85_85536 Yes, after negotiating a big deal with merchant John. At the same time, after directing Father Peter and arranging the farming affairs, the only major problem facing William now is the military aspect.

In fact, because capital, manpower, and resources are all insufficient, William has no way to implement the problem of "industry", which cannot be bypassed in modern times.

Of course, this is not to say that William did not have plans to develop industry. In fact, since he first came into this world, William has been thinking about this question. As for the development of primary industry, the establishment of a complete set of industrial systems, the development of science and technology, the revitalization of education, and so on, William also has a preliminary outline, and a general plan.

However, there must be a premise for this plan to be implemented. That is, William has a territory that is enough to support his ambitions. That is, he could not do it until his new army had been trained, and then he had conquered and annexed the three neighboring counties, and had integrated Hereford and Circassian into a single unit.

By that time, William, who had five counties in his hands, was no longer much different from an ordinary duke.

In fact, at that point, William only had to operate a little more, donating a sum of money to the local church, and asking the bishops to open their eyes and talk nonsense, saying that he was in accordance with the heavens and the will of God. At the same time, buy the hearts of the people, ask the local gentry and small nobles to persuade them, then William can naturally ...... for himself Or the crowning of his own father, Baron Otto, with a duke's crown.

Of course, these things are now just William's plan. Something on paper.

Under William's manipulation, the question of the status of the county of Baudelaire, near Circassia, has surfaced. In addition to Charumi, the other two other counts in the neighborhood, Vitra and Sandomiz, also seemed to covet the territory.

However, although it is said that as neighboring aristocratic families, the two counts are also related by marriage to the Count of Baudelaire. But the succession order is not very high. Therefore, it is not as if it was Charlumie, who had once held the territory and was the direct heir to the Hereford family, who openly declared that he would inherit the county of Baudelaire.

They chose a number of more roundabout ways to achieve their goals. That is, choosing to support a puppet.

Although the direct heirs of the Baudelaire family are dead. But with the same surname, there are still some close relatives of the same ethnicity. Sandomitz and Vitra's two counts each found a close relative of the Count Baudelaire. Meddling in Baudelaire's affairs under their banner.

However, so far, the three counts have only been engaged in a war of words. All three parties are asserting their claims. But the smell of gunpowder is not too strong. Of course, William believes that this is not an indication that his two rivals are pacifists.

This is mainly due to the wrong timing. It's spring ploughing period. And after a winter of attrition. Temperate regions around the world are in a period of lushness.

They need to wait until the summer grain is harvested and replenished before they can attack.

Attack at the same time during this time period. If you win and then enter the siege phase, then you can be fed to the enemy. That is, to harvest the grain in the enemy's territory to supplement oneself as military rations. In this way, you can save a lot of money and food.

That is, no matter how things turn out in the end, what the outcome is. They are all likely to attack after the summer grain harvest, in June or July. After that, the fighting was ended in a period of one to two months, so as not to affect the sowing of autumn grain.

And if the fighting is not over all at once, then in September-October, when the autumn grain is harvested, they will launch another wave of attacks.

Generally speaking, in the Middle Ages, small wars between agrarian civilizations took place in temperate regions, and this was the pattern. It's just that in this era, the cycle of war has also changed to a certain extent.

With the gradual popularity of standing armies, as well as the popularity of mercenary corps. Wealthy, wealthy, and determined lords can wage war after war, regardless of time or length......

Of course, that level of war is not something that William can touch for the time being, and he doesn't have to think about it so much. There was only one thing he had to do at the moment. That is, under the friendly patronage of John the Merchant, he trained his own 2,000 new troops. Then sweep a qiē obstacle as fast as you can.

In William's plan, his new army would consist of three private battalions of five hundred men, a company of grenadiers of two hundred men, and an artillery company of one hundred men with seven guns, two hussar companies reorganized from the Private Guards, and a company of two hundred baggage troops.

For now, of course, William's 2,000 new troops remain only on paper. All he had now was the amount of food, supplies, and weapons and ammunition promised by John the Merchant. There were also about 4,000 defected serfs and outcasts who were despondent, malnourished, glazed-eyed, and had little loyalty.

Yes, yes, in recent times, under the operation of William, the Circassian county began to attract outcasts. Under the influence of "food". Mazovia, which had just experienced a turmoil and had not yet recovered, naturally had many displaced people fleeing here. William chose the best of them...... Or the more sturdy ones, leaving some of the ...... Of course, in fact, as an outcast, or a rogue. can survive such a cold, and hungry winter. This in itself is already a kind of selection.

Nature's picks.

Very fair. And there is absolutely no possibility of adulteration. William believes that all of those who survived this winter are, and absolutely the best soldiers......

It's just a pity that William can't recruit them all. In fact, with the strength of the Circassian county, maintaining a force of two thousand men is already the limit. In fact, if it weren't for the help of the merchant John, William would not have been able to raise even a force of two thousand men.

Only now, the soldiers already have it, but the officers don't...... A new army of 2,000 people in total, it is impossible for William to train them alone, just like he had trained reserve soldiers before. That's simply not possible.

Luckily, William currently has two helpers, one is Charlumie, and the other is his squire John.

Compared with Xia Lumi, who has a more out-of-the-box personality, although the squire John is a little worse in IQ, his attitude towards learning is very serious. Moreover, because William positioned his attendant John above the military commander from the beginning.

And considering his own ability, cultural level, and his current urgent need for manpower. So it didn't seem like asking Shalumi to finish his high school studies in the world. Rather, it is cultivated in the simplest and most practical, and very outdated aspect of the basic officers of the infantry.

Training platoons, salvos, bayonets, morale-boosting, but also against the opposing enemy, against traditional infantry, against traditional cavalry, against modern infantry, against modern cavalry, against artillery...... And so on and so forth.

There are also formations, specific tactics, terrain, the impact on the army, as well as logistics and supply, and the application of various weapons.

In addition to this, the establishment of defensive lines, the construction of fortifications, the attack of fortresses, the defense, the coordination between infantry and cavalry, infantry and artillery, cavalry and artillery, etc......

This knowledge is the information that William saw in the library when he was a military cadet in his previous life, including the modern military practices of France, Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia during the modern Napoleonic Wars.

It is then compiled by the secondary processing of spiritual reading. There are three parts: infantry drills, artillery drills and cavalry drills. The three drill codes are divided into three parts: elementary, intermediate, and advanced.

At present, John Jr. is learning the basic infantry drills. It is also about the most basic infantry training, including platoons, musket volleys, bayonet charges, and a set of bayonet techniques, as well as a few simple tactics and applications. With John Jr.'s abilities, and the level of the enemies William was currently facing, it would be enough for him to learn these things.

What makes William more relieved is that little John is not bad at self-study. The battalion that William is currently training for him to take charge of also looks good. The only fly in the ointment is that there are no muskets, nor bayonets. John Jr. was only able to perform basic queue exercises. Learning from William's previous training of reservists, relying on leather whips and sticks and scolding, John Jr. is enjoying his hard-won career as an officer.

What dissatisfied William was the other "officers" or "reserve officers" under his command. These people all gave him a terrible headache...... Or William once wondered if these stupid people had made him stupid in the previous training...... But when I think about it, I can't think of it. Because if that's the case, then why are those who are selected from the private guards so bad?

Yes, at present, a total of fifty people are trained in William's short-term officer training course, which consists of two components. Some of this came from the reservists he had previously trained, and most of them were grenadiers. The other part was a voluntary selection of people from the private guards, that is, the cavalry of Shalumi.

Originally, in William's plan, after two months of assault training for junior officers, these guys could, or rather, should come in handy. But now it seems that William's estimate is a little too optimistic.......