I will be crowned king

As for the "rumors" that pervaded the army, Karl certainly knew what the consequences would be if they were allowed to spread, but he only suppressed them forcefully and had no intention of completely eliminating them.

Of course, there is no clear explanation for this, and there is also the factor that a certain Commander-in-Chief himself is "ghostly", but the more important factor is - he doesn't have time.

Urban reconstruction and shooting army training, these two tasks took up most of his energy, and he really had no time to intervene in the psychological counseling of the soldiers.

It was now the end of December, and he had at most three months to train more than 10,000 "cannon fodder" like an army.

The difficulty is comparable to climbing over the morning ice peak in winter.

Although they are always ridiculed that the levies of the Kingdom of Clovis are cannon fodder and scum, it depends on who they are compared with - compared with the indigenous people of the New World, they are also high-quality, excellent... well, cannon fodder.

Even among consumables, there are good and bad ones: a cannon fodder army that can obey orders, line up and shoot, and even hold on until the enemy launches a bayonet charge, and a cannon fodder army that doesn't understand any orders at all and rushes at the enemy as soon as they see it. , the difference between the dregs that immediately collapsed after a dozen unlucky guys died is like Hantu mulled wine and heating water.

And the "shooting army" composed of indigenous people...the level is even more desperate than this.

After all, if you defeat a group of thugs, you can still have a sense of experience and accomplishment of "fighting"; while defeating the shooting army is more like bullying a mentally retarded patient who does not understand the rules of the game. After the emptiness, you will even feel guilty, which will be deepened. Deeply confused.

This is not that Karl deliberately belittles this servant army, but is a common feeling among all Storm Legion soldiers.

With no vision at all, they fought a bloody night with a partially armed shooting force that was three times more powerful than themselves, and even used artillery during the process.

As a result, when the casualties were counted in the morning, the total number of casualties on both sides was less than 300, and the number of serious casualties was only in the double digits.

However, according to many people's recollections, during this period they repelled at least six counterattacks by the shooting army, and even the front line was once on the verge of being lost. The fighting was as fierce as the last battle of Hantu - leading to complete disbelief when faced with the final casualty figures. .

Such astonishing results made Karl feel that these guys are the real conscripts - if the troops he had led were all of their own level and could turn a one-sided situation into a wonderful epic showdown, they would have been promoted long ago, so why bother? Taking the blame for so many years?

But if such a "performing" army is really sent to the battlefield, Karl can't guarantee whether it will act as an enemy or one of its own people.

And to train them into an army that can obey orders and at least not flee before seeing the enemy... Lieutenant Colonel Carl Bain, chief of staff of the Storm Legion and a senior practitioner of the "black pot world", believes that his career has encountered unprecedented challenges. .

He had a vague feeling that once he completed this challenge, he would be "sublimated" to a completely different realm than now. No matter how many difficulties and obstacles he faced, he could still smile with contempt and never give up.

And if it fails...well, then it is a failure. It is a high probability event and is completely within the expectations of everyone, including myself.

No one will blame themselves, let alone failure in other things, but blame themselves for not doing a good job in this matter. Everyone is fully prepared - this matter is likely to be pounced on.

but!

But just because no one gives up hope, should I give up my efforts? !

Could it be that Carl Bain should always lie dormant in the dust without a moment to shine? !

If miracles exist, why are they not created by their own hands?

Who says that the most ordinary soldier can't be a hero who can turn things around?

Not to break stereotypes, not to create the impossible, not to hold miracles!

Just to let everyone look at me... Carl Bain... swimming against the current!

A figure that never bows its head!

……………………

"Shooting Army - Assemble!"

The deep voice of command echoed under the clear dome.

Tens of seconds later, accompanied by rapid alarm bells, messy footsteps, pushing, cursing... and even fist-to-flesh fighting, waves of gray water surged towards the military camp playground.

After the gathering was completed piecemeal, these sounds continued for half a quarter of an hour, and there was still no sign of stopping.

The livid-faced Carl Bain stood in the middle of the steps in front of the military flag, overlooking the mess below, a group of moving and noisy "swamps" waiting to be turned into killing machines.

And he is not alone.

Joseph, who had just finished his prison career, was standing to the lower left of the chief of staff, feeling very complicated.

To be honest, he could understand the idea of ​​the Storm Legion seeking medical treatment urgently and urgently replenishing its reserve force; but expecting a group of indigenous people to become a legion, well...

In fact, it is not bad to capture all the animals in the town and the wilderness, strap on weapons and train an "army of beast monsters". Anyway, the difficulty of both is about the same.

This was not just him, but a common thought among dozens of instructors present.

Karl once thought so, but now, he decided to try again.

No matter how desperate the challenge is, if you have not experienced it personally, why should you shirk responsibility and sigh?

The real failure is not to be killed by lead bullets on the battlefield, but to be frightened by your own imaginary fears and lose the courage to even hold the gun.

"You--you!"

"The entire shooting army is here - head held high, chest raised, arms drooped, feet together, looking ahead, front and rear in the same formation - assemble!"

"When I say 'assembly', this is what I want to express, it is the order that you must obey - the order is what you must do immediately if you are killed by the enemy in the next second!"

"Did you hear that clearly?!"

Under the shouts, the playground was completely silent.

The soldiers of the Shooting Army stared at the thin, ordinary figure on the stage with their mouths agape. They could not imagine how he could overcome the noisy movement of tens of thousands of people by himself and convey so many words to their ears.

This is of course due to Karl's rich speaking experience as a veteran, but more importantly because of Joseph beside him.

Before the Chief of Staff spoke, Joseph quietly covered the entire playground with a "circle" of black magic, making everyone "think" they heard the voice through inner suggestion.

It is certainly not easy to hypnotize tens of thousands of people at the same time, but the indigenous people themselves contain a certain degree of mutation, and their tolerance to magic is lower than that of ordinary humans, which relatively reduces the difficulty to a certain extent.

Looking at the soldiers of the shooting army in the audience who looked confused and confused, but still obeyed the orders, Karl showed a relieved expression.

"From now on, we will completely lift the restrictions on you - which means that from now on, you no longer have to be shackled and live under surveillance and supervision all the time."

"But this comes at a price! Because from now on, you will be treated like a real soldier!"

"In addition to gathering, you also need to learn to obey more orders and learn more knowledge!"

"You need to master the skills of forming a line and advancing, you need to master the skills of using rifles and iron autumns, and you need to throw a two kilogram object to a distance of at least thirty meters!"

"In short, you must treat yourselves as an object, a tool, and a weapon; the weapon cannot resist the will of the user, and you cannot resist any order given by me!"

"That way, you will win your freedom." Karl took a deep breath:

"Freedom...means being able to have enough to eat, be healthy, and live with respect."

"In the past, you were only qualified to live on farms, in mines, and in the wilderness. You were weeds, stones, and soil... you were the most humble and least valued group."

"You resist, but what you gain is more contempt and disgust. Even what you do is disgusting."

"The reason is simply because you cannot and have no chance of winning your freedom."

"And now...your chance has come!"

While speaking, Carl pointed his right hand at the shooting army flag above his head.

Dozens of instructors took half a step forward at the same time, with their hands behind their backs, and lined up in front of the shooting army soldiers like standing rifles.

They work in groups of three, each representing a set of training programs.

In order to completely transform the indigenous people who had finally received "initial domestication" in the shortest possible time, Karl formulated a set of extremely stringent plans.

The first thing to bear the brunt is "queuing up".

For the new recruits from the Kingdom of Clovis, this is a basic skill that must and should be mastered from the time they are recruited by the army to the time they arrive at the military camp; but for the indigenous people, it may be one of the most difficult projects.

Because it at least includes several basic concepts of "clearing the direction", "obeying command", and "collective action"; these common sense of the Clovis people do not exist for them - not to mention the direction, even the left and right Completely unclear.

But this can be easily solved. After several months of "training", the soldiers of the Shooting Army have developed the instinct to obey orders subconsciously, and collective action has been gradually developed through a dozen people being chained in a string for a long time.

As for the most difficult direction... Carl experimented with the little trick Anson provided, by letting the soldiers wear different shoes on their left and right feet to master the left and right, but the result was completely useless - the indigenous people seemed to be somewhat slow to respond, and whether they wore shoes or not made no difference to them. Has little effect.

Fabian gave another method, asking the instructor to hold two flags of different colors and raise them in the corresponding directions when giving orders.

In order to improve efficiency, Karl also added: while raising the flag, fire in the opposite direction.

This method has been unanimously praised by all the instructors. It not only speeds up the training progress, but also screens out many patients with color blindness and hearing impairment.

On this basis, Karl moved here and there to ensure that the shooting army had sufficient supplies of supplies, and at the same time began to train them in endurance.

Because a large amount of materials were needed to rebuild Beluga Port and provide relief to the victims, the parts that were supposed to supply the shooting army had to be temporarily diverted.

This was another reason why Karl suddenly had to speed up the training pace - if they didn't seize the time while they could still eat, they would be even less likely to have the chance to complete the training if they were hungry later.

The training items are also very simple: long-distance marching with heavy loads, jogging, digging trenches, and standing still.

The military's physical fitness and tolerance for harsh environments will greatly affect their combat style.

For example, the explosive power of light cavalry or light infantry cannot be counted on their combat effectiveness after traveling long distances; legions stationed in fortresses and cities for a long time must be prepared for large-scale non-combat attrition once they leave the city.

The indigenous people are very good in this area, and can even be called extremely talented - those who are not gifted all die in the wilderness, farms and mines.

However, although they have excellent endurance, their physical fitness is very low; they can overcome the harsh environment, but because of their "inner shadow", they are extremely bored with repetitive heavy physical labor and may even take the initiative to resist.

Faced with this situation, Carl adopted the old method of dealing with prisoners of war in the past-the last elimination system.

The supplies of the group of Shooting Army soldiers who resist the most fiercely and are the most passive about training will be rationed to those soldiers who are more honest and obey orders obediently.

The advantage of this is that the effect is immediate, but the disadvantage is that it will create class differences and chains of discrimination within the soldiers, and over time, "veterans" who are good at exploiting loopholes in the rules, using the rules to enjoy privileges, and in turn control their superiors will gradually appear.

As one of the best, Karl knows this all too well.

But in the face of tight time, no matter how many side effects there are, they must make way for efficiency. No matter how serious the problem is, as long as it does not break out immediately, it must wait until later.

Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, everyone from Carl Bain to the newly promoted "indigenous grassroots officers" used various extreme but immediate methods.

Even the magic was not missed by Karl: every night Joseph repeatedly brainwashed all the shooting troops, asking them to actively participate in the training "happily and happily" despite being physically and mentally exhausted the next day.

Even the people who were brainwashed included Karl himself... gritted his teeth, overcame his fatigue, and desperately went upstream.

Finally, in the freezing cold weather of December, all the indigenous soldiers and instructors spent fifteen days and intensively completed the original thirty-day "recruit training."

And really starting from scratch - in every sense of the word.

"Shooting Army - Assemble!!!!"

Accompanied by loud shouts, hundreds of heavy steps gathered into billowing smoke that beat on the ground, and one after another gathered towards the military camp playground.

Their eyes were as red as blood, and their stepping movements were powerful and standard—even so standard that they often knocked their comrades in the front and rear rows unconscious to the ground.

The vibrations gradually stopped, and except for those who had just "unfortunately sacrificed", all the others completed the assembly order on time; and because many people successfully diverted the rear row, the queue of nearly 10,000 people was clearly divided into two parts.

The build-up is followed by putting your legs together, pushing your chest out, and then looking up—bang!

Listening to the crisp and uniform sounds on the playground, and then looking at the rows of people falling to the ground, Joseph, as the deputy conductor, sighed with emotion: "That's almost it."

"yes."

Karl nodded slightly in agreement, and even had a relieved smile on his face:

"It's almost time to give up."