20demayo #221 - Conscription and Brune
#221 - Conscription and Brune
Hohn's conscription is not a random act; he comes prepared.
According to the census results, among the subjects of the Papal States who came to Daze Township, there are a total of 9,753 able-bodied men.
Hohn defines able-bodied men as adult males aged sixteen to forty-five without disabilities. Conscripting 4,000 qualified able-bodied men from among them will not affect the daily life of Autumn Dusk Island.
After all, they brought enough food for the winter, and the production of peat is completely sufficient for the winter fuel needs. The only shortage may be clothing.
However, except for a few people, most of them do not need to work outside. Staying at home with a flue stove, or using a peat brazier for heating after opening the window is feasible.
Since most of the supplies are provided by Hohn, they are essentially eating and drinking for free, which naturally frees up a lot of labor. This part of the labor can simply be absorbed into the army.
It is now early December. Although the outside is still a warm winter sun, the unstoppable chill has been constantly drilling into people's clothes from the collar and cuffs.
A simple wooden bridge has been erected over the Para River, and Hohn rides a horse with a dozen guards to the town.
"This small bridge took ten days to build, and it was finally repaired yesterday." Skillfully controlling the horse, he made it stomp heavily on the bridge deck, and the entire bridge shook.
"Hey, hey, don't collapse it." Hohn quickly stopped him, he peeked at the wooden bridge in front of him and shook his head.
It's still too simple; it needs to be rebuilt in the future.
"Brother, that's a conscription notice posted... why isn't anyone looking at it?" Seeing the notice on the gatepost of the town, Janna couldn't help but point to it and ask.
"Because I asked people to talk to them in advance, and they all went to the conscription point. Who would read the notice?" Hohn shook the reins, urging the horse forward, "Let's go, let's go see what's ahead."
Regarding the conscription, he had already sent people to spread the word five days in advance. According to his conversations with the centurions over the past four days, the willingness of the displaced able-bodied men to join the army is quite strong.
According to the information collected by Hohn, the reasons for wanting to join the army can be summarized into two points: first, high wages, free room and board, meat to eat, and high status; second, to fight the Thousand River Valley Church's Holy See and avenge relatives and friends.
The reasons for not wanting to join the army vary widely, such as fear of death, no place to live, fear of the newlywed wife being stolen after leaving, and fear of Hohn not keeping his word.
After confirming the opinions and emotions of the able-bodied men, Hohn posted the notice two days ago.
The notice clearly stated Hohn's treatment of the Salvation Army and its introduction.
First, they are fighting to liberate the people of Thousand River Valley and avenge their dead relatives and friends. It is a just war for freedom and equality, and even death is a glorious death.
Second, the more soldiers acenturion sends out, the higher the priority for providing building materials and manpower. In the centurion's housing distribution, soldiers' families are given priority in allocating housing, so they no longer have to live in tents in the wilderness.
Third, anyone who maliciously disrupts a soldier's marriage during his service will be sentenced to hanging.
Fourth, after officially registering for the recruit company, they will receive a month's salary of 30 dinars in advance. The top 10% of the recruit company's training performance will receive a bonus of 90 dinars, and after becoming a full member, the daily salary will be 2 dinars in peacetime and 4 dinars in wartime.
Fifth, after death in battle, there is a special heroic cemetery. Soldiers' children can attend school for free or join the Children's Army, and their wives will be arranged for work by the Papal States. If they cannot work, they will receive subsidies and homes for the elderly, with special veterans in charge, and they can report directly to Hohn if they have any problems.
Sixth, after officially registering as a recruit, if they desert, those with serious circumstances will be sentenced to hanging, and those with minor circumstances will be sentenced to reform in the Holy Trinity Education Team. If the family knows but does not report it, it will be recorded in the household registration file and reported to the entire Papal States for criticism.
In the two days since the notice was posted, Hohn's first order to the monks of the Order of the Holy Father was to take the notice and publicize the conscription policy to the people in each centurion.
When the formal conscription arrived today, each monk of the Order of the Holy Father was paired with three literate registrars to become a formal recruiting officer.
Hohn dismounted, put on his hood, and casually found aninsula to walk into.
The ground of this insula courtyard is paved with irregular rubble, with weeds growing in the gaps. Several crows landed on the eaves, curiously looking into the courtyard.
The centurion and the head of the ten households of this insula each took a wooden spear and stood behind the monk of the Order of the Holy Father, while two literate clerks stood beside the monk.
Seven or eight able-bodied men who came together were being led by the head of the ten households to perform counting from one to ten, and then from ten to one. This was to test whether their brains were disabled.
Among Hohn's 25,000 people, there were actually more than 800 literate people, and more than 700 of them could perform simple writing, reading, and calculation, with a literacy rate of nearly 3%.
It can only be said that this is thanks to the fact that Jeanne d'Arcburg is a city, otherwise where would you find so many literate people?
Hohn knew the monk of the Order of the Holy Father who was registering, called Flowery Beard Jim, because there were too many people named Jim, he had to add a nickname before his name.
The Flowery Beard Jim saw Hohn behind the crowd, immediately went around behind the pillar, and secretly walked to Hohn's side, bowing and saluting.
"How is it going?" Hohn asked, looking at the young red-bearded laborer in front of him, "How many people have signed up so far?"
Flowery Beard Jim replied without thinking, "According to the proportion of able-bodied men in this centurion, our goal is 71 people. So far, a total of 67 people have qualified and registered, and it looks like it will be completed soon."
"So fast?" Hohn didn't expect it, it's only been less than half a day.
Flowery Beard Jim chuckled and said, "I pulled the head of the ten households to notify each household. Half of the able-bodied men are willing and half are unwilling, but those who want to kill demons basically came."
Hohn was silent as he looked at the able-bodied men who were still shivering in the cold wind despite wearing two layers of clothing.
"Don't leave after you finish registering, continue to stay until evening. Those who come to sign up during this period but didn't get signed up can register first, and will be given priority in the next conscription..."
"I said he's not qualified, he's not qualified!"
Hohn hadn't finished speaking when he heard a roar, and a head of the ten households shouted at a tall figure while slapping the table.
"I'm not a fool, I can count from one to ten, you always interrupt me, I..." Brune's face turned red, and he took a step forward subconsciously.
"What are you doing? Do you want to hit someone? You know that assaulting a head of the ten households will result in three strokes of the cane?" Merickso scolded sternly.
"I just speak slowly, I can count from one to ten, you listen, one... two..."
"You've been saying it for a long time and you're still at one and two? Who has time to wait for you?"
Some of the able-bodied men who came late originally wanted to leave, but when they saw this scene, they immediately joined in: "Yes, yes, if you can't do it, then step aside."
Hohn gave Flowery Beard Jim a look, and Jim understood and pushed the crowd away: "What are you doing? I just went to take a shit, what are you arguing about?"
"Monk Jim, this person is Brune from our ten households. He's just here to clean the yard. I said he can't count to ten and can't be a soldier, but he insists on not leaving."
Jim walked to Brune's side and looked up at his nostrils...Mad, this kid is probably over one meter nine.
"Monk Jim, I know him best, he's cowardly and timid, sending him to you will only make the rice fruit(米果: rice fruit, slang for food) more expensive..."
"You shut up first." Taking two steps back, Jim didn't bother to talk nonsense with Merickso, pointed at Brune and said, "You, count once, no one else is allowed to speak."
Without Merickso's interference, Brune successfully counted from one to ten, and then from ten to one, proving that his IQ was okay.
"Since there's no problem," Flowery Beard Jim directly wrote the last name on the registration form, "Remember to gather at the town gate the day after tomorrow morning, if you're late, it will be regarded as a voluntary waiver and recorded in the household registration book, do you understand?"
"Ah?" Brune was a little dazed. He was just ridiculed by the able-bodied men from the same ten households for not being able to count to ten, and he couldn't bear it, so he wanted to prove himself.
When did he say he wanted to be a soldier?