However, in addition to the army directly belonging to the Stark family, as the Duke of Winterfell and the Guardian of the North, once war breaks out, Eddard Stark can summon his vassal nobles and lead their troops into battle.
In this way, the entire Northern Territory can summon up to 50,000 troops.
There's really no more than that.
Even among this 50,000-strong army, the majority are farmers. Only about 10,000 are truly elite soldiers, which is actually something to be thankful for.
Take the Reach as an example—the second-largest region among the Seven Kingdoms. The land is fertile, the climate warm and humid, and harvests are bountiful each year.
In terms of abundance and war potential, it's undoubtedly the strongest in the Seven Kingdoms.
If he goes all out, the vassals and nobles under the Guardian of the South, the Duke of Highgarden—"Inflatable Fish" Mace Tyrell—could muster an army of 200,000.
Of course, that number is just as inflated as the army in the North.
Among the so-called 200,000 troops, nearly 40,000 are elite soldiers. The other 160,000 are just farmers brought in as cannon fodder.
It's no different from the armies of medieval Europe a thousand years ago. The real fighters were carefully trained and equipped by nobles—standing armies with the best weapons and gear.
Then, to boost morale, they would gather farmers from the territory, hand each one a rusty iron sword or spear, and send them off to fight. After victory, they helped plunder the enemy's wealth and clean up the battlefield.
Anyway, they've done this for thousands of years and never thought there was anything wrong with it.
In the end, it all comes down to backwardness and low productivity, which limits military development. These nobles are unwilling—and truly unable—to maintain too many standing troops.
But for a rare individual like Jason Liu, with access to weapons and supplies from another world, raising a standing army of tens of thousands is no problem at all.
Now that he's far from Winterfell and located at remote Saylor Lake, he has the freedom to experiment and recruit soldiers as he pleases—without arousing the Stark family's suspicions.
At the Saylor Lake camp, after Jason Liu appointed his knights as battalion commanders, he immediately had them begin training new recruits.
The veterans selected from earlier batches were promoted to squad leaders, deputy squad leaders, company commanders, and deputy company commanders.
As for selecting lower-level officers, since the current troop size isn't too large, Jason Liu still had the energy to oversee their selection himself.
In the future, when the number of soldiers under his command increases, he won't be able to manage the selection of even squad leaders and company commanders.
Therefore, while the army is still small, he intends to strictly select and promote capable veterans to grassroots leadership roles.
Although in his view, most of the young soldiers aren't very different from each other, it's not so easy to pick out talents like Jon, Rubin, Chris, Marb, or McCann.
It took Jason Liu three days to finish selecting grassroots-level officers such as company commanders and squad leaders.
Finally, the newly recruited spearmen could begin training.
They started with basic drills—lining up, marching in unison, turning left and right—to develop obedience and a sense of teamwork.
Spearmen rely on tight formations to confront the enemy with discipline and unity.
Whether it's the Spanish phalanx or Roman phalanx, Jason Liu plans to follow a similar model.
Against the relatively disorganized armies of Westerosi nobles, he believes a well-structured army can achieve decisive victories.
Of course, against legions like the Unsullied—who feel no pain, fear no death—he might not fare as well.
However, in terms of weapons and equipment, Jason Liu believes his troops wouldn't necessarily lose, even in a direct confrontation with the Unsullied.
And if cold weapons aren't enough? That's fine. Lord Jason has hot weapons—flintlock muskets.
Once he equips a few thousand troops with muskets, let's see who dares to charge against a storm of bullets.
After enjoying his moment of pride, Jason Liu remembered he still needed to transport the cement and steel bars stored in the No. 2 warehouse to the Saylor Lake camp that night.
Musket army? World domination? First things first—there's real work to be done.
Because each tent at the Saylor Lake campsite is only 4 by 10 meters, Jason Liu had to transport the cement and steel bars manually from the warehouse.
After several hours of labor, he finally filled dozens of tents in the camp's warehouse area.
During the process, he had to calculate how much each tent could hold. He could only transport a small amount at a time, which took hours.
To think he's a dignified billionaire and the distinguished Earl of Starfire Castle—and yet here he is, working like a laborer, sneaking around at night.
If Billionaire Jason Liu is working this hard, what excuse do you have not to work hard?
M, those words sound so self-righteous, you almost want to slap Boss Liu across the face!
Seriously, are you even talking about real people here?
Unknowingly, Liu, still full of smug satisfaction, had already transported the first batch of cement and steel bars by midnight.
In the past few days, Old Torrant and his masons had finalized the port location.
Construction could begin tomorrow.
Jason Liu had asked Fusion Trade's procurement department to order 1,000 freight carriages. Last time, only 400 were delivered. Of the remaining 600, 200 are still being worked on in the factories.
So far, 300 more have been completed and delivered to Fusion Trading's No. 2 warehouse.
However, because the Saylor Lake camp warehouse area is now packed with cement and steel bars, Jason Liu has no way to transport additional freight carriages there for now.
So, for now, he'll use the 400 carriages already at the camp.
When the next batch of recruited workers arrives at the logging yard outside Winterfell, he'll bring in freight carriages from the modern warehouse.
Yes, Jason Liu hasn't stopped recruiting yet.
At the lumber mill, Bud and Marbu continue sending teams to the Riverlands to secretly promote and recruit more people to bring north.
Compared to the vast and sparsely populated North, the Riverlands have three to four times the population—and are far more densely populated.
Many poor farmer families, crushed by the heavy taxes of their lords, simply cannot survive.
Some have no choice but to flee into the forest with their families, relying on hunting and gathering to survive.
Because Westeros is still in an ignorant, primitive age, the mountains and forests still teem with wildlife, and those with decent skills can feed their families through hunting.
Of course, that's only true for skilled hunters.
Ordinary farmers can't manage it. If they can't bring home enough prey, they'll end up starving.
The lives of the common people at the bottom really are miserable.
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