Descending On France 1780
Chapter 130 - 124 Exercise

Chapter 130: 124 Exercise

At this time, General Andy Frost’s army consisted of fifteen thousand regular troops.

Among them were two thousand five hundred cavalry, organized into five cavalry regiments. Additionally, there were five reserve cavalry regiments, labeled as reserve because there were currently not enough horses available.

It was not that Anning lacked the funds to buy horses; he had enough money, but the problem was that there were not enough horses available on the market.

Previously, the Great Revolution had resulted in the deaths of many countryside horse-breeding nobles, and no one managed the stables; horses either ran away or starved to death.

Now, the entire France was experiencing a shortage of horses.

Official stables only supplied horses for official posts and cavalry regiments, and Anning’s cavalry was not official, receiving no supply quota.

Thus, Anning could only build his own stable, starting from scratch to raise horses on his own, and for the time being, there were still no results.

The horses he acquired were only enough to equip four cavalry regiments, combined with the Guards Cavalry Group previously provided by the French King, making up five regiments of cavalry.

The remaining recruited women who were preparing to become cavalry were temporarily formed into infantry.

This group of skirt-wearing infantry earned themselves a nickname: Scotland Highland Group.

This was because someone heard that the British Scotland Highland infantry went to battle in skirts, and since these female soldiers also wore skirts, they were given such a nickname.

Those unaware might even think that Anning had British mercenaries.

Besides these two thousand five hundred cavalry and two thousand five hundred reserve cavalry, the remaining ten thousand infantry were organized into five infantry brigades.

Each brigade had two regiments, each regiment had two battalions, and each battalion had five hundred people.

The reason why a cavalry regiment had five hundred people, and an infantry battalion also had five hundred people, was because that’s how the organization was stipulated.

Aside from these troops, Anning also had a directly subordinate infantry squad, divided into two parts.

The first part was the Twilight Knights, consisting of over nine hundred nobles formed into one regiment, personally commanded by General Andy Frost.

The second part was the Officer Training Squad, with the training squad having a company-level structure, changing intakes every three months.

This was already the third batch of trainees; the previous two batches had been dispersed throughout the army, becoming grass-root officers.

As Anning’s troop now had a qualified officer count of four hundred, basically one officer for every twenty-five soldiers, this ratio was nearly adequate; thus, Anning ordered an extension of the training time in the Officer Training Squad to one year, aiming to train more reliable officers.

The first two batches of "speed-trained" officers would have future opportunities to return for continued training.

On the morning of April 15th, the bells of several monasteries in Conte rang out as Andy Frost’s army, in neat rows, marched out from their stationed monasteries to the training ground.

Anning—General Andy Frost, mounted on his favorite large white horse, stood at the monastery entrance, inspecting his troops.

Several high-ranking officers from his troop rode alongside him.

They included: Captain Lazar Cano, Chief of Staff, Madame Valerie de Oliver, Commander of the Cavalry, Captain Louis Nicolas Davout, Commander of the First Infantry Brigade and Deputy Commander of Infantry Troops, Captain Russell, Commander of the Second Infantry Brigade, and Senior Sergeant Jean Lannes, Captain of the Training Squad.

Other brigade commanders, who could not ride horses, did not join Anning.

Additionally, apart from Captain Davout of the first brigade, the remaining four infantry brigade commanders in Anning’s troops were promoted directly from ordinary soldiers.

Lazar Cano was highly concerned about this; he believed that these individuals born from commoners did not possess the capability to command a brigade.

He had once suggested that Anning draw individuals from the Twilight Knights to serve as brigade commanders, but Anning had refused.

Anning’s view was that rather than letting these old nobles become brigade commanders and potentially create future conflicts with the soldiers, it was better to directly use those of common origin.

At least these individuals were accepted by the Soldier Committee and could effectively command on the battlefield.

Lazar Kano found it odd, for Davout too originated from the old Nobles.

Anning indicated that although Davout was a Noble, he supported the revolution, different from those obstinate old Nobles in the Twilight Knights.

In conclusion, the senior officers of Anning’s troops were thus determined.

Now, Anning, along with them, rode horses and watched the large troops head towards the rehearsal site.

No one knew which troop started it, but as they passed by Anning, they took off their caps and began to cheer.

Anning raised her eyebrows and asked Davout beside her, "Did you order them to do this?"

Davout: "I did not. The soldiers cheered from their heart."

Anning hummed in acknowledgment, knowing Davout’s character, he wouldn’t lie about this.

Lazar Kano: "You hold considerable prestige among the soldiers, which is a good thing."

Anning nodded.

At this moment, Beethoven and his assistant rode their horses along the road and stopped in front of Anning: "Sorry, I was composing until late last night and got up late."

Anning: "No problem, you’re not late yet."

Beethoven nodded, then turned his head to look at the cheering troops, excitedly saying: "The soldiers are in high spirits! Even if we pull them out for a battle now, there should be no problem."

Anning: "We are only going to play act, just deploying a formation on the unplanted fields outside of Conte and practice an attack."

Beethoven: "I am looking forward to today, you know, a year ago they couldn’t even march in an attack formation properly!"

Lazar Kano immediately said: "They won’t disappoint today, after all, they have been trained for a year. Plus, we now have enough non-commissioned officers. Although not to the extent of one officer for every ten men like the old army, our officers and soldiers have a better relationship."

Anning: "Mr. Beethoven, today you will see what a unified army of officers and soldiers looks like."

**

In the exercise area, many citizens from Conte and farmers living nearby had already come early to occupy places to watch the training.

Anning rode her horse to the only hill nearby—probably the only hill within tens of miles.

Upon reaching the hill, she took out a monocular to watch her troops deploy from column into line formation.

Beside her, there were fewer officers like Davout and Russell, who had both gone back to command their own troops.

Lazar Kano explained to Anning: "The first to complete the deployment, judging by the Military Flag, should be the Twilight Knights. When setting the exercise plan, I placed them in the last row, serving as the benchmark for the entire troop."

The Twilight Knight, because they were all Nobles from the old Kingdom, wore grey uniforms with blue belts.

Besides bearing the tricolor flag, this group resembled the old Kingdom’s army under the fleur-de-lis banner.

In front of them, the blue-clad troops were deploying into thin blue lines.

To be honest, at this moment Anning truly felt like she was playing Mount and Blade 2, watching her subordinates form up was exhilarating.

She could even hear the game’s BGM.

Kano: "Davout’s troops are almost done deploying, he is an outstanding officer, and this is reflected in his troop’s movement speed. In comparison, Captain Russell, whom you promoted, pales much in comparison."

Anning: "But Captain Russell is deeply loved by his soldiers. His becoming a brigade commander gives soldiers hope, the hope of being promoted from the lower ranks to the top echelons of the military. Kano, a soldier who doesn’t want to be a General isn’t a qualified soldier."

Kano: "I’m skeptical about how much military talent a General promoted from an ordinary soldier can have."

Anning: "Let’s just wait and see then."