Chapter 221: Recruiting and Brune
Horn did not recruit soldiers randomly, he came prepared.

According to the results of the census, there were a total of 9753 young and middle-aged people among the subjects of the Papal State who came to Daze Township.

Horn's definition of young and strong people is adult men between the ages of sixteen and forty-five without disabilities. Recruiting 4000 qualified young and strong people from among them will not affect the daily life of the entire Qiumu Island.

After all, they brought enough food for the winter, and the peat production was more than enough to meet the fuel needs for the winter. The only thing lacking might be clothing.

But except for a few people, most of them do not need to go out to work. It is feasible for them to stay at home with a flue heater or use a peat brazier to keep warm after opening the window.

Since most of the supplies were provided by Horn, they were eating and drinking for free, so naturally there was a lot of idle labor. This part of the labor force could be simply absorbed into the army.

It is now early December, and although the winter sun is still shining outside, the unstoppable chill has been seeping into people's clothes through collars and cuffs.

A simple wooden bridge had been built over the Para River, and Horn rode a horse with a dozen guards to the town.

"This small bridge took more than ten days to build, and it was finally repaired yesterday." He skillfully controlled the horse and made it stomp the bridge deck hard, causing the entire bridge to shake.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't collapse it." Horn hurriedly stopped him. He leaned over to look at the wooden bridge in front of him and shook his head.

It’s still too simple and will have to be rebuilt later.

"Brother, that's a conscription notice... why is no one looking at it?" Seeing the notice on the doorpost of the town gate, Jeanna couldn't help but point at it and ask.

"Because I have already told them in advance that everyone has gone to the recruitment point. Who will read the notice?" Horn shook the reins and drove the horse forward. "Let's go and take a look at the front."

As for the conscription, he had asked people to spread the word five days in advance. According to his conversations with the centurions over the past four days, the young and strong refugees were quite willing to join the army.

According to the information Horn had collected, there were two reasons why those who were willing to join the army could be summarized: first, the salary was high, food and lodging were provided, meat was available, and the status was high; second, they wanted to attack the Holy See of the Thousand River Valley Church and avenge their relatives and friends.

There were many reasons for not wanting to join the army, such as fear of death, having no place to live, fear that the wife they just married would be stolen after they left, and fear that Horn would not keep his word.

After ascertaining the opinions and sentiments of the young men, Horn posted the notice two days ago.

The notice clearly stated Horn's treatment and introduction of the Salvation Army.

First, they were fighting to save the people of Qianhe Valley and to avenge their dead relatives and friends. It was a just battle for freedom and equality. Even if they died, it would be an honorable death.

Second, the more soldiers a centurion has, the higher the priority of building materials and manpower. When allocating housing to the centurions, the soldiers' families are given priority in housing allocation and no longer have to live in tents in the wilderness.

Third, anyone who maliciously destroys a soldier's marriage during his service shall be sentenced to death by hanging.

Fourth, after officially registering with the recruit company, you will first receive a one-month salary of 30 dinars in advance, and the top 10% of the recruit company's training performance will receive a bonus of 90 dinars. After becoming a regular employee, the daily salary in non-wartime is 2 dinars, and the daily salary in wartime is 4 dinars.

Fifth, there is a special cemetery for heroes after death in battle, the children of soldiers can go to school for free or join the Children's Army, their wives are arranged jobs by the Papal States, and if they cannot work, they will receive subsidies and nursing homes. There are special elders to contact, and if there is anything, they can report directly to Horn.

Sixth, after the new recruits are officially registered, if they desert, they will be sentenced to hanging in serious cases, and sentenced to reform in the Holy Trinity Education Team in minor cases. If their family members know about it but fail to report it, their record will be included in the household register and criticized throughout the Papal States.

In the two days after the notice was posted, the first order Horn gave to the monks of the Order of the Holy Fathers was to take this notice and publicize the conscription policy to the people in each hundred households.

When it comes to the official conscription today, each Holy Fathers friar is paired with three literate registrars to become an official recruiting officer.

Horn dismounted, put on his hood, found a random insula and walked in.

The floor of this Insura courtyard was paved with irregular stones, with weeds growing in the gaps. A few crows landed on the eaves, curiously looking at the scene in the courtyard.

The centurion and the decadent of this Insula each held a wooden spear and stood behind the friar of the Holy Fathers, and next to the friar were two literate clerks. Seven or eight young men who came together were counting from one to ten and then from ten to one, led by the decadent, to test whether the brain was disabled.

Among Horn's 25000 people, more than 800 were literate, and more than 700 of them could do simple writing, reading and calculation, with a literacy rate of nearly 3%.

I can only say that this is all thanks to the fact that Joan of Arc is a blessed city, otherwise where can we find so many literate people?
Horn knew the registered monk from the Order of the Holy Fathers. His name was Jim with a Flowery Beard. Because there were so many people named Jim, he had to add a nickname before his name.

Jim with the flowery beard saw Horn behind the crowd, and immediately went around behind a pillar, then secretly walked up to Horn and bowed.

"How's it going?" Horn asked, looking at the young laborer with a red beard, "How many people have signed up so far?"

Jim with the flowery beard answered without hesitation: "According to the ratio of young and strong people in this hundred households, our goal is 71 people. So far, 67 people have passed and registered. We will soon be able to complete it."

"So fast?" Horn was a little surprised. It was less than half a day.

Jim with the flowery beard chuckled, "I have brought along ten heads of households and notified every household. About half of the young and strong men are willing and half are unwilling. Anyway, almost all those who want to kill the devil have come."

Horn looked in silence at the young men who were shivering in the cold wind even though they were wearing two layers of clothing.

"After you register, don't leave. Stay until the evening. Those who came to register during this period but didn't get accepted can register first. They will be given priority in the next conscription..."

"If I say unqualified, then it means unqualified!"

Before Horn could finish his words, he heard a roar and a head of ten households slammed the table and shouted at a tall figure.

"I'm not a fool, I can count from one to ten. You always interrupt me, I..." Brune's face turned red and he subconsciously took a step forward.

"What are you doing? Do you want to hit someone? Do you know that if you beat the head of a household, you will be punished with three strokes of the cane?" Merikso cursed in a stern voice.

"I just speak slowly. I can count to ten. Listen, one... two..."

"You said you were still at one or two, didn't you? Who has time to wait for you?"

Some young and strong people who arrived late originally wanted to leave, but when they saw this scene, they immediately joined in: "Yes, yes, if you can't do it, just get out of the way."

Horn winked at Bearded Jim, who understood and pushed the crowd away: "What are you doing? I'm just going to take a shit, why are you making a fuss?"

"Brother Jim, this man is Brune from our tenth household. He just came here to clean the yard. I told him that he couldn't count to ten and couldn't be a soldier, but he refused to leave."

Jim walked up to Brune and looked up at his nostrils... Damn, this kid is probably about 1.9 meters tall.

"Brother Jim, I know him best. He is timid and cowardly. If he gives you that, he will only eat up the rice crackers..."

"Shut up first." Jim took two steps back, not wanting to waste time talking to Merrick, and pointed at Brune and said, "You, count once, and no one else is allowed to speak."

Without Meriksor's interference, Brune successfully counted from one to ten and then from ten to one, proving that there was nothing wrong with his IQ.

"Since that's okay." Bearded Jim wrote down the last name on the registration form. "Remember to gather at the town gate the day after tomorrow morning. If you are late, it will be considered as a voluntary waiver and will be recorded in the household register. Do you understand?"

"Ah?" Brune was a little confused. He was just mocked by those young men from the same ten households for not being able to count to ten. He was so angry that he wanted to prove himself.

When did he say he wanted to join the army?

(End of this chapter)