Matt locked himself in a wooden house with a single courtyard and thought for a whole afternoon but still couldn't sort out the chaotic thoughts in his mind. He simply stopped thinking and walked out of the small courtyard and called Camille who was helping Emma wash the cooking utensils to go to the training ground to find Angus and Odo, the two army adjutants.
After a while, Odo and Angus came to the wooden house with a single courtyard. Art was writing and drawing on a piece of dried birch bark with a sharpened charcoal stick.
"You're here? Sit down, we'll be waiting for a while." Art continued his work.
The two people sit on the left and right sides respectively.
After a long while, Otto couldn't sit still and asked softly: "Sir, what's the matter with you calling us here?"
Att held the birch bark in his hands, blew off the charcoal powder on the bark, and said to the two people sitting at the table: "Now that everyone in our valley is here, I plan to hold a meeting in the wooden castle tomorrow to discuss the future development of the entire valley. While there is still some time, I want to find The two of you talk about it."
Odo and Angus were very touched. As the adjutant of the army and the right-hand man around Art, Art could consult their opinions on major development issues, which shows that they have become one of the cores of the entire territory.
"Of course, I came to you mainly to talk about the army. In these troubled times, the steel sword in your hand is the capital of survival. For the entire valley, a strong army is the basis for development. This time I am knighted, and this valley will gradually attract the attention of the outside world. It is no longer possible to hide and grow quietly. Moreover, we are still facing the flow of bandits in the territory. Kou, the enemy troops outside the country, the current opponents are from the Dean family, and the opponents in the future may come from inside the valley. Whether it is inside or outside the country or in the present and future, the only way for us to deal with these crises is to continue to make ourselves stronger. You don’t need to worry about how to produce food and make money. You just think about how to make our soldiers more brave and good at fighting, and how to make our army more invincible."
can think about the post‐war army's standing strength, soldier formation, weapon configuration, military pay, soldier training and other issues. It has been so long now, and I think you have also discussed it with the officers and soldiers below. Now, I want to hear the results of your discussion first. ” After saying that, Art put down the birch bark and looked at the two army commanders beside him quietly.
Odo hesitated to speak, Art saw his actions and said: "Odo, you are the first person to follow me, and now you are the adjutant of the army. Let's talk about it first, starting with the standing number of the army."
Otto thought for a moment and said: "Sir, we have been conducting training these days while discussing with everyone the issues you ordered. Generally speaking, the officers and key soldiers have the same idea, that is, we must continue to train a strong army. However, there are differences on specific issues. In this regard, the sergeant major and I have different views."
Matt turned to look at Angus, and Angus nodded lightly.
"It doesn't matter, it's good to have different ideas so that you can consider everything comprehensively. Otto, then tell me what you think first." Art said.
“My idea is that we must continue to expand the number of legion (professional) soldiers. Within this year, we should preferably expand the number of legion soldiers to more than sixty based on veterans who have participated in the battle. The cavalry is not easy to train, but at least it must be Expanded to ten knights. We fought in Tarburg for half a year, and our lives were stained with blood. However, when we returned to Besançon, the court nobles did not consider your record at all. After a bloody battle, we almost didn't even get a fief, and finally gave it to your knights. The territory is also considered a barbaric place by those high-ranking nobles, not to mention that our caravan is bullied everywhere. The root of all this is that they think you are a little person who can be manipulated at will, and this valley will be fertile in the future. People will definitely be discovered, and by then we will face more hungry wolves, so my idea is to continue to grow the army and make those who are eyeing us afraid of the sharp swords in our hands and the fangs in our mouths." Odo said excitedly.
Ate thought for a while and asked: "Odo, you have been in charge of the army's weapons, armor, money, food and supplies. You should know the huge amount of money, food and supplies our army currently consumes every day."
Otto nodded and said: "Yes, sir, I understand that during the expedition, the army's military expenditure alone exceeded 700 pfennigs every week, and the consumption of food, grass and baggage was even more staggering. However, we have a lot of existing weapons, armor and baggage because we captured a lot of them during the six months of garrisoning Tarburg. If we reduce it a little." Soldiers' weapons and equipment are simpler: ordinary soldiers are only issued with robes, cloaks or cotton armor, and the weapons are mainly iron spears, daggers, wooden shields and hand axes; combat team leaders are equipped with leather armor, iron spears, long swords, skinned wooden shields and half helmets; officers above the team leader are equipped with mail or iron armor, nose protection and iron helmets, and weapons are issued Iron spears, long swords, battle axes, and iron bucklers; the cavalry is slightly better equipped, and I am still thinking about the training of archers. The weapons and armor in the wooden castle arsenal can fully equip more than 60 legion soldiers. As for the subsequent consumption problem, we have caravans outside to make money to buy weapons. There are many craftsmen forging weapons and armor. In addition, if the land in the valley does not have to be paid taxes, there will be surplus food to support the army's food consumption. And according to your arrangement, we will continue to clear out the bandits and bandits in the territory, and there will be many seizures..."
"As for the formation of soldiers, we can continue to use the current organization structure and increase the number of squads. The salary of legionnaires can also be slightly lower. In addition, I think we need to form a special baggage team to set up baggage soldiers and medical soldiers..."
Yat listened carefully and used charcoal sticks to write down a few key words on birch bark from time to time.
Odo said a lot, but his core idea was to continue to expand the army and use a huge army to continuously enhance Art's influence in the County of Burgundy.
"Sergeant, Odo has said so much, I think what he said makes sense. I want to hear your different opinions."
At this critical moment involving future development, Angus showed the composure of a soldier who had experienced battles on the battlefield. He changed his usual unruly attitude, sat up straight and said to Art with a serious face: "Sir, my ideas are somewhat different from Odo. I think the development of the army should not be blindly pursued. Instead of seeking to expand the number, we should focus on improving the army's combat effectiveness, which includes the equipment of army weapons and armor and the cultivation of individual combat skills of soldiers." Art put down the charcoal stick in his hand, stared at Angus and said: "Sergeant Major, you mean we develop elite soldiers?"
“Yes, my lord, when I first saw you in Besançon, you had thirty soldiers in your hands. This group of soldiers followed you through the bandit suppression battles on the southern border, and they were relatively powerful. However, many of them were just ordinary farmers and refugees a year and a half ago. Despite continuous training every day, their combat power is only slightly better than that of ordinary peasant soldiers. They may be about the same as ordinary legionnaires, but they are definitely not elite warriors. Almost all the battles we experienced during the six months we were stationed in Tarburg were won by "conspiracy." We cannot always rely on this method to win in future battles. When facing a grand battle, judging from the current combat power of our army, the battle losses will definitely be very high. "
Angus paused for a moment and continued: "Because we may face a large-scale Swabian attack on Talburg at any time, it is reasonable for us to expand our troops. However, this also leads to uneven combat capabilities of our army soldiers. During this period of training, I discovered this serious problem. The performance of the soldiers who followed you in the training was obviously much better than those who later joined the army, so the training could not always achieve the results we wanted. My opinion is that a group of unfit soldiers can be appropriately eliminated. The ordinary soldiers trained as elite soldiers can become patrol soldiers or fort guard peasant soldiers, and they can even be given land to become farmers. The main force of the legion's soldiers is best controlled at around thirty or forty people, and can be trained according to the three levels of light infantry - heavy infantry - light cavalry. Training. In addition, it is best to restore the number of light cavalry to the original five or six. Being able to march on horseback and fighting on horseback are not the same thing. Our soldiers can pretend to be on horseback. If there is a real cavalry confrontation, they will have to fall off their horses without even a single charge."
At picked up the charcoal stick and wrote down what Angus said.
Angus was encouraged and raised his voice, saying: "As for the weapons and armor of the elite soldiers, I went to the arsenal a few days ago to take stock. Judging from our current armament situation, the light infantry can wear cotton armor with a single layer of leather armor, a semicircular iron helmet on the head, and short weapons. Spears, battle axes, heavy hammers, short swords and bucklers. Those light infantry who can barely use bows and crossbows can be trained as crossbowmen; heavy infantry are equipped with mail hoods, throat guards, nose protection iron helmets, armed clothes and half-length chain mail or iron-inlaid leather armor, and their weapons are short spears, broadswords, battle axes, and leaf hammers with an iron side. The light cavalry is equipped with a war horse, a mail hood, a throat guard, an iron helmet with a nose guard, an armored lining with long sleeves and chain mail or an iron chain mail, and weapons such as a spear, a riding bow, a broadsword, a short-handled battle axe, a dagger, a mace, and of course, a kite shield in the arsenal. , If we want to unify the equipment, we still need to modify various weapons and armor. Our craftsmen are not very good at casting weapons and armor, but they are still capable of repair and modification. In addition, the money and military salary we save after reducing the number of soldiers can be used to increase the salary of elite soldiers."
"Sir, forty of these carefully selected elite soldiers equipped with sophisticated weapons and armor, as long as they undergo rigorous training for more than half a year, are enough to deal with a hundred peasant soldiers and bandits. If there is another group of officers who are proficient in tactics and tactics, I think no one in Tyniec County will dare to easily provoke us."
“In addition, I have another idea. If you really plan to cultivate elite soldiers, in order to continue to expand the army when the time is right in the future, we can consider the training of peasant soldiers recruited from the territory. At present, in addition to legionnaires, we also have three militia armies. They are the patrol team, the valley fort guard team, and the border outpost guards that will be established separately. The outpost guards will collect a large amount of transit business taxes in the future, which will be very important. We need to strengthen the outpost guards in the future, but the full-time patrol team can be streamlined and set up at the boulder pile. A small sentry post with two or three disabled soldiers who have withdrawn from the legion and a few fast horses will suffice. If there is any banditry, the horses can go back to the valley to call the police, and the legionnaires can rush out. As for the fort guard team, I think we can seriously consider it. The fort guard team is intended to maintain the daily order and operation of the territory. It will be the defense force of the territory after the army leaves, but in the future we can appropriately increase the responsibilities of the fort guard team and let the fortress guard team be responsible for the leisure training of the young and strong fort residents in the territory. These fort residents who have undergone basic training can be assembled and trained in a short period of time as a source of troops to supplement the legion's battle losses..."
After all, he is a sergeant major who has been infected in the Holy Order. Angus’s depth of understanding of the army is beyond Odo’s reach. Many of the things Angus proposed have not even been considered by Art.
I am most fortunate to have wise men and warriors like you as my right‐hand man. I very much agree with both of your views. Put forward your opinions for everyone to discuss. In addition, when you go down, show me those outstanding officers and soldiers. We need more backbone soldiers and officers for the subsequent expansion of the army. "
"Go down and call Cooper and Salt here later." Art stood up and took a sip from the wine glass on the table.
Odo and Angus straightened their clothes and left the cabin. After a while, Cooper and Salt walked into the single-yard wooden cabin...