“The Count of Longxia is not the territory of the County of Burgundy. It is the de jure territory of the Principality of Burgundy, but it has been under the actual control of the Kingdom of France in recent years. However, Longxia is too far away from the capital of the Kingdom of France, and the royal family cannot effectively control it, so Longxia became a de facto independent county.”
"The Earl of Longchard is not very big, and its territory is only half of the province of Yona. It governs three counties and the city of Longchard. Moreover, the territory has many mountains and few rivers and is not rich in food. However, it is very suitable for the growth of grapes. Therefore, the wine of Longchard is a high-quality wine second only to Bordeaux. The Earl of Longchard also relies on the wine of Longchard to maintain its considerable strength."
“Flanders took over the title of Earl of Longchal from his father at the age of fifteen. In the past ten years, the young earl showed amazing talent for ruling. The wine of Longchal has been sold as far as the Southern Continent. It is said that even the kingdoms across the sea drink Longchal wine. In the Southern Continent, Longchal wine is more famous than Bordeaux wine. And at the age of 18, Earl of Flanders took advantage of the mountain people’s physique. With his strong character, tough temperament, and tough folk customs, he has formed a mountain mercenary army of hundreds of people. Over the years, he has been leading this army to resolve disputes for lords everywhere. Two years ago, his mercenary army exceeded a thousand people. However, Longxia's army will never set foot in the Principality and County of Burgundy, so the Marquis of Ivrea can tolerate the existence of that army."
On the rugged mountain road leading from the mountain shortcut to Sarp Castle, Robert, the well-informed military priest, explained the overview of the Earl of Longxia to Art. Behind the two of them were six horse-riding baron guards headed by Ron.
At originally planned to take only two or three guards with him, but Odo Angus, Cooper and others repeatedly emphasized the safety of Ater, so they brought six of the most elite guards with him to Longxia.
At the invitation, Art has decided to go to Longxia to visit the man behind the scenes. Of course, the young Earl of Longxia is also Lottie's cousin and little George's cousin.
According to Fariat, he should also call this young earl of similar age a cousin.
This road was rocky and rugged, so Art simply let go of the reins and let the horse under him choose its own route to climb up the mountain. "Father Robert, I remember you told me before that you heard them talk about these Counts of Longchal on your way back to Burgundy with the Paris Inquisition Tribunal. Are the Counts of Flanders also closely connected with the Paris Church?"
“More than just closeness, Count Flanders of Longchal is not only good at fighting but also good at camp. Every year he brings generous gifts to visit Paris, the church of the Principality of Burgundy and the big and small dignitaries. The Archbishop of Paris is familiar with Flanders.”
Art sighed secretly in his heart. They were almost as old as each other. Why is there such a big difference? I can't even remember the appearance of an archbishop from a certain country, and those "cousins" have already developed a close relationship with the archbishop of France.
"That..."
"Master. There is movement around!" Ron's sudden appearance interrupted Art's words.
Yat subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of Youmao's sword, and turned his eyes to glance around but found no one.
"How many people are there?" Art took his hand away from the hilt of the sword, letting the war horse continue to pace, and asked Ron as if nothing had happened.
"I only saw two figures appearing on the edge of the cliff on the right wing, and no one else."
Matt looked around. They had already walked out of the cliff canyon, which was very easy to ambush. There was a barren slope in front of them, which was difficult to set up an ambush. "They are not moving in the cliff. They should be a small group of bandits. Just let the guards keep an eye on them. Put up my heraldic flag. If you are sensible, you should leave on your own."
"Father Robert, where did we just talk?"
.........
After driving horses through the mountains for a day, Ate and the others successfully arrived at the edge of the mountainous area. One mile further on was the flat valley boundary of Sap Castle.
The group of people had just pulled the reins and turned a sharp bend when seven or eight people holding crossbows suddenly stood up from the trees and boulders on both sides of the road. The stringed crossbows in their hands were pointed directly at several people.
The sudden turn of events startled everyone, and they were all on guard all the way. It was expected that they would be ambushed even after they left the valley.
Several guards immediately stood in front of Art and Father Robert, holding up their shields, drawing their swords, and kicking their horses.
"Why don't you get off your horse and surrender? I'll shoot you in the head with an arrow, sir?" A crossbowman in the front shouted fiercely at the guards.
"Put down your weapons." Ron said to the guards around him.
"Sir Ron?"
"They are the troops of Fort Sapp!" Ron saw the burqa coat of arms on the soldier who shouted.
"Put it down! Put it down!! Put it down quickly!! That's Baron Art! He's the commander's brother-in-law!! Put it down!" A man who looked like a young officer also saw the heraldic flag of the team at the bottom of the mountain clearly. He quickly exclaimed and asked his crossbowmen to put down their crossbows, then rolled down the hillside and ran to Art.
"It's really Baron Art!" The young officer carefully identified Art, who was blocked by the guards, then turned his head and shouted at the crossbowman who was still stunned: "You bastard, you are still stunned. What are you doing? Hurry up and report it to the Commander! "
"Hey, okay, go immediately." The crossbowman shouted and ran towards the small village not far away.
The little officer turned around and said to Art: "Baron Art, it's me. In the early spring three years ago, I followed you to kill the bandits in the southern hills."
At recalled this inconspicuous guy in his mind.
"Hunter Mal!" Ron, who was standing in front of Art, suddenly remembered the guy in front of him.
"Yes! I am the hunter Mal! You are~" The young officer looked back and forth at the ferocious-looking rider on the horse.
"I'm Ron~" Ron's tone suddenly became colder. He knew that the long scar on his face had ruined his appearance.
"It's Brother Ron! It's really Brother Ron!" Hunter Mal indeed recognized Scar Ron.
h Ate drove his horse a few steps forward and walked up to the young officer named Mal, "Mal, what are you doing?"
hh "Go back to Mr. Art, the commander is leading us to clear out Baron Sapp. Three days ago, we defeated the largest group of bandits in the territory. A dozen remaining bandits fled into the mountains. We are sealing off the mountainous area and planning to enter the mountains to eliminate them. "
"Oh! How many people were there in that bandit?"
"There were originally forty-five people. In the past few days, we have successively killed more than 30 people, including the bandit leader. The remaining bandits fled into the mountains under the leadership of a leader."
"Where did such a large group of bandits come from? Aren't there no large groups of bandits in the Sapp baron that dare to appear?" Art remembered that Sapp had become much quieter since he led the army to completely eliminate the group of bandits in Sapp three years ago.
"These bastards are not local bandits in Sapp, they are rebels and bandits who fled north from Provence. Now that the war in Provence has subsided, the troops on the front line have returned home one after another. After these troops returned from the battle, the rebel bandits who had oppressed the good people naturally could not survive, so they fled north. A few of them ran to the barony of Sapp."
"The territory has not suffered from banditry, right?"
"No! This group of bandits was discovered by our patrol as soon as they arrived in the southern hills. The commander led us to pursue them all the way from the southern hills to the eastern mountains."
The young officer turned around and greeted a crossbowman and said a few words. , and then made an invitation gesture to Art with a smile on his face, "Mr. Art, Brother Ron, distinguished guests, please come with me. Our commander is in the village at the foot of the mountain."
After saying that, the young officer led a few people along the mountain road towards the village not far away.
After walking for a while, there was a sound of horse hooves hitting the ground ahead, and Felix led two cavalry guards galloping over from the village down the mountain.
Today Felix has changed. After following Art to participate in the battle to recapture Wallonburg, a border fortress in Yona Province, and returning from serious injuries, Felix was promoted to a trainee knight with some help from Count Baldwin and became an honorable Lord Knight.
Since he is a Lord Knight, of course he must look like a Lord Knight, with a cast-iron full-face helmet, plate chain mail, heraldic robe, iron-armored combat boots, and a stainless steel knight's sword, and then astride a tall Northland prairie horse, which is absolutely majestic enough.
Hunting his horse forward, Felix stopped the horse, jumped off the horse and walked towards Ater. The serious injuries caused by the riding battle at Wallonburg could not be healed, and Felix still had a slight limp when walking.
"Brother-in-law, Brother Ron, Father Robert, I thought you would enter Sap from the southern hills."
"I didn't bring anything with me this time. It's easier to walk this way."
"Same." Felix nodded.
"You have had a hard journey, follow me to the village to rest for a while, and then we will return to Sap Castle." Felix took the reins of Art's war horse and walked a few steps, then got on the horse and led everyone into the village.
The village is not big. For the wealthy Baron Sapp, this village near the mountains is already considered poor. However, it is still more prosperous than the villages in remote areas in Tyniec County. At least when the Ate people entered the village, they could see the shadows of pigs, cattle, mules, sheep, chickens, ducks and other livestock and poultry. Although the villagers in the village were not well-dressed, they could at least cover their bodies.
In a slightly more refined courtyard in the center of the village, seven or eight military tents were set up, and some soldiers holding weapons and armor were passing through it.
As soon as Art and the others entered the courtyard, two familiar faces stood straight at the door to greet them, "My lord!!!"
Matt was startled by the sudden two words of "Sir". When he looked up, he saw that it was the two soldiers Felix had selected from the Wells Army. Both of them were commanders and instructors in Felix's army. They had a high status and were highly regarded by Felix.
Matt stopped and looked at the two people up and down, patted their shoulders, and said: "That's right! I've heard about your achievements from Felix, and you didn't embarrass me! Do a good job and assist Felix in training a powerful army. The warriors from my Welsh Legion should be the most elite warriors wherever they go!"
"Yes! Remember your teachings!"
Matt and Father Robert followed Felix into the house. The two officers exchanged greetings with Ron and led a few guards to the camp to rest...
.........
In the afternoon of the same day, Felix handed over the task of suppressing bandits to several of his subordinate commanders and followed Art back to Sap Castle with his two personal attendants.
Having a sumptuous dinner and resting for the night at Sarp Castle, on the morning of the second day, Baron Galvin of Sarp and Frontier Knight Felix led six servant guards of Sarp Castle to accompany Art and his party, setting off from Sarp Castle towards Longxia with a carriage full of valuable gifts.
This team traveled westward through the Côte d'Or province, then turned southwestward out of the country of Burgundy and followed the mountain road to the Longxia Mountains.
Departing from Sap to Longxia City, it took four and a half days by horseback riding and driving to see the outpost outside Longxia City. Needless to say, the road was bumpy as we climbed up hills and slept in the open air.
Galvin stood on horseback, beating his sore waist with his right hand and pointing with his left hand at a huge stone wall across the canyon, saying: "Art, past the stone gate of the canyon in front of you is the city of Longxia."