At the barracks stationed in the wasteland Boulder Town north of the valley, Art stood on a towering arrow tower, holding on to the railing and watching the backs of the patrol soldiers who were gradually leaving; outside the camp, several cavalrymen drove more than 20 horses that had returned from grazing in the east grassland toward the camp; inside the camp, dozens of standing peasant soldiers from the garrison and instructors of the new recruits were packing up the barracks, lighting fires, and preparing for dinner.
After settling the civil affairs affairs in the valley and pre-war strong training tasks of the legion at the end of May, Art began to arrange the outer defense of the barony.
He and Bas, the commander of the garrison, personally brought five instructors from the new recruits of the garrison (the recruits had replenished the battle losses, and there were no recruits yet) and forty standing peasants from the peasant army, a total of fifty people, to Jushi Town to garrison. However, the forty security soldiers of the security team under the garrison were not mobilized. After all, there were so many war slaves in the valley that needed to be guarded and controlled, and the security patrols inside the valley also needed manpower. In order to have a stable rear area, Art would not easily mobilize the security team.
· The new recruit team instructors and the garrison patrol team of the Agricultural Soldier Team walked north under the leadership of Obote and Benson. They went to the Southwest Farm and Wincheston Manor to replace the soldiers of the first company garrisoned and assemble on standby. The newly attached Redoan and his old troops continued to garrison the Lane Manor to control the county.
Angus, who had just returned from patrolling the north with his cavalry, ate some simple food and then climbed up the arrow tower and came to Ater's side.
"Sir, why didn't I see Ron and the guards? You must take the guards with you when you go out!"
"Ron and the guards were sent by me to explore the end of the barren valley in the south of the valley. This time they came out with the peasant soldiers and the recruit instructors, no problem."
"Sergeant, you didn't find anything wrong during this inspection, right?" Art asked, leaning against the railing and facing Angus.
Angus raised his hand to wipe away the food residue from the corner of his mouth, then took off the water bag on his belt and took a sip, saying: "There is nothing wrong with the three territories in the North. All those who deserve to be killed have been killed, and the rest are the most honest and docile civilians and serfs. If you keep them from starving, they have no reason to resist you. In addition, you have appointed the village chief and the guard, who dares to make the slightest move, not to mention the soldiers of the first company. "But the lords and squires in other parts of the county don't have a good impression of you. You took the lead in paying the arrears of taxes over the years, and Pierre used you as a shield to lead the county soldiers to impose taxes on the lords and squires. Those lords and squires have suffered such losses, but Pierre has pointed the finger at you again. I guess they want to skin you and stew your bones in an iron pot now."
Angus laughed a few times. During this inspection, he also went to several villages and estates in the county that were hostile to Art and conducted an armed parade. The twenty or so cavalry in full armor and weapons were enough to frighten the lords and squires who beheaded people with their vicious eyes.
Matt turned around and looked at the end of the northern wasteland with cold eyes, "This is also the reason why I asked you to patrol the border. I am worried that after the legion leaves, there will be hostile guys in the county who stab me in the back. Although Dean, his son and Bazel are both dead, they have been in the county for many years, and it is inevitable that they will have friends and friends to avenge them."
Then Art looked indifferent and said: "Send an order to Redoan who is stationed at Lane Manor, and ask him to take his dozens of bandit-suppressing soldiers to go to those villages and manors that hate me from time to time to "suppress bandits", and then give a small part of the "trophies" obtained by "suppressing bandits" to those lords and squires who are friendly to me. I want them to know that they will eat meat when they stand behind me, and they will be cut off when they stand opposite me! "
"Okay, I'll send the cavalry to pass the order to Redoan."
Angus hung up the water bag and walked to Art's side to look north together. "Sir, I'm not worried about things in the county. We still have one or two hundred garrison peasants, patrols and border garrisons left in the territory who can fight. Besides, Sapp Castle and Andermatt Castle also have strength that cannot be underestimated."
"What I'm worried about is whether the team you sent will set off a huge wave in the north, and whether you can withstand the impact of the huge wave ~"
"Sir, you are still taking too many risks."
Art turned around and put his hand on Angus's shoulder, staring into his eyes, "Angus, it has been doomed since I got the position of patrol officer four years ago. Be a person who walks on the cusp of the storm."
"Only by dying can you gain eternal life."
Angus chewed on Art's words for a long time, "Which wise man's motto is this?"
"Att? Wood Wells!! Haha."
...
In a small town hotel called "The Returned Man" outside the city of Besancon, the capital of the Count of Burgundy, ten men wearing caravan guard uniforms gathered in a guest room.
"We are here to assassinate rather than commit suicide, so we must not risk our lives. After entering the city, no one is allowed to act alone without an order."
Stanley took out a palm-sized clay bottle from his arms. Opening the cork, he opened his right hand and shook out a dozen brown pills. He stretched out his hand and said to his subordinates gathered around the table: "If you are caught, all you can do is say, "I'm from the East." If you can't stand the torture, just swallow it. This is heaven's salvation. It's quick and painless." ”
The nine members of the task force glared at each other. Vice-captain Oliver took the lead and picked up a pill and carefully put it into his lapel. The others also stepped forward to claim it.
Seeing that the soldiers had claimed the pills, Stanley ordered: "Hide the pills, don't be found. This is your final salvation. But if someone can't stand the torture and doesn't want to redeem himself and betrays everyone, then I will definitely send him to hell."
"Sir Stanley, who are we here to assassinate? We are almost at the destination and we still don't know who the opponent is."
Stanley's eyes. His expression suddenly changed, but before he could make a move, Oliver on the side raised his kick and kicked the questioning team member to the ground, and cursed fiercely: "If it weren't for the fact that you are a new team member, I would definitely chop you with a knife first, so as not to be beaten." You're going to die!"
The guy who was kicked over suddenly remembered something and quickly changed his mind, "Deputy steward, I was wrong, I was wrong. I just wanted to ask the steward where the goods we want to buy are~"
Hearing that the guy on the ground was not stupid enough, Stanley's stern eyes softened a little, "I just said that I can't put myself in danger, and I'm going to talk to you before I speak!"
However, despite the scolding, Stanley still felt that it was necessary to tell the team members who were performing the special mission the ultimate goal of this trip.
"According to operational practice, I can now tell you the details of this mission..."
The task force left the valley with an assassination mission. After arriving at Lucesen City, the task force was divided into two teams. The deputy captain Dawson took most of the task force soldiers to the Western Territory to perform an assassination mission. Their target was the high-ranking commander of the Thorne Legion of the Western Border Army; while Task Force Captain Stanley and Deputy Captain Oliver personally selected seven or eight elite Task Force soldiers to arrive in Besançon City to assassinate Count Bernard, the core leader of the enemy camp.
Six of this ten-person team had participated in Thorne City's assault on Assassin, and the other four were also people with some special skills.
The task that Art gave Stanley was not necessarily to successfully kill Bernard. After all, in this era of close combat with cold weapons, it is not easy to assassinate an old fox with heavy guards. Therefore, Art just asked the task force to carry out the assassination mission, but did not insist on success. He just needed to create that spark of detonation when the air was about to explode.
"...The details of the mission are like this. We must kill that old fox Bernard before the third Friday in June. Think about it, since he can send the Spanish army to raid us once, he will not let us go easily. Instead of waiting for him to kill us, it is better to kill him first. This mission is very dangerous, but after it is completed, everyone will be heavily rewarded, and your official positions will also be Level up while sitting on the ground. "
"There is not much time left for us. In the past two weeks, we have to step up the survey and deployment of Besançon City and make preparations."
"The deputy steward will take two men to be responsible for the sentry at the Earl's Palace, and I will take the remaining men to be responsible for the outer sentinel, the selection of the attack and retreat route, and the final attack."
Stanley told his deputy Oliver: "Deputy steward, tomorrow morning you go into the city and go to a tavern called "The Mill" on the west side of the church square in the city. Find the owner of the red-bearded shop, quietly tell him that you are a member of the Scarlet Tomahawk, and ask him to prepare a secluded house for us in the city. "
Oliver is the deputy captain. He knows that the owner of the tavern is the eagle-eyed leader installed in the city of Besançon. "Don't worry, manager, I will make arrangements."
Stanley had finished explaining, and said to everyone in the room: "The locksmith and the coachman will be on duty tonight, and the rest of the people will go back and get some sleep. It's hard to get a good night's sleep these days."
...
To the south of Besançon, a mansion occupies a wide area. High walls surround the mansion into a closed space. This is the Earl's residence of Bernard, the finance minister of the County of Burgundy.
As the richest lord of Saône Province in the county and having been in charge of the county's financial power for many years, Bernard's wealth is astonishing. Although this mansion is extravagantly luxurious, it is still relatively low-key compared to Bernard's Earl's Palace in Saône Province. It is not difficult to understand that this is the capital of the country, and no matter how powerful Bernard is, he would not dare to be more high-profile than the Marquis of Ivrea.
Outside the gate of Earl Bernard's mansion is a shopping street, where business travelers and citizens are constantly coming and going. The guards of the mansion are wearing armor and holding spears standing on both sides of the gate like wooden stakes, which is very intimidating.
There is a low side door on the other side of the mansion, through which the cooks, servants and others of the Earl's mansion enter and exit.
Behind a freshly set up fruit and vegetable stall in front of the grain shop opposite the side door stood two vendors, one tall and one short, shouting loudly.
A middle-aged man with a fat head and big ears wearing a linen tunics and pullover came out of the shop. He put a bucket on his waist and yelled at the two vendors: "I'm talking about selling vegetables. Who allowed you to set up a stall in front of my shop? Do you know that half of the morning you bombarded me?" How many merchants have I left? "
The tall hawker looked back after hearing the sound, immediately lowered his head, and said with a smile: "Sir, we are hawkers from the province of Yona, and we only support our families with these vegetables and fruits. If you pity us, let us take a corner of your business."
"Pity you? I pity you, who will pity me? Don't say it's useless, get out of here, or I'll have your broken wooden frame torn down immediately." The owner of the grain store doesn't care whether others have to support his family.
“Sir, do you think this will work? We’ll take a corner of your shopping, and we’ll send you a basket of fresh vegetables every day.” The short guy is obviously smarter.
"Sir, do I give you some rotten vegetable leaves for the pigs and dogs to eat? One and a half pfennig a day, master, I will reward you with a corner."
"Is this~ one pfenn ok? We can't buy a few copper coins in a day~" The short man almost begged with an apologetic smile on his face.
"Two pfennigs!" the shopkeeper said arrogantly.
"Here's one and a half pfennig! We'll give it."