The weather is slowly getting hotter, and early summer has quietly arrived.
The mood of the soldiers and civilians in Provence in the Aosta theater was cold. The war situation between Provence and Barente, which had been stalemate for more than a year, fell into an increasingly passive situation with the secret participation of the Principality of Swabia in the east of the southern continent.
A week ago Swabia suddenly announced its support for Lombardy in attacking Provence. Originally, the war between Provence and Lombardy was just a territorial dispute between the two principalities. Now Swabia has declared war with Provence across hundreds of miles of mountains. This has become the beginning of a huge change in southern Europe.
With the current situation being like this, in order to prevent Swabia and Lombardy from becoming too powerful, the Principality of Burgundy ordered its subordinate Burgundy Counties to send troops into the eastern border areas to deter and contain Swabia, and prevent the Swabian army from moving south and west on a large scale. Sporadic battles began to occur on the eastern border of Burgundy, which was already extremely tense. These battles were nominally autonomous actions of the border lords, but everyone could see that this was Burgundy's intention to test and anger Swabia.
The two thousand troops that the Count of Burgundy mobilized in advance in the four provinces and twenty-one counties were stationed in various fortresses and castles, and the rest were all deployed in the eastern border area.
At this time, the court of the Marquis of Burgundy in Besancon is continuing to mobilize all military forces that can be mobilized to deal with a large-scale war that may break out at any time.
When the order to raise the army again reached the city of Dinetz, Viscount Pierre's head almost exploded.
According to the order of the palace, the whole county of Tyniec must recruit no less than fifty soldiers with their own weapons, food and equipment and rush to Besancon within two months to assemble. The palace will conduct a short-term training of the newly recruited soldiers and then add them to the eastern front line where war may break out.
In the official room of the Lord's Hall of Tyniec, Baron Ambroise Vaz, the owner of a large estate outside Tyniec, was complaining loudly to Viscount Pierre: "Sir, it is impossible for us to fulfill the palace's order. If we only need fifty peasants, that's it, but where are we going to find fifty armed soldiers now? Last time the palace called for an army, I even sent out my own knights, and now I have a baron in my hands. There are less than thirty soldiers in the army, and a group of peasant soldiers have been recruited from other territories of mine."
Viscount Pierre was also upset by Ambru's shouting, and shouted loudly: "What are you complaining about? Half of the nearly two hundred garrison soldiers I finally accumulated were deployed last time. Did I say no? I asked you to come to discuss a solution, not to listen to your complaints."
Baron Ambrose calmed down a little and said to Viscount Pierre, who was sitting on the armchair: "My lord, Tyniec County is not your territory, and the garrison in the city is not your private army. We have no real power here. The villages and castles in the county are scattered fiefs of various earls and viscounts. We should give up this job as soon as possible and return to the palace. My manor owner has no interest in it, so it is better to return to the palace and meet with the Marquis. "I still want to return to the palace, but I have been in Tyniec County for three years and have no achievements. How can I have the honor to return to the Marquis? There have been bandits in the county recently. It is rampant and turbulent everywhere. Who is willing to take over this mess in Tinets? Should the Marquis personally come to Tinets to take charge!" Viscount Pierre was so angry when he thought of this that he threw the silver wine glass in his hand to the ground.
Ambrose hurriedly stepped forward, picked up the wine glass, and put it back on the table. He comforted him: "Sir, the rampant banditry in the county is not your fault. It is all caused by the refugees from Provence who fled north. Besides, there is a patrol officer in the county to maintain security. I heard that Antayas successfully recaptured Alsburg with the help of this guy. I think with this guy here, maybe the security in the county can be stabilized a little."
The words "patrol team" were accidentally mentioned, and something clicked in the minds of the two people in the office room, and a workaround came into being.
In the evening, in the convoy camp, Odo was gathering the soldiers who had finished dinner around a campfire and began to preach and encourage everyone. Recently, there have been signs of fear of going south among the patrol soldiers. As the patrol deputy captain and military judge, Odo, under Art's instruction, has taken on the task of stabilizing the soldiers' minds.
"At that time, a few of us were ostracized by the guild in Lucese and it seemed that we could no longer survive. It was the adults who took us to the south and gave us a way to survive. Now, in just over half a year, I have experienced three battles, a raid, and was chased by bandits in the woods. It would be an absolute lie if I said I wasn’t afraid of death, but I am afraid, but every time I face the enemy’s sword, I always dare to draw my sword and fight with my life. It’s because the world is such a bastard, and you have to fight for the dawn of time in places where God’s holy light cannot reach..."
The soldiers sitting around the campfire began to make scattered echoes.
Spencer, who was washing deep copper pots in the temporary "kitchen" nearby, pursed his lips and muttered in a low voice: "To say so much is just to encourage everyone to work hard. Even if you say some nonsense, just say that you will be given money, food, and promotion. You have to be as verbose as a secretary~"
As soon as Spencer's muttering stopped, Odo's voice sounded again: "Those were just words of encouragement. Let me be more honest. We are all refugees who fled north due to the war or are untouchables who beg like slaves. We may one day freeze to death and starve to death in an unknown corner. But what about now? Have you ever been hungry? Have you been frozen? Have you ever been owed wages?"
Faced with Odo's series of questions, the soldiers shook their heads firmly in denial.
"That's right. Your Majesty feeds us, pays us wages, and teaches us self-protection and killing skills. Why?"
"Why?" Odo asked again.
Everyone listened silently.
"The reason is that we are willing to follow the master to work hard. Some people are not afraid of death, but no one does not want to live. It is not shameful to be afraid of death, but since you have eaten a military ration and received this military salary, you should be worthy of the master's contribution. If you dare to avoid the battle in my hands, The ax is about to chop off his head..."
Standing outside the military tent, watching Odo chatting with the soldiers by the campfire, Ron whispered to Art: "Master, why do you think this Odo brother is so eloquent? Is he a laborer?"
Matt did not directly answer Ron's doubts, and he would not tell Ron that he had prompted Odo to do these things. Instead, he said with a smile: "So I made him the deputy captain of the patrol team."
Matt changed the subject and asked: "Ron, after more than half a year, have you learned a few words from the old butler?" En smiled and touched his head, "Master, I have learned a few words, but I always forget them after learning. The word knows me but I don't know it."
"Sir, I don't dare to expect to become a noble. I just want to have a small farm and be a squire in the future~"
“Haha, okay, come with me to patrol the sentry.” After saying that, he took off a torch next to the military tent and walked towards the sentry post next to the camp.
…..
One day later, the grain transport convoy successfully arrived at the city of Kitsby. Baron Balian temporarily stored all the grain in the military camp in the city. After arranging the affairs of the convoy, Baron Balian came to Art's camp in the open space in the city square.
"Art, this is your commission salary today, three hundred pfennigs." He said and handed twenty-five small silver shillings into Art's hand.
At took the silver coin and asked: "Sir, you have other things to do. This salary is not worth giving it to me personally."
Baron Balian was a little embarrassed that his thoughts had been guessed. He chuckled and said: "I came to you personally and I really have something to discuss with you. You know that my purpose of traveling north this time was to raise military rations, which has basically been completed now; and the other purpose was to recruit a group of soldiers to accompany me to a fortress called Fort Kalk in the north of Aosta to resist the attack of the Lombard army, but At present, I have only recruited less than half of the soldiers, which is very bad..."
Ate has already guessed what Baron Balian wanted to say, and interrupted softly: "Sir, do you want to continue to hire my patrol team to fight with you?"
Baron Balian looked relaxed: "It is much easier to deal with smart people."
Yate refused directly without any hesitation: "Sir, please forgive me for being unreasonable, I cannot accept your invitation."
“Why?” Baron Balian originally thought that a mercenary and bounty hunter like Art would not refuse a high salary.
"My lord, you have also discovered that most of my patrols are new soldiers. They have just joined the patrol and are overwhelmed by the battle. It is difficult to deal with a few bandits, let alone facing a well-trained and well-equipped army."
Baron Balian felt that Art was just shirking the price, and said with a smile: "Art, those black-robed soldiers of yours are fighting. I have already seen the strength. Although it lacks the murderous spirit of long-term battles, the military formation and combat skills are good. If you are willing to fight south with me, I am willing to pay you a salary of one thousand pfennigs a day, and there will be rewards if you win..."
The two discussed for a long time in the military tent, and Art finally rejected Baron Balian's invitation.
Att is not a reckless man. He knows that the current situation in the Aosta war zone is not optimistic. The reason why he accepted the baron's hire to escort the food south is because he owes Baron Balian a small favor, and the baron has given a high military expenditure; secondly, he wants to take the patrol south to experience a war to strengthen the courage of the soldiers; thirdly, he wants to see the southern war situation in person and explore this era personally.
There are three reasons why he resolutely refused to hire Baron Balian to participate in the war: one is that he knew that the Provence army must have suffered numerous casualties in the Aosta theater and would be at a disadvantage, otherwise Baron Balian would not have gone to the north to recruit troops and buy food in person. At this time, going to Aosta to participate in the war is simply to die. Art regards the patrol as the foundation of his rise, and he will never let the patrol be in danger of destruction; secondly, the patrol has only been established for more than half a year. Although it has experienced some battles, the war The force is still weak, and many veterans and recruits joined the patrol after escaping the war in Provence. There are people who plan to escape when escorting food south this time. If they are told that they are going to participate in the fierce Aosta war zone, it will definitely cause instability in the team; thirdly, Art's focus is still on the Count of Burgundy. According to the analysis of previous rumors, the Count of Burgundy may face a crisis that has not been seen in decades, and danger is always accompanied by rare opportunities...
With no choice but to do so, Baron Balian had to order to stay in Kitsby for another two days and personally went to recruit soldiers from various places inside and outside the city. Art also ordered the patrol team to make some repairs in the city, and distributed military rewards from the last hilly battle.