Under the Red Dragon

The new year had just begun, and the regular army of the Golden Empire was expanding in scale along with the unfolding of various affairs.

The Mist Dragon Deniro, who had recently joined the territory, was recommended to Kalon by the White Dragon Gremory. The Golden King entrusted Mist Dragon Deniro with the responsibility of heading the Golden Empire's national defense construction department.

Mist Dragon Deniro's responsibilities were quite important. Although he did not have the authority to command legions, he was responsible for cultivating and transporting talented legion warriors, coordinating legion logistics, constructing imperial national defense infrastructure, and managing conscription and retirement, among other national defense construction affairs.

Although Mist Dragon Deniro's duties, according to regulations, were to be under the jurisdiction of the military and the Imperial Central Council, in reality, he could make most of his decisions with a single word.

However, Mist Dragon Deniro, being new to the area, was not very familiar with the situation within the empire. Therefore, this somewhat special dragon was not in a much better situation than the former Blue Dragon Dos.

Every day, he needed to fly from his temporary nest built by the sea to various parts of the empire, genuinely understanding the local situation and formulating conscription policies and related measures for different regions based on the opinions provided by the relevant imperial department officials.

This was also a habit that the dragons in the dragon group had developed under Kalon's strong… guidance: they could not implement policies to govern the empire based on their own simple impressions but had to combine them with the actual situation on the ground.

Once this principle was violated, leading to any omissions, then during the annual interest distribution day, the dragons would find that many gold coins and wealth would be missing from their treasure chests.

Although Mist Dragon Deniro initially did not join the dragon group because of this 'Dragon Pact' but simply because he loved the order and civilization of the dragon group's territory, no dragon could resist the lure of treasure.

In fact, during the wars of the past few years, the empire's major battle groups had undergone numerous expansions and establishments, and the number of legion warriors had already exceeded the normal population-to-soldier conversion ratio of most human nations.

This was actually an extremely abnormal and unhealthy conversion and mobilization ratio in most kingdoms and organizations, which would also have adverse effects on normal agricultural production and social development.

However, the situation within the empire was different from that of normal civilized countries. A considerable proportion of the warriors were composed of the monster minion races of those dragons.

Apart from those elite soldiers, other creatures such as goblins and kobolds were like weeds in the field, growing wildly crop after crop every few years, so the pressure they bore was not very great.

However, now that the empire was formally established, it needed to start optimizing the size and structure of the army.

In the wilderness, where even without large-scale wars, there would be constant small disputes of various kinds, everyone understood the dangers of joining the legions.

However, the generous treatment, promotion system, and logistical support system that the Golden Empire provided to regular legion warriors still moved many people.

Even soldiers who were disabled and retired due to injuries would be arranged to work in the security offices of various towns, becoming patrol officers or clerical staff in other departments, under the management regulations of the retirement department, according to their own wishes.

If they were severely injured and unable to take care of themselves, the empire would also guarantee the warriors' daily lives, treat the warriors' families well, and the war medals that the warriors had earned could also be used as a qualification to allow the warriors' family members to receive preferential treatment.

This also led to many领民 (lǐngmín - people of the territory) who enjoyed ten years of exemption from conscription choosing to actively join the legions. Moreover, due to the large number of people, the empire's military affairs department specifically issued a policy after discussion.

Anyone whose family had only one adult male was not allowed to join the imperial legions. Families with only two adult members were allowed to have one of them join the legion selection, but without obtaining military merit or promotion, they would need to retire after one year.

If faced with war, these retired soldiers would be the primary conscription candidates.

However, due to the increased efficiency brought about by magical production and the pioneering and development of the entire empire's industrial base, a considerable degree of labor force engaged in production was liberated, coupled with a steady stream of population replenishment and growth.

This allowed the Golden Empire to maintain a large number of legion warriors without affecting the development and operation of various industries within the territory.

Every dragon in the Goremora dragon group supported the cause of vigorously building the imperial legions.

These dragons were not like some arrogant dragons who were blinded by their own strength. They had experienced war and no longer believed that mortal legions were merely insects in front of dragons.

Some aloof dragons, even those ancient dragons, before dying in a large-scale legion siege, felt that mortal armies were nothing more than fragile toys.

Mortals could not resist the power and breath of dragons, and dragons could come and go as they pleased.

However, the dragons of the Golden Empire attached great importance to legion construction and structural optimization, and even if it required consuming a large amount of wealth that the dragons could share, they would not waver.

They genuinely ruled these legions, so the dragons in the Goremora dragon group knew that in front of powerful dragons, perhaps an army of hundreds or thousands of people was not powerful, but if it was a legion of ten thousand people, it would be extremely terrifying.

Even if this scale of legion was only configured according to normal standards, it would be qualified to hunt down a lone, normal adult dragon.

And when the scale of the legion reached 50,000, 100,000, or even hundreds of thousands, even the most ordinary legion would possess unparalleled courage and have the iron hooves and soldiers to trample all obstacles.

A drop of water is only a gentle breeze on the face, but the surging tide formed by countless drops of water would require even dragons to retreat.

A legend, of course, possesses power that many creatures cannot reach, but the power of a legend is not infinite after all. Relying on a single legend, one can at most splatter blood for a thousand steps and disturb one place.

However, the Dragon King does not need to take action personally. With just an order, he can let the legion's warriors open up thousands of mountains, avoid ten thousand waters, drift for thousands of miles, and ignite the flames of war on the earth.

As Kalon grew, the things he came into contact with and the things he learned became more and more numerous. His legions were no longer simply established for his rule.

These legions were prepared for the future to deal with many troubles and dangers that he might encounter, and they were also one of his reliance in the face of the changes in the future world.

Therefore, Kalon's emphasis on armed forces surpassed all other aspects within the empire.

Degonia, this city, in the common language of the continent, means the volcano city ruled by the Dragon Son.

This city was also the first large city established by the residents who migrated west within the empire's territory, a medium-sized city with a permanent population of 150,000.

This city was built on a mountain, and the peak of the high mountain where the empire's emperor resided could be clearly seen.

In the southern suburbs of Degonia, in the 'Burning Hoof' legion's military supervision area, Mist Dragon Deniro and the conscription officer of the Degonia area accompanied Kalon, who had come to inspect the area, and watched the warriors' training from afar outside the training field.

The newly recruited and selected elite soldiers were undergoing the final round of screening tests. Now, there were many races of领民 (lǐngmín - people of the territory) within the Golden Empire, in addition to the steadily increasing number of dragon people, gnolls, barbarians, orcs, and other races that were originally outstanding in combat.

There were also many elite human warriors and a variety of trolls, ogres, earth goblins, etc. Even the Naga race in the sea had recently begun to appear in large numbers within the Golden Empire.

However, apart from the first few independent legions established within the empire, which were relatively pure, the rest of the legions were mostly mixed legions, looking only at ability, not at origin or race.

However, a large number of warriors of different races and identities had different natures and habits, so in addition to the assessment tests of the warriors' abilities, it was also necessary to consider the change of those warriors' nature and obedience training.

Within a test cycle, those who did not pass the nature integration and obedience training would be returned to their original place of origin and would not be able to apply to join the extremely special battle group of the 'Burning Hoof' within three years.

Because within the Golden Empire, apart from the extremely special Imperial Guards with a unique status, only the 'Burning Hoof' legion was the personal guard legion directly under the Dragon Emperor Kalon Goremora of the empire.

Therefore, the selection requirements and standards of the 'Burning Hoof' legion were extremely strict. Every warrior who could stand here to accept the test was at least a powerful warrior, either because of bloodline, or because of talent, or because of strength, or because of their unique wisdom.

But no matter how prominent or unknown these people were in their own places, whether they were farmers or adventurers, or elite legion warriors, they were now quietly and honestly wearing a full set of armor, holding weapons, and accepting obedience queue training and various command training on the training ground.

The construction of the legion's armed forces was far from as simple as simply expanding the scale and establishment of the battle group and simply increasing the number of warriors.

Although Kalon had formulated a fairly clear and clear legion hierarchy, divided into soldiers, ten-man captains, hundred-man company commanders, thousand-man battle group commanders, and ten-thousand-man legion commanders.

Even so, according to the actual regulations, the dragons in the dragon group still found it difficult to build the legion more powerfully and perfectly, because there was no such boring knowledge in the dragons' inheritance.

Although many talents within the empire had many ideas, most of them were somewhat different from Kalon's ideas, so Kalon needed to devote a large part of his energy to military reform and establishment, doing it himself.

And the reason why Mist Dragon Deniro was able to successfully take office as the head of the Imperial Ministry of Defense was also because after seeing the relevant plan, clarifying the salary and treatment of each level of warrior officer, and supervising the warriors, counting military merits, and rewarding and punishing according to the degree.

The ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ is ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!

This Mist Dragon, Deniro, proposed to Kalon the establishment of the position of ideological instructor in the legion, responsible for supervising the legion, organizing and leading the legion's political work, and implementing the policies of the Wang Ting (court).

Including the empire's laws, the decisions and orders of superiors, and instructions, playing the role of being responsible for the legion's ideological construction and stabilizing the supervision of the legion's discipline.

And Kalon named this position the Legion Political Ideological Guidance Committee, in short, the Legion Political Commissar.

Those who could serve as political commissars were currently only the veterans in the Imperial Guards and some warriors who were extremely loyal to the empire and the Red Dragon and were flexible enough.

These political commissars were not only responsible for their original work, but also had a most important task, which was to be responsible for punishing and recovering the lives of warriors who could not control themselves.

Because every warrior in the 'Burning Hoof' legion carried the glory of the dragon's blood, as well as the sins of other ancient bloodlines, demon and devil blood.

A warrior serving as the acting political commissar of the new recruit training camp was wearing a full set of energy armor, relying entirely on his flesh to drive the armor weighing hundreds of pounds to move freely on the training ground, while conducting ideological education for the warriors of the new recruit camp.

Instilling brainwashing education like belief, and the imprint of loyalty and obedience.

Although the distance was far, the dragon's hearing still allowed Kalon to clearly hear the political commissar instructor's deep voice coming from the training ground.

"If the empire needs us to attack a country, a country known for its justice camp, a country of peace and harmony, what would you think?"

The huge dragon face helmet on the political commissar's energy armor, and the inlaid emblem of the Dragon Temple, symbolized their status and glory.

These political commissars were able to receive the glory of the Dragon Temple through the execution of rituals, and were praised by the warriors of other legions as 'God's Warriors'. Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, these 'God's Warriors' were more like the Dragon Emperor, the future reserve priests.

Each of their weapons was different. The only thing they had in common was that these political commissars were surging with strong mental energy fluctuations, which represented that these people were most affected by their loyalty to the empire's emperor.

They had already given birth to the seeds of mental energy and possessed this magical power of mental energy. Therefore, these political commissars were not only serving in this role because of their loyalty and ideology, but also because their strength was enough to sow the emperor's glory and bring the death scythe of punishment to enemies and out-of-control warriors.

"I will take up my weapon, practice the will of the Wang Ting (court), do what I should do, listen to the orders I should listen to, and bring a bloody massacre to all opponents marked as enemies by the empire,"

A strong ogre warrior hammered his hard armor, shouting loudly first.

"You are a qualified soldier, but that's all," the political commissar's voice came from under the majestic dragon face helmet, scanning all the warriors present.

"Are there any other opinions? I want to see different opinions."

A human warrior raised his hand and said loudly, "Our Golden Empire was once invaded by the Orc Kingdom and suffered from war, so why should we take the initiative to invade other countries? Isn't this a bit unjust, even if we are not known for justice."

The dragon face helmet turned to the speaking warrior, and then nodded slightly. The political commissar's indifferent voice came, "Very good, I like different opinions. Congratulations, you are out. 'Burning Hoof' only screens, not educates, but if you want to know the reason for being out, you can stand aside and listen."

"Anything else? Be bolder. 'Burning Hoof' does not welcome cowards," the political commissar's gaze, even through the thick dragon face helmet, still carried a strong sense of oppression.

Another young warrior raised his hand. Although this young warrior appeared robust, the light blue downy fuzz on his chin revealed his relatively young age.

“There's only so much in this world,” the young warrior stated fearlessly. “Some gain, and others must lose. And what we warriors must do is ensure the Empire, ensure us, gains more. Therefore, any war against any power or nation is just, for the Empire, for us.”

“Just as the Holy Emperor once said, everything we have must be seized from blood and fire with steel and iron in our hands.”

“Very good,” the commissar's solemn voice came from beneath the dragon-faced helmet. He said, “Although your thoughts are not yet mature, having your own thinking will make you an excellent warrior.”

Clang.

The dragon-faced helmet suddenly popped open, revealing the commissar's cold face hidden beneath. He revealed a smile and said, “I know the names of all the warriors present, and I know your name—Keith. Today, at this very moment, is your belated coming-of-age ceremony.”

“What is our true duty?” the commissar said sternly. “To bathe in the fires of war and be forged on the anvil is our powerful doctrine.”

“Everything we do is for the Empire's expansion and development, for the people's survival and space, for the Emperor's glory, and to spread the Emperor's glory and civilization.”

At this moment, the commissar opened his massive arms, as if embracing all the warriors, and said, “Come, for the great Emperor, spread the shining light of civilization, and dedicate your meager strength!”

Thanks to Yayla for the reward. Uh, not finished writing, will continue tomorrow.