More to the point, a lecture on how war was waged 'back in the day' (Long, long before Alfred's day).

"Short range, firing at large blocks of men," Alfred says calmly. "More by luck than judgement for any individual shot, and you needed to be able to deal with the remnant in melee, but it worked well enough, chuck enough mud and all that. And of course, the noise and smoke terrified horses."