When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

The news that Moliat was planning to raise troops in mid-February was sent out on February 8th.

This information was first sent to Rapids City by carrier pigeon, then from Rapids City to Joan of Arc Castle through the commercial network of the Meigedi Commerce Association.

Members of the Saint Father's Association lurking in Joan of Arc Castle sent this message to Mayo Town, and it was only when smuggling lead ingots from Mayo Town that this news reached Daze Village.

By the time it reached Horn, it was already February 14th, when the first phase of the uprising in North Mangde County was basically over.

Sitting by the window in the camp, Horn silently closed the new edition of the "Holy Path Salvation Teaching."

In the center of the study, Armand stood nervously in front of the desk, waiting for Horn's orders.

Slapping the note on the table, Horn did not speak but slowly paced to the window.

Unlike the mountainous areas, the marshland here with Horn was moisture-heavy, the geothermal heat was more easily transmitted, and all the snow had melted away.

Under the warm and humid sunshine, formations of various sizes formed black chessboards displayed on the training ground.

"Spread to the left!"

"The formation doubles, align the ranks."

Under the officers' hoarse orders, the formations composed of four thousand war monks continuously drilled.

Spring's cold bite was evident, but the damp and cold wind couldn't penetrate their thick woolen uniforms.

After the scroll weaving machines were put into production, they quickly absorbed over 200 workers, but in the end, it was actually the cutting of clothes and raw materials that fell short.

Now, there are 500 textile workers on Autumn Dusk Island, with a daily maximum output that can reach 80 sets of uniforms, and wool supply is not keeping up.

Unfortunately, the marshlands are not a suitable terrain for raising sheep, so it was not until the beginning of February, after supplementing with a smuggled batch of wool, that the gap for the last 300 uniforms was filled.

The uniform clothing and synchronized movements brought a sense of pride and conviction that ordinary things cannot replace.

In the military formation, the lowest level of brigade commander shouted commands loudly.

When they shouted "One," the war monks simultaneously struck the butt of the long spear to the outside of their right foot, held it vertically at about eye level with their arms slightly bent, and their right foot forward.

When they shouted "Two," the war monks lifted the spear vertically with their right hand in front of their bodies and gripped it at the waist height with their left hand.

"Three! Four! Five!"

Each time the officer shouted a number, the war monks followed the manual's actions exactly, neither doing more nor less.

This ensured the highest level of standardization.

On the other side of the training ground was the exercise of the Holy Gunmen.

In the officers' commands, the Holy Gunmen lined up in neat arrays.

The gap between two Holy Gunmen was about the length of two arms, just enough for a gunner unaffected while shooting.

In response to the officer's command, the war monks repeated movements of preparation, aiming, and firing without cease from the formation.

Under the impact of stone shots, the wooden targets in front swayed continuously as if in the midst of a storm.

After shooting, the Holy Gunmen immediately turned, walked to the end of the way through the channel formed by shoulders, and began preparing and loading.

"Whew—"

Beside them, Kolebo led over a hundred extraordinary breastplate cavalry to repeatedly charge at the infantry.

This was training the cavalry to dare to charge infantry formations and training the infantry to dare to confront charging cavalry.

According to the rules set by Horn, infantry wield long sticks wrapped in soft cloth, and cavalry charged at full speed through the gaps. Whoever flinches first loses, best of five rounds.

This kind of training often led to injuries, but even when injured, Horn still forced them to complete it.

Getting hurt in training is better than dying on the battlefield.

"Almost three months now." Horn gently stroked the rough windowsill, "I've been here for three months now."

From November 20th last year, when he arrived at Daze Village, to today, February 15th, it was almost three months.

After continuous exercises and real combat against long-haired zombies and giant spiders, these new soldiers finally began to take shape.

The Salvation War Group is a kind of army never before seen by Mitney and Kolebo.

Currently, the Salvation War Group has 8 corps, two of the Imperial Guard and six of the Black Hat Army.

Each corps has 500 people, consisting of 400 Long Spearmen and 100 Holy Gunmen.

The 400 Long Spearmen were organized into 8 Long Spear Masters, each containing 5 Long Spear Brigades, each under 10 Decreed Companies.

The 100 Holy Gunmen were organized into 2 Holy Gun Masters, each under 5 Holy Gun Brigades, each Long Spear Brigade under 10 Decreed Companies.

In this organization, from the level of Master, a dedicated brigade commander officer was assigned, and often the war monk would serve as a brigade leader.

These officers were mostly selected from the Old Guard and Old Black Hat Army, and many new recruits were promoted to officers due to outstanding performance.

In addition to all these, Jeanne led 150 cuirassier cavalry grouped into 3 cavalry divisions, and there was also a half-detachment of skirmishers consisting of 250 beastman scouts.

With the field hospital, vehicle garrison, and logistics personnel added in, the entire Salvation War Group's number had long reached 5000 people.

With supplies of salt, protein, and vitamins, and Kolebo, an orthodox Extraordinary Knight, teaching the breathing technique, from mid-January, the explosion in the number of extraordinary Long Spearmen began.

By today, the number of extraordinary Long Spearmen has occupied 35% of the total Long Spearmen.

As for the Holy Gunmen, even if Horn stayed in the military camp every day, it was only possible for the Blessed to account for 30% of the entire army's composition, just enough to meet the needs of the cuirassier cavalry and Holy Gunmen.

As for the gap in clockwork guns, today was the day the final batch of 20 cavalry clockwork guns were finally complemented.

The timing turned out just right.

Moreover, unlike the other illiterate armies of this era, most war monks had been to school.

They could almost all do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within ten and logically described everything they saw.

They could understand orders, clarify the situation, and comprehend part of the principles under the cultivation of priests from the Saint Father's Association.

With this, the decreed company should be beatable, right?

"Three months have passed."

Horn murmured in a low voice, he turned and said to Armand, "Have the Cardinal and the elders come to the military camp before dinner to convene an emergency tribunal meeting."