Royal Army Reform

Led by Claude, the Alarda instructors were all highly motivated under King Rodney XVIII's generous treatment.

They went deep into the military camps and lived alongside the officers and soldiers recruited by the king for nearly half a year, carefully summarizing and analyzing the various problems currently facing the Kingdom Army, along with suitable solutions.

The instructors soon realized that their experience in Northwest Bay could not be copied wholesale here.

It had to be admitted that the system Paul Greiman had implemented for the army under his command was absolutely an elite-soldier approach for this era.

Tight organization, thorough training, ample material supplies, and extensive education.

That last point was particularly important. After getting through the initial pioneering stage, Paul's cultural requirements for his soldiers went far beyond merely ensuring they were not illiterate.

He increased the army's investment in education. Besides continuing to reinforce their reading and writing skills, the soldiers also had to study subjects such as mathematics—something that seemed utterly unbelievable to outsiders.

This was especially true of the more specialized branches, such as artillery, surveying soldiers, meteorological soldiers, and engineers, as well as the many civilian positions. The things they had to master seemed profoundly advanced to ordinary people—subjects that only wealthy, leisured scholar-gentlemen would normally study.

Paul even had the officers and soldiers read poetry and watch plays, using them to cultivate their character.

Many people were baffled. Why would the Marquis invest so much in a group of "expendable goods" that might lose their lives at any moment on the battlefield?

It was indeed difficult to understand. Even Paul himself merely relied on the rigid perceptions from his previous life and vaguely knew that enriching soldiers' minds, improving their education, and broadening their horizons would certainly help enhance their combat power.

But as