Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 709: I volunteer to work overtime because my father is a pillar of the country. Why do you volunteer to work overtime?
After Guo Kang explained his ideas to everyone, others began to take turns reporting to him.

The first person to speak was Captain Jessica, who had just returned. Previously, he had been organizing people on the other side of the Nile River to arrange the construction of the new district. Recently, because of something that happened, he often ran to the city and came to inquire about the situation from time to time.

"All the settlements on the west side of the river have not had any cases for two weeks. I have followed your instructions and asked the soldiers in each settlement to gather and resume training." He told Guo Kang: "However, everyone wants to know, when can we officially end this mission and return to the battlefield?"

"We can actually resume our activities now, but I still want to be safe." Guo Kang said frankly: "To be honest, if you leave now, I have corresponding procedures here to ensure safety and prevent people from bringing the disease out. However, I still hope you can stay for a while longer."

"Because once a large number of people leave, especially main forces like you, it will definitely have a psychological impact on others. Everyone will think that although it has not been directly announced, the decision made by the top leaders must mean that the plague is almost over, so it is inevitable that they will slack off."

"I have now been authorized by the court and have obtained dictatorial power far beyond the normal level. And it's not just me. Think about it, have you and even your soldiers also obtained privileges beyond the normal scope in this process?" He asked everyone: "But we must understand that power has a price. Everything we do will also receive more attention than usual. These seemingly irrelevant things will also be regarded as important statements. Therefore, we must be careful."

"Of course, if you want to leave, it is in line with the rules we set before, and I will not stop you. I just hope that you can cooperate with my work and stay for a while longer." He finally said to Captain Jessica: "I believe this will be good for both of us."

"Commander Yang, you don't need to doubt the sincerity of our young marshal." Guo Kang's translator Idris advised, "You were not here before, so you may not know. The princess has sent several letters, hoping that he will change shifts and leave Egypt for a while. Because even according to the procedures, a small number of people can leave. But the young marshal has been sticking to his post here."

"Once, the princess was pregnant and sailed to the open sea, but he still didn't leave. If he had a little selfish motive, would he have done this?" He asked in return, "When he fell ill before, the imams in the city made an exception and prayed for him. You are all from the same religion, so you should trust him more, right?"

"Don't say that." Guo Kang quickly interrupted, "When you treat people as moral role models, you have to see how they are used. If you are not careful, it might end up like what happened to the Russians a few days ago."

"What happened to the Russians?" Captain Jessica asked curiously.

"You may not know that the Russians went crazy some time ago." Wu Han immediately complained: "In just a few days, among the more than 2,000 people, there were probably four or five sects that attacked each other every day. Fortunately, we intervened in time, and they also had a common goal, otherwise they would probably have fought..."

"Ah?" Captain Jessica looked confused.

"Brother Constantine hid at the time, but everyone wanted to... uh, find his remains and relics, the more the better." Father Ivan said awkwardly, "But he hid it well at the time, so there are many different opinions."

"Also, in the process of compiling his works, people often had different understandings. The part about the regiment's training was not fully completed, leaving a lot of room for creativity, so they often argued about it, believing that their own understanding was correct."

"Then why don't you do anything and just let them speculate on what they want?" Captain Jessica asked quickly.

"I went to look after them, but they didn't listen." Father Ivan spread his hands. "Some people also said strange things, saying that I took advantage of my high position in the church to force my own opinions and not allow others to interpret them. Others said that I had more contact with Brother Constantine, but I didn't try to save more information, but took the opportunity to add my own ideas. In short, as soon as I opened my mouth and didn't agree with a certain group of people, they suspected that I had something to say. I didn't dare to say anything publicly anymore."

"Ah? It's only been a few days, and it's already like this..." Captain Jessica obviously didn't quite understand the situation at the time. After hearing this, he was quite emotional: "No wonder the priests always have topics to argue about. It's really difficult to maintain faith."

"Should it be written more strictly? From this lesson, it seems that the regulations should be more rigorous. I have recently begun to doubt whether some of the ideas in my hometown about disbanding the church and allowing everyone to communicate with the Father and interpret the scriptures themselves are too radical." He thought about it and asked Guo Kang, "Do you want to consider setting some restrictions so that everyone can not easily obtain the qualifications to interpret the scriptures or even continue to write scriptures. Otherwise, there are too many prophets and saints who can write scriptures, and I am afraid that it will be a mess."

"No, no, no, it's useless to restrict this." Before Guo Kang could answer, Idris, Hussein and others beside him waved their hands and pointed out without hesitation.

"what?"

Captain Jessica still didn't quite understand, but it seemed like they were very experienced, which was why they were so sure. If I asked any more, it would be impolite...

"You can't say it's all negative." Father Ivan tried to smooth things over, "Before, some people started using Brother Constantine as an example, saying that he worked so hard that he exhausted himself. So, everyone should learn from him, work harder and complain less. So far, it seems to be quite effective in this regard."

"That's not good either." Guo Kang said, "It feels like they are always comparing who is more miserable, as if the harder they work, the closer they are to being a saint. Now they are using me as a benchmark - it feels weird."

"Besides, everyone's hard work always has a purpose. It's easy to understand why I work overtime: I have a high position, and to put it bluntly, this position is largely due to good luck and background. So, even if it's just to maintain my position, I need to work hard."

"But what about other people? Should we convince them in the same way?" Guo Kang spread his hands. "I work hard for my country because my father is a pillar of the country. I really have a share of the country's power and benefits. But they are just ordinary people. They suffer so much to serve the country. What are they trying to achieve?"

"Of course we hope that everyone can work actively, but if we don't make this issue clear and let everyone see the same direct returns, then even if there is temporary enthusiasm, it will not last. These people will not be able to give full play to their abilities, let alone achieve any significant results."

"You don't have to worry about that. It's different here. In my hometown, the biggest problem is not everyone is miserable, but everyone is just giving up and not working." Father Ivan said, "You may find it strange, but many times, if you want to correct a problem, you really have to use more exaggerated means. So, don't worry about it too much."

Guo Kang had no better solution for the moment.

He explained to people that he was not killed by the plague and then resurrected by Brother Tian, ​​but he was simply exhausted and fainted. It took him many days of rest before he recovered.

Some Russians did not quite believe it, thinking that he was unilaterally denying his identity; some did believe it, but they felt that anyone who could work to this extent must not be an ordinary person.

Therefore, many people really began to advocate this, and called on everyone to maintain a simple life, work harder, and endure more hardship. Now Guo Kang himself doesn't know what to say...

"Let's not talk about these things any more. I don't know how to explain it to the princess." He scratched his head helplessly. "The Russians are happy to brag, but she will definitely not let it go just because I work like a saint. I don't know how to tell her..." "Forget it, let's talk about the war." He shook his head and said to Captain Jessica, "I asked you for help this time, so I have corresponding remuneration. I have recruited a lot of Egyptians and trained them in the name of the army. Originally, they were asked to help manage during the plague, but after experiencing these things, they have developed basic discipline and organization, and can be used as a formal army."

"A few days ago, I recounted the numbers. After the reorganization, there are still about 2,000 people who are willing to go to sea to fight. I will hand them all over to you. During this period of time, you will be responsible for centralized management and training of them, and teach them the knowledge of battle formations. When the plague in the city is over, you will take this army over."

"As for the artillery, your prince told me about it before. Our team will definitely be disbanded and reorganized when we return. We can still use the firearms we brought from Egypt. We didn't bring them over because of lack of transportation capacity, so we leave them all to you." He said, and calculated: "As of the last communication, the workshop has cast more than 20 artillery pieces of various sizes. You can go directly to his apprentice Urban and take them away. You should know him."

"I know him." Captain Jessica nodded repeatedly: "You are so polite. We are so embarrassed."

"We don't have too many ideas here. We just wanted to go back to help as soon as possible because something happened in our hometown. Also, some people started discussing the previous incident." He introduced: "It may not be as heated as the discussion among the Russians, but many people also said that it must be Sigismund who betrayed his loyalty and killed Father Hus. Therefore, Brother Tian was very angry and sent you back to lead everyone to avenge him."

"Ah? Don't place such high hopes on me. I'm embarrassed to say that." Guo Kang was surprised and said, "And to be honest, if I were to give you some advice, I would suggest that you don't go back directly."

"Why is that?" Captain Jessica asked.

"Because Bohemia is already in chaos, and although the King of Wu suffered a defeat, he did not suffer a loss in the overall situation." Guo Kang explained: "I analyzed the intelligence sent over there before, and I have some general understanding."

"According to our analysis, there are mainly four groups of people under the King of Wu." He looked at his notes and said, "The first group is the locals recruited by the King of Wu after he escaped from Paris and came to the Lorraine region. This group of people is not large in number, but they are the most loyal and reliable. The King of Wu also trusts them very much and often uses them as close ministers to do special and confidential work. The envoys stationed here and the ministers responsible for maintaining the postal routes and delivering information are all from this group of people."

"However, most of them do not have particularly outstanding military capabilities, so their presence in the war is not strong. The most important thing at the moment is that King Wu has gradually recovered and started to travel around Alemanni, making friends with a group of capable civilians. Many military officers and civil servants in the royal palace joined at this time."

"The third group of people are your followers from Bohemia. Although they are often classified as part of the Alemanni, the language and customs here are somewhat different, and the way they join the Wu clan is also different. The Alemanni ministers were often recruited one by one by the King of Wu himself, and by the time they arrived in Bohemia, he had already gained some reputation, and many people joined him in pairs. It was also at this time that he began to deal with the local folk religions, that is, you people. At this time, many people began to join the Wu clan in an organized manner."

"These two groups of people are the core of Wu Fan at present, and they are also the most reliable fighting force. However, you, the most capable regular troops, are not in the war zone at present. In his hands, there are mainly Hussite armed personnel who were temporarily summoned locally after the incident, as well as troops left behind in various places. However, because the Alemanni has always been in chaos, there are many people with various military skills, so the fighting force is sufficient."

"There is also a fourth group of people, who follow the uprising after hearing the news. These people are actually the largest, but their fighting ability varies, and they are the most unreliable. Some of them can still contact the King of Wu, while some may simply use his banner to deal with local nobles."

"The ones with the highest combat effectiveness in the second and third batches were all sent out by the King of Wu. He was left with only a few close ministers and a large group of local farmers who had just come to support him. Although these people were enthusiastic and supportive of him, their combat effectiveness was indeed average. That's why they defeated Sigismund's vanguard infantry, but they were able to run wild during the pursuit and were eventually defeated by a charge."

"But then again, these people were able to entangle Sigismund, which shows that the opponent's level is not very high." He concluded: "At present, neither side has made any further progress. It is the King of Wu who attracted a large number of enemies, which led to the smooth progress of the troops he sent out."

"In this case, you don't need to think of yourselves as reinforcements, but as strategic reserves. The reason why Sigismund suddenly went crazy, betrayed his trust, killed people, and spoke wildly is probably because he was really panicked and couldn't come up with more bargaining chips. For this reason, he had to pay a higher price to maintain his face and prevent other nobles from adding insult to injury."

"In this case, you should think carefully about where to strike so as to pose the greatest threat to the enemy and have the most strategic significance. This kind of opportunity is very rare."

"What you said does make sense. We want revenge so much that we got carried away." Captain Jessica thought for a moment and replied.

Guo Kang felt that they might have overestimated Sigismund. But it was normal. At this moment, Lao Yang and his men had not yet officially fought the enemy, so it was understandable that they did not know their details.

But in fact, even from what has happened in this world, Sigismund's military ability is probably only slightly stronger than Zhu Yunwen's - and not much stronger. Therefore, he has no way to deal with the more regular Ming army, and can only keep looking for the King of Wu and bully him to win for himself and convince the church and nobles... But because of his limited ability, he can't even destroy the King of Wu. Instead, he beat him and made him run around, resulting in the people he gathered everywhere.

"Alas, there is nothing we can do about it." Guo Kang shook his head and said, "The Jinyiwei said before that they were also very angry, and they really contacted a few capable people in Wu Fan and planned to organize elite forces to assassinate Sigismund. While venting their anger, they also hope to take this opportunity to completely disperse the Alemanni."

"However, the prince and I are against this plan. The reason is very simple - the Alemanni have always been scattered, and dispersal is their daily routine. Sigismund's ability is limited. He can only try his best to suppress his competitors and cannot unify the country further. But if he dies, a more reliable noble will jump out to take charge of the situation and take advantage of the Peasant War to reorganize the threatened nobles, which will be even more troublesome for us."

"I hope you can explain clearly to the officers and soldiers, and tell them that our enemy is far more than just Sigismund himself. Otherwise, Father Hus's wish would not be so grand, and even a little difficult to achieve."

"So where do you think we should go?" Captain Jessica seemed to understand.

"When the Alemanni kings wanted to be emperors, they would go to Italy, to Rome." Guo Kang said, "Why not the other way around?"

Captain Jessica was completely stunned.

"Go back and think about it carefully." Guo Kang advised: "This is not just my idea. It is the result of everyone's consideration for several days, so there is no need to respond so quickly. However, we will definitely give you our full support."

"I'll take care of other things here first."

Captain Jessica nodded and began to think. The others began to report their respective work one after another.

(End of this chapter)