"The county of Longxia is not the domain of the Count of Burgundy, it is the de jure territory of the Duchy of Burgundy, but it has been under the de facto control of the Kingdom of France for all these years. However, Midsummer was too far away from the capital of the Kingdom of France for the royal family to effectively control there, so Midsummer became a de facto independent county. ”

"The county of Longxia is not large, the territory is only half of the province of Jonah, it has three counties and a city of Longxia, and the territory is mountainous and not rich in grain, but it is very suitable for the growth of grapes, so the wine of Longxia is second only to the high-quality wine of Podol, and the Earl of Longxia also relies on Longxia wine to maintain a lot of strength."

At the age of fifteen, Flender took over the title of Count of Longxia from his father, and for ten years the young count showed an astonishing talent for domination, and the wine of Longxia was already sold far away in the southern continent, and it is said that even the kingdoms on the other side of the sea drank the wine, and the wine of the southern continent was more famous than the wine of Portol. And at the age of eighteen, Count Flender took advantage of the strong physique, tenacity and fierce folk characteristics of the mountain people to form a mountain mercenary army of 100 people, and he has been leading this army to settle disputes for lords in various places all these years, and his mercenary army has exceeded 1,000 people two years ago. However, the army of Midsummer did not set foot in the Duchy of Burgundy and the Earl Kingdom, so the Marquis of Ivrea could tolerate the presence of that army. ”

On the rugged mountain road leading from the mountain shortcut to Sapu Castle, the well-informed military priest Robert gives Art an overview of the county of Longxia, and behind the two are six mounted baron guards led by Ron.

Art originally planned to bring only two or three guards with him, but Odo Angus and Cooper repeatedly emphasized Art's safety, so they brought six of the most elite guards with him to Midsummer to lead.

Art had decided to be invited to visit the man behind the scenes, and of course the young Earl of Longxia was also Lottie's cousin and little George's cousin.

According to Faria, he should also call this young earl of a similar age a cousin.

The road was rocky and bumpy, so Art simply let go of the reins and let the horses under him choose their own routes to climb up the mountain, "Father Robert, I remember you told me before that you heard about these Counts of Longxia on your way back to Burgundy with the Inquisition of the Inquisition in Paris, and did the Count of Flanders also have close ties with the Church of Paris?" ”

"Not only close, but also good at warfare but also good at camping, every year he would visit the churches and magnates of Paris and the Duchy of Burgundy with rich gifts, and the Archbishop of Paris was familiar with Flender."

Art sighed secretly in his heart, the difference in age is the same, how can this difference be so big? I don't remember the appearance of an archbishop of the country, and those "cousins" have been closely related to the French archbishop.

"That ......"

"Sir. There's movement around! Ron's sudden appearance interrupted Art's words.

Art subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of Yu's sword, and his eyes rolled and glanced around, but no figure was found.

"How many are there?" Art removed his hand from the hilt of his sword, letting the horse continue pacing, and asked Ron casually.

"I only saw two figures on the edge of the cliff on the right flank, and I didn't see anyone else."

Art looked around, they had already walked out of the cliff canyon that was very easy to ambush, and there was a barren slope in front of them that was not easy to ambush, "They didn't move in the cliff, they should be a small group of mountain bandits, let the guards keep an eye on it." Put up my heraldic flag, and if you are interested, you should leave on your own. ”

"Father Robert, where did we just go?"

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

After a day's journey through the mountains, the men reached the edge of the mountains, and a mile further on the border of the flat valley of Sapburg.

As soon as the group pulled the reins and turned a sharp bend, seven or eight people holding gōng nǔ in their hands suddenly stood up from the miscellaneous boulders on both sides of the road, and the gōng nǔ in their hands was straight towards several people.

The sudden change startled everyone, and they were all on guard all the way, so they could think that they were out of the valley and ambushed.

Several of the guards immediately raised their shields and drew their swords and kicked their horses, blocking in front of Art and Father Robert.

"Why don't you get off your horse and surrender, and wait for my lord to shoot an arrow through your head?" A forward gōng nǔ yelled viciously at the guards.

"Lay down your arms." Ron said to a few of the guards beside him.

"Lord Ron?"

"They're the Sapburg Army!" Ron saw the burqa coat of arms on the shouting soldier.

"Put it down! Put it down!! Put it all down!! That's Baron Art! It's the brother-in-law of the commander!! Put it down! The man who looked like a small officer also saw the heraldic flag of the team at the foot of the mountain, and quickly exclaimed in surprise that his gōng nǔ hand lowered the gōng nǔ, and then rolled and slid down the mountainside of the hill and ran to Art.

"It's really Baron Art!" The junior officer carefully glanced at Yat, who was blocked by the guards, and then turned his head and shouted at the shouting gōng nǔ hand who was still stunned: "Bastard, what are you still doing in a daze?" Hurry up and report to the Commander!! ”

"Hello~ Okay, go immediately." The shouting gōng nǔ trotted all the way towards the small village not far away.

The little officer turned to Art again and said, "Baron Art, it's me, I followed you to kill mountain bandits in the southern hills in the early spring three years ago."

Art remembered the humble creature in his mind.

"Marr the Hunter!" Ron, who was standing in front of Art, suddenly remembered the guy in front of him.

"Yes, yes! I'm Marl the Hunter! You are~" The little officer looked back and forth at the hideous-looking rider on horseback.

"I'm Ron~" Ron's tone suddenly cooled, he knew that the long scar on his face had broken his appearance.

"It's Brother Ron! It's really the Ron brothers! "Hunter Mal did recognize Scar Ron.

Art drove a few steps forward and walked up to the little officer named Mar, "Mar, who are you?" ”

"Back to Lord Yate, the Commander is leading us to clear out the bandits in Barony Sap. Three days ago we defeated the largest bandit in the territory, and a dozen or so bandits fled into the mountains, and we are sealing off the mountains with the intention of clearing them. ”

"Oh! How many bandits were there? ”

"Originally, there were forty-five people, but in the past few days, we have killed more than 30 people, including the bandit leader, and the remaining bandits have fled into the mountains under the leadership of a leader."

"Where did such a big group of bandits come from? Isn't there no big bandits in the Barony of Sapp anymore? Art remembers that since he led his army to carry out a thorough sweep of the Sapp bandits three years ago, Sapp has been much quieter.

"These mongrels are not local bandits from Sap, they are rebels and bandits who have fled north from Provence. Now that the war in Provence has subsided, and the front-line troops have returned to their hometowns one after another, after the return of these troops who had experienced the battle array, the original rebel bandits who oppressed the good ones naturally could not survive, so they fled north. Several of them ran to the Barony of Sap. ”

"The territory has not suffered from banditry?"

"Nope! As soon as the bandits arrived in the southern hills, they were spotted by our patrolmen, and the commander led us in pursuit of them all the way from the southern hills to the eastern mountains. ”

The little officer turned around and greeted a gōng nǔ hand to explain a few words, and then made a gesture of invitation to Art with a smile on his face, "Lord Art, Brother Ron, distinguished guests, please come with me, our Lord Commander is in the village at the foot of the mountain." ”

As he spoke, the junior officer led a few people along the mountain road towards the village not far away.

After walking for a while, there was the sound of horses' hooves stomping on the ground ahead, and Felix galloped from the village below the hill with two cavalry guards.

Now Felix has changed his appearance, and after returning from being seriously injured in the reconquest of Valonburg, a border fortress in the province of Jonne, Felix was promoted to a midshipman under the slight operation of Count Balwyn and became a glorious knight lord.

Since he is a knight lord, of course, he must have the appearance of a knight lord, a cast iron full helmet, plate chain mail, heraldic robes, iron-armored combat boots, a steel knight's sword, and then a tall Northland steppe horse, which is definitely majestic enough.

Riding his horse to him, Felix took the reins of his horse, then jumped off his horse and walked towards Art, the serious wounds left by the Wallonburg cavalry could not be healed, and Felix was still a little lame when he walked.

"Brother-in-law, Brother Ron, Father Robert, I thought you would enter Tapp from the southern hills."

"I didn't bring anything with me this time, so it's easier to walk from here."

"Yes." Felix nodded.

"You've worked hard all the way, come with me to the village to rest for a while, and then we'll go back to Sapsburg." Felix took the reins of Art's horse and walked a few steps, then stepped on the horse's back and led the group into the village.

The village was not large, and for the wealthy barony of Sapu, the village near the mountains was already poor, but it was still more solid than the remote villages in Tignets County, at least when the Yates entered the village, they could see the shadows of pigs, cows, mules, sheep, chickens and ducks and other livestock, and the villagers in the village were not dressed but at least they could cover their bodies.

In a slightly more elaborate courtyard in the center of the village, seven or eight military tents were set up, and soldiers armed with weapons and armor came and went.

As soon as Yate and the others entered the courtyard gate, two familiar faces stood straight at the courtyard gate to greet them, "My lord!! ”

Art was startled by the sudden two "adults", and looked up to see that it was the two soldiers that Felix had selected from the Wells Legion, both of them were commanders and instructors in Felix's army, and their status was very high and Felix was highly valued.

Yate stopped and looked the two people up and down, patted them on the shoulder, and said, "Not bad! I've heard Felix talk about your achievements, and you didn't disgrace me! Do a good job, assist Felix in training a strong army, and the warriors from my Wells Legion should be the most elite warriors wherever they go! ”

"Yes! Remember the teachings of adults! ”

Art and Father Robert followed Felix into the house, and the two officers exchanged a few more greetings with Ron, and led some of the guards to rest in the tent......

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

In the afternoon of the same day, Felix handed over the task of suppressing the bandits to several of his commanders, and returned to Sap Fort with two personal attendants.

After a hearty dinner at Sap Castle for a night rest, the next morning, Baron Galvin and Frontier Knight Felix led six Sap Castle attendant guards to accompany Art and his party from Sapp Castle in a carriage full of valuable gifts to Midsummer.

The group traveled west through the province of Kodor and then turned southwest out of the border of Burgundy and followed the mountain road to the Midsummer mountains.

It took four and a half days to see the outpost outside Midsummer City on horseback and drive from Sapp to Midsummer City.

Galvin stood on horseback, pounding his aching waist with his right hand, pointing to a boulder wall across the canyon with his left hand, and said, "Art, past this canyon stone gate in front of you is Midsummer City." ”