Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 37 Apprenticeship

  The form of war organization in the early stage of human civilization is that the property owners bring their own weapons, armor and horses to join the army. Such property owners with political rights are called citizens by the Gumro Empire, and citizens by the Ancient Celica Empire.

   From this period, the commander's ability to boost morale becomes very important.

   In a small-scale battle within two digits, the leader with a bright tongue is not as useful as the leader.

   But if a thousand people are going to fight with a thousand people, how to make the soldiers willingly follow themselves to **** becomes a technical task that can decide success or failure.

  The simplest and crudest means is "money in place, people in place".

   But money is not the problem, the problem is that there is no money.

   Fighting is burning money, and military strategists of all dynasties have repeatedly emphasized this important test point.

   In wars, it is rare to have money in place on time, and it is the norm that money is not in place.

  Since ancient times, the number of generals and kings who have been defeated because of arrears in the army’s salaries.

   Don't say what's far, just say what's close. A landmark event in the full-scale outbreak of the Sovereign War, 38 years ago, the Duke of Arlean the "Butcher" led his troops to cross the Shady Mountains and attack the rebels of the duchy in the front of the mountain.

In later generations, Alliance historians will find thousands of metaphysical reasons such as "justice must win, evil must lose" to explain why the Duke of Arlean was able to beat the rebels to the ground in the early days, and finally But they will be trapped in the lonely city, and they will be defeated and committed suicide.

   But in this era, in this era when history is still a living memory, not the words in books. All Union soldiers who have experienced the Sovereign War know in their hearts why they won: because the Duke of Arlean is out of money.

  If Richard IV could pay the Duke of Arleans on time, then the inter-provincial republic should still be the Duchy of the Empire's Mountain Front.

   The Duke of Arlean, the most capable army commander in the empire in the past century, died not of his own sword, but of bankruptcy.

  Although money can't buy a real dead man. But in the feudal era, as long as you can ensure that your soldiers are fed, clothed, and paid on time, they are enough to be called famous generals. Textbooks in later generations can certainly reserve a place.

And for most of history, the biggest problem facing officers has never been how to convince soldiers to go to war, but how to convince a group of soldiers who are under-fed, under-dressed, and underpaid, on both sides of the enemy. .

   At this time, an inspiring pre-war speech is the simplest and most effective means.

  A capable officer, a few words can make the soldiers red-eyed, screaming and rushing up.

The brigadier general who is speaking in front of the podium obviously does not have this kind of eloquence. He wrote a manuscript very seriously, but his speech has always been in the same tone, without any ups and downs, as if there is only one piece left. String xylophone.

   The brigadier general opened his mouth, and Winters only felt his head dizzy, his eyelids were fighting involuntarily, and the frequency of blinking became higher and higher.

  The sun was in the west, and the warrant officers were sitting in twos and threes in the sweltering small auditorium of the Army Headquarters, having a meeting.

   This is an introduction meeting. It was originally a time for trainee officers to introduce trainee positions in various departments of the Army.

   But the speech of the people on the stage was so hypnotic, Winters was barely able to concentrate, but only heard some nonsense over and over. If Bud hadn't poked him secretly from the side, he would have fallen asleep.

  The people on the stage came down one after another, and explained the departments they were responsible for one by one. Although several senior officers spoke, their level was similar to that of the brigadier general at the beginning.

   There was a dull atmosphere in the whole small auditorium, not only Winters, but all the warrant officers were drowsy and staggering.

  Winters really couldn't hold it anymore, his head gradually dropped, and his eyes were closed. This time Bud didn't wake him up, because even Bud couldn't hold on anymore. As for Andre, he had already let himself go, and if he listened carefully, he could still hear his snoring.

   Just as Winters was about to fall asleep completely, there was a sudden sound of a cloud-piercing drum from the podium.

  In the legend, after the wise king in ancient times killed the dragon, he used the dragon skin as the drum surface and the keel as the drumstick to make a war drum, which could be heard for hundreds of miles around.

The myth of    was originally told by Kesa to Winters as a child as a bedtime story, but Winters now thinks the drum might be on the podium.

   The sound of the drum woke him up from his coma, causing him to break out in a cold sweat and instantly lose sleep. All the trainee officers in the auditorium suddenly cheered up.

  Winters looked at the podium, and didn't see any legendary dragon drums, but only saw a man in the uniform of a school officer who was scanning the small auditorium with a smile.

   This man looks like he is in his early thirties, with a rounded eyebrows, a nose job and thin lips. In a crowd of tall officers, he was only medium in height, but his temperament made him look taller than everyone else.

   Winters stared at the school officer in front of the podium. At this time, there was another drum sound from the podium. This time, Winters saw it clearly.

   There were no drums at all, but the school official snapped his fingers. An ordinary snap of fingers can't have such a strong sound, and the answer was obvious: it was a spellcaster who amplified the sound of snapping fingers with amplifying.

   However, Winters is a bit strange. In his impression, the amplification technique can only be used to amplify the sound of the caster's own vocal cords. He has not seen a spellcaster that can amplify external sounds.

   Seeing that his methods caught the attention of all the apprentice officers, the colonel nodded with a smug smile.

"Are you all awake? In fact, I was about to fall asleep just now." The school official's voice was calm and clear, but it was far higher than the volume of ordinary people's speech. It is the effect of amplification.

   Winters thought to himself that it was not difficult to amplify the sound, but it was difficult to keep it so smooth. Because for the caster, using a spell is not as simple as pressing a button and getting some effect.

   The process of using spells by the caster is closer to muscle force. For example, Major Moritz’s burst sound technique is to release as much magic power as possible in an instant, just like throwing a punch with all his strength, and the pursuit is explosive force.

   And this schoolmaster controlled the volume extremely smoothly through amplifying, using spells while speaking, like walking a tightrope while reciting poetry. Ordinary officers may not feel much, but to the caster it is a naked dazzle.

   Winters became interested in this senior spellcaster.

   The school official continued to say coldly: "I don't want to waste everyone's time, so I didn't prepare the manuscript, and I have very little to say."

The spellcaster swept over all the apprentice officers in the small auditorium with one hand: "You graduated from the first military academy on this continent, and the previous ones praised you as the most promising and brightest in the army. young people?"

"Young man with the brightest future and brightest future?" The school officer snorted coldly and raised his voice: "Where is it? Why didn't I see it? All the officers on active duty in this auditorium are your seniors and alumni. You are the best. Just be us!

   Being an army bureaucrat who makes you sleep like dead pigs with every mouthful, what is the most promising and future? Each of us has come all the way from where you are now, so I will give you two pieces of advice as a senior. "

   This sudden devaluation made all the warrant officers in the audience stunned. In many cases, compliments do not attract more attention than sharp criticisms.

The colonel raised a finger: "The first point, everyone here is making hype about the work of their department and telling you that it has nothing to do with you. You are just apprentice officers, and in the next year, you will only Do a little chores! Copy the report, change the ink, that's all."

   Winters and Bud looked at each other with a wry smile, and the lieutenant colonel slapped all the warrant officers in the face.

   Immediately after, he raised a second finger: "Second point, although you are only responsible for chores, you are doing chores in the most powerful violent institution in this continent!

Listen! You will be able to observe how the Veneta Army's power center operates and makes decisions up close. This is an opportunity that an officer from a rogue class can't get his life in exchange for! If being so close to power doesn't make you excited, then you don't deserve to be officers, take off this uniform and get out!

  Let's go! Disband! Go run errands for the officers and generals! But if the general's wife sent someone to ask the general's schedule for the evening, she would say that he would have a meeting, understand? I'm done! That's it, let's go! "

   The warrant officers burst into laughter, and the small auditorium broke out with warm applause for a long time.

   "Who is this person? Which department boss?" Winters asked Bud while applauding vigorously.

  Bud turned the notebook forward: "Lieutenant Colonel Field Drums."

  ——I am the dividing line of chores——

   Later in the day, at dinner time. Aunt Kosa and Cousin Elizabeth were working in the kitchen, while Antonio and Winters were setting the table.

   The big and small generals smelled the smell and yelled at the kitchen door, refusing to leave, and could not get in, so they could only lie at the door and lick their hair to get over the addiction.

   "How was the meeting this afternoon? Who do you want to apprentice to?" Antonio asked Winters as he divided the cutlery.

   Every year, the warrant officers who return to Veneta will hold such a meeting. The purpose is to let the apprentice officers who are just out of the school understand the most basic structure of the Veneta Army, and then the warrant officers will choose which department to go to for apprenticeship.

Although it is theoretically a voluntary choice, if there are too many applicants in a department, the department will select a few apprentice officers, and other applicants will be shunted to those departments that have no applicants, maintaining a roughly even distribution of apprentice officers To all branches of the Army.

   "I want to go to Lieutenant Colonel Field." Winters answered honestly while setting the plate, he was indeed attracted by the Lieutenant Colonel's charisma.

   "Field Drums?" Antonio was slightly surprised.

   Winters nodded: "Yes."

Antonio was amused by the name, he said happily: "That's a famous thorn, and Zio shouted every day to throw him to the war history. If he wasn't a spellcaster, he would have been sent overseas. ."

"Maybe it is." Listening to his uncle teasing that he might become his superior lieutenant colonel, Winters thought it would be better to listen honestly, he said scratching his head and said, "I just think Lieutenant Colonel Field is more sincere. "

   "You dare to say anything, but what is sincerity?" There was no derogatory connotation in Antonio's tone, he just thought it was very interesting.

   After setting the tableware, the two of them sat and waited for the dishes to be served.

  Antonio opened a bottle of wine, but Winters had avoided alcohol since he had seen Major Moritz, so he just drank water.

   Winters carefully recalled the performance of the lieutenant colonel at the meeting today, and said: "Actually, I may not be able to go there. Lieutenant Colonel Field is very popular today, and I think there must be many people who apply to him."

   "Then do you want to go?" Antonio took a sip of wine and asked his nephew lightly.

   Winters nodded again and again: "Of course I do."

   "Then go ahead and exercise." Antonio's tone was relaxed.

   Winters' eyes lit up, he understood what his uncle meant, so he thought a little bit further: "I also have a friend who was born in the cavalry department, and also applied to Lieutenant Colonel Field, Lieutenant Colonel, can you..."

​​​​​

   "Bud, Gerald's Bud."

Aunt Kesha came out with a basket of sliced ​​bread and saw the two men in the family drinking and chatting. She got angry and gave her uncle a slap on the back: "You guys are at leisure, set the tableware and start drinking. , come and help with the work."

  Antonio and Winters were driven to the kitchen by Kesha. Antonio seemed to remember something, tilted his head and asked his nephew, "By the way, don't you know which department this kid Field is in charge of?"

   "It seems to be M or something, I didn't hear it very well, and Lieutenant Colonel Field didn't say it himself." Winters was embarrassed to tell his uncle that he was about to fall asleep at the time.

   "Haha." Antonio patted his nephew on the shoulder: "It's MP, Military Police."

   "What? Military police?" Of course Winters is no stranger to the military police, isn't he a military school picket? Not a popular character.

   "Dad, take this, brother, take this." Elizabeth assigned tasks to the two men, and went to work on other things.

  Antonio and Winters each carried a deep iron pot, which was stewing meat and soup respectively. The stew tasted delicious, but Winters was completely off his mind: "Lieutenant Colonel Field is in charge of the gendarmerie?"

"To be precise, Field is just the head of the Gendarmerie Department of the Veneta Army Headquarters." Antonio explained to his nephew carefully: "The soldiers of the Standing Legion are in charge of the Gendarmerie of the Standing Legion; if the army soldiers committed something in Hailan City, then The gendarmerie of the garrison command is in charge; the gendarmerie of Field is an overhead agency specially set up for his thorn, with a very narrow jurisdiction and basically nothing."

After    explained the doorway that was not known to outsiders, Antonio asked his nephew: "Do you still want to go to Field now?"

   "Want to go." Winters nodded firmly.

   "Oh?" Antonio was a little puzzled.

   "Lieutenant Colonel Field is a very good spellcaster, and I want to learn magic skills from him."

"Then go, go and learn." Antonio nodded, his attitude was still very relaxed: "Although Feld has never worked under me, but he rushed to Zio several times and was half-dead with him. Still not willing to throw him overseas, and deliberately set up an idle position to keep him at the headquarters, it can be seen that this person must still have some skills."

  The food was all ready, and four people sat on the table again. Kesha was obviously very happy and began to pray before the meal. The four people held hands and formed a circle, and Kesha began to chant.

All spellcasters in the    Alliance are atheists, and the spellcasters firmly believe that their abilities come from knowledge and training, rather than the gift of some existence.

   Winters is naturally not a believer, but he just wants to cooperate with Kesha, he doesn't want to make his aunt sad. But he also has his own insistence, that is, he will never follow the prayers, and he will not say a word every time.

Winters is now thinking all about the trainee. As soon as the prayer before dinner is over, he can't wait to ask his uncle: "I don't understand, why the trainee goes to the government unit? Why not let us go to the real army Where is the apprenticeship?"

   "Because there aren't that many troops."

"what?"

Antonio explained patiently: "How can there be so many troops for you to apprentice? Otherwise, why would you be thrown into the agency unit? Now, most of the officers usually work in the agency unit, and there are not many really leading troops. There are three legions in the tower, two of which are standing legions, and each standing legion usually maintains only half of its troops, that is, a chief brigade plus four brigade."

Antonio's words surprised Winters. According to his uncle, the entire Republic of Veneta has three legions in theory, but only two legions are standing troops, and the actual strength is only a little more than one legion, more than 5,000 people. .

After the end of the    Sovereign War and Richard IV's withdrawal from the army, in order to answer the question "what if there is no emperor?", scholars began to seek answers from ancient books.

  Finally, they found the answer they were looking for: in ancient times, the Muro people also overthrew the king and established the Muro Republic without a king, which has been strong for hundreds of years.

   "It turns out that we are not the first to do this." The scholars breathed a long sigh of relief.

  Since someone in history has done this and succeeded, it means that there is no emperor.

   From then on, the Senas Gulf Alliance began to fanatically imitate the Muro Republic in the ancient books in all aspects, from politics to military affairs, and even works of art, to fully revive the ancient empire.

   This history is called "borrowing from ancient times" because these imitations are purely new wine in old bottles. Just borrowed the name of the old system, and implemented the new policy.

  For example, politically, the Republic of the Mro people and the Republic of the United Provinces are both called the Republic, but they are two completely different things.

  The former is a republic of the aristocracy; while the latter slaughtered the aristocracy, it is a republic of the bourgeoisie, and the vast rural areas are not within the scope of the republic.

   For example, in the military, it also imitated the Muro Republic to form a legion, and copied the structure of ten-man-centenarian-battalion-corporation.

   But now that arquebuses have become popular, apart from formations, whether it is tactics, training or the ratio of hot and cold weapons, the two are completely different.

   "Why are there so few troops?" Winters asked hastily.

   "Is more than 5,000 less?" Winters' childish question made Antonio stunned.

He reluctantly said to Winters: "This is a standing army of 5,000 full-time workers! Boy, do you know how much it will cost to raise a full-time professional soldier? You want people to join the army wholeheartedly, at least you have to give them to the newcomers. The salary of the craftsmen is equivalent to paying 5,000 craftsmen's wages, and they are also responsible for their clothing, food, housing, and weapons and equipment. To be honest, if it is not for the purpose of maintaining deterrence, I think 5,000 people are a bit too much. "

   "What if there is a war?"

"If you want to fight a war, you need to recruit reservists temporarily, and when the reservists are called, you have to pay the army, so after the war, you have to disband immediately. Thirty years ago, when the war was fought, people could be recruited into the army for food, but it is different now. It's burning money. A standing army is enough to deal with scattered gangs and a few peasants who don't want to pay taxes."

   "What?" Winters' three views were completely washed away: "Isn't the establishment of a standing army to resist foreign enemies?"

   "Haha, how could that be? The biggest role of the standing army is to deter domestic enemies. It's not enough to rely on these thousands of people to fight against foreign enemies."

   Two people, one big and one small, were having a lively conversation, and Elizabeth on the side was also fascinated, but Kesha was very angry.

   She tried so hard to cook dinner, but none of the other three people in the family had a good meal, and no one praised her craftsmanship. She is very aggrieved now.

   Kesha resisted her anger and tapped the cup: "Can you stop talking about things other than the table when you eat?"

   "Oh, this beef stew is really good." Antonio immediately saw that his wife's mood was not right, he hurriedly winked at Winters, and repeatedly praised his wife's brilliant cooking skills.

   Elizabeth, another member of the lower family, also understood, and exclaimed that the beef soup was so fragrant.

   Winters complimented a few words without hesitation. All his mind was thinking about the inside story of the army that his uncle had just said, and he really couldn't hold anything else.

   After eating a few bites of food, he couldn't help but ask his uncle: "Then after I go to the agency, will I only be able to do clerical work for the rest of my life?"

   "Don't worry, when you become full officers, you will take turns to lead the troops. There are too many officers now, and there are not enough soldiers, so you have to take turns."

   "Uncle, did you do this when you first left the military academy?"

  Antonio said proudly: "I was different from your father's time. At that time, we had a war, so we went to the troops to lead the troops. Now there are no wars, so there are not so many troops, but peace is actually a good thing."

  Antonio pondered for a while: "You don't have to worry, maybe we will need to recruit the reserve soon..."

  Kesa tapped the cup again: "If you want to talk about these things, go to the study room to talk after dinner!"

   Now, even as slow as Winters, he is aware of the rim of the eruption of Auntie's volcano.

   Compliments to the hostess is again a staple at this table.

  ——I am the dividing line at the table that can only praise the chef——

  Although the weapons and tactical concepts have been iterated many times, the army organization of the Union Republics is still copied from the Muro Legion, which can be called the possession of Jing Luo.

  Each legion is dominated by infantry, with cavalry and artillery as independent auxiliary units.

   Infantry every 8 as a ten-man team;

   (That's right, isn't it common sense that there are only 8 in a ten-man team?)

   Every 10 10-man teams, for a total of 80 people, act as a centennial team;

   480 people per 6 centurions, as a brigade;

  9 480-person battalions, plus a 750-person chief battalion, a total of 5,070 people to form a regiment;

  The cavalry and artillery are used as auxiliary corps, and they are used in a centralized manner, directly under the command of the corps.

The number of    artillery and cavalry is related to the actual situation and fiscal policy of each allied country.

  For example, the republic of the province is backed by the Victory Arsenal, so the number of artillery attached to the legion of the province far exceeds that of other allied nations.

   And the Highland Republic (Plateau Republic) is rich in good horses, so the Highlanders pay more attention to cavalry, relatively speaking, they are not very concerned about the construction of infantry.

  ——I am the dividing line of the second coming of the Legion——

  Thanks to the social justice Pharaoh, book friend 20181013204343295, and Li Gongchang for their recommendation tickets.

  Thanks for the tip of the blood-sucking Arakiri.

   Bow and thank you.

   (end of this chapter)