The sudden illness and death of the Marquis of Ivrea, the ruler of the Count of Burgundy, suddenly overwhelmed the people of Burgundy.

This middle-aged man, who has been bedridden for more than two years, is the last string that holds together the twenty-four counties of the four provinces and several autonomous cities of the entire country, and the other end of this string is connected to the rift and strife.

But the Count of Burgundy was eerily silent at the moment, and everything was as orderly as ever.

On the "day of the marquis's death", the court chancellor of the exchequer was the first to arrive at the inner court, and the news of the marquis's death was also sent by Bernard to the palace dignitaries, and the news was not long after Bernard convened a meeting of the palace ministers.

According to the regulations, the meetings of important ministers are convened by the prime minister of the palace, but at that time, everyone cannot calm down and think about the regulation issue. But Balwin thought about it, and the moment he heard that the Marquis had died of illness, his heart suddenly emptied, and it was a feeling that the sky was falling.

Originally, he wanted to ease the relationship with Bernard before the Marquis recovered from his illness, and once the Marquis recovered from his illness, he could take advantage of this time to regain the advantage over Bernard, but at this moment everything was shattered.

Balwyn excused himself from attendance on the grounds that Bernard was not the convener of the council, and then entered the inner court with dozens of elite guards in heavy armor, and saw the Marquis of Ivrea lying in the temple.

The fact that the Marquis had passed away was an irreversible fact, and with the death of Ivrea, the last bit of hope and fetters in Balwyn's heart were completely gone......

Balwin, who had returned from the inner court, did not return to the mansion, and he directly took dozens of elite earl guards in the name of the palace military lieutenant to live in the command camp of the third regiment of the palace guard. The 3rd Regiment, 650 men, was the direct army of Earl Balwyn at Besançon, and half of his Earlguard's guard was chosen from the Praetorian Guard. In the afternoon of the same day, Earl Balwin's family and his family, escorted by more than fifty members of the Earl's Guard, left Besançon with a small amount of valuable goods and returned to Jonah Province, the territory of Balwin.

At the same time, a military order to be put on guard throughout the territory was transmitted from Besançon back to the province of Jonah. Balwin's chief of guard, Baron Challus, quietly brought the secretly formed army to the western border of Jonah Province, and then infiltrated back to Besançon with a small number of guards.

The Eastern Frontier Army has not yet been recruited for the time being because of the defense of the Swamen, but the first batch of conscripts has already begun to be recruited in various parts of the province of Jonah, and this group of peasant soldiers will go to the castle fortresses on the eastern border after the completion of the assembly in the city of Jonah, they are obviously preparing for the movement of the Eastern Frontier Army.

“...... My lord, the newly built First Legion of the Province of Jonah has all been secretly assembled in place, with three hundred lightly armed infantry, fifty cavalry, and one hundred gōng nǔ hands, and they are temporarily lurking in the border hills under the leadership of Baron Walter. The Second Legion, consisting of three hundred and twenty men, had been formed only the previous month, and Sir David had trained them on a farm outside Jonah and was expected to join the First Army on the western border in a month's time. The 800 Balwyn Regiment {Earl's Private Soldiers} in Jonah Province has not been mobilized for the time being. "As soon as Challis had sneaked back to Besançon, he went to the barracks and found Earl Balwyn and reported to him the movements of the armies in the East.

Balwin nodded solemnly, raised his head and asked, "Is the collection of food and military funds in place?" ”

"Military expenses have been fully collected, but most of the military rations have not yet arrived, and only one-third of our military granaries on the western border are full, and another one-third of the grain is on the way from Hejun. The remaining shortfall was to be levied by Sir David and his conscription in the Earl's domain near the city of Jonah. All rations are expected to be in place by mid-July. ”

At the end, Zaris sighed, "We didn't expect the Marquis to die suddenly, the time was indeed too short. ”

"My lord, do you think that the marquis died suddenly and in the middle of summer~"

"Shut up!" Balwin suddenly snorted.

"Even if the marquis's sudden death is strange, it is definitely a conspiracy of Bernard and the inner court, they are worried that the marquis will depose the prince and succeed to the throne after knowing Robert's true identity, so they plotted to kill the marquis!" Balwin said in a positive voice.

"Yes, my lord~" Charis knew that he had almost said the wrong thing, and quickly lowered his head.

Balwin got up from his chair, circled around the walls of the barracks covered with flags and weapons, and then said to Challis: "Five days ago, at the meeting of important ministers, Bernard took out the will of the 'marquis' succession given to him by the inner court, which stated that the title and the kingdom would be handed over to the prince Robert, and that the prime minister, the governor of the inner court, and the chancellor of the exchequer would assist the prince, and ordered the council of important ministers to obey the orders of the three ministers. ”

The more Challis listened, the more angry he became, "The Prime Minister is too old to pay attention to military affairs, so let the head of the inner court and Bernard himself assist him? Fools can see that this will was made up by Bernard himself, anyway, the marquis died of illness in the inner court, and they have the means. ”

Balwin nodded, "So I sent a charge to the Duchy of Burgundy in the name of the Vice-Chancellor of the Court of the Counts of Burgundy, stating that the death of the Marquis was the so-called death of Bernard and the Inner Court, and was intended to take the title of Marquis for Robert, who was not the Marquis's concubine." ”

"If the Duchy confirms Robert's true identity, then the title and dominion of the Count of Burgundy should be inherited by the Count of Flanders. Will Bernard not tolerate such a thing happening? ”

Balwin nodded, "The Western Frontier Army has already started to move, and Bernard is also holding the so-called marquis's will to go around to woo the palace magnates......"

Balwyn had a secret conversation with Charis, and Earl Balwin's earl advisor pushed open the camp door and walked in.

The advisor spoke: "My lord, the official dà fǎ and the minister of the palm seal have been contacted, and there is no problem. The other palace dignitaries who have been friends with us have also visited one by one, and they have expressed their willingness to support you as auxiliary minister......"

"Where is the Minister of War?" Balwin was more concerned about the attitude of the military minister, after all, the entire palace Praetorian Guard regiment, one cavalry corps {five hundred cavalry) and three infantry corps (1,300 men) were commanded by the military minister according to the regulations, although Balwin actually controlled the third regiment of the Praetorian Guard, but the remaining cavalry corps and two infantry regiments were in the hands of the military minister, and the army was the core resource when it was about to collapse. However, the military secretary, who originally belonged to Balwin's faction, has begun to slip out in recent years.

"The military minister's mansion could not be entered, and the servant said that the military minister was seriously ill and bedridden today, and could not pay attention to foreign affairs." The advisor replied in a low voice, he also knew that this was an excuse, but as a subordinate of the earl, he did not dare to force his way into the mansion.

Balwyn had a look of disdain on his face, "When did you still want to be an impartial wall-riding faction, you go and tell him that there are only two sides." Forget it, I'll go to him in person, and there can't be any mistakes at this time. ”

"The Marquis's funeral is going on tomorrow, and we must gather enough people before the funeral."

Earl Advisor nodded yes.

He hesitated for a moment and said to his advisor: "There can't be any mistakes with the Minister of War, you let the mansion prepare some of the most precious medicinal herbs, and we will go to the Mansion to see him immediately." ”

Balwyn was about to leave with his adviser when he suddenly stopped and asked Challis, "Challis, have you issued a secret order to the southern Welsh Legion?" ”

"It was sent two days ago."

"How prepared are they?"

...............

"How's the team preparing?" In the busy legion assembly area outside the garrison camp of Boulder Town, the baggage officer Spencer had just come out of the medical team and walked towards the baggage team, and there were forty-six planes parked in the open space outside Boulder Town.

The captain of the baggage team is a disabled veteran who retired from the soldiers, he was originally an ordinary soldier who retired from injury, and after entering the baggage team, he was promoted to the squadron-level captain of the baggage team, which can be regarded as a good destination.

"Your Excellency, all the wagons have been loaded with military rations and baggage." The captain of the baggage team pressed the rope of a carriage with his broken right palm, and firmly fastened the grain bag.

Spencer nodded in satisfaction, "All the grain must be covered with felt cloth, and if it gets wet in the rain, it will be troublesome." ”

The captain waved his hand, "Don't worry, all the wagons carrying grain are covered with felt cloth." However, how can we solve the problem of carrying so many mules, horses, livestock, and forage for livestock and fodder? It was not enough to eat hay for long marches, and our baggage team did not have enough men to graze and harvest pasture. ”

"Lord Otto has already made arrangements, and one of the military expenses for the war is specially used to buy pasture grass and black beans and wheat bran from the farmers in the war field, and in two days, more than 20 serfs recruited from the three territories in the north will join the baggage team, and I will divide a few of your baggage teams into mules and horses when the time comes."

Spencer explained a few words to the captain of the baggage, and then continued to run to a few armed soldiers sent by the Legion Arsenal, and repeatedly confirmed whether the armaments and ordnance of the army transferred from the arsenal were fully loaded, and the weapons and armor of the Legion were not so easy to replenish when they went out to fight, so he had to ensure that there were enough reserve weapons to supplement the battlefield attrition.

Spencer, a busy baggage officer, had just returned to his tent in Boulder to unbuckle his belt and sit down for a sip of water when Matthew, Art's bodyguard, found him.

Matthew saluted Spencer and said, "Sir Spencer, my lord asked you to go to his barracks, as if he wanted to arrange some supply point for the Northland~"

Spencer quickly put down the water bladder that was close to his mouth, picked up the belt on the table and tied it as he walked, his brows furrowed slightly, and he muttered in his heart, "I really don't let people live." "The steps under my feet are more brisk......

"My lord, are you looking for me?" Spencer bowed to Art as he entered.

Seeing the sweaty Spencer enter the camp tent, Arte got up and picked up the clay pot with wine from the simple wooden table, poured a large glass of wine for Spencer, paced to Spencer's side and handed the wine glass to his hand, "Spencer, Odor is also responsible for the army's operations, and the baggage team is complicated and complicated, you have worked hard." ”

Spencer took the wine glass with both hands and took a sip, "My lord, it is indeed very bitter, but I am willing to do my best for my lord." ”

Art patted Spencer on the shoulder, led him to a brief topographical map hanging on the wall in the corner of the tent, and pointed to a few points drawn with carbon rods to Spencer: "The army is about to go north, food baggage is the first priority, no matter how strong the army is, it can't march and fight on an empty stomach, so we must prepare in advance that the army's baggage line cannot be transported normally."

"You see, these are a few baggage collection points that I have prepared, and I have already asked Hawkeye to touch the situation in the vicinity, these places are all grain production areas......"