Chapter 330 Extra: How to establish a legal armed organization
In a background dominated by conflict and chaos, violence is the primary factor in judging the value of an individual or group and is the basis of everything.
To put it bluntly, the structure of most kingdoms is no stronger than that of joint ventures. At least the chamber of commerce still has common interests most of the time, and the kingdom is essentially an alliance made up of a bunch of large and small military groups.
The general level of governance of these military groups is so limited that many of them adopt a "colonial" style of governance - with castles and fortresses as the center, while ensuring control of transportation hubs and major towns, and subcontracting the rest to vassals knight.
The rough packaging and division of land and population taxes resulted in a short-term rapid increase in standing professional military forces, but seriously overdrafted territorial control.
The above embarrassing situation often makes people feel that the lord is a powerless farmer who regularly harvests the fruits of freely growing crops on his own farm, rather than actually ruling the land and the people on the land.
Even if the people on the land are replaced, as long as the castle is not affected, it will have little impact on the ruler. Farmers only care about whether the wheat grains are plump and will not care about the straw variety unless the straw mutates to the point of hindering harvesting.
This means that there is actually a huge power vacuum in the land that seems to be divided up by various lords like a puzzle. Only the key towns under direct jurisdiction may be regarded as the real territorial citizens.
Even these citizen classes were gradually emerging, seeking some autonomy from the control of their lords. Some of them accumulated wealth, and some of them combined with the church. After gaining enough influence and force, they forced the local traditional forces to make concessions.
As a result, free cities were formed one after another, forming alliances with each other to consolidate their autonomy, and exchanged economic and taxation capabilities for compromises with the great nobles or kings.
The whole situation was chaotic, but there was no doubt about one key point - violence.
Violence is the base of the king's crown, the basis for the lord to maintain his rule, and the guarantee of a free city. Everyone needs it.
Various armed forces outside the traditional army have emerged, including militias organized spontaneously in cities, mercenaries who accept a variety of payment settlement methods, brotherhoods and security groups with complex composition but with a common goal, rangers, bandits, and broken soldiers. Class anarchist armed forces.
Most of them exist objectively but are not very recognized.
So, is there a flexible and legal organization that is recognized by mainstream views, has independent decision-making and management, independent financial operations, reliable military quality, qualified ideological construction, is allowed to own territory, and undertakes special functions?
The answer is that it does exist, and those in need can consider forming a knighthood.
Of course, this is not easy. The Knights are not a simple army, but a special organization with multiple levels of religious, military, and political significance. It requires a lot of complex and difficult prerequisites and a long and tedious but indispensable process. .
In Kraft's view, the whole process is actually closer to applying to form an activity club in college.
First of all, the association needs a positive and healthy purpose of activities. The knights usually have to have a clear and at least lofty purpose, such as defending holy places, participating in wars, and resisting foreign enemies.
It is not impossible to undertake medical work and resist all desecration of life, but it is not so specific.
Secondly, as a "legal" organization, the association needs to be approved by the school, and the knights must also be recognized by the church or secular authority. It is best to have both as a prerequisite for obtaining legal status and resources.
It’s not too difficult in terms of secular authority. The Duke of Westminster’s statement is authoritative enough, and I believe no one will refute his face. The church is a little more troublesome, but with the mediation of someone, an agreement was actually reached. .
The bishops and archbishops were willing to give permission, but were unwilling to meet in person, or even hold a formal ceremony for this matter. It was Green's immediate boss, an old man who looked a little gloomy, who handed over the corresponding documents and items.
After obtaining authorization, it is time to formulate internal rules and recruit members. A successful knighthood needs to establish a reasonable organizational structure and regulations, recruit members, and build its own foundation brick by brick.
Kraft broadly decided to divide the structure into a medical civilian department responsible for research and translation of results, and a field department responsible for solving specific problems.
It is not too difficult for the civilian staff to solve the problem. He can send letters to colleagues at Port Wenden, Westminster, and Rivers University. Even if acquaintances have no intention of doing so, they will recommend students for screening.
Highly qualified field staff are the hardest to find. Among the people he knew, most of those with armed training backgrounds had low educational levels, while those with higher educational levels generally had poor physical fitness and were not suitable for special jobs.
Fortunately, there is now a source. There are not many people in the church who are willing to let people go and who are interested in joining. There are only twelve people, which is barely enough.
Surprisingly, one of the monks under Green who participated in the exploration of the lake suddenly decided to find a new job. The significance of his joining may be greater than five or even ten newcomers.
Just filling the backbone layer is not enough. It also requires several times more auxiliary personnel, attendants, craftsmen, etc. to be responsible for daily chores. Among these people, ordinary civilians can be hired for marginal jobs, but those with professional skills are not so easy to recruit, and you have to pay a much higher price than normal for them to follow.
The Order also recruits volunteers, such as wealthy nobles, who donate funds and equipment. The Higo family is willing to fill this part in exchange for sharing new potions and detailed instructions for their use.
Both club activities and knights must have their own activity venues. You can apply for a venue, or you can use your own unique skills to solve it. It may not be big, but it cannot be left without.
The size of the Wood family castle could not meet this demand, and the site was of course located in a monastery donated by the church. That hilltop, including the surrounding land that originally supplied the monastery, was theoretically more private than private property. They enjoyed all rights, ranging from collecting dry firewood to taxing.
After solving the event venue problem, it’s time to think about how to obtain stable event funding. It’s obviously not possible to rely solely on funding.
Although the newly established Knights currently possess wealth that is unimaginable by ordinary people, it is not very abundant for an organization, especially since the actual liquidity within it is actually not large.
They need to develop their own industry, create an industry with sustained income, and meet daily supply and maintenance expenses that will never be low, as well as some expenses that will never appear on the surface.
Finally, clubs need to hold events from time to time to demonstrate their value to the student body. The Knights also need to participate in certain necessary activities, such as participating in church ceremonies and providing medical charity services, in order to strengthen their influence and gain prestige and support.
Perhaps the first comprehensive medical institution can be established, with names such as "The First Affiliated Hospital of the Knights Hospitallers", "Integrated Medical and Surgical Hospital Affiliated to Rivers University", "Designated Teaching Hospital of the Tuberculosis and Rare Disease Society", etc. The name should be as long as it needs to be How long.
He even thought about the logo, so he replaced the ring in the religious emblem with a snake body, using the winged Ouroboros as the symbol, which not only retained the religious elements, but also had the familiar snake element.
To be honest, Kraft wasn't very good at these jobs. Rather than indirectly communicating with one person after another through countless documents and influencing their thoughts and behaviors, he prefers front-line clinical work. Although it is busier, it is more practical.
He was immersed in busyness until an unexpected visitor arrived
"You even poached Raymond from under me! Raymond?!" Father Green opened the door to the consulting room and slammed a transfer application on the table.
During the days when he was still handling various approvals for Kraft in the church, the latter had quietly wielded a pickaxe and poached one of the few talents in the church who could withstand the most difficult test.
The monk followed them to the center of the lake. He was not bewitched by the evil and twisted things underground. Instead, he suddenly decided to change his life plan and join this gang that was full of problems no matter how you looked at it.
However, the Knights are a half-church organization. A monk's job transfer is at most equivalent to changing his job in another department. It does not mean that he has betrayed his faith. In theory, it is blameless.
Thinking that he had a share of credit for the establishment of the Knights, the priest wanted to immediately announce the severance of the cooperative relationship.
"Don't be like this, my brother." Kraft ignored Green's indignation and even changed his title, quite conscious of the identity change. "Isn't it right to call it that? We are both lambs of the Father. We are one family. We are equal to each other and no one is subordinate to anyone. How can we restrict the freedom of choice of brothers? ”
"What kind of Lamb of Heavenly Father are you!" Green slammed the table, and the water glass jumped and rolled down.
The faith environment has been ruined by people like this. These days, even medical school professors who play with strange magic can openly poach the church and claim to be members of the church. It is impossible to imagine what will happen in a few years.
He was wrong, he thought he could tolerate the existence of Kraft. However, when this guy walked around with the title of Master of the Knights and claimed to be a devout believer certified by the church, he realized that he was wrong, very wrong.
"To be honest, I originally wanted to ask you and Vadin if you had the intention to serve for a period of time. After all, having people familiar with the church's operations would make it easier for them to get started in the initial stage and spread the gospel of the Lord through the Knights' affiliated hospitals. More people..."
"Craft, stop." The priest interrupted the professor's eloquent sales pitch, "Just for the sake of our precious friendship, can you agree to my request?"
"Of course, it's obligatory."
"Pack your people and things. Before next Sunday, I hope your convoy will be driving on the land where the Notre Dame Cathedral can't be seen."
“But can’t the church spire be visible to the entire Dunling?”
"Yes, that's what I mean."
(End of chapter)