"Kazak just sent someone to send a message back. The Wincheston Manor has been put under martial law. All troops on patrol have been ordered to rush back to the manor to assemble and stand by. All the defense equipment has been moved to the outer wall. They have set up traps and obstacles on the road three miles north of the manor. The remaining cavalry began to send cavalry sentries to the north." Odo followed Art and walked to the stone house of Beiguan Army Fort to brief Art on the emergency military situation.
After taking a few steps into the stone house, a group of officers from the Wells Corps had been waiting for Art to arrive and hold an emergency military meeting.
Matt waved the officers who stood up to pay tribute to sit down, and then sat down on the main seat behind the long wooden table in front of the stone house, "Ron, where are the western border troops? Weapons, armor, and the number of soldiers?"
Ron is the person in charge of intelligence. At this time, the response speed of the intelligence network in his hands is faster than the military situation. "The Western Border Army took a shortcut from the mountainous trails in the southwest of Lucese Province to Tynets. As of the time the news came out, there were still five days left from Lucese. According to their marching speed, they are now three days away from the county town of Tynets." This team does not carry flags and does not have baggage teams or miscellaneous soldiers. The three hundred people are soldiers, including more than thirty cavalry. "The weapons are mainly spears, battle axes and swords and shields. A few are equipped with heavy armor, and the rest are leather armor and mail armor. They should be the elite of the western border army."
Matt broke into a cold sweat. He did not expect that Bernard would really let the army attack Tyniec from the mountainous trails in the southwestern part of the Lucese province. At that time, when analyzing the route that Bernard might use to recapture the Wincheston Manor, this route had been basically eliminated. The reason is very simple. This road is really not suitable for large-scale armies to walk, not to mention that it is difficult for the army's carriages and even slightly heavier wheelbarrows to pass there.
Previous military discussions believed that once Bernard's troops were sent to the west, the route from Thorn to Lucesian City and then south would be the most likely route. Art also deployed multiple eagle eyes to deliver messages at several important points on this route, and in order to prevent possible accidents. In addition, he also asked the Guard Military Law Corps to send people to the mountains to bribe a few mountain hunters as hawkeyes. Once an army or a large group passed by, these hunters would report the news to the contact point at the "Free Bison" tavern in Tyniec at all costs under the temptation of a huge bounty.
"I didn't have an eagle eye there. Fortunately, you were smart enough to bribe local hunters to act as spies. Otherwise, the enemies might have gone to Tyniec and we might not be able to get the news." Angus sweated, he was the chief military intelligence officer, but this kind of news outside the battlefield was not something that the cavalry could detect.
Matt nodded and continued to ask Ron: "Is there any news from the palace?"
"Our Eagle Eyes in the North did not send back any news." Ron replied.
Matt knocked on the table, "It seems that Bernard is completely secretly mobilizing the Western Border Army without telling everyone. I thought Bernard would censure me through negotiation or pressure. It seems that he wanted to scare and weaken Earl Baldwin by killing me."
h Bernard will not let the matter of Wincheston Manor go by peacefully, not to mention the loss of a de facto extraterritorial territory (nominally belonging to the palace). The leading baron of Bernard's western border army and several leading knights are still in the prison of Wincheston Manor. If he doesn't even care about the noble military honors of his men, then don't expect anyone to be loyal in the future.
"Ron, immediately use a carrier pigeon to send an urgent message to Count Baldwin, stating that the Western Border Army has left the West on a large scale without permission, and is attacking Tynets County in an attempt to rebel against the country." First rush to the northwest outpost of Tyniec County. I want to grasp the enemy's movements in real time. If the enemy has passed through the county, you must try to intercept and harass them."
Ron and Lusignan responded in unison, then got up and left the stone house to prepare.
Att turned his attention to Claus, the captain of the legion's heavy armored infantry team, and Jason, the captain of the crossbow team who were sitting on the side. "Klaus, Jason, if the enemy goes south, the first place of attack should be Wincheston Manor, although we have left two flag troops to garrison. , but they lack heavy armored infantry and crossbowmen. You two immediately collect the weapons and lead the troops to the Wincheston Manor in a carriage to assist in the defense. "
"Yes, we will set off within two hours." Klaus replied.
"The crossbow team is on standby at any time!" Jason didn't show any weakness.
"Go and give orders to Kazak and Tuba. No matter whether the enemy's attack is fierce or not, you must hold on."
After waiting for the few officers who responded first to leave, Art knocked on the table to calm everyone down, "I originally thought I could continue to be quiet for a while, but it's so damn troublesome! Okay, let's continue the military discussion, the baggage team..."
.........
At the edge of the southwestern mountainous area of Lucesien Province, it is only half a day's journey from the North-South Highway of Boguo. After getting on the North-South Highway, if you go a little faster, you can reach the county town of Tyniec in only two days' journey.
There is an ownerless village (common land, no direct lord) at the foot of the mountain with only a dozen households of ordinary peasants. The only two-story stone house in the village is filled with barbarians covered in flesh and blood.
A man wearing chainmail and a full-face helmet angrily broke into the house from outside, snatched half a chicken leg from the hands of a young officer-looking guy, stuffed it into his mouth and began to bite it.
The aristocratic-looking man sitting on the wooden table in the house, holding a short knife and "enjoying" the roasted suckling pig, glanced at the guy who came in, and asked: "**, don't just worry about eating, how did you do in collecting food?"
The strong man who tore the chicken legs removed the half-cooked chicken. He swallowed it hard, took off the water bag from the waist of a companion next to him, took a sip, and replied: "Lord Sauron, it's not that I'm incompetent. Look at how these poor people can find food in their homes. I and my brothers demolished the village and raised more than 800 pounds of rotten grains. This amount of food is barely enough for everyone to eat for two or three days."
The barbarian named ** put his hand into his mouth, pulled out the bits of meat stuck between his teeth, put it back in and chewed it twice, complaining: "What the hell is this! Let us walk for ten and a half days to come to this hellish place to fight, not to mention that we are not rationed with food and luggage, how can we fight like this?"
Snap!
Viscount Sauron, the leader of the army, slapped his hand on the wooden table, "This is a military order issued by the Earl himself. If you dare to talk shit about it again, I will shut you up forever!"
The room fell silent instantly.
After a while, another officer in the room, who was holding a wooden bowl and eating bread crumbs soaked in broth, said carefully, "Lord Sauron, it is indeed not a problem to continue like this. We have relied on confiscating food from small villages and settlements along the way. Now that we are out of the mountainous area, can we first conquer a larger manor or village? The food looted in one place will be enough to replenish our luggage."
The leading viscount sighed, inserted the meat-cutting knife in his hand into the roast suckling pig that had just reached full term, and replied: "No, now that the court is weak, the count is at a disadvantage. This time we are ordered to take back the Wincheston Manor. If we attack those manor villages with lords, it will be easy for our opponents to seize the opportunity, which will cause more trouble for the earl."
The leading viscount glanced at the roasted black suckling pig, and had less and less desire to eat. He pushed the plate away and said, "Follow me to patrol. Don't let the soldiers kill people at will. It's not as good as usual at this time, and this is not the West." After saying that, he got up and left the stone house, leading a few personal guards and walked towards the smoky and wailing village.
· Seeing the supreme commander leaving, several barbaric officers in the room immediately ran towards the roasted suckling pig on the wooden table, and soon swallowed the poor suckling pig with all the bones and meat in their stomachs...
< br/> There is no need to speculate, this is the western border army that went to Tyniec to "recover the lost territory". They were the elite border troops urgently transferred from the border line of Saône Province. There were five infantry flag teams plus a crossbow team and a small amount of cavalry, totaling 300 people.
Bernard couldn't swallow the bad breath. It was not just a matter of dignity. He had to rebuild his prestige and stabilize his position by suppressing the backbone of Baldwin's group.
Yate, who led the army to attack and occupy Wincheston Manor, was a suitable target. Once he defeated Art and his army, Bernard could not only "recover the lost territory and save the vassals", but also eliminate an important armed force of his opponent and reverse the disadvantage of the inner court faction in this struggle. It could be said that he had accomplished multiple things with one stone.
Although Wincheston Manor is nominally a fiefdom given to the palace for the canonization of meritorious knights, according to convention, once there is no successor to the knighted knight, the original fiefdom owner has the right to request the palace to take back the territory. This was part of the reason why Bernard dared to mobilize troops to go to Tyniec without the permission of the palace.
The Western Border Army is not very powerful. There has been no war in the Western Border for many years. Even in the fierce border war with the Swabians two years ago, the Eastern Border Army and the Palace Guards were the main force. The Western Border Army made almost no action.
But then again, these people are off-duty legionnaires after all. Their only task is to train weapons. The weapons in their hands and the armor on their bodies are all ready, so their combat power is several levels higher than those of temporarily recruited peasant soldiers.
However, this professional army was stuck on the edge of the mountainous area southwest of Lucese. The reason was simple: the army had no food supplies.
Bernard did not dare and did not want to send the army to Tynets from the open road north through Besançon or Lucesian City with great fanfare. Otherwise, the palace would probably know about it halfway and send out the Guards to stop it. Therefore, he ordered this large border team to assemble from Thorn City and march southeast through the mountains into Tynets County in the southern part of the country.
· Mountainous areas are no better than plain areas. The roads are rugged and difficult to navigate, and it is difficult for horse-drawn carriages to transport heavy loads, and people cannot carry much stuff on horses.
In order to solve the supply problem of the border army, Bernard spent 15,000 pfennigs out of his own pocket to buy food supplies for the team along the way and promised that subsequent food supplies would be transported from the north to the south.
However, there is no reason to throw fat into the doghouse overnight. When the military salary of 15,000 pfennigs was allocated to the Western Frontier Army Corps, it had shrunk several times. When it was distributed to the expeditionary team, there was only less than 6,000 pfennigs. Then the officers of the expeditionary team simply became angry and divided them all.
Therefore, there was a scene where the western border troops marched all the way to forcibly requisition (grab) food. Just do it by force. Anyway, the border troops were well versed in doing such things without any difficulty. However, the turbulent Bernard repeatedly ordered not to harass the places where the lords and nobles were.
This puts the border troops in a difficult situation. The slightly richer villages and estates definitely have lords and nobles, and those places where the lords and nobles don't want to take a second look are definitely places of abject poverty that are so poor that they eat dirt.
This nonsense order caused the soldiers at the bottom of the border army to suffer a lot. If it weren't for the huge reward after the accomplishment, these guys would have mutinied long ago.
The only thing they want to think about now is to quickly kill the bastard army calling themselves the Wells Legion, and then collect the reward and return to the West to continue their fun...