Chapter 56: Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in war
The military camp is located on the west side of Eagle Fort. It is built on flat soil on a high slope and is surrounded by a two-meter-high wooden wall.
After entering, there is a training ground the size of a football field. To the south of the training ground is a high platform built of logs for giving orders, and to the north is a neat soldier dormitory.
The sky is already very dark, but the gate of the military camp is still open - after all, no one will be tempted to attack here.
The sun, which has completely set behind the mountains, is casting its last rays of light, casting two long shadows on the road. It is Raven who is riding the horse and Volaf who is guarding him.
After riding his horse into the military camp and handing the reins to the soldier guarding the gate, Raven motioned for him to keep quiet and walked directly to the high platform.
Eric was directing the training above. He was startled when he saw Raven arriving and hurriedly saluted.
Raven shook his head and looked at the smoke-filled training ground. Eric took a step back and stood behind the Baron with Volaf on the left and right.
What is going on is a confrontation exercise. The two phalanxes led by Gore and Mosingan are participating in the confrontation.
The former was a neat three-tiered spear formation, while the latter was a sword and shield soldier waiting in full formation. Both sides launched a charge at the same time across the spacious martial arts field.
The two sides went faster and faster, and then hit each other like two city walls - that's how it should be.
But what Raven saw was a completely different scene.
Although their steps were neat, there was no momentum at all. When they were about to approach, the wooden spear used for training even aimed specifically at the shield, leaving a gray dot on it, and then immediately raised it again. There was a soft crackling sound.
The sword and shield phalanx uses a wooden sword to draw a shadow around the gun barrel, slap it twice symbolically, and then the two sides separate.
Raven could even see the cheerful expressions on some of the recruits' faces.
Originally coming with expectations, at this moment Raven felt disappointed, followed by a sense of irritation.
"Sir, this is already the third training session this afternoon..." Eric defended nervously.
"What do you want to explain that they are tired?" Raven laughed angrily: "They are here to serve as soldiers, not for vacation!"
Looking solemn, Raven ordered: "Gather!"
Eric looked shy: "Understood, sir!"
After saying that, he turned around and shouted: "Assemble!!"
Under the command of Gower, Link and Mosingan, the recruits slowly formed three square formations. The distance between people is like string cheese.
Leiwen's face became darker and darker. He knew that it was difficult to train urban soldiers, but it had been more than three months, which was nearly twice as long as the training time of the first batch of private soldiers. There are problems with basic queues.
Only when standing still, it still looks like that.
"Lord Baron!" the recruits shouted in unison.
Raven returned the gift with a gloomy face and said loudly: "Today, I am very dissatisfied."
"The battle formation training seems like a joke, and the basic formation is even more ugly!"
>"I give you food and drink, I give you holidays, I even give you Military salary, this is how you repay me!"
"It seems that I am too kind to you!"
"From today on, there is no holiday, all you have to do is Train, train, train!”
Suddenly, a strange sound came from the audience: "Yes, we need to train~"
The voice was harsh, the recruits suppressed their laughter, and the three captains and Eric's hearts sank at the same time.
Raven's face became extremely gloomy: "Goyle, the voice came from behind you, who was speaking just now?"
Goyle was also confused, and the team Intensive, the man said in a pinched voice, he didn't know either.
He glanced back with hatred: "Who did it? If it's a man, stand up!"
However, all he received in response was silence.
Seeing this, Gore twitched the corner of his mouth fiercely, took a step forward and knelt down on one knee: "My lord, Baron, I am not strict with my subordinates, and I am willing to be punished!"
The look on Lei Wen's face Ashen, he smiled and looked past Gower to the phalanx behind him:
"According to Middles According to the prevailing rules on the mainland, this kind of behavior will be punished by flogging, or beheading in time of war."
"But there is another rule, which is the so-called 'law does not punish everyone', do you think? I can't beat all of you to half a disability and think I can't do anything to you, right?"
"It's really smart."
"Unfortunately, it's just a little clever!"
"Goyle!" Raven raised his voice.
"At your command, my lord!" Gower solemnly accepted the order.
Leaven asked: "The one who just spoke out is the third team, right?"
"Yes, my lord," Gower replied.
"Very good." A sneer appeared at the corner of Raven's mouth: "On the battlefield, it is not the time to rely on personal bravery. If one person makes a mistake, the entire team makes a mistake."
"One person makes a mistake. Punished, the whole squad You will also be punished!"
"The third team of the Sword and Shield Brigade, get ready and run around the field!"
"Aren't you unwilling to admit your mistake? Until you realize your mistake!”
"Eric, Gower, as commanders you are all to blame, come and run with me!"
Eric hit his left chest heavily with his right hand: "Yes! Sir!"
He turned around with a frown and quickly ran down the platform. He saw the same shame and anger in Gore's eyes as his own.
“Line up!”
The twelve-person team, headed by Eric and Gower, formed two lines and started running around the training ground.
The training ground is 450 meters in circumference, which is not very long for these recruits, but running is not just a lap.
The first five laps were okay, the queue was relatively neat and the pace was consistent.
But starting from the sixth and seventh laps, the queue began to become chaotic. In the cold wind, the sweat on their bodies evaporated into curls of hot steam, emerging from the gaps in the armor.
On the thirteenth lap, someone had been separated by a full circle. A recruit suddenly began to vomit, but could not spit out anything. After vomiting, he saw that there was no order, so he could only continue. Follow and run.
On the fifteenth lap, a recruit's thigh twitched and fell, but he was immediately picked up again.
Raven watched all this with an expressionless face, and fear appeared on the faces of the recruits who were standing in the training ground and watched indifferently, even a little gloating.
On the twenty-third lap, the fourteen-member team was completely disjointed. Four or five recruits were more like dragging themselves on the ground than running.
At this moment, a man ran under the high platform and knelt on the ground with his knees weak. He said feebly: "Lord Baron, I, I know I was wrong. I admit my mistake and accept the punishment! Don't Let us run away again... I really can't do it anymore!"
His face turned red and his lips were chapped and purple. It was obvious that he had reached his limit.
Leaven asked expressionlessly: "What's your name?"
"Huai...White..." "Well, not bad, I can still talk." Raven nodded: "If I can talk, I still have strength."
"The last three laps , rest after running!”
“It’s... Lord Baron!” The recruit gritted his teeth, stood up on his legs that were as soft as noodles, and continued running.
What followed behind him was a look of hatred that could almost burn his back.
When the last three laps were completed, the recruits of the third team of the Sword and Shield Brigade fell to the ground one by one like deflated balloons. Only Eric and Goyle could barely stand still.
“Are you convinced?” Raven asked.
White wanted to sit up, but he had no strength at all. He could only turn to Raven while half-kneeling in the resentful eyes of his teammates and said: "Be convinced, my lord..."
Raven raised his voice: "It's okay if you don't accept it. It doesn't matter. If you are in the military camp, I can convince you!"
He looked around the audience and glanced at the eyes of every recruit: "If one person makes a mistake, the whole team will be punished. I call it that. ——Sitting together.”
"Starting today, continuous sitting will be officially implemented in the military camp. You can try the consequences of not training seriously!"
A low exclamation sounded, accompanied by the sound of gasping for air, no The punished recruits looked at the third team, which was as limp as a dead dog, with fear in their eyes, and the eyes they looked at White were full of complaints.
Link and Mosingan looked at each other and saw fear in each other's eyes.
Baron Raven’s words are not only for the new recruits, but also to warn them as captains!
They all started training at the same time. There is no difference in the quality of the soldiers of the three groups. Today, it was just Gower who was unlucky, and they had better luck.
This time it was only Gower who was punished. If there is a next time, the two captains might also be "sitting together"!
Lei Wen's voice continued: "Remember one sentence for me."
"Sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in war!"
"Disband! ”
The recruits went back to the camp respectively, and the "culprit" of the third team and the eleven unlucky guys also supported each other and returned to the camp.
Eric and the three captains came to Raven. Before Raven could speak, they looked at each other and knelt down together: "Lord Baron, we have let you down!"
"The family was destroyed. You only know how to lock the door after you steal it!" Raven looked at them and said angrily: "We are all fathers and husbands, and I don't want to reprimand you."
"But it doesn't matter if the recruits don't know the news, you always know it!"
"The next step is to counterattack the bloody highlands. You have witnessed the cruelty and good fighting skills of those rogue bandits with your own eyes!"< br>
“The action will begin in a month at the latest. With their current virtues, do you think they can fight?”
The heads of the four people hung lower.
The most embarrassing thing is Eric. Raven gave him full responsibility for the general camp, but it turned out to be like this. It was really embarrassing.
He gritted his teeth and said: "Lord Baron, don't worry, I will definitely train them to look good before setting off!"
Leaven sighed: "Last time, you did the same. You told me so."
Eric's face turned redder, and he raised an arm: "I am willing to swear to my ancestors, if I can't, I..."
"Shut up, don't take yourself so seriously!" Raven scolded: "Eric, you, Goyle, Link, Mosingan, you are more important to me than all the new recruits put together. "
This sentence immediately made the four people feel hot, and at the same time they felt even more ashamed: "We will never betray the trust of Lord Baron! "
"I know." After patting several people on the shoulders in turn, Raven said: "But a line is worth a thousand words. I trust you, and you have to respond with actions!"
"For example, give these recruits a Strength? "
The four heads lowered and said in unison: "Your will will be carried out, my lord!"
"Work hard!"
After saying that, Raven turned and left under the escort of Volaf.
At the same time, beside the outer wall of the military camp, Nancy jumped off Jenny's shoulder with a hey, and the latter let out a relaxed cry.
"What, am I heavy?" Nancy asked with raised eyebrows.
“No, it’s because my body is too thin.” Jenny quickly lowered her head.
"Humph, that's good." With that said, Nancy walked towards Eagle Castle with her hands behind her back.
Kicking away the gravel blocking the road, she muttered: "Humph, this damn little bee is exuding his annoying charm again!"
"But This 'continuous sitting' system is quite interesting and worth learning."
It not only punished the disobedient soldiers, but also caused everyone's resentment to be directed towards White. As the lord, Raven both It establishes authority without causing resentment.
Thinking of this, Nancy showed a smile in her eyes: "Raven, Raven, you are still very talented in how to torture others!"
Jenny, who was following her, shivered.
Nancy pointed her finger at her lips: "If your title were higher, I might really be attracted to you."
Damn guy, he obviously likes me, but he still You have to charge 3,000 gold coins before you let me live in Eagle Castle!
By the way, gold coins!
Her eyes lit up: "I know how to get Raven to take me to the Bloody Highlands!"
In the blink of an eye, another three days passed, and Simon, who had been away for nearly two months, still did not come back.
And Raven, sitting in the study, was studying Elvish.
Exerting magic in Elvish is much faster than the common language of the Empire. Improving his proficiency in Elvish will also improve his combat effectiveness.
"Huh..." Putting down the heavy book, Raven breathed a sigh of relief, gently kneading his eyebrows with his fingers to relax, and then turned his attention to the Angel's Tears placed next to him.
Just as he was about to pick it up, Raven keenly noticed that the wine in the glass was gently undulating.
He raised his eyebrows slightly, stood up and walked to the window, with a smile on his originally tense face.
Outside Eagle Town, a herd of hundreds of horses rolled in like colorful clouds.
Ten minutes later, Old Gordon came to the study and gently knocked on the door.
After receiving permission, Old Gordon pushed the door in, stood at the door and said respectfully: "Lord Baron, one hundred and twenty war horses and two hundred pack horses, except for the three pack horses lost on the road, The rest have been shipped."
"Yes, I understand." Raven tapped his fingers on the table, "Mr. Gordon, send someone to notify Fili immediately."
"No matter how many magic cores he collects, send them all to me before noon tomorrow!"
It's time to start strengthening these war horses.
……
(End of this chapter)