Long feared that something might happen, Art went to the quarry that afternoon to recruit (purchase) soldiers.
The quarry stands on the mountain. Most of the hills have been dug out. The slopes of the faults have been dug into multiple steps. On each step, there are miners beating their palms to extract stones. Those who have been mined A group of three or five porters carried the large stones to the open space at the foot of the mountain along the narrow path beside the stairs. A dozen stonemasons in the open space at the foot of the mountain chopped the stones into strips, and the iron carriages waiting nearby transported the strips to various construction sites. Sentries are built around the quarry to prevent people from stealing stones and to prevent miners from escaping.
According to the quarry manager, there are more than 120 miners in the entire quarry. Due to their low status and hard life, even the ugliest widows are unwilling to marry them, so most of the miners are alone.
Under the leadership of the steward, Ate and the others led their horses to the work shed of the quarry. Several miners who were resting in the shed saw the steward of the quarry coming with a few people and hurried forward to greet them.
The steward said to the miners who came up: "These are the people sent by Bishop Olof. They were ordered to temporarily select a group of miners from the quarry to form a caravan and go south to purchase the materials needed to rebuild the church for the bishop."
Matt smiled and nodded to everyone, while Ron and Kazak unloaded a barrel of light beer from their horses and moved it into the work shed and placed it on the wooden table.
Matt pointed to the beer on the wooden table and said: "All the miners have worked hard, and these beers can be considered as the consolation I bring to you for Bishop Olof."
When Art invited the miners to drink, the manager of the quarry pulled over a confidant of the miners and said, "Go and gather the miners here for this gentleman to choose from."
The mine head turned to glance at Ater and the others, then leaned into the steward's ear and whispered hesitantly: "Master Steward, most of these miners are slaves given to monasteries and prisoners serving sentences from various places. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to just take them away like this?" It has the final say, and besides, these are people who are temporarily sent to do labor. Bishop Orlov can’t run away, and they will come back when the matter is done.”
After giving instructions to the mine head, the steward turned around and said to Art: "Sir, you have to hurry up and select. I have to seize the time to mine the stone."
Art nodded in agreement with a smile.
The sound of tinkling copper bells rang over the quarry. The miners gathered in groups of three and five and went to the wooden shed. Soon there were seventy or eighty miners standing in the open space in front of the shed.
Seeing that the miners were halfway there, the steward made a gesture of invitation to Art.
Matt put his right hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist and stood on a small wooden platform in front of the work shed. Ron and Kazak also stood upright behind him. Art's loud voice sounded: "Dear miners, I came here under the order of Bishop Olof to temporarily recruit a group of laborers and guards to accompany my caravan to the south to purchase goods. You all know that Provence is now in the south. We are at war with Lombardy, so it is dangerous to follow me south, but I will not let you risk it in vain. Anyone who is willing to come with me will be fed and clothed along the way, and you will be paid five pfennigs a week. You only need to drive the carriage and carry goods for me on weekdays. If you encounter bandits, you can carry a stick to help build momentum..."
There was a noise from the miners below. Many of them were slaves and prisoners who had been working in the quarry for many years. They were exposed to the wind and sun every day, pounding stones, doing heavy work like cattle and horses, and eating the food of pigs and dogs. There was no more difficult life in the world than this. Without the instigation of Yat Dou, several miners were already eager to give it a try.
Matt's voice sounded again at the right time, "However, since I am working for the Lord Bishop, I also have to make a selection. The first must be young and strong people, and those who are old and infirm will not be accepted; the second must be single people, and those with wives, children, and children will not be accepted; and the third must be those who are young and strong. Those who are brave and fearful will not be accepted. If you think you meet the requirements, please come forward. I will only recruit ten people, and I will not accept them until they are full." Before Art could finish his words, a miner in his mid-twenties wearing loose linen pants and showing off his upper body had already stood up.
Matt nodded to Kazak and Ron, and they jumped off the wooden platform and walked to the miner. Kazak pinched the miner's tendon as if buying an animal and then opened his teeth to take a look. After passing Kazak's preliminary selection, the miner came to Ron again.
· Ron, who had experienced fighting in battle, no longer had the shyness he had six months ago. In front of this miner who was a head taller than him, he had an imposing manner. He raised his head and asked, "Man, what is your name, and why did you come here?"
· The miner did not shy away from it. , replied: "My name is Obote. I was originally a slave and was resold here."
Miner Obote left the crowd and walked to the wooden table under the wooden shed. The steward of the quarry held a quill in his hand and drew a circle with Obote's name on the parchment.
The second miner who came up was rude to Ron, and then boasted about himself. Ron didn't ask any questions and eliminated him directly, because according to the standards that Art had set for Ron in advance, he did not want anyone who was smooth-talking, had the air of a gangster, and was too violent to be easily controlled.
The third miner who was sentenced to hard labor for accidentally killing someone in a fight successfully passed the test of Kazak and Ron, and after "registering" with the steward, he stood next to Obote.
Then the fourth and fifth...
The standards set by Art were not too strict for these miners. A small number of the miners below stood up to accept the selection. However, Ron had just selected and eliminated less than thirty miners and had already recruited ten people. This was the upper limit that the quarry manager allowed Art to take away miners, and it was also the upper limit of the number of people Art planned to recruit, because There are only eighteen people in the patrol team now, and these miners are different from those workers. Most of them are not good people. If too many are recruited, it will have a negative impact on the overall combat effectiveness and military discipline of the patrol team. Therefore, Art has no intention of filling all ten people into the patrol team. He will continue to select from these ten people in the future...
While waiting for the selected miners to return to their shacks to simply pack up and prepare to leave, Art and the steward came to a place away from the public eye and put three large silver marks and six small silver deniers into the hands of the steward. The steward weighed it, took out a fine silver mark, looked at it, and happily put it into his money bag...
In the evening, the three of Ate and ten miners returned to stay at a small hotel in the north of Lucese. Ate treated the miners to a hearty meal of broth oatmeal porridge and rye bread.
That night Ron and Kazak planned to take turns guarding the sentry to prevent the miners from escaping, but Art stopped them. These people will not run away. Most of them are nominal slaves and hard labor convicts. If they are caught running away, they will face more cruel punishments; and Art has promised to keep them fed, clothed and paid some extra wages, so they should not leave voluntarily.
As expected, early the next morning, Art opened the door and saw the miner named Obote waiting in front of his door with a few others.
"Sir, thank you for giving us abundant food and warm shelter. Please assign us the work we have to do today." Obote bent down and said to Art.
Matt looked at the group of bowed miners in front of him and said: "I think you have probably guessed that I am not temporarily recruiting you to do business. You have been bought by me from the quarry. As long as you work well for me, you will not go back to be mine slaves in the future. Although I bought you, I do not intend to keep you as my slaves. I will select suitable people from you to join my patrol team in the future. Once you become a soldier in my patrol, you will no longer be a slave or a slave. Even if you are not selected into the patrol, as long as you serve me diligently for two years, I will restore your status as a free citizen."
Several miners were pleasantly surprised. They thought they would only get a slightly better situation than being a slave in the quarry, but they did not expect that they would have the opportunity to restore their status as a free citizen.
“May God bless you, my lord.” All the miners knelt down and put their heads on the ground.
Yate called out the miners.
"After breakfast today, I will select a few of you to go to the city to purchase goods. The rest will be taken to the hotel to rest. I will arrange the food and accommodation, but you should not walk around randomly to avoid causing more trouble." After saying this, Art took the miners downstairs.
Ron has arranged meals for everyone. The miners’ table is a large vat of pea paste, and Art and Ron Kazak’s table is bread soaked in broth with refined salt.
Everyone enjoyed the meal.
On this day, Art took Ron and a few miners to wander around the city of Lucesien for a whole day. He spent two thousand pfennigs to buy a wooden and iron-lined four-wheeled carriage and a strong mule. He also purchased a batch of grain, bacon, farm tools, salt, burlap and other supplies. He also bought ten miners in rags a pair of coarse cloth trousers.
At the end of the day, Art lamented that he didn't have enough money. Three thousand pfennigs were gone.
But surprisingly, the miners who got new coarse cloth clothes were not happy. They thought that the more generous the new owner was, the more dangerous the road ahead would be...
After staying in Lucesien for four days, Art led a group of ten people out of the south gate of Lucesien and embarked on the road back south. In order to cope with possible dangers on the road, Art bought ten long sticks for competition from the competition ground in Lucesien City. The ten unarmed miners each held a long stick for self-defense.
However, the journey back south this time was not as thrilling as the last time. In less than five days, everyone had reached the territory of Tyniec.