"Sir, are we really not going to clear out the bandits?" Odo was very puzzled by Baron Balian's refusal to allow the patrol to clear out the bandits in the hills. However, the patrol was already employed and had to follow Baron Balian's arrangements.
For Baron Balian, rather than clearing out a few bandits entrenched in the dense forest valley, bringing food and recruits recruited in Kitzby back to Fort Kalk as soon as possible is a top priority.
In this camp raid, one soldier from At's patrol was killed, two soldiers were seriously injured, four soldiers were slightly injured, and numerous people suffered minor sword injuries; in addition, two coachmen sent by Sapp were killed.
The bandits were almost completely wiped out. After post-war counting and interrogation, it was found that there were six groups of fifty-seven bandits who participated in the raid on the convoy. Not long after the battle began, seven or eight people fell in front of the shield formation. Ron Jason and others also killed three behind the formation; after the shield formation was disbanded and the pursuit was ordered, four more bandits were hunted down. Except for the two small bosses and seven or eight minions who finally escaped into the dense forest, the remaining bandits either fell to the ground and turned into cold corpses, or had their hands and feet tied to the wheels of the carriage and became prisoners of war.
Originally, the patrol team killed only a dozen people on the spot, but the injured and disabled bandits who fell to the ground became the targets of the soldiers who were killing them to vent their anger. All bandits who could not get up from the ground were killed by the soldiers. Therefore, after counting, nearly half of the bandits were actually killed, and almost every patrol soldier had blood on their hands. In addition, Baron Balian and two attendants alone killed eight people.
The bandits have been in poverty for many days, so of course they won’t gain much. When Bass led the soldiers to the place where the horses were hidden in the dense forest, only one horse and one mule were left among the eight miscellaneous horses and green mules that the prisoners of war said were left. There were a lot of weapons dropped on the ground, but the bandits' long sticks and short knives and hand axes and iron chayat were really not worth it. In the end, they only collected two or three sets of leather and cotton armor, three or four notched armed swords, a dozen long knives and short spears, more than thirty small silver coins, and more than a hundred copper pfennigs. It is said that there are many gold and silver treasures in the bandit's nest deep in the hills, but Baron Balian is eager to transport food and does not want to cause more trouble. Moreover, the escaped bandits may have emptied the bandit's nest, so Art has no choice but to give up.
"Lord Art, my master invites you to discuss matters in the tent." An attendant of Baron Balian came in from outside the tent and interrupted the discussion between Odo and Art.
At stood up, adjusted his armor, and ordered Odo: "Go and arrange the funeral of the brothers who died in the battle. I will invite Lord Balian and Lord Galvin to attend. In addition, arrange the two seriously injured brothers on the carriage brought by Lord Galvin. I will ask Lord Galvin to take Sapp back for treatment."
Odo nodded in agreement and left the military tent.
Att also followed the attendant out of the military tent and came to Baron Balian's military tent.
Baron Galvin was chatting with Baron Balian in the tent. This unexpected attack on the convoy was able to annihilate the bandits entrenched in the southern hills. The hand on Sapp's throat was finally released, and the trade route to Provence was reopened.
"Art, you're here, sit down quickly. I'm discussing your patrol with Lord Balian. I really didn't expect you to wipe out the bandits in the hills so easily." There was uncontrollable excitement in Baron Galvin's tone.
Matt walked straight to a wooden post that served as a low stool, sat down on it, looked at the two people in the tent and replied: "Lord Galvin, we never thought that the bandits in the hills would be so rampant, and dared to attack a convoy escorted by dozens of people, but now it's better, dozens of miles of hills There are no large groups of bandits anymore. But you must have seen that we also suffered heavy casualties in this raid." Galvin turned to look at the camp outside the tent and said to Art: "You don't need to worry too much. I will definitely take some of your wounded soldiers back to Sapp for treatment."
"Thank you Lord Galvin for your generosity and kindness. In addition, please take those bandit prisoners of war back to Sapp for detention. I have cleaned up the leaders and gangsters among them, and the rest are just followers. I will take them back to provide enough coolies and slaves."
"Okay, no problem, I won't let them starve to death in my prison. In addition, I also plan to write an urgent letter to Lord Viscount Pierre to report on your outstanding military exploits." Galvin said, taking out a deerskin money bag from his arms and handing it to Art.
"Brother Art, this is the salary I promised to suppress the bandits, thirty-five large silver coins. In order to compensate for your dead and wounded soldiers, I will also give you the horse outside the tent."
Baron Galvin was generous. According to the terms negotiated in advance, Art sent troops to help suppress the bandits in the southern hills. Baron Galvin paid a military expenditure of up to 5,000 pfennigs, which was the entire military expenditure of the patrol in the past two months. Now Galvin not only paid the military expenses in full, but also presented an adult horse worth more than fifteen hundred pfennigs as a gift.
"But you have to promise me a condition."
At knew that there was no free bread in the world, and asked: "What condition?"
"You have to bring my convoy back to Sap safely. This convoy is one-third of my caravan. I have to rely on these carriages to make money for me."
This condition is not too harsh, and Art agreed.
Outside the military tent, Obote was dragging the corpses of the bandits one by one to the big pit for burial under the leadership of Team Leader Colin.
Obote couldn't bear the stumps and broken arms and the corpses with crooked mouths and stares all over the ground. He spat out the minced meat porridge he had eaten in the morning with a "Wow" sound. He wiped his mouth and said to Colin who turned a blind eye: "Brother Colin, aren't you disgusted?"
科林盯了一眼跟前被砍了半边脑袋的尸体道：「怎么不恶心，我现在一想到吃肉就恶心。」
「那你为什么一点都不～」
「都不怕是吗？你That’s because we haven’t seen enough of it. We were in Alsburg this spring, and the scene was even more disgusting. I didn’t eat a bite of meat for several weeks after the war. When I saw the red and white minced meat, I thought of the green intestines and brains all over the floor, just like this~” Colin picked up a pile of red and white things with his dagger and handed it to Obote.
elsewhere
Before Obote could finish listening, he ran to the side and vomited desperately while holding his stomach. Another recruit beside Obote who was dragging the body saw the vomit spurting out of Obote's mouth. His stomach was churning, and the sound of vomiting could be heard everywhere... The "kitchen steward" Spencer, who was searching the robber's corpse for property that might have slipped through the net, spat at the recruit who was kneeling on the ground and vomiting. He turned around and smashed the buck teeth of the robber's corpse with the hilt of his short sword~ "Spencer, where have you been, you bastard? It's time to make lunch!" Odo's rough voice sounded.
"Sir Odo, I'll go back and light the fire right away." Spencer put his hand into the corpse's open mouth, took out a silver tooth, wiped it on the clothes, kissed it hard, and put it into his arms.
After burying the soldiers who died in the battle at noon, Baron Galvin and seven or eight cavalrymen from the fort rushed back to Sap with prisoners of war and wounded soldiers, while the convoy going south continued on its way with food.
……………
There were no worries about bandit attacks along the way, and the southbound convoy traveled smoothly. A day and a half later, the convoy had left the mountainous area and reached the northern border area of Provence.
When we arrived at the border of Provence, the atmosphere suddenly began to become serious. There were heavily armed troops stationed and patrolling various traffic arteries and large and small villages and fortresses. There were more and more checkpoints and inspections became more and more strict. Fortunately, the convoy carried the flag of Baron Balian, and no one was able to stop them as they passed through all the checkpoints.
That night, the convoy spent the night in a border fortress called Simplon. The lord of Simplon entertained Baron Balian warmly, and the patrol soldiers were also allowed to "relax" a little in Simplon Castle. The veterans of the patrol team who had accumulated a lot of salary went to the "battlefield" in the streets and alleys of Simplon with evil smiles on their faces. However, the recruits who had just joined the patrol team did not have such luck. One reason was that they were ordered to guard the grain trucks in the camp and were not allowed to go out. The second reason is that their salary is indeed not high and they cannot accept the high hard work fees of the Simplon women.
Looking at the veterans who went out to have fun in small groups, a new Lucerne labor recruit said bitterly: "MD, when I save enough salary, I will eat and drink a lot and then find two girls to accompany me to have a good sleep!!"
Kazak, who was passing by just now, heard the discussion between the two recruits and stopped and said: "Ger, you don't have to wait until you have enough salary. My Lord said that I will give you a military reward when you get to Kitzby. You killed a bandit. Based on the reward this time, you will have at least sixty fen." Ni, then your wish will come true. "
"Brother Kazak, no, Chief Kazak, is this true? Are you going to issue a military reward so soon?" A labor soldier named Geer asked this familiar brother commander.
"Your Excellency said it to Odo personally. He said that the battle is difficult and we cannot treat everyone badly." Kazak has not finished the second half of the sentence - if you don't spend it now, you will lose your life later.
Laughter and laughter in the small and medium-sized taverns of Simplon Castle continued all night long...
In the early morning of the next day, after the soldiers returned to camp, the convoy continued on the road, heading towards Kitzby east of Simplon.
Although there were sporadic bandits peeking at the grain transport convoy on the road to Kitzby, the patrol soldiers with fresh blood on their hands were very vigilant, and the sporadic bandits did not dare to disturb the prey when they saw that the fangs of their prey were too sharp.
The destination where the grain transport convoy was about to arrive was undergoing an unprecedented recruitment of soldiers. Two other servants of Baron Balian were instructed by others during this time to hire several city cooks to make porridge and stew, in an attempt to attract soldiers and slave laborers who would go south to Fort Kalk to defend themselves against the enemy through tempting food.
The two attendants were ordered by Baron Balian to recruit troops in Kitzby for more than half a month, but many refugees immediately shrank their necks and walked away as soon as they heard that they were going back to the south, especially to the war-torn Aosta area. After half a month, despite offering high military pay, the two attendants had only recruited more than thirty desperadoes who were greedy for money and not afraid of death.
As a last resort, the attendants had no choice but to use the banner of Baron Bellian to ask Viscount Aldo Coppola, the lord of Kitzby, to send someone to assist them. They paid a large salary outside the city and even hired and expropriated land to recruit a group of refugees of varying strengths and weaknesses, old and young.
A waiter stirred the almost cold wheat porridge in the pot with a wooden spoon and said bitterly: "But what should I do? That clerk is also a liar. He said that boiling a few pots of hot porridge among the refugees can recruit many strong men. You see , if the master comes back and sees that the two of us have only recruited so few people, how can we explain it? "
Another attendant also frowned: "I told you and you still don't believe it, who would follow us south and die for a meal of wheat paste?"