Dominion Military

(Ch. 54)

“Knight Pog, I will assign the task of reorganizing a 500-strong heavy-armored battalion to you.”

“Yuriy, the reorganization of the 60 men light cavalry must be hastened and not taken lightly as that unit will serve as the eyes and ears for our army.”

“Terman, your knight brigade is a little too small with only 14 men in it. How about this, let every one of your knights pick two attendants who will be granted the rank of a squire when their Battle Force reaches the Silver rank. Should they earn an achievement, they will also be allowed to join the ranks of the family knights.”

Dulles, I’ll leave the 12 carroballistas to you. Assemble some people to operate them as soon as possible.”

“Lundmorde, how’s the formation of your herbalist unit going?” asked Lorist. “Milord, I have found a beginner rank herbalist as well as two herbalist apprentices from the slave camp. Unfortunately, those three were the only ones who had remotely any knowledge in the field. I’ve already recruited them into the unit. However, there seems to be a man and his daughter in the bastide who are respectively mid-ranked and beginner rank herbalists who were employed by Sloph and are currently in detention. Milord, how about it?”

360-strong company of crossbowmen, Mons Malek merely nodded.

I’ll lead the 360-strong company og pike infantry regiment since getting up close and personal with the enemy is more of my thing,” said Loze.

The slaves they had managed to liberate this time from the camp and the bastide numbered around 3000 and many of them were more than happy to join the armed forces. Other than a few who yearned to return to their homelands, all of the youths and their family members had decided to join the convoy on the journey. The total number of Iron ranks including the soldiers they had bought at Port Nupite was around 900 with 400 more being of the Bronze rank.

That was why Lorist had decided to reorganize the various types of units he had. Firstly, he increased the number of soldiers within the heavy-armored battalion from 500 to 600. After that was Dulles's carroballista unit which totaled around 65 people with 60 assigned to the 12 ballistas and the remaining five including Dulles acting as messenger troops which were in charge of relaying orders within the group for them to be able to effectively function as a unit.

And then there was Terman's knight brigade. While the number of knights didn't actually increase, the 28 attendants they recruited all had Three Star Iron ranked Battle Force. As for Yuriy, he had expanded his light cavalry scouts to 80 people who were each equipped with chain mail and leather armor and were given two mounts each. Other provisions included 24 javelins, one crossbow with 24 bolts, a scutum shield[1] and longsword as well as some makeshift tools such as nets or throwing axes which could be used as weapons according to their preferences. Even Potterfang was envious of the equipment the light cavalry scouts were getting; they were far better equipped than the troops of the Whitelion Legion back in the day.

Most of the soldiers who joined these army units were of the Iron rank with the remaining 100 or so were recruited by Els into the constable unit he led along with 7 other Silver Swordsmen who were forced into slavery from being threatened with their family members' lives. The rest of the Bronze ranks formed the basis of Mons Malek's 420-men-strong crossbowmen company with only a few Iron ranks and Bronze ranks joining Loze's pike infantry regiment. Loze complained that even though the unit he led was the largest, their actual combat potential was the weakest of them all. They were only equipped with pikes and leather armor and most garrison troops in other dominions were far better equipped than they were.

Lorist apologized for that and said that the main function of the pike infantry regiment was to maintain the order of the convoy during the journey and that the main force on the battlefield would be the heavy-armored battalion, the carroballista unit, the knight brigade and the light cavalry instead of them. The pike infantry regiment's participation was actually only limited to bolstering their numbers to make their fighting strength seem much higher than it actually was and to clear up the battlefield after each skirmish.

**(Ch. 65) Reorganization of Military**

“Firstly, the knight brigade needs to expand. Including the sets of armor and saddles the knight brigade currently has, the convoy has a total of 88 sets. The knight brigade will thus be expanded to a full squad of 120 people. Each knight will be allocated 3 mounts which include 1 warhorse, 1 travel horse and another spare mount. Every knight will also be assigned a squire who will be picked from the family members of another knight of age 15 to 16 as well as an attendant that will be in charge of managing the horses and armor of the knight. Both of them will also have one mount, but they will not be required to go on the battlefield. Knight Terman, I’ll leave the reorganization to you. I hope you build a stellar knight brigade for the Norton Family.”

Terman quickly stood up and saluted. “Milord, I will definitely not let your expectations down.”

“Other than that, Knight Yuriy, your light cavalry scouts will be expanded into a full company comprising four squads with 120 people in each one. Each scout will be assigned 2 mounts, a crossbow, javelins, a pike, a longsword, a shield as well as mail and leather armor. There will also be another squad of attendants accompanying the scouts that will be responsible for managing the mounts and equipment. You must give the scouts strict training so that they will not only be able to fight from afar, but in close range as well.”

“Yes, milord,” said Yuriy as he stood up and saluted.

Lorist glanced towards Potterfang and he nodded slightly in response. Lorist continued, “Next, I will talk about the reorganization of the heavy-armored units. The assault from the pike cavalry has given us a huge realization. After discussing with Potterfang and some others, I have decided to change the heavy-armored infantry into heavy-armored cavalry and intend to have two companies set up for the time being. Each company will be made up of four squads which will each also have 120 people. Each soldier will have two horses and each company will have a squad’s worth of attendants. The new heavy cavalry unit will be commanded by Knight Pog and Knight Loze.”

Potterfang and Lode Wales stood up and said in unison, “Your will is our command, milord.”

Lorist smiled with satisfaction and gestured for them to sit down. After spending some time with the convoy, Loze seemed like he was very keen on joining the Norton Family and it is only a matter of time before he joins the ranks of the family knights. “Currently, we’ll prioritize the soldiers who have already awakened their Battle Force in the reorganization of the different units. Other than that, we will also set up a constable unit to maintain the order and security within the convoy that will be equipped with armor, axes and halberds. It is my hope that Knight Mons Malek will accept the position of the leader of the constable unit.”

Mons Malek stood up and saluted before saying, “Milord, it is my pleasure to be of service to you.”

“Other than that, the main camp’s guards will also be expanded into a company, but they will have to be in charge of looking after the war prisoners as well as maintaining the security of the convoy. Els, I’ll leave that part to you.”

“Understood, milord.”

“Lastly, I have decided to fuse the crossbowman unit with the pike infantry regiment. Every company will be made up of 5 squads, namely, 1 swordsmen squad, 1 crossbowmen squad, one longbowmen squad and 2 pikemen squads. Every squad will have 120 members. I will leave the command of this reorganized regiment to…”