform pace, movements and uniforms still made people feel the power and pressure of the military machine.

After walking for a while, Lucien Leflair stopped, then made a gesture and ordered the soldiers to spread out.

The soldiers quickly spread out into three rows with the soldiers in the middle of the column as the axis. Years of training made it as easy for the soldiers to make this most basic formation change as eating and drinking.

After the soldiers changed their formation, Lucien paced back and forth for a few steps to check the formation, then nodded gently to show his satisfaction. Then, he shouted the command.

"Forward!"

The first row of soldiers raised their guns forward, and then the three rows of soldiers marched forward at the same neat pace.

Lucien Leflair also followed at the edge of the team at the same speed. As he walked, he looked at the target in the distance, estimated the distance in his mind, and his footsteps did not stop for a moment.

As the distance got closer and closer, he felt as if he had returned to a few years ago. His ears seemed to ring with the endless gunfire, roars and cheers of his comrades who were still in Algeria at this moment, and even his face suddenly felt a little itchy, as if he was constantly scratched by the sand in the desert in the storm.

The scarecrow in front of him looked so much like those Arabs wrapped in turbans.

No! He shook his head gently. He was not in Algeria now, but in peaceful Paris now!

Without letting his chaotic thoughts disrupt his judgment, Lucien stopped when he felt the distance was right, and the drummer's call also stopped, and the soldiers stood still.

"Ready!" Lucien shouted loudly.

With this command, the standard rifles in the hands of the soldiers - MLE1842 smoothbore rifles - were raised at the same time.

"Aim!" Lucien Leflair pointed his saber forward.

The soldiers squinted one eye and began to aim their guns at the target dozens of meters away.

After a moment's pause, Lucien Leflair swung his saber heavily and issued the final order.

"Fire!"

The soldiers in the first row pulled the trigger at the same time, which drove the hammer on the gun body, and then the hammer ignited the primer. In an instant, almost every musket made a loud noise at the same time. The white mist rising from the muzzles of each gun instantly enveloped the entire horizontal team.

"Bang!" Since dozens of guns fired almost at the same time, the sound sounded almost like a roar.

The half-crouching soldiers who had already fired no longer paid attention to the front, and carefully reloaded their guns, while the soldiers in the back row concentrated their attention and waited for new orders.

"Ready!"

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

Another new round of volleys.

In this era, even though firearms have been improved for many years and generations, the hit rate of rifles is still quite regrettable. Therefore, in order to pursue the maximum killing of opponents, the line tactics that emphasize formations and volleys have become a must for infantry.

Looking at the performance of his subordinates, Lucien nodded gently.

Very good, much better than before, finally a little bit of what an army should look like.

However, what should be said still needs to be said.

"Don't think that training is troublesome. Training is to save your life as much as possible! If you don't train enough, when you really go to the battlefield, you will easily deform your movements and make various fatal mistakes. The gunpowder in the firing slot does not ignite the main charge, the flint is old but forgotten to be replaced, there is too much residue at the muzzle, etc., any of which is enough to take your life!" Lucien looked at his new subordinates with a serious look, "I am training you strictly now, just to save your life when the time comes! Unless you think you don't have to go to the battlefield in your life, otherwise, listen carefully and execute it well! Does anyone think so?"

In front of the company commander's speech, everyone listened respectfully, and it was obvious that everyone was very convinced by the words of the new company commander.

"Very good, it seems that you still remember that you are a soldier, a soldier who may go to the battlefield at any time." Lucien nodded.

After the shooting training, Lucien decided to start the next link.

"Bayonet!"

The soldiers took out the bayonets from their bodies, and then installed them on the guns as quickly as possible, and then waited for the final order.

The moment of silence seemed to last a century, but it seemed to be just a moment.

"Charge!"

With this roar, the soldiers shouted and rushed towards the target with their guns.

Lucien stood still, watching his men rushing farther and farther away, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

God knows how much effort he put into reforming these soldiers and making them obedient!

Read the original text at 6 # 9 @shu/ba!

Unlike Prussia, which implemented a system of universal conscription and young people had to serve in the army for a short period of time when they reached a certain age, France at this time implemented a system that combined compulsory military service with substitute military service. France did not require every young person to serve, but allowed the conscripted young people to pay someone to serve for them (this is what ordinary middle-class families did), and the service time was longer. Engels once half-mockingly called this French [***] army "semi-mercenary".

The two military systems of Prussia and France each have their own advantages and disadvantages. The Prussian system can ensure that its young people are basically trained, and then it can retain a large reserve and reserve corps outside the regular army; the French system can ensure that soldiers and officers have sufficient combat experience and excellent combat skills.

If it is a small-scale conflict or a medium-sized war, the quality of the soldiers can make the smaller side win. But if it is a large-scale full-scale war, the excellent quality of a few soldiers may be able to obtain a better casualty ratio in the battle, but it cannot resist the surging enemy army of millions.

Most of the soldiers in Lucien's company were substitute soldiers, and many of them were veterans who had served for many years. If he had not been so brave and liked by the soldiers, he would probably not have been able to control the non-commissioned officers and veterans in the company.

Lucien always firmly believed that no matter what era, the foundation of an army is strict military discipline. Therefore, since he took office, he has swept away the procrastination and fatigue of his predecessors, strictly disciplined his subordinates, and conducted training many times according to his own standards.

His approach certainly caused a backlash from the soldiers at the beginning. Although there were not many people who directly disobeyed orders, many people either deliberately procrastinated or pretended not to understand the orders, hoping to resist in this way.

But how could these tricks be hidden from Lucien, who had been in the army for many years? Soon, Lucien shattered their fantasy. He did not deal with the disobedient soldiers directly according to military discipline, nor did he use his position to punish the soldiers. Instead, he asked them to fight with him one by one and allowed them to resist. Soon, the leaders were beaten so hard that they could not stand up. Strangely enough, after being beaten like this, the leaders were convinced and executed orders more smoothly than anyone else.

After the leaders were all beaten, the remaining soldiers dared not procrastinate and be lazy anymore. The orders of the new company commander Lucien Leflair soon became the common rules followed by the whole company.

If Lucien only received the respect of the soldiers at this moment, then when the soldiers later learned that he was a war hero in Algeria, and was suppressed by his superiors for speaking out and daring to remonstrate, and had recently returned to the army, this respect slowly turned into admiration.

Moreover, although he was harsh and unkind during training, the new company commander was kind and caring to the soldiers. He was not like other company commanders who scolded and beat soldiers at will. Instead, he cared about the sufferings of the soldiers and sometimes even gave money to help those soldiers who were in urgent need.

Therefore, it was not surprising that Lucien Leflair quickly won the love of the soldiers.

Not only did he win the love of the soldiers, but Lucien, who was strong and upright and had a pure military atmosphere, quickly established a good reputation among the officers of the whole regiment. Of course, this was not only due to his personal charm, but also had a lot to do with his quick payment and never defaulting on the money he lost playing cards in the officers' club.

The rumor that "Lucien Leflair recently inherited a large amount of inheritance from his uncle, and then spent a lot of money to bribe the higher-ups and returned to the army" was not regarded as a source of jealousy by people, but made people admire him a little.

Once, when the officers were drinking together, his battalion commander even teased him.

"Dear Lucien, what are you thinking? You have inherited a large inheritance, why do you want to return to the army? If I had a large sum of money like you, I would have left the army long ago."

"The army is my home, I don't want to go anywhere else except here." At that time, Lucien answered with a serious expression, "Being poor or rich is just a matter of fate, my destination is here, I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to return to this big family."

His words won applause from the whole room, and everyone raised their glasses to toast this real soldier.

In the end, this new officer in the regiment had only one flaw: after night, he rarely met with other officers or went out to have fun. But after learning the reason, everyone laughed at this "shortcoming".

"My wife is pregnant, I want to spend more time with her."

In this way, Lucien Leflair returned to the army very smoothly. (To be continued.)