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

Chapter 316 Nobody Doesn't Want to Be a Soldier
This phenomenon indicates that Gavial's spell did indeed work on him.

Speaking of young, brave men...

It is undeniable that the two cities, with over 100,000 residents, and the bravest men were all in Roman's army.

However, not everyone is an apostle.

Roman couldn't bless all the soldiers; only a small number of them would ultimately enjoy extraordinary promotions.

It's better now.

The number of apostles in the seven thousand-strong army doubled, reaching a scale of one thousand.

This is a good thing.

If they are newly recruited apostles, they will be incorporated into the army, trained, and then their attributes will be assessed. In short, they will need time to adapt.

But now, some veterans can skip the training and receive blessings directly.

Furthermore, according to his observation, the loyalty of this newly recruited veterans was almost the same as that of the veterans he had trained for two years, both ranging from 70% to 80%.

Some new apostles even saw their percentage soar to 80%.

The higher the degree of relationship, the closer his or her fate is to them.

Just those seven thousand-plus veterans alone.

It is estimated that there are about 700 soldiers with the physical qualities of a first-tier knight.

Behind them were quasi-first-tier knights, numbering approximately two thousand.

The rest were all soldiers who were close to being first-tier knights.

Generally speaking, the longer you train, the better your physical fitness will be.

But it is also closely related to past experiences.

Take swordsmen for example. Swordsmen have been wielding swords since childhood. Although their dietary standards are not high, they have certainly never gone hungry.

When busy, they do various kinds of labor; when free, they practice swordsmanship.

Therefore, all two thousand swordsmen in the sweeping battle were near-first-tier knights.

And what about Roman's soldiers? They were people who had never had enough to eat or wear.

With a high standard of diet including fat, protein, and calories, and subjected to high-intensity, grueling training, although physical fitness has improved significantly, most people still haven't had time to reach that threshold.

Just wait another year.

Roman was extremely confident about this, even though he knew that the grueling training was ruining the soldiers' future.

He doesn't care.

Now there are so many more apostles, all of whom are being directly promoted.

Before the end of this year, he should be able to acquire at least two thousand soldiers with physical attributes equivalent to a first-tier knight.

The units of the Conqueror Knights quickly became as common as cabbages in Origin City.

very good!

This is good!
Gweil was also very happy.

Hehe, Roman spent ten days with her.

……

Roman hasn't had much free time in the past ten days.

He launched a recruitment drive, bringing in all the apostles who could be recruited into the army; it didn't matter if you called it conscription.

In fact, no one resisted the conscription order.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that all young and middle-aged people are enthusiastically signing up, and many single men are doing so as well.

Because it smells so good.

Soldiers are currently the most sought-after item in the wedding market.

For those female slaves who had not yet been allocated housing and were all alone, as long as they could marry a soldier, they could turn their lives around and become the best-treated group in Origin City.

To put it bluntly, even if their husbands die in battle, they can still receive a large sum of compensation.

Roman was never stingy when it came to pensions, after all, the widows who received pensions also had to work for him.

That's ridiculous. Wives who didn't die in battle have to work for their husbands, so why shouldn't widows work for them? As long as you live, you have to consume, and consumption means spending money. All the pensions that flowed out would eventually return to Roman's hands.

Even so, it couldn't stop the endless stream of suitors.

Whenever the soldiers rested, there were always some women of marriageable age who would try every means to linger in front of them, hoping to win their favor.

Unfortunately, there were far more monks than meat, and almost everyone had little contact with them—there were quite a few cooks, though, because they had to transport processed flour and various foods to the military camp.

Therefore, he was able to interact with the soldiers, especially those in the cooking squad.

Most soldiers were willing to marry women who knew how to cook. The laws of Origin City stipulated monogamy, and no one dared to break them.

Otherwise, they'll have to taste the iron fist.

Therefore, women of marriageable age who do not have the opportunity can only turn their attention to production departments such as resident affairs officers, agricultural guidance officers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and construction teams.

They all have income and own houses.

The lower-class farmers and other male slaves only chose this option because they had no other choice.

Of course, women are also in high demand, such as tailors, textile workers, and women who have given birth.

Regardless of gender, there are no requirements regarding appearance or attire, as long as all four limbs are intact.

However, soldiers are given three bars of soap a month to wash their bodies, and if they use them sparingly, they can even bring a bar of soap home.

Therefore, their appearance is the best.

Under these circumstances, no one would want to be a soldier.

……

In just a few days, the first batch of new recruits numbered as many as three thousand.

Roman plans to add 5,000 new recruits this year first.

We will recruit another 5,000 people next year.

Recruiting 10,000 people at once would be overwhelming, not only for Origin City and Abundant City, but even for the army.

The training is too difficult.

Everything can only be done step by step.

Roman values ​​organization highly.

This was true in the city of Plenty, and even more so in the army.

If a new recruit hasn't undergone six months of training, let alone executing tactics, even routine combat will be difficult.

Moreover, they also need to undergo a series of combat training exercises, including archery, spears, and adapting to plate armor.

However, with veterans and squad leaders guiding them, it wasn't difficult to adapt.

……

After all, the military is autonomous.

A squad leader directs 11 soldiers in training.

The squadron leader and battalion commander are responsible for higher-level affairs and coordinate with Jet.

Just like in school, the brigade took turns assisting the cooks with fetching water for cooking, regularly cleaning toilets, and distributing daily necessities such as soap and clothes.

Are there any more challenging logistical requirements?

If an army can't even manage itself, then Roman shouldn't expect to lead them into battle.

In fact, he only needs to provide food, clothing, shelter, and weapons.

The weapons and equipment were the responsibility of the woodworking factory and the coal and iron town. Maintenance and repairs were also the soldiers' responsibility.

Military uniforms were originally the responsibility of textile and leather factories, which together could only employ a maximum of eight hundred people.

The food consisted of flour ground in the main kitchen, fresh meat from the pasture, and other vegetables and side dishes. Two or three wagons were enough to transport to the military camp each day, which was a drop in the ocean compared to the meadow pastures of today.

After all, the roads have been paved, greatly improving transportation efficiency.

They lived in military camps, in bunk beds, with each dormitory accommodating 12 people. On average, each person had only four square meters of living space, but the cramped space facilitated the development of teamwork, which was an advantage.

……

Only during wartime is it necessary to mobilize more laborers to assist the army in combat.

For example, guarding prisoners of war, clearing battlefields, transporting supplies, setting up camps, and cooking meals.

Especially during expeditions, once the supply lines are stretched out, the amount of resources consumed is simply appalling.

But what if there's no war in peacetime?
To be fair, the only drawback of a standing army is its food supply.

If Roman had 10,000 soldiers, he would throw at least 50,000 catties of rice, flour, meat, eggs, milk, and vegetables into the tank every day.

In this day and age, which nobleman could afford to keep such a person?
Even the King of Black Iron was speechless upon seeing it.

But all these years of hard work farming and raising livestock, wasn't it all for the purpose of supporting his army?

Is 50,000 jin a lot of weight per day?

This year, Fengrao City harvested a total of 20 million catties of wheat, which was all staple food.

(End of this chapter)