Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 108
The large flow of supplies from Nilfgaard was naturally noticed by the Northern Alliance.

And as they received more and more information, everything indicated that Nilfgaard would launch a grand offensive.

Therefore, preparations for war in the north also began.

But in fact, because everyone knows that the coming spring will be the war season.

In fact, war preparations have already begun at the end of winter, especially in Aden and Livia, and the two countries have carried out full mobilization.

"Hold your papers. That's the only way you'll get your supplies. What? Didn't catch you? Damn it, I'll say it one last time."

The official's voice seemed to be roaring, because only this could make people hear the voice in this noisy environment.

In the sweltering tent, peasants, strong men and militiamen from all over Aedian crowded in front of the thin wooden partitions, eager to get to the front.

The quartermaster sat at the folding table with a stern face, receiving their papers.

The heavily armed soldiers of the standing army held spears and stood in front of the partition like tree poles, forming a human line of defense to block the crowd that kept pushing forward.

The officer kept yelling at it, wanting more order here.

But it's a pity that maybe under his gaze, those people are still honest, but as soon as they leave their eyes, it's another matter.

Men in different costumes jostle and quarrel, and some even threaten to fight, trying to get ahead and get things done.

The official who finally explained the matter clearly to the militia just now took a look at the commotion and sighed.

At the moment they are located in the outskirts of Wengerburg.

Beneath the towering walls were thousands of tents, and conscripts from all over Aedirn.

In the last month of winter, the recruitment had already begun, and that was why there was such a huge team here.

However, the senior military officers of the Protectorate's government who were in charge of the recruitment work were not very emotional, and even a little angry.

"Strike hard, imagine the scarecrow in front of you as the person you hate the most! Work hard! Have you not eaten? Now that you have a chance to practice, you should hurry up and practice. If you don't practice now, then you will have to fight on the battlefield." Send to death!"

The officer's roar seemed to have been poured into the ears of the recruits by their fathers, and they hurriedly pierced the spears harder on the scarecrow.

Because they knew that if they didn't work hard, they would be caught by the officers and insulted in front of everyone.

One foot of these recruits was tied with straw, and the other foot was not tied. This was to help them distinguish between left and right, and it was also a common training method throughout the north.

On the other side, a group of soldiers were practicing how to use the arquebus. From time to time, there was a crackling sound, and the target in front of them was riddled with holes.

Farther away, the cavalry horses are adapting to the sound of the artillery explosion, and the sound over there is louder. The roar of the horses and the explosion of gunpowder are mixed together to form a different symphony.

The amount of gunpowder spent in this way is not small, but they are all necessary. Right now, there are muskets everywhere on the battlefield, and the sound of explosion training has become a necessary training item for war horses.

However, only Yadian, the first country equipped with gunpowder weapons on a large scale, can use gunpowder so boldly. Most of the other countries can only use the roar of muskets to train war horses, but the people of Yadian use artillery.

In the sound of artillery explosions, the royal knights of Aedirn are marching forward with artillery. These elites of Aedirn's noble class have been working hard to strengthen their combat effectiveness.

"Master Lechicki, you see, the training is going on in an orderly manner, and our training results have also achieved remarkable results. It won't take long for these recruits to become real fighters."

"I know, but this can't change the fact that the number of troops in each division is still not satisfied."

On the high platform of the training ground, senior officials of the General Staff are looking down at everything below.

Lechicki, with the sash on his shoulders, was naturally the center of the crowd, because he was solely responsible for the conscription and training work.

And when he said this, Lechicki's face was full of sorrow.

It was originally expected that by this time, the reserved 3 soldiers should have been recruited, but the fact now is that there is still a serious shortage, and there are still more than [-] vacancies.

And there are many reasons for this.

Thinking of this, Lechicki thought of the report he had read.

The report, written by his staff, described several problems encountered during the conscription process.

First of all, the first problem is that people flee.

Although the North won the battle last autumn, it was extremely difficult to win, and the people paid a lot for it.

And considering these lessons, when the war came again, the people made up their minds to escape. They either escaped across the border, or entered the forests and mountains, anyway, they were desperately hiding from the conscription officers of the Lord Protector's government.

The second problem is that people take advantage of the loopholes in the rules to escape military service.

The government of the Protector of the Country considered taking care of some people who had a difficult life, so they introduced some policies to reduce or exempt military service for these people, and then, people with flexible minds began to act.

From voluntarily beheading hands to forcibly falling ill, it's like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea to show their magical powers. Everyone's brains are wide open there, and there are any ways.

The most outrageous case that Lechicki read was that the government of the Protectorate stipulated that couples over the age of 80 were not required to apply for recruitment, and then there was a strange scene of a young man in his [-]s marrying an old woman in his [-]s.

The third and final problem is that local privileged classes, such as nobles, guilds, landowners, used their privileges to keep their children out of military service.

There is no need to say much about the rest. They are basically all kinds of problems caused by corruption and efficiency, which belong to the "normal state".

Among these problems, not to mention the first one, the latter two are problems caused by the re-establishment of order by the Protectorate Government. Because the order was re-established, some people took advantage of the loopholes.

When the war was urgent last autumn, the government of the Protectorate, who initially held power at that time, didn't care so much.

Faced with these problems, Lechicki really didn't know what to do, and it seemed that he had no choice but to seek help from the Lord Protector who always seemed to be full of ideas.

But he is not willing to do that. A qualified subordinate should solve problems for the boss instead of adding problems to the boss.

For his own future, Lechicki did not want to go to the Lord Protector.

But sometimes, if he doesn't go to the Protector, the Protector will come to him.

"My lord Lechicki, the Lord Protector wants you to come over at once."

It was Valentine who rushed over, and the news he brought made Leckicki's face sink subconsciously.

It's finally here.

"I see."

.

The Wengerburg palace is now countless times busier than it was in winter. When the Aedirn war machine reorganized by the Lord Protector's government started, the busy scene can be imagined.

There are clerks with documents everywhere, nobles who are doing business everywhere, and many local officials who rushed to the capital with supplies or personnel from other places, but are helpless in the palace.

In the eyes of those nobles, this was a blasphemy against the royal family of Aedirn, but after the incident with Feryate, almost no one made stupid clamor about it.

"Lord Lechicki, Lord Protector is in a very bad mood, so, you understand, say what you have to say, explain what you have to explain, and talk about problems when you have to talk about them. And if you don't say anything, I think Our Lord Protector also has a way to know the real situation, Lord Charon's spies can be said to be pervasive, and there must be Lord Charon's spies in this hall now."

On the way to Herme's room, Valentine explained some precautions to Leckicki.

Of course, this was not done in vain. There was a small gold bar in Valentine's pocket now. Lechicki wanted to stuff more, but Valentine was determined not to.

As an attendant of the Lord Protector, Valentine naturally also mastered some methods to gain benefits from it.

And he knows how to control the scale, so he doesn't believe it. The Duke Protector doesn't know about his little tricks, so he should be careful and restrained.

The news he revealed has always been harmless to say, but what he knows in a short period of time is priceless to many people.

Of course, for those really important things, such as the military and political affairs of the Duke Protector's government, he dared not say a word to the outside world.

"Okay, I see."

Lechicki responded that he didn't have much because he knew it was enough.

The door of Heme's room quickly appeared in front of the chief of staff. Standing in front of the door, Lechicki let out a breath, then summoned up his courage and walked in.

Herme seemed to be reading the documents as usual, and now his desk was full of documents waiting to be processed, and Herme was reading them non-stop.

The Lord Protector did not dare to relax, because he knew that if he was slow, the entire war machine in Aedirn would be affected.

"Lechitzki, you are here, just in time, and explain to me why the army is like this."

Herme looked at the chief of staff, then picked up a document that was specially placed aside,

"Wingerburg Division, 100% full, Esenland Division, 100% full, Sazarburg Division, 100% full, Upper Aden Division, 70% full, Posada Division, 90% full , Edelsberg's Division is 40% full, and Rosenberg's is 50% full. Can you tell me why this is so? According to your General Staff's guarantee, shouldn't it be full now? And I I also read the details here, many divisions are actually filled with surplus soldiers from Wengerburg and Esenland, that is to say, outside of Wengerburg and Esenland, conscription from other areas The rate has fallen far short of initial expectations.”

Lechicki yelled in his heart, why did Lord Protector watch so carefully.

Didn't Marciu say that he put all these data at the end of the pile of files?He also guaranteed that Duke Protector didn't have the time to look carefully at that time, at most he just took a look at the matter of the number of soldiers, and then simply got angry about it.

Fuck, the money is for nothing.

And Hemei reads the documents very meticulously, if he is not careful, he will be deceived, or even evaded.

More importantly, he is well aware of the little tricks of civil servants, so he usually starts directly from the last one.

And in order to prevent agitating the enemy, he usually will not attack directly, and wait for a period of time before attacking, and in order to paralyze those civil servants, he will let everything go if it is not very serious.

After all, politics is not a game of compromise, where there are so many life-and-death struggles, and in the end it is still a compromise, compromise and compromise.

But this time, it was because Herme was so angry when he saw the data that he couldn't hold back at all, so he was summoned.

At the summit in Floating Harbor, he had already assured the nations that Aedirn would have 2 troops joining the battle, but Lechicki had only a little over 3 troops here, not the [-] originally planned.

Hackland, another important place for Heme to pull young men, also had problems. Since there were too many Cossacks last time, and there were still many Cossacks who settled in Aedian, so there were not many people in this convening.

This has led Herme to pull 5000 people from Hackland until now, most of whom are nomads who failed in the grassland struggle.

If this continues, the goal of recruiting 4 people will be far away, and Herme will have to slap herself in the face by then.

More importantly, in this war, quantity is very important. The number of boots on the land affects the outcome of the war to a certain extent.

Herme's question made Lechicki's head instantly covered with beads of sweat, and the chief of staff quickly reported the problems summarized by his subordinates.

The Lord Protector looked at the document with an uncertain expression on his face, all Lechicki could do was straighten his back.

No matter what Duke Protector wants to do next, he can only greet him like this.

"I read this thing, and it is indeed done very carefully. It even divides the situation of each region. The person who wrote this document should be promoted. It let me know what the problem is, but I still have a question, Why didn’t the above explain the high staffing rate of the Posada division. Although the Posada area is rich, its population is not large. Originally, I expected that the recruitment here would be the most problematic. Why is there no problem now? I remember that Viator is in charge of that area, so what did that kid do?"

"Ah, Lord Protector, what he has done is very inappropriate to be mentioned in the document."

When Lechicki mentioned that matter, embarrassment and worry appeared on his face involuntarily, because he didn't know what kind of attitude the protector of the country would have on this matter,

"He went to Blue Mountain to arrest people and serve as soldiers."

"Blue Mountain? Arresting people as soldiers?"

Herme was immediately interested, this sounds interesting,
"Yes, Lord Protector, just like the ancestors of your Cossacks were immigrants who went to the other side of the Blue Mountains to escape from the ruler. These Blue Mountain residents are the human residents who entered the Blue Mountains to escape the rule. They are far from The sight of the rulers on the plains is living their lives in the mountains. And after generations of breeding, the population in the Blue Mountains is not small. Viator has spotted this group of people, so he brought Soldiers enter the mountains to arrest people."

Hemei was no stranger to this kind of situation. The places where the rulers of the plains were difficult to enter were the places where the people could escape from the rule.

People say that the emperor is far away from the mountain, but the actual situation is that there is no emperor in the mountain.

Fleeing into the mountains can indeed effectively escape the exploitation and oppression of feudal rulers.

In the past, Herme didn't pay much attention to these people, but now Viator's behavior of going into the mountains to catch the young men gave Herme some ideas, some ideas to supplement the damaged population of Aden.

But no matter how good the idea is, it can only be implemented after the war, and the most important thing right now is the war.

"Is such a soldier reliable?"

This was the first question that Herme thought of.

"Take all the people to Wengerburg, and then appease them with treatment far beyond the imagination of these mountain residents. At the same time, military sticks must be carried out. In the end, the management must be strict, and then the escapers will be severely punished. After a month like this, No matter how rebellious the mountain people are, they are much more honest."

"Interesting, then I'm curious. In the document you mentioned, it was mentioned that people fled into the forest and mountains. Why can't you go and catch them? It's like Viato caught the mountain people here."

"Lord Protector, the situation is different. In the Blue Mountains on the Posada side, after so many years of getting along with each other, the locals already know the residences of the mountain residents, so they can easily find their homes, and then catch the strong men. We here……"

"Cough, well, I understand, you don't need to say more, I will issue a new series of orders."

Herme coughed, then took out a pen and paper, ready to draft an order,
"First of all, starting today, all real estate in Aden, regardless of the identity of the owner of the land, must be based on 50 acres—well, let Marshall and the others judge the appropriate amount—the standard of one person, and no one. It is all treated as treason.

Secondly, I will send the kingdom's registered Cossacks to the mountains and forests to capture the escapees. As a punishment for the escapees, they will be exempted from all salaries during their service and will only be provided with board and lodging.

Finally, in response to various phenomena of escaping military service by using loopholes in the rules, the conditions are now changed. Those who do not meet the conditions for military service will enter the military servant system to serve the logistics of the army. "

While writing, Herme outlined the meaning of the order, and then gave Lechicki the document signed with his own name and stamped on it.

"Okay, now I have given you so much power again. What I want you to do must be done as soon as possible, understand? Right now, the Nilfgaardian army has attacked Maribor again, and we only have two weeks at most. Wait, so these two weeks, you have to fill me up."

But in Herme's heart, he was actually a little sad, he knew what his order would bring.

But there is no way, he has to do it, even if many people will die because of it.

In this era of undeveloped productive forces, the so-called way of ruling is the way of leading beasts to eat people.

Raising an army will inevitably hurt the people, and war will inevitably kill people. Whether it is for himself, his supporters, or the people of Aden, Hemei must continue in this way.

On the other side, Lechicki promised loudly, "As ordered, we promise to complete the task."

(End of this chapter)