Just like that, the second line of defense of the Hereford family's Third Army also began to retreat on its own initiative after losing more than one-third of its troops. otbnkotgt Although in the eyes of General Franz and the vast majority of the imperial officers, they could still hold on, they still chose to retreat without hesitation.
This was regarded as the fighting will of the Hereford family army, which meant that morale was low.
A piece of evidence that further inspired most of the imperial officers.
Their theory is that, yes, the enemy's tactics are more advanced than ours, and their weapons and equipment are also more advanced than ours.
But the enemy's fighting will is not as good as ours.
It is precisely because of this that the Imperial Army can still have the upper hand.
The Imperial Army will advance with fearlessness, crushing any enemy that stands in its path.
No matter what his identity is.
However, General Franz was still unhappy.
His ideas were completely different from those of the vast majority of Imperial Army generals.
He could see no feeling of panic, panic or fear in the Hereford army.
These guys looked very calm.
They were retreating, not retreating.
Moreover, before retreating, they had already caused extremely serious casualties to the Imperial Army.
Now the Imperial Army has lost close to tens of thousands of soldiers.
Occupying one-tenth of the total Imperial Army and one-seventh of the number participating in the war.
General Franz was worried, and he scorned the arguments discussed by the officers around him that his side's morale was stronger than the opponent's and that he could win by relying on his will or something.
Regardless of whether the will and morale are enough to support a war.
Even if we take a step back and say that this is really the case, then this premise and assumption are obviously not valid.
Because in General Franz's view, the morale of the Hereford family's army is much stronger than that of his own side.
This is natural when you think about it, although the nobles and officers in the empire think the opposite because they are traitors, they are traitors, rebels, and they are not allowed to belong to the empire and the aristocracy.
The Herefords had no noble honors.
The Herefords betrayed the Emperor to whom they were supposed to serve.
So it stands to reason that the Hereford army would be demoralized.
General Franz could only sigh that these nobles were well protected.
They were just like a bunch of kids.
Live in a fairy tale world.
What they take for granted is wrong.
General Franz, who was born as a low-level knight, can understand the psychology of soldiers better than the nobles who live in a fairy tale world.
To the soldiers, it doesn't matter who is right or wrong within the empire.
Who is the emperor, who is the rebel or who is the good guy, who is the bad guy and so on.
All this had little effect on the Imperial soldiers.
There are only three types that are really influential.
The first is foreign war, although nationalism has only begun to take off in this era.
But if the enemy is an aggressor, there will still be some resistance within the territory.
If something weird like Joan of Arc appears, it is not impossible to reverse the situation of the war by relying on one's own will.
Then there is faith.
Although in fact this war has already surpassed the dispute between the old and new sects.
But faith did affect the entire empire, and it also divided the entire empire.
In the North, people of Protestant faith naturally supported the Protestant Union.
People in the South who believe in traditional denominations believe in traditional denominations as a matter of course.
Mercenaries from both sides have different beliefs.
The soldiers are naturally willing to fight for generals, kings, emperors or any ruler who has the same beliefs as theirs.
On the contrary, they do not want to cooperate This is also one of the reasons why the empire currently has difficulty recruiting troops.
After occupying a large number of new territories and receiving funding from the Lombards, the empire could have easily expanded its army by 100,000.
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But in fact, it is very, very difficult for the Imperial Army to recruit troops.
It took a lot of effort, and even had to recruit some southern Lombards, who were always known for their inability to fight, to make up the numbers.
Only then did the army stand up.
The reason is that the armies and mercenaries in the northern part of the empire are not willing to accept the signs of the empire because they are influenced by the religion in the northern part of the empire.
These northern mercenaries are basically Protestants.
They would feel somewhat uncomfortable hiring them to fight against monarchs who also believed in Protestantism.
If the empire is the only choice for these mercenaries, then it's okay.
The problem is that they're not.
Compared to the empire, they can also rely on the Britons who also believe in Protestantism, or the Protestant princes supported by the Britons.
Although currently, there is only one Archduke Christian left among the Protestant princes.
However, many nobles who fled Frisia, as well as another prince John of Franconia, also continued to recruit troops with the help of the Britons.
They have so many choices.
So why do you work for the empire?
That's basically it.
If the emperor could recruit these northern mercenaries, they would have launched an attack a month earlier.
But no.
This is the power of religion or the power of religion.
Of course, there is something else more important than religion. money.
Or more broadly, interests.
Money and profit.
Take mercenaries as an example as well.
It says above that mercenaries will selectively choose their employers because of their beliefs.
And what I want to focus on here is another point, that is, if money.
Money, money, money.
If you don't give mercenaries a corresponding commission, they won't fight for you.
If the mercenaries are not given double commission, they will not work hard.
All in all, soldiers of this era fought for money.
To put it more broadly, it is for profit.
The Imperial Guards are better.
But they also need benefits.
It's not like mercenaries just have to climb up.
Praetorian Guardsmen also needed social status and a path to advancement.
And these guys are a standing army.
These guys are not like mercenaries who give money when they fight and then throw them away like garbage when they are no longer fighting.
They want money every year, every month, every week.
And they are not like the scum of the mercenaries, who are drunk now and drunk the next.
Soldiers and officers in the standing army usually have relatively stable families.
Even children.
They need a pension if they fail.
If wages are not paid, there will be riots.
Of course, this is only the lower level of the Praetorian Guard.
The upper echelons of the Imperial Guard were even more cheerful.
They will find ways to climb up, and even suggest some bad tricks behind their backs.
In the imperial court, Franz had to face many challenges as the emperor's confidant. nearly as many of them came from our own people as from our enemies Say even a little more.
But the Herefords were different.
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The Hereford family, which implements a professional military system, adopts a Praetorian Guard system that is no different from other countries in the human world.
But there is actually significant progress.
After several rounds of expansion and an era in which the financial situation became increasingly better, the Hereford family's treatment of the Praetorian Guards gradually increased.
From the beginning, they were not as good as mercenaries.
There are now slightly more soldiers than mercenaries, and the Guards soldiers have become a truly high-paying profession.
In addition to the basic salary, William's policy of giving soldiers a higher social status and the honor policy also had certain effects.
While people in most countries regard soldiers as concentration camps for rogues, thugs, and idlers, the territories controlled by the Hereford family already regard soldiers as superior beings.
All these welfare benefits, coupled with the latest land policy, are enough to make the Guards soldiers of the Hereford family unreservedly loyal to the Hereford family and willing to die for them.
Second is the professional officer system.
Officers do not value origin and family background, and of course they do not value flattery or manipulation.
The first thing that determines junior officer positions is test scores.
Excellent junior officers will have higher promotion channels.
In the mid-level officer camp, they are continuously promoted through actual combat results in war.
Next, there is the complete separation of military officers and administrative officials.
Professional officer.
Transparent upward channels, coupled with the separation of military and political affairs.
This series of measures has created the most professional group of military officers in the world.
Although it seems now that these new, young officers are still very immature.
Even very dogmatic.
But Franz saw amazing potential in them.
He once advised the emperor to follow the example of the Hereford family in establishing a professional non-commissioned officer academy and officer academy.
Cultivate professional army officers to replace the increasingly corrupt aristocratic officer system.
But within the empire, his proposal encountered too much resistance.
Large numbers of noble officers attacked Franz crazily.
In the end, Franz almost had to retire in disgrace, and the matter ended like this.
That's it.
Currently, among the countries in the human world, there are probably only two countries, the reformed Briton and the brand-new country Hereford, which have relatively easy tactical measures to implement a series of reforms.
"So, whether it is a soldier or an officer, the Hereford family's army has shown the best they can do.
Why are there still people who are so stupid and think that the Hereford family The army will collapse due to morale reasons, and they will think that the morale of the Hereford family's army is not as good as ours."
Franz pondered this question in his mind.
At the same time, he resisted the urge to sigh leisurely.
Otherwise, maybe after the war, someone would spread gossip about him again, saying that his sighing like this was capitulationism or something like that.
All in all, Franz knew very well that the Imperial Army had not won.
Facing the Hereford Family Guards who were waiting in full formation, if the Imperial Army could gain anything, it was by no means obtained by the Imperial Army themselves.
There was only one possibility, and that was that the Hereford Family Army voluntarily gave it to them. of.
"They are trying their best to weaken us while protecting themselves."
General Franz immediately had the answer: "This is simply..."
He tried his best to find an adjective to describe this matter, and also tried his best to find another way to crack the tactics of the Hereford family's army, but unfortunately, there was none, not at all.
While the Third Army of the Hereford family retreated calmly, leaving a messy position with tens of thousands of corpses on display to them, General Franz could not find a single tactic that could prevent them from doing so. 160420oshow7: