Only one day later, the Provence court gave a positive reply to Art's alliance.
…Today’s meeting of the palace ministers has decided to form an alliance with you. The three thousand soldiers of the Provence Southern Frontier Corps under my command and the two thousand soldiers of the Eastern Front Army directly under the palace military minister will be stationed at the Lombardy border after receiving your news. However, these troops are just troops on the border to scare the Lombards. We will not really launch an attack unless we have to. ”
Bellian sighed, “Moreover, the Minister of Military Affairs has made it clear to me that even if you are really in crisis, the only people who can cross the border to help you harass the Lombardy border are the five thousand troops, and Provence will never go into full-scale war with Lombardy for you.”
"Man, I'm afraid the offensive and defensive alliance you exchanged for the entire Provence Continental Trading Company is not as strong as you thought." Balian patted Art in the secret room of the study.
"But don't worry, the palace has agreed that I will lend you eight hundred of my private soldiers, and there will be no need for additional commissions. The eight hundred private soldiers will provide their own weapons and armor, but you will be responsible for the food, grass, baggage and a certain amount of military pay. In addition, half of the spoils they captured will be handed over, and the other half will be kept for yourself."< br/>
"In addition, once you go out to fight from the south end of the valley, I must sit in the city of Verno and command the entire southern army to pretend to send troops to Lombardy, otherwise the border troops in northern Lombardy will definitely move in to intercept you. Therefore, I will hand over my private army to my confidant, Baron Nadaud, and he will obey your command."
Matt nodded and stood up, "I am very grateful that you can lend me your private soldiers. Half of the spoils captured by the eight hundred soldiers will be distributed by the soldiers themselves, and the other half of the spoils does not need to be handed over to me. I will send someone to leave it to you to deal with..."
Having concluded an offensive and defensive alliance and agreed to borrow troops, the main purpose of this southward march to Provence has been basically achieved.
Att had 700,000 to 80,000 pfennigs left in his hands, so he used these funds as a deposit, and through Balian's connections and money operations, he purchased armor and weapons worth 300,000 pfennigs from the arsenal of the Provence Palace Guards.
Today, war and chaos have subsided in Provence. There are a large number of sophisticated weapons stored in the arsenal, some of which have begun to rust, so the prices are very low, even cheaper than those produced in the valley.
Three hundred thousand pfennigs were enough to equip five four-wheeled carriages, enough to equip two hundred soldiers of the Welsh Army.
With everything ready, it was time for Art to rush back to the Province of Wales to deal with internal matters, so he bid farewell to all the Provence nobles in Aix and left the Provence capital.
However, since he had already gone south, Luyate did not go north to Kitzby and then return from the border post. He only asked Ron to select two guards who could speak Lombardy to follow him, and let the remaining guards escort the newly purchased weapons and armor to return north on their own.
Since he started planning to go south to Lombardy, Art naturally had to venture out of the city of Verno in Provence, go south and east, pass through the northern border of Lombardy, and then go north to the newly established Nanguan Army Fort to enter his own territory.
Learning that Art was going to choose the southern route to return, Balian said goodbye to his wife and daughter in advance and accompanied Art to Wilno with his guards.
Hideaway details are not given...
In November, Nanlu is warm and sunny.
Ron, who was dressed as a wealthy merchant's retinue, kicked the horse's belly lightly, causing the traveling horse under him to speed up to catch up with Art, who was in front of him and was dressed luxuriously in a brocade robe and a large mink hat.
Behind Ron, there were two "caravan guards" on horseback protecting a caravan of five people and two vehicles.
"...Master, no wonder you are obsessed with this land. If you ask me to say that the southern continent is better, look at it is almost November, and the northern land has begun to be snowed, but it is still so mild." Ron looked up at the sun in the sky, and couldn't help but lift up his short cloak to cool his chest a little.
After arriving in the city of Wilno, the Continental Trading Company's shop in Wilno not only prepared the outfits of Lombard merchants for the four of Ate, but also actually sent a small caravan that often traveled in and out of the Principality of Lombardy to accompany them for cover.
Matt is originally from Lombardy, and the accompanying guards besides Ron also speak Lombardy. In addition, the small caravan often travels in and out of Lombardy and is familiar with the situation along the way, so the sneak into Lombardy this time was basically smooth.
On November 5th, the group arrived at Lavati, the first autonomous city in northern Lombardy.
This is not the first time for Ron to come here, so he no longer has the excitement when he first saw the prosperous Lavati. The two Provence count guards behind Ron have also traveled through Lombardy as rangers or caravan guards, and are no strangers to this place.
They all entered the city of Lavati as caravan leaders and guards.
Before entering the city, Art noticed that today's Lavati City was different from the past. The city was still prosperous, but the tension was even stronger.
The city guards have begun to set up forts outside the city, and the security soldiers inside the city are constantly patrolling back and forth. Citizens and merchants are also a little more hurried apart from normal life and trade.
Lavati itself is an important source of goods for the Continental Trading Company in northern Lombardy. However, due to various reasons, this important supply point is not under the personal management of the Continental Trading Company. Instead, the local commercial guild sets up a warehouse to transfer the goods to Bogdan, the "ruin" south of Wilno, and delivers it to the people of the Continental Trading Company.
But as an important source of goods for Continental Commercial Bank, there must be insiders sent by Continental Commercial Bank to take care of it personally.
However, Art did not alert the "internal response" of the European trading company, because the task force under Ron had already developed this place into Weaver's intelligence center in the Principality of Lombardy.
Stop in a luxurious hotel in the city, Art asked the caravan accompanying him to leave to complete the real mission, and then ordered Ron to contact the detective left here by the task force.
Ron is the chief intelligence officer, and he is familiar with the intelligence points in Lavati City, so soon a grocery store owner from Lavati followed Ron to a secluded guest room on the third floor of the hotel.
This man is about forty years old, with a typical Lombard appearance. He was originally a businessman who lived in Provence all year round. When he fled northward six years ago, he joined the caravan that was the predecessor of the European Trading Company. Because he was very good at inquiring, he was selected by the task force a year ago and was transferred to the army. He became an ordinary member of the task force at the level of a squadron leader.
The deputy captain of the task force was ordered to lead the team south to lurk in Lombardy, so he took this man with him and opened a grocery store here to be responsible for the intelligence base in Lavati City.
The middle-aged man knew to accept Art's summons. As soon as he entered the room, he immediately took off his hat, saluted, and whispered greetings.
"Master, the deputy steward took his people south two days ago, so I am the only one left in the store." "Master" is Art's nickname in the task force, and "deputy steward" is the deputy captain of the task force, Oliver.
Art smiled, looked at the closed door, and said: "This place has been taken care of, there will be no outsiders, so you don't need to speak in secret."
"Lord, I'm really sorry. Sir Oliver has given strict orders. We have been in the enemy's den for a long time. If we are not careful, our identity will be exposed and we will be killed. So we are all extra careful." The middle-aged man's voice inadvertently lowered a bit.
Matt nodded approvingly and said to the middle-aged man: "Oliver is right. The work done by the task force is more dangerous than the battlefield, so be cautious."
"Ron, I will reward you with two silver coins." Art immediately rewarded this task force member.
"Sir, what is the purpose of your summoning me?" The middle-aged man is quite well-educated, so he might as well ask why the Artisans suddenly visited Lombardy. That is not what he should ask.
"What's happening in Lombardy recently? Why is Lavati City so strange?" Art asked directly.
"Since we fought a battle with the Lombards at the exit of the northern valley, there has been no major action in the Lombardy Principality. However, starting in early October, the Lombards sent an army of hundreds and hundreds of laborers to the northern hilly area, and built a military fort based on the village at the junction of the hilly plains one day away from the military castle in the south of the valley. We have passed this information back to the Military Affairs Office."
“At the end of the month, the city of Lavati also began to send more guards. The Lombard Palace warned the city’s autonomous council that the barbarians from the north might go south to plunder the city and massacre the city. Those guys in the city were naturally afraid, so the city of Lavati was heavily guarded. It was said that some people had already begun to attack the city. Proposal to build a city wall for Lavati..."
At learned a lot about the developments of the Lombards from the middle-aged man. Lombardy was already deeply defensive about itself, and the journey south might not be that easy.
After leaving the middle-aged man to Oliver to continue spying on the enemy and leaving some gold and silver rewards, Art led Ron and the three of them to change their gear again.
Since the Lombards had already set up defenses in the northern hilly areas, it would be risky to cross the border and return north as businessmen. Therefore, this time the Ates changed into hunter's clothing and miscellaneous horses that were convenient for crossing mountains and ridges, and planned to sneak northward.
Leave the city of Lavati in the early morning and ride horses for a day on the Lombardy plains. Before sunset, they arrive at the junction of the northern plains and hills of Lombardy. The Ates settled their horses in a secluded spot and then headed towards a settlement that was originally a market town.
On the hills outside the town, several people have already felt the strong military atmosphere. It has obviously become a rear supply camp for the Lombard army. Various soldiers are working through it, and they seem to be packing up the camp to prepare to leave the camp and return south. From time to time, cavalry comes out from the hills in the north.
Ron raised his eyebrows to block the setting sun in the west, and whispered: "This must be the rear camp of the Lombards. Perhaps they have built a military camp fortress at a pass in the northern hills. Otherwise, these miscellaneous soldiers should be building it in the north."
"The Lombards knew that our Nanguan Army Fortress could not be easily conquered, so they followed our example and began to control their throats to prevent us from going south." Another personal guard responded softly.
At roughly calculated the number of Lombard soldiers working under the hill, he estimated that the new fortress built by the Lombards would not be too small, and he couldn't help but frowned.
"Okay, let's find a place to rest first, and go to the fortress tomorrow." As he said that, Art began to retreat down the hill...