These days, literacy is completely considered a luxury. Not all nobles can afford tutors who can read.
The knowledge inheritance of many nobles comes entirely from family education.
Now, there is an opportunity to receive education, which is placed in front of everyone. Even a few barons have excited expressions on their faces.
Although they are barons, they are located in the Argau Territory and are not wealthy enough to afford a tutor. In the entire Argau Territory, only the Earl's family has this kind of treatment.
The church monopolized general knowledge and acquired a transcendent status. Although most of the nobles were illiterate, they had a monopoly on military knowledge. Whether it was fighting skills or marching formations, almost all of this knowledge came from generations within the family, which was their biggest advantage over ordinary people.
The reason why aristocrats became aristocrats and why they can continue to be passed on, apart from the initial luck, the most important thing is that they pay more attention to education and learning than ordinary people, monopolize military knowledge, and make the monarch have to rely on them.
It is precisely based on this that they are eager to learn new things and master more knowledge than anyone else. This is true not only for nobles, but also for families whose quality of life has been changed by mastering knowledge in their previous lives.
"My Lord Count is wise!"
"Long live Master Otto!"
There were random shouts in the hall.
Otto didn't say anything anymore. He was very satisfied. He was very good and energetic. The future of the territory was promising.
After solving the issue of post-war rewards and arranging a wave of pensions, Otto then began to think about the reform of the army and family knights.
Regarding this matter, in fact, the nobles already have the prototype of a standing army, which is professional soldiers such as guards and knights who do not produce, but the number is extremely limited.
Today, there are nearly a thousand such soldiers under Otto.
Why could Otto, a small count, be able to support so many professional soldiers? The reason was very simple, because these people only had to take care of the food and did not need to pay them. Otto only had to provide equipment. Even soldiers with fiefdoms and noble families brought their own weapons and equipment.
The reason why these people are so cheap and easy to use is because they all have dreams and want to follow promising nobles like Otto, fight for their future with their lives, and then become powerful nobles like Otto.
These people are the "quasi-knights" that Otto recruited before.
As for most of the others, it is because they were raised by Otto's family since they were young. Their parents have worked for the lord's castle or manor for generations.
Children who are stronger and lucky can be selected as attendants, receive professional military training, and become "quasi-knights." Those who are unlucky will also receive some simple military training and become guards of castles or manors. Although there is no income, they will be able to have enough food and clothing for the rest of their lives, and they may one day become a noble master.
Otto was not worried about the latter. It was the same as the domestic servants and nursing homes raised in the East in ancient times.
As for the former, they are the most combat-effective in the army. In fact, it is this group of people that Otto is most worried about.
After all, it’s hard to say whether some of these people will leave Otto after the land that binds the title changes from fiefdom to fief. They didn’t grow up eating Otto’s food. For Otto, There's no such thing as loyalty.
Therefore, the method that Otto came up with was very simple, to pay people. This is the simplest and most direct way to improve the combat effectiveness of the army and ensure loyalty.
For example, if Da Meng is paid enough, he can chase the Golden Family around. When wages are not paid, firing two shots into the air is considered worthy of the emperor, but he cannot even defeat barbarians with incomplete armor.
If you simply give money, apart from increasing Otto's financial burden at the moment, the effect will not be too great. It may even be worse than using this money to buy more mercenaries.
Therefore, a corresponding military merit system is needed to tell these professional soldiers what benefits they will enjoy in the future and what kind of contributions they will make to transform themselves into nobles.
Otto combined history and the experience of previous lives and launched a seventeenth-level military merit and six-level promotion system to ensure that the army has a reasonable promotion channel for meritorious service.
Among the seventeenth level of military merit, the seventeenth level, the lowest level, naturally means that I participated in the war, but before I could take action, the war was over and I was out of action. The purpose of this level of military merit is to tell the soldiers that as long as they obey orders and follow instructions, they will be rewarded.
The highest level of first-class military merit is not something that normal people can achieve, such as taking the head of a general out of thousands of troops; one person guarding a city, and I am invincible in the world, etc. This level of military merit is mainly to draw a big picture for everyone. After all, first-level military merit is almost equivalent to being directly awarded a baron.
Each level of military merit can obtain different accumulated military merits. When a certain amount of military merits is accumulated, the status can be upgraded. The six-level identity system is: ordinary soldiers, senior soldiers, elite soldiers, junior sergeants, mid-level sergeants, and senior sergeants.
When you reach the level of senior sergeant, your status is equivalent to that of a real knight, and you can also obtain a fief. As for future upgrades, that is a matter for the nobles. When it comes to the promotion of nobles, although military merit plays a role, it is not the most important factor.
After such reforms, the army's combat effectiveness and fighting will should be improved a lot.
However, due to financial reasons, such a standing army is destined to not be too large. Even if Otto is still relatively wealthy, once the existing soldiers are paid, they may not be able to bear it.
Well, let's start from the sergeant level. Those "quasi-knights" who are qualified in martial arts will enjoy the treatment of sergeants. This should reduce a lot of expenses. In the future, when conditions permit, we can distribute it on a large scale.
Otto's idea for this standing army was to mainly consist of elite cavalry and elite infantry. Needless to say, cavalry is the absolute king in the cold weapon era. As for elite infantry, whether they form a separate heavy infantry phalanx during wartime, serve as grassroots commanders, or form an ordinary infantry phalanx with ordinary conscripts, they are all good choices.
Infantry phalanx, maybe it’s time to train the territorial militia. Spanish phalanx infantry can also become Habsburg phalanx infantry! Anyway, historically it was only during the Habsburg rule that it flourished, so this is not considered an infringement!
As for family knights, they are basically equivalent to Eastern retainers. Otto's idea was to utilize these people and turn them into public offices, becoming political officials of the territory and commanders of the army. In this way, the Habsburg family's control over the army and territory could be guaranteed.
Fortunately, the commander said that it was okay for the nobles to join him, but for the management of the directly administered territory, Otto did not have so many administrative bureaucrats, so he had to convert from the family knights first.
Of course, the loyalty of these people cannot be overemphasized, but the disobedience of some people still needs to be corrected.
There is just one problem. These days, the status of family knights is not high, at least in the eyes of the nobles. These people have no status. They usually smile in front of them just for the sake of the lord. They want to manage the nobles and make them behave. Being obedient is a bit difficult.
So, what needs to be done now is to improve the professionalism of the family knights and increase their status. What should be done?
