Chapter 399： Military treatment

The northwestern territories of Aldo Kingdom spent the Advent Day of 1993 in the holy calendar in the cold wind and winter snow, ushering in a new year.

This year, Paul chose to spend this important festival with soldiers in the barracks.

Arda's army now had a total of eight battalions of infantry, of which two were stationed at Emden, two at Beilding, and the remaining four at Midlake.

On Advent Day, a total of more than 2,000 people from the four battalions assembled on the playground, forming four neat square formations. All officers and soldiers were notified that their Supreme Commander, Earl Greyman, had something important to announce to everyone.

Paul walked up to the podium under the attention of everyone, and he "scanned" the officers and soldiers under the stage with his eyes back and forth with satisfaction.

The effect of the new military uniform was good, and the spirit of the army under him had been raised to a new level. With the military posture of standing at attention, the soldiers looked full of energy.

According to the general routine in this era, Paul first advocated a lot of words such as honor and loyalty, and encouraged officers and soldiers to continue to work hard to defend their hometown and relatives.

But this is all falsehood. Paul's following truth made everyone's ears **** up.

"In order to repay your loyalty and dedication, I, Paul Greiman, have decided to increase the salaries of all members of the military."

"I specially issued a batch of manuals to explain the revised salary and reward system, which will be distributed to everyone. I hope you can fight the enemy bravely, obey orders under any circumstances, and accumulate military merits to improve your level. And I, Paul Grayman, hereby swear that I will strictly abide by the rules I set!"

"Here I will mainly mention the most numerous private soldiers among us. After this salary increase, an ordinary private can receive 700 copper coins per month, and his family can receive 100 grams of salt per month. "

"Long live!" Before Paul finished speaking, there was a huge cheer on the playground, and the atmosphere suddenly changed from serious to enthusiastic.

Even the most ordinary soldiers can receive so much, let alone officers.

"Count Paul Grayman ~ my commander and my lord ~"

"Under Heavenly Father's Blessing～Like Wind, Thunder and Lightning～"

"Who doesn't know Earl Greiman and his soldiers~"

The officers and soldiers even sang "Ode to Earl Greiman" spontaneously.

This military song, whose lyrics made Paul feel a little embarrassed, turned out to be very popular in the army, and almost everyone knew it.

Although strictly speaking, the reaction of the officers and soldiers at this time is a bit undisciplined, but stopping them from expressing their love for themselves at this time will obviously hurt the feelings of the officers and soldiers, so Paul had to clap his hands to echo their rhythm until the end of the song.

Whether an army can maintain its combat effectiveness, in addition to strict discipline, sufficient material supplies are also very necessary. According to Paul's memory, the reason why the soldiers in another time and space can maintain high morale for a long time is that apart from having great revolutionary ideals, another important reason is that the soldiers' pay is twice the actual pay of the enemy soldiers.

After finally calming down, Paul continued to announce his other measures.

"From now on, the salary distribution of everyone in the army will be under the unified responsibility of the logistics department, and the people in charge of this will implement vertical management, not subject to the restraint of military officials at all levels, and they will hand over the money to everyone If any brother receives less money than stipulated, then he has the right to come directly to me to state the situation."

This is to prevent vicious incidents such as deducting military pay and drinking blood from soldiers. Although the army in his hands is still small and this kind of thing hasn't happened yet, it's always good to take some precautionary measures first.

"In addition, I will set up a [postal] department in the army to deliver letters or send items for you, including your salaries and clothes, which can be sent to your home through this postal department."

The establishment of military mail is to provide convenience to soldiers on the one hand, and it is also for confidentiality needs on the other hand. With Paul’s efforts to eliminate illiteracy in the army, it is no longer a problem for most people to write a simple letter home, but there may be some content that should not appear in the letter. It is better to have a unified department for screening than to let the soldiers do it casually. It is much better to entrust someone to take it home.

Paul also plans to establish a postal system among the people, but he intends to do it after the customs union is established, and to bring in the territories of other lords.

"Okay, now I'm announcing the disbandment. Except for the personnel on duty, you can move freely in the barracks today, but you must arrive at the cafeteria on time before dinner. I have prepared a special delicacy for everyone."

All disbanded, and everyone rushed to where they wanted to go with the enthusiasm brought about by the salary increase and the curiosity about the special food that the lord had to say.

The barracks in Huxin Town has many interesting places. In order to enrich the entertainment activities for the soldiers, Paul racked his brains. In addition to promoting more "elegant" activities such as playing cards and chess, he also used various sports and entertainment in his previous life. Copying to this time and space, such as football, basketball, and table tennis, compared with chess and cards, sports entertainment has two significant benefits. One is to improve the physical fitness of soldiers, and the other is to consume a lot of their physical strength and energy. Reduce their thoughts on the opposite sex.

After taking a break, Paul and Chief of Staff Schroeder came to the chapel in the barracks. When they arrived, there were already 200 people waiting inside. Young officers, they are basically selected from ordinary soldiers with good culture and excellent performance, and then gather together, let teachers transferred from the Weiss College next door to further teach culture and arithmetic, so that Schroeder, People with knight abilities such as Bryce taught military abilities such as command, riding, map recognition, and position identification. But the most important thing is to instill loyalty to the commander in chief, Paul Greiman.

Another characteristic of this group of officers is that most of them come from civilian or serf families, which is what Paul values. However, those from serf families have been restored to freedom by Paul using the power of the lord, including their families.

In the original plan, they would have three years of training and study, but Paul couldn't wait any longer. He instructed Schroeder to compress the courses, speed up the progress, and arrange these officers to practice in the army as soon as possible.

Today, the young officers got the news early that after the lord had finished speaking to the whole army, he wanted to have a private "heart-to-heart talk" with them in the church, so they gathered here after the dismissal.

"Master Earl!"

After Paul entered, everyone stood up and saluted in unison.

"Everyone, please sit down."

Paul responded.

He sat down with a chair in the center of the hall, not on a high podium. Then he ordered everyone to rearrange the seats and sit around him.

"I'm here today not for some important military affairs, but to get to know each of you."

"Let's start with the situation of your respective families Where are you from, how many people are in your family, and how did you join the army? Although I am a lord, I am still very interested in the lives of my subordinates. I have been busy with government affairs all along, and today I finally have time to find out.”

To maintain the majesty of being a nobleman, but also not to keep people away thousands of miles away, the balance between the two must be done well—this is what Schroeder told him.

Abandoning the majesty of the nobility will make people of this era look down on them, and rejecting others thousands of miles away will make people speechless.

"My lord, I...my name is Makarov."

A muscular man with a beard raised his hand and was about to stand up.

"You don't have to stand up, just sit and talk."

"Yes, my lord. I come from a village near Port Fulan..."

"There were pirates that year...my family..."

…

Paul listened carefully to what the officers told about their respective situations, and listened to their emotions.

Time passed by second by second, and the "symposium" continued until the sun was sinking.

"Today's conversation has improved my understanding of you a lot. I think this special meeting can be held every once in a while, and everyone can communicate with each other, such as learning experience, work experience, and life. You can talk about any difficulties. Even if I am not there, someone with a higher position can preside over it.”

"Yes, Lord Earl." The officers all agreed.

Paul stood up and looked around the crowd.

"Okay, that's all for today. Now let's go enjoy the delicious food."

A group of people followed Paul to the cafeteria, where a food called "dumplings" was waiting for them.