Chapter 444: Close-Quarters Training: The Foundation of Close-Quarters Combat, Combat Posture

After arranging the three members of the Archery Squad and having them practice archery to the side, Jier strode over to the Melee Squad, who were standing around loosely because no one had come over for quite a while.

"Everyone, assemble! Stand at attention!"

Jier shouted loudly, instantly causing the thirteen lax Warriors to perk up; they gathered one after another and stood in formation according to their height.

After checking the group's formation and finding no issues, Jier nodded to the Warriors of the Melee Squad and said, "We've delayed for some time, so let's now begin the training explanation regarding close-quarters combat."

The Warriors were very excited and said in unison, "Let's start, Knight Jier!"

"First," Jier said, "first I must see how your foundations are. Now, the two people on the left and right closest to each other form a pair. Prepare to use simple tree branches as weapons to conduct a one-on-one duel. Let me see your skills, your foundations."

"My lord, in pairs, what about the one person left over?" someone asked.

This problem was easy to solve, and Jier replied directly, "Simple, the extra person will trade a couple of moves with me, and I'll see their skills."

Upon hearing they had to trade moves with Knight Jier, everyone was afraid—first, the pressure was high, and second, they couldn't win no matter what, and losing wouldn't look good. So they immediately paired up with the companions beside them. Very quickly, only Weier, who didn't quite blend into the group of Warriors, was left over.

Jier shrugged and said to Weier, "I don't think you need to spar with me. We just fought, and I already know what your specific level is."

Weier breathed a sigh of relief, spread his hands, and signaled to the others around him that his luck wasn't bad.

It was easy to find tree branches for simple sparring; the nearby wilderness had plenty of short, stunted trees. Just as these Warriors were choosing opponents, Xueya Site went to the side and cut two suitable branches.

The branches, with excess limbs and leaves cleared away, were of suitable length and weight. When held in the hand and swung, they weren't too springy, so they were fine for simple sparring.

Jier thanked Xueya Site and handed the two processed branches to the two shorter Warriors on the very edge.

"Come on, let's start with you two."

The two Warriors took the branches, walked out of the formation, then each stepped back a few paces to create distance and stood in a standoff.

Jier stood to the side with his arms crossed and said softly, "Begin."

Upon hearing Jier's command, the two immediately closed in and began to 'fight'. Because they were using harmless tree branches, they didn't have many reservations while fighting. One person lunged forward two steps and thrust with their hand, while the other ducked to dodge, simultaneously using the branch in their hand to deflect the opponent's incoming slash.

The two moved quickly, immediately exchanging positions after each attacking once. This time, because both were attacking and no one was defending, both struck the opponent's body.

"Hah!"

"Ugh."

Both let out a cry of pain. Although they were harmless branches, it still hurt a bit when struck with force. It was just that of the two fighting Warriors, one was wearing thick Linen Cloth clothing, and the other was wearing captured animal Leather Clothing, so the sensation of pain was slightly different when the branches hit.

Seeing the two cautiously standing off after each being hit once, Jier waved his hand: "What are you waiting for? Continue!"

Receiving the urging words, the two immediately fought together again.

They went back and forth, quite lively.

The others watched with great interest, feeling that the fighting level of these two was not bad; many even admitted they were no match for them. But Jier felt a bit sleepy watching, because although the two looked like they were fighting lively, in reality, it was completely reckless and haphazard.

There was no discipline or technique at all.

The whole thing was just straight thrusts and swinging. The only part that was barely worth watching was that one person would use the 'weapon' in their hand to parry the other's 'weapon', and the Warrior being parried clearly didn't even have the ability to use a weapon to parry an opponent.

The two fought for a while, panting. Although they weren't injured, the places they were hit were aching faintly.

Seeing the extent of their physical exertion, Jier called a halt to the simulated fight: "That's enough, please stop."

Tilting his head, Jier signaled for the two of them to hand the 'weapon' branches in their hands to the pair next to them.

"Knight Jier, how is our strength?"

"Yes, please give us an evaluation!"

Who would have thought the two Warriors actually hoped for Jier to give their 'fight' a verbal evaluation?

Jier scratched his cheek, really unable to say it clearly, so he could only weigh his words to bluff the two: "Compared to ordinary people, you are worthy of being Warriors of an Armed Squad that has fought against Bandits. Your fighting spirit and Yongqi are both quite good. You only need to undergo training here with me and master some necessary basic combat techniques to be able to steadily defeat Bandits in future battles!"

"In short, the potential is great!"

Jier looked serious, and the two were quite happy to hear it.

However, Weier, who was watching from the side, heard Knight Jier's disdain for the two's level, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Jier also watched the subsequent duels of the Warriors one by one. How to evaluate them?

Their level was better than ordinary farmers, slightly weaker than ordinary Bandits. Only some Warriors who had personally killed Bandits in battle had a slightly better level. But overall, everyone's fighting will and mental state were good; they had the drive to become stronger, but had always suffered from having no place or method to learn, so their level had never gone up.

Of course, among the dozen or so people, there were always some Warriors with particularly good levels, such as Weier and Aoni, who served as Captain.

If the two of them fought against the others in the team, it would be a crushing situation, just like the result of Jier's own fights with the others. Among them, Weier's was a crushing victory in Sword Technique, while Aoni's was a crushing victory in raw strength and equipment.

The former, other Warriors could narrow the level gap with Weier through learning and training, but the latter was very difficult to change through training. A full set of armor could truly greatly change a Warrior's combat outcome.

"So, do I need to find a way to get armor and equipment for the Warriors?" Jier muttered to himself, feeling that to improve everyone's combat power in a short time, learning, training, and having everyone armored were all very good methods.

He could find time to handle the learning and training, as long as everyone was willing to learn. But as for having everyone armored, this was not only a huge expense, but in this wretched, remote place, it was impossible to find a skilled Craftsman.

"Alright, let's officially begin the training!" Jier clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention.

He held up one finger: "I just watched your duels and found that everyone's level has obvious differences, basically divided into three levels. The first type: completely without a foundation in close-quarters combat. The second type: has a certain foundation and has accumulated some experience in battle. The third type: has relatively rich combat experience and has barely established a technical foundation."

The Warriors looked at each other, guessing which of the three situations above they were, and which one their companions around them were.

Weier frowned slightly. He didn't expect that with his situation, he would only be called 'barely established a technical foundation' by Knight Jier? He had undergone years of professional study and teaching at a professional Swordsman Academy!

And Aoni proudly puffed out his chest. Needless to say, just looking at how Knight Jier kept nodding when he fought one-on-one with others, he knew he was definitely a third-tier Warrior.

There were also some Warriors who lowered their heads in embarrassment. They knew themselves that they had no foundation. When they were in the Armed Squad before, they hadn't been able to participate in many battles and basically hadn't accumulated any combat experience.

And the Armed Squad hadn't organized training like today's, so many Armed Squad Warriors still had very average combat levels to this day.

Jier continued at this time: "Therefore, I plan to divide everyone into three groups. One group will conduct the most basic combat training, one group will conduct technical training and improvement, and the last group will receive specialized guidance to make up for some of their shortcomings."

Everyone nodded, approving of Knight Jier's grouping method, because just thinking about how many people didn't understand anything, if you let them conduct basic learning together with people who didn't understand, they wouldn't be willing—that would be a waste of time.

Jier clapped his hands and pointed to four Warriors respectively: "You, you, you, and you, you four step forward, form a group, and stand to the side first."

The four Warriors pointed at by Jier scratched their heads in embarrassment, stepped out of line awkwardly, and then walked to the side. They were the Warriors with absolutely no foundation in martial arts. Before, they were young farmers in the village who only knew how to farm, had never fought with anyone, and had never undergone combat training. After arriving in the Armed Squad, they hadn't gotten the chance to fight and couldn't accumulate combat experience by imitating the fighting styles of others with martial arts during battle.

Jier then said to Weier and Aoni: "You two also step out, form a group yourselves, and stand on the other side."

The two looked at each other, not surprised it was the other person, so they nodded to each other and walked to the other side of the formation at the same time.

Jier finally said to the seven Warriors remaining in place: "You seven re-form a line according to height, form a group, and from now on you will be in the same group during training."

He then said to everyone: "I will evaluate your martial arts levels after a period of time and will re-group you. So if you want to enter Weier and Aoni's group as soon as possible, train hard! I will provide specialized guidance on methods suitable for their own combat to the people in that group."

Jier made a hand-pressing gesture to the Warriors of the second and third groups, signaling them to wait a moment, then walked over to the first group, who had absolutely no combat experience, and said to them: "Then let's start with you! Basic combat training."

The four Warriors lined up neatly, stood straight, and pricked up their ears to pay close attention to the words of Knight Jier that followed.

Jier looked at them and said: "Start with the most basic combat stance. Watch closely, a standard combat stance is like this."

After Jier finished speaking, holding a Training Wooden Sword in his hand, he separated his feet front and back, stood with his body sideways, placed his left hand at his waist in a fist, while his right hand held the sword up and slightly extended forward, his torso slightly straight but with room for movement, his eyes looking straight ahead, staring intently at the empty space.

"Now take out your weapons, spread out a little, and assume the same stance as me."

Hearing Jier's command, the four Warriors took out their respective weapons, spread out, and assumed a barely identical stance.

Jier walked up to correct their movements: "Your feet should be separated front and back, but not too far apart. You have your feet too far apart, so your legs have no room for movement. This stance is only suitable for use when defending with a Shield, not for a Warrior who needs to attack."

He used his legs to nudge a Warrior who was standing with his legs too wide apart, making his spread legs move closer to maintain a length equal to his shoulders.

"You, your feet are too close together. Only some Swordsmen with exceptionally high levels of Sword Technique use a stance like this because their footwork is agile. Your foundation is not good enough, so just honestly separate your legs. Yes, separating them to the same length as your shoulders is fine."

After Jier instructed this Warrior, he looked at the other two, and these two also adjusted the position of their feet in a timely manner following Jier's words. Nodding, Jier continued: "The combat stance is the foundation of everything, and the placement of the feet is the foundation of the combat stance."

"You must take this to heart. No matter what the situation is when you fight in the future, you must not forget how your feet should be placed before a fight."

The four Warriors nodded. Seeing that they had taken it in, Jier continued to explain why it should be placed this way. He was not the type to only teach surface-level things; he wanted to tell the Warriors the underlying principles behind the surface.

A true Warrior must know the logic and principles behind all their combat stances and movements, why doing so provides combat power, and how they can use this or that method to defeat an enemy or not be defeated by an enemy.

"Separating your feet, not too close, and not spreading your legs wide on the ground, effectively helps you move flexibly. Especially in cases where your footwork has not undergone specialized training. Feet separated front and back are suitable for you to step forward, or step left and right to dodge, or even step backward; it is very convenient and will not cause entanglement or obstruction."

"Especially when you possess armor later, you will understand this point even more. Boots and Greaves will make your legs a whole circle wider and hinder your movements. At this time, the placement of the feet and legs in this combat stance will not cause you any obstruction."

After explaining, Jier came to the front of the four, assumed a standard combat stance again, and let the four Warriors without a foundation focus on observing and imitating how his torso was positioned.

Subsequently, Jier walked up to correct the four: "The body should be straight, not hunched. A hunched combat stance is suitable for weapons like Short Knives and Daggers used for quick raids. When using a Long Sword or Single-handed Axe, keeping the body straight is the most appropriate stance."

"You over here are tensing your body too tightly. Combat is an athletic activity; tensing the body too tightly will hinder the movement of the torso. Relax a bit and give your body room to move."

"As for you, turn your body sideways, yes, sideways, do not face your chest directly forward."

Jier then explained why one should stand sideways, and why the body should be straight but not too straight.

"Standing sideways can effectively reduce the possibility of your torso being hit. Especially by an enemy's thrusts and Arrow shots. You might say, is standing just a little bit sideways useful? I will say, if it can be a little bit useful, then try to make it useful. In combat, it might just be this tiny bit of effect; the difference between you and others is the difference between life and death."

Jier added: "At the same time, with the body turned sideways like this, your right arm will be in front, which will give you a tiny bit of an attack distance advantage compared to facing the enemy head-on. It's the same principle as before; don't look down on this tiny bit, it's only half a shoulder's worth of attack distance advantage, but often the result of a battle is ultimately determined by the accumulation of such advantages."

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? (End of this chapter)