The population of the Haaland territory is small, and at the current rate of development, it is enough to mine more than 100,000 tons of coal next year. However, with the heavy use of steam engines, the consumption of coal will also increase significantly.

If the amount of coal mining increases, the coal chemical industry can be developed.

Richard had been establishing the Institute of Chemical Engineering for many years, but there had been no rapid progress in this field.

Under Richard's guidance, the Chemical Research Institute has begun to study coal tar, and with the help of a microscope, they have made some discoveries.

If you want to extract various substances from coal tar, you have to do many experiments, and there are no shortcuts.

After observing for more than half an hour, the steam minecart started twice and had already transported the coal accumulated in the mine to the outside.

Listening to the roar of the steam engine, Richard left the mine and returned to his office. He randomly searched Chavison's office and found the miners' payroll.

Richard looked through it and found that the miners' wages had increased rapidly, and their monthly wages had increased to eight silver coins, catching up with ordinary soldiers.

Work in the coal mine is quite dangerous, and there have been many accidents in recent years, killing and injuring dozens of people.

The coal mine is now doing well, and it can turn over a lot of profits every year, so the treatment of the coal mining unit has improved rapidly, and Richard knows in his heart that this is human nature.

Richard put down his payroll and said to Chavison, "There's a miner's file in the mine, right?" Go and get the miner's file, I want to take a look. ”

"Two years ago, the coal mine was assigned a few literate people, and under their work, the file registration work has been completed."

When the Haaland Territory was first established, a household registration file system was established. In the first year, Richard and Wendy were personally involved in the construction of the household registration and archives department.

At that time, there were not many literate people in Haaland's territory, and in order to leave a file for everyone, Richard often wrote files late at night, a dozen copies every day.

Early files were very simple, usually recording names, genders, ages, household registrations, professional skills, etc., and in the lower left corner of the files, a red handprint was pressed.

With the establishment of the riverbank primary school, the education work has continued to develop, and now there are a large number of literate people in the Haaland territory, and the household registration and file system has been effectively implemented.

The file is also becoming more and more complex, adding education, work experience, height and weight, physical health, marital status, immediate family members, etc. In addition, the honors obtained, the crimes committed, will be recorded in the file.

In today's Haaland, archives and household registration are very important to a free person, and they are related to a person's future life.

Richard opened the files of the miners, began to look through them at a glance, and found that their level of education was extremely bad, and there were few knowledgeable people.

The only five or six primary school graduates who were also assigned to the coal mine a few years ago are basically in the logistics and archives departments.

Among the front-line workers, the illiteracy rate is more than 99 percent, and it is estimated that only a few team leaders and managers can read documents.

After reading the file, Richard said with a heavy heart: "The illiteracy rate is too high. ”

"We also want to recruit literate front-line workers, but the working conditions in the mines are too bad. Those who have knowledge can basically find an easy job, they can pay their tuition, and their family conditions are very good, even if they are assigned to the coal mine, they are reluctant to go down the mine. The people who went down the mines were poor people who had just become freedmen, for a good salary, in order to become government workers. They are not very afraid of death, because we give a pension. ”

"You have to improve the conditions and directly give the status of basic officials, you are a deputy county-level department, you have a high degree of autonomy, and your position is promoted quickly, which is attractive to some young talents who are interested in a career. Coal mines should recruit some new workers with knowledge, and focus on training them in the future, so as to train these people into skilled workers. The improvement of mining technology cannot only rely on experience, but also rely on knowledge and scientific calculations.

Although production is important, production safety must also be paid attention to. Next year I'll be given a steam minecart and you'll be more efficient. Your main task is to focus on production safety and reduce the occurrence of accidents. If something goes wrong, I'll hold you responsible. ”

After inspecting the coal mines, Richard returned to the barracks.

From last autumn to this year, Haaland has led an increase of 9,000 soldiers, and the number of troops has almost doubled, while the average quality of soldiers has dropped severely.

In a year and a half, the 5,000 captive soldiers recruited last year have completed literacy, changed their equipment, and started to practice breathing, and two soldiers with good qualifications have been promoted to medium-level soldier apprentices, who have been trained by the army and promoted to departments directly under the headquarters.

People with good talent and qualifications, as long as they invest resources in training, and they work hard, can basically be promoted to high-level warriors and play a great role on the battlefield.

After all, Haaland is not an old aristocrat, there are not many people available, as long as there is talent, it is easy to be valued by the high-level.

For those with outstanding talents, the upward channel is very smooth.

These soldiers have been fully integrated into the Haaland territory because their relatives have moved over.

Although the combat effectiveness of the captive soldiers is not as good as that of the veterans of Haaland's territory, after all, they have many years of war experience and are considered qualified soldiers in terms of thinking and skills. After practicing the breathing method and replacing the sophisticated weapons and armor, their combat effectiveness far exceeded that of before, and they were all good soldiers when put into the main legion.

Four thousand recruits have completed their training and will soon be assigned to various units.

The training period for recruits in Haaland's territory is one year, and when they first joined the army, the amount of training was not very large, and the training tasks were not heavy. In the morning, they will conduct training in the queue, in the afternoon they will carry out literacy activities, and after dinner, they will memorize military regulations, become familiar with the snare drum and horn, learn to obey orders, and begin to cultivate military style.

After three months, the literacy work was over, and the breathing method began in the morning, various military skills in the afternoon, and queues and physical fitness every few days.

The year-long training period is very strictly managed, and there are only two days a month when you can leave the camp to receive family visits.

After completing the recruit training, the soldier has been reborn and has the style of a soldier. But without actual combat experience and without fighting a few brutal wars in the sea of corpses and blood, recruits will not be able to complete their transformation and will never become veterans.

The influx of a large number of new recruits into the army will inevitably go through a period of running-in, which will also make the commanders of various units a little uncomfortable. In order to avoid affecting the combat effectiveness of the old troops, most of the 4,000 recruits were divided into the seventh, eighth, ninth, and fourteenth infantry brigades, and each new brigade needed to receive 600 recruits and 600 converted prisoners.

The proportion of recruits in these four brigades is more than 40 percent, the proportion of prisoners converted is more than 40 percent, and the old base of Haaland's territory is only 20%.

The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th brigades were also to receive 300 recruits and 400 converted prisoners. More than half of these four veteran units have veterans, because the number has increased a lot, and their combat effectiveness has improved compared with before the reorganization.

The second brigade received 200 recruits and 300 prisoners, and the old ones were basically not mobilized. This reorganization also added more than sixty pieces of enchanted armor made of ogre skin, strengthening a backbone squadron. In recent times, Captain Loster has always had a smile on his face and walked with the wind.

The first brigade is the core of the infantry in Haaland's territory, not only did it not lose blood, but instead transferred 500 veterans from other infantry, and its combat effectiveness has been greatly improved.

The remaining recruits, converted prisoners, were mainly divided into guard brigades, second-line units, and so on.

Special units in Harland's territory, such as the Magic Hot Air Balloon Unit, the Lion Cavalry, the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade, and the Scout Cavalry Brigade, will not select recruits from among the recruits. If there is a shortage in these troops, they will be transferred to key veterans.

When Richard arrived at the barracks, the recruits were to have their final parade three days later, followed by a farewell ceremony, and finally to be divided into different armies.

In recent days, the boot camp is about to be disbanded, and the boot camp has a daily dinner.

The officers of the boot camp spent a year with the soldiers, and many of them developed a deep affection.

Seeing that they are about to separate, in this era of frequent wars, once they are separated, they may not see each other for the rest of their lives.

The recruits were about to leave the army, and many officers paid out of their own pockets to invite the soldiers to eat and drink, and the discipline of the recruit camp was not tight during this time.

Richard also participated in a recruit dinner, but with him present, the soldiers behaved more reservedly, and the atmosphere was solemn and solemn.

Seeing that he had influenced the farewell of the officers and soldiers, Richard did not continue to participate, but found Frank, who was in charge of the training of recruits.

Frank has been in the Harland Territory for ten years, and when he first entered the Harland Territory, he was already a third-order professional. At that time, the strength of Haaland's territory was not strong, and third-order professionals were still relatively rare. Ten years ago, Frank was the officer Richard relied on.

Among the officers in Haaland's domain, Frank is already very senior.

Frank is from the Grizzly Legion and has practiced the Giant Bear Breathing Method. Because he was stuck in the advanced exercises, he has not been promoted for more than ten years.

As time passed, Frank's position in Haaland's leadership became lower and lower, and he had not been transferred for eight years.

"Recently, the army has been expanding, have you ever thought about going down and leading the troops?"

Richard and Frank were both in Fort William, and Richard often came to the boot camp, and the two often met and had a deep relationship.

"I've thought about this question, my professional level is only the third order, I can't serve the public as a captain, and I'm too old to be a squadron leader. It's better to stay in the bootcamp and contribute something to the territory. ”

"The captain can't do it, you can be the deputy captain. Do you just want to be the chief officer, not the adjutant? ”

Frank shook his head and said: "I have been a deputy squadron leader in the Grizzly Bear Army for three years, of course I am willing to be an adjutant, but I have been in the boot camp all these years, and I have feelings for this place and I don't want to leave." ”

Frank has a good talent, but unfortunately his background is too low. He did not have a family breathing method, and after joining the army, he was controlled by others. After escaping from the Orc Empire, he served in the Harland Domain. If he is an ambitious person, for the sake of his own future, he will immediately leave the Haaland leadership and enter the Grizzlies to develop.

Frank is not very ambitious, and it seems that he does not want to go down and lead the troops desperately. Since Frank was reluctant to go down and lead the troops, Richard was not strong.

Haaland's territory now has a lot of elite soldiers, more than dozens of third-order soldiers, and some of Richard's subordinates are energetic and capable, and they want to get ahead and make achievements.

Richard spent three days in the army, and in the blink of an eye it was time for the recruits to drill.

"The Sixth Squadron has come forward!"

As soon as the commander gave the order, the 120 soldiers of the 6th Squadron quickly changed from a horizontal column to a column and quickly rushed to the front of the queue.

During the year-long queue training, the soldiers formed a very strict queue, and their distance was about half a meter, and there was no chaos in the operation. Just looking at the queue, I feel like a crack soldier.

"After the first squadron was broken, the column turned into a horizontal formation, accelerated the march of a hundred meters, shot arrows in formation, six rounds of rapid fire, and prepared to start!"

Following the order of the officer who would be drilled, the 1st Squadron quickly turned the marching column into a horizontal formation, and then turned back and began a rapid march. At a position of about a hundred meters, the queue was straightened up and six rounds of feathered arrows began to be fired.

The quality of the first squadron of recruits is good, even in the accelerated march, the queue is not very chaotic. After arriving at the predetermined location, the time for the whole team is also very short.

Richard looked at the hit rate and found that more than half of the shots had been hit from 60 meters away.

The bows and arrows used by the recruits were about eight buckets, which was considered a soft bow compared to the main army.

There are a lot of cattle in the main force, the strength is very large, and the quasi-head is also very accurate, and after more than ten years of accumulation, there are more than 100 people who have reached the third level of archery.

A considerable number of these soldiers who have reached the third level of archery are already professionals and have become junior officers, and they use all three-stone enchanted bows.

The strength of professionals is far superior to ordinary people, coupled with the destructive power attached to the fighting spirit, the lethality is very strong, and the destructiveness is very amazing. Even if it is the backbone of the orcs, the snake body, if it is targeted by a third-order shooter, it will lose its life.

For example, the enchanted bow and arrow used by Richard's uncle Soros, if the bowstring is full, has a power of nearly 1,000 kilograms, more than 16 stones. Of the more than 20,000 officers and soldiers in Haaland's territory, no more than ten can fill the bowstring. When this kind of enchanted bow is used, even if it does not attach fighting energy and does not use enchanted crossbow arrows, the destructiveness is equivalent to that of a bed crossbow. Occupations below the intermediate level, as long as they are shot at the vital point, it is impossible to survive.

Although the combat effectiveness of the new recruits is far inferior to that of veterans and grassroots officers, the quality of the drills displayed by them is already relatively strong, and they can be regarded as qualified soldiers. Relying on these 4,000 recruits, Richard was sure to defeat 100,000 serfs.

Recruits can sometimes play a key role on the battlefield, and the key is to see how the commander uses them.

Especially in defensive warfare, recruits can also rely on fortifications and equip equipment to kill professionals, and a recruit can also kill professionals by using bows and arrows and throwing alchemical bombs. The quality of soldiers, tactics, equipment, psychological state, geographical conditions and even climatic conditions are all part of the decision to win or lose a war.

(End of chapter)