112 A show of skill II
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POV of Jon Arryn, seventh moon 284 AC
''I have authorization from your lord to be here personally invited to observe some of their training before the combat that will take place before the jousting''I said, handing over the paper that Lord Hohenzollern had given me.
Roon motioned with his head to one of the Teutonic knights who took the paper and read it, then went over to one of his companions who took out another paper and they began to review it
''It is the writing of our lord, he authorizes lord Arryn, the hand of the king, to be here'' said the teutonic knight.
''Ahh... Then... there is nothing we can do,'' said lord roon.
''It's not so terrible Roon, lord Arryn at least he hasn't tried to make that crude copy of our tercios'' said the man with the eye patch.
''Crude copy?'' I said with intrigue.
''Lord Tywin Lannister, that honorless scum, has already tried to imitate our armies with a crude version of the tercios with a simple pike formation, shame on him for trying to say that they are almost as effective as the veterans of the Prussian army'' lord roon said with quite a bit of disgust
''We are talking about the queen's father, lord roon, is not someone you can insult'' I said to the prussian officer.
''Just because he's the queen's father doesn't give her the right to insult us lord arryn, that man has been trying to buy our officers for months now by offering them gold thought to be prostitutes he can control because he's rich'' lord roon replied, standing up straight.
'Lord Lannister sure knows how to annoy the Prussians'.
The Prussians were looking at a map containing steel figures that resembled foot soldiers and cavalry and were facing each other.
''They are Prussian tactics lord arryn,herr roon and the Herzog bock,they were showing off their tactical skills in this little game of the Prussians that seeks to recreate decision making on a real battlefield'' said lord Tarly
''But I think you're just in time, this time luck is on my side, roon was beating me with much ease, he has incredible luck with the dice'' said the man with the patch as he put his dog on the floor.
Watching the game closely, it was clear that one side had the other completely surrounded.
''Luck is one of a commander's most important tools...well Lord Arryn I suppose you want to see our men train...as it is my lord's order let me accompany you...Herr Tarly, Herzog Helmuth, prepare everything for the tournament''ordered Lord Ron to the rest of his companions.
They left the tent and lord roon began to order the steel figures.
''Do the Prussians play that a lot?'' I said pointing to the box where he was storing the pieces.
''Prussian officers play it regularly, it's good that they play it as it leaves a lot of possibilities open for something to happen, not always everything goes according to plan, sometimes there are communication failures and a unit that was supposed to retreat is completely annihilated or due to weather changes, the conditions change and the terrain is no longer the same, it's not the same as a real battlefield but it seeks to teach that luck plays an important role when you are leading thousands of lives'' said the Prussian nobleman who after putting away the game put on his gloves and pointed me out of his tent.
''That's good to know, so your men are ready for today?'' I asked the Prussian officer.
''Yes, we have been training regularly to maintain our skills and equipment maintenance has been kept up as usual'' said lord roon with a serious face.
As we left the tent we walked to an area that was clear but was already occupied by several men of the Prussians who oddly enough were wearing various colorful decorations on their armor and tabards, showing themselves to be more of a rather different unit than the Prussians present of excessive standardization.
There were many who wore full blue robes, others had robes of a golden color, some with golden and blue robes in equal parts, they wore wide sleeves and hats with colorful feathers.
''The men you see here are the best of the best you can get from the Prussian armies handpicked for this occasion, the bravest and most disciplined men you can find and at the same time the most awarded, as the rules apply to the nobles the soldiers can only wear black and white which is given by the state, but one of the awards that was given by my lord was the right to wear colors, that is why many wore other colors outside the rules'' said lord roon pointing to the men who were polishing their armor.
''Then your nobles too?'', I asked the officer.
''No, that privilege is almost never given to the nobility, since as a rule the prize is for life the life of a noble is very long compared to a commoner, besides a noble can afford the colorful clothes that most commoners could not afford, I suppose you know Maximiliam who has been one of the few who has the privilege of wearing colors besides my lord'' said lord roon walking towards the group of men who were preparing for the tournament.
Lord roon gave a signal to one of his men and a bell began to ring with a loud clang.
''FAST, FAST, ENEMIES AT THE DOORS, ALL TO YOUR POSITIONS'' shouted lord Roon.
The Prussians almost immediately ceased their conversations and quickly put on their armor and took up their weapons, and quickly began to organize themselves into their formations.
In a matter of minutes, the Prussian soldiers were ready to fight.
With a signal of his hand, lord Roon gave the order to stop ringing the bell and lord Roon began to observe his men who were in battle formation.
The soldiers at the front wore a shorter pike but wore armor that was reinforced, but only at the front the first four lines of pikes ended at the same distance offering a wall of sharp steel points to anyone who tried to approach.
Within the formation, I noticed that some Prussian soldiers were carrying a sword that easily surpassed them, which was between the first and second ranks of the Prussian formation.
Pointing to those men, lord Roon spoke again
''Doppelsöldner, they are in charge of cutting the pikes and they are the first to try to enter the enemy formations because of the risk they are paid double, usually the most veteran in the use of the great sword take the position, with a daily training of four hours using their distinctive weapon'' said the Prussian nobleman without much interest.
In a way I like this cold manner, much better than the hundreds of nobles who try to flatter me for privileges or favors, their dislike for me is so obvious that they don't even try to have a good fake relationship with me.
''I have heard a lot from maximiliam that you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times when Prussian soldiers have escaped from the battlefield without orders from their superiors,it has always struck me that they get soldiers who would rather die than run away''I said to lord Roon who was smiling a little as he watched his men to put his serious face back on when he talks
''It is because our religion works hand in hand with the Prussian state, since our lord is the head of the protestant church of Prussia religion is a fundamental part of every Prussian's life and one of the principles of our faith that gives that security to the soldiers, fatalism, if god wants you to survive the battle you will survive no matter how many risks you take, otherwise if god determined that you must die it does not matter if you run away from the battle you will die anyway because his will is absolute and running away means breaking an oath that was validated before god and therefore you will never enter paradise when you die''.
''Also the draconian discipline that is introduced to the recruits to turn them into this... a professional army always ready and waiting for orders from their lord to end any existential threat against the state of Prussia'' said lord Roon opening his arms and showing his soldiers in position.
''Do you think your men can win this tournament?'' I asked the Prussian officer.
The look on lord roon's face was that of someone who heard someone say a very stupid thing.
''A mob of men-at-arms who only know how to charge forward can do little against our soldiers, our equipment is of better quality, our men are taller and more muscular, they have better training, they are used to the hardships of war, being led by the living legend of Herzog Helmuth, that question is absurd, contrary to all logic,'' said Lord Roon, grimacing with disgust.
It should be noted that this Prussian nobleman could not stand me, but he explained everything I asked him.
The prussian pike formations are more varied than it seems, they are not only pikes, there are several soldiers with huge great swords and they all carry daggers and maces in case a melee is necessary, also in their formation they use halberds to protect the flanks and their crossbowmen.
Which to my surprise all worked in the same formation as the pike square even though in the Prussian camp there are a little over five hundred men even so they showed how their tercio would function in combat.
And it was quite obvious why the Prussians are so hard on discipline as they constantly perform maneuvers within the tercio for everything from moving soldiers with great swords to other places, repositioning crossbowmen and halberdiers, saving their wounded and bringing them to the safety of the center of the formation where the medic was, expanding their formation to form a square with pikes pointing in all directions, tactics against projectiles.
The Prussian officers shouted and the Prussian soldiers obeyed, all the soldiers seemed to know where they were supposed to be at all times as from outside the tight formation it looked like chaos but if you looked closely no one was bumping into anyone, the officers moved between the lines freely watching their soldiers carry out their orders.
And when it seemed that nothing could surprise me more of this group of soldiers their military drums began to sound and the Prussians began to march to the rhythm of the drums throughout the limited space of their camp at no time breaking the formation always maintaining the order.
Trying to copy the Prussian way of fighting is not going to be easy, it is the same problem as having a good amount of men-at-arms, it is very expensive to keep training soldiers for extended periods of time, without considering the cost of steel and blacksmiths to make armor and swords and pikes.
When I satisfied my curiosity of the Prussian training I left with a bad taste in my mouth to check my men-at-arms, I had some hope that we could win, the vale's men are known for their toughness and skill, but the Prussians do not fight as one, they fight as a unit already enhancing their individual abilities.
I did a quick check of my men-at-arms as I spent a good while observing the Prussian soldiers and headed to the tournament fields that had been modified by the carpenters for the big fight to be held today as they will have to fight almost the same participants of the melee tournament in this team battle, only this time in turns.
Afterwards, the jousting will take place and the two uninterrupted weeks of celebrations will come to an end.
I arrived at my seat next to the king and I found that Robert kept talking to lord Hohenzollern and with a big smile,
While lord Hohenzollern maintained an exhausted smile
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''Come on Wilhelm, remember that you are a nobleman, you don't have to participate in initial jousts to let the small folks in, you still have time to participate in the joust'' said Robert while smiling.
It seems that lord hohenzollern is getting to know how insistent and determined Robert is because it seems that the prussian lord is already tired of hearing the same words.
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