Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 411: New Army in the Southern Territory
After staying in Fengyuan City for nearly half a month, Commander Pierce finally returned to his home in the wilderness with the Northern Army soldiers who had set out on this expedition.

After quickly clearing out the remaining forces of the Ralph family, a temporary power vacuum appeared in Fengyuan City and its surrounding areas. Pierce could only wait for the city hall officials sent from the North while methodically carrying out the subsequent liquidation of the nobles in the city.

The gold pounds and food looted from the territories of the Ralph family and their vassal nobles were quite abundant, so before leaving, Harvey ordered the army to provide relief compensation to the residents of the city - most of the tenant farmers and freemen who were unable to carry out normal spring plowing due to the impact of the war received a ration that was enough for them to temporarily survive the season.

Artisans and small vendors who were unable to carry out normal production and operation due to the current situation also had their commercial taxes reduced or exempted.

Facts have also proved that distributing relief while promoting new policies has a very significant effect. The new lord not only allows them to have enough food temporarily, but also promises not to collect any land rent or land tax this year. Such a generous amnesty policy naturally aroused unanimous support from the people.

"Sir, the 500 Northern Army stationed in Fengyuan City have begun recruiting local people to form a new army in the Southern Territory..." As soon as he returned to the territory, Pierce hurriedly reported his recent work to Harvey.

Of the 1,500 soldiers from the North who went on the expedition, only 1,000 returned. The remaining battalion of 500 people remained in Fengyuan City. While cooperating with the new city hall to stabilize the situation in the city, they began to recruit new troops according to Harvey's instructions.

The standards for recruiting the new army were set by Harvey himself - first of all, the aristocratic forces were excluded, and only freemen or civilians of tenant farmers were allowed to join the army, and the number of people should not be too large... The plan was to recruit a thousand people to form two new military camps.

"The new army's enlistment benefits are not the same as those of the Northern Army. Aside from providing food and accommodation... military pay and benefits will be reduced by half to the Northern Army's standards."

Pierce nodded to show that he understood. He also understood that it was not that Harvey was unwilling to treat everyone equally, but that the Northern Army was truly an army that had been formed with great difficulty since the early days of the frontier territory, and had won preferential treatment for themselves through life-threatening battles. If this group of Southerners, who were already looked down upon by them, were treated equally with them as soon as they joined the army, it would probably cause dissatisfaction among most of the middle and lower-level soldiers.

"The National Police Department has also dispatched some officers there. For those applicants who don't meet the military enlistment requirements but have clean identities, it would be a good idea to select some to join the Fengyuan City Police Department..."

After all, Fengyuan City is currently in a state of disrepair, and the blank period of the government system cannot last too long. If an administrative agency cannot be established quickly, the situation in the city cannot be firmly controlled, and the control power cannot be extended to the grassroots level of the people, then those aristocratic forces that have been temporarily in a low position will quickly emerge, and the corrupt and outdated class order will make a comeback.

This is a result that Harvey is absolutely unwilling to accept.

……

"Sir, there's one thing I don't quite understand..." Pierce hesitated for a long time before asking, "Why are you simultaneously recruiting troops in Pioneer Territory, Grizzly Fort, and Fengyuan City, yet going to such great lengths to rotate the garrisons between the three locations?"

According to Pierce's simple idea, soldiers stationed locally to fight to defend their homes have a natural advantage in terms of morale and familiarity with local conditions... But Harvey did the opposite and sent soldiers from the three places to garrison in different places, which really confused him.

"As the commander-in-chief of the army, you haven't figured out the reasoning behind this after all this time?" Harvey suppressed a smile as he watched Pierce's face flush. After a moment's pause, he explained seriously, "Since the founding of the Northern Army, soldiers have naturally formed close groups due to their backgrounds. You should be well aware of this, right?"

Pierce was stunned for a moment, then answered honestly, "I do understand... but it's unavoidable. Whether it's the Wastelanders and the Southerners, or the Orcs and the Humans, as long as there's no trouble openly, it's impossible to prevent it behind the scenes."

"Indeed, no matter how strictly the soldiers obey orders and fight bravely in battle, they will subconsciously trust their fellow tribesmen and fellow townspeople." Harvey chuckled. "As our territory expands, conscription will only increase in various regions, and the soldiers' backgrounds will become increasingly complex..."

He casually gave an example, "Soldiers from Fengyuan City, soldiers from Grizzly Territory, soldiers from the Wasteland... even soldiers from Sancha Town. If countless factions appeared in your army, I don't need to explain the consequences, right?"

Upon hearing this, Pierce felt sweat pouring down his back and was speechless for a moment.

Only then did he fully understand the real intention of Harvey's actions in this regard - to prevent local soldiers from banding together to disrupt the order of the army, to completely disperse the soldiers from different places, and to send garrisons to other places, so as to better unite the army into an iron plate and no longer distinguish between each other's origins.

"Fengyuan City is recruiting 1,000 soldiers, Grizzly Territory is recruiting 1,000 soldiers... The Pioneer Territory headquarters is expanding its army by 2,000 soldiers."

Harvey stood up, patted Pierce on the shoulder, and said soothingly, "The task of expanding the army, recruiting, and training new soldiers is extremely heavy, but we can't relax even a little bit... By the beginning of autumn this year, I want to see the territory's army fully staffed with 10,000 troops, all well-trained and ready to go into battle at any time."

……

More than a year ago, Harvey would never have dared to dream of commanding an army of tens of thousands of people. Not only were there insufficient weapons and ammunition, but it was also difficult to provide food and drink for these professional soldiers who did not do any work at all.

The rapidly developing and prosperous Pioneer Territory gave him enough confidence. Apart from the population of more than 20,000 to 30,000 in Grizzly Territory and Fengyuan City, the population of Pioneer Territory alone had expanded to as many as 50,000.

Nearly half of the population received the most basic literacy education. Although this is still an extremely low literacy rate in later generations, it was a miracle in this ignorant and dark era - they could read and write simply, had basic work knowledge, and could understand the many laws and policies issued by the city hall... They even had a budding sense of "home" and "ownership".

The improvement in the people's cultural level will provide Harvey with enough fresh blood, and his administrative agencies will also be able to recruit sufficient personnel to promote the implementation of the new policies and technological changes envisioned by Harvey.

Compared to the seemingly docile, submissive and ignorant people, these new people living under his rule are more capable of bursting out with unimaginable subjective initiative. As Harvey's power expands, these people will spread like fire until they set off a prairie fire.

(End of this chapter)