The ninth day after the territorial meeting, in the valley wooden castle arsenal.
"Benson, you really want to join the patrol. If you stay in the legion, you may be promoted to the leader of the combat team. There is no combat team leader in the patrol, and there is nothing around the boulder pile where the patrol is stationed. You have to think carefully." Obote, the new captain of the patrol, said to Benson, who was planning to join the patrol.
Benson carried the four short spears and a military tent assigned to the new patrol by the baggage officer Spencer, turned around and said to Obote: "I would like to stay in the legion, but tomorrow the legion will start to lay off soldiers. I~I will definitely not be able to do those guys, and I will be laid off anyway. I might as well take the initiative to join the patrol, so that I can save some face."
Obote grabbed Benson who turned to go out, looked into his eyes and said: "Benson, do you still want to be a deserter? Let me tell you, if you don't want to be a soldier, you can ask to be a fort citizen. Don't follow me to the boulder pile and then run away, I I can’t afford to lose this person.”
Benson turned to Obote and said, “Obot, don’t talk nonsense. I never wanted to be a deserter.”
Obot looked at Benson with an expression of contempt.
Benson glanced back at Obote with some embarrassment and said: "Well, I thought about running away before, but that was how long ago. Ever since I was injured in Sap, I really didn't think about being a deserter. Besides, there are wars everywhere in the north and south. Where can I escape? I swear to the Holy Lord, I really want to go to the border patrol with you."
Obot still stared straight at Benson.
Benson was stared at so hard that his hair stood on end, "Okay, I admit, I just can't stand the constant training and torture of the legion every day. I thought it would be easier and more comfortable to follow you. Besides, I was attacked by bandits in Sap last year and suffered an arrow wound on my shoulder. Until now, my right arm cannot be used too hard. When I was in Talburg, I suffered an arrow injury and was almost hacked to death by the Swabian enemy on the wall. If you hadn't saved me, I would have become a pile of bones outside Talburg. I think I might be able to live longer by following you..."
Obote let go of the eyes that were fixed on Benson's face and said: "I have to tell you in advance, don't think that if you join the patrol team with me, you will go to paradise. You will have to face the homeless merchants and bandits every day. Don't think that you are relaxed and relaxed. If you just want to live longer, it is still too late to regret quitting the army and become a farmer cultivating the land. , once you decide to join the border patrol with me, you will definitely avoid fighting. If you still want to escape, don’t blame me for being unkind.”
"Okay, let's go, we have to go to the barn to get food later." As Obote said, he picked up the broadsword and cotton armor belt on the ground, and led his first soldier out of the arsenal...
…
In a small wooden shed next to the wooden castle grocery store, on a broken table in Emma's tavern, Andrew, the former captain of the peasant soldier squad who has been appointed as the leader of the second squadron combat team of the first squadron of the Art Army, is drinking Emma's homemade wild fruit wine with several brothers from the former peasant (new) soldier squad.
A guy with thick eyebrows and a big beard took a big gulp of sour fruit wine and said with a grin: "Brother Andrew, you are doing well now. You have been directly appointed as the leader of the combat team, but we guys are not so lucky. We are all new recruits who have just joined the army. We have neither the record nor the combat skills of those veterans. We will probably be eliminated tomorrow."
Andrew grabbed a piece of rye bread from the wooden plate with his hand, dipped it in the soup in the pottery pot nearby, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed a few mouthfuls and swallowed it. He raised his head and said to the people at the table: "I would say that you guys underestimate yourselves too much. Although you don't kill as many people as the veterans, you are all men who have experienced fighting, and you are also brave. What are you afraid of? Are you really worse than those veterans? Besides, even if you are not selected as a combat soldier, there are still patrol teams and outposts to go to. Even if you are not selected by the patrol team and outposts, you can still enter the recruit team and train hard for three months, and you will have a chance to be selected into the army. Even in the worst case, you will be assigned to the valley wooden fort to be resettled. What's wrong with that?"
Andrew looked at the thick-browed man next to him and said, "Especially you. You used to be just a herdsman who herded cattle for the squire in the village. Now that your family has been brought over, what's wrong with you just sharing the land and becoming a farmer? The rent and tax here are so low. If you can be allocated five or six acres of land, it will be enough for you to support your wife and children."
The thick-browed bearded man picked up the wooden bowl and took a sip of the wheat paste. He opened his mouth full of wheat paste and said, "If I really have no choice, I would also like to be a farmer. But if I can become a soldier, I can get seventy pfennigs every month. The army can also take care of my food and accommodation, and all my military salary can be left to my wife and several children. Such a good thing is really rare..."
"Then you have to be able to save your life to receive this salary. A guy like you who has a wife and children is best not to join the legion. You may go out to fight at any time with the legion. That head is not your own..."
Andrew was a little frustrated when he saw a few people. He took a sip of fruit wine and sighed: "Well, since you have chosen to beg with your head. Don’t worry about eating. Anyway, everyone will work hard tomorrow. It would be great if we could fight side by side with you brothers.”
The next day, at the army training ground outside the wooden castle, except for a few soldiers who actively requested to enter the outpost and patrol team and were selected and taken away by the outpost and patrol team in advance, the remaining fifty or sixty people in the army were all concentrated on the training ground.
At this time, Odo, the adjutant of the legion, was lecturing dozens of soldiers in the field. He said loudly in a slightly hoarse tone: "The legion's order to reduce the number of soldiers has been notified to you nine days ago. According to your order, from now on Starting today, the army will begin to select the most elite soldiers to join the legion. The better ones can enter the outposts and patrol teams. Those who are not selected will be temporarily returned to the recruit team for three months of training, and then the elite recruit team will be selected again to form the third squadron. "
“Today’s selection is divided into three parts. First, select light cavalry who can fight on horseback. If any of you feel that you can barely fight on horseback, you will stand behind Commander Ron in a while, and they will select soldiers suitable for cavalry. Once selected, you will be treated as a combat team leader.”
"The second step is to select crossbowmen who can draw bows and shoot arrows. If anyone feels that their archery skills are not bad, they can stand aside. Jason will test your archery skills. Those who pass the test can be directly retained as combat soldiers."
"The last step is to select battles. Soldiers, the test for selecting combat soldiers is divided into two parts. The first is individual combat skills, including arm strength, endurance, sword skills, short spears, and shield use. The second is combat formations, including three-person combat formations and line shield formations. Individual combat skills are mainly about fighting between soldiers. The combat formations are composed by you, and every six people form a team to fight against each other. "
"The three squadron leaders and I will select the best soldiers to join the legion and become combat soldiers. Those who are not selected will join the new recruits."
"Okay, you can start discussing now, and the selection will begin after lunch. Each team will be randomly organized and free to participate in the selection~"
Dozens of soldiers dispersed, each preparing to stretch their muscles, or find familiar brothers to form a team...
On the other side of the training ground, the long and short wooden sticks used for training were pinging with the table tennis, and Art was fighting with the newly joined cavalryman Lusignan using long sticks and wooden shields.
Through his observations some time ago, Art has confirmed that the guy named Lusignan in front of him has extraordinary combat skills. After all, he is the son of a knight and has experienced battles. Unlike Odo and other civilian soldiers who rely solely on brute force and fearless murderous intent, Lusignan has stronger fighting skills and is both offensive and defensive in every move. After several fights, although Art can overwhelm his opponent, he himself is also struggling.
Matt rubbed the painful shoulder, lowered his hand with the wooden stick and reached out to pull up Lusignan, who was lying on the ground holding his stomach and rolling left and right, and said: "Man, I know you are dissatisfied with being sent to the recruit team to participate in training, but you don't need to be so cruel. Remember, you need to be able to distinguish the battlefield from the training ground. If I hadn't stabbed you in the stomach just now, maybe I would have lost my arm in the next few days."
Lusignan lay on the ground and covered himself for a while before he regained his composure and said: "My lord, why didn't you move away just now? If it hadn't been for the wooden stick in my hand, I'm afraid your arm would have been gone long ago."
Art pulled Lusignan up, patted the dust on his body, and said: "If it was really a battlefield, there must be a layer of armor on my shoulders. Your sword would not be so easy to cut off my arm, but it would be. You yourself, whether you have armor on your abdomen or not, the stick you just exchanged for a long sword can pierce your stomach. The move you just made may not kill the enemy, but the enemy's sword will never let you live!"
Lusignan looked at the deep marks on his abdomen and realized the secret of Art's sword skill of using offense as defense. He handed the short stick in his hand to Art and lowered his head and said, "My lord, I am ashamed."
At blocked the wooden stick handed over by Lusignan and said, "Okay, this is an army, not a martial arts competition, and I'm not here to duel with you. I can tell you that the reason why I rushed you to the recruit team for ten days of training is not because I think your combat skills are not strong enough, but because I want you to know that from the moment you entered our army, you will not be able to fight. Everything starts from scratch. No matter how many enemies you have killed in the past and how many opponents you have defeated, you are now officers and soldiers under my Art. What I need is not a ranger who goes around alone to fight, but an elite soldier who obeys the legion. If you hadn't performed well in the new army these days, I would have driven you out of the valley."
"Lusignan, from now on, I appoint you as the deputy captain of the legion's sentries. You will be treated as a squad leader and have a monthly salary of one hundred pfennigs. You can go find Ron later. He is younger than you, but he is your commander. If you are not convinced, you can come to me."
After saying that, Art walked towards Klaus who was fighting with Angus on the other side...
.........
Two days later, 42 elite soldiers (including officers) from three squadrons of the Art Corps (one missing) All have been selected. The main force of the legion is veterans who have participated in the battle. There are also a small number of outstanding recruits who have been selected into the legion. The soldiers who have not been selected into the legion will be selected again to serve as guards in outposts, patrols and caravans, or stay in the new army to receive three months of training before being selected and settled.
In the following time, the legion will start a new round of training. The original squads and combat groups have been basically disrupted during this reorganization. Each squadron and squad must retrain and fine-tune the combat formation cooperation among the soldiers. Odo Angus and several squadron captains and squad leaders began to discuss the training of legion soldiers.
At, who had just finished sorting out the Valley Knights and the army, was about to start a new round of busyness because he received a private message from Fort Sap...