Chapter 210: Population Boom
These musketeers were indeed restless troublemakers. Facing a considerable number of cannibals, they charged without hesitation, their gun muzzles practically touching their opponents’ foreheads as they fired. Even with all the shortcomings of these short-barreled civilian muskets, they wouldn’t fail at a time like this. Round, scorching bullets, trailing smoke, were directly poured into their enemies’ skulls, blasting away half of their heads.
Then, these musketeers simply tossed aside their muskets, grabbed the battle axes issued to them, and charged forward, hacking at anyone they saw. They were ferocious beyond measure.
These weren’t musketeers; they were clearly Viking raiders.
The point-blank volley took out more than half of the rioters. The remaining ones were surrounded by the musketeers and hacked to pieces like bloody gourds. There was no resistance, so the battle ended quickly. However, Charlie deliberately left one rioter alive – this was a small gift prepared for Kayla.
Both Charlie and Monk would look after the young lady, but they wouldn’t overprotect her or shield her from everything. This was precisely Correns’s intention as well.
Since his daughter had chosen this path, all he could do as her father was to silently support her. Otherwise, as an official Baron and the town mayor, why would he use the opportunity of delivering food to gift Charlie and Monk each with a good horse and ample supplies?
Both sides understood each other tacitly. If you choose to venture out, you must have the conviction to bear the consequences. This was the shared thought of the three men.
Facing the trembling captive, Kayla held the gun steadily, but her eyes were somewhat dazed.
Although she had told herself repeatedly since childhood that this was an inevitable path, and she firmly believed she would act decisively and make achievements to show her father, when the moment came, she realized she wasn’t as strong and resolute as she had imagined.
However, Charlie and Monk were veterans. The guy they specifically picked out for the little girl was carefully chosen. Not only was he ugly, but the surrounding environment was also quite fitting for the atmosphere.
This was a rioters’ encampment. There were no fences to keep out beasts, no tents to ward off the cold, only simple animal hides and bonfires, along with looted iron pots and the thoroughly stewed meat inside.
What kind of meat could a bunch of dirt-poor rioters eat? One look would tell you. The unfortunate fellow who had lost all four limbs had just been put out of his misery with a casual axe blow.
“Ple━” The buck-toothed, gap-toothed, squinty-eyed, flat-nosed rioter knew very well that his only chance of survival lay with this beautiful young lady before him. So, he didn’t hesitate to beg for mercy, instead of lunging like a wild beast as he usually would. However, Kayla was more decisive than he imagined. He had just uttered a single word when a bullet shattered his head.
The headless corpse of the rioter slumped to the ground, his hidden rations spilling out from his arms.
Seeing this scene, Kayla’s initially rapid breathing and trembling hands immediately steadied. She calmly reloaded her firearm, slung it on her back, and stood behind Charlie, awaiting orders.
Charlie nodded to himself. Setting aside her strength, her temperament alone surpassed that of many nobles he had met. It seemed he had underestimated this young lady.
There were generally more rioters with a bottom line, and those who ate people and those who didn’t were wary of each other, never mingling. So, Charlie and the others’ operations went relatively smoothly, capturing hundreds of people one after another.
These rioters were sent to Mara Town, then escorted to Autumn Field Town by Bella’s nomad cavalry, providing the territory with a large influx of population in a short period.
Upon arriving at Autumn Field Town, after discovering that they only needed to work diligently for half a year to be allocated land, most rioters pledged their allegiance to the Hydra family without hesitation, becoming the most loyal residents.
Those among the rioters who were accustomed to a life of bloodshed and were willing to take a gamble were trained into the second and third batches of military colonization troops, led by Monk and Kayla respectively. They continued to accelerate the pace of gathering rioters, and within a short time, the territory’s population exceeded ten thousand, demonstrating the sheer number of rioters pouring into the Northland.
Unfortunately, aside from Owen, no other lord dared to gather outsiders like this, especially restless rioters.
In fact, if it weren’t for the assimilation effect of the Town Center being truly effective and the territory’s policies being deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, doubling the population in such a short time would inevitably lead to chaos.
Apart from this, the Department of Internal Affairs also deserved significant credit.
The current Department of Internal Affairs was no longer the small group it once was. In addition to Maya overseeing the overall situation, there were System Nobles serving as mid-level supervisors, and a large number of grassroots administrators, converted from citizens, who reached every corner of the territory. So, despite the population explosion, everything remained under control.
However, for more convenient management, the territory needed to be reorganized and prepared for further population growth.
First, outside the town, farmers were organized into groups of one hundred households per fort, constructing wooden and earthen fortresses, training militia, and distributing muskets and other weapons.
With such preparations, even if they faced a regular army, they could hold out for a while by defending their forts until reinforcements arrived, not to mention any potential encounters with rioters.
Next was Autumn Field Town, the focal point. Besides preparing for expansion, the army also had to be upgraded. Otherwise, it would be useless in the coming wave.
The previous basic troop types, costing one Progress Value, were all eliminated.
These troop types, which made up a large proportion of the army, had never played a significant role, and now they were even more like chicken ribs. For example, if they encountered the current musketeer militia, as long as they hit their target, one shot could take out one enemy.
Of course, if they missed or were engaged in close combat, then it would cost several lives in exchange.
Overall, the troop types worth one Progress Value were less cost-effective than musketeer militia for defending cities and didn’t perform well in field battles. Therefore, with Owen’s order, they were all trained into musketeers.
As for previous concerns, screw those concerns! The big players of the Empire were about to come down and feast. If they didn’t grow some thorns, they might not even survive the first round.
With a relatively sufficient population, Owen expanded the army to two thousand soldiers in one go. Among them, a thousand-strong main army corps was led by Howard, a five-hundred-strong city defense force was led by Hogg, a hundred-strong guard squad, and a four-hundred-strong conscription force was led by Maya.
The main army corps was responsible for external operations, so it had to be sufficiently fast and powerful. Therefore, apart from having a larger number of soldiers, it was also divided into cavalry and infantry.
Main Army Corps: 1,000 soldiers, Commander: Howard
Scouts: 30, Musketeers: 300, Longswordsmen: 200.
Scout Cavalry: 50, Dragoons: 200, Horse Archers: 100, Cuirassiers: 100, Knights: 20.
Judging from the troop composition, there was no consideration for siege warfare. The focus was on field battles.
In fact, apart from the towns of the two Counts near the Empire’s border, there were no decent structures in the entire Northland that required siege warfare. So, there was no need to equip cannons or the like. The emphasis was on interception battles, achieving swift victories.
The city defense force was different. Because they needed to garrison Autumn Field Town, they were equipped with a large number of firearms.
City Defense Force: 500 soldiers, Commander: Hogg
Musketeers: 100, Artillerymen: 200, Longswordsmen: 100, Pikemen: 100.
3-pounder Cannons: 20, 8-pounder Cannons: 12.
As for why there were so few musketeers, who were suitable for defense, it was mainly because of the existence of the guard squad and the conscription force.
Guard Squad: 100 soldiers, Longswordsmen: 50, Musketeers: 50, responsible for guarding the Town Center.
Conscription Force: 400 soldiers, Swordsmen and Shieldmen: 200, Musketeers: 200, responsible for patrol and maintaining order within and outside the town.
