When a few people arrived at the pile of boulders in the wilderness, heavy snow began to fall in the sky that had been clear for more than ten days. Everyone had to rest among the piles of boulders that night. Fortunately, they loaded a lot of firewood on the carriage when they came out of the wooden castle in the valley. Otherwise, they would have to huddle in a thin felt blanket to survive the cold night.
Several people were sitting around the fire. Odo handed the wooden bowl filled with half a bowl of thin wheat porridge to Art. Art took it and looked at the wooden bowl and asked, "Why is it so thin?"
Otto knocked the deep copper pot on the fire and replied to Art: "Sir, we don't have much food with us. We don't know if we can get anything from raising food this time. We have to save some food to avoid starvation."
"Yes, my lord, do you think we can collect food and wages this time? The money and food from the knights is not that easy to get. I remember one time when our county tax collector came to the village to collect taxes for the palace. The knight and his soldiers knocked out a few front teeth on the spot, and then the tax official left with his tail between his legs like a wild dog~" Kazak was deeply aware of the arrogance and unreasonableness of the knights.
Matt ignored what a few people said. He didn't know if he could get the food and wages from the lords' barns and money bags this time, but he had to give it a try. And even if he can't collect food wages, he can still buy food from various places in the countryside, which is always more cost-effective than buying high-priced food in Tynets City. In addition, this time, the purpose of raising patrol food and wages across the entire county of Tyniec is to find out the basic situation of the entire county, especially to understand the group of bandits and bandits. If Ate and the others only relied on them, they wouldn't even be able to trace the robbers and bandits.
Stayed in a pile of boulders to avoid the wind and snow all night. As soon as the snowflakes stopped at noon the next day, Art took a few people in a carriage and headed east. They wanted to go to the easternmost Fort Andert first, which was the most remote town in the east of Tyniec County and the southeastern mountainous border of Burgundy County.
It took the group another day and a half to drive the four-wheeled carriage to the first stop of the trip, Fort Undertaker.
Andermatt Castle is a military fortress adjacent to the Principality of Swabia at the foot of the Poze Mountains southeast of Tyniec. Baron Antayas Berg of Burgundy guards the border here. Andermatt Castle is small and dilapidated. It has never been expanded or completely repaired since it was built two hundred years ago to defend against mountain barbarians. Andermatt Castle is surrounded by a stone-based wooden circular wall about fifteen feet high and only 450 feet in circumference. There is a three-story stone house and about twenty thatched wooden houses in the castle. There is also a small church with only an old priest; there are some low thatched shacks and a small market attached to the outside of the castle wall. The total number of residents in the entire Andermatt Castle and the surrounding military forts is less than 150, and there are only 15 permanent guards in the castle. The land under the jurisdiction of Fort Andermatt includes three fief villages and seven or eight scattered manors and other small settlements. On weekdays, this nearly 30,000 acres of land is protected and guarded by Baron Antayas and one of his inner knights with fifteen soldiers. Except for a few knights who were barely able to fight in several villages and settlements, the combat power of the farmers who were temporarily recruited to serve was almost negligible, because they were more suitable to hold a plowshare instead of holding an iron spear to fight.
When Art and his team drove the carriage and appeared one mile west of Andermatt Castle, the alarm bells in the fort began to ring.
After a long time, a rider led three or four spear-bearing guards in ragged winter clothes out of the military fort and walked toward a few people.
The rider stood on his horse and watched from a distance for a while, and found that the visitor did not have any obvious malice, so he led his men closer to Ate and the others.
The rider raised his short spear and pointed it at Art and the others, saying: "Your Excellency, please stop your steps. If you take another step forward, you will be regarded as an infringement of the Baron's territory."
Yat signaled the people around him to relax, and then said loudly to the rider: "I am the security patrol officer of the southern border of Tynets, personally appointed by the Palace Minister of Security. On the order of the palace, I went to various places in Tynets to collect food and wages for the patrol."
The rider murmured in his heart. He had never heard of the position of Southern Security Patrol Officer, but looking at the clothes and standard weapons of the people in front of him, he did not dare to neglect them too much. So he apologized and ordered one of his men to go back to the castle and call for the old priest.
After a while, the shambling old priest came outside the city with the help of his guards.
"God is with you. Sir, do you have any documents?" The old priest learned the identity of the visitor from the guard and asked Art politely.
At took out two pieces of parchment from his arms, one was a commission from the palace, and the other was an authorization from Viscount Pierre in the name of the Sheriff of Tyniec County, allowing Art to collect security taxes in the entire county. However, it is obvious that Viscount Pierre did not send these documents to all parts of the jurisdiction in time, at least Andermatt Castle has not received these documents yet.
The old priest took the two pieces of parchment, squinted his eyes and looked at them carefully for a long time, and then carefully identified the place where the seal was stamped, and then nodded to the rider.
After confirming the identity of the visitor, the rider moved out of the way and invited several people into the stone house of the military castle.
The servants in the castle brought some bread and pea and minced meat soup to Art and the others, and they sat in the dark and dilapidated lord's hall and devoured the food on the wooden plates.
The rider who had been patrolling outside the fort came in from the door. He took off the dagger on his belt and said to Ate and the others: "Sir patrol officer, I am the knight druid of Baron Antayas. Unfortunately, the baron went to the southern mountainous area yesterday."
"Dear Sir Druid, thank you for your hospitality, but I must discuss the next matter with the Baron in person. How can I find the Baron?" Art is a civilian official without a noble title. If he wants to be treated well here, he must give enough respect to the knight in front of him.
The Druid Knight also showed his humility and said politely: "The Baron should be back tomorrow, just wait with peace of mind. I will prepare a guest room for you tonight, but there are not many rooms in the military fort, so your The soldiers had to spend the night in the barn. "
"Thank you very much."
That night, the Atléans, who had been starving and freezing in the wilderness for two days, slept peacefully in the Andermatt Castle.
………
It was not until noon the next day that Baron Antayas returned to Andermatt Castle with seven or eight soldiers and a dozen farmers with their families.
When he learned that a guy who claimed to be the security patrol officer of the southern border of the palace came to the fort, Baron Antayas was confused. Except for the annual tax season when the Tyniec County would send people to collect taxes, this remote and stable border area had not seen strangers for a long time. He was still a patrol officer appointed by the palace. Could it be that the matter was exposed?
When he first met Art and the others, Baron Antayas felt that they were very brave and powerful. However, after hearing that Art was just a civilian official without a noble title, Baron Antayas's attitude became much colder. When Art explained that the purpose of this trip was to collect food and salary, Baron Antayas's face became worse and worse. Judging from his expression, he almost drew his sword~
After explaining his purpose and emphasizing the role of the patrol, Art still tried hard to persuade the kind-faced baron in front of him, "Dear Baron, I know that the territory of Andermatt Castle is mostly barren mountainous land, but isn't the stability of your territory more important than the money and food?" Art said, staring into the baron's eyes.
Antayas still had a look of contempt on his face and said calmly: "Prosecutor, I think the security of my territory does not need a shadowless patrol team to maintain it?"
"Really? Then what you brought back today? Who are they? I guess they are all homeless people after being attacked by bandits? I will never deny your courage and fighting power, but think about it, with only a dozen guards in Andermatt Castle and twenty or thirty farmers recruited temporarily, can you drive those bandits back to the Poze Mountains?"
Without waiting for Antayas to answer, Art lowered his head and looked at the horn wine glass turning in his hand and said softly: "Also, before autumn, Alsburg under your jurisdiction was occupied by a group of bandits, right? That was one of your knight fiefdoms. I don't know about Alsburg. Has the knight in Schlumborg escaped? If you don't take Alsburg back from the bandits as soon as possible and rescue the poor knight, I'm afraid the Margrave and the court will have to send other nobles to Andermatt to guard the border."
Antayas's heart skipped a beat. He did not report the news that Alsburg had been captured by bandits to the court, because such a crime of losing land was enough to cost him his title. In the past six months, he had repeatedly recruited peasants from the territory to form an army to recapture Alsburg. However, except for a few knights and attendants and more than a dozen military fortress guards, he had some fighting strength. The dozens of peasants he recruited were often scattered by the fierce bandits as soon as they entered the battle. He failed to recapture Alsburg several times, but he killed many territorial citizens in the battle.
"Has the Marquis already known about Als?" There was a hint of panic in the Baron's tone.
Matt took a sip of wine and said: "If the Marquis knows about it, can you still sit here peacefully? But if you can't recapture Alsburg as soon as possible, the Marquis will know it sooner or later. I guess the palace will send troops to help you at that time."
Ate stood up and walked to Antayas, saying: "Of course you can take it back, but if you can have a friendly and powerful army to help you without being known by the palace, you may be able to recapture Ars faster."
"You mean your patrol team? Just a few of them?" The baron turned his head and glanced at the Odo people sitting at the other end of the long table.
"Including a few of their elites." Art did not directly answer Antayas's question.
"How many people can you bring?" Baron Antayas asked, staring into Art's eyes.
"Before the end of next spring, I can bring more than ten well-trained elite soldiers to assist in the suppression; as for how many more, it depends on you."
Antayas understood Art's words. He got what he wanted and asked: "Oh, tell me what conditions you have?"
"Sir, I said that the palace asked me to form a patrol team to maintain security on the southern border, but the palace only gave me a piece of torn parchment and sent me away."
Why should I believe that after taking my money and food, you will bring elite soldiers to help suppress it?
"You don't have to trust me. In fact, you have no better choice. If you can't recapture Ars before the Marquis learns this bad news, the money and food you save today will only allow the noble lord who succeeds you to live a prosperous life. And if you want to quietly invite other surrounding lords to lead troops to help the suppression, you will have to pay a higher price than me."
Baron Antayas tapped his fingers on the wine glass and thought about it. After a moment, he replied: "I have to admit that your vicious mouth touched me, let me think about it again."
In the end, Art collected 1,800 pounds of wheat and 1,200 pfennigs from Baron Antayas's territory, but he only took away one-third of Baron Antayas's promise. The remaining part will not be fulfilled until the end of tomorrow spring when Art brings no less than twelve elite soldiers to Andermatt Castle.
In addition, Baron Antayas agreed that if Alsburg could be recaptured, he would give a quarter of the bandits' money and supplies as Art's reward.
After agreeing to send troops to assist in the suppression, Art and others drove a carriage and left Andermatt Castle that afternoon, pulling the collected food and wages.
Ron looked back at Baron Antayas who was standing at the gate of the military castle watching a few people leave. He couldn't help the joy in his heart and said with a smile: "Master, this is not difficult! We collected so much food and salary at the first stop."
Att picked up the water bag and filled a sip of water. He glanced at Ron and said, "Ron, you think too simply. Do you think Baron Antayas is a fool? He has long seen that you are not well-trained elite soldiers. He sent us some food just to stop my mouth. He didn't want the palace to know about his loss of Alsburg too early."
Hio walked closer to Art, tilted his head and asked: "But I don't think he was perfunctory when negotiating terms with you?"
"That's because he knows that I really He will help him clear out the bandits. "
"Ah, then we have to hurry up and train, otherwise we won't be able to win with just one piece of clothing." Odo said to several people after hearing Art's plan.
………
As Yate expected, in the following days, the task of collecting food and paying wages of Yate and his team met with obstacles everywhere.
With the exception of Andermatt Castle, no other large villages in Tyniec County have been captured by bandits and bandits, and the small settlements that are often attacked by bandits and bandits either have no one paying attention to their safety, or they are destitute serfs who cannot squeeze out a grain of food. , these places are eager for someone to help them suppress bandits, but they can't get a grain of money; Att didn't go to the Lane Manor, located between Tyniec and Muburg, at all, because he knew that it was impossible to get any discount from Baron Bazel, and Att didn't have any good impression of this place.
At a great deal of effort, Art moved out the Palace Minister of Security and even Bishop Olof Hannis, but in the end he collected less than 800 pounds of moldy grains and 300 pfennigs from the remaining settlements.
It seems that I have been traveling around the county for seven or eight days. Apart from placing some eyes and ears in various villages and settlements to collect bandit intelligence and getting a general understanding of the bandits and bandits in the territory, I have achieved little in the task of collecting food and wages. Art had no choice but to take down the tiger-skin flag and start doing business with the lords and squires in peace.
The terrain under the jurisdiction of Tyniec County is more mountainous and rugged than in the north, but it has not experienced war in recent years, and the food harvested from the fertile fields in the mountains is considered bumper. Although farmers worked hard every year and had difficulty feeding their families, there was never a shortage of grain waiting to go moldy in the barns of lords and squires. In recent years, due to the war in Provence, the trade routes between the north and the south have been cut off, and the grain merchants in the south have stopped buying grain from all over the place. Therefore, the barns of the lords and squire have accumulated a large amount of grain.
Att took a few people to bargain around and bought 8,000 pounds of unhulled wheat for roughly one pfennig and six pounds. This price is more than half cheaper than the current price of grain in the Tyniec market, but it is slightly higher than the price used by scheming grain merchants in the past when they went to various places to purchase grain.
As a condition for the high-priced purchase, Art asked the lords and squires to be responsible for delivering the grain to the edge of the dense forest in the north of the wooden castle. At this time of the year, the bandits and bandits had also stopped. In addition, Art promised to lead soldiers to protect the safety of the grain transport team and pay a certain amount of compensation, so the lords and squires readily agreed.
. Therefore, he had to spend 1,700 pfennigs to buy a large amount of grain and a small amount of salt, cooking utensils and other necessities. This food will definitely not be enough to last until the harvest in the wasteland, and Art's remaining Fenni can't even buy all the wheat seeds for spring plowing. Worry... thinking about this, Art feels more and more pressure on his shoulders.
On the thirteenth day when they went out to raise food and wages, when the food stored in the wooden castle was almost running out, the five people from Art and a group of coachmen arrived at the edge of the dense forest in the northern part of the wooden castle with seven or eight ox carts. When Ron rode back and told Cooper to organize farmers to carry grain to the edge of the jungle, Lawrence had already selected seven or eight farmers to accompany him north to buy grain...