Chapter 7 Eye of True Seeing
At noon, the scorching sun was somewhat dazzling.

In a village in the countryside, built next to a mill on the river.

A group of stripped bandits were pinned to the ground, their hands and feet tied, and surrounded by soldiers staring at them with disdainful expressions.

The village chief, an old man who was also the miller and village affairs officer, stood aside, calculating the value of the bandit equipment in a reserved manner.

"Five sets of damaged leather armor, two old swords, five nail-headed sticks, some silver jewelry and tableware, valued at about 40 silver coins, what do you think?"

The old man looked at Rhodes cautiously, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him nod, and handed him a bag of coins.

After spending so much time, I ended up earning less than ten days' worth of food. It turns out that there's no future in this job of clearing out thieves.

Rhodes rolled his eyes and put the purse into the carriage behind him.

It's not that disappointing. The benefits are proportional to the risks. Although these thieves are poor, they are good training objects for new recruits to see blood.

After setting out on the road to the North, Rhodes would help the villages along the way to clear out thieves as a soldier training.

These thieves often travel in groups of three or five, with at most a dozen people.

Their equipment was outdated and their order was chaotic, so they had no ability to resist the regular troops.

Although the profit is not high, it is enough to make up for the purchase losses along the way.

Rhodes came to the well and threw the water purification tablets made of high-quality lavender into it.

Then he let the soldiers behind him rest on the spot and enjoy lunch, and set off again in the relatively cool afternoon.

During the break, Rhodes noticed what was happening not far away.

There, the old village chief always maintained a frightened expression, wandering around and not daring to leave.

Farther away, there were many villagers hiding behind houses, occasionally sticking their heads out and looking at them with worried eyes.

Occasionally, curious children would try to get closer, but would be quickly dragged away by the adults in fear.

Rhodes knew what they were afraid of, not the captured bandits on the ground, but the soldiers he led.

This village is far away from the city, located in the remote suburbs.

The lord who manages this place is just an unknown and impoverished baron.

Faced with such a village without the protection of upper-level forces, the passing army is more terrifying than thieves and will often loot the entire village.

If it is within the army's own territory, apart from seeking money, they will not kill anyone, at most they will kidnap a few pretty young girls.

This has almost become a tradition for many aristocratic armies.

The lords who led the armies took advantage of this to make money, and many conscripted soldiers also looked forward to this rare opportunity to make money.

After all, they were often conscripted by their lords in the name of labor, needed to provide their own weapons and food, and did not receive any salary, so they were accustomed to plundering in order to survive.

Now that I think about it, it’s not such a bad thing that I didn’t recruit professional soldiers.

Rhodes looked at his soldiers, who were gathered together, excitedly discussing their bravery in defeating the thieves and bragging to each other.

No one realized that the unarmed villagers not far away were their natural money bags.

Although the new recruits are immature, they are also more malleable. The knights' squires have just left the castle and are still adhering to the virtues they have been taught.

This ensured that the military regulations established by Rhodes were well followed.

The price he paid was that as a lord leading a group of soldiers, he not only failed to make any money every day, but actually kept losing money.

Rhodes didn't care. These soldiers were one of the core elements of his future development. In addition to physical fitness, they also had the necessary military qualities.

Spending money now to lay the foundation will allow you to go further in the future.

After leaving the village, it took half a day's journey.

As the evening approached, the sky gradually darkened.

Since there were no nearby villages ahead, Rhodes ordered his troops to set up camp on the spot.

Also conduct daily drills.

Standing in front, Rhodes raised his palm and shouted to the soldiers holding shields and spears behind him: "Iron Wall!"

The neatly arranged soldiers held up their large shields in tacit coordination, bent their legs, lowered their center of gravity, and held the large shields in their hands forward, cooperating with each other to form a solid shield wall.

"Stab!"

The large shields opened up, leaving a gap for the spears behind to suddenly rush forward, tearing through the air and making a loud sound of breaking through the air.

Rosa Shield and Spear Formation, this was the military formation that Rhodes found in the castle library before setting off.

It requires tacit cooperation among soldiers. Once formed, it will be capable of both offense and defense, and it has a good restraining effect on both infantry and cavalry.

While giving orders, Rhodes constantly pointed out the wrong movements of some soldiers, asking them to adjust their postures and try again.

During this process, his eyes shone with a magical light that was invisible to the naked eye.

[Eye of True Vision], this is an auxiliary skill in wizard knowledge used to enhance vision and facilitate the control of magic power.

But Rhodes discovered that it also had a powerful enhancing effect on the practice of physical skills.

Using the Eye of True Vision, Rhodes can quickly master combat techniques, see through other people's body movements, and predict the next second.

He had indeed neglected knight practice in the past, but neglecting practice does not mean that he had not learned it.

It was precisely because he had already mastered it that he spent his time on more important wizard knowledge.

And now, under his precise guidance, only two weeks have passed.

The training period was supposed to be more than half a year, and the Rosa Shield and Spear Formation, which is not easy to get started, has taken shape.

Not far away, Noah and Holmes were watching.

After feeling the gusts of wind from practice, Noah had long been accustomed to not feeling anything, but Knight Holmes opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

As a Knight of Jianling, he was of course familiar with this famous battle formation where the kingdom once defended against the northern barbarians.

He also witnessed the learning process of these soldiers from scratch and was amazed by Rhodes' teaching ability.

But what really made him unbelievable was the physical fitness of these soldiers? !

You have to know that no matter how strong the battle formation is, what ultimately matters is the scale and strength of the soldiers.

Let a group of thin villagers carry heavy shields and spears. Even if there are thousands of them, they cannot withstand a cavalry charge of dozens of barbarians.

But not long ago, these militiamen had difficulty holding their weapons.

The power of the shield and spear he swung now was no less than that of an elite warrior, and the battle formation he formed even made this knight feel frightened!

Knight Holmes could not help sweating as he imagined the consequences of charging at them on horseback.

He looked at Rhodes in the front with uncertainty.

Rhodes noticed his gaze, but would not explain anything.

This is the good thing about the Middle Ages: as long as your bloodline is noble enough, even if you do something miraculous that goes beyond common sense, outsiders will think it is a manifestation of a miracle and will easily accept it.

Just like his brother Anthony, the famous White Knight.

In fact, the physical fitness of these soldiers could almost double, which was naturally due to the high-quality black wolfberries he grew.

Because it is an experiment, the effect cannot be determined before it matures. In addition, maintenance requires a lot of time. Rhodes has only grown one high-quality black wolfberry so far.

This time, there are 20 fruits in total, and the next fruiting period will be in a year.

Rod and Noah each spent five to become knights.

After becoming a knight, the strengthening effect of high-grade black wolfberry was greatly weakened, and it was more used as a therapeutic medicine to replenish blood after serious injuries.

Rhodes kept three as backup, and used magic to blend the remaining seven into enhanced potions.

He was nourishing his soldiers along the way.

Combined with sufficient meat and bread, it is enough to transform them completely and greatly enhance all aspects of their physical fitness.

(End of this chapter)