Chapter 142: Veterans and Reserves

Strictly speaking, the veterans in the Bolerum Territory who could retire alive were definitely considered elites. If George hadn’t changed the system to cultivate new blood. According to the previous practices of the Bolerum Territory, these guys would absolutely still be serving as soldiers unless they were truly too old to go to the battlefield.

The most important reason George made such a huge reform to the old system was—although the past system could guarantee the combat effectiveness of the army within a certain period of time. But if a large number of members were in the same age group, it was very likely to cause a gap in the army’s strength.

In such a situation, the actual combat effectiveness of the army would present a wave-like change. At the same time, the gap between the peaks and troughs would appear too large. If a large-scale battle happened right at the critical moment of the army’s major overhaul, then the combat effectiveness of the troops would be really hard to guarantee. Similarly, after a large-scale battle, if the army suffered relatively serious losses. Then for a long time after that, it would be impossible for the army to be fierce in combat again. Could you expect those new recruits who had just put down their pitchforks to have the same combat power as elite warriors who had fought a hundred battles?

And the reform George made was to retire a batch of old soldiers who could still fight but were no longer at their peak, batch by batch. At the same time, they were properly resettled and turned into reserves. Then, young people were recruited to fill the army and trained, adopting the method of the old helping the new and masters guiding apprentices. This ensured that the new recruits would have a certain level of combat power. At the same time, if a major war broke out, those retired veterans could be recruited back to the battlefield—after all, compared to those old men in the past who couldn’t even lift swords, the current retired veterans were still iron-blooded warriors.

Take the veterans who retired with glory a few days ago for example! If calculated according to the records in George’s own System, they were warrior professionals between levels 2 and 3. Although their physical bodies were far from reaching the point where quantitative change led to qualitative change—Muscle Brutalization. But relying on their strong bodies trained over years and their killing skills proficient in using weapons—they could completely fight one against ten when dealing with those commoners. This was assuming the opponent’s morale would not drop, and they would not mentally collapse and fight to the death. In fact, even if they were unarmed, if one compared Tyson and Bruce Lee from before the transmigration with them, the outcome would still be hard to predict.

Of course, such valuable talents could not be allowed to slip away, so George was also very attentive in arranging their resettlement. Some of them would return to the manors where they lived before and resume their lives of farming. For this part, George also appointed them as military instructors for their respective areas. At the same time, he started to widely promote regular military drills and militia reserve training.

During the annual slack farming season, all agricultural populations in the territory between the ages of 14 and 40 needed to undergo one month of military training. This was also the initial audition process for new soldier selection, and the instructors would keep the performance of those underage little guys in mind. When they were old enough to be truly recruited as soldiers, these young people would receive recommendations before the enlistment selection. As for those whose physical qualities were not suitable for development in this area, it was also convenient to remind them as early as possible.

As for those workshops with weak seasonality and citizens engaged in the tertiary industry in the city. Asking them to spare a full month for military training at once was not very realistic. But since they enjoyed the protection of the Bolerum Territory and enjoyed the convenient conditions and environment here, they also had to bear corresponding obligations. Training was conducted in three batches every year, each lasting about ten days. The proficiency of the retired veterans responsible for teaching this part was basically on par with the part that returned to the manors. As for how to arrange the resettlement locations after retirement, the principle was to make overall arrangements based on each person’s original living environment and their family’s work location.

Of course, certain personnel engaged in commercial activities were allowed to replace such military service with taxes. However, these people belonged to the minority; in fact, the vast majority of people hoped to gain physical exercise from such training, and also learn a move or two for self-defense and saving themselves.

Similarly, during the training period, George would give those retired veterans acting as instructors a certain amount of money or goods as their labor fee. As for the commoners participating in the training, they had a relatively ample free lunch.

Organizing such actions could not only play a guiding role for future new soldier enlistment but also greatly reduce the difficulty of new soldier training and the time for new soldier training. At the same time, it could also provide economic subsidies to those retired veterans with sufficient reasons. So that they could stay in the territory with peace of mind for use in times of need. Of course, the most important thing was to give them the opportunity to relearn the knowledge and skills they had learned in the army every year, so that they would not be forgotten with the passage of time.

In addition, there was a small number of veterans who had special skills; they either transferred to logistics departments such as the Quartermaster Office. Or they could be arranged to suitable posts in the territory according to their respective situations—for example, those who were better at archery and familiar with forest warfare could be trained as rangers or mountain guards.

Of course, this approach required a large amount of money as support in the external environment of this world to be possible to succeed. Judging from the current situation, in the entire Duchy of Nohan, except for His Grace the Duke, only the Bolerum Territory had such financial resources. Promotability still appeared somewhat poor.

Therefore, the reserve forces composed of retired veterans were an important organizational form to strengthen the construction of military reserve forces and guarantee the rapid expansion of the army by the reserve forces in wartime. These reserve personnel were grouped according to the manors, workshops, or streets they belonged to, equipped with weapons and equipment, and had clear regulations on training time, training content, wartime tasks, and their affiliations. Judging from the current performance, the reserves of the Bolerum Territory were a well-trained organization with relatively strong combat power that could quickly transform into active duty troops in wartime.

Just like the two characteristics given in the System’s description of the territory, they completely reached the original intention of George’s establishment.

Regular Military Drills: Army Morale +0.33, Army Training Degree +5%, Army Reserve Strength +10%, Annual Military Tradition Decay -1%, Military Expenditure +5%.

Militia Reserve Training: New Army Training Time -30%, Army Reinforcement Speed +20%, Army Reserve Strength +30%, Army Morale Recovery +2.5%, Military Expenditure +8%.

Of course, it was a normal thing for those gnomes under Bodina Garick not to get any advantage when they met the veterans of the Bolerum Territory. In fact, if it was not a head-on confrontation, some of those gnomes who came out for trade might not necessarily be afraid of these retired veterans.

However, being in the vast ocean of the masses, they could not bring into play their specialties of being small, flexible, and mobile. So they were completely tragic, not to mention some business personnel who relied on props for protection. Fortunately, due to the constraints of the laws in the territory, these retired veterans did not use heavy hands. I don’t know why, in the world before the transmigration, there were relatively more incidents of veterans causing trouble, but in this world, the people who abided by the laws the most were this group of people. This probably had something to do with the overall external environment! Anyway, George still hadn’t figured it out.

‘This is poaching, isn’t it! It is poaching! And poaching at such an important time! Judging from the current situation, war could break out at any time, although the possibility is not high—if the leaders of the other country can remain rational. But we can’t pin our hopes on the opponent remaining rational! Sometimes even if the people at the top can remain rational, it’s hard to say for those at the bottom.’ George thought, frowning, ‘But I can’t say these words directly to them! Otherwise, within a few days, this topic would definitely spread throughout the surrounding countries. What kind of excuse should I use?’

“Is there any difficulty in this regard? I understand that these warriors with good strength were previously members of the army in your territory. I think it shouldn’t be a difficult thing for you to arrange this matter! We can discuss the hiring price, and we will also pay an intermediary fee for the territory.” Bodina Garick’s performance in this regard could be said to be quite active! Although he absolutely dared not threaten the other party, he did a good job in terms of inducement. At the same time, it could also be said that he gave enough face to Bolerum—among the rules prevailing in most places on the Continent.

George pretended to be very puzzled and asked: “Is there a problem with the security work of your caravan? Or did you receive some news that the previous guards were not enough to guarantee your own safety?”

“Heh! Heh!” Bodina Garick smiled, scratched his hair a little embarrassedly, and then said in a somewhat low voice: “When our caravan traveled back and forth before, we didn’t expect to accept such a large batch of goods in your territory! So the guards of the caravan have always been the same as usual. But if we count this batch of arms, I am very worried that the protection power of the caravan might not be able to keep them. Moreover, if we recruit adventurers randomly outside, we would also be afraid of some guys with ulterior motives mixing in. So after seeing the performance of these warriors in your territory, I wanted to hire a batch to strengthen the defense.”

George felt that there was something strange in these words on the spot. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then asked: “Didn’t your Temple send anyone to give help to your caravan? This batch of goods belongs to them. If there are really difficulties in safety issues, can’t you ask for help?”

Bodina Garick showed a somewhat embarrassed expression. He looked around and raised his ears and moved them twice, as if confirming that there was no problem, and then said: “In fact, the situation shown by the Temple during this period of time is also very tense. Actually, this matter has a direct connection with the battle you had two months ago.”

“And the battle two months ago? You mean that batch of Goblin creatures that we dealt with?” George seemed to understand part of the reason.

Bodina Garick nodded and continued: “Yes, that group of damned bastards. Here, I sincerely thank you. It was you who sent those butchers with our Gnome blood on their hands to see their faith. From now on, those guys can no longer threaten our lives. Originally, after this news was passed back to the city-state through the Temple’s network, cities everywhere in our place spontaneously organized celebrations of various sizes. The Temple also used this matter as a way of publicity. But this seems to have further stimulated those guys in the Goblin Church. There is news that they are secretly planning revenge against us and the Dwarves. So the manpower in the Temple has been arranged to stay in the city to garrison, and it is basically impossible to send people to support us.”

“I didn’t expect that the reason in this aspect actually has something to do with us.” As soon as these words came out, George felt something was wrong. “But according to what you just said. If the Goblin Church wants to retaliate for this matter, they should choose our Bolerum Territory first! How come they are targeting you instead.”

“This—we and those Goblins have always been mortal enemies. Coupled with the effect of the Temple’s large-scale publicity of its wanted order, it seems to have had a certain impact on those Goblins. It should be said that the other party made such a reaction to restore their prestige! Besides, if the other party really wants to retaliate against you, it is not an easy thing to operate. After all, you are too far away from the areas where the Goblin Church has influence. Goblins are not a popular group on the entire Continent. If they want to go on an expedition, they will probably be discovered after a few steps—a large group of bounty hunters will definitely swarm in.” Bodina Garick said somewhat as a matter of course. Inside this, he didn’t seem to be worried at all about the Goblins planning an attack on his hometown. It was as if this was a common occurrence.

George seemed a little confused by the other party’s statement: “You mean if the Goblin organization goes on an expedition, it will be easily discovered and besieged by bounty hunters. But what about that team mentioned just now? It appeared in Greywood Town not far from our Bolerum Territory, and was annihilated by us when it committed a massacre there.”

“This is because that bandit group led by the Bloodhand Butcher Cleo Watson has been wandering around committing crimes after being hunted down by us and the Dwarves. And we suspect that among this, certain nobles on your Human side should have given them help. Otherwise, they themselves would have no chance to reach the Duchy of Nohan at all.” For the latter argument about Human noble assistance, Bodina Garick spoke with absolute certainty. It seemed that the other party also knew something, but judging from the current relationship, whether he would tell George was unknown.

‘Politics is really so ugly! To achieve their own goals, using those notorious alien bandits is just a normal means for those politicians. And the Goblin Church, because of this matter, is preparing to retaliate against the Gnomes and Dwarves in advance, and putting us, the real culprit, aside can also be said to be a kind of political correctness! Of course, this does not rule out the possibility of the other party releasing smoke bombs. But at least most of the actions point to the Gnomes and Dwarves, otherwise they wouldn’t even be able to send people to protect their own goods.’ The conclusion in George’s heart was completely different from what he said: “If that’s the case! Mr. Garick, can you tell us the news you got in this regard? Since the other party can do it the first time, they can certainly do it the second time. In this situation, since they are already preparing to retaliate against you, they will absolutely not let go of us who directly caused their losses.”

“This is really not suitable for us to say.” Bodina Garick’s expression changed several times in a row, and it could be seen from his expression that the other party was also quite embarrassed.

Seeing this situation, George decided to continue increasing the weight: “Since we know that those Goblins might retaliate, we also need to consider our own territorial security issues. Also, starting from this year, the number of caravans and fleets in our territory in winter will be several times more than in past years. So we are preparing to build two stone cargo terminals at this time, and also repair the trade road going north. Both of these are projects that require a large amount of manpower to carry out. And those retired veterans, because of their good obedience, also have prestige among the commoners. So being grassroots management personnel is a quite good choice. I’m afraid…”

“You are really going to start work on two stone cargo terminals and the trade road going north at the same time.” Bodina Garick could be said to be scared by George’s big hand. At the same time, although George hadn’t really laid it out, the meaning inside was very clear. If he couldn’t tell the identity of the object that gave assistance to those Goblins before, the chance of getting guard help from the Bolerum Territory would probably be very small. But it looked like the other party was still hesitating.

Finding that it had some effect, George decided to strike while the iron was hot: “Of course! If you don’t believe it, you can arrange for people to go and see. If you come again next year, you will be able to clearly distinguish the changes. And one of the stone cargo terminals is already in the preparation stage, and there should be some prepared materials in the port! But I also suspect the true intentions of those Goblins. No matter what, attacking the Gnome caravans outside is much simpler than attacking towns.”

Bodina Garick’s expression immediately became even more wonderful. After waiting for a while, the other party slowly replied: “As far as I know, Viscount Bernadette Blackwood Bar of the Kingdom of Lucia and Baron Igor Claudet Butterflower had relatively close contacts with them before this. Perhaps you can start from this aspect and take a look.”