On the seventeenth day after the battle in Boulder Town, Art formally formed an armed caravan at the Valley Wooden Castle.
The caravan is equipped with eighteen four-wheeled carriages and animals pulling the carriages, fifteen armed guards who are also coachmen, a full-time horseman, a handyman, and three stewards, one chief, two mates, and a total of twenty people. The caravan guard is equipped with a set of black robes without heraldry, a short spear, a shield, and a choice of swords, hammers, axes, bows and arrows. They work as coachmen in peacetime and as guards in times of crisis. The caravan guards enjoy the treatment of officials and receive a monthly salary. Sixty pfennigs; the stable boy is mainly responsible for feeding the mules, horses and livestock of the caravan, and shares the same treatment as officials, and is paid sixty pfennigs per month; the handyman is responsible for the food and lodging of the entire caravan and the management of the luggage accompanying the caravan, and is paid fifty pfennigs per month.
The caravan has three responsibilities. The primary responsibility is of course to earn money through trade and business; the secondary responsibility is to purchase weapons, armor, horses, and fine iron for the army, and recruit blacksmiths, craftsmen, healers and other talents that the territory urgently needs; and the last hidden responsibility is to collect intelligence and find out news for Art.
Att is a knight, and the knight's bounden duty is to march and fight on the battlefield. In order to avoid secular accusations that a military noble was obsessed with commerce, the officially formed armed caravan was named Baron Galvin, and the flag flown by the caravan was also Baron Galvin's blue background golden sheep fleur-de-lis heraldic flag.
"Master Galvin has replied to the letter. He allows us to send the armed caravan to his banner, and he also intends to give us one of the trade routes from Sap to the Codor Province in the west for temporary operation." The caravan steward Salt said to Art while holding Baron Galvin's letter.
“My father-in-law was worried that I would offend the Dean family by interfering in the Eastern Front’s southern goods trade, so he asked me to run the Western Front. However, I had no intention of taking silver coins from my family’s purse. I laid out such a large battle and killed so many brothers just for the Eastern Front trade route.” The southern goods trade routes in the three provinces to the west of Sap were developed by Baron Galvin for decades and were his lifelong efforts. Art has no intention of sharing the pie in Baron Galvin's bowl. Moreover, for Art's territory, the Sapcy line's trade route needs to go around the northern border of Provence, which is a long way, so it is not the best trade route.
"No matter what else, how are the goods prepared?" Art asked.
“In the past few months, while the caravan was escorting the goods for Mr. Galvin to cover up the public, it also used Mr. Galvin’s methods to secretly go to various places in the north of Provence to purchase southern goods and bring them to the border outposts for hoarding. In addition, the border outposts had forcibly purchased goods from the northbound business travelers in the past few months. We have accumulated fifteen carloads of goods from South China, and the purchase price is 35,000 pfennigs. If we can successfully sell them, it is initially estimated to reach 80,000 pfennigs. After excluding the salary and consumption of the caravan, we can make a net profit of more than 40,000 pfennigs. This is only the lowest estimate~" Salt said with dazzling eyes.
"It took you more than four months to acquire fifteen cars? On average, there are less than four cars of southern goods in a month." There was a sense of blame in Art's words.
Salt quickly explained: "Sir, we purchase southern goods quietly. In order not to arouse suspicion, we dare not buy in large quantities every time, so we are slow. Besides, there are not many reserves of southern goods in northern Provence. Fifteen carts is already our best effort."
Matt thinks about it. This is the truth, "Okay, fifteen cars will be fifteen cars. Once this golden river is opened, we won't be afraid of running out of supplies~"
"Have you handled the escort matters properly? Have you emphasized to the guards the possible dangers of this journey? You have to make it clear to them that if you want to withdraw now, it's still too late."
"Sir, I have already emphasized to the guards that two guards with families have withdrawn. The old housekeeper and I have selected two more young men from the Valley Guard to join in. The rest of the guards are mostly warriors recruited from outside by the caravan. They are all brave and fearless of death."
"Well, retreating in advance does not count as escaping. If you dare to retreat before the battle, the sword in my hand will not only be used against the enemy."
"Sir, I know. I will confirm it again."
"Okay, you go down and prepare. I will set off with a small number of elite soldiers at noon tomorrow along with the caravan. We will go to the border outpost to load the goods first."
After Salt left, Art ordered Ron to call Angus to the office.
"Sergeant Major, I will leave the valley tomorrow to open up trade routes. After the garrison in Boulder Town stabilizes, Odo will be busy recruiting and training soldiers to prepare for the expansion of the army. I will leave the important task of clearing out the bandits and stabilizing the order of the county to you."
"I only brought Ron, Felix and his entourage with me this time. Here in the valley, Odo left Colin and others from the 1st Squadron to help recruit and train new soldiers. I have ordered the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons to be temporarily put under your command, and the remaining cavalry of Lusignan and the Sentinels will be put under your command. All these soldiers will be handed over to you to suppress the bandits. I hope that when I return from my trip, you can basically put an end to the banditry in Tyniec County."
Matt lowered his voice and said to Angus, who was leaning closer: "Sergeant Major, Redoan is a sharp blade we hide in the dense valley jungle. As long as his son is in our hands, we can control this sharp blade. You once said that we need to do dirty work in the future, and I think this sharp blade is used to do dirty work for us."
“In this bandit suppression campaign, you must make full use of the information provided by Redoan, and try to wipe out several large groups of bandits in the county. The old rule is to kill the bandit leaders and tough bandits, and bring the barely useful ones back to the valley to be slaves. The rest can be killed or not and let Redoan take over and expand the team. However, we should not let Redoan’s power become too large, let him Keep the number of his men under fifty. If Redoan performs well, after completing these tasks, let him quietly bring the relatives of his bandits to the valley and place them there. In addition, let Redoan find out about the group of bastards who ran away from Lane Manor, and find an opportunity to kill that fat pig for me in the name of suppressing bandits..."
"Okay, I've written it all down and I'll arrange it."
.............
At noon the next day, Art led Ron, Felix, who had recovered from his injuries, and one of his followers to set off from the wooden castle in the valley with the formally formed armed caravan.
After arriving at the construction site of Beiguan Army Fort, Art asked the caravan's empty carriage to pull more than a dozen carts of wood that had been prepared in advance. These wood were transported to the Jushi Town station for them to build and strengthen the wall. After the Battle of Boulder Town, Art paid more attention to the enclave of Boulder Town, so he planned to let the garrison of Boulder Town build the simple camp into a strong wooden fortress, and the number of soldiers stationed there was also expanded to nearly the size of a squadron.
At nightfall, a group of carriages and horses rushed to the Boulder Town station.
Odo and the soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd Squadron are still here to temporarily defend the patrol soldiers. The disabled patrol team also needs to recruit soldiers from the wooden castle recruit team and the valley guard team to reorganize.
In the military tent in the camp, Odo and patrol captain Obote sat on a low stool and listened to Art's instructions.
"Odo, Angus will come to Boulder Town in two days to take over the second and third squadron. At that time, he will handle the external suppression of bandits. You will return to the valley to concentrate on recruiting and training soldiers. You will also be responsible for the reorganization of the Valley Guard. I will leave Colin as your deputy. If you really don’t have enough manpower, you can negotiate with Angus or Cooper. My trip will be as short as twenty or thirty days, or as long as one or two months. When I return to the valley, I hope you have basically completed the task of rebuilding the first squadron and the new fourth squadron. In addition, the patrol team and the soldiers stationed at the border outpost have also been expanded to about ten people..."
Att emphasized the recent military expansion goals to Odo.
After talking with Odo for a while, Art glanced at the patrol captain Obote who kept lowering his head and dared not look directly at him.
"Obot, raise your head."
Obot raised his head.
You have already been fined a month's salary for deserting the patrol this time, so there is no need to blame yourself too much for this matter. shall shall it be punished. shall shall be should be punished.
h At.
"Okay, just be verbose like a woman. If you really blame yourself, then you can secure the boulder and train your soldiers to be stronger. After this expansion of the army, you will have more soldiers. How to make them strong and brave is what an officer should consider."
As he spoke, Art remembered something again and asked the two of them: "During this military expansion, the number of patrol teams will increase. I plan to expand the patrol team into two squads of twelve people. The two squads will take turns to garrison the Boulder Town and patrol the commercial road. The first team will be led by Obot himself, and the second team also needs a squad leader. Do you have any good candidates?"
Ao Bo Te thought for a while and replied: "Sir, Soldier Benson performed well in this holding battle. Although he is still recovering from his injury, it should not affect the battle after he recovers. Can you consider making him the captain of the second team."
Odo nodded.
Matt thought carefully for a while, stared into Obote's eyes, and asked: "Did you know that this guy once planned to be a deserter?"
"I know, sir. He once persuaded me to escape with him, but that was just the old Benson. Benson was fighting in the East. Dou He performed well in all subsequent battles, and this time he killed two bandit soldiers in the Boulder Town defense battle. "
"Are you willing to be a guarantee for this guy?"
"I will use my head as a guarantee for him!" Obote said firmly.
"Since you, the officer, are willing to use your head as a guarantee for him, let Benson serve as the captain of the second team of the patrol team after recovering from his injury, and enjoy the treatment of the leader of the combat team."
"Thank you, sir."
"Okay, let's continue talking about rebuilding the wall. I brought a large amount of wood here this time..."
...