On April 5th, the sun rises in the east and the sky is clear and bright.
At the gate of the wooden castle in the valley, Cooper, Bass and several civil affairs officials saw off Art, who was about to explore the south of the valley.
"Sir, I think it is better to send legion soldiers to explore? If that is not possible, you can bring more guards. The south has been deserted for hundreds of years. I really don't know what kind of danger there is. It is always right to bring a few more people." Bass had a sad look on his face. He did not support Art, who was already a viscount, to take risks.
"Okay, I won't feel at ease unless I go and see for myself. I have already decided on this matter, and you don't need to say anything more."
"There's no need to worry about the guards. If my estimate is correct, the long valley to the south along the Lamel Mountains is probably Lombardy. If I bring too many guards, it will be easier to distract myself." Art walked over to the riding horse led by Ron without any explanation, grabbed the saddle and jumped on.
He adjusted the bow and quiver on the front saddle, touched the saddlebags and felt blanket grain bags behind him, and gently turned the horse's head and glanced in the direction of the lord's mansion, "Kuber, tell my wife, I am not unwilling to enjoy myself at home. , It’s just that I really don’t dare to indulge in peace and quiet in troubled times.”
Att glanced at the second floor of the mansion again and shouted loudly: “God is my witness, everything I have done is to allow you to live here with peace of mind.”
There was still no sound on the second floor of the mansion. Art shrugged and kicked the horse's belly, "Ron, let's go!"
At the lead rushed out of the outer wall of the wooden castle and ran southward along the carriage path next to the stream.
Ron immediately mounted his horse and led three guards, who were lined with mail and leather armor and looked like caravan guards, to catch up. The four guards' horses were also covered with swords, axes, spears, bows and quivers, and horse mattresses.
There is a rein behind the saddle of a guard at the end, and at the other end of the rein is a young and strong draft horse. The pack horse carries bread and bacon, beer, ale and other food baggage as well as black beans, wheat bran and horse concentrates...
There are carriage roads all the way from Beiguan Military Fort to the workshop area in the valley in the south of the valley. Although the so-called carriage road is only wide enough to accommodate four-wheel carriages, and is far less than the commercial road that connects the north and south outside the valley, it is wide and smooth enough for a remote "barren valley". The clear and distinguishable ruts on the roadway also indicate that there are frequent carriages on this road.
Yat and four guards rode on the road, declining the warm invitations from the villages on both sides of the river. It took the five of them less than a morning to reach the workshop area at the end of the road.
This is already the southernmost point of development of the entire valley. The workshop area is a forbidden area in the valley and is always guarded by farmers and soldiers. Except for organized felling of wood and collection of firewood and a few steps back to the south, almost no one attempts to explore southward.
I stopped briefly in the workshop area and had a big meal with the craftsmen. After learning that a few people were going to explore south, several craftsmen from the weapons workshop used the semi-finished iron blanks during lunch to rush to make a two-foot-long single-edged straight knife for Art. This knife is wide at the front and narrow at the back, which is very suitable for chopping vines and trees.
After lunch and feeding the horses, the five men from Ate crossed the horses and held the frontier, heading south.
“Sir, the two miles south of this place are covered with sparse dwarf pine and other miscellaneous trees. Further south, there is a large area of grassy land, which is twelve or thirteen miles long. If you continue southward, you will enter a low hill. The river at your feet will become turbulent. After the hill, there will be dense forests and long canyons. I don’t remember how long the canyon is. Anyway, we walked through it. It took two days to get out of the canyon. There is a basin at the beginning of the canyon. There is no farmland in the basin, but there seems to be traces of human activity. "
"Because someone suddenly fell ill that time, we only explored the basin and had to turn back. I feel that if we continue southward along the Lameier Mountains and this river, we should be able to reach somewhere in the north of Lombardy..."
Ron rode a horse and walked side by side with Art. He had led people to explore the south a year ago and was familiar with this place. Their route was still along the right bank of the river. The road Ron took a year ago was covered by weeds and weeds again. However, after walking on it once, it was much easier to walk again.
"Ron, Matthew, both of you are more or less literate. From today on, I will record the itinerary every day, but I may not record it completely, so you two must also record the itinerary to the best of your ability every day, including the distance estimate, the speed of the river, and the topography along the way. Record the situation, the distribution of mountains, rivers and dense forests, and things you think are of some value, and treat this southbound exploration as an army battlefield sentinel." As Art said, he took out a few sheets of valley homemade "raw paper" and a few sharpened hardwood carbon rods from the right rear saddlebag and handed them to Ron.
Ron reluctantly took it and gave some to Matthew, "I asked why you asked me to find a few more papier-mâché carbon sticks. It turns out you even prepared one for us~"
「哪来那么多话，让你写点东西比吃屎还难，前面来路！」亚特笑骂了一声，一巴掌拍到了罗恩的背上......
接下来的几天，亚特几People travel day and night, walking through the unknown secrets of the valley, sometimes walking through dense forests and other trees, sometimes riding horses on grassy plains, but many times several people need to dismount and walk to take turns clearing the way, because in many places the weeds have reached the top of their heads, making it impossible for horses to pass through.
The journey has not been smooth sailing. There is no need to worry about bandits and bandits suddenly rushing out. However, poisonous snakes have emerged from their holes, and the wild birds and beasts along the way have also begun to move around. Several people once encountered a group of wild boars in the wilderness, which almost scared the horses away. They also encountered a lone wolf who was out looking for food...
…..
"On the fifth day of travel, in the evening, we are about seventy-five miles from the workshop area. Stationed at: the ruins of an abandoned monastery half a mile along the river. There are ruins of an ancient road fifty steps in front of the ruins. The ruins of the ancient road are about twenty feet wide and have a stone fortress. It is suspected to be the site of an ancient trade road..." Art held a half-short carbon rod and wrote on the densely packed papyrus paper. He had tried to keep the text as concise as possible, but the papyrus paper was quickly filled up. In order to save paper, Art could only hastily conclude his remarks, and then put the straw paper full of symbols into a brown leather bag and seal it.
This is already the fifth day of Art's expedition south. According to Ron's description, if you go one day further south, you can see the southernmost basin they explored last year.
This place is a ruin that has been abandoned for many years. More than half of the building has collapsed. Only the stone wall foundations are still standing firmly among the grass and trees, telling the story of its former glory.
Matthew had already led a few guards to clean up the ruins of the monastery, set up a camp in an open space with relatively complete four walls, built a felt tent and lit a bonfire.
After a while, Ron, who had gone out to scout around, ran back excitedly, holding a long snake half as thick as his wrist in his hand. The snake's head had been smashed by Ron, but its body was still wrapped around Ron's arm.
“Hey, where are you going to get such a big earthworm, and I’m not afraid of biting you.” Art is not afraid of snakes, but he doesn’t have much fondness for these things. He never ate snake meat when he was a hunter.
Ron pinched the head of the long snake and pulled the long snake off his arm. "I was patrolling behind the ruins just now. This guy was stalking and killing a squirrel. Can I let him go? So I picked up a stone and smashed its head. The squirrel was small and seemed to have been bitten. I was afraid. If it's poisonous, throw it away~"
After Ron said that, a guard who was fetching water for food came in. Ron just happened to throw the dead snake to the guard, "Skin it and remove its internal organs, and make a pot of snake soup at night."
The guard took the dead snake, pulled out his short knife and went out to dispose of the snake meat.
“Master, I took a closer look later and found slag-embroidered iron filings on the back wall of the ruins. They may be iron cladding for carriage wheels, but the appearance of the wheels is no longer visible.” Ron regained his serious expression.
"Well, I think the road in front of the monastery should be an ancient trade road, but there are not many sections where a stone fortress can be built like this section of road. Other dirt roads have long turned into dense forests of grass and grass over hundreds of years, and there are not many places that can be as well-preserved as that section of road."
The group of people walked along the way and tried to pick out places where there might be traces of ancient roads. This was of vital significance to Yate's long-term plan. However, this deserted valley had been abandoned for hundreds of years, and it was impossible to restore the original historical appearance with only fragments of historical records. After five days of travel, Yate discovered three specious traces of ancient roads, and the ruins of the ancient road in front of the monastery were the most complete and most like a commercial road.
"Sir, do you really plan to open a trade route connecting the north and south in this canyon? This is not an easy task? You look at the barren mountains and wild valleys~" Ron knew Art's plan, but he obviously lacked confidence in it.
"Ron, it's restoration, restoration!"
"Hundreds of years ago, there was already a trade route running from north to south. At that time, goods from the southern coast were continuously imported to the north through the road in this valley."
"Ron, imagine what it would mean if one day we could restore this trade road~"
Art looked up at the south of the canyon river, his eyes full of expectation. Wing's expression...
The next day, several people continued to walk in the valley. After leaving the ruins of the monastery, it became increasingly difficult to walk. Art tried to find the ruins of the ancient road in front of the ruins and headed south, because generally speaking, the places where business roads could be built were relatively flat and easy to walk. However, Art still failed to walk on the road after all. The ruins of the ancient road disappeared in the dense forest near the mountains in the valley.
There is a steep hill in front of the dense forest where the ancient road disappears. The hill divides the canyon into two halves. Art speculates that the ancient road may pass from the right side of the hill. However, the basin where Ron previously discovered that there may be human traces is on the left side of the hill where the river flows. Art does not intend to take risks, so he notes the location and sets a striking sign before turning to the left and continuing southward along the river...