novellaaa Chapter 12 Meeting
Chapter 12 Meeting
"How about Blangji? This young man is quite good. Although he hasn't been in the army for long, he killed quite a few enemy soldiers in the last battle. And he's very clever."
"I think Choms is good too. He's a veteran with a lot of combat experience."
……
As soon as the Baron finished speaking, the company commanders present began chattering away, recommending their own candidates.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, each of the recommended candidates will be the one that the company commander himself prefers.
"Quiet down, everyone."
Baron Keynes looked at the people in the meeting, frowned, and tapped the table lightly with his index finger. The current situation was exactly what he had expected, because the previous times had also been filled with endless arguments without any conclusion.
"This time, a vote will be used."
Upon hearing that Baron Enkes would be using a voting method, everyone present exchanged knowing glances.
As expected, it happened again.
Whenever there are disagreements or major events in the military camp, and the Baron does not make a decision personally, and the others cannot reach a consensus, the Baron will resort to a vote.
It is said that this is the parliamentary voting system that the Baron learned when he was studying abroad in his youth.
These roughnecks didn't see the fairness and justice in this system; they just felt that the baron's actions were very humane and that he wasn't as arrogant as other nobles.
This is one of the main reasons why everyone in the camp trusted the Baron.
The vote begins with Knight Reinard.
The seven squadron leaders, including the deputy squadron leader, nominated five candidates, of whom only one relatively popular and lucky one had a chance of being promoted.
These two were personally recommended by the company commanders of the first and third companies, and most of the company commanders present would give them some face.
Nevertheless, the other candidates, including Gerns, also have considerable support.
As always, Knight Reinald abstained from voting. In these meetings where power was being transferred, Knight Reinald almost always abstained from voting in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
The reason is simply that Knight Reinald is also a nobleman, and a noble knight personally appointed by the Baron.
It is said that the Knights Reynal family has been vassals of the Baron Enkes family for generations. Their ancestors were once the personal guards of Baron Enkes' ancestor, and they fought alongside Baron Enkes' ancestor in the Kingdom of Collington.
The ancestors of the Enkais family did not disappoint the Reinard family, and made them hereditary knights.
The kingdom's noble ranks were divided in the order of Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Duke.
Below the lords are the knights.
To prevent the nobility from seizing power, the kingdom stipulated that a high-ranking noble could only enfeoff the two ranks of nobles below him, and there could only be one such enfeoffment.
In other words, a marquis can be granted the title of viscount, an earl can be granted the title of baron, a viscount can be granted the title of lord, and a baron can be granted the title of knight.
At the same time, the noble territories granted by the great nobles had to be paid for by the great nobles themselves, which shows the trust that Baron Enkais's family had in Knight Reinal's family.
As for the title of Duke, which is above Marquis, since the Kingdom of Collington itself is a duchy, the King, who holds a high position in the capital, has always inherited the title of Duke.
The royal family was well aware of the duke's abilities and influence. At the beginning of the Kingdom of Corlington, the first king warned his descendants not to grant dukedoms.
Lords and knights were of lower social standing, but even so, a common soldier like Gerns could only look up to them.
The Reinald Knight family lived up to the support of the Enkes Baron family, with almost every generation having a third-tier knight squire, to the point that this generation of Reinald Knights had even advanced to the peak of the third-tier knight level.
After Knight Reinald, the voting began with Squadron Leader Gort, followed by the vice-captain of the Fourth Squadron on the right.
As for Lord Holmes, most people present habitually ignored him, because Lord Holmes and the Baron never participated in this type of vote.
Because it was Uncle Reggler of the Third Squadron who made the suggestion, Gerns was the fourth voter, placing him in the middle among the seven squadron leaders' proposals.
After a long while, it finally came down to Gerns. First, Squadron Leader Goret voted: "I have heard of this young man's abilities; he is barely qualified for the position of squadron leader. But he is still a bit too young, so I abstain to remain neutral."
As soon as he finished speaking, Goreth felt, whether it was his imagination or not, that young master Holmes glanced at him intentionally or unintentionally, and at the same time, his brows furrowed slightly.
Suddenly, an ominous premonition arose in Gore's heart.
However, Gore didn't pay much attention, perhaps he had misread it.
Next was the deputy captain of the first squadron. He wasn't very familiar with this young man, Gerns. He had only heard from his subordinates that in the recent Battle of the Canyon, this young man had dragged the wounded men of his squadron back to the rear.
Moreover, this was after he himself had suffered quite a few injuries, although those injuries were easily identifiable to soldiers who had fought for many years; they were just superficial wounds.
Unexpectedly, just as the young man dragged the fourth person he had rescued back to the battlefield, he was hit by three crossbow bolts at the same time, one of which almost hit his heart.
Fortunately, the young man was eventually saved by the military medics in the rear, so the deputy captain of the first company had a much better impression of him than just "very good".
"I think this young man is quite good. Although he's a bit young, he's very energetic and loyal. I'll agree to him for now."
After careful consideration, the deputy captain of the first squadron chose a relatively moderate answer, which saved Captain Gort's face while also expressing his support.
At the same time, these words also made young master Holmes temporarily put away the slightly annoyed look he had given Goreth.
It wasn't until he saw his vice-captain express his support that Goreth began to look at Gerns with new respect.
Perhaps due to Uncle Reger's influence, in the subsequent vote, Rogers, the vice-captain of the second squadron, also expressed his support for Gerns.
In addition, Uncle Reger, as Gerns's superior, also cast his vote in support so as not to disappoint his squadron.
However, it would be far too easy for him to win the entire vote. Keep in mind that there are only three votes. Among the three people who came before Gerns, one person had one more vote than him, and the other two had the same number of votes as him.
Moreover, there is another candidate behind him who has not yet started voting.
The next deputy captain of the fourth squadron differed from the previous ones in that he explicitly voted against Gerns: "I think this young man's management skills are still lacking and he needs more training."
The voting has now ended, and Gerns has only received three votes so far, so his hopes are still very slim.
"I think Gerns is good. His leadership and abilities are not low. He is more than qualified to be a company commander."
Just before the next vote was about to begin, young Master Holmes, who rarely spoke, offered his opinion.