Chapter 694 The Riverland
At sunset, thousands of soldiers from the Welsh Army arrived on time at a market town called the Riverland.
Just like the name of the market town, this town with a permanent population of less than 800 is surrounded by five rivers that converge from different directions on a lowland in the southeast of the market town. Then it forms a big river that flows slowly south. After passing through low hills and large plains, the river flows straight into the sea.
In the rainy season, the merchant ships on the river carried goods from all over the country, shuttled through the major cities in southern Lombardy, and conducted trade with residents from various places.
At the same time, some of the wheat, fruits and vegetables produced in the Po River Plain were also trafficked from here to various parts of the south via merchant ships. Therefore, this river is also affectionately called the Mother River by residents along its banks.
Since the beginning of the war, there have been much fewer merchant ships on the river than before the war. In addition, in order to prevent grain from the Po River plain from being smuggled to the south, the north ordered a suspension of shipping. Only merchant ships with special permission could travel on the river, and the cargo they could carry was also strictly restricted. Except for the daily needs of market town residents, any swords, armor, ironware, etc. that are used for military purposes cannot be transported.
When news of the defeat of thousands of Lombard troops who marched north to defend the enemy came, a large number of refugees fleeing the war began to appear in the originally peaceful town. Affected by the panic, many local residents also fled to the relatively safe south with their families and valuables. Those left behind are the relatively poor local residents.
After the initial panic, the Lombards in the market town began to slowly accept the outsiders who distributed food to them. And these northerners are not a group of murderous devils as the refugees say. On the contrary, compared with the lords, gentry and rich peasants who exploited and exploited themselves, these Burgundy people were simply sent by God to save them.
Further on, some officials in regular uniforms and some Lombards began to take over the place and began to restore business and production activities in the market town.
As time went by, the remaining Lombards began to slowly accept these northern barbarians who "invaded" their homeland. In their view, as long as they can get land for themselves and their families and not go hungry, it doesn't matter who they are loyal to.
As it was getting dark, various tents were set up one after another in the open space on several gentle slopes outside the market town.
The Chinese army's command camp was set up in a small open space on the top of a gentle hill.
As night falls, bonfires in the camp are lit one after another, making this small town that has been quiet for many days come alive again.
Due to insufficient manpower, Bob also dispatched some soldiers from Obote's reserve regiment as helpers to help the soldiers in the Radiation Division.
Although they were on the march, in order to boost morale and allow the soldiers to have a hot meal on the way, Art ordered the Radiation and Heavy Department to take out the fruits, vegetables, wine and meat they carried and distribute them to the soldiers.
But in wartime, no one from high-ranking officers to ordinary soldiers has this treatment. In addition to the "compressed bread" and some dried meat specially provided by the legion, what each person carries with him is a bag of drinking water.
Only when there is no emergency war can everyone enjoy a steaming and delicious meal.
When dozens of deep copper pots placed on the fire continued to emit bursts of steam, the aroma of meat began to permeate the entire military camp. The legionnaires who could no longer restrain themselves rushed to the camp of the Radiation Division by the river. When the Radiation Soldiers delivered the food prepared by Art and others to the military tent where he was, the group was walking towards the dock of the Riverlands under the leadership of the local administrative officer. Not long after arriving in the Riverlands, Art, along with Angus, Odo, the military priest Robert and others, followed the administrative officer sent here by the government to manage the affairs of the occupied area and entered the market town.
Every time he visited a military fortress town, whenever he had time, Art would personally inspect the place newly occupied by the legion.
Firstly, it is to understand the local people's conditions and commercial and agricultural production, and to prepare for the construction of the post-war territory and commercial activities. The second is to check the performance of the officials under the government, whether they have acted beyond their authority, and whether they are honest and upright. This serves as the basis for the general promotion of officials.
· So far, Art has not discovered or heard of any incompetence or overstepping of authority among the officials sent to the Lombardy occupied areas by the government. On the contrary, these young officials who came out of the Valley School are down-to-earth, pragmatic and progressive. Although there are many gaps compared with the first batch of government officials who followed Ye Te, such as Scott and Lawrence, generally speaking, Ye Te is still quite satisfied with these young people.
Your Excellency, after I came here with other officials from the government office, I first organized people to help the residents of the market town whose houses had been burned by the war to repair them. "The government officials followed Art, reporting on the progress of the management work after taking over this place.
"The food we brought was distributed according to the population of each household. However, in order to prevent these Lombards from hiding the food, we strictly limited the amount of distribution, which was less than one pound per person per day, which was enough to maintain their survival needs. And it was distributed every two days."
As Art walked and listened, from time to time he looked at the marks left by the burning of the stone and wood houses on both sides of the street.
"You have done an excellent job, which can maintain the survival of the local residents without letting some of them get full and secretly oppose us."
With Yate's approval, the officials became more confident in the governance here.
"I would like to make two more suggestions for you. Since we currently have a shortage of manpower in the occupied areas, you can select some honest and reliable people from these local Lombards to help you build towns and maintain law and order. Secondly, for those who perform well, you can recruit them to the Government Affairs Bureau and recruit them separately. Register and make a list, and their salary will be no less than one day's salary for local adult men. At that time, I will order someone to have the government allocate a part of the money to you for management purposes."
The clerk held the straw paper on a thin wooden board and wrote down Art's suggestions one by one with a carbon stick.
"In addition, the Riverlands are relatively close to the battle zone between us and the Lombards. In order to prevent the local residents from colluding with the Lombard army to harass our rear, you must strengthen patrols in the surrounding areas. Set up observation posts in areas with better visibility to monitor the situation on the trade roads and various checkpoints at any time."
"Yes, sir. I will arrange it as soon as possible according to your request."
"In addition, you find some trustworthy people, and ask them to keep an eye on the die-hards in the Riverlands who appear to be with us but are secretly trying to overthrow us. Once they discover any wrongdoing, arrest them and send them to a nearby garrison camp,
Leave it to the people of the legion to deal with it."
"Yes, sir."
Through the market town from south to north, at the corner of the street, looking at the row of low roofs built on the riverside, the masts of merchant ships docked at the dock are clearly visible.
At this time, a group of people who were planning to go to the dock for inspection were attracted by the crowd gathered in the Civic Square not far from the corner of the street——
Residents of the Riverlands! The people of this land who faithfully serve God! As a servant of God, I stand here and sincerely tell you that the thousands of people outside the market town are not here to trample on your homes, nor are they here to plunder your wealth, but are sent by God to save you! "
The man standing on the stone pier of the square speaking was wearing a long military uniform and a black cloak. Facing the wide-open eyes around him, he explained his views to the crowd of spectators in a passionate voice.
"Sir, I heard that the troops outside the city came from the north. They defeated the army sent by the palace and occupied our Lombard land. How can you say that they came to save us?"
In the crowd, a man with a fat waist, a strong body and a somewhat honest look asked a question, which caused a commotion in the surrounding crowd. If it hadn't been for the dozen or so guards standing behind the man in robes, they would have rolled up their sleeves and rushed over to knock the nonsense-talking guy to the ground and beat him up.
"Sir, it looks like our ideological and political officer is in trouble, how about~"
Odo, the deputy commander of the legion standing behind Art, was a little worried about Dennis's personal safety.
Matt raised his right hand that was crossed on his chest to stop him, and said softly: "You are too underestimated as the ideological and political officer of our army. If he can't subdue these Lombards, he won't have to sit in the position of ideological and political officer. Let's go and have a look at the dock." He strode to the other side. After thinking for a moment, Dennis quickly picked up the conversation and asked the surrounding Lombards: "You said the northerners have invaded your home, but have they ever set fire to your houses? Have they robbed your family's wealth, and have they occupied your land?"
After listening to the man in the robe's question, the crowd of onlookers started talking among themselves again.
"It seems that there really isn't one."
"My house was burned down by the lord's guards. If I hadn't been at home at the time, I would have been burned to death by those bastards -"
The squire who lived there took all the money and said it was used to recruit troops and horses to resist the northerners. But the next day, the bastard took the whole family and a few followers and ran south - "
Everybody talked to each other, but in the end they found that almost everyone had been wiped clean by the squire lords of the River Land, and they were very angry for a while.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Dennis raised his voice again and continued: "Now, let me tell you who robbed your wealth, occupied your land, and burned your houses."