Chapter 41 Military Merit System
Stepping over Flynn's body, Rod came to the girl who was curled up on the ground.

The knife cut half of her face, and blood flowed down and flowed into her delicate collarbone.

The large patches of crimson were particularly glaring against the snow-white skin.

Rhodes poured the antiseptic made of high-grade lavender onto the handkerchief, helped her up, and gently wiped the wound on her face.

It looks scary, but fortunately the wound is not too deep.

As long as the subsequent scarring process does not cause infection and other problems, it will at least not be life-threatening.

After disinfecting and stopping the bleeding and treating the wound with a bandage, Rhode put one hand through the gap between Lucia's shoulders and arms, and with the other hand supported her legs under her knees, holding her up like a princess.

Leave the restaurant, take her into the castle's bathroom, and get rid of her blood-stained dress.

Except for the wound on her face which could not be touched by water, after washing the rest of her body, she was sent to the bed in her bedroom.

During the whole process, Lucia lay in Rhodes' arms with lifeless eyes, allowing him to manipulate her as if she had become a real puppet.

After helping the girl put on her pajamas and covering her with a blanket, Rhodes left the bedroom and shook his head.

Mansaru obviously doesn't care about his daughter, and Flynn's attitude towards her is even worse. The knife that stabbed her will probably leave an indelible shadow on the girl for the rest of her life.

For the sake of Knight Loren, Rhodes originally planned to keep her in the castle and take care of her as a little pet.

But now it seems that pets have become puppets.

The maids in the castle had been dismissed long ago, and only a few shield and spear soldiers were guarding outside.

After Rhodes had them dispose of Flynn's body, he looked at the empty castle that he had looted and had no interest in exploring any further, so he just walked out the door.

Holmes and Loren were waiting outside, chatting.

At the same time, he looked at each other inconspicuously.

After all, they will be working together next, and as elite knights, they will naturally pay close attention to each other's situation.

"What's the situation in the town?" Walking on the streets of Hekou Town, Rhodes asked Loren while looking at both sides of the road.

"As you requested, all town officials who had close ties with Mansaru and were involved in collusion with the barbarians have been executed."

Loren reported, "The residents here know that a new lord has arrived, a glorious Knight of the Round Table."

Rhodes raised his head and looked towards the center of the town.

There were more than a dozen bodies hanging on the wooden racks there, including Mansaru.

As Flynn's body was also hung up, more and more residents gathered around.

They formed circles around the wooden racks and looked at the corpses of the bigwigs who had once oppressed them.

There was fear and panic in the numb eyes. This was a characteristic of the times. Although the cruel lords were hateful, it was difficult for the serfs to survive on their own after breaking away from the aristocratic rule of the lords.

The serfs did not calm down until they heard the news about the new lord.

He looked at the hanged corpses again, a look of relief and joy in his eyes, and let out a low whimpering sound.

Many serfs were discussing the day when Rhodes rode his horse to kill Mansaru.

As serf soldiers conscripted to fight in the war, they witnessed the shocking scene with their own eyes and spread his name.

If one wanted to announce the arrival of a new leader to the locals, the simplest and most brutal way would be to hang the lord who had once oppressed them and his evil slaves on a rope.

Different from the previous plan, now that he has become the lord of Hekou Town, there is no need to trick the residents to Pingdingshan and he can use them directly.

Rhodes planned to divide the residents here into two parts.

Some of them moved to Pingdingshan to make bricks and build walls, while others stayed to transform the town and build ranches and fisheries.

More important is the expansion of the army.

"The current army consists of only twelve cavalrymen, forty-six regular troops and fifty militiamen. I plan to recruit two hundred people here to join the army and form a reserve army." Rhodes said. The so-called reserve army is a serf army, which is one level lower than the militia.

Among the more than 2,000 residents of Hekou Town, more than 90% are serfs of the territory and have no right to personal freedom.

The local militia were nothing more than ordinary serfs, poorly trained and with no fighting power at all.

Rhodes simply broke up the troops and reorganized them according to the regular military configuration of 200 shield spearmen and 100 longbowmen, and began training them.

"I'll arrange it right away." Loren nodded, but then hesitantly said, "Sir, it's not difficult to form a reserve army of 200 people, but it's difficult to train them to achieve results."

The previous army in Hekou Town is a ready-made example.

On the one hand, training soldiers requires a lot of food and gold coins.

On the other hand, these serfs who joined the army had no motivation to train at all.

If you can be lazy, you will never stand still, even if you whip you from behind.

Not only is it neglected on weekdays, but when it comes to the battlefield, it can only stand by to help boost morale and create atmosphere when the battle is going well.

Once they are in a headwind, they will be defeated and run away in minutes.

Rhodes also understood the difference between the serfs in Hekou Town and the militia he recruited from Jianling.

In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, he must stimulate the serfs' enthusiasm for training.

"After the reserve army was formed, the training intensity was divided into three levels. After completing the minimum training standard, the soldiers could get bread to fill their stomachs every day."

"After completing the middle standard, you can get bread for the whole family and a portion of broth, and the highest standard can also receive additional copper coins."

Rod explained the training system to Loren.

In fact, the treatment of the Pingdingshan army is divided into three parts. The higher the training completion rate of the serfs, the more rewards they will receive.

"In addition, we hold a reserve army competition every week, and the top ten will receive generous rewards based on their training results."

"It could be silver coins, sugar, or large pieces of beef or mutton. We'll discuss the specifics later."

"Finally, tell all the soldiers in the reserve army that they will receive one merit point for killing a barbarian soldier during the war."

"Three merit points will allow them to be promoted to the regular army, and the whole family will go from serfs to freemen."

In addition to normal reward incentives, Rhodes plans to establish a military merit promotion system in the army.

Maximize the army's war potential.

The kingdom's aristocracy was based on serfdom.

If measures were hastily enacted within the kingdom to free serfs from the restrictions of their status, it would easily break the rules and cause collective rejection by the nobles.

But the pioneer knights were an exception. Their military achievements in fighting against the barbarians were politically correct, and no one dared to say anything about it.

In addition to the serf army, this military merit system based on merit points also applies to the regular army.

In the future, this will become one of the criteria for Rhodes to prioritize soldiers when he uses potions to form extraordinary troops.

After listening to Rod's entire introduction, Loren understood it in his mind.

Then a surprising look appeared in his eyes.

As a descendant of former pioneers and having grown up in a knight family, Loren could clearly feel the terrifying effect of this military merit system after it was established.

If it can be perfectly executed, war will no longer be just for the nobles.

Every soldier, they will fight for themselves!

(End of this chapter)