With the white fish belly on the horizon, the backs of the refugee team disappeared at the foot of the mountain on the north side of the commercial road. The border mound that had been bustling for several days finally cleared away, leaving only piles of neatly stacked wood and stones and a few piles of steaming bonfire embers. ……
…………
When the sun rose, on the south side of the border, three riders on war horses, with sharp swords and iron armor, and holding a brown background Pegasus heraldic flag, galloped towards the border hills from the southern trade road.
At the foot of the mound, a rider dismounted and came to touch the embers of the bonfire beside the road. He stood up and said to Baron Balian, who was riding behind him: "My lord, the charcoal is still warm. He must not have been away for too long."
Another rider jumped down from the mound and said, "My lord, those piles of things are wood and stones, nothing else."
Balian looked around and said to himself: "Who would pile up wood and stones in this place? Planning to build a castle here? This little wood and stone is not enough ~ inexplicable!"
After saying that, he turned the horse's head, After looking around in a circle, he shouted to his two riders: "Okay, forget about this, let's continue on the road and try to reach Tyniec tomorrow."
The three horses neighed and ran north along the trade road...
Baron Balian's journey north to recruit troops and buy food was quite unsatisfactory. Kitzby gathered a large number of refugees who fled, but no one was willing to follow him back to the war-torn Kalk Castle to die. As for raising food and wages, it was even more difficult, as there was already a lack of food. Kitzby, who was stocking up on food, was forced by the palace's strict order to detain a large number of refugees fleeing north. If he wanted to prevent the refugees from continuing to flee north, he had to provide food to satisfy them with soup and wheat paste for one meal a day. This food was not enough to eat, and he could only wait to die.
Baron Balian had no choice but to leave two guards in Kitzby to continue recruiting troops, and then crossed the border with his two men and most of the money to the southern part of Burgundy to look for food...
Among the boulders a few miles east of the commercial road, Simon left the eastbound team and rode back to the wooden castle. Art ordered him to rush back to the wooden castle as soon as possible to discuss the construction of a border tax card with Cooper.
At the pile of boulders, Ron and Jason were distributing long, sharpened wooden sticks to the ten men selected as soldiers and three slightly stronger farmers. These wooden sticks were cut by the refugees from the dense forest at the foot of Lamel Mountain two days ago. Ron led them to improvise fifteen wooden spears about seven feet long last night. The tips of the wooden spears were baked in the campfire and were very hard.
The people who were given wooden spears were gathered in the open space, and Art planned to teach them how to appear as capable as possible.
"Guys, I make no secret of the dangers we may encounter in the past two days. Although this road will not attract the attention of bandits as easily as the commercial road leading to Tyniec County, it is close to the mountainous forests and there may be sporadic bandits, so I want to give you We distributed wooden spears to defend ourselves. Of course, if we really fight with the bandits, I don't expect you to die in vain. I just need you to try your best to look like you are fighting. There are dozens of us and a dozen "soldiers" and three cavalry. Ordinary bandits would have fled for their lives when they saw us. 』
Thirteen young men nodded in agreement. They were a little scared before, but now they have one weapon and three cavalry guards, so they are naturally safer.
Matt continued: "Until we arrive at Fort Andermatt, the thirteen of you are temporarily divided into two teams, led by Ron and Jason respectively. Although they are young, they are all warriors who have fought tough battles and killed bandits. You must obey their orders."
"Besides, since you want to act like soldiers, you should not place your weapons randomly when walking, and your formation must be more orderly. Ron and Jason will teach you how to carry spears and maintain a marching formation in a while."
Ron and Jason conducted a simple "training" for the two temporarily formed teams in the open space next to the boulder pile, and then the group continued on their journey.
………
Three days later, in the city of Tyniec, Baron Balian had just come out of Viscount Pierre's office. The plan to go north to buy grain this time did not go as smoothly as he imagined. The city of Tyniec has become a concentration center for Provence refugees. In the past year and a half since the large-scale war in the south broke out, nearly a thousand people who fled have gathered here. The food in Tinets could only maintain the supply of the castle and several surrounding manors. Thousands of people suddenly poured in, and these thousand extra mouths had already emptied Tinets. Viscount Pierre has sent three emergency letters to Besançon, but a large number of refugees have poured into the four counties on the southern border. Besançon is also unable to cope with it. It only allocated 30,000 pounds of cereals to Tinets before the beginning of winter last year, saying that Tinets would raise the rest on his own. Raise it on your own! ~ The lords who usually refused to pay taxes on time all chose to protect themselves at this time. The grain they harvested was stored in the barn, waiting for the hordes of grain merchants to come to buy it after the trade resumed. They either ignored the county magistrate's order to collect grain or handed over one or two carts of old grains to deal with the problem.
"Sir, what should we do? Since Viscount Pierre is unwilling to help, should we continue walking north to Lucerne or Besançon?" Back at the hotel in the south of the city, the attendant asked the gloomy Baron Balian.
"It takes three days to ride a horse from here to Lucesne. If you buy food when you come back, it will take more time to return. I'm afraid Fort Kalk won't be able to sustain it for so long. We must go back with food and soldiers as soon as possible."
Baron Balian stood up and tightened the hilt of the sword at his waist. , looked at the sky through the lattice window on the second floor of the hotel, thought for a long time, and said: "We will go to all parts of Tyniec County to purchase food ourselves."
As soon as he finished speaking, news came downstairs that the troops of the Swabian Principality were planning to invade the eastern border of Burgundy. The palace's conscription order had been sent to all counties, and the war was about to ignite.
「大人，看来北方也快要乱起来了……」
............
「勃艮第伯国马上要卷入战乱了？」
安德马特堡中，亚特被安塔亚斯男爵提供的消息惊讶到了。 News has come from the palace that the bandits who rushed out from the eastern border of Burgundy to capture village outposts some time ago are the pawns hired by the Principality of Swabia to test Burgundy's reaction.
At the beginning of the month, the Principality of Swabia mobilized more than 2,000 soldiers from the central region and began to set up troops on the border. The military fortresses and fortresses on the eastern front line of the Burgundy County have stepped up their guard, always preparing to resist enemy invasion.
"Matt, the palace already knows about the fall of Alsburg, but because I recovered it in time, I will not be held accountable. Now that the border is in danger, the palace has strictly ordered me to step up the collection of food and pay to train soldiers for defense. We are close to the mountains, and the possibility of a large-scale enemy invasion is unlikely, but we have to prepare for the worst..."
In order to cope with the possible outbreak of border wars, Baron Antayas has already granted Alsburg, which has lost its heir, to his inner palace knight Druids. The druid knights are fully responsible for guarding Alsburg, and Baron Antayas has returned the villages, castles and manors in the territory. A recruitment order was issued to the settlement. In the next few months, he will gather more than forty standing soldiers and more than sixty levied peasant soldiers. In addition to the soldiers stationed in Alsburg and the levied labor farmers, Baron Antayas will forcefully recruit nearly more than 200 soldiers and peasant soldiers, which will consume almost all the people and property in his territory.
Baron Antayas stood on the sentry tower on the top of the stone house. He turned to stare at Art standing behind him and said: "Art, I invite you again. Now I am short of elite soldiers, let alone commanders like you. If you are willing to join me, Fight under the flag, and I promise you that you will be promoted to Knight Lord within three years. Although you have always emphasized that you are just a civilian officer, I can see that you bear the glory of a certain family."
Yate felt moved for a moment.
In the six months after his awakening, he buried the cowardly soul of his previous life, picked up everything that belonged to the original owner of this body, and kept killing and fighting in order to gain a foothold in this era and to live a different life in this strange era.
Such a God-given opportunity was presented to him and he should have accepted it. But after a year of running around and fighting, Art has opened up a "territory" under actual control and a "subject" of nearly a hundred people in the unclaimed land of the valley. Although he is still only a temporarily appointed civilian official, he has a premonition that he can make a dawn in this world that is about to be chaotic. If he returns to Baron Antayas, he will have to give up everything he has now, and will be restricted everywhere in the future...
"Lord Baron, forgive me for not understanding current affairs. I promise you that if one day in the future you need me to contribute my humble strength, I will fight side by side under your banner."
Baron Antayas's disappointment was palpable, but he did not do much to persuade him to stay, and paid Art five hundred pfennigs as a salary for helping to recruit refugees as agreed.
With everything going on in the fort, Art didn't stay long. After a simple lunch in the fort, Art left Andermatt with Ron and Jason on horseback.
Ron replied directly without any thought: "Master, I think you are wise."
Art tightened the reins, looked into Ron's eyes and said: "Why? Do you know what it means for a commoner to be crowned a Lord? That is the lifelong dream of many people."
"Sir, an ordinary civilian would definitely not refuse this great honor, but you are not an ordinary civilian. The old butler once said that from the time you recruited a large number of refugees to reclaim the valley land, you were destined to no longer be an ordinary forest hunter. What you are planning is not just a lifelong knighthood, right?"< br/>
"Oh? Can you see that?"
"Sir, it's not just me, even Odo and the others have discussed this matter privately. The "territory" and "territory" you own are all that a knight has, you just lack a formal name now. "
"Since I followed you north last year, we have experienced four battles in just seven or eight months, and four familiar brothers have left forever. I am sometimes afraid that I will never be able to stand up in the next battle. But I always feel that it is worth risking my life with you, because you are a rising upstart, and I will be a warrior guarding you." Ron said excitedly, his voice trembling.
Matt listened to Ron's words for a long time without replying, "Ron, how old are you this year?"
Ron was distracted by Art's sudden change of subject, and it took him a long time to react. "Master, I~I~ am almost eighteen years old this year."
"Listening to what you said, I thought you were already twenty-eight years old."
"Hmm? Master, I don't understand what you mean."
「Okay, Ron warrior, let’s continue on our way.」