"Dennis, although your performance is better than others, I can't directly appoint you as an ideological and political officer. I give you one month to carry out an inventory of all officers and enlisted men below the flag captain of the Welsh Regiment, and I will formally appoint you after this inventory. There are three things you need to do in this inventory, the first is to find out the personal information of all the people under investigation, including name, place of recruitment, past experience, etc., preferably with someone to corroborate; The second is to understand their thoughts and emotions, mainly whether they complain about the Wells Legion, whether they quarrel or complain with others on weekdays, and whether they have slackness in training. ”

Art sat down in the chair and leaned forward slightly, and said to Dunnith in a low voice, "The third thing needs you to do in secret."

Dennis leaned forward as well, listening attentively.

Art said, "I'm sure you've heard that some time ago my army was mixed with enemy traitors, and these guys almost poisoned me and my officers. Although the traitors have been captured and beheaded by me, I dare not guarantee that there will be no more hidden traitors in the army or in the civil administration. So the third thing I instruct you to secretly check if there are any suspicious people in the Wells Legion. On the civil affairs side, I have already arranged for the security team to conduct an investigation, and it is not appropriate for the army to act in a big way. ”

Dunnis has never had the experience of purging moles, of course he can't start, "Lord Baron, this~ is not to shirk, it's just that I've never heard of how to purge moles, and I don't know how to start......"

"I asked you to do the first two things just for the third thing. With the first two things, you have to guess that those people are flickering, untrue, or even deliberately fabricated and concealed when telling you where they came from or what they have experienced. After you have a suspicious object, you must ask the people around him, ask him if he has any suspicious behavior, and you must often inquire about some news that you shouldn't know, or whether there is any situation of disappearing for no reason, etc., and lock down some suspicious people through these methods. ”

"But this matter needs to be done in a subtle and meticulous way, so that no one of the soldiers and officers can put themselves at risk."

"I will ask Father Robert or Father Hamish to assist you in this, and before you there is a soldier named Daniel who will be recruited as an ideological officer, and I intend to have him as your assistant, and you two will do it together. If there's anything you need before I come back, go to Adjutant Odo. ”

"Okay, my lord~"

…………

"My lord, the inventory on the civil affairs side has basically ended, we focused on the two newly built villages in the southern part of the valley, and carried out an inventory of the people recruited after last spring, and found five more suspicious people, because after careful inquiry, the real origin of these people is somewhat different from the origin of the previous civil administration, but it is not possible to conclude that they have a problem for a while. So I have secretly ordered the village chief and the peasant soldiers in the village where these people are located to pay close attention to the movements of these people~" In the official room of the Lord's Mansion of the Valley Wooden Castle, the commander of the valley garrison, Bass, reported to Art again on the situation of the civil administration's investigation of the traitors, and Cooper, Odo, and Angus also sat in the house to participate in the secret meeting.

"Okay, you have to pay absolute attention to this matter, the Barony of the Valley is a territory closed by me, and the enemy can still infiltrate the killer, which means that the opponent has been prepared for us for a long time, you must not be careless."

Art turned his gaze to Angus, who was sitting directly across from him, and asked, "Sergeant Major, has the secret order been delivered to Boulder Town and the border outpost?"

Angus replied: "My lord, the secret order has been served, Obote and Simon have begun to secretly investigate, and the defense of the two places has also been tightened inside and loosened according to your requirements, and the number of soldiers patrolling and guarding the outside every day has not increased, but the defense in the garrison camp has been strengthened."

"Sergeant Major, send the secret letter to Redogan as soon as possible, and tell Redogan that after doing this, he can officially say goodbye to the identity of the bandit."

"I'll arrange it right away."

"Bath, what about the guards in the valley?"

Bas rubbed his head, which was a little sore from the weather, and replied, "My lord, since you issued the ban, I have sent a standing peasant army to patrol the territory in three parts, and no one is allowed to leave the territory without permission until you announce the lifting of the ban."

"Cooper, Sarth, when will they be back?"

"Master, Salter has received a secret order, and they will gallop back after settling the southern business affairs a little, and they should be able to return to the valley by noon the day after tomorrow." Old Cooper replied.

Art listened to the reports of several people and nodded, "Everyone, I am going to go out and do a big thing in the next period of time, and if this thing is done well, it will not only bring down a powerful opponent, but also become a stepping stone on the road to rise." ”

"I'll arrange your tasks during this time."

As soon as they heard that Art was going to arrange the task, they all sat up straight and listened with serious faces.

"First of all, civil affairs, the key tasks of civil affairs at present are nothing more than production and construction. Production is divided into two parts, one is grain production and land reclamation, this year's winter wheat has been sown, the peasant households have begun to leisure, you have to let the cantonment officer and the peasant households continue to reclaim wasteland, and strive to reclaim more than 1,500 mu of land before the beginning of spring next year, in addition, the matter of fertilizing the soil must be promoted, and the village gathering places must dig manure pits to collect human and animal manure and fertilizer. The second is workshop production, the workshop area has been basically completed, the civil administration as soon as possible to provide for the artisan workers to live in the house to repair the house, so that the workshop craftsmen and their families all move to the workshop area to live, and after the house is completed, the workshop area should be fenced off and sent to select peasant soldiers to guard, unrelated people are not allowed to enter and leave the workshop area. ”

"As for the operation of the workshop, it should also be put into the state as soon as possible, the brewery has already brewed nearly a thousand pounds of beer, why is the weapon workshop still being debugged?"

"Sir, because the equipment of the weapons workshop is purchased from all over the world, many parts are not tightly fitted, and our hydraulic hammers often have problems, and the craftsmen are trying to ......"

Art waved his hand, "Cooper, you're the civil chief, you try to solve these things, I hope that when I come back from my trip, I can see the weapons workshop providing a steady supply of weapons and armor for the army." ”

"Yes, sir." Cooper didn't explain any more.

"Also, the textile workshop has begun to produce cloth, which is very good, but the development of straw paper must not be left behind, and the sooner we develop straw paper, the sooner we can make money from it. However, I would like to stress once again that the craftsmen involved in the development should keep it a secret, and if I hear anyone outside revealing anything about the development of straw paper, I will be severely punished! ”

"Yes, sir."

"Let's talk about production and construction. At present, there are two forts, three villages, and one square area in the valley, and we can't build new villages anymore due to the shortage of money, so this winter the civil administration will do two things in the construction: one is to strengthen and improve the existing forts, villages, and workshops, and the other is to continue to repair the road from Beiguan Junbao to the south of the workshop area, and the raw materials of the workshop need to be purchased from the outside in the future, and the materials produced will also be transported out through the road, so the road is the umbilical cord of the valley. ”

Cooper used a charcoal rod to jot down Art's arrangements one by one.

After arranging the civil affairs, Art turned to Otto and Bass and said, "Otto, Bass, the sergeant major and I are going to go out with the task force, at least for more than a month, or at most a few months, and the army will be handed over to the two of you."

"Otto is mainly responsible for the training of the Welsh Legion, this expansion is too eager, the recruitment of soldiers is uneven, and in the past two days, there have been new recruits who can't stand the harsh training and tried to escape with weapons and armor, I have asked the guards to recover the two and behead them. You have to firmly grasp the officers above the squadron leader, control the army through them, and behead all those who defect with weapons! The recruit training has passed, and if anyone still thinks that the Welsh Legion can come and go as he wants, then use the execution axe to tell him what military law is! ”

"But you can't be suppressed by military law, you also have to try to guide the dissolution of the soldiers, I have asked Dunnis and Daniel to calm the hearts of the people in the army and eliminate the restless, Father Robert wants to go out with me, I have asked Father Hamish to go to Beiguan to assist Dunnis to calm the hearts of the army. You have to give them support. ”

"As for the training of the army, I won't say much more."

"Bass, your head injury often recurs, and I know it's not easy for you. But now the valley is very fragile, and I can't let you rest in peace. Since you are the commander of the garrison, you have to take responsibility. Soldiers need to concentrate on training to prepare for battle, and it is up to you to garrison the valley to keep it in order. You should pay more attention to the things of setting up kabu posts and patrolling law and order. ”

…………

On the second Wednesday of November, Salter, who had received the secret order, rushed back to the valley with twenty wagons of the southern caravan and thirty-five and the caravan attaché.

The dusty Salter didn't care about the fatigue of the journey, and as soon as he returned to the valley, he found Art to report.

When Art learned that Salter hadn't had time to eat a bite of food, he personally arranged for the kitchen staff of the mansion to prepare a piece of food for Sasart, handed it to Salt, and ordered him to report back after eating.

Salter was accustomed to sleeping in the open air, so he took a few bites of the wooden spoon and swallowed the minced pea and wheat paste on the wooden plate, then wiped his mouth and got up to take a glass of wine handed over by Art, and said, "My lord, the trade affairs in the south have been arranged. After receiving your secret order, I hired two Provençal convoys at a high price to send all the remaining southern goods of this year to the border for stockpiling, which should be enough to supply the southern goods from the north before winter. ”

"Thanks to the opportunity you seized to obtain a concession for the trade of southern goods in the east of Provence in times of war, we have managed to gain a foothold in Provence, and now the trade routes of Provence are beginning to recover again, and in the months since the beginning of autumn, our purchases of southern goods have nearly doubled. Trade will drop after winter, but it will definitely continue to grow after the beginning of spring next year! ”

"Very good, we will talk about the caravan later, and it is important for me to summon you back this time."

Salter put down the wine glass in his hand, stared into Art's eyes and asked, "My lord, what is the matter?"

Art told Salter about the assassination of the Dean family who had infiltrated the army and poisoned him.

"tmD, the Dean family has gone crazy! My lord, we can't hold back any longer, the Dean family must be destroyed! "Even Salter, a businessman who is kind and temperamental, has gritted his teeth against the Dean family, and it seems that the people are indeed resentful.

"Salter, this time I summoned you back to completely kill the Dean family, this time I want the Dean family to reap the consequences......"

Art asked Salter to select the most reliable officials and guards in the five caravans to continue to go out with the caravan, and all the remaining guards of the southern caravan would stay in the soldiers' quarters in the wooden fort and live in the wooden fort......

…………

At the gate of the arsenal of the Beiguan Military Fort, Ron was leading a few task force soldiers to choose from the warehouse.

Today's Welsh Legion Armament Depot is no longer the empty it used to be, especially after the soldiers in the Legion defected with weapons a few days ago, Art ordered that in addition to patrolling and performing tasks, the weapons and armor of ordinary soldiers were all collected and stored in the Legion Arsenal, and all the weapons and armor were distributed to the soldiers when needed.

Spencer personally led Ron to a large stone house made of clay under the back wall of the North Pass Fort, and explained a few words to the guards guarding the warehouse, who took out a key from his waist to open the iron fence, and took out another key to open the solid oak door.

Pushing open the wooden door, the bright light entered the storeroom. On the left row of wooden shelves are neatly placed sets of chain mail, plate armor, iron scale armor, piercing armor, leather armor and the largest number of cotton armor {armed clothing}, of course, there are hundreds of round helmets, saucer helmets, nose guards, skull-covered half helmets, homemade iron helmets and a small number of knightly barrel helmets, and on the weapon rack on the right side of the entrance are a wide variety of weapons of different shapes, from ultra-long spears that are nearly twenty feet long to short-handled bǐ shǒu and single-edged knives that are only one or two feet long. From a long-handled giant axe weighing fourteen or fifteen pounds to a light arrow less than one-fifth of a pound in the middle, from a powerful crossbow that can shoot up to 300 paces to a hand crossbow that can kill no more than 20 paces, from a halberd with multiple weapons to a decent broadsword......

Although the huge number of weapons is not enough to assemble the entire Welsh Legion, the reserve of thousands of weapons and armor is definitely well-armed.

Ron swallowed, he had never managed a baggage team, and he would basically not enter the warehouse, and now he was naturally a little shocked to suddenly see such a huge storage of weapons.

"That's ~ too much." Ron couldn't help but sigh.

"Lord Ron, according to your lordship's orders, you can pick whatever you want from the arsenal." Spencer had received orders from Art to allow the task force to choose from the arsenal of weapons and armor they needed.

Ron smashed his mouth, sucked the saliva back from the corner of his mouth, and pulled out a list of supplies from his bosom and handed it to Spencer.

Spencer took the list of supplies and read: "One broadsword and one short sword, one set of half-body chain mail, one set of bǐ shǒu {short knife}, one set of cotton armor, a complete set of boots and belts, and thirty crossbows and arrows......"

"This is the standard weapon armor for every task force soldier, and you have thirty-two sets ready." Ron said.

Spencer recalled the reserves of the arsenal for a long time, and replied, "Lord Ron, we can raise other arsenals, but we only have eight crossbows, which are of little use, so the caravans rarely buy them."

"Then use a small crossbow instead!"

Spencer nodded, handed the list to one of the baggage team officers who accompanied him, and asked him to take the baggage soldiers into the storeroom to select and prepare, and then he asked cautiously, "Lord Ron, what are you going to do this time?" I see that the whole thirty or so of you are training some weird things. ”

Ron glanced at Spencer and replied, "You'll know when the time comes, but you'd better not inquire now, and don't ask more if you shouldn't know."

"Yes, Lord Ron, I'm going to urge them to pick and prepare, you can wait a minute......"

…………