19 Official Leadership Meeting

Mark stood in the Headquarters behind one of the tables. Laid out on the table before him was the rough map he had drawn last night of the local area. In front of him were sat the key members of the Red Ribbons who he wanted to become the spine of his mercenary organisation. Little Tai and Bertrand sat at the rear of the group, their towering frames allowing them a perfect view of the meeting in front. Sakura and Boudica sat to Mark's right, both lent forwards holding pencils and paper prepared to take notes, both intrigued to see what the meeting was about. Eduardo, Tsubotai and Gan Ning sat to his left, Mark hadn't seen Gan Ning this silent yet. Mark realised that as this was their first official meeting Gan Ning was taking it seriously.

"Welcome to the first official leadership meeting of the Red Ribbons." Mark announced, "Firstly let's discuss our growth so far, our future direction and upcoming plans."

"Sakura, if you could please take notes during the meeting. If anyone has any comments, please speak up as we go through." he continued. Mark used his previous managerial skills and finally felt in his element. Leading meetings was only natural to him, in fact he spent so much of his normal day in meetings, if not for the setting he would feel he was back in his own world, before his death by a train to the face.

"So current growth." Mark started. "There are 24 members of the Red Ribbons, including myself. In this short time we have grown quickly, but I would like to increase this expansion exponentially. We need to grow over 50 members within the month, with a full training regime to be implemented."

"Most successful mercenary groups have a few hundred members, but they have been running for years. I think a slow and steady growth is the best option." Eduardo offered, "Captain Zheng's fleet took many years to build, but every captain and sailor is loyal and well trained throughout the fleet."

"I would normally agree, but as you will see in my planning stage of the meeting later, there are needs to grow a bit faster." Mark replied, "However we will only hire those who are worthy for the long term goal, if we don't find the right people we will grow as you advised."

Eduardo nodded his head in understanding, "Very well, I just wanted to advise."

"It is appreciated." Mark replied honestly. "Now, as we look to grow, I feel it is important to also grow a team togetherness. Therefore everyone will be involved in morning training together from sunrise until our afternoon break. From then onward their shall be some personalised training dependant on their speciality until we stop for our evening meal. From then on it is private time. Any thoughts?"

"With all of the building that is needed to get this Fort in a good state, will there be time for that in the training window you have advised?" Bertrand offered.

"That is a very good point, however I plan for a lot of the morning training to involve tasks that will help the Fort. For example running to the woods, cutting down logs, bringing them back, preparing them and then passing them to the builders. We could make this a team challenge with rewards for those that perform the best." Mark replied.

"That would work to a level." Bertrand replied. "But I feel there could be other options."

"Very well, come up with some options and give them to me later, If anyone else has any thoughts, please do the same." Mark replied diplomatically. "I will heavily rely on all of your knowledge."

"In my clan, our soldiers very rarely would be involved in this time of work, it is refreshing to see a change." Boudica added.

"Mine also." Added Sakura.

"We pirates have always joined in all work, we aren't fussy." Gan Ning pointed out. "We always work together for the greater cause, Gold."

Eduardo nodded his head in agreement, as did Little Tai. Gold was the way to most peoples hearts in this era.

"I also intend to split our forces in to five divisions, I know it's early but having all of our troops as infantry will cause us many problems. For now we will work as one, but as we grow we will need this structure." Mark commented, "Our first division is the Heavy Division, I will let you choose a more appropriate name. Little Tai, you will lead the Heavy division, with Bertrand in assistance. This team will include you two, Vlad, Octavian and Lucan. I expect you to fight in a combination of Heavy Cavalry and as a shock unit that will charge in to the enemy and cause panic and destruction."

Little Tai looked up and smiled, this unit would suit his expertise and give him a chance to lead. His mother had asked him to use this opportunity to learn and train his leadership skills, and Mark was allowing him to do that. Bertrand also looked happy as an exiled knight, it was an opportunity to gain some honour back on the field of battle.

"This is a great honour." Little Tai responded.

"This is a position of great risk as well." Eduardo added. "You will be a huge target for enemy units as you will cause the most destruction."

"Just what I want." Little Tai responded. Eduardo decided to back down from the path he was going on, his main mission was to protect Little Tai, but he knew he was stubborn and wanted to train his sword.

Mark watched them talk and understood the situation, but he had to use his little resource as best he could.

"The second division is the Light Division, this will be lead Gan Ning, with Eduardo in assistance. Again, I will let you come up with a better name. This will be used for both the main infantry that will be involved at the forefront of any fight, but also for ambushes. This will include, Hilda, Rollo, Jin, Hector, Anne, Francois and Vito. We need to heavily invest in recruiting for this Division, as this will be our main force."

Gan Ning looked excited at the opportunity, his serious face from listening changing to a large smile. He stood up and shouted in excitement, the bells on his belt ringing. Eduardo frowned however, he didn't want to be a subordinate to someone like Gan Ning.

"Eduardo, I understand that you have the qualifications to lead the division yourself, however I need your knowledge to help grow us as a whole. You have proven yourself a capable steward these last few days, and even though that is not your role, I need it to be for now."

With that Eduardo nodded his head in understanding. "What will my role be then?"

"Your role is to keep Gan Ning in check, giving him that mature head until he has developed more. The rest of the time you will continue to lead the development of the Fort and Raven's Peak as a whole." Mark replied.

Gan Ning looked hurt by the comment, but then continued to smile as he was the leader after all, Gan Ning then looked across to Sakura and winked, hoping this would impress her slightly, she looked back and grinned, devilishly. Eduardo nudged Gan Ning and shook his head, a warning. Gan Ning didn't understand the warning but sat silently and professionally.

Mark hoped this was the correct decision.

"The third division is the Silent Division, lead by Boudica. This unit will be our Archers and scouts, who will defeat the enemy with a rain of arrows, and also protect our flanks from any would be attackers. They will be the force that keeps the enemy in fear of us. The Scouts will lead our way and gather intelligence of the terrain and enemy force numbers . This will include, Coyotl, Maurice, Sebastian, Belle" Mark continued.

Boudica nodded her head, as if expecting this decision to come.

"I will do as commanded." She replied sternly, she was thinking of all the strategies she wanted to implement. "I also need many more men, I can't have just 4 archers under my command."

"There are some good rangers and hunters on the outskirts of Mount Tai." Eduardo offered. "They may be worth recruiting for this."

"See this is why you are the steward." Mark replied jokingly. "See that it is done."

Sakura took notes and Eduardo nodded his head in agreement. Boudica smiled at the fact that she was getting more men, she wanted her division to be the most feared.

"The fourth division is the Horse Division, this will be lead by Tsubotai, and will include anyone trained in horse combat, with either the bow, sword or spear. Our Cavalry will need the best steads, and I trust Tsubotai to manage the growth of that. You are in a position where you will need to work with all of the other divisions as you will need to assist the Archers, Scouts and Heavy when they are on horseback. For now, this Division needs a lot of help to grow, but you will have; Kish and Leif to start as the only trained horseman other than those in the Heavy Division"

Tsubotai was extremely excited, he was only a young man, this last couple of days was a rush for him. Lots of dreams coming true at once. He just didn't want this rollercoaster to stop.

"Your division will be hard to get going, trained horseman aren't the easiest to find in this area." Sakura informed them. "The amount of trained cavalry across the whole kingdom is respectful, but those that arent assigned to a large force will be minimal."

"What do you advise?" Mark asked.

"Poach from another force, or train your own." She replied.

Mark and Tsubotai both nodded in unison.

"That is your task then." Mark informed him, which he nodded to happily.

"Finally, the fifth division, the Intelligence Division. Sakura, you are the only one we have for this, for now. Your job is to gather intelligence on our enemies by any means necessary and if needs be, kill them, before they can kill us. If is a dangerous job, but I trust that it is what suits your skills the best". Mark informed her, "You are also the only person who can recruit for this position."

She nodded her head in agreement. "For the collective goal, I will do this. However it would be best if I avoid this myself and oversaw it as you have said, I will reach out to some of my old contacts and see who I can get in touch with, if any are still alive, it may take a while." she replied.

"They will always have a place here, either in Raven's Peak or the Red Ribbons." Mark nodded happily, out of all of those in front of him, she was his greatest asset. "Boudica, this is the same for you, if we ever locate anyone from your clan, they have the same offer."

Both nodded at him gratefully, there was little hope of them finding anyone, but if they did at least they would have a home

Mark looked at the group in front of him, there was definitely excitement on their faces. He thought about the direction they were heading in was the right one, and he was excited for what was to come.

"Now to our next steps!" Mark announced enthusiastically. "Other than the growth of Raven's Peak and the Red Ribbons unit count, we also need to increase our prestige. Please can you all come and look at my map."

The group all stood up and surrounded the table, gazing at the crude map Mark had drawn. He bent down and picked up a long stick he had found earlier and pointed it at the location of Raven's Peak.

"This is Raven's Peak." Mark announced, he then went on to point out other areas. "This is RuneTown, Mount Tai, the crossroads, the stables."

"This is all wrong." Sakura mentioned. "The land here is more pointed, Runetown is at least 500m further down than that." She continued to point out errors. Eduardo and Bertrand joined in, enjoying the look of depression on Mark's face.

"Fine, I don't know the area very well. In fact, I don't remember anything about the area from before my night in the tavern. You could call it alcohol related amnesia." Mark lied, unable to tell them that he was actually a reincarnated manager from a different world that was much more advanced, a world in which they had all died hundreds if not thousands of years earlier.

Boudica looked at him deeply, feeling he wasn't telling the full truth. But she didn't push him for the truth.

"Let me explain the area better then." Sakura explained, before rolling Mark's map over and drawing on it herself.

...