In the inner fort of Talburg, Art used a wooden spoon to scoop out the pea paste in the bowl while telling the caravan supervisors who were sitting at the table the next arrangements for the caravan: "Cooper, Salter, and Lawrence, you will set off early tomorrow morning. Baron Jeffrey has already recruited troops in the Biltenberg area. It is estimated that the enemy will attack Talburg in the next two days, so you leave as soon as possible, otherwise you will not be able to leave."
"This time I will leave all the soldiers to defend Tal Fort, so you can only rely on yourselves to protect the caravan. In a moment, Odo will select five loyal and reliable men from our own labor and distribute weapons to serve as caravan guards. In addition, I will give you the three small traders I brought back. They have already decided to follow me. This time, four more carriages have been added to the caravan. If you are worried that the caravan's escorts are not enough, you can recruit them yourself during the business trip, but you must recruit reliable people. "
"We have hit Swabia's sore spot this time. They will definitely do everything they can to remove the nail in Talburg. Talburg will be facing crisis for some time to come, so your caravan has three main tasks this time."
“The first is to transport the materials captured during this period to the North for sale, and then purchase a batch of city defense weapons and send people back to Tal Fort, especially kerosene, arrows and crossbows. It would be better if we can recruit a group of warriors who are willing to come to Tal Fort to defend the city. The term of Earl Baldwin’s enlisted peasant soldiers and laborers is about to end. I can’t guarantee that I can keep them all. If these dozens of people leave, Tal Fort will lose a group of defense forces.”
“The second is to bring me two private letters to Count Baldwin and Bishop Olof. In the letter, I reported the situation of Talburg and our achievements in the past month. I hope that the Deputy Prime Minister can commend us. In addition, you can bring the three sets of porcelain and five large gold cakes to the Deputy Prime Minister and tell him that these are the peasants and soldiers sent by him. The captured trophies, the Deputy Prime Minister is a sensible person, and he can understand what I mean. If the Deputy Prime Minister asks what Tal Fort needs, you can say that you hope to allocate a group of defense weapons, and it is best to strictly order Glalu County to send troops to help guard Tal Fort. Bishop Olof does not need to send anything for the time being, so you can just send him the letter."
"The third is to send people back to the wooden castle in the valley to take a look. We have been out for nearly two months, and the valley is entirely supported by Scott alone. I am worried. You send people back to take a look and bring some supplies back."
The three managers of the caravan accompanying the army listened carefully and wrote down Art's task arrangements for the caravan accompanying the army one by one.
Old housekeeper Cooper noted down the tasks assigned by Art and then mentioned the carriage that he had been thinking about. "Sir, there are still many four-wheeled carriages hidden near the cave in the southeast. I have never been able to find a chance to transport them away. I want to take advantage of the fact that Swabia's attention is now focused on Talburg. Try to find a way to get those carriages back." Art took a sip of wheat paste and raised his head and said, "I would like to get them back. Those carriages are all iron-clad four-wheeled carriages that transport military supplies. It is really sad to leave them in the wilderness. But now that the road to the east is blocked, we can't bring them back?"
Cooper approached Art and said confidently: "Sir, I have an idea. There is a small trade road more than a hundred miles southwest from Biltenburg. Few business travelers pass there on weekdays. But from that road, one hundred and twenty miles southwest can go directly to Andermatt Castle. We can use that road to get the empty carriage back to the valley castle."
Art asked curiously: "You How do you know? "
"The three traders you brought back used to take detours on that road occasionally to avoid the transit tax. They are familiar with the road."
"But it's not a smooth road here~"
"Sir, we can ask Baron Antayas for help, at least we can give him some hard-earned money."
Matt thought about it for a while and felt that this method was better than letting those carriages rot in the wild forest, so he agreed with Cooper's method, "This matter will be done last. I will write a letter to Baron Antayas, and you will bring a generous gift to the Baron. As long as there is no war at Andermatt Castle, I think he should help."
Cooper nodded with a smile and agreed, and then again. Another matter was brought up, "Master, since we are sending people back to Valley Castle, why don't we also bring a message to Master Galvin and Miss Lottie? Although they are not engaged yet, they must be concerned about you going out to fight."
Art has been concentrating on the war, and indeed he has not thought it through. After listening to the old butler's kind reminder, he realized that he had actually forgotten his future father-in-law and fiancée.
“Yeah, yes, yes, then you should also bring some gifts to Mr. Galvin and Miss Lottie for me, and let Scott arrange for them to be delivered.” Art’s face was slightly red.
After several stewards of the military caravan left, Art sent people to find Angus and Ron, who had just finished the raid and returned to Tarburg to repair.
Angus was slightly injured in the leg and was not in a good mood, but Ron was very excited because in the previous two days of harassment, he had captured two enemy sentries by himself. Although the soldiers who participated in the harassment paid the price of one death and one injury, the six of them killed five enemy soldiers and successfully forced back more than twenty Swabian enemy soldiers who came to eliminate traps along the way and spy on the military situation, delaying the Swabian army's plan to attack Talburg for several days.
Matt put down the wooden spoon and walked over to Angus and squatted down to check the injury on his leg. "Sergeant, it seems that you are a lucky person favored by the Holy Lord. If this heavy diamond-headed arrow misses even half a finger, one of your legs will be useless."
Angus replied angrily: "I was careless. I didn't expect that the hunter would fall into the trap set by the prey. In order to drive away the five of us, the enemy actually sent twenty elite soldiers. It was my mistake that led to the death of our brother. Lord Art, I will act alone in the future. I really can't. I want to lead troops. "
Matt patted Angus on the shoulder and consoled him: "Sergeant, you don't have to ask for a forfeiture of military pay. The death of the soldier this time was not your fault. You don't need to be punished. Besides, it is impossible to march without battle losses. If you hadn't brought Ron and the others with you, maybe more than one of our brothers would have died."
Ron also spoke repeatedly to comfort Angus.
"The enemy will soon attack Talburg in a large scale. There is currently a slight surplus of soldiers stationed at Talburg. And I also said that we will not defend Talburg. Tomorrow the caravan with the army will leave Talburg and return to Besançon. The caravan is also an invisible force in the defense of Talburg. With luck, they will lead I returned a batch of city defense weapons and recruited a group of mercenary guards to come to Tal Fort, but this force could not be used for a while, so I decided to send another army outside Tal Fort as the outer defense force of Tal Fort. "
Hearing this, both Angus and Ron cheered up.
"This peripheral team does not need to have too many people, eight people are enough. It has three main tasks."
Att paused and asked the two to remember.
“The first task is to continue to harass the Swabian army. If the Swabian army intends to besiege Talburg for a long time, then they will definitely transport supplies through the east carriageway. There is only one road around Talburg that can transport a large amount of supplies, but there are hills and dense forests and trails here. This small team can appear on the enemy’s baggage line from any place to harass.”
"The second task is to serve as the external defense force of Tal Fort. When Tal Fort is under siege, it is too risky to take the initiative, so when Tal Fort is under attack, you have to harass the enemy from behind."
"The third task is to serve as a messenger between Tal Fort and the outside world. When there is important military information in Tal Fort that needs to be conveyed to the outside world, we will raise smoke from the inner tower, and then you will go around to the top of the hill behind Tal Fort. We will use crossbows to deliver the letter to you. We will discuss the specific location for collecting the letter. In addition, if Tal Fort is attacked by an indefensible attack, you must rush to Galalu City for support."
"I would like to hand over this team to you two commanders. The sergeant major is the chief officer and Ron is the adjutant. You can choose the soldiers of the team yourself, whether they are soldiers, peasant soldiers or even prisoners of war. In addition to carrying necessary weapons and armor, the soldiers of the small team must also carry enough food and supplies. You will be dealing with the enemy in the hills and forests for a long time, and the enemy will definitely send troops to clear it up. You have to Lead everyone to respond flexibly, whether it is setting up traps or laying cold arrows to ambush, use all the tricks that can kill the enemy. Temporarily put aside your honor as warriors and bite the prey like wild wolves! ”
………
While Talburg was busy preparing for defense, Bültenberg in Swabia was also organizing a large-scale army gathering.
Since the fall of Biltenburg, Baron Jeffery fell into a complete rage. While requesting the county town of Tebrunn to send troops to attack Talburg, he also issued an emergency order from the fief. All Baron Jeffrey's territories were seventeen years old. Men under the age of thirty-five who were not disabled must carry food and weapons and equipment to assemble in Biltenberg; Jeffrey's wife's family not only provided military support of 20,000 pfennigs, but also sent eighteen elite infantry to the command of Baron Jeffrey.
Together with the "bandit-suppressing army" that had not been disbanded last time, Jeffrey assembled an "army" of more than 200 people in just five days, including five knights, 20 cavalry (including knights and retinues), 60 infantry, and bows and arrows. With fifteen soldiers, thirty armed peasants, and more than eighty army laborers, this gathering drained almost all the power in Baron Jeffery's territory. In the south of the territory, even the villages, forts, and estates that defended themselves against bandits and bandits were all depleted.
Baron Jeffrey was a military aristocrat and had participated in some major and small battles with his father. However, the humiliation of the castle being captured and looted and his wife and children captured made him impatient to make detailed plans and preparations. On the sixth day after the fall of Biltenburg, Baron Jeffrey ignored the order to "suspend the attack" from the county town of Tebrunn and directly drove to Tarburg along the carriage road with a makeshift army of more than 200 people and a small amount of siege equipment...
Ten miles east of Tarburg and half a mile in front of the "Western Expedition Army", ten sentries led by Sir Bayard, the newly promoted knight and captain of the guard, were scouting the hills and dense forests within a stone's throw of the road. A few days ago When clearing the traps and roadblocks set up by the Tarburg garrison, a few harassing enemy soldiers rushed out of the hills and forests on both sides of the road or fired a few cold arrows. Now that the army was advancing, they learned their lesson and sent out sentries in advance to occupy the hills and forests to ensure that the army was not disturbed by sporadic attacks.
Just in a clump of weeds on the top of the hill on the north side of the dense forest where Bayard stood, eight soldiers from Tarburg were lurking.
"Sergeant Major, should we go and make a raid?" Ron, who had been lying in the grass all morning, gently stretched his hands and feet and asked Angus, who was staring straight ahead beside him.
Angus tore off the grass roots he had been chewing for a long time and replied softly to Ron: "They have suffered a loss and are now scouting carefully. If we forcibly harass them, they may be caught. Anyway, Lord Art has prepared enough arrows for them to pound stones in Tarburg, and let them have a meal while they are hot."
"Guys, retreat!" After saying this, Angus took the lead in crawling back, and soon eight figures disappeared into the dense forest on the other side of the hill...
Two hours later, Talburg welcomed the first batch of enemies since the re-establishment of the garrison.
Standing on the tower of Tarburg, Art did not expect that Baron Jeffrey would bring hundreds of troops in the first round of attack.
Looking at the enemy troops covering the carriage road in front of Tal Fort, Art felt an uncontrollable excitement in his heart.
Since the establishment of the patrol, most of the enemies he has faced have been sporadic armies or bandits, and most of the battles he has participated in and commanded have been sneak attacks and harassment. This time he will have a head-on confrontation with the armies led by barons and knights. Although he is protected by city walls and fortifications, commanding such a majestic formation still makes him a little nervous. A correct decision will cause the enemy's corpses to be dumped under the city, and a wrong decision will cost him his life. In any case, there will be many bones left here.
According to Art's prior arrangement, Odo will be responsible for the first round of defense of Tal Fort. Odo stationed two temporary squads of soldiers and two squads of peasant soldiers (including eight crossbowmen) in the direction of the outer wall of Tal Fort facing the carriage road, with a total of 24 people, led by Kazak. and Tuba took specific command; the terrain on the left, right and back sides of the outer wall was rugged and difficult to attack, so only three people were sent to defend each. There were two peasant soldiers and four laborers on the inner fort tower to operate the trebuchets; while Bass and seven archers (temporary) were responsible for garrisoning the waiting platform on the flanks of the Tal Fort.
With the exception of two temporarily organized combat teams (including soldiers, peasants, soldiers, and laborers) in Tal Fort, all the others (prisoners, laborers, and serfs) provided assistance to the soldiers defending the outer wall. They were responsible for everything from carrying arrows and breaking stones, delivering weapons, treating the wounded, and making food. They even had to pick up the weapons of the soldiers and join the battle at the critical moment of defending the city.
The enemy soldiers did not carry out pre-battle repairs after arriving at Talburg. After only one hour of hasty preparation, the first round of exploratory attack began.