Training The Troops

With the establishment of basic economic institutions, the next issue to tackle to create an army.

'Hm, since my face hasn't spread too far, I can begin training my army under the title of count of Marche.'

Last time when the serfs came over, with them, Victor's father's best general, Alart Lesassier, came along with them on orders from his father.

"Alart"

"Yes, your Majesty," Alart looked at him with his deep blue eyes that showed sincere devotion.

"I need you to go recruit soldiers and offer them 4 coppers wages." He looked at him without his usual cheery self.

"How many would we need?"

"Get me 500 to begin with, then we can expand the amount if needed."

"I think that should be doable." Alart left towards Cherbourg.

~~~

In the basement of a house in Lyon, many nobles were gathered.

"How can a bastard ten year old become the king." A man with short beard was sitting on his chair with 5 other large nobles.

Those gathered are, Augier de Valois, Beaumont of Nevers, Boisseau of Albret, Boquet from Anjou, Boucher of Turrene, and Carneau from Burgundy.

These nobles are jealous of the king of France being only a child. They desired the throne.

"So how do you plan to control him, his regent is his father" Beaumont looked at Augier.

"Of course we will play behind the scenes before our debut" He smiles before explaining him plan

~~~

Alart returned with 500 recruits. All of them were beaming from head to toe, excited to join for the salary. They lined in front of the 10 year old child who looked at them coldly.

"Alright, you all will be the backbone of the new army that will be formed. You will be trained harshly, no mercy will come to you for these next few months. If you feel you can't keep up, you may leave, however, for those who don't, the rewards will be worth it."

The recruits were uneasy at first but thought about the benefits which could help their families compared to if they were just farming. None of them left.

Victor looked at them, nodding, "Good, then we'll start."

"You will stand here for 3 hours, every day, and you'll be taught how to obey. Utter discipline is needed for a powerful army. After that, you will run 5 kilometers every morning and evening. We will build your stamina and strength..."

Victor wrote down their entire training schedule from pushups to pullups. They brought in poles which were forged by blacksmiths to do exercises.

The soldiers looked at each other horrified of the training but decided they needed to do it for their families.

Victor left Alart to take care of the training since he had to leave towards Paris since it has already been a few days since he came, and staying too long could arouse suspicion.

~~~

A week later in Paris.

"Father! I'm back, has anything happened?" He walked into the work room cheerfully.

"Well, not really, the neighboring countries aren't doing anything yet, though I worry if we would be attacked." He has a worried look on his face.

"It'll be fine, we're already training the new army, however I think we should round up the current soldiers and drill them as well."

Majority of the soldiers were moved outside of Paris to also train under the extreme training regiment to at least try to bring them up to shape even if they would keep their previous nature.

Even though there was many complains, after offering a higher salary, they agreed and begun their training.

After a few days, most of the soldiers were tired. In Manche, the 500 recruits had gotten used to their training even though the beginning was tough.