84 – The county ahead of its time (3)

In Korea, no one enlists in the military to rise in status, but in the Middle Ages, or in some countries until the mid-20th century, the military functioned as a stage for reversing life.

During the Thirty Years’ War, it was common for soldiers from Sweden or other countries to become real nobility once they were promoted to second lieutenant or lieutenant after making a contribution in the war.

Of course, I didn’t give you the estate.

In any case, our army already has examples of the so-called Mark, Short, a semi-noble serf, and Major Frost, a knight with a fief of bastard origin.

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Maybe that’s why in our territory, even though we recruited a large number of soldiers at once, the competition ratio reached 1:5.

And today, I stood on the podium of the training center near Blue Fort to encourage the soldiers to start training.

Standing right next to me was Colonel Biermann, a knight who had served my family for a long time, who would serve as the head of the training center, and right below the podium were the battalion commander, company commander, platoon commander, and various staff members.

Somewhere away from the pulpit, noncommissioned officers and soldiers who were to play the role of instructors and assistants were leading the recruits in their charge.

In the days of Baron, the number of commanders and veterans was only 5,000, but now there are only 4,000 new recruits trained at the Blue Fort Training Center… I am deeply moved.

With such feelings, I saw them and shouted out loud.

“Trainees who stood here after overcoming fierce competition to become honorable soldiers of Kreutel! I am proud of you guys.”

Then, I took a deep breath and said.

“However, you trainees are like new chicks who have just taken their first step towards becoming soldiers! Yet you do not have the strength, courage, or skill to fight the ironclad knights of the enemy like the soldiers who fought with me at Strenheim. Therefore, you now are worth less than scarecrows in armor.”

Unlike scarecrows in armor, untrained trainees can carry supply carts, guard duty, or do various chores, so it can be said that they have their own value.

However, untrained soldiers are nothing but food and money.

In a terrifying war like Sturnheim right now, nine out of ten people will throw down their spears and armor and surrender, and even if they fight without surrender, they may break the harmony of their ranks and drive countless soldiers to their deaths.

“And my army has no need for scum less than scarecrows! So, like Lieutenant Mark or Major Frost, if you want to escape the fate of your lowly status, run harder than others and become a strong soldier. Then, as your lord and commander, I will surely repay you more than you ever thought. More than.”

After saying that, I got down from the podium and hurried to my next appointment.

As I moved on, I began to hear shouts mixed with scolding from Colonel Bierman, now the training director.

“Even though His Excellency said that he expects from you, I do not expect even a speck of dust from you! However, as Your Excellency’s knight and as the head of the training center, I will work hard enough to make you want to die in order to live up to those high expectations. That way, I will make you better soldiers than scarecrows!!! Those who are dissatisfied, get out immediately!!!”

As a soldier, I ordered him to use such a tone in order to instill absolute obedience to his superior, even through fear…

I never thought that Beerman, the head of a prestigious family of knights who had served me for generations, would use such harsh words.

And after a while, the soldiers responded with a loud voice.

“There is not!!”

Seeing that, I said in a laughing voice.

“Do seats make people?”

**

Bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar!!

“You idiots who couldn’t even get a straw into the scarecrow!! You can’t even react to the sound of the weather trumpet after training just that much! Get up right away, change your clothes, and come out to the parade ground!”

With that, I opened my eyes and began to organize my place as quickly as possible.

The other soldiers moved their hands so quickly that they couldn’t see their own.

“You fools! Will you move at this speed even when you go to war!! Then, if you participate in a battle like Sturnheim, the enemy knight will charge with a mace, and you will be sleeping there holding a spear!”

And the teaching assistant wearing the rank of sergeant kicked the side of the comrade next to me and said.

“you.”

“Max!!”

As soon as Max answered, the teaching assistant became even more angry.

“Didn’t your parents teach you to listen when people speak? Yesterday, the main building kindly 000 trainees! Didn’t you teach me that? I lost my concept. Recruit Max, get down!”

Hearing those words, Max, who was next to me, put his arms out in front of me and lay down.

Even then, the teaching assistant shouted loudly into Max’s ear as if he was dissatisfied.

“You idiot!! Didn’t you hear that you had to repeat the order of your superiors just a few hours before going to bed? Seeing that he forgets even after hearing that, he must be discharged immediately. Your parents will be a little sad if it goes back like that, but I can’t discipline an idiot who can’t even do this! Recruit Marx! Pack up immediately and go back!!!”

To get a chance to reversal of status, to get a better life, dropping out is like a call to die for us who came in and beat the other four competitors with all our might.

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Maybe that’s why Max prayed to the sergeant with tears in his face.

“Please save me, Sergeant. If I don’t become a soldier, my parents will live in the village without showing their faces.”

At that, the teaching assistant, who had just been speaking in a sharp voice, suddenly spoke in a soft but firm voice.

“But looking at what you’re doing now, I don’t think you’ll be able to adapt properly. And you don’t have to worry because His Excellency will cover all the costs of going back. to evict.”

“Sergeant, please take a look. If I fall short of others, I will work twice or three times harder. So please… give me one more chance…”

After saying that, Max started to cry with a desperate sound as if his parents had died.

Seeing her crying like that didn’t seem like someone else’s business at all, and I felt uncomfortable too.

Then the teaching assistant answered again in an angry voice.

“Then I will give you one last chance. It would be a pity to give an idiot like you one last chance, but the great Earl ordered me to make people even less than scumbags. And what are you guys doing! move quickly!! Stop your hands and what are you doing? Is this a place for kids to play?”

At that, we quickly started packing our belongings, before we even had time to feel relieved that Max, who lives in the same hostel, was safe.

And felt it at the same time.

The fact that in order to survive in the training center, we must make bone-breaking efforts to do what we are ordered to do thoroughly and perfectly.

**

Our squad quickly ran to the designated meeting place, led by the assistant instructor, and when we arrived, the instructor wearing a rank badge began to speak loudly.

“Today we are conducting a ceremony. Ceremonial training is training in which hundreds of soldiers walk in unison with their arms and legs without a single error and take unified movements. It’s not an easy training, but if you don’t want to fall out, do your best. Then the teaching assistant will come out and demonstrate it himself, so pay attention.”

And when the five assistants came out, the instructor shouted out loud.

“Take 20 steps forward, turn back, then 20 steps and turn left!!”

Then, the teaching assistants began to walk at the same height, the same movement, and the same speed, as if measured with a ruler.

The sight of them walking in the same posture was enough to make the five of them look like one person.

And the instructor laughed and said.

“I will only teach you the movements of walking very thoroughly today. And if you can move your hands and feet in sync without making a mistake in exactly 20 commands, no more and no less, today’s training is over. Rest is guaranteed during the spare time.”

After saying that, the teaching assistants grabbed us and taught us how to move.

How to move your arms and legs when you walk back and forth, left and right, how to change direction, etc.

When copying the assistant’s movements, it’s only done in two or three times, so it’s not that difficult, right?

And the teaching assistant wearing a sergeant rank commanded us with a meaningful smile.

“Everyone, stand in 5 columns. And go forward!”

At that, my squad and platoon members ran as quickly as possible to their respective positions.

And we moved forward, waving our arms and legs as we had learned.

Although it was a little difficult because it was a motion that I hadn’t done before, at most it was not that difficult because it was about swinging my arms and legs at a set angle.

If I do this, today’s training won’t be over in the morning if I do well?

As I was walking with that thought in mind, the teaching assistant shouted out loud.

“Everyone, turn left!”

At those words, I turned my back and foot to the left and proceeded.

However, one of the trainees next to me was dropped from the line.

The teaching assistant looked at it and said with an evil smile.

“You can’t even walk like this, are you still a soldier of Kreutel! All the way back to the beginning!”

This time, they changed direction and went forward, but out of 100 people, more than 10 people got their feet twisted and couldn’t move forward in time.

“Ten twisted feet get down on their heads! The rest turn right!”

It’s a very simple action, but seeing it fail constantly, I started to get scared before I knew it.

If someone continues to fail like this, it seemed like the training I was doing would never end.

“All back! Turn back and then turn left!”

At that, I quickly turned back and left again.

This time, because 20 people got their feet twisted, they were summoned by an instructor with an evil smile to cheer them up.

That’s how I and the other soldiers did not breathe until lunchtime that day, and went through ritual training.

As a result, the hands and feet of all 100 people gradually got along, but the teaching assistants and instructors continued to shout loudly from the side and scold them, as if that was not enough.

“Trainee Jeff! Spread your legs a little more and walk!!!”

Then a soldier came with a huge cart full of water, strange brick-like bread, and salted herring.

The instructors and assistants each handed us a wide bowl, a pair of tongs, firewood, green paper, dry noodles, herring, and brick-like bread.

Then, as instructed, we made a bonfire in groups of five, put our helmets on it, and boiled it with water, cotton, and green paper.

After boiling for a few minutes, the savory smell began to vibrate everywhere.

As soon as we finished preparing the meal, the assistant in charge of us said.

“Break the biscuits with a mace and eat them, and eat the noodles and the rest with tongs.”

As soon as he said that, I was so hungry that I roughly broke the biscuits with my mace and chewed them in my mouth.

It was hard like stone.

Other soldiers might have done something similar, and some of them held their mouths and were in pain.

“It’s like chewing on a stone…”

“Can’t this be used as a weapon?”

“mom…”

On the other hand, the teaching assistants first broke the biscuits with a mace, then scooped out all the noodles in the helmet and ate them, then put the crushed biscuits in the soup to eat.

It looked a bit like that, but the teaching assistants really enjoyed it.

“Oh, this is delicious. Is it okay to roll biscuits in seaweed soup and eat them?”

“So it is. Sergeant Salt, if you’re craving something salty while eating rolled biscuits, it’s great to eat pickled herring on top…”

“Tsk tsk, if you just put herring in a bowl and boil it together, it tastes like delicious fish soup… It’s amazing to eat it with biscuits wrapped in the soup.”

“Sir, if you eat like that, it doesn’t look right…”

“Would you like to eat something like that?”

And with a slurp, they finished their meal in an instant.

After that, I naturally ate the noodles like the other teaching assistants, and then added the crumbled biscuits to the soup remaining in the helmet.

Then, the very nutty taste of the biscuits melted the flavor of the soup, so it was really delicious.

To put it bluntly, it was like dipping bread into the fish soup I ate as a child.

So, I quickly ate the biscuits and herring in the delicious broth.

Around the end of the meal, the instructor spoke loudly.

“Clean up as soon as possible, put on the pitch, and get back to training!!”

Hearing that, the only thought left in my head.

What should I do with the rest of my military life?