Old Mann's Contributions
1473 Words
After our dinner and the nightly conference with the citizens, Heather and me, the pioneers, Old Mann and his wife, the Priests and Priestesses, along with Eagle and several of his trusted men assembled in the domain's conference hall.
The writing slate had been dragged into the domain's conference hall where Michelle was cleaning it up. Yes, today we have a few extras added in especially Michelle, Nolan and Oscar. These three had been in training before they were inducted to Gracehaven back in Gillman's.
Once we have seated comfortably and hot steaming tea and slices of assorted Nutty and Fruity log cake had been served, we kicked off the conference. The citizens who had cleared up the courtyard of the benches after the nightly conference were intrigued by the happenings as it was quite rare for a new inductee to enter such place after coming into Gracehaven.
Eagle cleared his throat before he looked at me and nodded his head before speaking, "Ladies and Gentlemen, before we commence, let's say a little prayer that whatever we wished to achieve tonight would be blessed by our Lord above. Amen..."
Everyone "Amen..."
"I wished to kick off this conference by sharing with you what Old Mann had said to me earlier and what he wished to implement would prove beneficial for everyone. Old Mann, please stand and take over the slate here. Michelle would be of your assistance would you require her to hold the slate for you."
I motioned for Old Mann to rise and he went forward and took a piece of chalk when Michelle offered to him."Good evening all, I had discussed with His Majesty earlier and I wish to contribute to the community here."
"I wish to have the full cooperation of setting up 2 garrisons that made up of a minimum of 36 conscripts each, and would be trained in archery, swordsmanship and also in handling pikes or long spears."
"I had served as a squad leader before I retire from the King's army and had been in the service for more than 20 years. I have seen my fair share of victories and defeats and I rotated being a swordsman and a pikeman during my service."
"Now during the period of autumn and winter, even though the situation may look rather peaceful, I would suggest having these garrisons to ensure the safety and security they would be further enhanced with the existing Shadow members."
"I had seen that Gwen is handling the production of the bows as well and I am sure the how's had a draw strength of 150 pounds at least. What we need would be 100 to 120 pounds as the conscripts would be made up of men and women."
Gwen noted of it mentally and raised her thumb indicating that the request was feasible.
"How would your formation be and how many manpower would you assign for each garrison?" Eagle inquired as he was interested in getting as much information as possible to make things work, in his case.
"There would be 12 rows and 3 columns of men for the pikemen. This would be considered as a small squad of pikemen that would be able to hold a pike wall quite effectively."
"The sides here and the ones bringing up the rear would be archers and swordsmen. They would move in a tight formation and not break the wall when they faced a barrage of cavalrymen or other foot soldiers."
"How about the equipment?" Old Jack raised his queries as archers were normally lightly armoured.
Firstly, Old Mann went to the writing slate and he drew the design of a pike head and it was set at a length of 10 feet. Any longer it would prove too cumbersome and 10 feet would be a safe distance to ward off advancing soldiers.
Author's Note:
A pike could be as long as 20 feet long during the medieval period and it seems it would be used as clothes hanging pole during peacetime. B-)
After drawing the design of the pike head with a ferrule that could be fitted onto a long 10 feet pole, old Mann drew the design of a shield with openings on both sides. The shield is called an aspis and the openings at the two sides are meant for the pikemen to peer over and also position their pikes and shield themselves behind it.
"Archers do not carry shields, Old Mann. Except for the crazy designs our Majesty had made before, no one is going to carry one since it's so cumbersome." Gwen highlighted to Old Mann while Eagle and the rest of the Shadow members murmured to themselves as they nodded their heads.
"Only the main pikemen c*m swordsmen carry the shields, the archers c*m swordsmen would not. Besides, there are 3 loose formations that would normally be implemented. A single line, staggered or moved as a solid formation."
"Once in a tight solid formation, the front would be handled by the pikemen, the centre would be by the swordsmen and lastly the archers."
"As the role for the archers and swordsmen are interchangeable, the most important part is to hold the Fort down, which means, the pike wall formation would never fall."
Eagle nodded his head in apprehension and spoke up, "I agree to your formation and requirements. So how are you going to conduct the training? Would you be handling the pike man's training alone since Gwen and some of the Shadow members would be able to assist in the archery while Michelle, Nolan and Oscar would also be handling the swordsmanship."
"At least your task in handling the matters would be lighter and would not be a strain to you," Eagle suggested and Old Mann agreed to train the pikemen and so, after addressing the first military conference, we had decided that there would be a total of 96 conscripts per garrison that would be made of 36 pikemen c*m swordsmen and 60 swordsmen c*m archers.
There would be close to 200 conscripts and the figure was a staggeringly close to half of the population of Gracehaven.
"Alright then, I would be making an announcement to the community tomorrow after breakfast and from there I would be taking in a roll call and get their names ready."
"We would see how the responses would be from them. Besides, being a conscript would be secondary as they would not be abandoning their primary duties."
I concluded the military conference and arranged the sheaves of papers that I had taken notes on. Now the next big piece of news began after Old Mann, his wife along with the 3 Stooges from Gillman's Barracks, as Firestone came hobbling in with an aid of a walking stick.
"Firestone... We would like to perform something on you that would make you bedridden between one to three months time. Once what we wished to perform was a success, you would be out and about just like before the accident."
Firestone looked at me in a rather bewildered manner as Farah sat beside him at the conference table, coaxing him to be more relaxed and at ease.
"But, Your Majesty... My leg had gene amputated from the knee. How would I be a normal person again? The only thing left is the invisible itch where my leg used to be. I can't even play with the children with a blown-up pig's bladder that the children kicked around in the courtyard."
"I can't even go swimming and most likely I would sink at the bottom of the river with one leg kicking. Hahaha."
"But let me tell you despite all this, Your Majesty... I would do anything that makes my daughter happy and close to me." Farah was hugging close to her father's chest when she heard those words.
"Daddy... I want the young sweet corn soaked in brine. Could you do that for me in the next harvest?" Farah spoke up while her father simply nodded his head and stroked her head.
"Then it settles then. You may need to move your things over from the house you shared with Andy over to the infirmary. Old Kayla and Isabela would be tending to you once you are there. We hope we would be able to do this as soonest as possible."
"Daddy, you go on ahead to the infirmary. I and my sisters will pack your things for you and bring them over, is that alright?" Farah advised to her as she removed herself from her embrace and held Imelda's hands and flitted out from the domain's conference hall and back to the residential lots.
Without further ado, Isabela and old Kayla walked Firestone to the infirmary and he would be the first inpatient before the end of the first autumn in Gracehaven.
- Writer
