On the second Sunday of December, the fourth day after the meeting of the lords across the border, armies of different sizes began to arrive from outside Bramont City. Some of them were territorial light and heavy cavalry led by prominent barons and the lord's private soldiers (infantry). They were on horseback and heavily armored, with nearly a hundred people. Some were a lowly knight pulling young and old attendants from the fief villages. There were only a few peasants and soldiers leading mules and donkeys wrapped in cotton armor; some were elite soldiers who had fought across the border to kill the enemy and made meritorious deeds; some were remnant stragglers who had been defeated shortly after a new defeat; and many squire elders (village chiefs) who had heard that miscellaneous soldiers could also be paid for hard labor and eat in barns came to Bramont with the farmers who were short of food and food in the village to serve as hard laborers for the army that was about to fight.
In just three or four days, the number of troops gathered in Bramond City has reached close to 500. Of course there are some who fish in troubled waters, but the vast majority of the troops are still relatively elite border troops and private soldiers of the lords. These people may not be as good as the Welsh Army under Art's command, but they are much stronger than the prisoner soldiers. After all, most of them are capable soldiers under various lords. Many of them are on the border all year round and have fought many fierce battles with the Swabians. Regardless of the victory or defeat, at least they are all people who have experienced battles. At least these people will not panic in front of the enemy.
The snow all over the mountains and plains a few days ago has melted, and the snow-melting days are especially cold.
Wearing plate armor, Art had to wear a bearskin cloak over the armor. Even this could not withstand the biting cold wind.
In such weather, Baron Ater, as the highest military commander in the East, was supposed to sit in front of the fireplace in the lord's hall of Bramon City, enjoy the roasting in the fire and plan the war with a glass of wine, but Ater insisted on personally supervising at the recruiting army inspection office outside the city gate.
There is a long wooden table in the military inspection office. The military priest Robert leads several literate officials from the Chinese army command camp behind the wooden table to register the armies of lords from various places who come to apply for recruitment. Ron, the bodyguard of Art, identifies the soldiers who come with the lord to apply one by one.
As a chamberlain officer who had fought hard for six years with Art, Ron was very experienced despite his young age.
He first stood at a distance and looked at the soldiers' faces, body shapes, weapons and armor. At a glance, he could roughly tell whether the applicant was an elite soldier, an ordinary private soldier, or simply a farmer who was just filling up for battle. This was very important and was directly related to the salary level that the applicant would receive in the future.
Ron stared coldly at the soldier standing in front of the wooden table. He came with a frontier leading knight. The others had already registered and received tomorrow's salary, and now he was the only one left.
The soldier was about thirty years old, not tall and strong. He wore a thin leather disc helmet that must be full of pits, and an old cotton armor. His waist was tightly tied with a hemp rope. He had no pants on his lower body. The skirt of the cotton armor contained two long pantyhose. On his feet was a pair of frayed sheepskin winter boots. The only thing visible about his body was the long-handled battle ax hanging on the hemp rope around his waist.
Thirties is already considered old for an ordinary soldier, and this age is no longer the elite stage. However, Ron felt that the eyes of the poor man in front of him still showed a sense of bravery.
"Sir Ron, is this guy registered as an ordinary soldier?" The Chinese military official behind the long table holding a quill turned his head and waited for Ron's answer.
Ron did not answer the official's words. He walked around the long table to the soldier, grabbed his right palm and took a look. The right palm was very rough and full of calluses, which were the marks left by swinging the war hammer for a long time.
"Registered as an elite soldier." Ron turned around and said to the clerk, and then waved to indicate that the soldier could receive tomorrow's salary.
Matt stood aside and read Ron's selection with great interest, nodded approvingly and walked up.
"Master!"
"My lord!"
"Sir~"
Ron, Robert and several officials stood up and bowed to Art.
"Okay, you have been cold in the bone-chilling wind for a few days, everyone has worked hard. I have asked the guards to prepare a bucket of hot broth for you, and I will bring it to you in a while to warm you up."
Ate motioned to several officials to sit down and continue making books, and called the military priest Robert and the guard Ron aside.
"Ron, how's the recruitment going?" Art stepped forward and patted the dust on Ron's armor.
Ron has been responsible for selecting, classifying and registering the army for the past few days. After recalling it for a while, he replied: "Master, there are six armies coming today. The largest number is forty-three, and the smallest number is three mercenaries who came after hearing that someone was recruiting troops."
"So far. , we have assembled 23 heavy cavalry (most of them are leading commanders themselves), 47 retinue cavalry (knights and attendants), 120 elite soldiers, 251 ordinary soldiers including 43 crossbowmen, and 52 miscellaneous soldiers, a total of 493 people. "
"According to reports from the cavalry sent by the guards, there are a large number of troops on the way from all directions of Bramon. I estimate that a large number of soldiers will come to recruit in the next two days."
Att nodded. With the temptation of huge military pay, he was not worried about the lack of soldiers.
“Sir, I am a little worried.” Robert looked at the growing camp outside the city, but there was not much smile on his face.
"Oh? Father Robert, please speak." Art's eyes turned to Robert. Since Art's central army command camp lacked talents who could read and lead, this military priest had no choice but to also serve as the steward of Ater's central army command camp and was responsible for military matters for the entire army. Of course, his main job was to minister to the world for God.
"Sir, I have three worries."
Att looked at Robert, as if he was listening attentively.
"First, the sources of such an army today are very complex, and you are just a frontier baron, so it is not easy to command. And this kind of army likes to swarm up to fight for military glory when it encounters favorable battles, but when it encounters adverse battles, it often stops moving forward or even abandons the formation and flees. The combat power is really worrying."
"Second, such a large-scale army It is very difficult to supply food supplies for soldiers and horses. The city of Yona can only provide us with food supplies for a thousand people at most, and there are often shortages. Now there are more than 2,000 horses here. The daily consumption is too huge. Nowadays, the entire Bramont County is unable to be self-sufficient. Even if you have money, you may not be able to raise such a large amount of food supplies in a short time. An army without baggage supplies cannot be maintained. "
"Third, the Swabian court will definitely pay attention to the sudden appearance of an army of 2,000 men in the eastern border where there was no heavy concentration of troops. Once Swabia feels that we are powerful and determined to invade the border, our situation will be even more dangerous. Besides~"
Art raised his head, "Besides what?"
"Besides, what you are doing is too high-profile and aggressive. Sir, don't forget. You are still just a baron leading troops on the frontier. Even if you are promoted to the rank of viscount, you do not have the arrogant right to lead thousands of troops..." Robert has seen how the palace dignitaries kill some arrogant people who may threaten their power. Sometimes the so-called loyalty cannot offset their concerns, not to mention that the reputation of the "arrogant person" in front of him is not very good. It is not easy to make people believe that he is absolutely loyal to the Count of Burgundy.
Besides, the following words were already mentioned by Robert for the second time. It’s not that Art didn’t know the consequences of doing so, but he really didn’t want to continue to suffer. He had been fighting in this world for six years, and it was too difficult to walk through it step by step.
He did not want to miss this opportunity to suddenly emerge.
Matt also made responses to the three questions raised by Robert.
First, in order to frighten the armies controlling the border, he had ordered Odo to transfer the Second Infantry Regiment from the border back to the vicinity of Geneborg. Kazak and his troops in Var City, which was far away on the western battlefield, were also urgently transferred to the east. Anyway, now that the Liberation Army had an absolute advantage on the western battlefield, Vaal City, which was behind the western front, did not have to worry about a sudden attack by the Western Army. Art had sent an urgent letter to Baldwin asking him to send another army to garrison.
The valley army from the barony of Tyniec County in the south to fight in the north is about to arrive at Bramont. After these armies arrive, the number of troops directly under Att exceeds 1,200. In this patchwork border army, he still holds an absolute advantage in strength. Moreover, Art has no hope of letting them resist the Swabian army led by Randy. The main task of these border troops is to attack Geneborg. The important task of blocking the Swabian army will be done by Art's own army.
The most important thing is that Art firmly controls the army's money and food. This is the key to his control of the army.
Secondly, the supply of food and supplies for more than 2,000 troops has far exceeded Bramond's endurance limit. Bramond has been beaten black and blue by Swabia. Many civilians in the county are struggling to protect themselves. It is impossible to provide supplies for 2,000 troops, and the Jonah court cannot count on it. Now that Besancon has entered the critical period of attack and defense, the people and property of the entire eastern Jonah province must be given priority to the battlefield of Besancon. Art does not have the ability to shift the focus of the Jonah court eastward.
As a last resort, Art left the caravans of Salt and the European trading companies and temporarily incorporated them into Spencer's army baggage train. Spencer led the garrison baggage train and the recruited miscellaneous soldiers to purchase grain at high prices in Bramont County for two thousand The army's emergency grain storage, Bramon was short of grain, but the barns of the lords and squires' families were not in short supply, and they could buy a lot as long as the price was attractive enough; while the caravan led by Salter went to the southern border of Glalu County to buy military grain and transport it to Bramon for the army's consumption.
The first two problems can also be solved through Art's own approach, which is to sell gold anyway. But the third question really gave Art a headache.
The Swabians have not invaded the country as a whole. This is the fundamental reason why Art can barely resist the Swabian army. If this delicate balance is broken due to Art's high-profile gathering of troops, it will be a disaster for the entire county of Burgundy, and the consequences will not be something that Art can bear.
The reason why a big tree attracts the wind is even more simple. The reason why Baldwin and Flanders can still trust Art is just because they think Art is a steel-edged sword that can be used. If this steel-edged sword cannot be manipulated or even has the ability to turn against him, this trust will slowly turn into suspicion. Even if it doesn't happen now, that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.
“I have sent people to personally write letters to the Jonah court, the headquarters of the Central Command of the Liberation Army, and the Counts of Flanders and Baldwin, stating that the Eastern Territory is corrupted and the Swabians may invade the border with a large army at any time. Summoning the border troops is also an emergency plan. I also stated in the letter that I hope that the two gentlemen can send an important minister to the Eastern Territory as soon as possible. "As for how to deal with the Swabians' invasion of the country, it is up to the troops sent by the Principality of Swabia to act as a deterrent."
Att's head was also a little messed up, but he did not want to show his powerlessness in front of his subordinates.
At this moment, a mighty team slowly drove towards the recruitment office where Ater and the others were located on the muddy road in the south. It looked like there were no less than two hundred people in total.
A soldier wearing a shabby animal skin robe, lined with hay, and carrying a notched single sword in his hand ran towards the recruiting office, wiping his nose.
He did not pay attention to Art and Ron Robert who were standing aside, but said loudly to the officials behind the long table: "My Baron Bob personally led the army to fight. Please hurry up and send people to prepare barracks and food for our army."
The soldier took a sharp breath as he spoke, because the two guards just carried a large pot of steaming broth and placed it on the long table.
"Bob?!" Art was attracted by this name. The Bob he was familiar with seemed to have been driven back to the palace of Besançon and disappeared for a long time. When did he become Baron Bob?
Matt raised his head in confusion and glanced at the road to the south, "Oh! This scene~"
Can't help but marvel.