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Post by Conqueror on Jun 4, 2006 0:13:00 GMT -5
Very good.
+3 Lea +2 Tac +4 Fame + 300 gold
Military growth = 45
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Post by Vice-General Dravin on Jun 7, 2006 9:49:41 GMT -5
A better place, a brighter day. (Task from Jian Ning task list)
Zonia sat in General Dravin's command tent and read her orders:
Zonia smiled, and sighed as she folded the order and put the paper to her bosom, much the same way a school girl would a love note; for indeed to Zonia such words were as poetry to her. She missed the presence of Dravin, and she would do everything in her power to see his will done- for it was a matter of not only duty, but personal admiration.
"Myria!!!" She called from the tent.
"Yes, Commander?" Myria called as she entered the tent, pushing her long green hair to side so she could see as she bent to enter the tent.
"I want you to begin military parade drills for your calvary, at once!" Zonia commanded.
"Parade drills?" She asked doubtfully.
"Yes, parade drills! The men have nothing to do while we wait for the assault time table countdown, plus the General commands it! The Knights are the best in the brotherhood and we must maintain that title, no more questioning, now go!" Zonia commanded, and Myria left with out saying a word.
Zonia herself exited the command tent and went to the field to gather the infantry. A mass assembly of Dravin's army met in the plains North of the defensive lines. Hundreds of light to heavy infantry as well as spear units assembled in ranks before Zonia. She stood on a wooden platform she had built, and she held a cone made of cured leather, folded so it narrowed. She used this to speak to the men, her voice amplified and somewhat distorted.
"Today is the first day of parade drilling!!! Soon you shall all know how to march tall and proud, in the name of Geshtain!!!"
A chorus of cheers went up from the ranks.
"3rd class infantry, form up at the head in a march column, followed by 2nd, and 1st class!!! Light, and heavy spears shall bring up the rear, followed lastly by all ranged units!!"
The men responded, forming ranks in the assigned order. At the head of the column light infantry stood. On the flanks of the column men held banners instead of swords, while the rest of the men had sword and shield in hand. Myria sat on her horse at the head, and lead the men as Zonia shouted orders to them. The column moved forward, the men marching in step. They moved as one up the field. Zonia began to frown as some the front of the column pulled away from the rest of the formation, and the rear seemed to lag behind. She shouted for them to halt, turn around and return to the starting point.
"What is the problem?! You have to stay in step, and stay together!!! Front ranks, you set the pace for the rest of the formation, so watch your speed! The rest of you, try to keep up!"
The men wheeled around and returned to the starting point in front of Zonia's observation deck. They moved again, Zonia shouting a cadence at them as Myria led them on horse.
"Left; left; left; right, left!!!"
The men marched, and there speed and pacing were better, but Zonia knew that in no way would it meet with Dravin's near impossible standards. She sighed as she commanded them back around the field. They repeated this exercise all day, and the days that followed until Zonia was satisfied that they had progressed enough to move on to weapons parade.
On that day, the men exercised moving in place. They would learn to side step in formation and change rows. It was a grueling exercise, as the coordination needed to interchange ranks was tricky at best, but it was good battle training, Zonia thought. The more interchangeable the rank's movement are, the better off they are on the battle field. More then once Zonia had to get down off the command platform and show men which way they needed to step and/or pivot. The column marched down the field, then turned to split into two halves in opposite direction, forming two different columns, then marched some more down the field until signaled to reintegrate into one body. The progress was slow going, as some of the ranks had trouble in the re-forming of the two halves, but all and all it went better then Zonia first feared. There was, however, still a problem with spacing. It vexed Zonia to know end, for she had tried every cadence variation she could think of to get the men in step. It was a problem that General Dravin would later have to solve.
A few days of movement drill and Zonia moved them to arms display. This part of the exercise went extremely well, as the men were mighty warriors, and learning the movements of weapon exercise was easy for them. Zonia had them march with sword and shield in hand, the drawn swords resting flat on their shoulders. They would march, stop, present weapons vertically before their faces, turn on their heels and march to the side or the rear.
"Left; left; left; left, right-left; company....halt! About face-arms away!"
The men marched, paused and turned and swung their blades in a down ward angle by their waist and legs, and back up again to a vertical position in front of their faces, and then would rest the swords crisply on their shoulders again as they began moving in the new direction. The moves required exact spacing, and Zonia had to make the men sling their shields on their backs after a few soldiers were struck from behind by out of place men behind them.
The men practiced parading in place, stepping up and down while presenting their blades up and down. Rows would turn to face each other and clash blades with high-low strikes and fluidly return to normal position. It was good physical and mental exercise, for the men learned to move as one and be more aware of his surroundings. Once Dravin returned from Cheng, he solved the problem of spacing and movement by instructing the men to march in a certain manner....but until then Zonia instructed them each and every day, making them practice in morning and the evening, to avoid the heat of the day. Myria spent a lot of time drilling the horse units, mostly in slow moving display formation, but she cooked up a dramatic show that she insisted she keep secret until an actual parade rally, which was fine for Zonia because she had her hands full. And and all it was a welcome exercise for the men, for their time on the border had been uneventful and they welcomed the distraction from the routine patrols. Soon, their practice would become perfection, and General Dravin would put on a grand show....
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Post by Conqueror on Jun 8, 2006 14:22:41 GMT -5
+1 War +2 Lea +2 Fame +225 gold Military growth = 33
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