After locking himself in the cabin and thinking about it all afternoon, he simply stopped thinking and went out of the courtyard to call Camille, who was helping Emma with the cooking utensils, to go to the training ground and find the two army lieutenants, Angus and Odo.

After a while, Otto and Angus arrived at the hut, where Art was writing and drawing on a piece of dried birch bark with sharpened charcoal sticks.

"You're here? Sit down and wait a minute. Art continued with what she was doing.

The two sat on the left and right sides.

After a long while, Odo couldn't sit still and asked softly, "My lord, is there anything you called us to do?"

Art picked up the birch bark with both hands, blew off the charcoal powder on the bark, and said to the two people sitting at the table: "Now that everyone in our valley has arrived, I plan to hold a meeting in the wooden castle tomorrow to discuss the future development of the whole valley, and I want to talk to you two while there is still some time."

Otto and Angus were very touched in their hearts, as the adjutant of the army and the right-hand man of Art's side, Art was able to consult them on issues related to development matters, which showed that they had become one of the cores of the entire territory.

"Of course, I came to you mainly to talk about the army, in these troubled times, the steel sword in your hand is the capital to survive in the world. For the entire valley, a strong army is the foundation of development, this time I was knighted, this valley will also slowly be noticed by the outside world, and it is impossible to hide and grow quietly, and now we are still facing the mountain bandits in the territory, the enemy army outside the country, the current opponent is from the Dean family, and the future opponent may also come from within the valley, whether it is inside and outside the country or now and in the future, the only way for us to deal with these crises is to continue to make ourselves stronger. You don't need to care about how to produce food and make money, you just think about how to make our soldiers more brave and good at fighting, and how to make our army more invincible. ”

"When I evacuated Talfort, I gave you a task, thinking about the standing number of the army after the war, the number of soldiers, the configuration of weapons, the salary and treatment, the training of soldiers, etc., and now that it has been so long, I think you have also discussed it with the officers and soldiers below. Now, I'd like to hear the outcome of your discussion. ”

With that, Art put down the birch bark and quietly looked at the two army commanders beside him.

Odo stopped talking, but Art saw his movements and said, "Odo, you were the first person to follow me, and now you are the adjutant of the army, you can talk about it first, starting with the standing number of the army." ”

Odo pondered for a moment and said, "My lord, these days we have been discussing with you the issues you have instructed while training, and generally speaking, the officers and key soldiers have the same idea, that is, we must continue to train a strong army, but there are differences on specific issues, and I and the sergeant major have different views in this regard. ”

Art turned to look at Angus, who nodded slightly.

"It's okay, it's good to have different ideas, so that you can think about it comprehensively, Odo, then you can tell us what you think first." Art said.

"My idea is that we must continue to expand the number of legionnaires, and it is best that we increase the number of legionnaires to more than sixty within this year, based on veterans who have participated in battles, and the cavalry is not easy to train, but it must be expanded to at least ten cavalry. We fought in Tarburg for half a year, and our lives hung by a thread of blood-stained robes, but when we returned to Besançon, those court nobles didn't even consider your achievements, and after a bloody battle, they almost didn't even get a piece of the fief, and the knight territory that was finally distributed to you was also a wild land that the nobles considered to be high, not to mention that our caravans were oppressed everywhere. The root of all this is that they think that you are a little person who can be kneaded at will, and that this fertile valley will definitely be discovered in the future, and then we will face more hungry wolves, so my idea is to grow the army and make those who are eyeing us fear the sword in our hands and the fangs in our mouths. Otto said excitedly.

Art pondered for a moment and asked, "Odo, you have been in charge of the army's weapons, armor, and money and food, and you should know the huge amount of money and supplies that our army currently consumes every day. ”

Odo nodded and said, "Yes, my lord, I understand that during the expedition, the army's salary expenditure alone exceeded 700 pfennig per week, and the consumption of grain and grass was even more amazing. However, our existing weapons, armor and baggage were captured a lot during the six months we were stationed at Taal Fort, and if the armament of the soldiers was reduced a little: ordinary soldiers were only issued with burqas, cloaks or cotton armor, and their weapons were mainly iron spears, short swords, wooden shields, and hand axes; The leader of the battle group is equipped with leather armor, iron spear, long sword, skin wooden shield and half helmet; Officers above the group leader are equipped with chain mail or iron armor and nose guards, and for weapons, iron spears, long swords, battle axes, and iron round shields are issued; The cavalry was a little more well-equipped, and I was still thinking about the training of the archers. The weapons and armor in the arsenal of the Wooden Castle are fully capable of equipping more than sixty legionnaires. As for the follow-up consumption, we have caravans outside to trade and make money to buy armaments, there are many craftsmen forging weapons and armor, and the land in the valley can also have surplus grain to support the army's food consumption if they do not have to pay taxes. And according to your arrangement, we will continue to clean up the bandits in the territory in the future, and there will be a lot of captures......"

"As for the formation of soldiers, we can continue to use the current organization structure, increase the number of squads, and the military salary of legionnaires can also be slightly lower, in addition, I think it is necessary for us to set up a special baggage team to set up baggage and medical ......."

Art listened attentively, and from time to time he jotted down a few key words on the birch bark with a charcoal stick.

Otto said a lot, but his core idea was to continue to expand the army and use the huge army to increase the influence of Art in the Count of Burgundy.

"Sergeant Major, Otto has said so much, I think he has a point. I'd like to hear what your dissenting opinion is. ”

At this critical moment involving the development of the future, Angus embodied the calmness of a soldier who had been killed on the battlefield, he changed his uninhibited past, sat up straight and said to Art with a serious face: "My lord, my thoughts are a little different from Odo, I think the development of the army should not blindly pursue the expansion of numbers, but should pay attention to the improvement of the army's combat strength, including the equipment of the army's weapons and armor and the cultivation of soldiers' personal combat skills." ”

Art put down the charcoal rod in his hand, stared at Angus and said, "Sergeant Major, you mean that we develop elite soldiers?" ”

"Yes, my lord, when I first met you in Besançon, you had thirty soldiers in your hands, and these soldiers had followed you in the southern border to fight against bandits, and they were quite imposing, but many of them were just ordinary peasants and vagrants a year and a half ago, and despite their daily training, their combat strength was only better than that of ordinary peasants, perhaps similar to ordinary legionnaires, but they were definitely not elite soldiers. The battles we experienced during the six months we were stationed at Tarburg were also almost all won by "conspiracy". In the future battles, we will not always rely on this way to win, and in the face of a grand battle, with the current combat strength of our army, the battle losses will definitely be very large. ”

Angston paused for a moment and continued: "Previously, because we may face a large-scale attack on Thalburg by Swabia at any time, it is reasonable for our troops to be expanded, but this has also led to the uneven combat strength of our army soldiers, and I found this serious problem during this period of training, the group of soldiers who followed you at the beginning performed much better in training than those soldiers who joined the army later, so the training always failed to achieve the effect we wanted. My opinion is that it is possible to appropriately cut out a group of ordinary soldiers who are not suitable for training as elite soldiers to become soldiers of the patrol team or peasants of the fort team, or even to give them land to be peasant households, and the main force of the corps should be better controlled to about thirty or forty people, and it can be trained according to the three levels of light infantry, heavy infantry, and light cavalry. In addition, the number of light cavalry should be restored to the original five or six cavalry, and being able to march on horseback is not the same thing at all, and those of our soldiers are okay to pretend to be on horseback, if it is really a cavalry battle, I am afraid that they will have to fall off their horses without a charge. ”

Art picked up the charcoal rod and wrote down Angus's words.

Angus was encouraged, raised his voice, and said: "As for the weapons and armor of the elite soldiers, I went to the arsenal a few days ago to take inventory, and judging from our current armament, the light infantry can wear cotton armor with a single layer of leather armor, wear a semi-circular iron helmet, and the weapons are short spears, battle axes, heavy hammers, short swords and round shields, and those light infantry who can barely use bows and crossbows can be trained as crossbowmen; Heavy infantry with chain mail hoods, throat guards, nose guards, armed jackets and half-body chain mail or iron-inlaid armor, weapons short spears, broadswords, battle axes, page hammers and a round shield with iron skin; The light cavalry is equipped with a war horse, chain mail hood, throat guard, nose guard, iron helmet, lined with armed clothing, long-sleeved chain mail or chain mail, and weapons riding spear, riding bow, broadsword, short-handled battle axe, dagger, mace, and a shield. Of course, the weapons and armor in the arsenal are complex, if we want to unify the equipment, we also need to restructure all kinds of weapons and armor, and our craftsmen are not very good at casting weapons and armor, but the ability to repair and transform them is still there. In addition, the money and food we save after cutting out soldiers can be used to increase the salaries of elite soldiers. ”

"My lord, forty such carefully selected elite soldiers with sophisticated weapons and armor are enough to deal with a hundred and ten peasant soldiers and bandits after more than half a year of rigorous training. If there is another group of officers who are new to tactical tactics in command, I don't think anyone in Tignats will dare to provoke us easily. ”

"In addition, I have another idea, if you really plan to train elite soldiers, in order to continue to expand the army when the time is ripe in the future, we can consider the training of the territory to recruit peasant soldiers. At present, in addition to the legionnaires, we have three militia armies, which are the border patrol team that will be formed separately, the valley fort team, and the border post guards. In the future, we need to strengthen the strength of the guard at the outpost, but the full-time patrol team can be streamlined, and a small sentry post can be set up in the place of the boulder pile to keep two or three disabled soldiers who have withdrawn from the regiment and a few fast horses. As for the Fort Guard, I think we can seriously consider it, the Fort Guard's original intention is to maintain order in the territory on weekdays and as a defensive force in the territory after the army leaves, but in the future, we can appropriately increase the responsibilities of the Fort Guard, and let the Fort Guard be responsible for the training of the young and strong Fort Citizens in the territory, and these basic training Fort Citizens can be assembled and trained in a short period of time as a source of troops to supplement the battle losses of the Legion......"

After all, he was a sergeant major who had been infected by the Holy Order, and Angus had a depth of understanding of the army that Otto could not match, and many of the things that Angus proposed did not even take into account by Art.

"Sergeant Major, Odo, it's my greatest luck to have a wise warrior like you as my right-hand man. I agree with both of your views very much, and I will sort out your views in a moment, and I will think about it myself, and you will go down today to discuss more with the officers and soldiers, and you will put forward your views for discussion tomorrow when I hold a meeting. In addition, after you go down, bring up those who have performed well among the officers and soldiers to show me, and we need more backbone soldiers and officers for the subsequent expansion of the army. ”

"Go down, and get Cooper and Salter here in a moment." Art got up and took a sip of the wine glass on the table.

Otto and Angus got dressed and walked out of the hut, and in a moment Cooper and Salter entered the hut......