Chapter 66 Hansel Returns
Hansel spent a week in the royal capital and found a total of 37 people who wanted to develop in the northwest, including his friend Bernard Francis. Among these 37 people, there are 17 low-level nobles, including Bernard, and 20 civilians, whose occupations include librarians, artificers, and former lower-level affairs officers of the royal government.
After deciding on the day to return, Hansel said goodbye to his family. Miranda, the mother, was very sad. At first, she thought her son would not leave after he came back, but she did not expect that he would have to go to the legendary wilderness. She held her son in her arms and kept wiping her tears, complaining about the officials who had assigned her son this position. Earl Abbott patted his second son on the shoulder and encouraged him to work hard, "Now that you have decided on the path you want to take, don't give up easily."
"Take good care of yourself and don't get too tired. Yes, we all hope you are safe," said his brother Harrison Abbott.
Harrison had very complicated feelings about Hansel. On the one hand, his respected father asked him to love and care for this younger brother who was not born from the same mother. On the other hand, this younger brother with so-called "lowly" blood also made his growth inevitable. suffered some negative impacts.
But he admired Hansel's hard-working attitude and felt sorry that his younger brother was bound by blood.
The only sister in the family, Julie, was very excited. In the past few days, she had been fascinated by some of the northwest legends Hansel told about, such as pirate treasures. "Brother, please take me with you." ~" She grabbed her brother's sleeve and kept acting coquettishly. After being sternly rejected by his brother, she quickly turned from excitement to depression and stopped paying attention to Hansel.
"In a few years, when the Northwest Bay becomes prosperous and little Julie grows up, I will take you there!" Hansel touched his sister's head and comforted her. Only then did tears turn into laughter.
Another day later, everyone gathered at the north gate of the royal capital and embarked on the road north together, embarking on a turning point in their lives.
...
After making the decision to start a war against Bairding, Paul transferred the 2nd Infantry Battalion stationed in Port Fulan to Lake Town and assembled all the army units for training and exercises.
At this time the Arda Army already had the following strength:
Two infantry battalions, each with three companies of spearmen and one battalion of mortars (Tiger Crouching Cannon) Row.
An independent musketry company.
An independent artillery battery, equipped with two 6-pounders and six 4-pounders.
An independent transport company under the command of the Logistics Department.
The total number of army officers and soldiers is 1,355, which is a force that cannot be underestimated in the northwest area. Fortunately, a large amount of money from pirates and profits from paper-making and porcelain-making were captured, otherwise Paul would really not be able to support such a well-fed and well-clothed standing army.
Even so, Old Ford, the steward of the seal, reminded him from time to time: If the sales of paper and porcelain cannot continue to expand or there are no new sources of income, and when all the money seized from the pirates is used up, this will be the end of the world. The army can only drink the northwest wind or simply disband and go home.
Paul was worried every day and didn’t know what was going on with Queller in the south and whether the porcelain could be sold there.
After learning from intelligence that Bailding had a large number of knights, Paul asked the staff to conduct hollow phalanx drills. A complete Alda version of the hollow phalanx looks like this: a quadrilateral phalanx composed of several layers of soldiers, with the outer layers composed of spearmen. The spearmen squatted down on their knees, stuck the spear shafts on the ground, and pointed the spear points towards the ground. Point outwards to form an airtight hedgehog formation. One or two layers inside are composed of musketeers. They are responsible for killing the cavalry rushing into the formation from a long distance. The remaining musketeers are not responsible for shooting. They are responsible for providing musketry for the peripheral muskets in the middle of the square formation. Soldiers reload ammunition to ensure rapid and continuous firepower. If circumstances permit, mortars are also deployed in the middle of the phalanx to kill the enemy with direct fire.
In fact, to put it bluntly, it is a "human bunker". The spearmen on the outer layer form a thick wall, and the musketeers on the inner layer serve as machine gunners, but the firepower intensity is very different.
Although it sounds simple, it is quite troublesome for the soldiers to quickly and skillfully form an effective hollow square. Although they have practiced many times in advance, they were unprepared during the exercise. After receiving the order to form a square formation, most people were in a panic and didn't know where they should stand. This very tested the organizational skills of the grassroots officers.
It also tests the judgment of the officers. For example, based on the number of enemy troops and the charging formation, how large a square formation should be formed on their side, whether to form one large square formation or several small square formations. , each phalanx should be equipped with several layers of spearmen and musketeers. In addition, there are also how to quickly adapt soldiers to various phalanxes with different configurations, and how to quickly repair the gaps in the phalanx.
After repeated drills, the formation speed of a battalion-sized square formation was finally controlled to about 5 minutes.
......
On this day, Paul was supervising the training of the soldiers on site. Someone came to inform him: the royal commissioner, Baron Hansel Abbott, was back.
He quickly returned to the Lord's Mansion. Mr. Baron was already waiting for him in the hall. The two greeted each other and hugged each other warmly. Now they can be regarded as a pair of political allies.
After some pleasantries, Hansel reported to Paul the progress of recruiting people in the capital. Paul was very happy when he heard that more than 30 people had come to Lake Town.
Although the number of people is not large, it is just the beginning after all. I believe that under his preferential treatment policy, more and more talents will come to join him.
He and Hansel had discussed before that they would set up an office in the royal capital and send former royal capital people who had lived in the northwest bay for a period of time to garrison there and recruit people continuously.
A number of libraries have been built in Huxin Town to accommodate the new personnel recruited in the plan, and now they can finally be put to use.
Paul was still a little worried and asked: "How did your friends feel after they came here?" What if they felt that the Northwest Bay was too remote and ran back, wouldn't their trip have been in vain?
Hansel shrugged: "I can't say it's good or bad. Although this place is not as prosperous as the south, but thanks to Jingyao's exaggerated and false descriptions of the northwest bay, they saw the real scene here with their own eyes. I feel it far exceeded my previous expectations.”
"That's right..." Paul didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He said to Hansel: "You go to Philip butler to reimburse the expenses on the road. We will hold a banquet tonight to welcome the people you brought. It is hard enough to come all the way. . As for how to arrange these people, it will be up to Director Ford. I have discussed the personnel gaps in all aspects in detail, and he knows what to do."
Hansel bowed to Paul. :"I thank you for them."
Then he suddenly asked: "I have a question for you. After entering the realm of Arda, I felt that the atmosphere was inexplicably tense. There were also sightings in the villages along the way. There are militiamen training. Are pirates attacking again?”
(End of Chapter)