Chapter 732 Exchange of Interests
While Art was immersed in his grand ambition to annex all the territory of Lombardy, there was a clash of mail chain links from the corridor leading to the inner castle outside the office room...
When the footsteps outside the house were getting closer and closer, Art held the two corners of the sheepskin map, rolled it up, and then opened the drawer in front of him and stuffed it inside.
Just after closing the drawer, there was a knock on the door from outside the house~
"Sir, Lord Balian is here~"
"Please come in, Lord Balian!" After that, Art stood up slowly and stared at the figure outside the door.
"Lord Art!"
"Lord Balion!"
After the two exchanged greetings, in order to ensure that the content of the conversation would not be leaked, Art invited Balian to an extremely private room at the back of the office. Then he turned to Ron and ordered: "Ron, take people to guard outside. No one is allowed in without my instructions!"
"Yes, Master!" After watching Ron exit the door and close the door, Art turned around and walked inside~
"Lord Balian, did you have a good rest last night?" Art raised the corner of his mouth, quietly observing Balian's reaction.
Balian raised his head slowly, with a serious look on his face. Suddenly, his attitude changed and he said, "Hahaha, Lord Art, aren't you asking knowingly?"
"Excellent! Excellent!"
Looking at Balian's excited expression, Art was secretly glad that he followed Angus's suggestion last night and arranged several beautiful young women in Balian's bedroom in advance.
At first, Art was against it. Because in his impression, Balian had always been clean and self-sufficient, cherished his feathers very much, never set foot in the Land of Smoke and Willows, and always stayed away from the women in the Moulin Rouge. But after some persuasion from Angus, Art compromised.
In Angus's view, as a host, Art should make arrangements regardless of whether the other party accepts his kindness, so as not to neglect the distinguished guests who came from afar.
In addition to the beautiful women who were arranged to accompany Balian, the rest of the Provence aristocratic officers who followed Balian to the banquet this time were properly arranged. In addition to the entertainment of food, wine and meat, everything was left behind including gold, silver, wealth and the ladies who accompanied him in the evening.
Now it seems that all this is worth it. Judging from the beaming look on the face of the Provence court nobleman in front of him and his unfinished expression, it can be known that Balian was extremely satisfied with Art's hospitality this time.
Balian brushed the thick beard on his chin, blinked his eyes, and suddenly thought of something, then he leaned close to Art and said softly: "Remember, this matter should not be made public, otherwise my countess will definitely blame me~"
Matt smiled lightly and joked: "I have long heard that Lord Balian of Provence is as fearless as a hungry wolf on the battlefield, but as docile as a sheep when he returns home. It seems that this is indeed true."
At was so amused by this old friend that he could only agree, "Yes, there are always some people who are jealous of our achievements on the battlefield, and they want to erase our achievements and belittle our character!"
Balian nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
After a while, Balian spoke again and asked: "Brother Art, you wouldn't have specially ordered someone to invite me here just for this matter, would you?"
"Of course not!"
After speaking, Art stood up, took out a secret letter from a wooden box on the wooden shelf behind him, and placed it in front of Balian.
"Is this?" Balian was slightly confused.
"Please take a look!" Art reached out and made a gesture.
Balian slowly opened the secret message. Although there were only two short lines on it, it made him pause for a few seconds.
After a while, Balian put down the secret message, but kept tapping his fingers on the table.
"So, Lord Balian, what do you think?" Seeing Balian's delay in speaking, Art asked.
“In order to guard Milan and several important cities in the southern continent, the Lombard court will once again recruit thousands of mercenaries. We must not give them this opportunity! At present, the road from the Po River plain to the southern coast has been completely opened, and we should speed up our march. Attack Milan and completely wipe the Principality of Lombardy off the map. "
Hearing these heroic words from Balian, Art was so inspired that he slammed the table and said excitedly: "That's what I want from you!"
After saying that, Art took down the battle map hanging on the wall and laid it flat on the table.
"Look, this is where we are now - Wellsburg. From here to the south, along the Po River, you can go directly to the seaside port cities in the south; to the southeast, there are almost all low hills and large plains, and the Lombards are no longer in danger -" Art said with a hint of excitement in his voice, and kept introducing the situation in various parts of the southern continent to Balian and the comparison of the military strength of the enemy and ourselves.
Balian walked back and forth in the secret room, thinking about the feasibility of Art's plan.
Suddenly, Balian stopped and turned around to face Art,
, "..——.You mean, we should divide our forces into two groups and jointly take down the port cities in the south, and then move our troops northward to take Milan directly!"
"Yes! As long as we control the southern port city, we will completely cut off the economic lifeline of the Milan palace. Without food and supplies needed for survival, Milan will become a backwater by then, and we can even starve them to death in the city~"
Balian couldn't help but applaud Art after hearing Art's plan. He had to admit that the guy sitting in front of him was not only a leading count who was good at fighting, but also a strategist with extraordinary foresight. In this contest, Art grasped the crux of the problem. This strategy was much better than taking Milan first and then swallowing up various cities in the southern continent.
As an outspoken Provençal, Balian asked: "Then when do we start taking action?"
Seeing that the time was ripe, Art replied: "Come on, the Lombard court has sent people to escort the bastard Ward Burley north, and he will arrive at Wellsburg in the next two days. It won't be too late for us to take action after I find out the other party's intention. Before any war, the enemy's head should be used as a sacrifice -"
The murderous look in Art's eyes already showed his attitude.
"Okay, I will lead my men back to camp today and inform the palace of the next battle plan. After the whole army has rested for a few days, we will break camp again and march south again!"
After the two men had a secret talk, they enjoyed a delicious lunch together.
Before Balian left Wellsburg and returned to the southern camp, Art personally handed over hundreds of thousands of pfennigs and more than twenty barrels of fine wine to Balian's hands.
Berrian called Baron Nadaud aside and gave detailed instructions. Then he said goodbye to Art, took his subordinates and dozens of carriages of goods and drinks and drove off. Standing outside the city gate to see him off, Art finally breathed a sigh of relief and said happily to Angus, the deputy commander of the legion on the side: "Sergeant major, from now on, train those young peasant soldiers of Provence like I train the soldiers of the Welsh Legion's fighting company! Use that wolf energy in you and treat them badly. You're welcome!"
"Sir, this~" Angus thought he heard wrongly and explained: "Sir, they are private soldiers lent to you by Count Balian. I'm afraid this is inappropriate."
"Private soldiers? Ha!" Art smiled evilly, "Before Count Balian left, they were indeed soldiers from Provence.
But since Lord Balian left, they are now soldiers in my name. "
"Soldiers in your name? Sir, what do you mean~"
At reached out his hand to stop Angus and said: "You just need to understand in your heart, there is no need to say it explicitly. Remember, although they are from Provence,
But they are part of the Welsh Legion from now on and cannot be treated differently. "
"Don't worry, sir, I understand." Angus's face was filled with joy.
"In addition, some junior officers from the first division will be transferred to the Provence people to assist you in training. Externally, they are still young peasant soldiers from Provence, and their titles remain unchanged."
“Yes!” Angus responded. But out of curiosity, he leaned into Art's ear and asked softly: "My lord, how did you convince Earl Balian to hand over those thousand young peasants and soldiers to your hands? That's more than a thousand people."
"Thanks to you this time!" Art said a word before turning and walking towards the castle.
"Thanks to me?" Angus scratched the back of his head, suddenly realized, and hurriedly chased after him, "Sir~Sir!"
For this "transaction", Art had no intention at the beginning. Although these 1,000 young Provence peasant soldiers were exchanged by Bellian for his 800 private soldiers, after all, these people belong to the Provence Palace. Even if their combat power is not as good as the regular army, they are still a reserve force with great potential. The Provence Palace will definitely not let them go easily.
But when Art handed him the list of "gifts" he had prepared for his old friend alone, Balian finally relented. With a big wave of his hand, he said to Art: "It's just to report more battle losses to the palace. It's not a big deal. Who call these guys new recruits? Moreover, they are facing the powerful Lombards, so it makes sense~"
So, when Balian left, he specially called his confidant Baron Nadaud aside and ordered him to fully assist Art. Of course, as the "leader" of the young peasant soldiers, Balian also received a lot of gold and silver from Art and "courtesy" that was different from ordinary officers, so he did his best.
A banquet to regain the family territory not only consolidated the friendship and trust between Art and Balian, but also allowed Art to obtain a new force to expand the territory at the minimum cost.
This drama of exchanging goods and friendship for troops was used to the extreme by Art. Afterwards, all the backbones of the Welsh Legion who heard about this incident were extremely impressed by their lord's move.