"Dennis, although your performance is better than others, I cannot directly appoint you as an ideological and political officer. I will give you one month to conduct an inventory of all officers and soldiers below the flag captain of the Welsh Army. After completing this inventory, I will officially appoint you. You need to do three things for this inventory. The first is to find out the personal situation of all the people under investigation, including names, recruitment places, past experiences, etc. It is best to have The second is to understand their thoughts and emotions, mainly whether they have any complaints about the Wells Army, whether they argue or complain with others during the day, and whether they are slacking off in training."
Matt leaned forward slightly in his chair and lowered his voice and said to Dennis: "The third thing needs you to do it secretly."
Dennis also leaned forward and listened carefully.
Matt said: "You must have heard that enemy traitors were mixed into my army some time ago. These guys almost poisoned me and all my officers. Although the enemy traitors have been captured and beheaded by me, I can't guarantee that there are no more lurking traitors in the army or civil affairs. So for the third thing, I instruct you to secretly investigate whether there are any suspicious people in the Wells Army. I have arranged for the security team to conduct an investigation on the civil affairs side. It is not appropriate for the army to act with great fanfare."
Dennis has never had any experience in eliminating traitors, so of course he has no way to start. "Baron, this is not to shirk, but I have never heard of how to eliminate traitors, and I don't know how to start..."
"I asked you to do the first two things just for the third thing. Through the first two things, you have to make a rough guess that those people are evasive, inaccurate or even deliberately fabricated and concealed when telling you their origins or experiences. Once you have a suspicious object, you need to ask the people around him and ask him if he has any suspicious behavior. You must often inquire about some information that you should not know, or if he has disappeared without any reason, etc., and use these methods to identify some suspicious persons."
"But this needs to be done covertly and meticulously, so that no one in the army and officers is in danger."
"I will ask Father Robert or Father Hamish to assist you in doing this. In addition, there is a soldier named Daniel before you who has applied for an ideological and political officer. I plan to let him be your assistant, and the two of you will do this together. If you have anything to do before I come back, you can go to Adjutant Odo."
"Okay, sir~"
…......
"Sir, the investigation on the civil affairs side is basically over. We focused on the two newly built villages in the south of the valley. We conducted an inventory on the citizens recruited after last spring one by one, and found five relatively suspicious people, because after careful questioning, the true origins and origins of these people were revealed. There are some discrepancies in the origins of what I told the Civil Affairs Bureau before, but I can’t conclude for a while that there is something wrong with them. So I have secretly ordered the village chiefs and farmers and soldiers in the villages where these people live to pay close attention to the movements of these people~" In the official room of the Lord's Mansion in the Valley Wooden Castle, Bass, the commander of the Valley Guard Corps, reported to Art about the situation of the Civil Affairs Bureau's investigation of the traitors. Cooper, Odo, and Angus were also sitting in the room to participate in the secret meeting.
"Okay, you must take this matter absolutely seriously. The Valley Barony is a territory that is sealed by me. The enemy can still sneak in killers, which means that the enemy has been prepared for us. You must not be careless." "Has the secret order been delivered?"
Angus replied: "Sir, the secret order has been delivered. Obote and Simon have begun to investigate secretly, and the defenses of the two places have been tightened internally and loosened externally according to your request. The number of soldiers patrolling the outside every day has not increased, but the defense inside the garrison has been strengthened."
"Sergeant Major, send the secret message to Redoan as soon as possible and tell Redoan that after doing this, he can officially say goodbye to his identity as a bandit."
"I'll make arrangements immediately."
"Bath, what's the status of the valley's guards?"
Bas rubbed his head that was aching from the weather change and replied: "Sir, since you issued the ban, I have sent standing peasant soldiers in three parts to patrol throughout the territory, and after you announce the relief. No one is allowed to leave the territory without permission before the ban. "
"Cooper, when will Salt and the others come back?"
"Sir, Salt has received the secret order. They have settled down their business affairs in the south and then rushed back. They should be able to return to the valley before noon the day after tomorrow." Old Cooper replied.
After listening to the reports of several people, Art nodded, "Everyone, I will go out to do a big thing in the next period of time. If this thing is done well, it will not only defeat a powerful opponent, but also become a stepping stone on the road to rise."
“First of all, it is civil affairs. The current key tasks of civil affairs are nothing more than production and construction. Production is divided into two parts. One is food production and land reclamation. This year’s winter wheat has been sown, and farmers have begun to have leisure. You need to ask the garrison officials to lead the farmers to continue to reclaim wasteland and strive to cultivate more than 1,500 acres of land before next spring. In addition, the matter of retting fertile soil must be promoted. Composting pits must be dug in village gathering areas to collect human and animal excrement for retting. The second is workshop production. The workshop area has been basically completed. The civil affairs department will build houses for the craftsmen's workers as soon as possible, and let the families of the craftsmen in the workshops move to the workshop area. After the houses are completed, the workshop area will be surrounded by fences and sent out to guard it. No outsiders will be allowed to enter the workshop area. "
"As for the operation of the workshop, we must get into gear as soon as possible. The brewery has already brewed nearly a thousand pounds of beer. Why is the weapon workshop still debugging?"
"Sir, because the equipment in the weapons workshop is purchased from various places, many parts are not tightly coupled, and our water-powered forging hammer often breaks down. The craftsmen are trying to find ways..."
Matt waved his hand, "Cooper , you are the civil affairs officer, you try to solve these matters. I hope that when I return from my trip, I can see the weapons workshop continuously supplying weapons and armor to the army.”
"Also, the textile workshop has started to produce cloth, which is good, but the development of straw paper must not be left behind. The sooner we develop the straw paper, the earlier we can make money from it. However, I emphasize again that the craftsmen involved in the development should keep it secret. Once I hear anyone reveal anything about the development of straw paper outside, I will be severely punished!"
"It's Master."
“After talking about production, let’s talk about construction. There are already two forts, three villages, and one square district in the valley. Due to tight money, we can’t build any more villages, so this winter the civil affairs will do two things in terms of construction: one is to strengthen and improve the existing forts, villages, and squares, and the other is to consolidate the existing forts, villages, and squares from the north. The road from Guanjun Fort to the southern workshop area continues to be repaired. In the future, the raw materials for the workshop will need to be purchased from outside, and the production materials will also be transported out through the road, so the road is the umbilical cord of the valley. "
Cooper wrote down Art's arrangements one by one with carbon rods.
After arranging the civil affairs, Art turned to Otto and Bas and said: "Odo, Bas, the sergeant major and I are going to go out with the task force. It may take more than a month at least, or a few months at most. The army will be left to you two."
"Odo is mainly responsible for the training of the soldiers of the Welsh Legion. This expansion of the army was too eager and the number of soldiers recruited was uneven. In the past two days, some newly recruited soldiers could not stand the harsh training and tried to escape with weapons and armor privately. I have asked the military law team to chase them back and behead them. You must firmly hold the officers above the squadron leader and control the army through them. All those who defect with weapons will be beheaded! The recruit training has passed. If there are still people who think that the Welsh Legion can come and leave whenever they want, Then use the execution ax to tell him what military law is!"
"But you can't suppress it by military law alone. You must also try to guide and resolve the soldiers. I have asked Dennis and Daniel to calm the people in the army and eliminate the restless elements. Father Robert will go out with me. I have asked Father Hamish to go to Beiguan to help Dennis calm the morale of the army. You must give them support."
"As for the training of the army, I won't say much."
“Bas, your head injury often recurs, and I know it’s not easy for you. But now the valley is very fragile, and I can’t let you rest in peace. Since you are the commander of the garrison, you have to take responsibility. The soldiers need to train attentively to prepare for fighting outside, and the stability and order of the valley requires you garrison. You should pay more attention to setting up guard posts and patrolling security. On the second Wednesday of November, Salter, who received the secret order, rushed back to the wooden castle in the valley with twenty carriages and thirty-five caravans.
Sart, who was so tired from the journey, could not take into account the fatigue along the way, and found Art to report as soon as he returned to the valley.
When Art learned that Salt had not had time to take a bite of food, he personally arranged for the kitchen servants in the mansion to prepare a piece of food for Saart and handed it to Salt, ordering him to report the situation after eating.
Sart was used to eating and sleeping in the open air. He took a few mouthfuls of the wooden spoon and swallowed the minced meat, peas and wheat paste from the wooden plate. Then he wiped his mouth and stood up to take the glass of wine handed over by Art. He said: "Sir, the business affairs in the south have been arranged. After receiving your secret order, I hired two Provence convoys at a high price to send all the remaining southern goods this year to the border for hoarding. It should be enough to supply the southern goods in the north before winter."
"Because you seized the opportunity and obtained the southern goods trade concession in eastern Provence during the war, we successfully established a foothold in Provence. Now the trade routes in Provence have begun to recover again. In the past few months since the beginning of autumn, our purchase of southern goods has nearly doubled. The trade volume will decrease after winter, but it will definitely continue to grow after the beginning of next spring!"
"Very good, we will talk about the caravan later. I summoned you back this time for something urgent."
Salt put down the wine glass in his hand, looked into Art's eyes and asked: "Sir, what is the important matter?"
Art then told Salt about the Dean family sending people to sneak into the army to poison and assassinate.
“TMD, the Dean family has gone crazy! Sir, we can’t tolerate it any longer, the Dean family must be destroyed!” Even Salt, a amiable businessman, has hated the Dean family with all his teeth. It seems that the public resentment is indeed excessive.
"Sart, this time I called you back just to completely kill the Dean family. This time I will let the Dean family suffer the consequences..."
At asked Salt to select the five most reliable officials in the caravan. The caravan guards and the guards will continue to go out with the caravan, and all the remaining guards of the southern caravan will stay in the wooden castle and live in the patrol-era soldier's house in the wooden castle. The caravan guards who travel around with the caravan all year round can enjoy a rare half-pay vacation, and naturally they are happy...
………
At the entrance of the Beiguan Army Fort Arsenal, Ron was leading several task force soldiers to select from the warehouse.
Today's Wells Legion arms warehouse is no longer as empty as before, especially after soldiers defected with weapons in the legion a few days ago. Art ordered that except for patrols and missions, the weapons and armor of ordinary soldiers should be returned to the legion's arsenal for safekeeping, and all the weapons and armor will be distributed to the soldiers by the arsenal when needed.
Spencer personally took Ron to a large stone house built with clay and built in stone under the back wall of the Beiguan Army Fort. He said a few words to the troop guard guarding the warehouse. The troop trooper took out a key from his waist and opened the iron fence, and took out another key to open the solid oak door.
Pushing open the wooden door, bright light shines into the warehouse. Rows of wooden racks on the left are neatly arranged with complete sets of chain armor, plate armor, iron scale armor, leather armor, leather armor, and the largest number of cotton armor (armed clothing). Of course, there are hundreds of round helmets, saucer helmets, nose helmets, skull-covered half helmets, homemade iron helmets, and a small number of knight bucket helmets. On the weapons rack on the right side of the door, there are a wide variety of weapons of different shapes, from super long spears that are close to twenty feet to short handles that are only one or two feet long. Daggers and single-edged knives, from long-handled axes weighing 14 to 15 pounds to light arrows weighing less than one-fifth of a pound, from crossbows that can shoot up to 300 steps to hand crossbows that can only kill 20 steps, from halberds with multiple weapons to regular broadswords...
Although the complex weapons cannot assemble the entire Welsh Army, the reserve of thousands of weapons and armor is definitely considered well-armed.
Ron swallowed his saliva. He had never managed a baggage train, and he basically didn't know how to enter a warehouse. Now he suddenly saw such a huge storage of weapons, and he was naturally a little shocked.
"This is too much." Ron couldn't help but sigh.
"Sir Ron, according to your military order, you can pick anything you want from the arsenal." Spencer has received orders from Art to allow the task force to pick whatever weapons and armor they need from the arsenal.
Ron slapped his mouth, sucked back the saliva from the corner of his mouth, took out a list of supplies from his arms and handed it to Spencer.
Spencer took the list of supplies and read: "A broad sword and a short sword, a set of half-mail mail, a dagger (short sword), a set of cotton armor, a complete set of boots and pouches, a hand crossbow and thirty crossbow arrows..."
“These are the standard weapons and armor for each task force soldier. You prepare thirty-two sets.” Ron said.
斯宾塞回忆了半天武库的储备，答道:「罗恩大人，其他的武库能够筹齐，不过手弩我们仅有八架，这东西用处不大，所以商队也就很少购买。」
「那就用小型十字弩代替！」< br/>
Spencer nodded, handed the list to an accompanying baggage team official, and asked him to take the baggage troops into the warehouse to select and prepare. Then he carefully asked: "Sir Ron, what are you going to do this time? I see that the thirty or so of you are training some weird things."
Ron glanced at Spencer and replied: "You will know when the time comes, but you'd better not ask now. Don't ask more questions if you don't know."