In the barracks of the commander of the Wells Army in Beiguan Army Fort, Art was sitting on an armchair, tapping his waist in a funny manner.
Across the business table, Dennis, the ideological and political officer of the legion, asked with concern: "Sir, what's wrong with you? Have you hurt your back from riding horses often?"
Art stopped beating, nodded awkwardly, and said vaguely: "Uh, um, I hurt my waist from riding too much." It's hard to say that he had a sore back after being tormented by his wife all afternoon.
"Sir, you must take good care of yourself. Can the baron lead thousands of soldiers and civilians to count on you? If you do something wrong, our subordinates will not be able to sleep well." Dennis' flattery was a bit harsh, but it was still a true expression of emotion. As an ideological and political officer, Dennis was affiliated with the command camp. He neither led soldiers to fight nor trained soldiers. All his achievements came from Art, so he really cared about Art's safety.
Matt coughed lightly and brought the topic to the right track, "Dennis, I have been serving as an ideological and political officer for nearly half a year. What is your experience of the position of ideological and political officer? What do you think is the fundamental purpose of setting up the position of ideological and political officer?"
Dennis knew that Art had called him here for the purpose of taking the school exam. He thought for a while and replied: "Sir, just as you gave me the three tasks at the beginning, one is to find out the person's details, the second is to guess the person's mind, and the third is to prevent traitors. In the past six months, I have been aware of your three tasks all the time. Now almost all the soldiers and officers of the Wells Army are commanding the camp. There are records, and their details can basically be found; Daniel and I are also trying our best to figure out the thoughts of the officers and soldiers in the legion. As for the prevention of rape and rebellion, the military law team is also doing it. We just put two pairs of eyes in the legion. The soldiers hide far away when they see the military law team wearing feathered helmets, so we can see many things deeper and more clearly. "
Matt nodded. This Denis is really thoughtful.
Matt continued to ask: "Then why do you think I set up ideological and political officers? Is it just to monitor soldiers and officers?"
Dennis obviously already had a big answer. He deliberately pondered for a while and replied: "Sir, you can use ample food supplies and generous military pay. When it comes to controlling the bodies of soldiers and officers, you also need to use something to control the hearts of soldiers and officers, and the ideological and political officer is the weapon you use to control the hearts of soldiers. "
Matt was slightly shocked, but his face remained calm, "Controlling the hearts of soldiers? This is a new thing, tell me about it."
Dennis was convinced, and his thoughts were even more open. "You asked Daniel and I to go to the Welsh Army to talk to the soldiers, understand the soldiers' thoughts, and address the soldiers' complaints. I guess you are not just letting the soldiers feel your kindness? And if you are just educating the soldiers and officers, these things should also be done by the chaplain or the priest's subordinates. Although you asked Daniel and I to follow Father Robert, we are not clergy. We do not enlighten the world for God, our existence is only for you..."
Matt raised his hand to stop Denis's topic. If he continued, it would be easy to cause problems.
"Dennis, since you know the fundamental purpose of setting up ideological and political officers, you should know that the ideological and political officers must be a worm in my belly."
"Besides, please remember that God is the only salvation for the world, and the only one who can control people's hearts!"
"It's your lord!" Dennis stood up suddenly, the flattery on his face turned into serious determination, and his palms clenched into fists.
Matt waved his hand, "Sit down."
Dennis sat down slowly, leaning half of his buttocks on the wooden bench.
"From today on, four more ideological and political officers will be added to the Ideological and Political Officer. They will be attached to the legion command camp and enjoy the treatment of combat soldiers. Ideological and political officers will be selected by you and Daniel and submitted to me for review."
Dennis's eyes lit up. The addition of additional staff means expanded authority. "Thank you for your trust!" Dennis stood up again, his posture even more standard than those of the officers.
…..
"Sir, this is the list of new weapons and armor added to the legion's arsenal."
"This is the list of supplies of food and grass."
"This is an inventory of the legion's supplies."
In the barracks of the Beiguan Army Fort, Spencer, the baggage officer of the Welsh Legion, presented three birch bark sheets densely filled with characters to Art, who was sitting behind the official desk, and then sat back on the wooden bench.
Matt took a few birch barks, glanced at them and put them aside. "The inventory is too trivial. Just give me an overview."
Spencer was obviously well prepared. He cleared his throat and said, "Sir, let me talk about it one by one. First, the overview of weapons and equipment. After several battles, especially the battle at Wincheston Manor and the battle with the Western Army in the north of the county, we captured a large number of weapons and armor. Some of them are well-made and we directly deposit them in the arsenal for ready access. Those that are different from the Welsh Army's armament regulations or have Those damaged in the battle were all sent to the weapons workshop for repair and forging. Yesterday, they were all returned to the arsenal, and the expenses were paid off. After an inventory, we found that there are 12 sets of full-body plate armor, 69 sets of half-body plate armor, 17 sets of plate and chain armor, 35 sets of long-sleeved mail armor, 162 sets of half-length mail armor, more than 200 sets of iron scale armor, leather armor, and pierced armor, and a total of more than 650 sets of cotton armor or internal armor."
"At present, the legion's heavy armor shortage is still large, but the light armor can be fully equipped. In addition to assembling legion soldiers, it can also free up some armor for border garrisons, patrols and garrison legions."
"As for weapons, our current weapons can already equip nearly 800 soldiers, and some that were completely damaged in battle have been sent back to the workshop for recasting. These weapons reserves are fully sufficient to consume legion soldiers for a year. In addition, the weapons industry The workshop has successfully imitated the crossbow. Since we were a little pressed for time, the crossbow produced by the workshop is pedal-powered and is slightly less powerful than the winch. Some time ago, the workshop was busy repairing and making armor, so the crossbow was only Fifteen have been built, and they have all been equipped with crossbows. "
"The above is an overview of weapons and armor." After Spencer finished speaking, he calmed down and waited for Art's instructions.
Att was very pleased after hearing about the legion's arms reserves. He did not hesitate to sacrifice his life in exchange for victory, in order to get rich rewards after the battle.
Spencer, ordered the arsenal to select the best weapons and armor for the legion to carry out equipment replacement. The weapons and armor should be distributed to the soldiers as soon as possible to let them adapt first. The weapons and armor issued to the individual soldiers will not be used for the time being. The arsenal has been taken back. Now they are no longer recruits and know how to take care of weapons and armor. "
"It's an adult." Spencer took out a piece of birch bark from his arms and wrote down the words "select" and "distribute" with a hardwood charcoal stick.
Matt looked at Spencer holding the "pen" to take shorthand, and nodded sincerely.
"Continue to talk about the preparation of food and grass."
Spencer put the birch bark and charcoal sticks on his lap and continued: "According to the original plan, we would lead the army northward before April, so the legion's food and grass had been prepared a month ago. The baggage team applied for 60,000 pounds of wheat from the civil administration, which was enough for the legion's three-month consumption. After receiving the military rations, we asked the civil administration to transfer 15 territorial peasant women and spent a whole month in the wooden fort to make it. This 10,000 pounds of special bread will be carried by the baggage team with the army to provide military rations in emergency situations. In addition to the special bread, we have also ground 10,000 pounds of shelled wheat and distributed it to each flag team, which will be kept by the flag team. The cavalry team and the livestock accompanying the military convoy only carry black beans, wheat bran and other concentrated feed, and hay and other roughage are collected or harvested on site. "
"The remaining 40,000 pounds of grain cannot be carried by the army with the army. After the army sets off, it will be transported by civil affairs and caravans according to the location of our army."
"Sir, the above is the food supply that the army has prepared for the next campaign. These are just what we use to ensure the bottom line. After the army goes to the battlefield, we will definitely have to send out separate food collection teams to purchase and collect food."
“As for other military supplies and items, they have basically been prepared. The field tents are configured according to a squadron of two large tents and three small tents. The legion had it before. In addition, the ones purchased through the caravan during these times are almost the same. The textile workshop that is currently short of twenty tents is also working hard to make them. I have already sent people to urge them, and they will be delivered by next week at the latest. The items such as nails, hammers, hand axes, and iron bars for setting up camp and building foundations are basically ready. We also captured a lot of other iron pots and cooking utensils, water bags, quilts, military boots, etc., which can fully meet the needs of the legion."
Spencer remembered something, lowered his tone and said: "In addition, the medical team has assisted Thomas and Farnaz to make a large amount of wound medicine. We have distributed some to the infantry soldiers of each squadron, and the rest are all kept by the medical team. We have prepared twenty volumes of the "bandage" you asked for, and the textile workshop is still working on it. But is it too expensive to wrap the wound with cotton? "
"It's worth it to be able to revive an injured soldier!"
"Okay, I will urge the textile workshop to make and deliver it as soon as possible."
"Sir, I've finished my report." Spencer swallowed after finishing speaking.
Matt noticed the movement of Spencer's Adam's apple, stood up and walked to the table next to the official table, filled a glass of wine and handed it to Spencer, boasting: "Spencer, I was a little worried about the upcoming battle, but after listening to your report today I feel more at ease. I can rest assured that you can do things." In this case, Art would not be stingy with his compliments, not to mention that Spencer did keep the general affairs in order.
斯宾塞小心翼翼地接过酒杯，「多谢大人！愿为大人效命！」
............
「军团的武器盔甲、粮食辎重以及军资物品都已经在奥多和斯宾塞的努力下基本备齐，上个礼拜我也让民政给军团指挥营帐送来了十万芬尼军费。」
“We have all the weapons, equipment, supplies, and money. Now we are starting to make the next step for the Northern Expedition. Please take a look.” Art pointed to the corner of the back room of the Stone House Academy.
A large sand table is placed in the corner of the stone house. This sand table took Art and more than ten officers and officers commanding the camp 20 days to reluctantly make it. Art had obtained a topographic map of the county from the palace through Earl Baldwin half a year ago. The map was drawn by the palace painter in an imaginative and exaggerated way. The map he made was definitely a work of art, but it was too abstract to be used as a reference for marching and fighting, so Art had to make modifications based on that map, using the descriptions of soldiers and officials recruited from all over the North and what he saw from the caravans, and made a sand table.
This is the second time Art has made a sand table. The materials are from fine-grained river sand in valley streams. The easy-to-shape river sand is used to pile up hills, plains, river bottoms and castle fortresses. In order to make the sand table look more realistic, the hills and dense forests are decorated with grass, branches and gravel.
Although the mountains, rivers, plains, dense forests and river valleys cannot be completely consistent with the real location, it is still barely usable for first understanding the terrain, formulating tactics and selecting battlefields.
"Everyone, this is a sand table made by the legion command camp. I know some of you can't read a map at all, so I took them to make this sand table. This sand table is still very rough, and the number of civilians, troops, etc. in each place is not yet clear. I have ordered our eagle eyes in the North to collect as much information as possible."
"Now everyone, follow me and take a look at the layout of some important cities and castles and fortresses in the North..."
"Sir, you are commanding the rear formation on the battlefield. Even if you are marching, you are not required to walk. Why do you need to follow the infantry to participate in running training with heavy loads?"
At the wasteland training ground outside the Beiguan Army Fort, Art was wearing the half-length mail and cotton armor of an ordinary soldier, carrying a piece of heavy wood weighing about fifty pounds on his shoulders as he ran on a man-made road outside the training ground. A squadron captain from the First Company and the Third Flag Team also carried the heavy wood to accompany Art.
Matt's face was covered with sweat, and the cotton lining was soaked with sweat. He was already struggling with more than a hundred steps left in the one-mile distance. In the past year or two, Art has been busy with military and civilian affairs, and there have been fewer and fewer opportunities to go among ordinary soldiers and personally participate in heavy training. Therefore, when the squadron leader was barely breathing, Art was already unable to hold on.
"Saul, I once said at the Officer Academy that army commanders must always be aware of the combat power of the soldiers under their command. How can I know how much weight a soldier can bear without personally experiencing the training of soldiers? How do I know the limit of a soldier's daily march? Sometimes hearing is not enough." He ran towards a row of thatch men erected near the finish line with a short sword, swung the dagger and chopped on the "heads" of the thatch men, "decapitating" all five thatch men, and then took a shield and a long stick (replacing the short spear) handed over by the instructor to conduct confrontation training with the squadron leader in the same dress just now...
After an infantry training, Art felt sore all over, but he was also unusually light and comfortable.
He took a deep breath, took the water bag handed over by the squadron leader, took a big gulp of water, returned the water bag to the squadron leader, and told the squadron leader and several instructors around him: "The training intensity of the infantry is already enough, there is no need to increase the intensity for the time being..."
In Yate, he explained the training requirements to the instructors and officers. When he was begging, Ron ran towards the training ground with a fire seal letter, and found Art, "Sir, an urgent message from Baron Galvin of Sappburg."
Matt took a few steps towards Ron, took the letter from Ron and pulled off the fire seal, glanced at it, and said in surprise: "The Earl of Flanders invited me to go to Longxia to receive it~"