Imperial Crown.

Chapter 43 Everyone makes the best use of their talents
The sound of neat footsteps echoed in the corridor. Eric and Simon walked into the conference room one after the other, punching their chests with their fists and giving a standard military salute: "Baron!"

Seeing Eric coming along, Raven's lips curled up into a playful smile, he knew what his retainer was thinking.

Raven was too busy during this period, and the military affairs were basically handed over to Eric. The two had few opportunities to meet and communicate even less.

The latter looks rough, but he obviously has a sense of crisis. Now of course he wants to make his presence felt while summoning Simon.

Raven was not dissatisfied with this. Eric's behavior showed that he was loyal to him, otherwise he would not have such a small idea.

Raven nodded and looked at Eric: "How is the training of these soldiers from Goldshire Town going?"

"Under the guidance of your wise and superb training methods, progress has been rapid, sir!" Eric flattered him first, and then added: "But it is not yet sufficient for use."

"The same old problems?" Raven asked.

"Yes, sir." Eric showed a trace of shame on his face: "It's the same two months of training, but this group of soldiers from Shining Gold Town is much worse than our Eagle Town."

Raven was not very surprised by this.

The soldiers of Shanjin Town were from urban areas and were used to being sneaky and cunning. Although they were smarter than the soldiers of Xiongying Town, they had more ideas of their own, valued their lives more, and were not as hardworking as the soldiers of Xiongying Town in training.

"This is not your responsibility, don't feel any pressure." Raven comforted Eric and turned to Simon: "I see you seem to have something to say?"

"Yes, sir." Simon stood up straight, his eyes looking up at the sky above Raven's head: "I think there are some problems with the current training method."

Eric looked at Simon with displeasure, obviously he had heard this question before.

"Don't be so nervous. I won't whip you just for a few words." Raven smiled softly and said, "Tell me what you want to say slowly."

"Yes, sir!" Simon's eyes relaxed slightly, but still bright and sharp: "From the current point of view, the biggest reason for the poor training results of this group of soldiers is not because of their poor quality, but because they miss home."

"Homesick?" Raven was stunned for a moment, then became interested: "Tell me more about it."

Feeling Raven's attitude, Simon breathed a sigh of relief. He swallowed his saliva and said, "Sir, when we were training, although we also had night training, we were still able to go home every now and then. Since we are close to Eagle Town, sometimes we can go back during lunch break."

"But now, these soldiers are training in the barracks all day long, with no time to rest. You also stipulated that gambling is not allowed after dark, so they generally have some... resentment in their hearts."

"That's still not enough." Faced with this kind of report that could even be considered as an exposure, Eric's face was a little gloomy: "Sir, this is my dereliction of duty. From today on, I will strengthen the night patrols."

Raven raised his hand, motioning Eric to be quiet, and then lowered his head to think.

The reason why he did not give these private soldiers any vacation was that he wanted to temper their will and overcome their "rich man's disease".

Especially gambling.

As a daily pastime, a little gambling is fine for pleasure, but in the military, it is a source of chaos that disrupts the atmosphere in the barracks and will greatly damage the relationship between soldiers.

As far as Raven knew, it was not uncommon for large-scale fights or even deaths to occur due to gambling, whether in the previous life or this life.

Now it seems that what I did was a bit too much.

Everyone needs entertainment and relaxation, and soldiers are no exception.

Even in the army in previous lives, there were regular holidays, and people could have their own entertainment activities after resting, such as watching TV, reading, or playing games.

What's more, the quality of the soldiers in this world is completely incomparable to that of the soldiers in the previous life.

It is normal to feel some resentment when long-accumulated pressure cannot be released, and it is also normal that the training efficiency cannot be improved.

"This is indeed my negligence." Raven thought for a moment and said, "How about this, starting from next week, give them a day off every weekend."

Eric expressed his objection: "Baron, isn't it too frequent?"

"Let's do this first." Raven did not completely deny Eric's words: "Let's see the effect. If the training results decline by then, then we can make adjustments."

Eric felt that Raven respected his opinion, and said respectfully, "Understood, sir."

"Simon, you did a great job this time." Raven said with a satisfied smile: "Mr. Gordon, remember that Simon can get double his salary this month."

Simon's eyes widened, his voice filled with excitement: "It's my honor, Baron!"

In comparison, Eric's expression was not so good, and he looked at Simon with deep dissatisfaction.

"You're all here today, so I can talk to you about what's on my mind." Raven glanced over and said in a deep voice, "You should also know that I'm still very busy recently."

"I have just become a magician. I need to meditate and practice spells. Besides that, I also have to take care of the product development of the workshop."

"As a baron, I now lack even more - the Elvish language, the history of the empire, the main noble families in the Nordic province and their members. I need to learn, remember and understand all of these."

"Not to mention business activities, territory development, settlement of citizens, and military training, all of which require my energy."

Raven spoke sincerely, and both Old Gordon and Eric blushed a little.

The nobility have always been proud of their expertise in eating, drinking, having fun, and indulging in luxury, and ashamed of doing practical work.

It was a shame that as a retainer, Raven had to bear so much burden on his shoulders.

Raising his hand to suppress the apology that Gordon was about to blurt out, Raven continued slowly: "I also know that you have all done a good job, but I hope you can be... more meticulous."

"Just like what Simon did today, helping me find problems in advance. Every time I find one, my pressure will be reduced, and our Eagle Territory will get better and better."

The one with the reddest face at the moment was Eric. He was the current person in charge of the military camp. However, it was Simon who discovered the biggest problem. Although Raven did not mention him in every sentence, there was no doubt that he was using this as a warning.

"My Lord Baron, I have indeed been a little careless recently and have been going home often at night." Eric straightened up and said, "Don't worry, from today on, except for routine meetings, I will never leave the barracks. When they have a holiday, I will have a holiday too!"

There is no need for a heavy hammer to make a loud drum. Raven was very satisfied with Eric's attitude: "You don't have to do it to that extent. Just pay more attention to it in daily life."

Then he looked at Simon and asked, "How's your horse riding training going lately?"

"Still working on it, sir!" Simon said, "At the moment I can only run on horseback, and I'm not yet proficient in using weapons on horseback."

Raven asked, "How many soldiers are there now who can reach your level?"

"Except me, there are four in total." Simon called out the names of four people in succession.

"That's enough." Raven nodded. "How's your homework for this week?"

Hearing this, Simon unfastened the belt around his waist and handed over a folded parchment.

The paper was spread out on the table, with neat squares clearly outlined with lines of ink, and various ink dots and lines within the squares. In the upper right corner, a cross arrow marked the four directions of east, west, south, and north.

In the center is Eagle Town, which occupies 1 square.

A slightly curved line was drawn in the east, spanning 4 grids, marking the location of the Riverside Workshop.

The south is a winding double-dashed line that runs from northeast to southwest, spanning almost the entire parchment, representing the Jinsha River.

To the west is a slightly curved double solid line representing a road, which extends to Goldshire after a distance of 10 grids.

3 squares to the north is Eagle Castle.

This is a map of the current Eagle Territory, designed by Raven and drawn by Simon himself. This is the 8th map.

The double solid lines represent roads, the double dotted lines represent rivers, a big rock is drawn for a mountain, a tree is drawn for a forest, circles represent cities and settlements, and the squares are drawn and set by Raven in advance to replace the scale. One square represents an area of ​​200 meters by 200 meters.

As early as in Glittering Gold Town, Raven realized that ordinary maps of the world were too crude to be practical, so he created this tricky method to cultivate Simon's ability to draw maps.

Although it does not have the contour lines that are essential to modern maps, it does not prevent it from having a considerable degree of practicality.

Eric had known about this for a long time, but when he saw the finished product Simon took out, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Sir, this can almost be used as a marching map."

"Well, it's really good, Simon, you did a great job." Raven said with relief: "It seems that I can safely hand over this task to you."

As he spoke, he took out a stack of parchment from the drawer. There were already grids drawn on it. "Here are 10 blank maps with grids already drawn on them. Three of them have smaller squares, with one grid representing one kilometer. Seven of them have larger squares, with one grid representing 3 meters."

"I need you to lead the four horsemen, each with two horses, bring enough food and water, to the Bloody Highlands for reconnaissance, and draw a complete map of the route for me; the big one should draw the overall terrain, and the small one should draw the details of the terrain. The more detailed the better. Can you do it?"

Simon seemed to know nothing of fear, and beat his chest: "Your will be carried out, my lord!"

Eric immediately thought of Raven's previous crazy plan:
Counterattack Bloody Heights.

He originally thought it was just a joke, but he didn't expect that Raven had already started making preparations. The reason why he trained Simon's mapping ability was for this purpose.

Old Gordon also sensed something was wrong: "My Lord Baron, please think twice. There are too many uncertain risks on the Bloody Heights."

"Everything has risks. The bandits on Bloody Highlands will not come only once." Raven said, "Now that we have taken back Goldshire Town, there are more places to protect. Mapping the terrain in advance will also be beneficial for future defensive operations."

This reason was so plausible that old Gordon had no room for rebuttal, and even Eric was speechless - because from a military point of view, this was indeed what should be done.

Seeing that the two of them no longer objected, Raven's eyes fell on Simon again: "This time, you must remember not to reveal your purpose to anyone, nor your identity. Therefore, you can only wear leather armor without the Griffith family logo on this trip."

"I don't care how you achieve your goal, but the map should be the first priority. The more detailed the better while ensuring safety."

"Have I explained everything clearly? Do you have any questions?"

Simon shook his head and said, "No problem, I totally understand!"

Raven walked up to him and patted his shoulder heavily. "Very good, then go and get ready. Have a good rest today. Report to Eagle Castle tomorrow morning and then set off."

With firm steps, Simon saluted and turned to leave.

Although the mission was arduous and life-threatening, he was not afraid because he knew that even if he died in the mission, the Baron would never treat his family unfairly.

It was not until Simon's back disappeared that Eric asked in a low voice: "Sir, are you planning to train Simon to be a scout?"

Raven sighed, "Yeah, he hadn't made up his mind yet, but now it seems that this is the best direction for him to develop."

"My Lord Baron, you really know how to appoint the right people to the right positions." Eric said sincerely, "Simon is smart and loyal enough, but his nature is still too...weak."

"It's not so much weakness as inappropriate kindness," Raven corrected.

Simon must have been unable to resist the pleas of his soldiers, so he reported the problem to himself today without going through Eric.

As the saying goes, a kind person cannot command an army. This does not mean that a general must be cold-blooded and ruthless, but it means that a commander must be prepared to cut off his own arms and let his soldiers die when necessary.

Simon couldn't help but sympathize with the soldiers' complaints and even ignored Eric's authority, which was enough to show that he was too soft-hearted.

This is a person's inherent nature, and it cannot be changed by just one or two words or one or two things.

If he were allowed to continue to lead the troops, sooner or later he would get into big trouble and harm himself and others; but his qualities in all aspects are excellent, and it would be a pity to abandon him, and it would also damage morale.

After much thought, he decided that being a scout was the most suitable position for him.

"Next, transfer Mosingan to the new recruit camp and let him take over Simon's position temporarily. Also, raise his salary."

"Understood, sir." Eric said, "Then I will return to the barracks first."

Eric turned and left. Raven leaned back in his chair and rubbed his neck: "Mr. Gordon..."

Seeing that the old retainer did not respond, Raven asked again: "Mr. Gordon?"

"Oh, sir, I'm sorry." Old Gordon came to his senses and quickly saluted.

Raven didn't care. He waved his hand and asked, "Mr. Gordon, what were you thinking about just now? Why were you so absorbed in it?"

Old Gordon was thinking about the series of events that happened today.

Simon's reporting of the problem bypassing Eric was like a loud slap in the face. Even if this retainer was very upright, he would still feel a little uncomfortable.

But the problem Simon raised did exist, and Raven couldn't punish him for it.

In this case, if Simon continues to stay in the army, as the incident develops, it will continue to damage Eric's prestige in the army and will also create a gap in Eric's heart.

Raven sent Simon out and ordered someone to replace him, which actually excluded him from the army's commander sequence.

The soldiers didn't know where Simon was going and would definitely think that this was a punishment for him.

In this way, the soldiers will understand how important Eric is to Raven, which will make them more respectful of Eric and make Eric more grateful to Raven.

"My Lord Baron, I was just thinking that Eric's words about you being able to assign the right people to the right positions are not accurate." Old Gordon praised sincerely, "In my opinion, you have really achieved the goal of 'getting the right people to the right positions'."

"Ha, 'everyone should do his best', you are praising me too much." Raven said with a smile: "But if that's the case, then shouldn't we,
"Make the best use of it?"

……

(End of this chapter)