British hegemon

Chapter 90 Forming a Landlord Armed Force

Chapter 90 Forming a Landlord Armed Force

Roger, who had been busy and on the go for the past two days, finally had some free time. He handed over the affairs of the territory to Bitterface and the young horseman and began to formally build his own independent armed force.

These guys under my command can only be called the lord's armed forces at present, and are still far from being called an army.

Roger devoted a great deal of thought to the matter of establishing an armed force.

Over the past month, he carefully observed his ten warriors, making sure they all met his basic standards before taking action.

In my previous life, I had never joined a military organization. The gray armed forces in the smuggling group were just a group of thugs and gangsters, and there was no strict organization or management at all. I did receive a few years of quasi-military management in the prison compound, but at that time I was the one being managed.

Roger's entire imagination and superficial knowledge of armed forces came from a certain large forum he occasionally visited.

You have to try no matter what.

The founding ceremony of the armed forces was held in the main hall on the first floor of the lord's manor in the Milk House Manor, and took the form of a pre-dinner meeting.

A huge heraldic tapestry hung on the upper wall of the hall, and at the head of the long table beneath it sat Roger Campbell, Knight of Arlen and Lord of Milkhouse Manor.

The old steward, his face etched with worry, sat to one side, followed by Marne, Olaf, and the man nicknamed Baldy, Ponytail, and Black Dog, along with the five newly recruited warriors.

During the meeting, Roger signed three documents.

The first document was the official document promoting Marne and Olaf to the rank of knight squire, which served as a stepping stone for these two key military figures to enter the upper class.

The second document concerns the appointment of ten individuals—Marne, Olaf, Neil, Earl, Sigurd, Donald, and Connor—as sergeants of the Milk House Manor. The document stipulates that this does not mean these individuals are "subject to support and dedicated to military service."

The third document is a document granting each of ten sergeants, including Marne, Olaf, Neil, Earl, Sigurd, Donald, and Connor, five acres of "military service land".

Roger originally had little attachment to the land, but after these months of immersive experience, he realized that he could not shake the foundation of this era by his own strength. The land was still the foundation for everything, including loyalty and faith.

So Roger, disregarding the dissuasion of the man with a sour face and the tearful pleas of his mother, resolutely set aside fifty acres of land from his own camp and granted them to his first batch of armed core members as "military service land," with each soldier having five acres of farmland and a residential plot.

Putting aside the homestead, the amount of five acres of arable land was something Roger had considered repeatedly.

In Scotland, where the land is scarce, five acres of arable land is the area of ​​land owned by most self-sufficient farmers, which is not a small amount.

However, five acres of farmland, under the management model of at least two-plant rotation, is hardly enough to support a family of five. Therefore, the family must either rent land from gentry (landlords) and lords or engage in part-time jobs outside of agriculture to make a living.

This was the effect Roger hoped to achieve: he used five acres of land to bind his men to loyalty and provide their families with a place to live.

At the same time, his men cannot be tied down by the land; they must seek a living outside the land.

Roger's grant of land stipulated that "military service land" could be cultivated by the soldiers' families or managed by the lord's steward, but could not be freely bought or sold.

All harvests from military-served land, after deducting operating costs, are paid to the sergeants.

After confirming their identities and granting them homesteads, Roger also temporarily set the soldiers' pay and benefits.

The ten soldiers were paid in three grades according to their abilities and performance.

Marne and Olaf were naturally in the first class, earning one shilling and two pence a week, on par with the old butler; Ponytail, Donald, and Connor, with their considerable fighting strength and excellent performance, were in the second class, earning ten and a half pence a week; Baldy, Black Dog, and the remaining three were in the third class, earning seven pence a week.

They could collect their weekly wage in currency every Sunday morning, or exchange it for equivalent goods such as grain, cloth, and salt on the plantation.

All military pay grades are adjusted monthly based on performance evaluations, with the outstanding advancing and the incompetent declining.

In addition, military pay is doubled during operations on outlying islands.

This military pay wasn't considered high on Arun Island, but everyone knew they weren't elite soldiers like those in Baron's Castle, so they naturally didn't try to compete with him.

Moreover, their future weapons, armor, clothing, food, and housing will all be provided by the lord. Overnight, they will wake up to find themselves promoted to the "landowner" class of soldiers, which is actually a high-salary class.

In addition to the traditional professional ethics of sergeants, Roger also announced three other regulations.

Firstly, soldiers must prioritize military affairs and must fulfill their military obligations of training or combat at any time. They are on a one-day-off-day shift on Sundays during peacetime and on duty or in combat around the clock during wartime.

Secondly, except for their days off, soldiers must remain at the barracks and are not allowed to leave without permission.

Third, all spoils of war captured in battle must be handed over, and then one-fifth of them will be allocated for distribution according to military merit.

The people were inherently resistant to the rule that all spoils of war should be turned over to the lord, even though according to local custom, two-thirds of the spoils of war must be handed over to the lord.

But intuitively, it's ultimately a matter of "whoever captures it owns it, and the more they capture, the more they gain."

This matter concerned the future discipline of this armed force, so Roger patiently explained it to them.

Roger told everyone that Milk House Manor was not a place with overflowing vaults and granaries, and that a reliable source of funding was needed to ensure that everyone's weapons, armor, food, and military pay were guaranteed on time and in full.

Battlefield spoils are undoubtedly the best way to support soldiers, and this is the very reason why soldiers exist; otherwise, one would not go to such lengths and spend so much money to support them.

At the same time, Roger did not keep all the spoils for himself; one-fifth of the spoils would be distributed fairly among the soldiers according to their military merits.

If everyone were not so greedy for spoils during wartime, how could military discipline and combat effectiveness be guaranteed?

This is also the topic that Marne and Roger have been discussing the most recently. At the beginning of each campaign, everyone in the army on Arlen Island is fearless, but as they accumulate more and more spoils of war, the soldiers' determination to fight declines until they lose their will to fight.

Finally, Roger gave everyone a choice: stay and strictly abide by the rules, or give up the land, status, and stable military pay they had already obtained and leave immediately.

With their families already here, their land already acquired, and their identities already established, who would choose to leave?

I asked the question three times in a row, and no one objected.

Alright, the Lord's Armed Forces are officially established. Let's have a celebratory banquet...

After the banquet, Roger gave the soldiers a half-day off so they could go home and share their joy with their families.

Marne and Olaf were kept behind and taken to an office on one side of the hall.

"...Right now, we only have a few men. Forget about fifth or tenth sergeant; you two will have to put in the extra effort. You'll be responsible for the daily training of the sergeants. You did a good job recently, but starting tomorrow, I'll be personally involved in the training. From now on, we'll mainly be training guerrilla warfare."

Although Marne and Olaf didn't understand what "guerrilla warfare" was, Roger had already shown them so many unique and novel things that they were used to it.

"In addition, military pay and supplies will be temporarily handled by the old butler at the Milk House Manor. Olaf, who is somewhat literate, will temporarily be responsible for liaising with the old butler."

"I went to check yesterday. One barracks has been built. You can move in with everyone tomorrow. Olaf can provide the necessary clothing and equipment."

Olaf nodded in agreement.

"The old lady finds it too noisy that everyone is making so much noise in the backyard of the mansion all day long, so starting tomorrow, the soldiers' training will be moved to the lance training ground. Ma En will go and procure the shields, wooden swords, long sticks, and other equipment needed for the training."

Marx and Engels stood up and agreed...

Watching the two resolute figures depart, Roger felt a renewed confidence in surviving the chaos of the world.

On the island of Arren, where martial prowess is paramount, a force of ten men is not considered powerful. Most lords can muster a force of ten or twenty men for battle. However, the so-called armies under those lords are nothing more than a knight leading two or three squires or soldiers, and driving a dozen or so ragtag thugs carrying tattered spears or even farm tools. Roger was confident that he could make his small force the second strongest on Arren within six months.

Roger murmured to himself, "I will rise above this chaotic world."

"Master, Toran is back." The report from the servant interrupted Roger's inner monologue.

"Very well, let him in, and call the old butler over too." Roger showed no annoyance at being interrupted in his grand scheme.

Roger didn't recruit the Welsh sailor into the armed forces because the skinny fellow didn't meet the requirements for a sergeant.

He will be included in the ranks of manor stewards, under the command of the steward.

Sailor Tolan will become a professional captain under Rogermo, with room and board provided and a weekly wage of sevenpence. The old fisherman and his henchmen will temporarily be assigned to Sailor Tolan, and together with five Ramrush fishermen who are paid half a penny a day and two ships, they will form Rogermo's first maritime force.

The primary tasks of this maritime force are currently fishing, maritime transport, and any other maritime missions assigned by Roger.

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