Seven days later, in the wooden house in the valley.
"Master, Emma is much better now. Thank you for saving the lives of our whole family. May God bless you!" Scott, his son and his daughter stood in front of the wooden house door, kneeling down and bowing their heads deeply towards Art who was standing at the door eating wheat paste from a wooden bowl.
Matt gradually got used to the courtesy that others showed him.
"Well, Scott, if you want to, you can stay here, and you can let Cooper help you build a wooden house in the future." Art has a good feeling about the family.
Scott, with a face full of vicissitudes of life, is a lively but honest farmer. He was able to take his family and escape here safely from the distant Wilno, and he was able to take on the responsibilities of a husband and father in times of crisis. He was a real man.
Ron is a strong young man, courageous and clever. He has been sharing the responsibilities for his father and knows how to take care of his seriously ill mother and young sister.
Camille is a lively elf. After spending a week in the nameless valley, she regained her former liveliness. She followed old Cooper every day and called her "grandpa, grandpa, grandpa, grandpa, grandpa". The old man liked it very much. When seeing Art, the little girl would raise her skirt and lower her head like a lady to make a standard curtsey.
Emma fell seriously ill and woke up after two days in a coma in Old Cooper's warm wooden house. Art had not had much contact with this poor woman, but from the performances of Ron and Camille, we could guess that she was also a good wife and mother.
"Master, I want to ask you something?" Old Cooper finished packing the tableware and walked over to Art, who was cleaning his sword.
"What's the matter? Tell me." Art continued to wipe the sword with a rag smeared with animal fat.
"Scott came to me yesterday and said he wanted me to ask you to take Ron with you as a follower." Cooper thought about his words for a moment.
Matt stopped and looked up at the old man.
"Sir, I know this request is a bit excessive. Ron is just a farmer's son and not qualified to serve as a follower for a nobleman. But Scott and I can do the work in the fields without Ron. Emma can also cook and feed pigs, sheep, mules and horses after she recovers from illness, and you need a smart helper when you go hunting..." Old Cooper quickly explained.
"I don't look down on the farmer's son, not to mention that I am no longer a nobleman. I am just a hunter who makes a living by hunting."
Matt thought for a while, maybe it would be good to have a helper by his side in the coming days.
"What does Ron mean?" Art lowered his head and continued to wipe.
"It was Ron who begged his father to come to me~" The old man noticed Art's loose tone and quickly added.
Matt wiped the edge of the faintly glowing sword with his thumb and said, "Let Ron come in later." After that, he picked up another long sword and began to wipe it.
At this time, Ron and Scott and his son were waiting anxiously outside the wooden house. When Ron heard the old man calling him to come into the house, his face lit up and he hurried into the house.
Looking at the young man sitting on the wooden chair, Ron felt an uncontrollable tension and depression in his heart. His falcon-like eyes were like a sharp arrow, as if he could see everything and penetrate the heart. His brown-black pupils were bottomless and suffocating. This feeling made him afraid, but he couldn't help but get closer, so he kept begging his father to plead with the old housekeeper...
Old Cooper didn't know what Ron was thinking about at the moment. When he saw this silly kid standing there blankly, he quickly moved over and tugged at the corner of his clothes.
Ron came back to his senses, bowed deeply to Art and said, "Master, let me be your attendant."
In his nervousness, Ron completely forgot all the words that the old butler taught him, such as "Follow the wise master and be loyal."
“I will go into the mountains with me to hunt deer tomorrow.” Art looked at the strong young man in front of him, and without any unnecessary nonsense, he simply asked him to follow him to hunt deer.
"Cub, prepare a short knife and a short spear for him." Art ordered Old Cooper.
………
Autumn is already deep, but the nameless valley is still lush and green.
Matt helped Ron walk back through the dense forest. Ron's clothes were torn in several places by branches and vine thorns, and there were a few scratches on his face with small drops of blood.
Back at the cabin, Cooper, who had finished hoeing the weeds, was discussing building a cabin for the Scott family. When they saw Art helping Ron into the yard, the two of them quickly gathered around and asked, "Master (Ron), what happened?"
Matt handed Ron over to Scott and said, "He's fine, he just scratched his skin and sprained his foot."
It happened this morning when Art took Ron to a dense forest in the northeast of the valley, where fallow deer often appeared. Fallow deer are very sensitive, so Art smeared Ron and himself with grass juice and deer dung that masked the smell. Ron performed very well when searching quietly in the dense forest.
Find a doe with a gray back and white belly in a low-lying area. They lowered their waists and quietly approached the fallow deer step by step. They were about twenty steps closer. Art was about to draw his bow and fire an arrow when suddenly a forest wolf sprang out from one side and pounced on the doe. Originally, this was not a thrill. The forest wolf was not a steppenwolf. They would not actively attack the "two-legged beast". Moreover, since it pounced on the fallow deer, it meant that Art and Ate were not found at all.
But the sudden change shocked Ron greatly. He completely forgot what Art had warned him before entering the mountain. He screamed in surprise and ran away. The forest wolf was most afraid of other animals peeking when hunting, so the forest wolf left the doe and ran towards Art...
After shooting two arrows in succession and slashing the forest wolf once, Art frightened the guy away. When Art, who was covered in cold sweat, found Ron, he had already fallen behind a stone...
"Ron, you should follow your father." Art left a message and entered the wooden house with Ron's short spear and knife.
Ron lowered his head deeply, feeling ashamed.
….
The arrival of the Scott family broke the silence of life in the valley, but it also added a bit of vitality and vitality to the valley. Old Cooper took Scott to tend the wheat fields or go into the mountains to cut wood to build a wooden house for their family every day. After recovering from the illness, Emma did not disappoint Art. She took Camille to wash, cook, and take care of the animals in the yard all day long. Art put all his energy into surveying the topography of the valley. His current money can support several people in the valley to live comfortably for a year or two.
But now he obviously has longer-term plans.
………
In the valley there was a peaceful and busy scene, but outside the valley there was constant fighting.
At the beginning of winter, Duke Vladislav’s Patriot Army and Duke Witot’s Northern Expedition launched a battle of unprecedented scale near Aosta. Both sides invested nearly 10,000 troops in a tug-of-war for the castles, villages and large and small fortresses on the outskirts of Aosta.
Him Half a month ago, a Northern Expeditionary Army occupied a small castle called Naron in the north of Aosta and captured the castle baron Solo Abel. With the fall of Naron, the northern supply line of the Provence army was cut off. , then the castles and fortresses southwest of Nalun and south of Aosta also fell one after another. Duke Vladis, who lost strategic depth support and logistical equipment, shrank his army into the city of Aosta where food, grass and equipment were stored, and the Northern Expeditionary Army began to surround Aosta.
When the Northern Expedition besieged the city of Aosta, Duke Witote handed over the army to the command of his adjutant, and he returned to the south of Lombardy. With his strong financial resources, he lobbied the southern countries, hired troops from them to assist in the war, and continuously transported more troops to Aosta along the Rammel Mountains.
At this time, the Principality of Provence is already riddled with holes. Once Aosta falls, the enemy army will expand westward along Aosta. At that time, the stability maintained by the southern front will be broken, and Provence will lose most of its land.
The Municipal Hall in Aosta City has now been turned into the palace and military tent of Duke Vladis.
咵~
A mouthful of thick phlegm flew into the fire in front of the chair. Vladis moved his buttocks and adjusted his sitting position to the most comfortable one. He looked up at the noble officers sitting on both sides of the fire, coughed heavily, and said, "Don't be bored, let's talk."
A count sitting on the left side of Vladis stood up and said loudly in a rough voice: "Sir, the enemy has just besieged the city for more than ten days. The food and grass in the city can last at least ten months, and the morale is still high. There is nothing to worry about. We can just hold on to Aosta."
As soon as the earl's voice fell, a middle-aged baron with thick eyebrows and big eyes and three-dimensional features at the end of the fire stood up and retorted: "Sir, I don't agree with Sir Rafael. Since we retreated to Aosta half a month ago, the nearby villages, towns, castles and fortresses have fallen one after another. Now we have lost the supply line in the rear, and there is no effective force around to harass and attack the enemy troops besieging the city. At present, it seems that we can hold on for more than ten months. But sooner or later our food supply will be exhausted, and our morale will be low sooner or later. Moreover, the scouts recently reported that Duke Witote has returned to Lombardy. He must have gathered more troops to besiege the city when he returned, or he wanted to trap us here and then take the opportunity to lead an attack on the southwestern front. So I think it is the best choice to take this opportunity to attack the enemy's weak points."
Vladis nodded to the middle-aged baron.
"Baron Balian, I very much agree with your idea. If we don't have any strategic depth, once Witote sends more troops to attack Aosta, we will only be able to defend Aosta. Once the enemy is under siege for a long time, our food supplies will be exhausted. In order to restore our depth, outside Aosta Establish a support point. I order you to select fifty people from the entire army, plus a hundred of your own, to build a castle and fortress near Aosta within a month and hold on to it. Use this castle and fortress as a support point in the Aosta war zone." Vladis agreed with the visionary baron's opinion.
After Vladis arranged this task, he turned to the deputy prime minister sitting on the right and asked: "Varys, can you tell me about the situation in the Countess of Burgundy in the north?"
The deputy prime minister with a simple and honest face cleared his throat and said slowly: "Since the fall of Verno, Lombardy has sent three waves of people to the County of Burgundy. All three groups of people were intercepted by us, but one group missed one person. The whereabouts of the cavalry we went to intercept are unknown, but the news from the north confirms that the one that slipped through the net did not reach Besançon. From the captured letters, we know that Lombardy wants to unite with the Count of Burgundy to attack Provence from the north and the south. Well, that old guy Witote promised that once he captures all of Provence, he will give our five northern towns and a large area of land to the County of Burgundy."
"Is there any change in Burgundy? "
"Not yet, but according to Eagle Eye's report, there are currently a small number of lords in the southern border of Burgundy mobilizing troops, but they are mainly to guard against our refugees fleeing north and to suppress the increasingly rampant bandits."
“Well, continue to pay attention to the situation in Burgundy. Wallis, I order you to go to the court of Burgundy as my special envoy to have a secret meeting with the Marquis of Ivrea..."