Starting from the city of Iver, in the next two weeks, Manuel personally guided Art and his party, and successively visited the three states of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden. These three forest states (states) are the core of the Mountain Confederation and the backbone of the fight against the Habsburgs.
The attitude of the three forest states toward Art and his party was not as enthusiastic as that of the Bernese state of Iver City. They hated the Habsburgs and the Swabians, but they did not have much goodwill towards the French and Burgundians. After all, the mountains were invaded by the Burgundians hundreds of years ago.
However, Art's "sincerity" can always impress them. When the heads of states learned about Art's strength and his promise from Manuel, their attitudes were naturally surprisingly consistent.
In this year of great calamity, population is naturally not a problem that the Mountain Confederation is stingy about. They are worried about the hungry people who are about to rebel. So when Art proposed recruiting mountain men from the Confederacy, the Confederate leaders agreed without hesitation. After all, they also knew that it was impossible for a provincial count to pull away all the mountain people of the Mountain Confederation.
As for the issue of borrowing troops, the Confederate leaders were not so happy. After all, the more troubled the times, the more necessary they were to have swords at hand.
Att had no intention of annexing the Mountain Confederacy's army. In fact, even if the Confederate leaders gave him the army, he would not dare to take over.
At present, the Earl of Wales already has the first branch of the Welsh Army, the Southern Border Guard Corps (including reserve regiments), the Garrison Corps (including local garrison sergeants, patrol teams, security teams, etc.) and the Western Border Guard Corps that does not need to be supported by Art. If Counting the standing peasant soldiers and registered peasant soldiers from various places under the garrison, the army that Yat needs to support has exceeded 3,000 people. Not only do the 3,000 people have to eat and drink, but they also have to provide military pay, weapons and armor.
If we continue to expand Yate's army on a large scale, we will really go bankrupt.
Hence, Art made a compromise after several "bargains" and reached a contract with the Mountain Confederation.
First, the Mountain Confederation formed an alliance with the Earl of Wales. When necessary, the Mountain Confederation assembled no less than 3,000 elite mountain troops to assist Art in the battle. Of course, these troops are not free.
Second, the Mountain Confederation and the Burgundian Principality formed an alliance against the Swabian Principality. The Mountain Confederation had to attack the Swabians bordering the Burgundian Principality at least once a year to relieve the military pressure on the eastern border of the Burgundian Principality.
This is not difficult for the Mountain Confederacy. Since the Permanent Alliance, they have not gone down to the mountains to fight the Swabians several times that year. In this world, if they do not fight, they can only wait to die. Now it's just a matter of extending the tentacles slightly to the north.
Thirdly, the Confederacy allowed the Earl of Wales to select no more than 300 elite soldiers from the mountain army. This was a bit difficult to handle. Elite soldiers were the soul and backbone of an army. In the end, Art used a price of three hundred pfennigs per soldier to obtain fifty soldiers from each of the four mountain states, including Bourne. The specific implementation would be done by the Wells Legion.
In more than half a month, Art visited several core states of the Mountain Confederation, spent all the money, food and supplies he carried, and gained a lot.
…"The entire Mountain Confederation has a population of nearly 300,000. If you include those mountain tribes that have not yet joined the Confederation, it is estimated to have a population of 500,000."
"On this trip, we used food as bait and recruited 226 households, 1,283 mountain people from the mountains. Nearly a hundred of them were from Luo Meng's hometown and nearby areas."
"The mountain people are simple, but also relatively closed-minded and ignorant. Many people regard us as slave traders, thinking that they will be sold to farms and mines as serfs, so there are not many people recruited on this trip."
Andermatt Castle, the mountain group's Deputy Director of the Government's Tunnel Affairs Department, Giles, who is responsible for recruiting refugees, reported to Art about the recruitment of the residents.
Giles is short in stature and has a poor appearance. His hair is yellowish and his eye sockets are sunken, giving him a somewhat rat-like appearance. This man was one of the earliest residents in the Wells Valley. Five years ago, Scott and Lawrence were promoted to civil officials one after another, so he was also promoted to the village chief of the valley.
Because this man was energetic and capable of doing things, he was later transferred to the command of the settlement officer Scott as a steward. When Art was promoted to earl and continued to expand his territory, he was specifically responsible for recruiting people.
After the establishment of the Government Affairs Office, he continued to stay in the Ministry of Tunnel Affairs and performed well in the construction of the southern part of the valley. At the end of last year, he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of the Tunnel Affairs Department of the Government Affairs Office, ranking behind Deputy Minister of Tunnel Affairs Lin En.
Matt waved his hand, "Everything is difficult at the beginning. The mountain people have lived freely in the closed mountainous area for thousands of years. Even the Habsburgs have not been able to lose their determination to yearn for "freedom." Suddenly letting them leave their homeland to become territorial citizens always requires a process. However, survival in the mountains has been difficult in the past two years. I believe those who want to survive will figure it out sooner or later. "
“Giles, your garrison department must properly settle these mountain people. They are your best bait to win over the mountain people. As long as these people live well in our province of Wales, those stubborn guys will naturally come to their senses.”
Giles nodded in agreement and continued to ask: "Sir, according to the estimates of the government affairs department, based on the strength of the entire Wells Province this year, we can recruit up to 5,000 to 9,000 people. If there are more, a series of problems such as food and supplies will become prominent."
· Art raised his hand, "People are the most precious resource. If we can't take advantage of the famine in the mountains in the past two years to expand the territory, we may not have this opportunity in a few years."
· "These selected mountain people are not just farmers, at least one-tenth of them can directly wear armor and hold spears and rush to the battlefield."
The population of the entire Earl's Province of Wells is currently roughly composed of three parts. The earliest group of residents were refugees from Provence many years ago. They accounted for one-fifth, and most of them came from the Provence War. The largest group was the Burgundians, accounting for more than three-fifths. They include aborigines from places such as Tyniec County, Beaune City, and Fort Marsi. , there are also people recruited from various places before and after the War of Succession; the source of the smallest group is complicated. They include Swabians who were looted from Bültenberg in the western Swabia and mountain people who fled from the Mountain Confederation. There are also craftsmen and laborers recruited from the coastal states in the southern continent, and even the original Lombards who were recently taken under Christopher's command.
"Wales is a melting pot, and more people are needed to heat it up."
"I allocated 500,000 pfennigs to the government last winter specifically for the purpose of hoarding food supplies. This year there was a bumper harvest in the north, and we have our own purchasing channels. The food supplies purchased by 500,000 pfennigs can support the addition of another 20,000 to 30,000 new residents in Wales."
The money that Art can invest in new residents is really limited, but he only needs the government to do its best to support this year.
Next spring, he will lead the Welsh Army to rush out of the Welsh Valley and march across the Lombardy Plains.