When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

"Charge, charge!"

With an order from Bunian, the commander of the Black Hat Army's First Division, the 20 decree companies leveled their spears and, led by the two brigade commanders, charged towards the wooden stakes ahead.

Closing the twenty-pace distance at a speed barely faster than a brisk walk, they formed an interlocked, jagged line in a matter of seconds.

The distance between those in the front and those in the back was only two or three body lengths.

"Thud! Thud!"

Sweat reflected the sunlight as the cloth-wrapped spear shafts struck the wooden stakes, sending up clouds of dust.

The spears held by the company captains were not fitted with spearheads but were instead wrapped in cloth with a bit of lime powder on the front end.

After all, those cast spearheads were consumables, breaking after fewer than ten uses. It was better to save them.

The decree companies, having completed their charge, did not immediately stop training but instead reorganized their formation chaotically according to whistle signals.

"Medium-low," Jeshka said, glancing over and making a note in his roster.

The decree companies, dejected, carried their spears and slowly returned to their original positions.

"Next group, Fifth and Sixth Brigades of the First Division."

Soon, the 20 men from the Fifth and Sixth Brigades were assembled and began nervously checking their weapons.

Standing at the edge of the training field, Jeshka was filled with worry. It had been six days, the Church's army could come at any time, and they were still like this. Would they be ready?

The Black Hat Army's decree companies mainly used spears as their primary weapon.

Based on the idea that 'an inch longer is an inch stronger,' Horn had chosen spears of about 3 fathoms (6 meters) in length.

In his previous life, the Swiss pike square of the Middle Ages used spears and halberds of roughly this length.

But in reality, once applied to actual training, problems quickly arose.

That was, the poles were too long and too heavy. Almost no villager could lift them to run or even walk steadily.

The solution was simple; they had encountered it before when creating the child army: have two decree companies share one spear.

One decree company would hold the middle section of the spear, and the other would hold the rear section. The combined strength of two people could lift the great spear.

Unfortunately, there was too little time.

Training a new recruit to have some combat capability actually took a lot of time, especially in the age of cold weapons.

Don't think that military training in later generations only took one or two weeks to look decent; that's because the personnel in military training at least had a high school education.

These villagers had spent four or five days just distinguishing between left and right, and even now, some still got it wrong.

"Doo-doo—"

Amidst the whistle sounds, the not-so-uniform sound of impacts against the wooden stakes rang out, followed by the two brigades quickly reorganizing, surprisingly with some semblance of order.

Looking up from a distance, Jeshka nodded slightly: "That's more like it, superior."

"Second Division, First Brigade, Second Brigade, prepare!" Rafael, the commander of the Second Division, shouted loudly.

Just as the tests were in full swing on the field, a small figure, panting, scurried over to the commander of the Second Brigade of the First Division.

"Brigade Commander Koleman, the investigation is clear. That damned Mengse was indeed cheating."

"Damn his goat, how was he cheating?" Koleman asked hurriedly.

The decree company member mysteriously pulled out half a rope from his pocket: "Brigade Commander, look, they tied the rope around their waists when charging.

Since two people are holding the spear together, they can hold the spear with one hand after charging, untie the rope, and then regroup."

"Damn his goat! I was wondering how that goat-damned guy suddenly trained so well. So that's how he did it!"

Koleman was furious, snatched the half rope from the decree company member's hand, and was about to go to Jeshka to argue.

"Hey, wait, wait," a young man next to him stopped the burly Koleman.

"Viktor, why are you stopping me?"

Viktor was the brigade commander of the First Brigade. The two brigades would advance side by side on the battlefield, so they had a good relationship.

Viktor pressed his shoulder: "If they can cheat, why can't we?

If we expose them now, we won't get anything. But if we use it too, we can exchange it for several meals of meat and cloth."

"Is that okay?"

"Anyway, the food is already in our stomachs. Can they make us spit it out?"

"Doo-doo—"

The piercing whistle made Koleman pick at his ears. He hesitated and glanced at Jeshka in the distance, gritting his teeth and saying: "Okay, if he's not righteous, then I won't be either. Tell the brothers to keep their mouths shut."

Amidst the urging whistles and horns, the Black Hat Army's decree companies glanced at the sky and lined up in a formation that was impossible to discern, heading towards the canteen.

Now that the Saint Treasury system has been implemented, these 1,100 people are divided into two hundred-households and twenty ten-households as usual.

Every five ten-households open a canteen, providing the lowest level of two meals a day—yam root rice fruit vegetable porridge, or yam root stewed yam root, or rice fruit stewed rice fruit.

Horn randomly selects a canteen every day to have dinner with them, which is equivalent to a spot check to prevent deductions.

So, what if you want to eat meat and better food?

It's simple, exchange it with indulgences.

Stealing indulgences can be exchanged for meat and white bread, robbing indulgences can be exchanged for cloth, and murdering indulgences can be exchanged for light luxury goods such as medicinal materials and wine.

The issuance of indulgences depends on the completion of daily tasks.

Every day, the hundred-household head will assign tasks to each ten-household, and the ten-households will then take people to handle them. If they are handled well, indulgences will be issued.

Like the Black Hat Army soldiers, if they get a superior grade in the daily test, they will get a murder indulgence, and if they get a medium grade, they will get a robbery indulgence.

As for those with medium-low and low grades, they get nothing.

Otherwise, where would those lazy Black Hat Army new decree companies get the motivation to train?

Some of them tasted roasted chicken and white bread for the first time here in Horn's place.

In front of the canteen, five large pots were erected, with several aunties behind the pots holding ladles half a person tall, and the refugees in front of the pots serving rice.

However, among these five large pots, there were only four queues, because one of the stalls was exclusively for decree companies.

The fifth stall not only had rice fruit porridge but also cheese and eggs, which were exclusive rations for the decree companies.

The ten-households held rattan sticks with the thorns removed in their hands, standing by and maintaining order.

After all, the Pope, Archbishop, Grand Master, hundred-household heads, and the damned Cheka spies would come to investigate and inspect, affecting subsequent promotions and indulgence issuance.

Look at Bursak, look at Jeshka, look at Kosay, who doesn't want to improve?

Under the envious gazes of the crowd, the Black Hat Army's decree companies walked into the fifth lane in a carefree manner and began to serve rice.

Seeing the hungry formation and thinking of the power and force of the Gulag Papal State, even the Black Hat Army, whose training results were the worst, would involuntarily straighten their chests.