At the order from Buniyan, the commander of the First Division of the Black Hat Army, 20 decree companies raised their long spears. Led by the two brigade commanders, they charged towards the wooden stakes ahead.
Within a distance of twenty steps and at a sprinting speed almost like a fast walk, they quickly formed an interlocking formation in just a few seconds.
The difference in position between the ones at the front and those at the back was about two to three body lengths.
Sweat beads reflected the blazing sunlight as the cloth-wrapped spears crashed into the wooden stakes, shaking out a cloud of dust.
The company commanders’ long spears were not tipped with spearheads but wrapped in a layer of cloth with a bit of lime powder at the end.
After all, those forged spearheads were consumables, breaking after less than ten uses, so it was better to save them.
Moreover, the decree companies did not immediately stop training after the charge but instead reorganized their formation chaotically according to the whistle.
"Medium-lower," Jeska glanced over and noted in his roster.
The decree companies, dejectedly holding their long spears, slowly returned to their original positions.
"Next group, First Division’s Fifth Brigade and Sixth Brigade."
Soon, 20 men from the Fifth and Sixth Brigades gathered and began to nervously check their weapons.
Standing at the edge of the training ground, Jeska looked worried. It was already the sixth day, and the Church’s army could come at any time. Were they ready with training looking ?
The decree companies of the Black Hat Legion primarily used long spears as their main weapon.
Adhering to the belief that longer means stronger, Horn chose long spears about 3 fathoms (6 meters) in length.
In his previous life, the medieval Swiss pike phalanx used long spears and halberds of similar length.
But in reality, once applied to real training, problems quickly appeared.
Nobody from the villages could lift these overly long and heavy poles to run or walk steadily.
The solution was simple; they had encountered it before in the Original Child Army, having two decree companies hold one spear together.
One decree company held the middle part of the spear, and another held the rear part, allowing two people’s strength to lift the large spear.
No other choice, time was simply too short.
Training a new recruit to be combat-ready actually took quite a while, especially in the era of cold weapons.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that later military training could produce polished soldiers in one to two weeks; that’s because those personnel had at least a high school education.
But for these villagers, it took them four to five days just to learn to distinguish left from right, and even now, some still get it wrong.
Amidst the whistles, a sound of uneven but orderly hitting of wooden stakes arose, and subsequently, the two brigades quickly formed up, looking quite standardized.
Jeska, glancing up from afar, nodded slightly: "Now that looks decent, first-rate."
"Second Division’s First Brigade and Second Brigade, prepare!" Rafaël shouted loudly.
Just as the tests were in full swing on the field, a short man, panting heavily and bent over, ran to the front of the Second Brigade’s commander of the First Division.
"Commander Kolman, the investigation is clear; that damn Mengse indeed cheated."
"Damn it, how did they cheat?" Kolman asked urgently.
The decree company member mysteriously pulled half a rope from his pocket: "Commander, look, they tied the rope to their belts during the charge.
Since two people held the spear together, after charging, they could hold the spear single-handedly, untie the rope, and then reassemble.
"Damn it, I was wondering how in the world did they suddenly get so good. Turns out, this is how they did it!"
Kolman, furious, snatched the half-piece of rope from the decree company member’s hand, intending to go to Jeska and reason with him.
"Hey, wait, wait." A young man beside blocked the burly Kolman.
"Victor, why are you stopping me?"
Victor was the commander of the First Brigade, and since the two brigades fought side by side on the battlefield, their relationship was good.
Victor pressed his shoulder: "If they can cheat, why can’t we?
Uncovering them now gets us nothing, but if we use it too, we can get several good meals with meat and cloth."
"Once we’ve eaten the stuff, can they make us spit it out?"
The shrill whistle made Kolman cover his ears. He hesitated, glanced at Jeska in the distance, gritted his teeth, and said, "Fine, if they’re unrighteous, I won’t be benevolent. Tell the brothers to keep their mouths shut."
Amid the urging whistles and horns, the decree companies of the Black Hat Army glanced at the sky and formed an indistinct formation, heading toward the canteen.
The Holy Treasury system had been implemented, and following precedent, over 1100 people were divided into two hundreds’ households and twenty tens’ households.
Every five tens’ households opened a canteen, providing the most basic two meals a day—potato-root rice fruit wild vegetable porridge, or potato root stew, or rice fruit stew.
Horn randomly selected a canteen daily to have dinner with them, akin to spot-checking, to prevent any embezzlement.
So what if they wanted to eat meat or better food?
It was simple, they used penitence coupons for exchange.
Stealing penitence coupons could be exchanged for meat food and white bread, robbing penitence coupons for cloth, and murdering penitence coupons for light luxury items like medicine and wine.
The issuance of penitence coupons depended on the completion of daily tasks.
Each day, the Hundred Households Captain would assign tasks to each ten households, and the tens’ households would then lead people to handle them. If handled well, penitence coupons would be issued.
For example, the soldiers of the Black Hat Army could get a murder penitence coupon if they scored first-rate in the daily quiz, while medium would earn them a robbery penitence coupon.
For those scoring medium-lower or lower, they got nothing.
Otherwise, why would the lethargic new decree companies of the Black Hat Army have any motivation to train?
Some of them were tasting roast chicken and white bread for the first time at Horn’s place.
In front of the canteen stood five large pots, behind which several matrons wielded large ladles half a person tall, serving food to the refugees in front.
However, there were only four lines at the five large pots as one stall was exclusively reserved for the decree companies.
The fifth stall not only had rice fruit porridge but also cheese and eggs, exclusively allocated to the decree companies.
The tens’ households held thornless vines in their hands, standing sternly by to maintain order.
After all, the Pope, the Archbishop, the Grand Master, the Hundred Households Captain, and the damn Cheka Scouts would all conduct inspections and investigations, impacting subsequent promotions and penitence coupon distribution.
Look at Busak, look at Jeska, look at Kosse, who doesn’t want to improve?
Amid the envious gazes of the crowd, the decree companies of the Black Hat Army swaggered into the fifth line and began serving themselves.
Seeing the hungry formation and thinking of the power and might of the Gulag Papal State, even the worst trained in the Black Hat Army unconsciously puffed up their chests.