In the center of Besançon, in the court of the Marquis of Ivrea, the ruler of the County of Burgundy, Dean Olof from Lucesne was discussing a topic in the official room of the Minister of Security.
"...The whole southern border is in chaos now. Many of our churches and monasteries are harassed by hungry refugees and bandits. We really need such warriors to guard the border for us." After Dean Olof finished speaking, he leaned on the big armchair and stared at the Minister of Security.
The Minister of Public Security listened quietly, thinking in his mind. The recent security warnings coming from the southern border have given him a headache. The castles and villages along the southern border are overwhelmed with self-care, and the lords and city officials can only try their best to maintain basic stability in the areas under their jurisdiction. As the war spreads in the southern tip of the continent, a large number of refugees fled north, and the security pressure on Burgundy's southern border increased.
"Sir, the name of the one you are talking about is Art..."
"Att Wood Wells"
"Yes, this is Art, what is his origin?" asked the Minister of Public Security.
"His father was once my escort when I was with the army in Jerusalem, the Holy Land. He himself participated in the Holy War with his father. He is a saint and an outstanding Holy Order sergeant." Dean Olof replied.
The Minister of Public Security touched his head, which had few hairs left, and said to Dean Orlov: "It may be feasible to set up border security patrols in Tyniec County, but now it is impossible for the palace to allocate funds. It can only rely on local lords and castles to raise funds themselves, and the palace minister will have to lobby..." He stopped, picked up the silver wine glass on the table, took a sip, and glanced at Dean Orlov's cuffs.
Dean Olof understood the situation and waved to the bodyguard standing aside. The bodyguard came over, took out a cowhide money bag from his arms, and placed it gently on the table in front of the Minister of Public Security.
The Minister of Public Security put down his wine glass, gently picked up the money bag, weighed it, smiled slightly, and said: "Today the Palace Minister accompanied the Marquis to meet with the envoy from Provence. I will report this matter to the Palace Minister tomorrow. Your Excellency will go back and wait for a few days. Then I will send someone to deliver the letter of appointment to Lucerne..."
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hh "Sir, does this patrol officer have a title?"
hhh
The two of them asked and answered each other. The person who asked the question became more and more ugly, while the person who answered seemed calm.
Ron was extremely puzzled that Master Art used one hundred and fifty silver coins to exchange for a patrol officer in name only. In his eyes, one hundred and fifty small silver coins were enough to feed and clothe their family for four years.
"Ron, you will understand in the future. Now, you should continue to practice swordsmanship." Art did not continue chatting with Ron, but tapped Ron on the shoulder with the wooden stick in his hand, and walked towards the backyard of the hotel.
Ron followed reluctantly, dragging his short wooden stick. In the past few days of waiting for the news, Ron had been slapped by Art a lot. Even though he was beaten every day, Ron's swordsmanship did not make much progress. Art also knew that it was impossible for Ron to learn advanced swordsmanship, so he only taught him the most basic steps, stances with the sword, and several offensive and defensive swordsmanship techniques.
Time passed quickly amidst the clanging sound of banging and the muffled sound of sticks hitting meat.
Early in the morning on the tenth day, Art took Ron on horseback to the entrance of the monastery. After waiting for a meal, Art was escorted into the abbot's office.
Wearing a long white coat, a holy cord around his waist, a tie, and a gilded cross on his chest, Dean Olof had just returned from morning prayers. He waved to At, who came forward, knelt down, and kissed the Dean's ring.
Dean Olof smiled kindly and asked Art to sit next to him.
"Art, you have fulfilled your mission, your letter of appointment has arrived." As he spoke, Dean Olof picked up a roll of parchment tied with a dark red ribbon from his official desk and handed it to Art, who took it with both hands and opened it gently.
The word "appointment" is written in the center of the parchment, and below are a few lines of interesting Latin written with a quill:
"Because the southern border is in chaos, the border is unstable, there are many chaos, and bandits are everywhere. For the sake of the stability of the country and the prosperity of the people, Art Wood Wells is specially appointed as the Border Security Patrol Officer (Border Patrol Officer) to take charge of the southern border patrol of Tyniec County, arrest thieves, resist the barbarians, maintain peace and stability, and do things expediently."
The lower right corner is the signature and seal of the Minister of Public Security of the Count of Burgundy.
Hite looked at the words transcribed by the palace clerks, and couldn't help but feel a little excited. With such a piece of paper, he would have an official status.
"Art, along with the letter of appointment came a private letter from the Minister of Public Security. He told me in the letter that the Chancellor agreed to the proposal to set up security patrol officers on the southern border of the country, and patrol officers were set up in the four border counties along the southern border. The patrol officer is a temporary position, nominally under the control of the Palace Minister of Security, and will be reported to the Minister of Public Security after the establishment is completed. However, the formation and supply of the patrol team must be provided by the local county. The Minister of Public Security has ordered the towns and villages on the southern border to provide support to the patrol officers. But I don’t think those guys in the southern border will pay attention to this soft order. In addition, the "easy way" in the appointment letter seems to give the patrol officers a lot of freedom, but in fact it tells the patrol officers to prepare their own supplies and personnel and equipment..." Dean Olof is deeply worried about Art's upcoming appointment as a border security patrol officer.
"Child, this is the situation. In addition, I have a private letter here to Viscount Pierre, telling him that you are the son of my old friend, and asking him to take more care of him. However, my personal relationship with Viscount Pierre is very shallow, and I don't know how useful this letter will be." Dean Olof took out another sealed letter from the table and gave it to Art...
Art, who had received the appointment document, said goodbye to Dean Olof and turned around and left the monastery.
Seeing Art leave the monastery, Ron led the mules and horses and hurried forward and asked: "Sir, has your letter of appointment come down?"
Att nodded.
"Great, now you are a patrol officer!" Ron was happy from the bottom of his heart.
"Ron, we can't be too happy yet. The situation is exactly as I expected. The palace only gave me the empty airs of a patrol officer." Art said calmly, because the results were within his expectations, and he needs this empty airs now.
The purpose of this trip to the north has been completed, and the two of them began to prepare for their return.
After lunch, Ron opened the door of Art's room.
"Sir, I have already found the grain store you asked me to find. I asked the caravans who came and went and found that the food in various towns in the south was more expensive than Lucesien. I searched all the big and small grain stores in Lucesien, compared the prices from store to store, and found that the price of a grain store in the west of the city was black. Wheat and barley are the cheapest. Shelled rye costs one pfennig, and barley costs four pounds. But they are old grains. Wheat from a grain store in the south of the city is the cheapest. If you buy in large quantities, you can buy three pounds for one pfennig." Ron reported the results of the past few days to Art.
Matt tapped his fingers on the small wooden table in the room, thinking in his head.
When he came out of the valley, he took away all the money. After excluding the 150 small silver coins given to Dean Orlov, the food and accommodation for the two of them, and the consumption of fodder for the mules and horses, Art still had twenty-nine large silver marks, three small silver shillings, some scattered pfennigs and various small copper coins left in Art's purse. There were about 4,300 pfennigs left.
He planned to go to the south first to recruit a dozen families of refugees to open up wasteland and cultivate land in the valleys. After arrangements are made for land reclamation, the border patrol team will be formed.
According to Art's plan, the refugees recruited in advance need to be supplied with winter food for a month. After the cold winter, Cooper and Scott will be allowed to go out to buy food rations that can last until the reclamation land's production season. The food for the winter in advance is calculated based on recruiting ten households of refugees, three people per household, and one pound of food per person per day. More than 1,300 pounds of food will be needed later, and more food will be needed later. Art concluded that the price of food became more expensive as you went south, and the price of food in Lucesien should be very cheap, so he asked Ron to go to the city to inquire about it, intending to buy a batch of food and bring it back to the valley.
"Ron, have you found the carriage you were asked to find?" Art raised his head and asked.
Ron scratched his head and replied: "Master, I have looked for it, but the price is too expensive. A new two-wheeled carriage with single pull and paneled sides in the horse and carriage shop costs 600 pfennigs, and a four-wheeled wooden wagon is as high as 1,000 pfennigs. It will be cheaper to customize it at a carpenter's shop, but it will take at least a month. I also asked the merchant's warehouse, and their carriages are either not Sell it, or ask for a high price. "
"You have done a good job. Let's go to the Hewulf Cathedral construction site later. I remember that there are several abandoned carriages there. Maybe we can buy them and ask a carpenter to repair them. You go and ask a carpenter to go to the cathedral construction site, and I will go and take a look first." Art thought for a while and said.
The two of them left the hotel and went about their business.