RPAGF #214 - You can't become a cavalry general in three months
#214 - You can't become a cavalry general in three months
Leaving the “Customs,” Boritz followed Busak with unease toward the Holy Trinity Education Corps' station.
He couldn't discern the attitude of this chief civil official of the Papal State, and he even suspected that his small group had been discovered.
After all, there had always been a legend among the believers that a harsh secret intelligence organization, Cheka, existed within the Child Soldiers.
The legend said that the word “Cheka” came from the Elvish word for “Eyes of God,” and they would be dispatched by the Eye of God, Horne, to investigate and capture traitors.
However, Boritz had always regarded this as mere exaggeration by country bumpkins, but being called away by Busak with a serious face still made Boritz unable to stop overthinking.
Especially since their destination was actually the Holy Trinity Education Corps.
“Lord Busak, what are we doing at the Holy Trinity Education Corps?”
Busak, riding his horse on the muddy path surrounded by gray wood fences, said blandly, “Those refugees need a population census, so do these lost souls of the Holy Trinity Education Corps not need investigation?”
Lost souls was the name given to these petty, wicked, low-level nobles within the Salvation Army; their identity was positioned between believers and devils.
Speaking of which, the relationship between the Salvation Army and the Papal State must be mentioned, a question that was only officially determined yesterday.
In a nutshell, the Salvation Army is the Pope's direct army, while the rebel army outside under the banner of Holy Son and Short Hair is an army under the jurisdiction of the Papal State.
The original intention of establishing the Holy Trinity Education Corps was because Horne found that they lacked sufficient military and cultural talents to complete their due development plans.
After all, no matter how powerful Horne is, he can't possibly remember all knowledge; he also has the trouble of insufficient knowledge reserves brought from Earth to solve problems.
The so-called learning from the past to avoid future mistakes, treating the illness to save the person, Horne still kept some of the lower-level nobles and knights of the Thousand River Valley whose circumstances were slightly lighter.
Anyway, they were first kicked to be honest, and the knights' breathing techniques made them likely to be restless, so they were tied tightly around the neck with thin ropes to prevent them from breathing normally, and after starving for a few days, even the strongest knights had to work obediently.
When Boritz followed Busak to the scene, what he saw was a circle of dilapidated, man-high, spiked fences in a muddy depression.
Inside the fence were a dozen or so wooden houses emitting a putrid smell, but they were cleaned quite simply.
Hundreds of lost souls were dragged to the edge of the camp, where they took off their former wool and silk and put on the linen short clothes commonly worn by farmers.
The sky was gray, and remnants of rainwater occasionally dripped from the birch branches onto their heads, forcing them to shiver in the cold wind while digging up the land with hoes.
Friends who often reclaimed wasteland in ancient times know that reclaiming wasteland by manpower alone is quite difficult.
Reclaiming wasteland is not just turning over the land with a hoe; you must first dig ditches, pile them into ridges, and then burn the weeds and shrubs on the field with a fire.
If the terrain is relatively low, it is even more troublesome to drain the water first.
After solving the problem of the land itself, it is the people's turn to play.
These lost souls must first dig out the roots of the weeds, and then move all the stones and rocks in the field out, and even tree roots and rabbit holes must be removed.
Finally, the land is turned over again, fertilized well, and then turned over again and fertilized again to barely meet the standards for cultivation.
At the edge of the field's shed, four registrars held paper and pens, registering those emaciated lost souls.
But rather than registering, it was more like taking notes.
After listening for a while, Boritz discovered that these registrars were all Child Soldiers, and they would repeatedly ask about a question, requiring these lost souls to answer honestly.
Sometimes they would even ask questions that had been asked several days ago, and if they didn't match up, then sorry, the small dark room was waiting for you.
Boritz had seen many methods of torturing prisoners, and merely reclaiming wasteland and labor, with food and shelter, this kind of torture was much better than those coolies who were sold to work in black mines.
Perhaps only these low-level nobles and priests felt humiliated.
“Sir, when is my shift?” Boritz observed for a while, then turned to ask Busak.
Busak walked to a small courtyard and pointed inside: “You were asked to investigate the lost souls, not the ones outside.”
Following the wooden door opened by Busak, Boritz tiptoed in like a thief.
A girl in hunting leather armor and a middle-aged knight were in the center of the small courtyard. Boritz recognized at a glance that it was Jeanne, the witch who had personally killed dozens of knights in the Battle of Jeanne Fort.
A feeling of scalp numbness surged up instantly, and Busak behind him impatiently pushed him: “Go in quickly, don't block the door.”
Following Busak, Boritz took two steps and finally reached a position where he could hear the conversation between the two clearly.
“So how fast are walk, trot, canter, and gallop specifically? Is it judged according to wind speed?”
“No, no, no.” The middle-aged knight standing opposite Jeanne shook his head. “Wind speed is not enough to be used as a judgment of speed.”
“Then how can I know the specific speed of these four cavalry gaits?”
“It's very simple, have you seen a horse walking normally? After the four limbs leave the ground in sequence, they land in the order of leaving the ground, this is a walk.”
Standing in front of this warhorse, the middle-aged knight with sunken eye sockets only had his feet shackled, and his hands were not bound in any way. After all, with Jeanne here, he wouldn't be able to escape even if he had a hundred lives.
He coughed and continued, “Like a trot, it's the hooves on the diagonal, like the left front hoof and the right rear hoof leaving the ground and landing at the same time.
For a canter, for example, at the beginning the right hind limb lands, then the left hind limb and the right forelimb land at the same time, and finally the left forelimb lands.
Gallop, on the other hand, is used during the final charge, and is essentially an accelerated canter.”
“Then how do you judge what gait it is currently?”
The knight glanced at the girl in front of him who was taking notes seriously, and his voice actually carried a hint of pride and pity: “We often say that the sound of hooves is like the rhythm of sacred music. When you walk, one complete step is four hoof sounds of da-da-da-da, while a trot is two hoof sounds, a canter is three hoof sounds, and a gallop is again two hoof sounds.”
“I'll take you to test the specific speed of this gait later.” Jeanne awkwardly held the pen and wrote down a few simple words in her notebook.
After thinking about it, she handed the notebook to Boritz next to her: “You help me record.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Seeing Boritz's humble and flattering appearance, Jeanne frowned: “Since Madelaine recommended you to help me, you should work honestly and don't have any other crooked thoughts, understand?”
Boritz's heart stopped for a moment: “Understood, understood.”
Seeming to feel something wrong from Boritz, Jeanne was a little puzzled as to why Madelaine would recommend this person to her.
Jeanne shook her head, she didn't have the time to think about these things, and continued to look at the middle-aged knight in front of her, she asked: “Is that all? Are these all the gaits in cavalry combat?”
The knight's face showed an uncontrollable arrogance: “Of course not, my noble lady, in walk, there are also shortened walk, ordinary walk, and extended walk divided by stride and leg movements, and there are also more refined gaits in trot, canter, and gallop.
Among them, after taking potions, there can be even more refined gaits and tactics, there are different commands in the charge, and there are complex pace coordination in the march.
If a knight wants to become a knight, being able to fight is enough, but if he wants to become a cavalry captain, he still needs a long time of study, let alone a cavalry general.
If you want to become a cavalry general, madam, three months is not enough, at least three years.”
Jeanne ignored the sarcasm in his words, just stood up indifferently and patted the dirt on her pants: “I will come to you again tomorrow, go to work.”