"Sergeant Major, you really don't want to be this vice-captain? God can see that everything I say is serious. ”

"Art, I'm no longer a sergeant major, I didn't call you Master Arte, and you must stop calling me sergeant major. As for your position as vice-captain and captain of the Sentinel Cavalry, I think the Odo brothers have done a good enough job, and the little brother Ron of the Sentinel Cavalry has also done a good job. Besides, I really don't want to worry about the safety of my soldiers on the battlefield, so it's good for you to leave me alone! ”

Since the "Sergeant Major of the Holy Order" and "Scarlet Tomahawk" Angus announced that he would join Yat's army, Yat has been considering Angus's military position, as an elite soldier who has participated in the Holy War, Angus's personal combat skills and combat experience even surpass Yat's own, but now the position in Art's small army has been arranged, and after Art's personal coordination, it was determined that Angus will be the deputy captain and captain of the Sentinel Cavalry, on the same level as Odo, and the current Sentinel Captain Ron returned to Art's side as the chief of the guard, This result was also basically unanimously agreed by all the officers. However, when Art announced the appointment to Angus, Angus refused on the spot. He didn't want to hold any position, he just wanted to go it alone without any burden or drag by Art's side.

"Then you would like to be an ordinary soldier with a salary of twenty pfennigs a week? You must know that the vice-captain's wartime salary is forty pfennigs! ”

Angus touched his head and thought for a while and replied, "Art, do you think this will work?" I'm the deputy captain, but I'm not the captain of the sentry cavalry, I get the salary of the deputy captain, but I don't want a soldier under me, um~ I can assist the Odo brothers in training soldiers, and I'll just be by your side when you fight. ”

Art really wanted Angus to be the deputy captain and captain of the Sentinel Cavalry, after all, a soldier who was selected as a sergeant of the Holy Order was definitely the best cavalryman, and being able to become a sergeant major would definitely be an excellent commander. However, maybe Angus had a crux in his heart, so Art didn't want to be too demanding, so he had to accept it, and then Art held a military meeting and announced Angus's military position - deputy captain of the patrol team, responsible for assisting Odo in training the army, and under the direct command of Art during the war.

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

After a week of intensive training in Besançon, Yate's army was to be stationed in the southeastern frontier.

After breakfast, the army had put away the tents and gathered the personnel, and Charles, the knight of the Inner Palace, on behalf of the Earl of Balwin, the vice-chancellor of the court, came to the square barracks to see off Arte's army, and brought with him the letter of appointment issued by the court to Arte, the commander of the garrison of Talburg in County Glaru.

"Brother Arte, the order from the palace to Glaru County has been issued two days ago, at that time, Glaru County will allocate a batch of food and materials for you to repair the garrison of Tar Fort, but you can't count on Glaru County all, if they can fully supply the consumption of a military fort, Tar Fort, which is a military stronghold, will not be abandoned for decades and no one cares, so you still have to be fully prepared......

Bidding farewell to Knight Charles, Yat led dozens of men out of the east gate of Besançon and headed south, along the King's Avenue to the southeastern border.

Out of Besançon, Arte's army was automatically divided into three marching sections, with Ron's Sentinels at the front, the first squad of Bass, the third and fourth squads and two selected peasant squads in the center, the core of which was a dozen peasant soldiers and thirty laborers led by Yat himself, and a four-wheeled carriage full of supplies walked in the middle of the ranks.

The caravan was already on its way south to trade with nine wagons loaded with northern goods under the escort of the second squad of Kazak, and after completing this north-south trade, they were to join the army at Taal Fort on the southeastern border with a large amount of food supplies from Besançon.

When the army of more than 90 people crossed the fertile and vast plains of the Northland into the southeast hilly area, everyone had been marching on the King's Road for eight days, and the food and material consumption along the way were all purchased in the large and small towns on both sides of the road, and when they arrived at the border of Glaru, the army's food and materials not only did not decrease but increased a lot, the carriage was already full, and the laborers of the army carried a lot of food and materials on their shoulders. Even the unselected peasant soldiers carried a bag of grain on their shoulders.

Holding the hilt of the long sword at his waist in his right hand, Tuba followed Yate's side and said, "My lord, I haven't seen the slightest shadow of the mountain bandits along the way."

Art looked at the surrounding terrain and said: "The north is different from the south, most of the terrain here is flat and the soil is fertile, and there has been no war for many years, the farmers can concentrate on farming, and everyone can eat and drink enough, naturally they will not beg for food with their heads." Besides, now that the troops from all over the country are stationed on the eastern border through this King's Road, it is not surprising that a large group of huge bandits and thieves have long been wiped out by the army, and a small group of mountain bandits and rogues dare to intercept passing pedestrians and hawkers, so it is not surprising that they have passed safely all the way. ”

Tuba had a knowing expression, and before he could ask again, Otto and Ron, who had gone to negotiate in the city of Geraru, rode back to the brigade.

"Your Excellency, Viscount Hereth Waitanway will personally come to meet us in a moment with the noble officials of the city." Otto dismounted and hurried to Art.

A Viscount Lord's magistrate personally greeted the little apprentice knight, much to Art's surprise.

But then Otto's words solved Arte's doubts.

"Viscount Herreth will send someone directly to take us to Tar Fort so that we don't have to enter Geraru City, saying that the garrison fort is important and we can't waste time, and they don't seem to have any intention of supplying us with food supplies."

Art didn't expect that this Viscount Herreth was also an extremely stingy guy, Tarburg was an iron nail pierced into the western border of the Duchy of Swabia by Glaru County, if Talburg could send troops to garrison, the pressure on Geraru City, which had an additional defensive line, would be reduced, for such an important friendly army, Viscount Herreth was still so stingy.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for a dozen or so people to appear at the fork in the road, led by none other than Viscount Hereth, the magistrate of Glarus.

Art gritted his teeth and stepped forward to salute Viscount Hereth.

After some greetings, Viscount Herris said with a smile: "I have received the documents of the court, with your elite army stationed at the gate of Geraru, the Swabian army will not dare to run rampant in the county." ”

Art didn't want to talk too much about the lord who was like a shrewd merchant in front of him, so he changed the topic and said: "Lord Viscount, the palace has appointed me to lead troops to garrison Tarburg, but I have dozens of mouths to eat and drink here, and if there is a war, the loss of weapons and materials will be even greater. ”

Hereth's face began to change, and his smiling expression slowly fell, "Knight Yat, the court only said that the villages and towns in the territory provide the necessary food and materials for the garrison army, but it did not say that it was specially supplied by Glaru County, and Tarburg has been abandoned for many years, but it is only close to Glaru County, which is not Geraru's territory. Moreover, the army and the servants who were conscripted this time were all paid for their own food, and the court was not required to provide food and supplies during the forty-day service, so the county of Gerrë had no obligation to provide you with the necessary food and supplies. ”

"Lord Herres, we have worked tirelessly to garrison the border, in order to strengthen the border defenders, besides, the main purpose of Talburg is to protect Glaru County, if Lord Viscount refuses to provide us with food and material supplies, I have to report to the palace that the defenders have no food and no pay, and cannot afford to garrison an empty fort, and request that the army be sent to other places to garrison, anyway, as long as it is to resist the enemy, it will complete the mission anywhere." After saying that, Art stared at Viscount Hereth.

Viscount Herreth didn't plan to really not supply any supplies to the army that came to garrison Tarburg, but at present, Glaru County, which is the border against the enemy, is also facing great pressure, the border has not been fought for many years, and the total number of troops in the county's villages and manors is less than three hundred, and one hundred have been transferred to the palace to assemble and dispatch before. Now Hereth is mobilizing all the forces in the county to strengthen the defense, and the county town that is being repaired and strengthened also needs a lot of people and property. So Viscount Hereth also thought that he could save a sum of money in Talburg. However, the tone of the little apprentice knight in front of him was quite firm, and it was impossible for Hereth to really let him lead the troops back to the court, so Hereth finally made a compromise......

…………

Art's army, led by Viscount Hereth's chief of guard, marched east from the fork in the road to the abandoned Fort of Tar.

Otto followed Yat on foot and whispered: "1,200 pounds of food is enough for the army to consume for less than half a month, but six infantry bows and 1,000 arrows can still play a role in defending the city, the key is that the few carpenters and blacksmiths sent are of great effect, without their guidance, our laborers would not even be able to make stools, let alone those defense equipment." ”

Otto is talking about the personnel and materials that Viscount Hereth allocated to the army stationed in Talburg, two carpenters and a blacksmith were reluctantly agreed to be transferred by Viscount Hereth under Art's repeated pleas, there are carpenters and blacksmiths in the valley wooden fort, but the old carpenter Bard is too old to march long distances to fight, those two blacksmiths were lent to Art by Lord Galvin, Art has no right to ask people to take risks to participate in the war, in Besançon, but all craftsmen who are useful for war have long been recruited by the court or hired by other armies.

"This Lord Hereth is a difficult person, and it will not be easy for us to pick up some supplies from him in the future." Otto continued.

Hearing this, Art stopped, turned his head and commanded Odo: "Well, so tomorrow when the army enters Talburg, you will immediately send someone to the city of Glaru to ask Lord Herreth for personnel and supplies, anyway, the things will not be in hand and keep urging." ”

………………

The army marched east for a whole day, arriving at the abandoned fort in the southeastern border of Swabia and Burgundy early the next morning.

Talburg is a military fort built more than 100 years ago, about 30 miles away from the nearest city of Geraus, located in Swabian on the most convenient and fast road into Glaru County, many years ago Talburg was an important pass of east-west trade, but with the passage of the trade route in the northern plain, there is neither caravan traffic here, nor there is no fertile land around to guard, plus there has been no war for many years, so it has gradually lost the role of the mall and the military fort, since the last group of troops stationed more than 30 years ago withdrew, until now, Talfort has never had troops and permanent residents, except for the occasional passer-by and Orion who pause in Talfort.

The abandoned Tar Fort was built on the top of a bare hill less than two hundred yards next to the road, the circumference of the military fort was about six hundred feet, the base of the wall was eight feet made of stones, and the upward ten feet were the walls of the outer fort mixed with wood and stone, and there were walkways on the wall that could accommodate three people in parallel, and there was a battlement every five steps, and there were arrow towers around the walls of the outer fort; There are five or six dilapidated houses in the outer fort wall, and more than forty steps into the gate of the outer fort is a circular stone inner fort, the inner fort is about fifty feet high, there are three floors, each floor has arrow holes, and the top of the inner fort is a wide guard tower surrounded by a battlement wall, and the guard tower can accommodate more than 20 archers to climb the tower at the same time; There are some abandoned warehouses, barracks, stables, training grounds and a well that is still bubbling on the inner side of the inner fort, and a pony lane extending from the avenue leads straight to the gate of the wooden fort, but at this time the military fort has no gate, only the outer fort wall has collapsed in three places, the inner fort is still quite strong, but the entire military fort has been abandoned for many years, and the inner fort is overgrown with weeds, and it really needs to be cleaned well.