In the inner fort of Tarburg, Art scooped the pea and wheat paste in the bowl with a wooden spoon while instructing the caravan leaders sitting at the table about the caravan's next arrangements: "Cooper, Salt, Lawrence, you set off early tomorrow morning, Baron Jeffrey has already gathered an army in the jurisdiction of Biltenberg, it is estimated that the enemy army will attack Tarburg in the next two days, so you leave as soon as possible, otherwise you will not be able to leave." ”

"This time I'm going to leave all the soldiers behind to defend Fort Tar, so the caravan guards are up to you, and in a moment Otto will select five loyal and reliable men from our own servitude to be rationed weapons to serve as caravan guards, and I will hand over to you the three petty traders I have brought back, who have already decided to follow me. This time, four more wagons have been added to the caravan, and if you are worried that the caravan will not have enough attachés, you can recruit them yourself, but be sure to recruit reliable people. ”

"We have stabbed Swabia in the sore spot this time, and they will definitely do everything in their power to pull out the nail of Talburg, which will face a crisis for some time to come, so your caravan has three main tasks for this outing."

"One is to transport the materials captured during this period to the north to sell, and then buy a batch of weapons to defend the city and send people back to Talburg, especially fire oil, arrows and bows and crossbows, if you can recruit a group of warriors who are willing to come to Talfort to defend the city, Earl Balwin's conscription of peasant soldiers and labor is almost over, I can't guarantee that I can keep them all, if these dozens of people leave, Talfort will lose a group of garrison forces."

"The second is to bring me two private letters to Earl Balwyn and Bishop Orlov, in which I report the situation of Tarburg and our achievements in this month, and hope that the Vice-Chancellor will recount the merits for us, and that you will bring the three sets of porcelain and five large gold cakes to the Vice-Chancellor, and tell him that they are the spoils of war from the peasant and military service he has sent, and that the Vice-Chancellor is a man who understands me. If the Vice-Chancellor asks what the fort needs, you say that you wish to allocate a batch of ordnance to defend the city, and it is better to order the county of Glaru to send troops to help defend the fort; Bishop Orlov doesn't need to send anything there for the time being, you just send him the letter. ”

"The third is to send someone back to the valley wooden fort to see, we have been out for nearly two months, and the valley is all supported by Scott alone, I can't rest assured, you send someone back to have a look, and bring some supplies back by the way."

The three directors of the caravan listened carefully and wrote down Yat's assignment to the caravan one by one.

The old butler Cooper took note of the task arranged by Art, and then brought up the carriage he had been thinking about, "Sir, there are still many four-wheeled carriages hidden near the cave in the southeast, and I have not been able to find a chance to transport them away before, and I want to find a way to get those carriages back while Swabia's attention is now on Tarburg." ”

Art took a sip of wheat cereal, looked up and said, "I want to get it back, those carriages are all iron-inlaid four-wheeled two-wheeled carriages for transporting military supplies, and it is really distressing to throw them in the field." But now that the road to the east is blocked, we can't bring it back? ”

Cooper approached Art and said confidently, "Master, I have a way. A little more than a hundred miles southwest of Biltenberg there was a small trade road, where there were few caravans on weekdays, but from that road another hundred and twenty miles southwest we could reach Fort Andermatt, from which we could get the empty wagons back to the valley fort. ”

Art asked curiously, "How do you know?" ”

"The three vendors you brought back used to occasionally detour down that road to avoid the transit merchant tax, and they know the road well."

"But it's not smooth along the way~"

"Master, we can go to Baron Antaas for help, it's a big deal to give him some hard-earned money."

Art thought about it for a while, and felt that this method was better than letting those wagons rot in the woods, so he agreed to Cooper's method, "This matter will be done last, I will write a letter to Baron Antayas, and you will bring a generous gift to Lord Baron, as long as there is no war on the side of Fort Andermatt, I think he should help with this." ”

Cooper smiled and nodded in agreement, and then brought up another matter, "Sir, since we are going to send someone back to the Valley Wooden Fort, do you want to bring a letter to Lord Galvin and Miss Lottie as well?" Although they are not engaged yet, they must be concerned when you go out to fight. ”

Art has been concentrating on the war all along, and he really didn't think it through, and after listening to the old housekeeper's kind reminder, he realized that he had left his future father-in-law and fiancée behind.

"Well, yes, yes, then you can also bring me some gifts for Lord Galvin and Miss Lottie, and let Scott arrange for someone to send them." Art's face was slightly red.

After the caravan had left, Art sent for Angus and Ron, who had just returned to Talburg from the raid to recuperate.

Angus was slightly injured in the leg, but Ron was very excited, because in the first two days of the raid, he alone captured two enemy sentinels, although the soldiers who participated in the attack paid the price of one dead and one wounded, but the six of them attacked and killed five enemy soldiers and successfully forced back more than 20 Swabian enemy soldiers who came to eliminate traps and sentinels along the way, so that the Swabian army's plan to attack Tal Fort was delayed for several days.

Art put down the wooden spoon and walked over to Angus and squatted down to check the injury on his leg, "Sergeant Major, it seems that you are the lucky one who has been favored by the Holy Lord, if this diamond-headed heavy arrow is missed by half a finger, one of your legs will be considered useless." ”

Angus replied stupidly: "I was careless, I didn't expect the hunter to fall into the trap set by the prey, in order to expel the five of us, the enemy actually sent twenty elite soldiers, it was my mistake that killed our brother." Lord Art, I'll go it alone in the future, I really don't want to lead the troops. ”

Art patted Angus on the shoulder and comforted: "Sergeant Major, you don't have to ask for forfeiture of military pay, the death of this soldier is not your mistake, you don't have to be punished, and besides, it is impossible to march without battle damage, if you didn't take Ron and a few of them, maybe more than one of our brothers would have died."

Ron also spoke out to comfort Angus.

"The enemy army will soon attack Talfort, now there is a slight surplus of soldiers stationed in Talfort, and I also said that we will not defend Talfort, tomorrow the caravan will leave Talfort and return to Besançon, the caravan is also an invisible force to defend Talburg, if they are lucky, they will bring back a batch of defending ordnance and recruit a group of mercenary guards to come to Talfort, but this force cannot play a role for a while, so I decided to send another army on the periphery of Talburg as the outer defense force of Talburg."

Hearing this, Angus and Ron both perked up.

"The number of people in this peripheral team is not too large, eight people are enough, and its main tasks are three."

Ate paused, letting the two of them remember.

"The first task is to continue to harass the Swabian army, if the Swabian army intends to besiege Talburg for a long time, then they will definitely have to transport supplies through the east carriageway, there is only one road around Talborg that can transport a large amount of supplies, but here there are hills and dense forest trails, this team can appear from any place on the enemy's baggage line to attack."

"The second task is to act as an external defense force for Tarfort, and it is too risky for the fort to take the initiative when Talburg is besieged, so when Talburg is attacked, you have to attack from behind the enemy."

"The third task is to act as a messenger between Talburg and the outside world, when there is important military information in Talfort that needs to be transmitted to the outside world, we will raise wolf smoke in the tower of the inner fort, and then you will go around to the top of the hill behind Talfort, we will deliver the letter to you with crossbow arrows, and we will discuss the specific location of the letter. In addition, if Tarburg is attacked beyond defense, you must rush to the city of Geraru for support. ”

"I want to hand over this squad to the two of you, the sergeant major is the chief officer Ron as the adjutant, and the soldiers of the squad are chosen by you, whether it is a soldier or a peasant soldier or even a prisoner of war. In addition to carrying the necessary weapons and armor, the soldiers of the squad must also carry enough food and supplies, and you will be in the mountains and dense forests for a long time to deal with the enemy, and the enemy will definitely send troops to clean up, you must lead everyone to deal with it flexibly, whether it is to set traps and traps or put cold arrows to ambush, as long as you can kill the enemy, all the tricks you can use for me, temporarily put aside your honor as a warrior, and bite the prey like a wolf! ”

…………

While Tarrburg was busy preparing for defense, Biltenberg in Swabia was also organizing a large-scale army build-up.

After the fall of Biltenberg, Baron Jeffrey fell into a complete rage, and on the one hand, he asked the county town of Tebrun to send troops to attack Tarburg, and on the other hand, he issued an urgent order from the fiefdom, and all men in the Barony of Jeffrey's field who were not disabled over seventeen years old and under thirty-five years old must bring food and weapons to Biltenberg to assemble; Jeffrey's wife's family not only provided 20,000 Fennig for military expenses, but also sent eighteen elite infantry to the command of Baron Jeffrey.

Together with the "army of bandits" that had not been disbanded last time, Jeffrey gathered an "army" of more than 200 people in just five days, including five knights, 20 cavalry (including knights and servants), 60 infantry, 15 archers, 30 armed peasants, and more than 80 people who served with the army.

On the sixth day after the fall of Biltenberg, Baron Jeffrey ignored the order sent from the county town of Tebrum to "postpone the attack", and drove directly along the carriageway to Tarburg with a makeshift army of more than 200 people and a small number of siege equipment......

…………

Ten miles east of Talburg, half a mile ahead of the "Western Expeditionary Army", ten sentries led by the newly promoted knight and chief of the guard, Sir Bayard, were sentry into the hills and dense forests on both sides of the road, and when they cleared the traps and barricades set up by the defenders of Talburg a few days ago, from time to time a few enemy soldiers or shot a few cold arrows in the hills and dense forests on both sides of the road, and now that the army was advancing, they had learned their lesson and sent sentries in advance to occupy the hills and forests to ensure that the army was not disturbed by sporadic attacks.

Just on the top of a hill on the north side of the dense forest, where Bayard stood, eight soldiers of Talforts lurked in a clump of weeds.

"Sergeant Major, shall we go and harass us?" Ron, who had been lying in the grass all morning, stretched his hands and feet slightly, and asked Angus, who had been staring at the front beside him.

Angus tore off the grass roots that he had been chewing on for a long time, and replied softly to Ron: "They have suffered losses and now the sentinels are very careful, if we forcibly attack them, we may be entangled, anyway, Lord Art has prepared enough arrows and stones for them in Tarburg, and let them eat while it is hot."

"Guys, withdraw!" With that, Angus took the lead in prostrate retreat, and in a short time eight figures disappeared into the dense forest on the other side of the hill......

Two hours later, Fort Tar welcomed the first enemies since the re-establishment of the garrison.

Yat, who was standing on the tower of the inner fort of Tarburg, did not expect Baron Jeffrey to bring an army of hundreds of men in the first attack.

Looking at the enemy troops paved with carriageways in front of Tarfort, an irrepressible excitement rose in Art's heart.

Since the establishment of the patrol team, he has faced most of the enemies of sporadic armies or mountain bandits, and the battles he participated in and commanded are mostly sneak attacks and harassment, and this time he will face the army led by the barons and knights, although he has the walls and fortifications to protect, but the command of this kind of dignified array still makes him a little nervous, a correct decision will make the enemy army fall into the city, a wrong decision will make himself carry his own life, in any case, he is destined to leave a lot of bones here.

According to Yat's prior arrangement, the first round of the defense of Tarburg was to be in charge of Odo, who stationed two improvised battle squads and two peasant squads (including eight crossbowmen) in the direction of the outer wall of Tal Fort facing the horse lane, a total of twenty-four men, under the specific command of Kazak and Tuba; The terrain on the left and right sides of the outer wall was rugged and difficult to attack, so only three men were sent to defend it, and there were two peasants and four laborers operating trebuchets on the inner fort tower; The waiting station on the flank of Tarburg was manned by Bas with seven archers (temporarily filled).

Except for the two improvised battle squads (including soldiers, peasants, and laborers) who were kept in reserve, everyone else (prisoners, laborers, serfs) helped the soldiers defending the outer walls, from carrying arrows and stones, delivering weapons, treating the wounded, making food, and even at critical moments in the defense of the city, these people had to pick up the weapons of the soldiers and join the battle.

The enemy troops arrived at Tarburg without pre-battle repairs, and after only an hour of hasty preparations, the first round of tentative attacks began.