I will be crowned king

On the outskirts of Beluga Port, the shooting army camp.

In New World Company’s external publicity reports and various financial analysis statements for investors and equity parties, this is an extremely magical place:

Curtain walls, traps, bunkers, artillery forts... countless defense facilities form an unbreakable curtain wall, surrounding a huge camp covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres. Dozens of high towers with flags hanging high and equipped with beacons and forts are as jagged as towering ancient trees. During this period, the entire area was monitored.

With a solid semi-permanent bastion as the center, countless straight roads and trenches several meters deep form a two-dimensional transportation system, connecting this maze-like area; campsites, arsenals, shooting ranges, racecourses, and headquarters. , Logistics Department, Teaching Room, Prison... Like huge ferocious beasts inhabiting and lurking, they are connected to each other by roads, trenches, queues of patrolling soldiers, and heavy four-wheeled carriages.

Officers from the civilized world wear neat and neat military uniforms, with a revolver in one hand and a hard leather whip in the other. According to the standard teaching materials formulated by the Storm Division - now the Legion - in the strictest and most humane way, they train and cultivate those who have just left the army. The indigenous people of the wild world.

And these glorious "shooting army soldiers" are equipped with equipment that is almost the same as the Clovis line infantry, only slightly inferior. They wear uniform uniforms, eat simple but preserved food, and live in a warm and comfortable collective. Inside the camp, undergo all-round transformation from the inside out, from the outside to the inside.

There are also shooting training, goose-stepping drills, belief transformation, and common sense teaching... Through a short-term four-week rapid training and three-month directional instruction, a shooting soldier with excellent professional quality who fights for the ring of order is born!

And this process is completely replicable. As long as a steady stream of "recruits" are sent to this factory-like camp, they can be quickly trained and trained using standardized templates, which is no more difficult than producing a pair of boots.

The biggest feature of the Shooting Army is...it's cheap.

It is very cheap, it can even be said that it is extremely cheap... Their training cost is a quarter of the Clovis Line privates and less than half of the colonial militia. The cost of maintaining a full infantry regiment of 600 people is even more. was only one-third of the colonial militia.

And unlike the militiamen who "volunteer to join the army", as long as the commission is sufficient, the soldiers of the Shooting Army work hard and are absolutely worth every penny. The employer will not let any copper coins be wasted, and you will definitely get what you pay for.

Super high cost performance + popular investment from all parties + Anson Bach's protection commitment = the emergence of a shooting army.

But if they calm down and think rationally, it is not difficult to find that there are countless contradictions in these propaganda and various financial statements.

For example, how can it be cheaper to train an indigenous people who has never received any common sense education to serve as a soldier than a militia? For example, even if the cost of three meals a day and clothing for soldiers can be reduced, weapons are still a huge expense that cannot be erased; for example, The cost of hiring professional officers even exceeds the cost of recruiting, acquiring and capturing indigenous people...

Including the "Shooting Army Headquarters" that is comparable to the southern fortress of Clovis in publicity, how much it will cost to build, and whether it can even be built in the lifetime of investors like them is a question.

Obviously, this group of laymen don't think so much at all. Most of them may never consider visiting this "legendary military camp" that they spent a lot of money to build in their lifetime.

To them, war is basically the same as the cold wind, ice and snow in winter, and the army is the fireplace for heating in winter - something that can be forgotten after use, or thrown away as a decoration.

Therefore, under the circumstances of bullying outsiders (all members of the Storm Division officer corps), collusion between insiders (President Reinhard Roland), and completely opaque reports (Secretary Alan Dawn), we successfully obtained the funds from investors. Anson Bach, who had made enough money from there, basically spent only a fraction of the time to build the frame of the shooting army.

A three-story brick building, a dozen long houses made of wooden planks and mud bricks, two warehouses repaired with canvas, a large open space surrounded by fences, and dozens or hundreds of scattered A tent... it was the legendary luxurious military camp.

A total of more than 8,000, nearly 10,000 recruited indigenous people, plus less than 200 officers responsible for training and managing them, lived in this "military camp" that was not much different from a farm.

"Actually, this is just a farm." Carl, biting a cigarette, shrugged:

"In the end, almost half of the 'Juntun Farm' plan you launched to deal with those farm owners in Beluga Port was abandoned due to various reasons; after a few of us put it together, we simply reused the waste and abandoned two The farms were merged into one and transformed into the current military camp of the shooting army."

"Renovation?"

Looking at the desolate "military camp" in front of him, which was not much better than a refugee camp, Anson couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth: "Are you sure it's not demolition?"

"Oh? You actually saw it!" Karl tilted his head and blew out a smoke ring unexpectedly:

"Yes, this is what was left after the demolition - there should have been a dozen slatted houses, a workshop for repairing weapons, two bread ovens, a kitchen and a large canteen, four toilets and supporting facilities The biogas digester...but it wasn’t even finished in the end, so I asked them to tear it down.”

"……Why?"

"Because I'm too busy at all, my brigadier general!"

The chief of staff complained angrily: "We have a total of nearly 10,000 indigenous soldiers, but only a hundred officers. On average, each person has to manage nearly a hundred indigenous people. This workload is already comparable to that of a prison chief - and then They also had to build a military camp that could accommodate tens of thousands of people."

"Build it yourself?" Anson looked at him doubtfully: "Why not let the soldiers of the shooting army do the work and the officers supervise the work?"

Facing his gaze, Karl was silent for a few seconds: "...Are you kidding me?"

"At least two-thirds of the 10,000 indigenous people are beast slaves who originally lived in the wild or initiated riots; more than half are still wearing shackles and shackles, and then you plan to give each of them a hammer and iron nail?"

Anson: "..."

"Of course, if we have enough manpower, it's not impossible - but now the entire legion is maintaining stability in the city and preparing to expand. It's not realistic to allocate troops to take charge of the shooting army, so we can only simplify everything."

Keep everything simple...but this is too "simple".

Anson, who couldn't help complaining in his heart, looked around at the unobstructed surroundings and followed Karl towards the only landmark building with more than three floors in the military camp, which was the headquarters.

Before they even got close to the main entrance, the line infantry of the Storm Division guarding the outside had already spotted their presence in advance and raised their guns in uniform to salute.

"Captain Marcos, commander of the second line of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, salutes you!"

"Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Storm Corps, Brigadier General Anson, salutes you."

Anson stopped, raised his right hand, and saluted the company commander who raised his gun and beat his chest: "Where is your commander?"

"Headquarters, with the officers of the Shooting Corps." Captain Marcos said:

"Do I need to inform you?"

"No, thanks."

Anson waved his hand: "Don't tell them that I have arrived. Just pretend that nothing happened and continue patrolling - I plan to walk around the military camp and find them later."

"yes!"

Marcus nodded vigorously and left the place with the company behind him.

Watching the infantry captain walk away, Karl, who had always remained silent, looked at Anson, who was looking around, and frowned slightly: "What's wrong? What's the problem?"

"You haven't noticed yet?" Anson said without turning around.

"It's still morning, but there are no soldiers anywhere in the entire military camp, and no trace of anyone moving around. From the gate of the military camp to the headquarters, only one company of the Second Infantry Regiment found it. We—don’t you think this is suspicious?”

"I don't think so at all." Karl raised his eyebrows:

"What do you think?"

"I feel so...huh?!"

Anson, who was about to speak, suddenly realized something: "Isn't this suspicious enough?!"

"Uh... If you want to say a normal military camp, then it should be, but this is the shooting army's camp." Karl explained patiently:

"I just said that more than half of the nearly 10,000 soldiers in your 'shooting army' have just been captured. Do you need me to continue?"

"...I'm afraid you have to go into more detail."

For a moment, Anson almost resisted the urge to draw his gun and pull the trigger.

"You also know that these 'beast slaves' or indigenous people are much stronger than strong men in terms of resistance ability, so they have hardly been fed since they were captured. In addition, their previous living environment , each one is as hungry as a piece of firewood wrapped in a layer of skin."

Karl showed a look of reminiscence and said briskly: "So after they were brought back to the military camp, we didn't dare to let them have too high-intensity labor at all. We could only let them eat first, eat hard, eat from morning to night - Fortunately, they don’t have a big appetite and aren’t very picky, otherwise if there were suddenly 10,000 more mouths, the legion’s reserves this year would be quite dangerous.”

"But this is not completely without benefits... Two full meals from morning to night, bread, hot soup, and warm accommodation. Many soldiers of the Shooting Army not only don't want to run away, but even plan to swear death to you, the Commander-in-Chief. Allegiance."

"According to their current physical fitness, I think if they eat according to the current standards for another week, they should be able to start normal military training, and there will not be a large-scale attrition."

"So so far, they have done nothing except... rest?" Anson was a little unbelievable: "Have the colonists in the surrounding farms not noticed that this military camp is particularly abnormal?"

"That's not entirely the case. We hired volunteers from the Promise Keepers Alliance to baptize them, teach them the faith of the Ring of Order and some common sense, and let them have fun every evening."

Karl threw the pipe on the ground and stamped it out with his foot: "As for being noticed... I think they may have always regarded this place as an abandoned farm and didn't realize that it was actually a military camp."

Although this answer was just as outrageous as the previous answers, but maybe because he was more stimulated, Anson had no doubts about this at all, and even felt a little cordial about it.

The reason is also very simple. When he was training the Storm Regiment in Clovis City, he also did something similar - disguising the military camp as an abandoned factory; but this time there was no need to disguise at all, it was already perfect. Can't see it anymore.

With this familiarity and nostalgia, the two pushed open the door and walked into the headquarters - or the shooting army's officers' dormitory.

Also out of considerations of saving manpower and financial resources, the Shooting Army did not build special dormitories or residences for the officers. In addition, winter has arrived, and there are only a hundred officers in total. They all live in the headquarters to fill all the rooms. room, and even save a lot of money on fuel.

Anson has basically become numb to this result... After all, a powerful army cannot be built overnight. As long as the shooting army can complete its mission of collecting money for himself and expanding, he will no longer ask for anything.

It was almost noon. When the two walked into the headquarters, the hall was already crowded with people. The officers sat around the long table according to their duties. Alexey, who arrived an hour early, stood in the corner and watched with an anxious expression. As if waiting for something.

The moment Anson entered the door, the commander of the Second Infantry Regiment immediately stepped forward without any explanation and said excitedly:

"Commander-in-Chief, something happened!"

"I just asked the officers of the Shooting Corps to assemble, but the commander of the regiment, Joseph, who has the highest position in the army, did not show up for a long time; until an officer who lives in the same room told me that he has not shown up for almost a week!"

Anson's pupils shrank suddenly and he held Alexei's shoulders calmly:

"You mean he's missing?"

"It should be more than just missing." Alexei shook his head and tried his best to restrain his excitement:

"During Chief of Staff Carl Bain's absence, Captain Joseph has been the top person in charge of the shooting army; I just found a dozen shackles that were obviously indigenous people under the bed in his room!"

"This is just a guess, but he probably secretly controlled a group of Shooting Army soldiers to work for him!"

"Also, the officer who was still rooming with him told me that Colonel Fabian came to the shooting camp once and talked to Joseph alone around the day of your assassination - but because Fabian was The commander of the Grenadier Corps, Joseph was the top person in charge of the shooting corps at that time, so no one doubted it.”

"I-I don't intend to accuse my colleagues, but if Fabian, he..."

"Okay, that's it for now, don't say any more."

He gently interrupted Alexei, whose face was getting more and more ugly. Anson, whose expression remained unchanged, was silent for a few seconds. After a long time, he asked the next question:

"Fabian, where is he now?"