At noon, after lunch, the soldiers returned to the big wooden house to rest for a while in order to accumulate strength for the heavy personal combat training in the afternoon.
Back at the big wooden house, two laborers who had just arrived at the wooden castle fell down on the floor covered with wheat straw. A guy with a big nose rubbed his shoulder that was swollen by the stick, and complained in a low voice: "The red-headed ghost is a liar. Even though he said he was well fed, clothed and well-paid, he didn't say he needed such heavy training. Practice, practice every day, even the palace guards of the Marquis do not train like this."
Seeing that the people beside him did not respond, Big Nose continued to complain: "Brother Otto, too, said he would take good care of us, but he didn't expect that the "care" he meant was to hold on to our tails and beat me hard~"
"Big Nose, I told you not to call Brother Odo, but to call him Chief Odo, why don't you have a long memory?" A laborer with short hair and a wide face next to him glanced at the other soldiers in the wooden house, and whispered to Big Nose: "We are already pretty good. Look at the patrol officer beating those veterans. That's called ruthlessness. Do you think the veterans have anything to say? Complaints? Besides, the patrol officer has said that it is better to be beaten more often than to be knifed in a war. I saw the scars on those veterans yesterday, and they were scary. "
"Brother Weitz, I'm not complaining. I'm just afraid that I'll have to train like this every day." Big Nose said with a smile.
“Can’t stand it? How can those miner brothers bear it? Who licked his face and asked Kazak to plead for the patrol officer? Now that we are here, don’t embarrass us labor brothers. The patrol officer said early on that we must abide by the rules. If you want to escape, don’t drag me along. There is a sneaky guy tied up at the gate of the fort.”
……
While the soldiers were resting in the house, a meeting was being held in the wooden castle courtyard.
Matt sat upright, fiddling with a quill in his hand. Cooper, whose coarse cloth was short and brown, held a piece of birch bark in his soil-covered hands. He was reporting on the situation in the wooden castle.
“Sir, since we have obtained enough wheat seeds, the more than 100 acres of cultivated land and 20 acres of military settlements have been sown. We have sown more than 18,000 pounds of wheat seeds. We estimate that we can harvest 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of wheat during this autumn harvest. In addition to the wheat seeds reserved for next year, there are still close to 40,000 pounds of grain left. According to your previous arrangement, there will be no tax in the first year. We can only take back the loans from farmers. The wheat seeds we got back from the farmers can also support the food of fifty people for a year. The farmers' own surplus food can also support the whole year, and the first batch of farmers need to use the grain in their hands for this year's winter wheat. All of the above will not be determined until the autumn. In addition, the seventeen refugees you recruited last time have not been allocated land, and these people are temporarily cultivating the military settlement."
“Currently, the food reserves in the wooden fort are not optimistic. After spring planting, we only have more than 8,000 pounds of food left, and there are still more than five months before our autumn harvest. We already have 65 people in the fort, and the patrol team has a total of 31 people including two wounded soldiers. We consume at least 100 pounds of food every day. Forty pounds, the grain storage is only enough for two months of consumption. "
After hearing the report of Cooper's land grain, Art said to him: "Now that we have a little more money, we can continue to buy grain outside. You have to make sure that there is at least three months of grain reserves in the wooden castle."
h "Okay, sir, I will continue to organize people to go out to buy goods."
h "Well, if you want to go out to buy goods, you have to tell me in advance, and I will send someone to escort you. Continue."
"In terms of money, our existing money is enough to support at least one year of military expenses and food consumption." The money has been managed by Art personally, and Cooper cannot say more.
, eight heavy plows, fifty sets of iron farm tools and a large number of iron tools, as well as daily items such as salt and cloth. "All the farm tools and animals are from the wooden castle. I will be responsible for lending them to farmers for the time being. Later, when the farmers harvest grain, they can rent the grain in exchange for farm tools, livestock and materials."
"In terms of construction, another livestock shed was built in the wooden castle, and I moved the rough stone mill into the small mill. There are now two large shacks and three or four small shacks built by farmers on the other side of the valley. I asked them to surround the gentle slope with thorns and miscellaneous trees to prevent wild beasts from attacking."
As for the prisoners of war, the prisoners brought back from Alsburg were imprisoned in the shack outside the fort. Otto sent two soldiers to take turns guarding the shack every day. They knew that their lives were safe and they were relatively honest. "
"This is the general situation in the wooden fort. Master" Cooper put away the birch bark and nodded to Att.
"Cooper, I feel relieved that you are responsible for all matters in the wooden castle. The spring planting has ended, and now the wooden castle has three more important things. One is to continue to reclaim the wasteland, and to cultivate another one hundred acres of wasteland before the autumn harvest; the second is to open the road from the wooden castle to the edge of the northern dense forest. Our carriage has been parked there, and the supplies have to be carried into the wooden castle, which is very inconvenient. The laborers who built the carriageway are the fifteen prisoners of war. These prisoners of war There is still hope of becoming a good citizen, but we still need to keep a close eye on them and don't let them eat enough on weekdays. We can let Lawrence help you with the management of the prisoners of war. Four of the prisoners of war are originally villagers in Alsburg, and Lawrence should be familiar with them. The third thing is to organize people to go out to buy food. You can arrange these three things by yourself. If there is not enough manpower, I can ask Otto to arrange some soldiers to help you. "
"Lawrence, briefly tell me about the situation of the fort defense team."
Lawrence, who was sitting at the end of the table on the left side with Scott, was rubbing the dirt on his feet with his hands. He didn't expect that Art would ask him about the fort defense team. He stood up nervously and bowed to Art, "Master, what do you want me to say?"
"Lawrence, don't be nervous, just tell me."
Lawrence quietly took a breath to calm down, and said: "Okay, sir, according to your order, in addition to the Scott brothers, I also selected five stronger men from the farmers to join the fort defense team. There are seven people in the fort defense team, two daggers and seven short swords." Spear. We trained intensively for three days before spring plowing and planting, but we were too busy during this period. I could only take the time to do simple training with the team members on rainy days and at night. I am not very good at training. The fort guard team could only drive away wild beasts and prevent wild beasts from attacking. "
"Well, it's okay. The original intention of the fort guard team is to protect everyone from being attacked by wild beasts. But I will give you another task - to assist the old steward to maintain the security of the fortress residents. Refugees will continue to come here in the future, and there must be unruly guys among them. You must assist the old steward to deal with these miscellaneous things. In addition, you can also organize some training for the young residents of the fortress during the off-season. This There is no mandatory requirement for the time being. You and the old housekeeper will discuss it. "
"And let Scott serve as the deputy of the fort protection team. The two of you usually assist the old housekeeper in managing the castle and leading the residents in the work; the training of the fort protection team should also be paid attention to, after all, you have to protect the safety of everyone in the valley when the patrol team leaves. Your salary will be upgraded by one level, and it will be distributed according to the leader of the patrol team's combat team."
"Thank you, sir." Lawrence and Scott thanked each other in unison.
After arranging many chores in the wooden castle, Art picked up the wooden cup filled with water on the table and took a sip. The conversation turned to the patrol commanders sitting on the right, "Odo, you are the deputy of the patrol team. Please briefly explain the situation."
Odo was not like Cooper who could write down everything on tree bark, so he recalled it carefully for a while before saying: "Sir, when the patrol went to Alsburg, there were twenty-one of them including you. During the battle to recapture Alsburg, we lost three soldiers, including two from the first squad, two seriously injured from the second, and one from the third. Two of the seriously injured soldiers returned to the squad after recovering from their injuries. One of them was wounded in the face and lost his left eye, so he cannot return to the team. There are still four officers and twelve soldiers left in the patrol team, plus two wounded soldiers. Our twelve newly recruited laborers and miners have started basic training in the past two days. They are easier to train than the recruits originally recruited from the refugees. I think they can all be included in the patrol team."
"In terms of weapons, our weapons were severely worn during the Alsberg Reconquest, especially the wooden shields and swords. Our shields were at an obvious disadvantage in this battle. After the war, thirteen wooden shields were damaged, four armed swords could not be used, five short spears were broken, and two sets of leather armor and ten sets of robes and cloaks were damaged. We did not have a blacksmith, and the damaged iron weapons could not be repaired. But I We also replenished two sets of damaged leather armor, seven short spears, four short swords, two chain hammers, a piece of cotton armor, a batch of military boots and belts, and a batch of severely damaged weapons recovered from the battlefield. After some repairs, our current weapons, leather (cotton) armor and robes and cloaks, can barely equip twenty-five soldiers. The old carpenter is also working hard to make wooden shields and spear shafts~"
"In terms of military supplies, we currently have four military horses, two green mules, an iron-clad carriage, three military tents, and some odds and ends such as belts, water bags, military boots, grindstones, and tableware for the soldiers."
"In terms of military pay, it has been more than two months since we started paying salaries. We have paid nearly 2,000 pfennigs in salary."
Odo didn't have much to say. He simply reported the situation of the army and ended his speech.
Matter listened to the reports of Bass and Kazakron respectively. They summarized the experience and lessons learned in the battle of Alsburg, the recent training situation and the status of the soldiers, and put forward suggestions for appropriately increasing the soldiers' salaries.
"Well, the reason why I called you here for discussion today is because I have decided to go out tomorrow to recruit refugees and soldiers for Baron Antayas, and I also want to investigate the setting up of checkpoints at the border. In addition, I also have to go out to find out the situation of bandits and bandits. I have already arranged things in the wooden fort, and now I will arrange things for the army."
"The first thing is to distribute the military rewards in the Battle of Alsburg, and double the military rewards based on the battle at Wincheston Manor. The second is to arrange the training of the army. From tomorrow on, the army will start to strengthen training, focusing on battle formation training and personal combat skills training. After half a month of training, Odo will be responsible for temporarily organizing the new recruits into each squad. The final staffing will be arranged after I come back from outside. During this time, you will train me hard, and at the same time, you must maintain good military discipline. I have already told Otto about the specific training program and schedule in the morning. Finally, there will be a military honors banquet tonight, which will be attended by all the soldiers who participated in the Battle of Alsburg. Cooper, Lawrence, Scott, Bud, and the two wounded soldiers will also participate. The new laborers and miners will not participate, but they will also have to cook some meat for them. "
"That's it, let's go back to work."
…………