Chapter 102: Colonel Arthur

(Because I wrote something strange, the 4,000-character chapter was locked directly; I will wait until tomorrow to ask the editor to release it.)

The number of recruits in the New Army has exceeded 2,300. Since the number of refugee civilians flowing into Harrenhal has decreased significantly in the past few days, the growth of the New Army has also stopped.

Furthermore, because the length of time they have joined varies, the training levels of the new recruits are inconsistent.

Therefore, Arthur picked out the soldiers who had already received training at level two and above to form the first regiment.

In total, there are 1,300 level-two soldiers, 220 level-three soldiers, 29 level-four soldiers, and six level-five soldiers.

Among them, the level-two soldiers are strong farmers recruited from Red Mill and Harrenhal, the level-three soldiers come from Arthur's original subjects, and the level-four and level-five soldiers are family soldiers who were already relieved of production duties before the transmigration.

To facilitate management, Arthur organized a military system with levels such as companies, battalions, and regiments, according to the habits of his previous life.

A company of ninety men is the most basic combat unit.

This division was made because Arthur recalled a theory from his previous life: a person can only maintain familiarity with about a hundred people, so a company of ninety men allows the company commander to be familiar with all the soldiers, which is conducive to cooperative combat.

Five companies make one battalion; once at this level, non-combat members must be equipped.

Each battalion is stuffed with a number of cooks and twenty menial servants, as well as several septons who volunteered to help; they are responsible for functions other than combat.

Each squad leader and platoon leader is a clever person picked from those 220 level-three soldiers, the fifteen company commanders are served by level-four family soldiers, the three battalion commanders are served by level-five family soldiers, and the regimental commander above the battalion commanders is concurrently held by Arthur himself.

The three battalions are numbered in order as the First Battalion, Second Battalion, and Third Battalion, and the companies and squads under their jurisdiction are the same.

The three battalions contain a total of 1,450 soldiers, and the remaining 104 soldiers form a reinforcement company, directly under Arthur's command.

As for equipment, it is a motley collection.

There are two hundred sets of iron plate armor purchased in King's Landing, five hundred and twenty sets of chainmail and eighty sets of plate armor purchased in the Reach, over seven hundred sets of lamellar armor from the Western Lands light cavalry captured in the Battle of Harrentown, and nearly a hundred sets of chainmail obtained during the pursuit of The Mountain.

The armor and weapons of the Riverlands family cavalry who died in the Battle of Harrentown cannot be moved at will for the time being; after all, these have owners, and they might need to be returned after the war.

After all, the biggest expense for an armed noble is maintaining their own family's armed forces, and armor and weapons are the biggest part of that.

Level-four and level-five soldiers received plate armor, all six hundred-plus sets of chainmail were given to the level-two soldiers, and the rest were distributed randomly.

After all the armor was distributed, there were surprisingly only eighty-plus sets left, which requires the armory's armor recasting work to be greatly accelerated.

In order to distinguish them from the Western Lands Army, soldiers wearing Western Lands armor were all given special surcoats, on which a pattern of a golden armor, red horse, and golden pole weapon was drawn.

This new flag was called the Golden Horse and Saber Banner by the refugee farmers who helped dye it, and Arthur approved of this description.

After all, its gold content is quite sufficient.

The work of establishing the New Army's command system took all afternoon, and before dinner, the prominent figures in Harrenhal all came to watch the brief formation ceremony.

In the barracks hall, Lady Whent, Patrick Mallister, Hendry Bracken, Dickon Tarly, Beric Tanderly, Thoros, and others stood in front of the 1,500 neatly arranged New Army soldiers, watching Arthur conduct this strange ceremony.

The three battalion commanders, Zodan, Kafi, and Dawa, were awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by Arthur, the three deputy battalion commanders were awarded the rank of Major, and the squad leaders, platoon leaders, and company commanders were Second Lieutenants, First Lieutenants, and Captains, respectively.

Arthur gave himself the rank of Colonel; because the number of New Army soldiers is small, he set Colonel as the highest rank.

Of course, this does not prevent the New Army soldiers from calling him General.

After the ranks were awarded, more than 1,500 soldiers began to sing the newly composed military song in unison.

"Drums beat, the saber flag unfurls, General Arthur's orders reach our ears; be tenacious, be brave, the sharp sword meets the red enemy and they are all done for..."

"Riding a red horse by the Gods Eye, the Golden Horse and Saber Banner is planted in Casterly Rock..."

After the song, more than 1,500 people raised their left hands in unison, pointing diagonally upward, performing a Roman military salute while shouting in unison:

"Loyalty! Honor!"

Afterwards, First Battalion Commander Zodan walked up to Arthur, who was in full plate armor, and said in a resonant voice:

"General Arthur, please issue the order to fight against the evil Tywin's army!"

"For the people of the Riverlands, I announce that from this day on, the New Army and any Western Lands army that enters the Riverlands are in a state of combat," Arthur said to the New Army soldiers.

Behind him, Beric Dondarrion, Patrick, Lady Whent, and other nobles looked at these actions in surprise, then looked at each other.

"Whose custom is this? How strange."

"This song is actually quite catchy."

"It's certainly not a custom from Myr," Thoros touched his topknot, looking at the New Army in confusion.

Dickon explained: "These were all done according to Lord Arthur's instructions. In some aspects regarding the army and command, I think he is simply a genius."

Although he had received complete military training from his father, Randyll Tarly, compared to this set of Arthur's, it was still a bit lacking.

Dickon admitted that he could not design a military system like ranks, companies, and battalions.

Patrick looked at Arthur with pride in his eyes: "As expected of my idol, he even knows how to do this."

His admiration for Arthur was no longer limited to martial prowess.

After the entire ceremony was completed, the soldiers returned to the Weeping Tower, and the nobles returned to the King's Pyre Tower.

Originally, the barracks hall was the soldiers' dining place, but in order to train the new recruits, it was converted into a drill ground, so the soldiers had to go to the large kitchen they passed by to get their meals and then return to their rooms to eat.

Since the plan to recruit new soldiers from the refugees will continue for a long time, the barracks hall may not return to its original purpose.

At dinner, combined with the layout of Harrenhal, Arthur and the others discussed the defense plan and then made the following deployments:

The East Gate is responsible for defense by 1,300 soldiers from various Riverlands families, with Lord Beric coordinating, and Riverlands nobles like Patrick and Hendry assisting.

The twenty or thirty members of the Brotherhood Without Banners also joined the battle at the East Gate; with experts like Thoros there, the pressure there is not great.

Another gate of Harrenhal, the main gate, is defended by Arthur with the First Battalion, Second Battalion, and the reinforcement company of the New Army.

A small number of Riverlands soldiers and some unassigned New Army soldiers are scattered around the city walls; they are responsible for monitoring the movements of the Western Lands Army under the city walls.

But considering that the weather has been good recently, and one side of Harrenhal leans against the lake, it is only necessary to keep an eye on the large open space in front of the main gate.

Because the other two directions cannot accommodate tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as large military equipment like siege hammers and trebuchets.

The Third Battalion, as the general reserve, stays on the ground floor; they are responsible for supporting the garrison near the two gates when they cannot hold on.

(End of chapter)