"You still have an army?" Baron Balian didn't expect that this so-called patrol officer actually had patrol soldiers.
New recruits undergoing training."
Hope flashed in Baron Balian's eyes: "Art, are you and your patrol soldiers willing to accept my employment to transport food to the vicinity of Aosta in Provence. I am willing to pay you full salary."
“Sir, I can help you escort and transport food, but my patrol team just participated in the suppression of bandits at Fort Andermatt a month ago and suffered serious losses. It is now being repaired at the station. If you want to hire me to help you escort food, you may have to have enough conditions to make me interested. You have to know that there are not only Facing the fierce and cunning mountain bandits, the central area of Provence is still a war zone, and it is not easy to deliver food safely. "
Baron Balian is already in a state of distress. He still cares about Art's conditions: "Tell me, what kind of conditions do you want."
Ate lowered his head and thought for a while, then replied: "Lord Baron, you helped me relieve the siege today, and I will not repay your kindness and courage with greed. I promise to take all the soldiers in my patrol to help you transport food to Aosta, but you have to pay me one hundred and fifty per day. Fenney's salary, if you need to participate in the battle, you will have to pay at least three hundred Fenney per day during the battle. Of course, I believe that no ordinary bandit would dare to rob a grain transport team with dozens of people guarding it. Besides, your heraldic flag is more effective than ten soldiers."
"Your conditions are not excessive, I agree. After you gather your soldiers, I will pay you a week's commission first. After a week, I will pay you on a daily basis, and I will be responsible for the rations of your soldiers. How about it?"
"Deal!"
Att and Baron Balian agreed to bring all the patrol soldiers and five four-wheeled carriages to meet the baron in Thorne Village three days later.
…..
Back at the wooden castle in the valley, Art convened several military and civilian managers in the wooden house for urgent discussion.
"Cooper, the patrol is about to leave the wooden castle and go to central Provence to escort the rations for a nobleman. You two will discuss and do the things that were previously arranged. In addition, let Lawrence select a few more young and strong fortresses to join the fort guard team. The fort guard team will send people to guard the prisoners of war who are building the road. Scott will be in charge of all matters in the valley for the time being."
"Simon, how are you preparing to build the checkpoint?"
"Sir, we are almost ready to build the checkpoint. I have discussed it with the old steward and Lord Odo in the past few days. We selected seven honest prisoners from Alsburg. The wounded soldier with an eye injury was also transferred to prepare for the construction of the checkpoint. In addition, the old butler temporarily transferred the carpenter Bud to build the checkpoint. They are assigned to me, a total of thirteen people. There are not many tools, but the guidance of the old carpenter Bard should be enough."
"Simon, take the food and materials and set off to the border as soon as possible to start building checkpoints. Odo, assign some simple weapons to Simon. The border is not peaceful, so you must have weapons for self-defense."
"Yes, sir."
"Odo, we will stop training at noon today, repair in the afternoon, and follow me south to escort the rations tomorrow. Has the training of the new recruits been completed?"
"Sir, the basic training of new recruits has been completed. Three squads have been temporarily organized since yesterday, and battle formation training has begun under the leadership of veterans. Weapons and shields are also basically equipped."
"Okay, let's discuss the expansion of the patrol team."
Several people are paying more attention to the important matter of military expansion.
"This time I plan to expand the patrol team to four squads. Each of the first, second and third squads will transfer a veteran to the fourth squad, and the missing soldiers in each squad will be selected from the recruits."
"The newly formed fourth squad will be captained by Tuba, the former second combat group leader of the first squad. The missing captains of each squad will be nominated by the squad leader, and I will appoint them."
"Bath's first team, Kazak's second team, Odo's third team, and Tuba's fourth team, each team has six people, a total of twenty-four people. So in addition to adding a team this time, I also plan to add one person to Ron's Sentinel Team."
"Ron, I allow you to select a recruit from the recruits who is suitable for cavalry training before they choose to enrich your sentry team. Adding you and Jason, your sentry team will have three people. The sentry team is directly under my command and also serves as my guard."
“Odo, I remember there was a guy in the third team who was reluctant to train for combat, right?”
Odo was a little ashamed. There was a soldier in his third team who was worse than Jason, who was known as the "Fool Soldier". He was originally an apprentice of a grocer in the south of Provence, and was selected by Art when he recruited soldiers on the border trade route. This guy likes to cheat and cheat during training and is often punished. Odo originally wanted to expel this guy from the patrol team, but in the last battle in Alsburg, this guy showed some bravery. At the critical moment, he actually killed a bandit leader and saved the lives of several soldiers. In addition, the patrol team suffered heavy losses in the battle, so Odo had to keep this guy in the patrol team.
"Sir, although this soldier cheated during training, he also achieved military exploits in Alsburg last time, so I have never expelled him from the patrol."
"Well, since he doesn't want to train and fight, let him be responsible for cooking and feeding animals for the patrol. You are the deputy of the patrol, and you are also responsible for the management of the entire team's food supplies and weapons, so this miscellaneous soldier will be directly under your command.
cedous in the stream outside the wooden castle, several recruits were washing their bodies in the stream, not because they liked to be clean, but because Art had strictly ordered the soldiers to wash themselves at least once a week, and the heavy training also made them covered in sticky, smelly sweat.
A recruit with a lean body and a strong physique poured water on his body and said to the strong man beside him who was rubbing the sweat on his back: "Obot, Mr. Odo just said that we will be incorporated into the first team in the afternoon and will go out soon. Are we going to suppress bandits? I don't seem to be ready yet."
The big man stood up, picked up a rag on the shore and wiped the water drops on his body, and replied: "What are you afraid of? The patrolman said that as long as we kill three enemies in total in the battle, we can restore our status as free citizens. Death is nothing, we can still die. Restore the freedom of the soul. It is said that the team we are going to is the most powerful team before. The leader of the combat team named Colin has cut off the heads of several enemies and is very brave. If we follow him, we may be able to regain our freedom in less than a year. "
…
In the big house of the wooden castle, Colin, who was packing his luggage to sharpen the notch dagger, looked up at Tuba, who had replaced the dagger on his waist with a broad sword: "Tuba, you are gone, and I am the only one left in the second combat group." The combat team leader, the two new soldiers will come to you in the afternoon. You must train them strictly in the future. Only by training them well will it be easier to survive on the battlefield."
Before reaching the door of the big house, Tuba turned around and said to the brother who had been accompanying him day and night: "Colin, this time your Lord's order was issued very urgently, and I guess the danger is not small. If I die, please burn my body, and if there is a chance, I can take it back to the South of Provence in the future. There is a town called Capachia, and all the money I have will be used as a commission for your move. "
"Tuba, what happened to you today? This doesn't look like you!" Colin felt that Tuba should be happy that he was promoted to captain.
"Colin, I'm not afraid of death, I just remembered a few brothers who were recruited from Kitzby and died in the battle. Do you remember what the short man said the night before he died in the battle?"
Colin recalled for a long time, and replied: "He said that his hometown was occupied by the Lombards, and he really wanted to go back in the future~"
"Yes, I just listened casually and didn't ask where his hometown was. When Lord Odo asked me where he came from, I didn't know, so his soul can never go back to his hometown. I also want to go home, even if it's just my soul." Here, so you can’t even try to cheat me out of a copper coin ~ Haha.”
………
In the sturdy warehouse in the single courtyard of the wooden castle, this is one of the most important warehouses in the entire wooden castle, where all the important supplies of the patrol are stored, including all weapons, armor, shields, spices, salt, cloth, valuable goods, and part of the military pay.
Otto was bringing a young man with blond hair and sunken eyes into the warehouse: "Spencer, this time you got your wish. Don't you want to train for combat? From now on, you will be responsible for everyone's food and drink, distribution of soldiers' weapons and equipment, and the chores I assign to you. I heard that you have been a grocer's apprentice. Doesn't this bother you? But you have to remember that all supplies sent out from here must have Ya If you dare to mess with your Majesty or my orders, I will take your head."
The blond guy thought he would be kicked out of the patrol team. When he was worried about how to solve his livelihood in the future, Odo told him that he would leave the combat team to do a "good job" that paid well and did not have to face harsh training all the time. Although it was a odd job, the blond guy was very happy.
Otto took him into the warehouse, where there were more than a dozen neatly arranged sets of weapons - short spears, short swords, wooden shields, black robes and cloaks, various knives, battle axes, water bladders, leather boots, belts and other scattered military supplies.
"I will send someone to help you distribute weapons and military supplies to the new soldiers in a while. You pick out the full set of armaments for the patrol soldiers from the warehouse. You are a veteran, so you don't need me to tell you about the weapons and equipment of each soldier?"
The blond guy is like He carefully and quickly counted the inventory of weapons and equipment as he did under the grocer before, then turned around and asked: "Sir Otto, we need at least twelve sets of short spears, short swords and wooden shields. Even if we use miscellaneous swords and battle axes to replace the short swords, there will only be enough for eight sets? Can't we make up four sets of other weapons of various colors?"
Otto smiled and said: "It seems that you have chosen the right person to do these chores. You only need to distribute them according to the requirements of the officers who come to collect weapons and equipment. In addition, your full set of weapons must be returned to the warehouse. You generally do not need to participate in training and fighting anyway, so you only need a black robe and a short sword."
In the kitchen of the wooden castle, Emma is baking rye bread with the help of several peasant women. Five or six loaves are being baked in the simple oven of the kitchen. Each loaf weighs three and a half pounds. One loaf with coarse salt and chopped vegetable leaves is a standard staple food for a soldier for three days. More than twenty such large loaves have been baked in the rattan basket in the kitchen. These breads are easy to carry, have a large portion, and are delicious due to the addition of a small amount of salt powder. If paired with a little bacon, they can better supplement the soldiers' physical fitness and greatly stimulate their combat effectiveness.
………
The land between the valleys, the land that has just been reclaimed. Ron, who was running on horseback, was conveying Art's orders to Lawrence and Scott, the steward of the valley and the captain and deputy captain of the fort defense team.
“Uncle Lawrence, I have ordered you to select five more young men from among the fort residents to join the fort defense team, and then select three brave men from the fort protection team to follow Simon to build checkpoints in the border areas. In addition, you must be responsible for guarding the group of prisoners of war and assisting the old butler in leading them to build a carriage road. In the Valley This place is temporarily under the management of my father.”
Lawrence put down the hoe in his hand and replied: “Yes, I will immediately summon the peasants and soldiers to return to the castle.”
After hearing the news, Scott asked: “Ron, is there going to be a war?”