We needed at least double the number of pikemen. So after conferring, Oscar and Walter organized a single company of 150 men. The company, made up of 100 pikemen and 50 gunners, began its first training.
At first they floundered, but gradually they started working in sync.
"I still have my doubts about how effective it'll be in real combat, but one company alone can't hold a front line. To take the field, we'd need at least ten companies."
That meant maintaining at least 500 gunners alone. Walter was right; the limits of a single company on the battlefield were all too clear. But under the current standing army system, that was out of the question.
The system needed to be reorganized so that levies could be mobilized as gunners too. August was the best man for the job, but he was in Hissen building defenses against Basel's provocations, so it would have to wait.
