After only staying in Aosta for more than a day, Art said goodbye to Viscount Balian at noon the next day, and rode northward with gifts from the stewards of the Continental Trading Company.
The main purpose of Art's trip south this time is to explore the valley and prepare for the next expansion of the territory. Secondly, it is to unblock the relationship between the European commercial banks on the eastern border. Salt has done these things very well, but Art still needs to come forward in person.
After personally visiting Viscount Bellian and traveling north to meet and invite a number of dignitaries along the way, Art's purpose of traveling south has basically been achieved. Now he must rush back to the north and return to his own territory to handle military and civil affairs.
After more than a year of post-war recovery, the security in the North of Provence has basically returned to pre-war levels, so everyone no longer has to worry about bandits suddenly popping up to block roads and rob.
Moreover, the people in the north of Provence are more honest and honest than the people in the south, so it is rare for them to set up random checkpoints along the way to collect taxes. Everyone successfully arrived at Kitzby, an important town in the north of Provence at the end of April. After a night's rest, the Kitzby Continental Trading Company embarked on a journey back to Burgundy across the border.
Att has traveled back and forth on this wilderness road across the border many times, but now the refugees from Provence who are fleeing from the north are almost invisible on the trade road. They are replaced by refugees from the Count of Burgundy who are seeking refuge from the disaster in the north.
"I never thought that in the past, refugees from Provence went through all kinds of hardships and went to Burgundy to escape the war. Now, things have changed, and refugees from Burgundy are dragging their families south to Provence to avoid disaster." Looking at the refugees who retreated to both sides of the road to make way for the war horses, Art couldn't help but sigh.
Ron turned his head and looked at the refugees kneeling and shivering by the road. "Master, I have observed it. The refugees I saw along the way are basically old, weak, women, children and dependent families. I think those young refugee families have been recruited by the refugee recruitment points we set up along the way." Countless people were killed and wounded, and these civilians fled south again. Who would cultivate the land and restore production after the war? Who would make the tools and build the castle? " Art couldn't help but worry about the future of Burgundy. What he saw on the way north to Provence was a country that was devastated by the war. Even prosperous cities like Aosta were so ruined, and those far away couldn't bear to look at them.
Ron disagreed, "Sir, I think war is a good thing. If there was no war, how could you be promoted to knight, baron and viscount by virtue of your outstanding military achievements? If there was no war, how could our European trading company be based in Provence? If there were no war, how could we have such tolerance? Yi recruited a large number of people from the territory? "
Matt smiled. He knew that the "feelings of family and country" had basically not appeared in Ron's mind. Both Provence and Burgundy were just names to him, and their position in his heart was far less important than the valley.
Funny to say, even Art himself does not have such a complete "feeling of family and country". It stands to reason that he was born in Lombardy and is considered a Lombard, but now he is the lord of the Burgundy County and is inextricably linked to Provence. He also helped Provence resist the Lombard army.
“It doesn’t matter what country it is, the land that belongs to me is my home.” Art sighed in his heart, lightly kicked the horse’s belly and walked forward slowly, trying his best to preserve the horse’s power.
「从维尔诺到现在我们的战马已经奔驰了十数天，战马体力消耗得厉害，马膘都掉了好几圈，回到山谷后你让牧马人给我好好饲养，尽快恢复。」
「是，老爷。」
............
蒂涅茨郡南方荒原，边境哨站。
The outpost that was composed of several wooden houses and a circle of wooden fences a few years ago has changed its appearance, and has been replaced by four clearly planned areas - the "outpost" tower located in the gentle hills and high wilderness, a military fort (and warehouse) separated by a hundred steps and four high wooden fence walls, a neatly planned residential area, and a free market surrounded by low fences. A north-south avenue crosses the four areas.
The overall area here has not changed much from a year or two ago, but the details inside have undergone earth-shaking changes. The "Outpost Tower" has been expanded twice. The original wooden fence has been removed and replaced by a rammed-earth fence built with Beiguan Army Fort technology. Within the wall, barracks, arsenals, warehouses, kitchens, stables and other facilities are complete. It can be regarded as a smaller version of Beiguan Army Fort; the temporary temporary buildings in the residential area were originally The shacks and huts built have basically disappeared. The registered residents have built houses one after another and settled here. Although the houses are very simple, they are better than those shacks. Moreover, some business travelers who have seen the potential value of this place have spent money to buy land and build houses here.
The free market is no longer the random stalls that were set up in the past. In the past two years, Civil Affairs Officer Cooper has visited the place more than ten times to direct the construction of more than a dozen single-story cabins, which are specially rented to business travelers to open shops. The free market also has specialized officials such as sheriffs and tax officers.
The entire border outpost (market town) has 30 troops stationed and 57 households of 230 people (including 20 farmers and soldiers).
In addition to the registered citizens who do business, there are five merchant families who live here regularly and sell goods. These people rent buildings and open grocery stores and prostitutes. The taxes they pay are of course heavier than those of the citizens, but they are within the acceptable range. After all, Yat's development policy is to "attract investment and attract traffic."
As the place becomes more and more popular and its status becomes more and more important, according to Art's arrangement, four walls will be built here to completely turn this place into a walled border market town...
"Sir Simon, all the stones within the five-mile radius of the outpost have been used up. Even the river stones in the stream have been dug out to make stones, but there is still a lot missing. Especially the whole stone slabs. There are very few high-quality stones in the wilderness. There may be a lot of stones in the forest in the southeast, but they are covered by dense forests and are difficult to excavate and transport. Otherwise, we can use the stone as the foundation and use the wood on top. The fortress wall built in this way will also be very strong." A middle-aged man who looked like a builder with architectural design drawings in his hand complained to Simon, the supreme commander here, with a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.
The one-armed Simon was staring at the stones piled up in the open space with one hand on his hip and squinting, "Master Ater has a very far-reaching plan, so he repeatedly emphasized that the city wall here must be strong enough."
"I have already reported it to the civil affairs officer, and he agreed that we should tamp down the foundation of the city wall first. If there is not enough stone, we can build the foundation of the wall that is half a man high. From then on, we can build it a little higher every year. Little by little, one day we will be able to build a strong city."
Ten steps north of the stream, a deep ditch four feet wide, five feet deep, and three hundred feet long has been dug. There are also such ditches on the other three sides. In order to facilitate people and carriages to drive in and out of the ditch, wooden bridges have been built. At this time, workers are filling the foundation with gravel and river rocks, and erecting wooden piles at intervals.
Since the beginning of last winter, refugees from the south have been recruited to build the city wall here, but the process is very slow. Last month, the Valley Civil Affairs Department dispatched a construction craftsman to help build the wall and dispatched more than 20 newly recruited refugees from the North to come to work. These refugees do not need to be paid, and only need to be supplied with one dry and two meals a day and a shack that can barely shelter from the wind and rain.
Simon was beating with a long wooden stick to check whether the foundation stones of the wall were tight. He heard a few sounds of horses shouting, and raised his head to see a fast horse riding out on patrol coming with flying dust in the sky.
As he got closer, the cavalryman suddenly lifted the reins and stopped the horse's hooves. He jumped down before the horse could stop.
"What's the matter? You're in a hurry!" Simon shouted at the cavalry.
The cavalry spit out the dust in their mouths and said, "Sir Simon, they are here."
Simon threw away the long stick in his hand and said in surprise: "My lord? My lord, they are on a southern tour?"
The cavalry was also excited, "Yes, just now we were patrolling the southern road with Chief Benjamin, and we happened to meet the lords who came back from Kitzby, accompanied by Sir Ron and Brother Matthew. Their horses had traveled too long and could not run, so I came back first to report the news."
Simon heard from Salter who was going south ten days ago that Ater was going south along the valley. He might pass by here on his way back, but there was no movement after a long time, and he almost forgot about it.
「快，给我备一匹快马，我去迎接大人他们。另外让旅馆腾出几间最干净的客房，再准备一桌最好的食物......」
............
Standing in a farmland on the bank of the stream upstream of the outpost, holding a handful of newly budded wheat seedlings in his hand, Art's mouth corners rose heartily as he watched the wheat buds covered with seedlings.
This is the first piece of cultivated land cultivated by the border outpost, and it is also the place where the "Farmland Retting Method" was first tested. To this day, there are still crosses set up by Art's people around the farmland, but those crosses have been remade and made stronger.
Hundred manure retting has been promoted in the territory under Yate's command. Half of the farmland in the valley uses this method. The crop yield of the farmland has also increased by three points, and the yield of some barren lands has increased by up to six points.
However, the retting method that Yate vigorously promoted was treated as a top secret by the civil affairs. Except for the farmers in the valley, the people in other places only knew that human and animal excrement plus the cross and the prayers of devout believers could achieve a rich food harvest, but only a few people knew the specific details.
Matt didn't know whether to laugh or cry about this. He had no intention of keeping this "secret recipe" that was beneficial to increasing agricultural production, but several civil affairs officials insisted on keeping it private, and there were not many lords who could accept feces, so Art simply agreed.
"...Simon, Benjamin, half of the credit for the development of this place to what it is now belongs to me and Cooper, and the other half of the credit goes to you two!" Art smiled and praised Simon and Benjamin who were accompanying him.
"It's all the strategies you set, Sir. Lord Cooper personally directed it. Benjamin and I just did some chores. That deserves your praise." Simon said a few words politely.
Simon was trained at the Military Academy, and was twice ordered to go to the parish school to receive lessons, so his words were somewhat in the tone of a literary clerk and a troubadour.
Matt handed the seedlings to Ron, turned around and touched Simon's empty left cuff, "To me, you are all meritorious people. I have been busy fighting around this year and rarely come here to see you, but I always remember you in my heart."
Simon was very touched, "Sir, I know you are always thinking about us. My wife gave birth to a son for me in the early autumn of last year, and my wife specially sent Miss Ollie to bring us the clothes gifted by you and your wife, saying that they were specially requested by you. My wife was moved to tears. He kept silent, saying that he must kneel down and thank you when he sees you. "
Matt was stunned after hearing this. He knew that Simon was married, but he had no idea that Simon had a child. He was so busy all day long that he could not care about such small things.
Matt was stunned for a moment and then realized that this was all his wife Lottie's idea, and couldn't help but feel warm in his heart, "This is all as it should be. I am always careless, but I still have a little more thought for you heroes." Art climbed along, and he couldn't live up to Lottie's hard work.
"When your son grows up, I will also arrange for him to enter the parish school and the officer academy. He will become an officer like you in the future, inherit your title, and glorify your family."
Yat encouraged the others accompanying him: "The same is true for you. In the future, your children will also enjoy the same education as the nobles and become new civil affairs officials and military officers..."