You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 123 Re-equipped
A loud shout came from the military camp.

"rush!!"

At a command, two hundred warriors carrying heavy shields charged forward simultaneously.

The terrain ahead is treacherous, with numerous obstacles.

The route includes hills, moats, walls, log bridges, and even five-meter-high city walls, with a total length of two kilometers.

For the average person, just walking this route would be exhausting.

Carrying forty-pound shields on their backs, they sprinted, jumped, and climbed at a steady and sustained pace, maintaining their balance on the log bridge as they crossed the stream. When facing the city wall, they quickly formed human ladders. The soldiers in front pulled out their large shields from their backs, and thirty or forty men quickly built two layers of ladders, forming a gentle slope, allowing the soldiers behind to step on the shields and climb the city wall. Then, they lowered ropes to pull them up.

This long-distance off-road journey was extremely difficult, and it took two hours to finally complete the return trip.

Everyone's heart was pounding, and white mist kept billowing from their mouths and noses, melting the snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

Without a moment to rest, he slammed the heavy shield hard onto the ground.

Rows of steel shields rose up, and the troops, which had been scattered due to the long march, quickly gathered together, transforming into an impenetrable steel fortress.

However, of the initial two hundred people who set off, only a little over one hundred and eighty completed the formation within the allotted time.

The remaining dozen or so people were unable to complete the queue at the scheduled time due to various unforeseen circumstances.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the last two soldiers, carrying large shields and soaking wet, finally arrived.

The dozen or so soldiers who were lagging behind stood in a row. Jet, holding a rapier, lashed out at them like a whip, the force of which knocked each of them to the ground, leaving a trail of blood.

Why did you fall behind?

His face was cold, his tone was gloomy, and the thin sword in his hand was dripping with blood, inspiring fear in all who saw it.

"Jett, stop!" Roman righteously and sternly stopped Jet's violence.

After the autumn planting season ended, he finally had time to check on the soldiers' training progress.

Head instructor Jet had them do a cross-country march to demonstrate the results of their training to Roman.

The result was not ideal; they were unable to achieve the goal of a full-scale raid without losing a single soldier.

Jeter couldn't accept that; he only cared about one thing—everyone had to meet the standards.

Despite being a swordsman by training, Jet did not become a "sword master," but he mastered the basic Holy Light swordsmanship to perfection, making every swordsmanship movement the most standard and impeccable.

This was achieved through persistent daily training, practicing thousands of thrusts every day until his muscles trembled, all to hit the tiny target. His extremely solid swordsmanship made him stand out on the battlefield.

He had no intention of striving for perfection or pursuing the most perfect or outstanding soldier; he only required that the soldier meet the standards.

The capacity of a barrel depends not on its longest plank, but on its shortest.

These unqualified soldiers can only be considered defective products.

Roman was very satisfied, however, as he watched the entire cross-country race on horseback.

Jeter's standards aren't high, but these people have such poor foundations and such short training time, so you can't expect everyone to meet the standards.

These heavy shield warriors possessed impressive explosive power and coordination, scaling city walls and traversing narrow bridges with agility and ease.

Jeter's sword-wielding motion was obvious; they could have dodged, but they didn't.

Although he was knocked to the ground, a strong inner strength was beginning to take shape.

Roman can now assert that this army's future resilience will far exceed everyone's expectations.

This was also his most elite force.

The people are carefully selected, receive the highest level of treatment in all aspects, and undergo the longest training period.

His initial intention in forming the heavily armed force was to use the Knights of Conquest as his hypothetical enemy.

For now, they are barely qualified. There are also 400 lightly armed soldiers, who are further divided into spearmen, axemen, scouts, and so on.

There aren't any particularly complex unit types at the moment.

Complexity means increased training costs and an exponential increase in training time.

Roman didn't have high expectations for them; he only wanted them to improve their physical fitness and discipline.

If these two criteria are met, then it is the prototype of an invincible army.

Roman dismounted and approached the dozen or so heavy shield warriors who had been rejected, saying with displeasure, "How could you treat my warriors like this?"

Jeter said silently, "They failed to assemble within the stipulated time and deserve to be punished."

"They'll meet the standards eventually. Unexpected things can happen during cross-country running. You should know that even the best warhorses step on nails..."

Jet said coldly, "My standard is the bottom line. If they can't overcome the unexpected events during training, they'll only die faster on the battlefield. Rather than that, we might as well eliminate them during training and kick them out of the army to avoid them dying in vain in the future."

Cross-country running is just one part of the training; there are also marching in formation, standing drills, and more.

Roman made the unqualified soldiers take off their shirts, revealing their backs and chests covered in scars, some old, some new, with the newly appeared wounds slowly oozing blood.

Clearly, during this period, all those who failed were subjected to Jet's rapier lash.

He lashed out fiercely and viciously, the rapier swift and sharp, causing excruciating pain, making the victim wish they could roll on the ground in agony.

Jeter believed it was just physical pain, and only the scars would make them remember it.

Roman immediately sent someone to fetch hemostatic herbs made from crushed dragon's blood grass and yarrow. He also brought hot tea brewed with sage and echinacea—a hot tea that can reduce inflammation and boost immunity.

Punishment is one thing, but healing is another.

Roman bandaged them himself with soft linen, ignoring the "Medical Experience +1" notification.

“I remember you, you’re Luca, right?” Roman had a strong recollection of the injured man.

Some people need to be screened to join the military and enjoy high-intensity training and generous benefits.

Others, however, can join simply by saying a word.

After each recruitment, he would select a group of promising apostles to join the army.

Luca is a two-star apostle, and Roman specifically recruited him into the heavy armor unit.

He's now a heavy-duty squad leader, but he failed the cross-country run and was whipped by Jet.

Luca noticed Roman's gentle application of medicine to his back, wrapped the linen bandage soaked in the medicine around his body, and faced with Roman's question, he felt only intense shame and guilt, his face flushed red, and he couldn't say a word.

"Don't be ashamed, I'm proud of you. I saw you jump into the river. Never give up, never abandon. Hmm, very good!"

Roman watched their performance the whole time, and on the way back, a soldier fell into the water while crossing the log bridge. Luca heard the noise, immediately turned around and rushed back to the log bridge, jumped into the water and pulled the drowning man out.

The winding river was about two or three meters deep, and the water was icy cold. They were carrying forty-pound shields and couldn't float at all. They struggled for a while before finally managing to get ashore. They were soaked to the bone, and their leather boots were filled with water, making a squelching sound as they ran. So they didn't miss the assembly time.

But Jet only cares about the result; if it's not done, it's not done, and the squad leader will still get beaten up.

"Sir, it's all my fault. I made Captain Luca suffer with me." The man who fell into the water felt very guilty. If he had been able to calm down after falling into the water, he could have walked back to the shore from the bottom of the river. But he panicked and implicated others.

"No one is infallible, and I am no exception. But as long as it can be made up for and corrected, then the mistake is not a mistake. If we can learn a lesson from it, then it is not a bad thing. Forgive your instructor, Jet. He is correcting your current mistakes so that you will not make bigger mistakes in the future."

Roman was very gentle, with a strangely magnetic voice, and his words were full of tolerance and care.

After being lashed out by the cold-faced and ruthless Jet, everyone felt that their lord was gentle and kind, and spoke in a pleasant tone.

Whether it was due to the effects of the herbs or not, they felt that the burning, unbearable scars had lessened considerably, as if they had received some kind of healing.

(End of this chapter)