As the weather warmed, a hundred flowers bloomed by the stream in front of the Valley Wood Fort, and the valley was full of life.
Except for the Scott family, who had a wooden house in the fort, all the farmers had moved to the Valley Land. The farmers had already built four or five large and small sheds on the gentle slope of the Valley Land, and a simple fence of thorns and miscellaneous tree branches surrounded the gentle slope to prevent wild beasts from attacking.
The Wood Fort had become the exclusive garrison of the Patrol Team. Soldiers returning from Andermatt and newly recruited laborers and miners from Lucerne were now stationed here. The Patrol Team Soldiers who had returned earlier, led by Odo and Baskazak, had begun training after a few days of rest. The fifteen prisoners of war were concentrated and held by Odo in a small shed temporarily built of miscellaneous wood and dead branches next to the Wood Fort, guarded in shifts by Soldiers of the Patrol Team.
In the battle to retake Ars堡 a month ago, three Soldiers died, and one Soldier with facial injuries could not be treated due to festering wounds. The injury spread to his left eye, and although he ultimately survived tenaciously, his left eye was completely blind.
Currently, besides Art, the Patrol Team still has sixteen people who can continue to fight: four officers and twelve Soldiers.
On the third day after the northbound Lucerne team returned to the Valley Wood Fort, just as the sun rose, Officer Ron, who was feeding, brushing, and trimming the hooves of several horses in the Wood Fort's stable, heard Art's call. He hastily dumped all the black beans and wheat bran from the cloth bag into the long trough, loudly answering as he ran towards Art's wooden house.
“Officer Ron, Old Butler and your father took the new farmers to the Valley Land yesterday. They originally said they wouldn't be back today, but I plan to go out tomorrow to recruit vagrants and Soldiers for Baron Antayas, so I need to arrange some things today. You go to the Valley Land in a little while and call Old Butler and the other two back to the Wood Fort for a meeting. Oh, and call Simon back too, just say I have other arrangements.”
Officer Ron took the order and came out of Art's wooden house. He took down a saddle from the stable, passed through the small courtyard, went through the wooden door, and ran into the Wood Fort's kitchen. He said to his mother, who was cooking breakfast for Art alone: “Mother, Master is already awake. Please send the food over in a moment.” He then prepared to leave.
Officer Ron’s mother walked around the stove and pulled him back, saying, “Officer Ron, Master’s meal is ready. You should also hurry home and eat. Camille is waiting for you, and I saved you a delicious honey bread.”
When Officer Ron returned from Lucerne, he brought his family some spices, salt, and several fermented honey-spread large breads, which Emma was very reluctant to eat.
“Mother, those breads are for you all to eat. Don’t save any for me; I already ate. Master ordered me to hurry to the Valley Land to call Old Butler and Father back to the Wood Fort for a meeting. I must leave immediately.” Officer Ron walked towards the newly built livestock shed, carrying the saddle.
Emma turned and picked up a piece of rye bread from the stove, broke off a piece, walked to the front of the livestock shed, and put it into Officer Ron’s arms, “If Master has given orders, then go quickly. Take the bread and eat it on the way.”
Officer Ron took the bread, put it in his arms, led out a blue mule, saddled it, mounted its back, and galloped out of the Wood Fort's main gate.
On a large open space less than half a mile south of the Wood Fort, along the stream, Odo was conducting basic training for the laborers and miners newly recruited from Lucerne. The newly recruited prospective recruits were experiencing such training for the first time. They had not yet adapted to commands like forming ranks and advancing, and their reactions to Odo's orders were slow, and their formations were always crooked. Odo was not in a hurry; compared to those farmers, these miners and laborer brothers were already doing well in following commands.
Odo stopped the new recruits in front of him and turned to shout at Kazak, who was training the veterans on the other side of the open space: “Kazak, bring your squad over and demonstrate for them.”
Kazak heard the order and called a halt to the Soldiers who were practicing combat charges with long wooden sticks. Several Soldiers stopped sparring and followed Kazak to stand in front of the new recruits.
“Shield and Spear Line Formation, prepare!” Kazak led several Soldiers to stand in a neat line.
“Defensive Formation!”
“Roar!” Following Kazak’s command, several Soldiers roared, raised their shields to chest height, held their long sticks level, looked straight ahead, bent their left legs, pushed back half a step with their right legs, and leaned slightly forward.
The twelve new recruits had just arrived in the valley and had never seen Patrol Team Soldiers train before. These Soldiers in front of them were different from ordinary sergeants and guards. They felt both shocked and curious. They had seen lords train Soldiers, but they had never seen an army that drilled Soldiers every day. In their understanding, Soldiers who could train two or three days a week were already elite.
The “Advance” command continued to sound.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!” The Soldiers maintained their shield-raising and stick-holding posture, roared three times, and took three steps towards the new recruits.
One new recruit was somewhat startled by these sudden roars and retreated a few steps.
“Coward! If you dare to retreat one more step, I’ll break your leg.” Odo angrily kicked the retreating miner to the ground.
On the other side of the open space, Baskazak’s squad also stopped training and sat on the ground, watching the demonstration training there.
Tuba, the Combat Squad Leader of the First Squad, Second Combat Group, stared at them for a while, then turned and slapped a Soldier next to him on the head: “It’s all your fault, you idiot! If it weren’t for the short guy being gone and us losing a team member, I wouldn’t have let you join my combat group even if it killed me.”
After returning from Ars堡, Jason, who had recovered from his injuries, was temporarily assigned to Tuba’s combat group for training. However, due to the addition of this idiotic Soldier, the Second Combat Group, which had always been outstanding, suddenly became a laggard.
Jason rubbed his head and said with a wry smile, “Brother Tuba, I don’t know what’s going on, but as soon as I enter a battle formation, I don’t know how to lift my feet and take steps.”
Colin on the side also cursed angrily, “Jason, I’ll just kill you. Tell me, how many times have Officer Odo cursed us since you joined the First Squad these past few days? Your archery and riding are pretty good, but why can’t you practice battle formations well? Now that Officer Ron is back, you should go back and be with Officer Ron.”
“I wish I could go back! They said they’d train me as an archer, but I ended up back with you guys~” Jason mumbled, turning his head to look at Odo, who was demonstrating the shield and spear formation to the new recruits.
...
Back at the Wood Fort, Art was instructing Emma, who had brought food, about the evening banquet.
“After you finish preparing the soldiers’ breakfast, go prepare dinner. If you’re too busy, call Old Carpenter Bard’s wife to help. Also, although the new people won’t participate in the dinner tonight, their dinner should include an extra portion of smoked meat stew.”
“Yes, Master, I’ll go prepare it now.” With that, Emma closed the door and left.
Art quickly drank the meat soup with bread crumbs in the wooden bowl on the table, stood up, took down the leather armor and knight’s sword hanging on the wall, put them on, pulled open the wooden door, exited the small courtyard, and walked towards the main gate of the Wood Fort. Camille and Bard’s little granddaughter, who were playing in the Wood Fort, saw Art come out and quickly curtsied, calling him Master.
Art walked to a twenty-foot-square room next to the Wood Fort’s main house. This had become the fort’s woodworking workshop, where Old Carpenter Bard continuously made shields, long sticks, and short spears for Art. Ever since Art contracted Bard’s family for food and lodging and paid them wages on time every week, Old Carpenter Bard’s enthusiasm grew. Besides being responsible for making and repairing shields and spear shafts for Art, he also undertook some house construction and the making and repairing of wooden tools.
Seeing Master Art appear at the door, Bard quickly went to greet him, “Good morning, Master.”
“Good morning, Bard.”
Art picked up a newly made spear shaft from the woodworking table and said to Bard, “Old Butler told me what you’ve done for the Wood Fort recently. You’ve worked hard.”
Bard, full of deference, replied, “It is Master who brought our whole family back here from outside, provided us with food and lodging, and even gave me wages. God does not feed the lazy, so these are all things I should do.”
Bard then pointed to a large pile of unfinished wood for making wooden shields in the corner of the wooden house, “Master, your Soldiers are increasing, and I’m too busy alone. It would be great if you could send me a helper, even an apprentice would do. At least they could help me with some rough work. I’m old, and chopping and cutting work needs a helping hand~”
Art agreed to Old Carpenter Bard’s request and promised to arrange a helper for him as soon as possible.
Art simply strolled around the Wood Fort, inspecting the granary, the livestock shed, and the surrounding fences, then exited the main gate and walked towards the training ground outside the fort.
“Everyone, assemble!” Seeing Art arrive at the training ground, Odo loudly ordered the Soldiers to stop training and assemble into two lines, veterans in front and new recruits behind.
Art came to Odo and the others standing at the head of the line and said, “Odo, I won’t concern myself with the new recruit training for now. In a bit, you take the veterans and train the Shield and Spear Line Formation. In Ars堡, we have already seen the power of a tight Shield and Spear Line Formation, but this is still far from enough. The Soldiers still lack coordination, and the shield formation is not as sturdy as we imagined when facing an enemy concentrating on one spot to break the formation. Additionally, individual combat skills must be trained vigorously. You few remember, don’t worry about getting injured during training; sweating and bleeding now is to save your life in battle.”
Odo nodded in agreement.
Art suddenly remembered something else and said, “Oh, yes, during the gate-storming battle in Ars堡 last time, I saw Baskazak use the flail (iron chain) very fiercely. Moreover, flails are not as rare as armed swords, but their power is in no way inferior to broadswords or knight’s swords, especially when dealing with enemy shields and armor, where they can unleash powerful combat strength. Now we have captured quite a few flails. You should add flail training to the soldiers’ individual combat skill training. I think Baskazak uses the flail very well; let him be the flail training officer~”
“Yes, Master! I will arrange it.”
“Alright, Odo, take the new recruits to train over there.”
“The rest of you, listen to orders.”
“Shield and Spear Line Formation, form up!”
“Roar!”
“Defend!”
“Roar!”
...
Roars from Art, Baskazak, and others echoed through the training ground. The new recruits, training separately nearby, watched the veterans howling amidst their sticks, and their steps became even more chaotic.
After more than two hours of training, until everyone's clothes were soaked with sweat, Art finally ordered the Soldiers to stop training and return to the Wood Fort for breakfast.
On the way back to the Wood Fort, Art explained to Odo and the others, who were walking beside him, the important points for training Soldiers: “The individual combat skills training for Soldiers should summarize the most practical ones from the two battles we’ve experienced. Our Soldiers are not knight lords who have received sword training since childhood; they are more concerned with how to quickly kill enemies while protecting themselves. The most important thing is to master the basic movements of blocking, chopping, and thrusting. Additionally, you can use the moves you used when brawling with guild thugs. It might look ugly, but in battle, the enemy won’t spare your life because your moves look good. Furthermore, for Soldiers who are truly not suited for sword training, focus on training with heavy weapons like broad axes and heavy hammers. Last time in Ars堡, if we had a few more Soldiers with heavy hammers to deal with the bandit leader, one hammer strike each, and even the thickest chainmail wouldn’t save their lives.”
“Soldiers’ arm strength and stamina must continue to be strengthened. They must lift stones and heavy wood three hundred times every morning, noon, and evening, and have a long-distance run once every three days. Those who run in front eat meat, and those who fall behind eat shit.”
“As for horsemanship, Commanders above squad leaders must learn it, and Soldiers with the talent for it must also learn. Others only need to be able to sit steadily on a horse’s back.”
“And then there’s military discipline.” Art stopped, turned, and stared at Odo, “There have been quite a few Soldiers fighting and causing trouble recently, haven’t there? Also, I heard that some Soldiers broke into the kitchen last night and stole bread?”
“Master, that’s the thing~”
Odo was about to explain, but Art interrupted him, “You don’t need to explain to me. You are responsible for enforcing military discipline. Find that person. This time, I won’t punish him severely; just starve him for a day. But you must quickly think about how to restrain the soldiers’ discipline. We have more and more people now, and if there’s no military discipline to restrain us, we will become a mess.”
Odo nodded in shame and agreed…