At the engagement banquet, Art was toasted in turn by the enthusiastic residents of Fort Sapp and the squires and elders. Although Angus and Ron Lusignan blocked the wine, he still drank a lot and fell asleep in the guest room of Lord Galvin's mansion for a whole night.
It was not until noon on the second day that Art climbed out of bed with a heavy head. The maid standing at the door quickly walked into the guest room with a brand new set of uniform linings to help Art put it on.
"No need, I'll do it myself." Art refused the servant's service and took the clothes and put them on himself.
"What time is it now? Where are my guards?" Art asked.
The servant lowered his head and replied: "Go back to Master Art, it's noon now. Your guard drank too much yesterday and is still sleeping in the front hall and guest room. Miss Lottie personally served you to sleep last night. Miss Lottie came to see you early this morning. Now she went to the inner kitchen to prepare food for you."
A noble lady personally waited on the drunken self. Art was a little embarrassed. The maid said, "Well, then thank Miss Lottie for me."
The maid couldn't help but smile softly and said, "Mr. Art, if you want to thank me, please leave it to my lady in person. She will be here soon."
"Lottie, thank you. I drank too much yesterday, which caused you trouble."
Lottie put the tray on the wooden table beside the bed, picked up a bowl of fragrant venison soup, handed it to Art, and said: "Yesterday, your bodyguard Ron drank too much to stop you from drinking, and I'm worried about it again." The servants didn't take good care of you, so I personally arranged for you to sleep, but your guards were so powerful that they knocked my brother and the knights, squires and elders in the castle unconscious. Especially Ron and Felix drank until midnight last night. I just went to see Felix and he was still vomiting in the room. "
Matt smiled and said, "Felix has just turned fifteen and is about the same age as Ron. The two of them can drink together."
Lottie adjusted the belt around Art's waist and said softly: "Well, yes, Felix discussed it with his father yesterday. He said that he wants his father to plead with you to allow him to join your legion for training. Felix has been doted on by his father since he was a child, and now it is rare that he is willing to endure some hardships and experience. Don't refuse his plea when the time comes."
"Why doesn't your father He was sent to the feudal lord's house to be trained as a servant? "
"The year before last, my father sent Felix to Viscount Jonathan's house to be a page boy. Unexpectedly, Felix beat Mr. Jonathan's only son shortly after he arrived, and he was sent back by Mrs. Jonathan. Felix has a simple nature, but he has a bad temper, and he will do something if he doesn't get his way." Lottie complained about her brother.
“If Felix really wants to come to my army to train, I don’t need Lord Galvin to say it himself. I can agree now. But you have to tell your father that joining our army has its own military rules. Suffering and hardship are inevitable, and occasional battle wounds are unavoidable. When the time comes, Don't say that I didn't take good care of him." Art has come into contact with Felix, and he feels quite good about his future brother-in-law. Although he has been favored since childhood, he still has a very energetic personality, and unlike Baron Galvin, this guy likes battles and has some martial arts skills.
"Okay, I'll tell my father and Felix right now." With that, Lottie picked up the underwear that Art had changed and planned to leave.
"Lottie, let Ron wash these clothes. I am embarrassed to ask a noble lady to do these chores for me." Art quickly stopped Lottie.
"Okay, drink the venison soup. If you are really embarrassed, quickly build your knight's mansion~" Lottie said and left Art's guest room with a shy face...
...
In the afternoon, in the official room of Lord Sapp's hall, Art and Angus were discussing with Baron Galvin and his inner palace knight and captain of the castle guard about fending off enemies and suppressing bandits.
"Lord Galvin, our biggest difficulty now is not to worry about those bandits coming to attack Sapp Castle, but also how to wipe out the wild wolves that are roaming around. Since I took office as the patrol officer, I have wiped out several groups of bandits, but they are basically all him. They take the initiative to attack me, but we can rarely trace these guys. They basically don’t have a fixed nest. They usually rob a settlement and stay there for a few days, and then move to the next place to continue plundering when they are empty." Art said, tapping the table lightly.
"Yes, I also sent people to clean up some time ago, but those bastards led us around in the mountains and ravines. We chased us for two or three days, and we were worried that the bandits would take the opportunity to attack Sap, so we had to return. As a result, those bastards began to appear around Sap again." Mr. Galvin frowned, with anxiety in his tone.
Matt thought for a while, then suddenly raised his head and asked, "Lord Galvin, how long will it take for your caravan to return to Sapp?" How many guards does the caravan have? "
"The caravan carrying food this time only has eighteen carriages, but I have sent twenty-eight guards and drivers. These guards are my elite force. I am worried that those bastards will harass my caravan, so I have added more caravan guards."
After listening, Art calmed down and thought for a while, and murmured a few words to Angus. Then he turned to Galvin and said, "Lord Galvin, I have a plan here. Tell it and we can discuss it."
Galvin frowned and said, "Hurry up and tell me."
Matt cleared his throat, glanced at the people in the room and said, "We can use the caravan as bait to lure the bandits to plunder, and then we will wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop."
"Please tell me more details." Galvin put down his wine glass and leaned forward to ask.
"The reason why those bandits took the risk to attack Sap was just to rob the money in the fort. They encountered a problem in Sap some time ago and knew that Sapp could not eat the fat meat. Now they are wandering around Sap and they must be evil. Since they want to eat meat, we will send the meat to the noses of those wild wolves. Let them swallow it with saliva. "
"Lord Galvin, there are many people in Sap and the people are complicated. I guess there must be bandits in the village. In this case, you let people "blindly" reveal that a caravan will transport a batch of coins and valuable goods to Provence next week, and then..."
Matt softly told several people in the room a strategy of luring the wolf out of the cave and setting up an ambush to counterattack...
In the next two days, Art took Angus and Ron Lusignan to train the guards in the castle and recruit peasant soldiers for Baron Galvin in Sapp Castle.
What surprised Art was that although Baron Galvin was not very interested in battle formations, there was a lot of weapons and armor in the arsenal of Sarp Castle. According to Felix, his father was a miser. In order to protect the property in Sarp Castle and ensure that the caravan was not disturbed by bandits and bandits, his father had purchased a lot of weapons and armor in recent years to equip the castle guards and caravan guards.
Since it was to strengthen the defense force in Sapp Castle, Art, after obtaining the consent of Baron Galvin, distributed all the spears, daggers, battle axes, shields and other equipment in Sapp's arsenal to the young men in the castle. In addition to the two dozen peasant soldiers who had become castle guards, they were equipped with cotton armor, iron helmets and spears. In addition to swords, shields and other weapons and armor, simple weapons such as a short spear, a battle ax or a single sword were also distributed to more than 30 young men in the fort. Once a group of thieves really attacked, these young men with weapons and simple training could also play an important role in the critical moment of defending their homeland.
On the sixth day after entering Sapp, the caravan that Baron Galvin went to Provence to transport food returned. The leader of the caravan reported to Baron Galvin the situation of the caravan's north-south trade. Galvin also called Art to the official room.
“Art, sit here with me.” Galvin led Art to the chair next to him.
"Martin, please tell Sir Art about the situation on the trade road." Galvin said to the caravan leader standing in front of the official table.
"Yes, Sir Ater, our caravan encountered two waves of bandits along the way. One wave was fifteen miles south of Sap, and the other was in an abandoned small village forty-seven miles south. Because our caravan was accompanied by more guards, neither wave of bandits dared to approach..." The leader of the caravan detailed the situation on the southern trade road......
On the other side, Angus and Ron are also busy. According to the arrangements of Art and Baron Galvin, they are quietly selecting the bravest young men among the Sarp guards and caravan guards with the help of the captain of the Sarp guard and bringing them to the courtyard of Baron Galvin's mansion to be trained individually with well-equipped weapons and armor. This group of carefully selected warriors There were twelve people in total, and they were all guards who had followed the caravan for many years or were the best among the castle guards. Angus gave them leather and cotton armor, broadswords, battle axes, shields and other weapons and armor, and then specially took them to practice how to hide in carriages to suddenly counterattack the attacking bandits, and how to form a shield array to kill each other and protect themselves...
….
While all the elites were training behind closed doors in Lord Sapp's mansion, in the largest tavern in Sapp Castle, Master Felix, the only son of Lord Sapp Baron Galvin, was drinking red with the sons of several noble squires from the territory.
Felix drank another large glass of ale and said to the people around him in a vague tone: "I said to everyone, do you want to follow me to Provence? I am going to Provence soon, you can follow me for a few days. "I'm almost going crazy after being locked up in the castle all these days."
A 17 or 18-year-old squire's son, who was dressed in fine clothes, burped from wine and said, "Master Felix, why go to Provence? Bandits are rampant around now. It's so dangerous to go out."
Felix turned around and said: "We will go quietly this time, and we will be guarded by warriors. There will be no danger. You should think about it. If you want to go out with me to see the world, you should tell me earlier. I will leave in two days, but don't arrive at that time. "You said I didn't take you with me."
"Master Felix, what is it that requires you, the young master, to go in person? Didn't your caravan always go to Provence in the past?" asked another dandy.
Felix filled the wine glass in front of him with ale again, glanced around, and asked a few people to listen, "This time I am going to Provence with 50,000 pfennigs and a batch of goods to exchange for a batch of valuable southern goods. My father said that from now on I will slowly take over his trading business. This is my first time going out to do big business. If you are willing to follow me, I can secretly take out 500 pfennigs from the purchase price in Provence for you to have fun with. What do you think, do you want to go?"
"For the trade of fifty thousand pfennig, give us five hundred pfennig. It's so dangerous along the way that I don't want to go." A squire's son said loudly.
Felix quickly stopped the loud-voiced guy, "Keep your voice down!! This time I will go to Provence disguised as a small caravan buying groceries. Those bandits will look down on me, and there are caravan guards around, so they don't dare to provoke us easily..."
The "secret" revealed by Felix drunkenly was quickly revealed by several sons of aristocratic squires who were also drunk.
That night, a lazy man in Sarp Castle took advantage of the darkness to sneak out of a dog hole and disappeared into the vast night outside Sarp Castle...