Before we begin training, we may need to give a brief account of the current military situation in the county of Desmond. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The soldiers of the county need to be divided into two classes.

The first class were, of course, knights, servants of knights, and some trained off-duty soldiers. There were about 600 of these soldiers, and they generally belonged to the upper class, and some even belonged to the aristocratic class, and they were well fed, warmly dressed, and every day was training, training, and training. But these soldiers can only be used as the most elite troops at best, and they are not the main force of the war.

The main force of the war was the poor, hungry and cold conscripts, who had never had enough to eat, and although they did not even have a decent garment, this did not allow them to escape the fate of dying in battle.

"A farmer has five sons

A son, died young

The family was devastated

A son, devoured by hunger

A son, bent over the storm

A son, who died in the spear

The last son is deeply favored by the Lord

Overcome all kinds of tribulations

Happiness and fulfillment in the end"

—"Fate", an excerpt from traditional English poetry

When war came, the knights, their minions, and the out-of-duty soldiers, of course, were the absolute elite and could determine the direction of the battlefield, but more, more conscripted peasants could effectively drain the enemy's strength before the elite troops engaged in battle—in the manner of the dead.

In the eyes of the rulers of the Middle Ages, the role of the conscription of peasant soldiers was only that, since these conscripted peasant soldiers had not received special training, then do not expect these peasants who were more skilled with farm tools than with weapons to be able to charge fearlessly on the battlefield, most of the formations in the Middle Ages were infantry phalanxes, in which people were crowded from person to person, even if these conscripted peasant soldiers had fear in their hearts, even if they were already two wars, they could not take a step back.

But despite the length of time this article has devoted itself to the conscription of peasant soldiers, it is not the focus of this chapter, at least not yet.

The focus of this chapter is on the three hundred soldiers who were out of service, either professional soldiers or standing soldiers.

The reason why these off-duty soldiers were chosen instead of conscripting peasant soldiers is that these off-duty soldiers already have a certain foundation, they know how to put up a formation, they know the importance of unity, and they also know what it means to be ...... Discipline.

The last point is the most important, because Count Don does not have much time, half a month is not enough time for him to train a group of peasants who don't know anything into qualified soldiers, so he can only choose these off-duty soldiers, so he also has to endure the bad habits developed by these guys who have been lacking discipline for a long time. But Count Don Jr. has the confidence and ability to change them.

By whips and sticks.

"Stand up straight! All eyes ahead! Don't move, don't speak! ”

It's the first day, Count Don's training subject, standing in a military posture. One of the most basic skills of a soldier in the future.

"Raise your head, raise your chest, tuck your abdomen, lift your hips, put your hands together, your arms hang down naturally, your legs together, and your feet apart in a figure-of-eight!"

After pulling a random soldier over to make a show, Count Don began to train the other party with his wooden stick. After saying a word, it is a stick that is neither light nor heavy, and then that part of the other party will achieve the goal expected by Count Tang in pain. In less than five seconds, a soldier who had only received a pitiful amount of training was trained by him to look like a proper soldier.

As for the injuries caused by wooden sticks, although rest assured, this is a wooden stick made of special cork, which will only have red marks and pain on the person's body, and will never knock a person to his stomach.

"Lord Earl, I, I-" Hearing Count Xiao Tang's question, the off-duty soldier immediately reflexively showed a pitiful and uneasy smile. At the same time, he subconsciously held his hands, and then lowered his waist.

And after seeing this action, Count Xiao Tang naturally felt uncomfortable: "-Call me sir!" Also, stay in a military posture and don't move! ”

So another stick was struck.

After this stick, the off-duty soldier immediately stood like a conditioned reflex and stood like the little Earl Tang had just crackled and beaten him.

"Well, that's good."

Count Xiao Tang nodded, and then yelled at the others: "Do you see this person?" See?! Stand up like him! ”

After not getting the answer you expected. Count Don again waved his wooden stick without hesitation and hit one of the off-duty soldiers closest to him: "Answer yes, sir. Then do as I say! ”

The beaten soldier shuddered. But he was stunned and didn't do what William said.

"I say, do as I say!"

"Ah, that, yes, Lord Count—"

"—call me sir!"

…… In this way, although the soldiers of Count Tang were not too enlightened, the training work was quickly carried out under the big stick education fueled by the seedlings. After a little confusion, the soldiers began to stand as Count Don had commanded.

After all, these off-duty soldiers, they are all trained, although the requirements of Count Xiao Tang are a bit strange, and the posture of standing is not very comfortable, but under the teaching of the big stick, these soldiers still quickly learned what is called obedience.

Therefore, the bad seed also has the advantage of the bad seed, and the bad seed will not rebel against the powerful, so as long as they build a murderous image in their minds, this cruel image can even force the bad seed to overcome the fear of death and make them overcome everything.

It's like the famous 18th-century saying, "Let the soldiers fear you more than death."

Then, more than two hours passed like this, during which many soldiers complained that they were tired, of course, Count Xiao Tang's answer was still to fight, or the soldiers wanted to steal and play tricks, then there was nothing else to say, and then fight, after this fight, the soldiers did not dare to scream or move. But after standing for two hours, no one has experienced this, consciously or unconsciously, there is still a deformation of movements, and there is no such thing as that, still fighting.

In this way, after two hours, each soldier had to be beaten at least two or three times, and there were more than a dozen beatings, which can be said to be miserable.

"Alright."

It was only when Count Tang saw that the sun was already overhead, and it was noon.

After Count Tang said this, the peasant soldiers screamed and began to move their arms and legs, and some of them were physically weak, and even sat on the ground and couldn't get up.

"The physical strength is good." Seeing this scene, Count Xiao Tang nodded secretly - these soldiers are all young and middle-aged laborers, and they eat much better than ordinary farmers, so these people are stronger. And, because they live in this era, they have become accustomed to power...... Or, they are more patient, tolerant of powerful characters, who demand from them in one way or another, reasonable or unreasonable.

Next, there is the afternoon, and in the afternoon, in addition to standing in military posture, it is the basic queue training. Walking in unison, as well as turning left, turning right, and so on.

Of course, this is much more difficult than standing in a military posture. But it's not hard to say, as long as the stick is in place, there are no really stupid people. According to Count Don Jr., this is to make them 'subconsciously remember for me.' ’

In this way, one day, two days, three days, four days, five days, in the screams of the soldiers, in the shouting and scolding of the Count of Little Tang, by the fifth day, these soldiers already had the appearance of a soldier, that is, in general conditions, without emergencies, it was enough for them to walk away in the queue to fool people.

But this is not enough, because this sudden situation will definitely appear, just like the army in Beiyang back then, when they walked in the queue, they walked flawlessly, and the guns were strict, and the foreign media all praised it as a first-class strong army. But after walking through the queue, during the actual combat review, this army was full of foreign appearances.

Count Don Jr. believed that even though Prince Tad did not know the term 'silver spear candle wax head', Prince Tad would definitely ask for a 'friendly match' with Count Don Jr.'s soldiers to see who was stronger. At that time, this group of soldiers who can only stand in line will probably have to show their stuff.

This is absolutely not allowed by Earl Tang, so there must be further training methods.

"After the recruits have an initial understanding of the importance of discipline, the next step is to make them understand to obey orders and let them give up the ability to think. Let them be like machines, like cogs, and they will move forward because of an officer's command. Do anything, even on the battlefield full of artillery fire, braving the rain of bullets and stepping on the drum. ”

- von Clauze, "On War"

In the 17th century, because of the lack of accuracy of the muskets, the privates marched in order, stepped on the drums, completely ignored the threat of death, ignored the sickle of death, and waited until they were only twenty paces away from the enemy before firing the first shot - the Duke of Wellington's lobster soldiers defeated Napoleon's proud Royal Guards of France.

The soldiers of the seventeenth century, they were not without fear, but because of intense, even brutal training, they sharpened these soldiers into machines, and machines had no fear and did not know how to retreat.

And now, Count Don Jr. intends to emulate this approach of modern European armies. Count Don Jr. believes that what the descendants of these Europeans in a few hundred years can do, there is no reason why the current Europeans can't do it, and if the current Europeans can't do it, it must be that the stick is not enough.

These guys need to carve the concept of obedience into their bones, form a conditioned reflex, and make them do what they command without hesitation after hearing their own voice - and the only way to do this is through intensive training.

Also, it's a slightly more difficult training.

Make the soldiers do things they don't think they could have done – push them beyond their limits, force them to do the impossible.

For example, have them jump from a three-meter-high platform with their backs to their blindfolded eyes, and then have the soldiers ready below catch him.

This training can not only exercise the courage of the soldiers, alleviate their fears, but also cultivate trust between soldiers and make them more team spirit.

Of course, more importantly, the height of three meters is not enough to fall to death, even if a soldier is negligent for a while and does not catch it, it is a pain, and he can continue training after resting for a while.

Of course, the education of the big stick does not always work.

Because these soldiers are still human beings, as long as they are human beings, then he will have a limit of acceptance, and if this limit is exceeded, these soldiers will either strike and disband, or simply revolt directly and overthrow the tyrannical lord of Count Xiao Tang. Therefore, when the stick is swinged, the carrots must be prepared.

For example, such things as meat, fame, and power, such things as honoring one's ancestors and leaving one's name in the annals of history, whether in the East or the West, have always been pursued by any ambitious person. This is especially true for these off-duty soldiers, because although the lives of these soldiers are better than most of the peasants, their status, they are the private soldiers of the Count of Little Tang, that is to say, they are still the serfs of the Count of Little Tang, that is to say, they are slaves.

The children of slaves will always be slaves.

And the slave, no matter how great the merit and talent of the slave is, he will always belong to the master, and if the master wants him to live, he will live, and if the master wants him to die, he can only die.

Therefore, for these soldiers, who have lived most of their lives as serfs, if one day, if there is an opportunity, it is possible to get rid of the status of serfs and become a free citizen, even if this opportunity is only one tenth, no, one percent of the like, this opportunity is also something that serfs can encounter but cannot seek.

And now, that opportunity is right in front of us.

The Earl promised that the ten best performers in this half-month, although they could not become freemen, their sons, if there were no sons, then daughters, could become freemen.

Therefore, for these soldiers, this is worth risking this cheap life to pursue.