After two days of repairs in the village where the rebels were entrenched, the southern caravan arrived in the village with empty carts from Kitzby and transported tens of thousands of pounds of captured grain away. The grain would be transported to the city of Aosta and sold to the Provence court and Viscount Bellian's baggage train as military rations.
Early in the morning of the third day, after learning that the rebels had been wiped out and the Eastern Legion marched south from Kitzby, Art also left the village with the soldiers standing or lying in the outpost and entered the North-South Highway to return to the Legion.
However, after the battle to clear out the rebels, the number of troops in At's hands actually increased, because the Kazak Third Squadron, which was sent to Provence to guard the southern caravan, also returned to At'er.
After Kazak's return, Art classified the Third Mercenary Squadron into the severely damaged First Mercenary Squadron to form the new First Mercenary Squadron, while Kazak Squadron still retained the designation of the Third Squadron...
…………
乱军盘踞村落西南方的大道上，东部军团在这里驻扎歇脚。
In the camp of the commander of the central army, Art was reporting to Viscount Jeffrey on the situation of the battle to eliminate the rebels.
"Lord Legion Commander, the battle situation is just as I said. The outpost suffered very serious losses in the battle with the Provence rebels. The first squadron under my command was almost completely wiped out, and the third squadron also suffered heavy casualties. Almost one-third of the entire outpost was lost in the battle. Fortunately, there was a Burgundy army after the war. The caravans of the Tibetan Kingdom have a good relationship with me, and they took the initiative to send a caravan escort to join my battle." Art briefly reported the story of the battle to eliminate the rebels, and also explained the origin of the fifteen extra soldiers in the outpost, but did not mention the capture of the battle or the true origin of the "rebel caravan."
Viscount Geoffrey is a military dignitary from the court. He only cares about whether Art successfully completes the tasks assigned to him.
Of course, victory in battle is also a topic he cares about. Although he promised not to ask for any of Art's spoils, it was promised from the perspective of the legion and definitely not on behalf of him personally. If he could not obtain benefits through war, why would Viscount Geoffrey give up the comfortable life of the Besançon palace and travel thousands of miles to march and fight in Provence, where wars continued.
Fortunately, Art is a "sensible" subordinate. Three thousand pfennigs of silver coins plus half a car of raw silk woolen cloth and salt cloth were gifts from Art to Viscount Jeffrey.
"Art, this time you performed well in the battle to eliminate the rebels on the baggage line. I have ordered the secretary to record your military exploits in a book. After returning to Besançon, these military exploits will be reported to the Marquis together with the subsequent military exploits. I believe the Marquis will be pleased that there is a brave Lord like you in the country." With a heavy money bag in his hand, Viscount Jeffrey's attitude towards Art became much kinder.
Viscount Geoffrey praised Art a few times, then sounded a little more serious, and asked: "I heard that you imprisoned two Provence knights who assisted you in suppressing bandits for a whole day. Is this true?"
Art secretly cursed the two cowards in his heart, and replied respectfully: "Master of the Legion, I didn't expect these two bastards to complain to you first. This is what happened~"
Before Art was about to describe the evil deeds of the two local small lords in resisting orders, Viscount Jeffrey raised his hand to stop Art. He said, "Don't worry, I just want to tell you that I have suppressed the two people's slanderous words against you. I believe you will not imprison them for no reason. Besides, how can I blame a warrior because of the slander of a foreigner? You don't need to pay attention to them. I will treat you fairly."
Money can plug your mouth and ears, it’s true.
Art was extremely grateful to Viscount Jeffrey for his wisdom, and hinted that he would continue to give Viscount Jeffrey a certain "expression" in future battles...
.........
The comfort and treatment of casualties after returning to the legion, as well as the repair and replenishment of battle-damaged weapons and armor, are all unspecified.
In short, as the first battle of the Eastern Legion heading south to Provence, Art's reputation became increasingly louder and louder in the entire legion. In addition, Art was a low-key person in the legion and friendly to others. Soon some flag captains frequently visited Art's military tent. After that, whenever they set up camp on the way south, Art's military tents were always filled with legion officers who drank and talked freely.
After five days of this, more than 1,200 soldiers of the Eastern Legion and an entourage of almost the same size finally arrived at the edge of the eastern Provence theater and the support point of the entire eastern front battlefield - the city of Aosta.
Returning to the city of Aosta, Art was no longer the aristocratic small businessman who begged Balian to introduce the Palace Deputy Finance Minister. Therefore, when the powerful officials of Aosta held a banquet for the Eastern Legion in the Lord's Hall of the city, Count Marcelo, the Palace Deputy Finance Minister, was quite surprised by Art appearing in the ranks of legion officers. Count Marcelo even clinked glasses with Art in person to welcome him. This unintentional move by Count Marcelo raised Art's status in the Legion to another level.
At the end of the banquet, the Provence Palace Military Deputy, who was responsible for contacting the Eastern Army, briefly introduced the raging battle between Aosta and Verno to the Eastern Army supporting the Eastern Front battlefield.
“My dear lords and warriors from the North, please forgive me for not being able to express our gratitude to our guests from the North for traveling thousands of miles to help us at tonight’s banquet. Nowadays, wars are ongoing across Provence, and Aosta has just escaped from the siege of the Lombards, so we I can’t prepare a decent meal to entertain you. But the wine and food I owe you today will be doubled after the Lombards are driven away.”
Everyone at the banquet laughed and raised their glasses to express their gratitude to the Deputy Minister of Military Affairs who spoke.
The deputy military minister raised his head and took a sip of the wine in his glass, and continued: "Everyone, as the commander-in-chief of the eastern Provence war zone, I have been quite hesitant and frustrated recently. Just in the afternoon, I received a military report from the hilly battlefield in the south - five days ago, the Lombards had recruited an 800-man mercenary force from the Genoa region in the south. The mercenary infantry entered the hilly area north of Wilno. With the support of this mercenary force, the Lombards quickly pushed the front more than 20 miles north. The front we finally stabilized began to retreat northward. In just five days, we killed more than 120 warriors and lost three villages and a castle..."
“…The war deeds of the Burgundian Army in the Northland and the Swabians have spread to Provence in the south of the mainland. We are very fortunate to be friends with a neighbor with a strong army like the Burgundian County. Provence is lucky to have the support of the Burgundian Principality and the County, and the southern Aosta theater can It is also lucky to be supported by such a powerful force as the Eastern Army. I hope that such a powerful army as yours can teach the hungry wolves in the south a lesson for us and let the ferocious enemies get out of every inch of Provence..."
"God belongs to us, and the glory belongs to us! Amen!"
At noon the next day, in the military command tent of the Eastern Legion station, a group of officers were listening carefully in front of a sand table to the battle plan and defensive deployment discussed by the legion commander and the Provence palace deputy.
Viscount Geoffrey stood in front of the sand table, glanced at the surrounding officers, and said: "According to the requirements of the Provence Palace, our current task is to hold on to several castles and fortresses between Aosta and Verno to resist a new round of counterattacks that may be launched by the Lombards at any time."
< br/> “Since one of the southernmost castles was captured by the Lombards a week ago, the number of castles we need to garrison and defend has been reduced to three. However, there is a more difficult task that we need to complete together with a local army from Provence, which is to recapture the castle that fell a few days ago and hold on to it.”
"I ordered the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th companies of the Eastern Army to station in three castles respectively to assist the local militia troops in guarding the three castles."
"The first squadron of the legion, most of the cavalry, the first crossbow team, and the outpost, a total of 420 people, accompanied the Chinese army to regain the newly occupied territory of the Lombards. "
"The baggage team and the troops who went south will stay in Kitzby City to provide food, baggage and weapons and equipment supplies for the three defenders and the troops recovering the lost ground."
"Early tomorrow morning, all the teams garrisoned at the castle will go to their garrison locations..."
“Yes, take the order!” All the officers of the 23rd and 4th companies stood up to answer the order, turned around and walked out of the camp to arrange garrison matters.
After the other company officers left, Viscount Jeffrey called a few remaining officers to gather around him and said in a deep voice: "Your task is much more difficult than them. They are holding on to the fortified city, but you will go with me to attack the fortified city. Many of the soldiers accompanying the siege may be buried here, but death will be accompanied by immortal feats and glory."
After hearing what Jeffrey said, a flag captain of the first company asked: "Lord Commander, since it is so difficult to recapture this castle, why not let the entire Eastern Army go together?"
Jeffrey glanced at the officer, nodded approvingly, and replied: "Originally, I agree with your point of view, just lead this regiment to recapture that castle."
"But the battle situation is not as simple as we imagined. Now it is an urgent task to regain that castle, but it is also urgent to hold on to the other three castles. Once any of these three castles are captured by the Lombards, the entire war situation between Aosta and Verno will be overturned. The front line maintained by the Provence people with their blood and lives will move north again, and Aosta will The city may be caught in the flames of war again..."
h "In view of the above considerations, the Provence court hopes that we will defend the castle while trying our best to recover the castle in the south..."
h "Next, I will arrange the deployment to recover the southern castle."
h "The first is the legionary outpost..."