1^st of the 10^th month of the year 1838

I stood on a small wooden platform, facing 500 men, all eager to receive a job as a knight in the army, despite this their lax postures and casual chatting. Looks like I will need to whip them into shape. The morning sun clashed with the cold winter air as I waited for the rest of the trainees to filter in. Once most of the trainees were standing in front of me I spoke. ‘’I must say some of you seemed to be taking your sweet time despite being woken up half an hour ago. I believe that actions speak louder than words, your actions tell me that you lot are undisciplined and unready to work for the army. Now if any of you feel like you don’t belong here than leave now and pack up, cause once your in the army you won’t be able to leave until you are discharged by me, either for health or domestic reasons, NOT BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE ITS TOO HARD’’. I shouted for all the men to hear. Seeing no one move or leaving I continued, ‘’Now It seems like all of you want to be in the army well listen up because I have some VERY important announcements. First, you are all cadets and will refer to yourself with cadet before your name. second, I am your instructor and you will refer to me and your other instructors as such. Third, you are to obey all orders from your superiors unless they are illegal or unjust. Fourth, you will say sir at the start and end of each sentence. Now did you get all that’’.

…

‘’CADETS I ASKED IF YOU GOT ALL THAT’’ I shouted. The 500 men sputtered out mixtures of ‘yes’, ‘sir yes’ and ‘yes sir’. Amused I shouted ‘’Really, because you’re supposed to respond SIR YES SIR, DO YOU UNDERSTAND’’. ‘’SIR YES SIR’’ the men hurriedly shouted. ‘’Now, you are to split into five groups with a hundred men each. These groups will be called centuries and consist of ten companies of ten men and each century will rotate between guard duty, weapon practice, exercise, survival craft and tactics. The people in your groups and other will be your comrades, they are your brother in arms and you will not leave them behind nor abandon them’’.

I then proceeded to designate a timetable for each century to follow in order to rotate between the different instructors I hired. The cadets trained for five days a week and had the weekend off but were greatly encouraged to keep up the exercise on their day off. Because the gunpowder weapons were not ready, and I was unwilling to show my trump card early I had the men train with pikes, swords and crossbows with emphasis on the latter. I had to hire some mercenaries to guard the training camp and keep the soldiers in line while they were being trained.

Currently the training camp was small, but walls were being constructed by hired workers to make the training camp into a fortress in the near future.  The soldiers had identified themselves as different from the knights and were adapting to the new values and tactics of a modern soldier. They were young and green for the most part but showed promise with their progress in both physiology and mindset. They learned how to make traps and ambushes and how to live off the land along with completely new tactics which they crudely replicated in training simulations with crossbows. Without much notice winter had ended and three months had passed. The cadets now addressed each other properly, marched in straight formations and mastered unarmed, hand to hand combat, crossbow-archery and the new tactics. Without much notice the winter gave way to autumn and the three months training session ended and it was time for their graduation.

Standing on the wooden stage I addressed the 500 men standing straight before me. Their bodies well defined and postures and spacing strict. ‘’Three months ago, the lot of you standing in front of me were but a mob of rabble, undisciplined and weak. But now, all you cadets are standing tall and proud and have learned the necessary skills and abilities to fight and survive. You have done away with your previous mindset and learned that your life and the lives of your comrades take precedence over honour. You have all endured the training and criticism and grown from it, turning you into men, into soldiers. From this day forth you are no longer cadets, you are soldiers. OORRAH’’ I shouted. ‘’OORRAH’’ uninformedly timed shout rang out from the evenly spaced lines of infantry.

Smiling I continued, ‘’now soldiers, we shall recite the pledge once more’’. Both myself and the 500 men shouted in unison, ‘’we shall fight for and protect, the people, our homeland and our comrades. We shall never disgrace our comrades by pillaging or abusing our power. We shall follow all reasonable and lawful orders to the best of our abilities. We shall uphold this pledge in the honour of ourselves, our comrades and our commander’’. Smiling even wider I barked ‘’now my soldiers, you will be given the standard infantry equipment line up at the storehouse to receive it. Your uniform and equipment are a reflection of yourself and your comrades, make sure it is clean and ready at all times’’. As I said this the soldiers shouted ‘’SIR YES SIR’’ before departing to the storehouse and receiving their infantry equipment of; featureless iron helmet, brown leather boots, forest green long-sleeved shirt and pants, Mameluke sword, knife, pike and crossbow with a belt holding the sword, knife and an ammunition pouch.

With the men all geared in their equipment I gave the honour of guarding the star fortress under construction to the first and second century while I had the other three centuries march with me towards the town. I had written to father earlier asking for permission to do a military parade to increase morale, this was granted by father. After the four-hour march to the town we walked through the gate of the recently created concrete walls surrounding the town.

Each man walked in near perfect unison in their march, awing many of the residents with the discipline showed. When we reached the town square, father was there to greet me and take control of the new recruits I trained. After his approval of the soldier’s discipline, he assigned the three centuries to guard the walls due to their marksmanship.

Bidding my farewell to the soldiers I unwillingly left them in control of my father as I left to visit Alina who I placed as my proxy, to update myself with the current progress of the ever-growing preparation for the revolution to come.