When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 785: New Soldiers Training (Part )

The morning mist had not yet dissipated. Horn stood in front of the observation window on the third floor of the brick building, looking at the recruits arranged in a square formation like ants below.

A copper telescope extended out of the window, and the lens reflected Instructor Coleman holding a tape measure and marking the landing points of his strides on the ground.

"Yesterday there was another deserter." Jeanna stood behind Horn holding the roster, "He was a mountaineer from Kurdla County."

"The desertion rate is much lower than that of the farmers on the plains. Only three have deserted in three weeks." Horn still kept his peeping posture. "Tell the gendarmerie, hang him, and give him a pension."

The telescope turned to the east training ground, where three hundred recruits were standing on the grass with their upper bodies bare, wearing only a pair of shorts, gritting their teeth.

Opposite them, dozens of skilled Kush knights charged back and forth repeatedly.

If they dared to move, the instructor would hit them on their arms, calves or buttocks with a wooden stick.

Right by the fence next to the grass, the new recruits who had committed crimes were lining up to be spanked.

Some of them gritted their teeth, while others screamed in pain.

Amid the cries of pain, the other recruits who were holding spears and training in marching commands all pursed their lips.

They didn't even dare to look over the fence.

On the other side, on the large training ground, the Norns who had been running around like wild goats three weeks ago were now mechanically raising their legs and swinging their arms at the commands.

When thousands of pairs of leather boots hit the concrete ground at the same time, even the ink bottles in the brick building were shaking slightly.

After three weeks of training, Horn said that these Norn recruits have made great progress.

14 hours of drill, housekeeping, ideological education and drill training every day have enabled these recruits to develop an excellent spirit.

These Norn mountain people are indeed an excellent source of soldiers.

When recruiting new soldiers from the plains areas in the past, they always had to be given physical conditioning first, and then taught battle formations and spearmanship drills.

It can be trained in one month, but the performance is worrying.

Ordinary civilians are not like the civilians during the training on Qiumu Island. They participated in the Battle of Changqiao and did not have that kind of spirit.

Most of the time, it takes three or four months to form combat effectiveness.

But these Norn mountain folk are different. They have been trained as mercenaries since childhood.

They should have been trained in things like the ten-meter charge and stabbing a straw man, advancing in horizontal and vertical formations and turning, and short-combat tactics, etc.

They already have the basics of spearmanship and battle formation changes, but they just need to retrain to adapt to the Galar horizontal formation.

The most obvious thing is that most of the Norn mountain folk can distinguish between left and right.

This is an advantage far beyond that of ordinary farmers.

"Holy Father!" The voice of the military chaplain Mudiay rang in Horn's ears.

Putting down the telescope, Horn looked down and saw the new priest preaching to the resting soldiers in Norn.

Father Mudie stood under the eaves, while hundreds of Norn recruits sat on the ground with their legs hugged.

This Holy Word missionary who participated in the great debate in Pravda has very solid theories, and this is his preaching style.

"… Then someone asked me, why don't you look for your own problems if you are so poor?"

"If your house was smashed by the knights, why don't you look for your own problems?"

"You're wandering around and selling your children. Why don't you look for your own problems?"

"Why do the priests bully you? Why do you farm but still can't get enough to eat? Why don't you look for your own problems?"

"Fuck the guy next door, you always find fault with yourself, find fault with yourself..."

"You knights demolished my house, and you priests bought my children. If I find you, it's my problem. What problem do you have for me?"

"You drive people crazy and make them starve to death, and then the king says, 'Why don't you look for your own problems? What are you comparing to?'"

The corners of Horn's mouth twitched slightly.

The missionary strategy within the Holy Word sect varies from person to person and from region to region.

For example, when facing the urban middle class, missionaries would bring up the idea that life is the will of the Father.

When facing farmers and artisans, missionaries pointed out that labor is the core of faith.

When addressing the common people, the language would be more rigorous and elegant; when addressing the farmers, the language would be more straightforward and popular.

Even with Horn's poor Norn language, he could sense that Father Mudie was too vulgar. If he could understand it, then what good words could there be?
But what he said was correct, so Horn ignored him.

His cowhide boots treading over the sawdust-strewn floor, he stood in front of a Gantt chart of his training schedule and ticked the last day of the third week.

Horn's heart sank when he remembered that Xia Lucheng was still under siege.

Two months, a total of eight weeks of training plan, Meliati has to hold on until then.

With the 12-pound Griffin cannon and its own strong city defenses, the Leia people had difficulty making any progress against the City of Xialu.

But as Leia's troops and the main knights gradually gathered, they began to march towards Lvwa Township, trying to cut off the connection between Xialu City and the rest of the area.

This forces Horn to attack.

The only thing to be thankful for is that both the Norn mountain folk and the new recruits from Northshire have a good foundation and are training very quickly.

"Starting tomorrow, we will enter the second stage. We will learn the Leia language commands and memorize the flag signals." Horn put the charcoal pencil aside, "Select the appropriate drummers and flag bearers, and eliminate those who can't memorize them and make them service soldiers."

The staff monks exchanged glances.

One monk couldn't help but whisper, "Isn't it too late to ask them to learn Laiya now?"

"It's just learning commands, less than 50 in total, and they are all short sentences of five or six words." Horn put on his coat before going out, "If you can't teach me, I'll beat you until you can."

"Then we have to learn flag language..."

"Do you think it's too harsh?" Horn said calmly while fastening the holy emblem collar button on his collar, "When they face the heavy cavalry charge of the Imperial Order Company, they will understand that forgetting the flag signal is more terrible than forgetting to swing the sword."

…………

At dawn on the fourth week, Dietrich opened his eyes before the reveille sounded.

His hands unconsciously made flag gestures in the air while he quickly washed his face and rinsed his mouth.

In the three weeks of life, such days have become a habit.

He even kind of forgot how he should have lived before this.

Or rather, he had been numbed by the beatings.

"Third Squadron! Assemble!"

According to the squadron name, Dietrich Tebert followed the captain and formed a square formation of 100 people.

The recruits in the camp watched silently as the camp gate slowly opened.

Transport wagons slowly drove in, and porters dropped off packages wrapped in oilcloth.

"You little brats, you're lucky to have these nice clothes." Coleman opened an oilcloth package, revealing a black and blue military uniform.

There were exclamations among the ranks as Coleman shook out his uniform—double canvas sewn at the elbows and knees, with sun emblems engraved on the buttons.

"This isn't burlap!" Grover buried his face in his collar and took a deep breath. "I smell... woolen cloth - why is it sour?"

"That's a medicine, it's treated with insect repellent." The quartermaster kicked him and said, "This is the same cloth as the Guards. Each yard of cloth can be exchanged for a sheep in your mountains!"

Standing in front of the recruits, Coleman smiled rarely, watching the Norn mountain folk buttoning their shirts awkwardly.

Bodies once wrapped in hides were being reshaped with fabric, as diagonal ribbons and brass buckles clicked around them.

They straightened up and looked at each other, all wearing the same clothes and showing the same smile.

A strange feeling surged into everyone's heart, as if a bond beyond blood was taking shape.

"We will have a half-day break today. We will boil hot water for bathing in the afternoon. There will be extra meals in the evening. If you are late for the evening roll call, you will be whipped three times!"

As night fell, the late recruits outside the canteen were singing "The Salvation Army's March Song" at the top of their lungs.

Grover on the opposite side was scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spoon, while Dietrich Tebert was staring at the saber in a daze.

Grover kicked Dee Tribert in the shin: "What are you looking at?"

Dietrich Tebert said nothing, but just lowered his head.

On the scabbard, there is a line of tiny El characters engraved.

If it were any other language, he would definitely not recognize it, but this sentence was engraved on the pillars of the church and was often recited by priests.

"Protect your brother." Dietrich Bert whispered.

(End of this chapter)