Hansel spent a week on Royal Capital and found a total of 37 people who wanted to develop in the northwest, including his friend Berna Francis. Among these 37 people, there are 17 low-level nobles, including Berna, and 20 civilians, whose occupations include librarians, artificers, and former subordinates of the royal government, Affairs Officer.
After deciding on the day to return, Hansel said goodbye to his family. The mother Miranda was very sad. At first she thought her son would not leave after he came back, but she did not expect that he would have to go to that legendary wilderness. She held her son in her arms and kept wiping her tears, complaining about the officials who had assigned her son this position. Earl Abbott patted the second son on the shoulder and encouraged him to work hard, "Now that you have decided on the path you want to take, don't give up easily."
"Take good care of yourself and don't get too tired. We all hope you are safe."
His brother Harrison Abbott said so.
For Hansel, Harrison has very complicated feelings. On the one hand, his father, who he has always respected, asked him to love and care for this younger brother who was not born from the same mother. On the other hand, this younger brother with so-called "humble" bloodline also inevitably had some negative effects on his growth.
But he admired Hansel's attitude of hard work and progress, and felt sorry that his younger brother was bound by blood.
The only sister in the family, Julie, was very excited. In the past few days, she had been fascinated by some northwest legends such as pirate treasures told by Hansel. "Brother, please take me with you~" She grabbed her brother's sleeve and kept acting coquettishly. After being sternly rejected by his brother, she quickly turned from excitement to depression and ignored Hansel.
"In a few years, when Northwest Bay becomes prosperous and little Julie grows up, I will take you there!" Hansel stroked her sister's head and comforted her, and the little girl broke down in tears and smiled.
Another day later, everyone gathered at North Gate in Royal Capital and embarked on the road north together, embarking on a turning point in their lives.
After making the decision to go to war against Bairdin, Paul transferred Second Infantry Battalion stationed at Franklin Harbor to Lakeheart Town and assembled all the army troops for training and exercises.
At this time, Arda Army already has the following strength: two Infantry Battalion, each battalion has three Spearman Company and a battalion mortar (Crouching Tiger Cannon) platoon.
An independent musketry company.
An independent Artillery Company, equipped with two doors 6-Pound Cannon and six doors 4-Pound Cannon.
An independent Transport Company, under the command of the Logistics Department.
The total number of army officers and soldiers is 1,355, which is a force that cannot be underestimated in the northwest area. Fortunately, a large amount of money from pirates and profits from paper-making and porcelain-making were seized, otherwise Paul really couldn't afford to support such a well-fed and well-clothed Standing Army team.
Even so, Seal-Holding Chief Steward Old Ford reminded him from time to time: If the sales of paper and porcelain cannot continue to expand or there are no new financial resources, and when all the money seized from the pirates is used up, this army will have no choice but to drink the northwest wind or simply disband and go home.
Paul is worried every day, not knowing how Queller is doing in the south and whether the porcelain can be sold there.
After learning from the intelligence that Bairdin had a large number of knights, Paul asked Staff Department to start Hollow Square's drill.
A complete Arda version Hollow Square looks like this: a quadrilateral square formation composed of several layers of Soldiers. The outer layers are composed of spearmen. The spearmen squat down on their knees, insert the spear shaft into the ground, and point the spear tip diagonally outward., forming an airtight hedgehog formation, with one or two layers inside composed of musketeers. They are responsible for killing the cavalry rushing into the formation from a long distance. The remaining Musketeer are not responsible for shooting. They are responsible for loading ammunition for the peripheral musketeers in the middle of the square formation to ensure rapid and continuous firepower. If circumstances permit, mortars are also deployed in the middle of the phalanx to kill the enemy with direct fire.
In fact, to put it bluntly, it is a "human bunker". The spearmen on the outer layer form a thick wall, and the Musketeer on the inner layer act as machine gunners, but the firepower intensity is very different.
Although it sounds simple, it is quite troublesome for the Soldierss to quickly and skillfully form an effective Hollow Square. Although they have practiced many times in advance, during the exercise, after receiving the order to form a square formation without preparation, most people were in a panic and did not know where they should stand. This very tested the organizational ability of the grassroots officers.
It also tests the judgment of the officers. For example, based on the number of enemy troops and the charge formation, how large a phalanx should be formed on their side, whether to form one large phalanx or several small phalanxes, how many layers of spearmen and musketeers each phalanx should be equipped with, and how to quickly adapt Soldiers to various phalanxes with different configurations, and how to quickly repair the gaps in the phalanx.
After repeated drills, the formation speed of a battalion-sized square formation was finally controlled to about 5 minutes.
On this day, Paul was on site supervising the training of Soldierss. Someone came to inform him: Royal Commissioner Baron Hansel Abbott was back.
He quickly returned to the Lord's Manor. Mr. Baron was already waiting for him in the hall. The two greeted each other and hugged each other warmly. Now they can be regarded as a pair of political allies.
After some pleasantries, Hansel reported to Paul the progress of his recruitment at Royal Capital. When he heard that more than thirty people came to Lakeheart Town, Paul was very happy.
Although the number of people is not large, it is just the beginning after all. I believe that under his preferential treatment policy, more and more talents will come to join him.
He and Hansel had discussed before that they would set up an office in Royal Capital and send former Royal Capital people who had lived in Northwest Bay for a period of time to station there and recruit people continuously.
Lakeheart Town A number of buildings have been built to accommodate the new personnel recruited in the plan, and now they can finally be put to use.
Paul was still a little worried and asked, "How did your friends feel after they came here?" What if they felt that Northwest Bay was too remote and ran back, wouldn't their trip have been in vain? Hansel shrugged. "I can't say it's good or bad. Although it's not as prosperous as the south, but thanks to Crystal Radiance's various exaggerated and false descriptions of Northwest Bay, after they saw the true style of this place with their own eyes, they felt that it far exceeded their previous expectations."
"That's it..." Paul couldn't laugh or cry.
He said to Hansel, "You go to Butler Philip to reimburse the expenses on the road. We will hold a banquet tonight to cleanse the people you brought. It is hard enough to come all the way. As for how to arrange these people, Chief Steward Ford will be responsible. He and I have discussed in detail the staff gaps in various aspects, and he knows what should be done."
Hansel saluted Paul: "I would like to thank you on their behalf."
Then he suddenly asked, "I have a question for you. After entering Alarda Territory, I felt that the atmosphere was inexplicably tense. I also saw Militia training in the villages along the way. Did pirates attack again?"