Road to the Crown

19th September 1574

"I know that your training was far shorter than we initially expected and wanted it to be, but even with that, you are already far above the necessary level to take part in the fight."

Starting with the clarification of the situation for the new recruits still confined to the military area, I waited for a moment for the information to sink in. Compared to the officially sworn soldiers of the first batch that came out of this place, they still lacked a lot of training in terms of marching and other aspects that were highly important in terms of the infantry, yet when compared to the units that were already fighting on the frontline, they had even more training than them!

And let's not forget about the fact that this batch of recruits didn't really need to know how to march properly! Given how the steam carriages factory was already operating in full swing, every single man that was standing in front of the small podium right now would always be travelling with their machine rather than dirtying their shoes by marching!

"I know that it might feel overwhelming to finally got to war, but remember, this is what you signed up for, this is what you trained for and this is what you are bound to do for your own personal glory and the safety of the country we live in!"

As soon as I returned from Krakow, rather than pushing them even harder in terms of training, I actually decided that allowing them one day of leave to spend their times with their families was a better choice. Every single recruit was coming from the class of serfs, making their lives so far quite miserable. By showing them the difference of what they had before and what they get by serving under me, I hoped to properly reinforce their morale and make them loyal towards the case!

After all, nothing motivated soldiers in the current times more, than timely and generous pay!

"So let me ask you this one question. Are you ready to earn your keep?!"

Finally changing the tone of my voice from friendly uncle to a stern commander's one, I shouted at the group of men lining up in front of the podium on which I stood.

"YES SIR!"

All at once, those new recruits responded with a uniform shout. Given how they already went through a month-long training, all the basics of discipline and military behaviour were already properly nailed into both their bodies and their minds. 

"I'm not going to ask you to give your lives for the case you will be fighting for. Rather than that, I want you to kill all those fuckers who will stand against us!"

Using one of the few real-life quotes of the generals that stuck to my mind, I shouted at the group in front of me, still keen on reinforcing their morale. After all, whenever someone was going to a war or a battle, there was this one single thought that prevented him from fighting properly.

What if I die? What if this is the end of the line for me? Is this even worth anything that I received for that?"

Up until now, fresh recruits that were mobilised by the nobles of the country didn't really have any other choice. They would be put in the middle of the formation, surrounded by either professional soldiers, mercenaries or nobles and given no simple way of retreating. 

On the other side, I didn't have the luxury to force them into fighting like that. But on the other hand, the fact that each and every single one of them would take part in the battles not while on the ground exposed to anything that the Ostros cavalry would like to do with them, but behind pancer walls of the steam carriages with reaper gun in their hand, had to compensate for all of the laps in their training and discipline!

"YES SIR!"

Once again, uniformly responding to my call to arms, the lines of my soldiers pushed their chest up.

"Then what are you waiting for? Mount the carriages!"

Thinking about this, the recent success at obtaining the spring steel thanks to the open-hearth furnace was one of the absolutely best news that could reach my ears. In just a few days, all the war carriages were outfitted with the basic form of amortization, making them far more capable of traversing the hard terrain that the less developed parts of the commonwealth were filled with. 

But that didn't mean that my carriages were free from problems. Right now, when they were fully stocked with provisions, ammunition, guns, crew and fuel, each of them could only travel up to one hundred and fifty kilometres, before the lack of fuel would force them to stop. For as long as it would take me to obtain an endless amount of coal that was far more efficient when used as fuel than the plain wood or charcoal, every hundred kilometres covered would be marked with forced stop, during which the crews would have to pick up the axes and get some wood from the surroundings!

While this kind of tactic was sustainable in the forested areas of the commonwealth, once the crown would put its attention to the steppes, then my steam carriages would turn completely useless without the proper train supply line, capable of providing them with ample amounts of fuel!

"YES SIR!"

With this last shout, the orderly line of my soldiers broke up. With each of the group forming a small square and trodding away to man the vehicles that were already prepared for the departure behind them, I could finally step down from the pedestal and approach one of the few heavy carriages that the manufacturing area managed to finish. 

"Is everything ready, sir?"

Sitting at the very front of the vehicle, one of the few nobles that joined my cause early enough for me to put my trust in him was holding the simple steering wheel. 

"Yes, we will be departing in a few minutes. For now, we will aim to reach the rallying point near the Lwow, where the rest of our army should be stationed. We are only waiting for one more person now."

As great of the improvement in terms of the logistic the steam carriages were, they could only show their valid points once they started moving. The process of actually putting them into motion still required quite a bit of effort, stalling the departure for a short time.

"I still can't believe you are allowing me to take part in this mission… After the last blunder…"

Looking up from my seat, I saw that Peter finally has arrived. After our plan involving the use of the spies that came to this place with him, rather than returning to his own home, he decided to stay in this place in order to learn how the things worked here. Given how he was one of the descendants of the potentially one of the most important and powerful allies of mine, rather than trying to hide the effects of my lands from him, I even made additional efforts to make people go around and explain how things worked in the places that caught his interest!

After all, most of the Ostros lands were relatively close to the Cherrio's household domains. With how developed areas could only strive if there were other developed places that they could cooperate with, making sure that Cheerio would develop at least a fraction of the pace that my lands were growing at, was one of my long term strategic assumptions!

"Just like with how we are teaching you about all the great things about industrial development, I want you to see how insane military power it offers to those who dabble into it. After all, what would be the point of becoming richer if you can't project your power with it?"

Given how Cheerio family would be involved in the private endeavours of Polish nobles in taking over the entire Russian tsarate just a few tens of years from now in the original historic timeline, making sure that they would grow in terms of the military could only make both me and the commonwealth as a whole profit. 

In the end, before the royal election would be over, it would be hard for me to manage the growth of my lands. Even the insane profits that my wood factory was generating thanks to the foreign trade, it was slowly turning to be far less than enough to support the constant growth of my lands. 

Only by finding someone who would kiss my foot for dumping all the stuff that was already obsolete for me, but useful for them, would I be able to realistically support the continuous and rapid growth of my private economy!

"I see, that makes sense… To be honest, I can't wait to see how great those inventions of your will prove to be right on the battlefield!"

Hearing Peter's words, I couldn't help but smile. Given how we would observe the events from the safe insides of the heavily armoured carriage, it would be given how excited and calm he was!

But rather than accompanying him on this trip to the dreamland of what would happen in the near future, I used the frame of the carriage to support myself as I raised from my seat and looked outside through the open hatch of the carriage. Seeing that the war carriages of mine were already properly manned and only awaiting my order, I smiled and got back to my seat.

"Let's go! The war is not waiting for anyone!"