Chapter 126: Military Service (Part 1)

The military service of Wilderness Town has always been at a relatively primitive stage, which can be simply understood as a Conscript system. The basic principle is to use land as a bond, based on Allen's prestige as a leader, and supplemented by post-war honor and rewards as a driver of desire, encouraging the young and able-bodied under Allen's rule to eagerly join the army, so as to facilitate Allen in handling crises encountered by the territory.

Such a method is undoubtedly excellent; using land to exchange for combat power is a very worry-free and convenient approach, especially for a force like Allen's that has only been established for five or six years—it is truly most appropriate.

Allen possesses vast lands, and the population in the territory is not considered crowded. The current population saturation of Wilderness Town takes into account future reproduction and development for a period of time; it does not mean that this land is already overcrowded now.

Such a situation is of course impossible. After all, this is a piece of land spanning tens of thousands of square kilometers. Although there are large sections not suitable for cultivation, there is still plenty that is suitable and yet to be developed. It is just that under the existing policy stimulus, the population of Wilderness Town will certainly grow significantly in a short period of time. One cannot simply let these residents move out when that time comes, so Allen has tentatively set this land as saturated, having subsequent incoming residents settle in nearby Ioviah.

Moreover, the surrounding environment has gradually stabilized during the battles of these past few years. There are also powerful allies nearby, and the combat power of the soldiers, under the reinforcement of training and equipment, is sufficient to cope with the combat needs of most times.

It is just that after this conflict with the Easterlings, the situation is a bit different, because Allen has expanded his territory too much. Previously, he only needed to defend the main base of Wilderness Town and the pastures over at Horse Pasture Village.

At that time, the young and able-bodied serving as soldiers in wartime and farmers in peacetime was enough to handle the vast majority of battles, and the conscription time was not long, nor would it affect the daily lives of the subjects.

But the situation is different now. The defense of Heidelberg and the development of Stier Mining Town require soldiers to be stationed for long periods. For the young and able-bodied who need to take care of the fields at home, the military service is indeed a bit too heavy, especially for the first batch of soldiers who went to Heidelberg; they have already stayed there for half a year.

This has a certain impact on their lives. Although Allen adopted other methods to ensure the cultivation of their fields at home, this is not a long-term solution. Once people leave their hometowns for too long, it is very easy for them to let their imaginations run wild, not to mention in this current era where information is extremely difficult to communicate.

In Allen's memory, even monarchs of the Middle Ages rarely let their vassals carry out military operations for so long while only providing food without paying wages.

Although the soldiers stationed in Heidelberg have not yet sent any feedback of dissatisfaction to Allen at this very moment, one cannot harbor wishful thinking when dealing with such matters.

Allen once heard an interesting phenomenon in his hometown, and although the nature is different, the principle within it is the same: if you see a creature like a cockroach in your home, it means that in the dark corners, the cockroaches have already multiplied to an unknown extent.

The mood of the soldiers is the same. If some bad information can be directly transmitted to Allen's ears, it means that the soldiers' dissatisfaction has already accumulated to a certain degree; if it is not handled, it is very likely that a major problem will occur.

Therefore, considering these matters, Allen decided to adopt other methods to compensate for the soldiers' long-term garrison duty, reduce their dissatisfied emotions, and at the same time increase the number of available soldiers under his command.

There are many choices placed before Allen; after all, he is a person quite interested in cold-weapon warfare, otherwise, how could he be interested in the game *Mount & Blade*?

Allen's mind is filled with a large number of military service systems, such as the Military Colony System, the Fubing System, the Weisuo System, the Knight System, the Citizen System, and the Volunteer System. As for the samurai system of a certain country, Allen thinks it is too rotten, so he will not draw lessons from it.

Wilderness Town currently uses a system similar to the Weisuo System. What is mainly paid out is land, and equipment and training are provided. Different from the Weisuo System, Allen does not require them to be soldiers for life, nor are there hereditary requirements, and there is a perfect pension and reward system, which can ensure that after they are injured or sacrifice themselves, their families can live without worry.

The difference is that Allen still requires them to pay one-fourth of their income as tax. This is not a problem for an emerging force, because everyone's treatment is the same, and all families need to bear such taxes.

Moreover, in this process, Allen has guaranteed the food and clothing of them and their families, and the living standards of these people have been increasing year by year under Allen's efforts. At the same time, after battles, he has also bestowed upon them a certain amount of honor and monetary rewards, which prevents these young and able-bodied men who have become soldiers from having too much dissatisfaction.

With the explosive increase in population and the expansion of the territory, the situation at this time is different again. Among the several thousand newly added people, only the residents of Ioviah can maintain a healthy family status. As long as they are provided with a certain amount of help in the early stages, they can achieve self-sufficiency in a very short time.

As for the other residents who joined Wilderness Town later, the pillars of their families mostly sacrificed or were captured in the struggle against the Easterlings, which makes it difficult for them to reclaim enough land to support themselves in a short time. For Allen, their livelihood is a big problem.

Allen needs to find suitable work within his territory to let them support themselves, rather than having the Cabinet support them entirely. It is fine for a short time; after all, tragic encounters will make other residents feel pity for them, but it won't work after a long time.

It is not that Allen does not have enough supplies to support them, but after a long time, once that pity is worn away, this kind of thing can easily cause opposition between these two groups of residents, especially those families whose pillars are out fighting in wars.

Allen can think of this problem because he considers the issue of "not worrying about scarcity, but worrying about inequality." Just imagine, the original residents are also working in the fields, but their income is earned bit by bit with their own hands, and they still have to pay taxes, while their own family pillars are still out serving in the military.

As for these newcomers, although they also participate in some work, their living necessities are issued directly by their lord, and they have no obligation to pay taxes or serve in the military. At first glance, the original residents are certainly paying more, while these newcomers are paying less.

Over time, Allen does not guarantee that there will not be management problems. Villagers are, from a certain perspective, simple and honest. They hold a sense of awe toward those in power, especially toward a lord like Allen who can provide them with a stable life without excessive exploitation.

When facing Allen's requirements, they often choose to obey rather than resist, just like this matter of serving for nearly half a year.

But from the perspective of their own interests, they will also consider a lot. Farmers are not stupid. Once they discover that the treatment of the two sides is different, dissatisfied emotions will also accumulate very quickly. Of course, they do not have enough courage and awareness to vent this dissatisfaction directly at the officials who usually manage them, but those newly joined villagers will naturally become the channel for them to vent their emotions.

Allen cannot allow such things to happen. When he was young, he often heard of armed fights between villages due to resource allocation problems, and deaths were common occurrences. He does not want similar things to happen in his territory.

Therefore, to avoid this situation, Allen intends to recruit his existing warriors as full-time soldiers after selection, especially those veterans who have participated in many battles. They have already accumulated enough experience in battle, and their combat proficiency, morale, and courage all meet Allen's requirements for full-time soldiers.

Subsequently, Allen will give them a certain amount of money as remuneration, and a portion of the distributed wages will allow these warriors to hire these newly joined residents to work for them, so as to solve the problem of insufficient labor at home.

Although the women of this era are indeed inferior to young and able-bodied men in physical labor, if one is not enough, hiring two can always make up for it. Moreover, the prices in Wilderness Town are not high now. As long as this portion of remuneration can be reasonably regulated, and food prices within an acceptable range are provided, then most of the residents who do not have land now can rely on this method to solve their livelihood problems.

If that doesn't work, Allen plans to have Yamila organize an official agency to formulate corresponding detailed rules and fully intervene in the implementation of this work. The main purpose is to ensure the survival of these people no matter what, while also not letting the original residents of Wilderness Town have too much dissatisfaction.

As the Easterlings have stopped their offensive, Lake-town and Lonely Mountain have also gradually stabilized, so commerce will inevitably become prosperous with the changes in the surrounding situation, and the role of gold and silver coins will also become important.

Allen believes that those merchants from Eriador will soon present a large number of goods that the residents of Wilderness Town have never seen before in a short time, such as more beautiful clothes, more gorgeous Jewelry, more delicious seasonings, more practical tools, etc., and even goods that are difficult to transport like plow oxen, horses, and furniture. As long as there is money and a market, there is nothing that merchants cannot get.

Then, to purchase these goods, the general equivalent of gold and silver is an indispensable circulating medium. By then, the soldiers who can obtain more gold and silver from Allen's hands will become the group of people with the best living conditions in Wilderness Town.

Comparison is human nature. If their own families can live better than others, it will naturally offset the dissatisfaction brought about by these soldiers being away fighting for a long time.

Of course, this does not mean that after the Volunteer System, the assistance of Citizen Soldiers is no longer needed. Allen's force is currently in a rising stage and still possesses a large amount of land that can be reclaimed. Using land as a bond to obtain combat power is still a very feasible method.

It is just that the system currently being implemented needs to be changed. For all registered Citizen Soldiers, the service time needs to have a limit set. Allen's preliminary idea is two months. After this time, Allen will issue money slightly lower than that of professional soldiers as remuneration; after all, the combat power of these Citizen Soldiers is not comparable to that of professional soldiers.

Actually, there is another way that Allen has also considered, which is the Knight System, but after thinking about it in detail, it is simply not suitable for Allen's current actual situation. Although Allen has a large amount of land that can be enfeoffed, he does not have enough population to help these Knights manage the fields. At the same time, Allen is not willing to treat the subjects who have come to him as wealth to be enfeoffed to certain people.

Moreover, with the help of Dwarf allies and the Simulator, Allen does not need soldiers to prepare their own weapons and equipment at all. He can completely provide these things to his subordinates, so after thinking about it for a while, he decisively gave up this method, which is extremely worry-free but not particularly cost-effective.

However, Allen is still interested in establishing Knight Orders that are active in various fields, but that is a more long-term plan.

Time passed bit by bit during Allen's recuperation, and his subordinates also returned to Wilderness Town day and night. Alayen returned quickly; after all, Heidelberg is only a few hundred kilometers away from Wilderness Town, and riding a fast horse on a flat road does not take many days.

Fatis's return was a bit more laborious. He first took a boat along the Running River to Heidelberg, then requisitioned some horses there, and returned to Wilderness Town a few days later than Alayen.

After everyone arrived, the Cabinet meeting, which had not been held for a long time, started again under Allen's summons. Allen has always been concise when speaking to his subordinates, and at the very beginning of the meeting, he told his subordinates all his thoughts.

He did not learn from ancient emperors who did not speak properly and let their subordinates guess their thoughts. That kind of behavior might be useful in a specific environment, but for Allen's current situation, it is truly too stupid.

Explaining his thoughts and requirements clearly, then letting his subordinates find ways to do it, and being responsible for solving the difficulties encountered by his subordinates during execution is what a leader should truly do.

But after Allen finished speaking, the conference room fell into silence.

It is clear that the Cabinet members present either had their own thoughts or did not care about this matter at all. For example, Cress and Desaiwei; they do not care much about military reform. If Allen has a place where he needs their efforts, he can just say so.

As for Yamila, Fatis, Alayen, Bandak, Manid, and Stephen, they are either in charge of government affairs or hold work related to the military, while Manid and Stephen are related to commerce, which also involves the ideas Allen proposed. To better realize the possibilities Allen proposed, they naturally need some time to digest what Allen said and then provide effective implementation methods.

Allen drank the black tea he got from Eriador, looking at his silent subordinates, but he was not anxious in his heart. He knew that this matter could not be rushed; only by taking it slow and thinking slowly could the best results be obtained.