In the mansion of the lord of the valley wooden fort, a group of officers and civil stewards gathered here, and the atmosphere was slightly tense.

"Count Balwyn sent a private message, this year the Duchy of Swabia began to turn the battlefield to support the Duchy of Lombardy to attack the Duchy of Provence, and the Duchy of Burgundy and the Earl of Burgundy also recruited a total of more than 3,200 soldiers divided into three legions in the west, middle and east to go to various battlefields in Provence in order to support Provence to defeat the Lombards."

"The southward reinforcement sent by the Count of Burgundy this time was organized into the Eastern Army, numbering more than 1,300 men, and entered Provence from the eastern border of Provence along the edge of Mont Lamel. As a knight of the palace guard, I need to lead at least ten fully armed soldiers to enlist, but I intend to lead no less than forty men south, and the court says that those who exceed ten are considered mercenaries. According to Count Balwin's arrangement, we were to be incorporated into the Eastern Corps, which was the largest in number, divided into four companies, sixteen banner corps, plus cavalry, gōng nǔ, and baggage troops, totaling more than 1,200 men. The Eastern Legion, led by a viscount and three barons, was responsible for galloping to the four fortress cities of the eastern theater of operations in Provence, and the Count of Balwyn left me the rank of captain of the flag of the Eastern Legion in the name of the military lieutenant, leading sixty troops, and if we did not have enough soldiers, the Eastern Legion would distribute elites from the recruited soldiers to make up for the shortfall. In order to give me the greatest freedom, the banner team I lead will serve as an outpost for the entire legion, and if possible, we will be able to act alone without following the legion. {Note: Sixty Infantry is an infantry flag team, and the flag captain is usually Sir Fangqi; The four flags are a company, and the company commander is usually a baron; Two to six companies are a legion, and the commander of the legion is a viscount and above. The above establishment is only for the regular army, and does not represent mercenary groups and various types of private armed forces. }

"This freedom of movement I promised for thirty Lombard heads, and Earl Balwyn says that he has treated us as his descendants, and that we cannot disappoint the Earl."

"The situation of going south to participate in the war this time is dangerous, because the Duchy of Lombardy has always been rich, not only do they have the money to hire a large number of mercenary legions, but the Lombard army itself has very good weapons and armor, and the soldiers are also very powerful. They were a much more formidable opponent than the Swabians, otherwise Provence would not have been able to repel them after the Lombards had been in possession for more than two years. In view of the dangers of going south this time, I hope that everyone will express their objections or objections before going south, and now we can discuss if we raise objections, and once we enter the war zone, I will have to implement wartime military law. ”

"Let's talk about it, starting with civil affairs."

Most of the people in the valley were displaced people who had fled north of Provence, and most of the civil stewards were Provençal war-torn people, so when Art decided to take his army south to fight against the Lombards, national hatred suddenly came to their hearts.

"Sir, there's nothing to say, go. How many innocent civilians of Provence have been slaughtered by the Lombards over the years, and their hands are stained with the blood of our brothers and relatives, but it is a pity that I did not join the legion as a soldier, otherwise I would have followed you south, but my son Ron will fulfill this wish for me. Scott was the most excited.

Provence is the place where Scott lived for half his life, where his father, ancestors, relatives and friends, his land, cattle and houses and yards were owned, and perhaps in the near future he would be able to rely on his toiled hands to pay a lot of taxes to the lord and earn a piece of the family business for his children, and his children and grandchildren would live a prosperous life, and even become the elder of the village squire......

But all this was broken by the Lombards, who slaughtered every innocent civilian they met, burned their houses, trampled on their farmland, and humiliated their wives and daughters~ Scott had planted the seeds of hatred for the Lombards.

The same Provençal people hated the Lombards to the core, but the civil magistrate Cooper put forward a different opinion, "Sir, everyone, I hate the Lombards as much as you do, and I want to chop off their heads one by one and trample them under my feet." But it was not easy to march with an army into the distant southern borders of Provence. Most of you here have personally participated in or participated in the battle against the Swaben a year ago, and you should know that fighting an enemy army is not the same as fighting bandits in the county, and nothing else, just the supply of baggage can make people's scalps hurt. Last year's war against the Swabians on the eastern border of the country was considered to be a war on the border with the support of the local lords, and we still needed a large caravan to ensure the supply of food, supplies, weapons and armor. And after two years of war in Provence, the people, goods, and food on the border have been exhausted, what will we use to feed the army after we enter Provence? Counting on the appropriation of the court of Provence? If they could have supplied enough food, they would not have had to go south from Burgundy. Moreover, Provence is a hundred times more chaotic than the Count of Burgundy, and there are riots and bandits everywhere, and even if we have caravans, it will be difficult for us to follow the army around......"

Cooper had been in charge of the affairs and supply of Art's territory for several years, so he had a deeper understanding of the difficulties beyond marching and combating.

After Cooper finished speaking, the room fell silent for a while, it was true that it was difficult to guarantee food supplies and weapons and armor for foreign warfare, especially in the chaotic places in the southern theater of Provence.

Seeing that everyone's excitement was somewhat extinguished, Art said: "Ladies and gentlemen, what Cooper said is the truth, and the issue of the army's supply during the war really needs us to think more. However, you can rest assured that since it is a legion sent by the court of the Count of Burgundy, the Palazzo will definitely find ways to provide food supplies for the legions going south, which is why the court issued an order for grain merchants to go south several months in advance, and they will not let the army that goes south to fight run out of food. Even if the court of the Count of Burgundy is unable to supply us with sufficient food supplies for a period of time, we still have our own southern caravan to supply on our own, and the second and third two most powerful squadrons will be mainly responsible for working with the escorts of the southern caravan to ensure that our caravan is not attacked by bandits and rebels along the way, compared to the first and fourth squadrons fighting against the Lombards, your task is more dangerous and onerous, and it is not easy to carry food baggage through the war zone. ”

After listening to Yat's words, the worry in everyone's hearts eased a little.

"Are there any objections from the civil affairs side?" Art asked.

The civil affairs officials shook their heads.

"Master, since it is your thoughtful decision, we will definitely listen to the order, and you can rest assured on the civil affairs side, we will not let you worry." Cooper expressed his resolve on behalf of the civil administration.

Art nodded approvingly to the men, then turned to the commanders of the army.

"On the army's side, what ideas are there?"

"My lord, Angus and I are already thinking about how to march and fight." Otto and Angus were originally leading the southward march to war, and they needed to think about the details of how to bring the army to Provence and how to fight the Lombards, so they did not object to the matter of going south to fight.

Art moved his eyes to the commander of the garrison Regiment, Bass, who suffered a head wound and was in great pain every time the weather changed, so he was no longer suitable to return to the Legion to fight, so Art made him officially the commander of the garrison, mainly responsible for guarding the stability of the Valley Knights, and also commanding the border outpost garrison and the Boulder Town patrol team during Art's absence.

"Bass, after the army goes south, your military rank is the highest, whether it is the Valley Knight Leader or Boulder Town and the border outpost, you need to be under your command, your task is very heavy, do you have any ideas?"

Since the heavy blow to the head, this man who doesn't like to talk much has become even more silent, but when it comes to the issue of duty, he still said a few more words, "My lord, now that the bandits in Tignets County have basically subsided, and there will not be too many bandits in the county, what we have to guard against is the intrigue and intrigue from the Dean family. The greatest danger we face after you and the army are gone is that the Dean family may raid several of our territories in a different way. Now that the Valley Knights have been exposed, I'm most worried that my opponent will do something here. ”

"Well, your worries are not unreasonable. Do you have any good ideas? ”

Bass replied: "I propose to expand the standing peasant soldiers of the garrison regiment to thirty during the absence of the army, and increase the number of training of the peasant soldiers of the territorial register, so that the peasants of the garrison regiment can fight at any time if there is an alarm."

Art thought for a while, now that the Valley Knights have enough food and supplies, they can still support the recruitment of a few more standing peasant soldiers and increasing the frequency of peasant soldier training, and nodded: "Agreed, you are responsible for this matter, and the civil affairs will assist Bass in guarding his homeland."

Yate continued to look at several officers of the army and said: "I don't need to ask any more objections on the army side, the duty of the army is to obey the command, after you go down, appease and mobilize the soldiers, let everyone prepare to go south, and then think about the matters that need to be paid attention to." ”

"Odo, you are responsible for supervising the baggage team to do a good job in the distribution of weapons, armor and armaments, and in addition, find the civil administration to allocate a month's military salary and military expenses, although we are recruited by the palace and enjoy the palace support, but we still have to have a defense."

"Cooper, urge the craftsmen, the weapons and armor made by the craftsman's workshop should be delivered to the army as soon as possible, and we need to carry some spare weapons and armor to the south......"

After arranging a few more territories to recruit soldiers and civilians, reclaim wasteland, build houses, and extend roads, Art turned his head to look at Cooper, then at Bass, and said, "Cooper, Bass, my home will be handed over to you two."

"Don't worry, sir!"

"Good! Five days later, the legion marched to the county town of Tignets and assembled south. ”

…………