In May, spring returns to the earth, and the valley barony is prosperous.
The valleys south of Mubao are full of busy farmers. People harvest the wheat that has gone through winter and spring from the fields, turning it into pieces of golden yellow and plump grains in the drying field.
Under the willow trees on the river bank next to the village of Gujiandi, Baron Art, Lord of the Baron of the Valley, held a long thin wooden pole in his hand. There was a thin cotton thread hanging from the top of the wooden pole to the water. On the water, a goose feather was floating on the water.
Beside Art, the newly minted Baroness was lying on an armchair under the shade of greenery, happily watching her dear husband concentrate on fishing.
Lottie touched her belly and complained in a low voice to Art beside her: "My dear, my mother said that if you are just pregnant, it is best to stay in the house and not move around at will. It's better for you. You can take me with you every day to pick flowers and fruits or fish and catch shrimps." ? You are just pregnant, so you should go out for a walk while you can still move. It is spring, and it is the flower blooming season. The air is fresh, and moving more will be good for you and the baby in your belly."
"What is the fresh air? Just say something you don't understand. I think you are bored sitting here alone, so you must let me accompany you." Lottie poked Art's arm.
"Well! It's rare for me to have ten and a half days of leisure, so just treat it as accompanying me~"
"Hurry, the fish is hooked. There is fresh fish soup to drink tonight." Seeing the goose feather float move up and down a few times, Ater's fishing rod was lifted up hard, and a plump river fish was lifted out of the water.
Yate put a river fish into a wicker frame that already contained more than a dozen plump river fish. "The fish in this river are so fat. How can I catch them all by myself? What do you think of our special permission for the residents to fish in this river during the fishing season?" "
"Well, although you allow the people of the territory to go hunting in the mountains, it is impossible for many old and weak people, women and children to go hunting. Allowing them to fish in various ways can also add a delicious meat to their table." Lottie agreed with Art's opinion.
"Well, I'll ask Cooper to grant fishing and hunting rights to the people when I get back."
...
While Art and Lottie were fishing by the river, not far down the river, Ron was playing with the soldiers in the river. This was their most leisurely time in the past year.
The army has been tense for too long, and the next step will be continuous military expansion, preparations and reorganization training. In order to allow the soldiers and officers of the army to adjust and relax appropriately, Art gave the army a special ten-day rest period.
The defense inside and outside the valley was handed over to the peasant soldiers of the Valley Guard Corps under Bass.
Military merit was not verified during the recuperation period, so the military rewards for the recent battles were not issued. Considering that the soldiers would need to spend money during the recuperation period, Art distributed one month's military pay to all the soldiers and officers who went out to fight, so that the soldiers and officers would have money in their pockets and not panic.
During the renovation period, some alcoholic officers and soldiers stayed in the tavern of the wooden castle all day long, exchanging copper coins from their purses for fruit wine and ale from Lady Emma's house;
Some officers and soldiers were reluctant to spend money lavishly, so after obtaining the consent of the chief officer, they went into the advance in small groups to hunt, and then brought the prey back to the wooden castle and gave it to the kitchen with some hard-earned money, and then the kitchen made delicious food;
Some officers and soldiers I came to several settlements and villages where the people lived, looking for a girl I liked, gave a gift, and then took the girl to wander in the bushes and woods;
There were also a few officers and soldiers who had relatives in the valley, who exchanged the military pay they had accumulated for a long time for food and supplies and took them home to support their wives, children, and children;
And the chief officers and senior officers in the army took advantage of their spare time and used their military salaries to hire people to build wooden houses in the newly designated area outside the wooden fort...
This newly built village is larger than Kutim Village. Civil Affairs Officer Cooper, along with some of the craftsmen, laborers, laborers, and prisoners of war under the construction manager, plus a large number of newly arrived people in the valley who did not have a place to live, a total of more than 17 people, have been busy in this open space that has been planned in advance for more than three months. More than ten large and small houses have been built on the open space.
With the continuous addition of new recruits, the wooden houses in the newly built villages are constantly being built and expanded.
Today is not a Sunday, but the two priests of the wooden castle church (Hamish is the parish priest, and Robert is the military priest who temporarily lives in the church.) came to the newly built village early to pray for the unsettled residents who had just arrived in the valley, and warned them to follow God's will and work hard and multiply in this paradise chosen by God as the "Garden of Eden"...
As messengers of God, every message conveyed by the two priests for God was deeply embedded in the minds of the people. It was more effective than the thick porridge and wheat paste cooked by the old men a hundred times.
This is the power of faith.
In late May, Art, who had allowed himself to relax for more than ten days, began to be busy again. It was not about the expansion of the army and training, but the successive batches of people who came to the valley to congratulate him.
Most of these people are the noble lords and wealthy merchants and gentry in Tyniec County.
Hunter has now been promoted to the palace frontier baron, and concurrently serves as the palace's southern border patrol officer. He also controls the north-south trade routes and border entrances and exits that control the trade lifeline of the entire eastern border of the county. In addition, the always fierce Baron Bazel was still imprisoned in Art's prison. Those who needed to do business or be under Art's control had figured out the direction of the trend and went to the valley to congratulate Art in person with valuable gifts.
At these noble country squires who usually didn't even look at Art, Art didn't want to pay attention to them.
Those ordinary squire and wealthy businessmen could only send the valuable gifts they carried to the garrison camp in Jushi Town, leave a name and then be ordered to turn back;
For those knights and nobles with some brains, Art sent Odo and Angus to the Boulder Town camp to accompany them to a few banquets, and then sent them away after accepting the gifts;
Several barons from the counties also came to the valley in person to congratulate Art on his promotion. For these people, Art only reluctantly left to accompany them to a simple dinner, said a few polite words of mutual care and support, and then sent them out with "gifts"...
Looking at the last group of guests leaving the wooden castle in the valley, Cooper, the civil administrator and steward of the valley, showed a trace of worry, "Sir, if we treat the lords and nobles in the county like this, will it arouse their hostility?"
Att patted the dust on the baron's uniform and replied: "Cooper, you are also a man of rich experience. If I give them a good look today, they will think that I am a good talker. When they need to squeeze their bones to make oil in the future, they will They will argue with me. Today I showed others a cold face, and they realized that I am not a kind person, and they will not dare to shirk my requests in the future. "
Cooper lowered his head and thought for a moment, and it turned out to be true.
Just as Art was about to turn around and go back to rest upstairs in the mansion, a sentry rode back to the wooden castle, "Sir, Baron Antayas of Andermatt Castle has come to congratulate you in person with several knights. They are currently resting at Beiguan Army Fort. Are they allowed to enter the valley?"
Ate turned around and walked up to the sentry and ordered: "Quickly, order the Beiguan Army Fort to entertain Baron Antayas well, and tell him that I will go to Beiguan immediately to welcome his arrival."
Then he ordered Cooper: "Cooper, order the kitchen and ask them to prepare bread, bacon, fruits, vegetables and wine. I want to entertain Antayasi warmly. Baron Antayas. Baron Antayas led Druid and Chloe, two of Fort Andermatt's most capable subordinates, to visit the Baron of the Valley. Art and his wife Lottie, as well as military commanders and civil affairs officials, received the guests.
Antayas was very grateful to Art for not only allowing him to buy southern goods from the border at low prices and selling them to the eastern counties through Andermatt Castle, but he was even more moved by the fact that Art funded him 20,000 pfennigs.
Out of sincere congratulations to his friends, Antayas and his party brought two sets of mail armor, three military horses, crossbows, and three carriages of mountain furs and wheat grain to Art. For the not-so-rich Fort Andermatt, this gift was already very generous.
By the way, after Baron Antayas heard that Art loved hunting, he personally purchased two high-quality deer hunting dogs from the eastern border of the county and gave them to Art.
Happiness comes in two ways. When Art had just sent Antayas and his entourage out of the Beiguan Army Fort, a cavalry team appeared in the wilderness outside the Beiguan Army Fort.
They are the team of Viscount Balian of the Court of Provence.
The war between Provence and the Lombards is coming to an end, and Balian has already sent his troops to the southern border of Wilno.
When Viscount Balian learned about Art's promotion to Baron through the southern caravan, although it was impossible for him to go north, he sent his inner knights with a set of full-body plate armor carefully crafted by Milan's top armor craftsmen.
This set of plate armor was originally a gift from the Provence court to Balian, but it was given to Art by Viscount Balian as the most precious gift. The two were similar in stature, so it was quite suitable.
This set of plate armor includes foot armor, greaves, knee armor, thigh armor and spurs to protect the legs and feet, axillary scutes, upper arm armor, forearm armor, and gauntlets covering the arms and hands; from the breastplate and waist armor covering the body
to the detachable face armor and neck armor covering the head and neck. These are just the major components of the entire set of plate armor, and there are many small pieces that connect the larger components.
The most amazing thing about Art is that the entire set of plate armor is made of fine iron, but it is not too bulky. Some joints are also handled perfectly, and the movements are not too slow after wearing it.
After getting this plate armor, Art couldn't put it down. However, he was not in a hurry to put on this plate armor and show it off. He sent the plate armor to the craftsman's workshop and asked several craftsmen to study it carefully and try to imitate this kind of plate armor.
However, after two days of research, several craftsmen directly replied to Art - it cannot be copied.
Att was not disappointed with the result. He just ordered the craftsmen to try their best to imitate a batch of simple plate armors based on this pair of plate armor...