Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 434 Military General Staff Headquarters

Halfway through the conscription mobilization meeting, Pierce, who was summoned by the city lord, hurried to the city lord's mansion.

"Sir, I'm here."

Harvey hummed, raised his chin, and motioned his old subordinate to sit anywhere. "I heard... that group of military activists you developed at the public college are about to graduate."

Pierce was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that Harvey had asked him to send some lower-level officers of the Northern Army to the public colleges in the territory to preach their glorious combat deeds to the students, in order to inspire the enthusiasm of the new generation of young people in the territory to join the army, as well as a sense of belonging and honor to the territory homeland.

Those passionate stories of heroic battles were indeed very popular among young students. Pierce often heard at daily military meetings that officers who went to give speeches were blocked by students, who demanded to graduate early and join the army.

"Sir, although these students' backgrounds are not problematic, most of them are just teenagers. Even if they are recruited into the army as an exception... I am worried that they will boast of their higher education and will not be able to endure the hardships of starting from the grassroots."

Moreover, these student soldiers are unlikely to be able to stick to the military's strict and somewhat abnormal training program for new recruits. The 50% elimination rate of new recruits during the three-month probation period during the Northern Frontier Army's full-scale expansion is enough to explain everything.

Everyone dreams of the high salary and benefits of a professional soldier, hoping that they can also use powerful magic weapons to crush all hostile forces, and finally stand on the high platform to receive the personal commendation of the city lord and enjoy the thunderous praise of the people.

However, reality has ruthlessly poured cold water on these young people who meet the requirements for enlistment. If they want to obtain these preferential treatments that are far beyond ordinary people, they have to pay a price and make efforts that are far beyond ordinary people.

Harvey didn't rush to refute Pierce's opinion. Instead, he smiled gently and said, "Do you remember how long ago, Police Chief Yurio briefly joined the Northern Army and I made an exception and appointed him as the political advisor?"

My Lord, why did you ask me to come here today and bring up some old things?

Pierce was filled with doubts, but he still recalled the situation honestly. "I remember that you asked Superintendent Yurio to teach the soldiers... the way of chivalry."

This was something Pierce couldn't understand at all. The first batch of veterans of the Northern Army trained by him were all brave and good at fighting, absolutely loyal to their lords, and had strict discipline and upright conduct... Compared with those nobles who shouted loyalty and honor but were actually full of interests and power struggles, he was probably more like a real knight.

Harvey naturally saw the complaints in Pierce's heart at a glance, and shook his head with a wry smile.

"I want to use these highly educated student soldiers as a foundation, and then select some suitable candidates from the middle and lower-level officers with rich combat command experience in the Northern Army to form a military general staff."

Staff officer?

Pierce was puzzled. "Sir, don't you already have two highly educated and intelligent chief advisors, Mr. Asdalen and Mr. Duncan? What use are those students? Those uncouth junior officers under my command... most of them can barely pass the literacy test."

Harvey laughed and said, "I didn't ask them to be my consultant, I asked them to be your consultant!"

Pierce stood up from the sofa in a flash and knelt on one knee with a pale face. "Sir, you...are you dissatisfied with me? Please...please allow me..."

"What are you thinking?" Harvey said, covering his face. "The establishment of a general staff in the military is to assist you in command and management, not because they are dissatisfied with you and want to replace you."

Reluctantly, he stood up, pulled his old subordinate to his feet, and forced him back onto the sofa. "The entire Xinghuo City territory army has barely exceeded ten thousand people, right?"

"Yes... Including the more than 3,000 recruits who are still in training, there are indeed nearly 10,000 people." Pierce has always been familiar with the army's size and manpower data. He can give Harvey a number accurate to the decimal with his eyes closed.

"In the recent battle against Fengyuan City, you, as the commander-in-chief, still need to personally take part in the battle. Our base camp cannot leave you, and I am not confident in handing over additional military tasks to others..."

As the army commander-in-chief, Pierce had to be at the front line in most military operations, which was really a waste of his talent and he was unable to cope with everything else.

Harvey patted him on the shoulder and asked bluntly, "Besides you, who else in the Northern Army is capable of taking command?"

Pierce finally understood Harvey's true intention. After taking a long breath, his expression was still somewhat solemn.

"Besides me... Vaughn is too cautious, blindly loyal, and inflexible."

Harvey nodded in agreement, "Not bad."

Pierce paused, "Wayne, his personality is too radical, and he always likes to take risks..." It can be seen from his identity as a civilian officer that he dared to say in front of two high-level spellcasters that he wanted to bypass Harvey's order and directly assassinate Duke Ralph.

The army must never be controlled by an adventurous commander.

The remaining veteran officers of the Northern Army, such as Duff and Tommy, also have their own obvious shortcomings. Some are pure brainless fools, while others are clever but lack long-term vision.

Once these people leave Harvey and Pierce, if you want them to independently shoulder an important combat mission, I am afraid that most of them will only give Harvey a desperate answer - the combat plan: advance all the way.

At this time, the importance of an independent staff department in the military is reflected.

The student soldiers who have received higher education and served at the grassroots level of the army as political instructors have naturally gotten rid of the shortcoming of talking about war on paper and become qualified staff officers. At the same time, they are also led by veteran non-commissioned officers of the Northern Army who came from the grassroots. In the formulation and coordination of combat missions, they work together to provide decision-making suggestions and references for the main combat officers. This is definitely more effective than the commander-in-chief acting arbitrarily or Harvey, the city lord who sits far away in the base camp and gives orders on the spur of the moment.

As for the division of functions of the General Staff, Harvey also planned to copy what he knew in his previous life - to set up an Operations Command Department, a Recruiting and Mobilization Department, and a Logistics Coordination and Management Department. Under these three departments with clearly defined functions, there would be several sub-departments such as operations, intelligence, military training, recruitment, armaments, and logistics.

It is almost a perfect solution to the current problem of lack of military command talents.

Harvey's long speech on the importance of the General Staff stunned Pierce, who was unable to respond for a long time.

When he finally stopped to drink some water, he heard Pierce swallow hard and say dryly, "Sir... according to the size of the general staff you envision, the number of reserve student soldiers we have developed in school is simply not enough."

(End of this chapter)