At the beginning of February, the coldest season is especially true in the county of Tignets, on the edge of the southeastern mountains of the Count of Burgundy.

Behind the gate of Wincheston Manor, two soldiers in cotton robes and thick sheepskin jackets surrounded the bonfire behind the doorway with short spears to keep warm.

One lean and the other honest, the two soldiers stomped their feet and discussed something excitedly.

The lean soldier covered his frozen ears with his warm hands, and asked the honest soldier, "Man, it's been a few days since the military reward was paid this time, have you thought about how to use that money?" ”

"No, it's useful to save up." The honest soldier replied with a white breath.

"You still don't admit that you are a hillbilly, being a soldier and fighting is to put your head on the tip of a spear to live, no one knows when your head will fall to the ground, what are you doing with so many military rewards? Tomorrow it will be our turn to rest, take your one hundred and fifty pfenni military reward with me to the county tavern for a beautiful drink, and find a few girls to accompany you in the evening, and ensure that you are full of red light for a week, Zizi ~ Those girls *****...... "The leaner soldier danced with his eyebrows and painted a picture of the honest soldier Lang, who accompanied the wine girl Lang in the free bison tavern in the county town.

The honest soldier blushed and listened to the description of the elite soldier's teaser, and his saliva was about to flow out.

The honest soldier suddenly turned pale and spat into the bonfire, "Phew, you bad seed is bad, you obviously want me to pay you to have fun." I told you that I was going to save this money and go back to the valley to build a wooden house and marry a woman, and you would have less idea of beating my money bag. ”

The elite soldier was not annoyed when he saw through his intentions, and continued to persuade: "Repair the house? Do you know how much it costs to build a wooden house at the Wooden Fort in the valley right now? ”

The honest soldier shook his head.

The lean soldier stretched out a finger and waved, "A whole thousand pfennig!" It costs 500 puffins to buy land from the civil administration alone, and you have to pay someone to cut down timber and build a wooden frame, and you can't build a decent house without 1,000 pfennigs. ”

The honest soldier was in trouble, he didn't know that the house price in the valley had risen to thousands of fennigs now, "this~Then my money is not enough~"

The lean soldier continued to guide, "So, it's not enough to spend it quickly anyway, so you don't have to worry about it." I didn't get the reward for killing the enemy, and the only twenty pfennighs for participating in the war and the rest of the salary from last month were all lost to the bastards of the baggage team, and the few copper coins left in the money bag were not enough to go to the county town for a meal and drink, for the sake of our squadron mates, you gentleman took his brother back to be chic once. ”

Seeing that the honest soldier's face was getting longer and longer, the lean soldier immediately changed his words and said, "Otherwise, you can lend me thirty pfennigs, and I will pay you back when the military salary is paid next month."

The honest soldier didn't accept at all, "Since you gambled with those old guys in the baggage team, what month has your military salary been in the money bag for more than three days?" I borrow money from you, what do you pay me back? ”

"Miser! Keep the money for you to marry and have children. The elite soldier spat into the campfire.

The honest soldier looked disdainful, "If you are brave, the private soldier of Dean who was cut down by me is your battle exploit, who TM made you shrink your neck at a critical moment, and now that I have won the military reward, you are starting to blush again." ”

"You wait, next time I fight again, I will kill three enemies in one go, and I will definitely get more military rewards than you, and I will see who is red when the time comes!" The lean soldiers felt that their dignity had been trampled on, and threatened to wash away their shame in the next battle.

The lean soldier swore an oath to make a covenant and was in high spirits, but the honest soldier on the opposite side suddenly stood upright, silent, and kept rolling his eyes at the lean soldier.

Thin was startled, and quietly turned his head to the right to glance at it, thinking it was the chief patrolling, but there was no one behind him.

The lean soldier turned around and scolded, "You bastard, if you don't believe it, why are you still scaring people."

Before he could finish speaking, the lean soldier was tapped on the left shoulder, causing him to fall to the right in fright.

Dunnis hurriedly stepped forward to pick up the soldier who fell to the ground and slapped the snow foam off his body for him, "Look at you, why are you so careless." ”

"Si~Lord Ideological and Political Officer~" The lean soldier nodded and bowed.

Dennis took two steps back and showed a kind smile, "It's all said, it's good for the brothers to call me Brother Dunnis, although the Baron is kind enough to allow you to light a bonfire to keep warm when you are on duty, but you also have to concentrate on duty, the brothers behind this door are relieved to hand over their lives to you." ”

The two soldiers on duty bowed their heads in shame.

Denis was neither a military commander nor a military judge, he just kindly reminded him, and seeing that the two of them were already ashamed, Dunnis smiled again and said to the lean soldier: "Just now I heard you say that you want to kill the enemy and receive a military reward for meritorious service. Very good, those of us who are soldiers have to accumulate wealth and rank higher by killing the enemy for meritorious service, and your performance is not excellent this time, but you will definitely be able to do it next time. Dennis gave encouragement to the lean soldiers.

The lean soldier only boasted when he was momentarily provoked by the stinginess of his accomplices, and he did not think that he would have the courage to plunge the spearhead into the body of a living man next time.

Dennis gave a few more words of encouragement to the honest soldier, and asked, "I have just come out of the barracks outside the manor, is the Baron in the mansion?"

"Ideology and Politics~"

"Hmm~!!" Dennis made a grimacing expression.

The lean soldier immediately changed his words, "Deng, Lord Dunnis, Lord Baron is patrolling the checkpoint site on the road to the north. ”

Denis glanced at the road crossing on the north side, turned around and tugged at the collar of the corner of the lean soldier's clothes, and said, "Remember, next time change "sir" to "brother". ”

"You keep watching, keep watching. I'll have to report to the Baron. With that, Dunnis patted his somewhat wrinkled cotton armor robe, and turned over and walked towards the trade road post north of Wincheston Manor......

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

On the north side of Wincheston Manor, at the fork of the north-south trade road, the captain of the camp team commanded a dozen serfs of the manor to build an outpost to control the road.

The outpost under construction is designed to resemble a southern frontier outpost, but there is a military fort next to Wincheston Manor, and the main purpose of the outpost is to intercept and check on passing merchants, and the army responsible for guarding the outpost can be stationed in the manor, so the outpost does not have a high outer wall fence, and there is no need to dig deep pit traps to defend against enemies. A wooden hut is being built next to the road just so that the soldiers guarding the gate can have a shelter from the wind and rain.

Two sections of the road have been set up with wooden barriers to refuse horses, which are usually closed, and pedestrians can only pass after being checked and paying the transit tax before rejecting horses.

There are ditches in the cultivated fields on both sides of the road, and it is not easy to avoid the pass.

Art stood on a mound behind the outpost hut and watched the construction site, with Legion Adjutant Otto and Chief of Guard Ron waiting beside him.

Odo pointed to the trade road under the mound, "My lord, after the outpost is completed, five soldiers will be sent to the manor every day to guard the people who come and go, but this place is too close to the county town, and most of the merchants have paid the business tax outside the county town. ”

Art glanced at the direction of the county town of Tignets in the north, many major events happened in Tinets County during this time, but Pierre chose to turn a blind eye, which can be regarded as a disguised support for Art, plus Pierre has indeed not felt sorry for himself over the years, so Art did not plan to put Viscount Pierre on the opposite side.

"The transit merchant tax must be collected, otherwise what will I build this outpost for? However, the tax is lower, and it is collected according to the standard of the county's commercial tax, which is enough to feed the outpost, and as for Viscount Pierre, I will give him one-third of the tax, so that he will not be disgusted. ”

"As for those merchants, the Dean family used to extract a lot of business taxes, and after they paid the taxes to me, I promised them that they would have a safe journey from Wincheston to the southern border, and they would have earned the money they had saved for the bandits, and they still had the brains of merchants."

"Your Excellency has a point."

"Did the garrison sent by Lane Manor reply to the letter?" Two days ago, Art took a break to straighten out the events at Wincheston Manor, and then sent troops into Ryan Manor.

Lane Manor was originally the domain of Baron Bazel, and after Bazel was attacked and killed by "bandits" for unknown reasons, Lane Manor was recently temporarily managed by a knight, and Yat asked Kazak to take a flag team of soldiers directly into Lane Manor, and the knight did not dare to disobey at all, and immediately packed up his things and left with a few soldiers.

"My lord, Lane Manor and Southwest Farm have been controlled by us, Kazak wrote back that he is now checking the land and farmers of Lane Manor, in the past two years, the bastard of Bazel has robbed a lot of displaced people to become serfs, and the land that Lane Manor has reclaimed is at least two thousand acres, but the land of Lane Manor is not as fertile as the land around Wincheston, and even less than the fertile land in our valleys. Even if all the land in Lane Manor were cultivated, it would be enough to feed more than 150 farmers. ”

"The southwest farms are slightly better, the land is less but more fertile, and there are streams crossing the border for easy irrigation, and if you use the method of using fertile soil, you should be able to feed about 200 households."

"The best place is Wincheston Manor, and during this time I have taken a baggage team to measure the land, and the land that has been cultivated alone is three thousand and seven acres, and there are at least two thousand acres of uncultivated fertile land, and there is a large lake of three streams to the east of the manor, and a dense wooded hill five miles southwest of the manor......

Wincheston Manor's territory, with its mountains, rivers and fertile land, is indeed an excellent place to farm, and it is not as closed as the Barony of the Valley, which is more attractive to people to visit.

"If you can have here~" Otto yearned.

Art glanced to the north, then looked back at the Wells Legion garrison outside the manor, and said with a light smile: "This place already belongs to us!" ”