Chapter 236: Life in the barracks
Chapter 236 – Life in the Barracks
In light of the urgent request sent by Earl Parker, Paul returned to Lakewood on the same day, and he immediately summoned Schroeder and Bryce and other high ranking army officials to discuss the matter of sending reinforcements to Fort Biddle.
The chief of staff, Schroeder, strongly supported sending reinforcements, and he pointed on a map of the northwestern bay, telling the crowd about the importance of sending troops.
“Earl Parker’s letter is correct, Fort Biddo is located between the Potteries and the Ardra Collars, and it’s only a day and a night’s journey from here to the coastal region, so if the Kent family uses this as a jumping off point to take over such a small area, then the three Counts’ Collars including Ardra, Baldin, and Larnaca will be completely isolated from the kingdom’s hinterland –at least in terms of land. This is unacceptable to the current us.”
Paul stared intently at the map, on which Fort Biddle was stuck like a nail on the border between Portree and Adela. Schroeder was right, it was too dangerous for this place to remain in the hands of the Kent family, right now Ardra had just launched four merchant ships, and maritime transportation could not yet completely replace land transportation, if the lines of communication on the road were once cut off, it would be a major blow to Ardra’s trading activities.
He stated his plan, “I intend to send the 1st Infantry Battalion, 3rd Infantry Battalion, and Artillery Company forward to support them, and the Transportation Company will be responsible for the logistical supply of the aforementioned forces. The 2nd Infantry Battalion will stay in Arda to deal with the unforeseen circumstances. Do you all have any comments?”
Bryce asked, “Isn’t leaving just one infantry battalion too little?”
Schroeder’s words assuaged his doubts, “The Navy can send a battalion-sized group of sailors ashore to assist in the defense, and the artillery on the warships can be dismantled and deployed on land, and we can mobilize the militia from all over the area.”
“How many militia are available to fight now?”
Schroeder replied, “The staff made a tour of the militias around the world a few days ago, and we can build a temporary force of 2,000 men from the militias, with no less organization than the regular soldiers we had last year when we dealt with the pirates.”
……
The loud wake-up call rang throughout the barracks at first light, and Private Joss opened his eyes to the thunderous roar of his squad leader, Makarov.
“Get your asses up, you lazy pigs!”
One by one, the sergeant lifted their covers and pulled the big-headed soldiers out of bed.
“The military camp is not like in your own homes! There are strict rules for work and rest time, you must always remember that you are already an honorable soldier of Arda!”
Last year, the third battalion of infantry was formally organized, in order to form combat strength as soon as possible, the staff department took a group of officers and veterans from the original two battalions as the backbone to add to the third battalion, while the first and second battalion’s vacant soldiers were recruited from the militia that already had a certain level of training basis to replenish.
Sergeant Makarov, who had been stationed in Kas village to train the militia, was transferred back to the 1st Battalion of the Infantry, and with him returned ten boys from Kas village, including Jos.
The recruited militia were broken up and placed in various companies, and to Jos’s immense dismay, his squad was headed by Sergeant Makarov, whom he feared like a tiger.
To this day he remembers with uncanny clarity the look on Sgt. Makarov’s face when the squad first assembled.
“Why you again!”
“Fine! I’ll be watching you to the death!”
The sergeant’s coppery eyes revealed the above information left and right.
Joss mentally prayed that he’d make it through his military career unscathed.
Hastily straightening his clothes, Joss ran after his group to the playground to assemble. There was a half hour morning run and a half hour of standing at attention before breakfast.
Troops ran at a neat pace around the barracks area, company by company, accompanied by the whistles of their respective officers.
Each company had its own morale-boosting slogans, and during the run, the barracks area was filled with all sorts of odd slogans, one louder than the other, all trying to overwhelm the other companies in terms of momentum.
For someone like Joss, who had a basic training in militia – especially with a devilish instructor like Sgt. Makarov – running for half an hour was not a big problem, and at the end of the half hour, he was only slightly out of breath.
However, there were still some recruits with poor physical foundation who were red in the face and panting. Fortunately, these recruits had already been training in the barracks for a period of time, and none of them had fallen behind.
Jos remembered the first morning run when some of them fainted on the ground while running. There were also people who gasped for breath and didn’t want to continue running or tried to sneak back to the barracks, then they were beaten by the officer wielding a whip and were punished by not being allowed to eat breakfast and continuing to stand after standing in military posture.
“What will we get to eat this morning?”
After his morning run, Joss stood motionless, slowly calming his breathing as he thought about what he would have for breakfast.
The military stand would take half an hour, and he could use the time to rest and ruminate on the matter in the meantime.
The soldiers stood neatly in a large square formation on the playground, each company had its own fixed exclusive area, the view of the playground from the elevated platform was spectacular, the parade of soldiers was a straight line horizontally, and still a straight line vertically.
Every day’s military posture training filled the hearts of the officers overseeing the morning drills with a sense of pride, and their hearts were overwhelmed with the belief that there was no other army in this era that could do a better job than the one in front of them – at least when it came to formation.
All the companies took less than half an hour in total from the time they stopped their morning run to the time they entered the drill ground in order, reformed, and formed up into squares before and after, which was almost impossible for any other army.
The fact that the lord was paying close attention to formation training at the very beginning of establishing this standing army was still a bit incomprehensible to them – of course, no one would think that this kind of training was unimportant, and that tight formation was the necessary foundation of a high-quality army had been the truth since ancient times. They just thought that the Earl had over-emphasized it a bit, and wouldn’t it be better to allocate a bit more time to individual force training.
But when faced with a tidal wave of pirates surging over, and when faced with a thunderous contingent of Bairdian knights raiding from behind, the strict formation training played a huge role, and although many soldiers would inevitably show panic or nervousness, the strict discipline made them not dare to move until they received an order from their superiors, and the obedience that had been cultivated over a long period of time made their bodies act subconsciously after receiving the subconsciously when ordered to do so.
Strict discipline and hard training are not enough; soldiers need to be provided with adequate material security.
After standing motionless for half an hour, a giddy Jos went with his company to the mess hall to line up for food.
“Black bread, beef stew with potatoes, poached eggs, and beet porridge …… Enjoy yourself rookie. Next!”
The soldiers of the cooking class nimbly placed today’s breakfast on the plate, Joss moved his nose, the aroma from the food made his appetite grow, the tiredness from the morning training instantly disappeared.
In addition to being paid on time, the abundant supply of three meals was also an important reason that attracted many young people to join the army, with such intense training, it would not do for a soldier’s nutrition to not be able to keep up.
Although the food of Alda’s army can not be compared with the rich family, but it is definitely above the level of ordinary civilian families in the Northwest Bay, and for soldiers like Jos who came from the countryside, it is a luxury meal that they have never enjoyed before.
(End of chapter)