On the last day of June, the weather was already a little hot.

Standing on the gentle slope of the valley, the eye can see an attractive green and yellow, and the hot afternoon wind brings the fragrance of wheat seedlings to the face.

According to the estimates of Cooper and some experienced farmers, this 120 acres of cultivated land carefully cared for by the farmers can produce nearly 80,000 pounds of wheat, and more than 70,000 pounds of grain after the husks are shed.

Art toured the Vale with Scott and Lynn, the new Vale Steward (below the Woodburg Warden) and Captain of the Fort Guard.

All the farmers in the valley are responsible for cultivating the land assigned to each family when they are busy, and several stewards arrange their work tasks during the slack season. Now that the spring wheat harvest season has not yet arrived, the farmers are relatively idle, so except for a few people who have been sent to the wooden fort to help with the miscellaneous labor, most of them continue to cultivate new wasteland. The wasteland that had been reclaimed earlier and had not had time to sow spring wheat was planted with "cheap wheat" such as oats and rye, or vegetable crops such as peas, beans, and cabbage.

Art came to the wheat field at the bottom of the gentle slope, took down a handful of wheat ears and rubbed open the husk to reveal the slightly green white wheat kernels inside, took out the wheat kernels and put them in his mouth and chewed them carefully, the underripe wheat grains were still wrapped in a layer of slightly sweet juice.

"Scott, the army is about to go out to fight, and this expedition has not only taken all the troops in the valley, but also the old butler and Lawrence, so everything in the valley is all up to you to manage at home. This expedition will be as short as two or three months, or even a year or a half, so I need you to take up the burden of the valley. ”

Art paused, glanced at the valley full of harvest atmosphere, and continued: "Scott, you are also a wanderer in a foreign land, you know that the land is extremely important to farmers, whether it is the wooden castle or this valley land is created by so many of us with hard work and blood and sweat, no matter where our army goes, this is our foundation after all, I will hand over the foundation to you now, you don't let my soldiers worry about the unstable foundation in the rear when they are fighting on the battlefield."

Scott's expression was serious, he changed from a homeless man who fled with his wife and children to a well-respected civil magistrate was given by the person in front of him and the land in front of him, his love for this land is undoubted, and his loyalty to Art is also unwavering. Moreover, his son Ron was by Art's side every day. ”

"Master, don't worry, I won't let you down, I don't dare to say the rest, when you return triumphantly, I will definitely return the valley to your hands, even better than now."

Adam nodded and continued to Scott and the new steward Lynn: "During the period when I lead the troops on the expedition, the two of you must grasp the two most important things, one is to organize the grain harvest and land reclamation and cultivation in the valley field, you are both experienced in this matter, I will not say much. The second is to maintain stability in the valley. The horse carriageway at the edge of the dense forest in the north should not be opened for the time being, and the dense forest should be used to shield the outside world, and no one should leave the valley easily. As for the surrounding areas of the valley, some time ago I organized soldiers to conduct a thorough inspection along the valley for a day's journey, and found no signs of human population or banditry activities, so there should be no hidden dangers in the surrounding area. In addition to the peasants who have been taken away by me, you can recruit a few more peasants to come in, and the wounded soldiers of the patrol team will be temporarily arranged into the fort guard, so that the two of you can make up ten peasants of the fort team, and I will ask Otto to allocate you a batch of weapons that the army has eliminated. These bunker peasants are more than enough to keep the valley safe. In addition, those who are honest and reliable will stay in the valley and hand them over to your envoys, and the remaining prisoners of war can give them some freedom, but don't let them touch weapons and important supplies for the time being, you can control this yourself, in short, you can't let the valley fall into danger. If there is indeed a major crisis, you should go to the outpost on the southern border and ask Simon for help, and if it is not solved, go to Fort Sap and ask Baron Galwin for help as a last resort, of course, I don't think that will happen......"

Art explained to the two of them for a long time in the valley, and it was not until the farmers finished their work and began to return to the gentle slope village of the valley for lunch that Art stopped talking to the two and had a sumptuous lunch cooked by Lawrence's wife alone with the peasants of the fort team in the valley.

In the afternoon, he took Scott and Lynn back to the wooden castle to attend the wooden castle banquet before the expedition......

The soldiers who had been training in the wooden fort in the valley for a whole month were not able to rest. The squad leaders are taking their soldiers to the Wooden Fort Arsenal to receive the weapons and equipment of the squad soldiers, including six sets of new robes and capes, six oak round shields with iron bars, six seven-foot beech spears, two broadswords, four short swords, two sets of leather armor and iron helmets, six daggers, two battle axes (or chain hammers, page hammers), six pairs of boots, and six sets of marching backpacks for carrying personal items such as felt blankets, whetstones, wooden bowls, water bladders, dry food, etc., in addition to two rye breads, Five pounds of hulled wheat and a half-pound of bacon and a small packet of coarse salt. These are the items that each soldier needs to carry separately, in addition to this, each squad also has a separate military tent, a few felt blankets, and camping tools such as shovels, axes, and saws.

The Sentinels are also very busy, and all the Sentinels not only need to receive the weapons and equipment of the cavalry, but also need to maintain their horses before going on the expedition.

As the captain of the Sentinel Cavalry, Ron has been able to skillfully change the horses' shoes, trim their hooves, and clean their fur, and the Sentinel's horses have become strong again after a month of careful fat breeding. The standard armament of the Sentinels differed from that of ordinary soldiers, except for the common burqa and cape, belt, boots, backpacks, knives, and cutlery, each Sentinel was equipped with a cavalry sword (or a heavy weapon such as a long-handled page hammer), a ten-foot spear with spear wings, a cavalry bow (hunting bow), fifty quivers, a leather armor, and an iron helmet. In addition to the weapons and equipment of individual soldiers, each horse was equipped with a full set of saddles, a set of homemade black horse robes, a horse feeding bag and a small wooden barrel, and the mattress also carried fifty pounds of black beans and concentrate feed, and the sentry cavalry also equipped a large donkey that specialized in carrying black beans, wheat bran and refined grain.

In the cargo warehouse, Cooper, Lawrence, and Salter were organizing seven or eight prisoners of war to transport the selected goods to the edge of the jungle in the north of the wooden fort, where all the vehicles were hidden in the edge of the northern jungle, and all the goods would be loaded and ready to be transported.

The valley is thriving, and two years ago there was only a hunter's thatched hut, but now it is thriving with people and animals.

The previous seizures and commissions, as well as the money earned from the sale of southern goods in Sapu Fort last time, Art already has nearly 35,000 pfennigs, and Art does not have enough carriages and soldiers to escort the caravan now, so he only plans to take out 10,000 phins and hand them over to Cooper and Sart, plus the funds after the sale of the goods brought out of the wooden fort this time will be the starting capital for Art's business journey. Three thousand pfennigs were given to Scott to keep the valley and border posts in order, and the remaining 22,000 pfennies were to be used as expenses for Art's outing.

Needless to say, the grain in the valley has always relied on buying a large amount of food and materials from the outside to survive, and the surplus grain in the barn can only last for less than a month after meeting the basic rations carried by the expeditionary army and caravans.

The equipment of the cattle was also greatly supplemented, and Yate had eight military horses (mostly riding horses and pack horses), four ploughing oxen, one donkey, four mules, two donkeys, two pigs, and twelve sheep; Six four-wheeled carriages, four two-wheeled pack carts, ten heavy ploughs, fifty sets of iron farm implements and a large number of iron tools.

In the valley there were 25 households and 85 people (including the fort guards, healers, and blacksmiths), 32 army soldiers (including 2 wounded soldiers), 6 guard posts, and 20 prisoners of war who had not been declared free.

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

According to the plan, tomorrow was the time for the army to go out, and the night before the expedition, in order to boost morale, the wooden castle held a banquet.

When the soldiers learned that they were about to go to the battlefield, they were nervous and a little excited, especially the veterans who had participated in the battle, they had begun to like the thrill of fighting on the battlefield to manipulate life and death, and only in battle could they get war captures and military rewards.

The officers are also looking forward to the war, although Yate has not yet clearly proposed military promotion, but they already know that Yate will continue to expand the army for a long time, only in the battle can they obtain higher qualifications and prestige, and their status can be naturally promoted.

Art also knew that this expedition was different from the previous bandits. This time it was against the well-armed and well-trained Swabian army, many people might be buried in a foreign land, and for ordinary soldiers, it was not enough to rely on preaching and longing, so he announced at the banquet the salary of the combat army during the period of going out to fight - 20 pfennigs per week for ordinary soldiers, 25 pfennigs for the leader of the combat group, 30 pfennigs for the squad leader, 40 pfennigs for the deputy captain, and the salaries of other personnel who enjoyed the relevant treatment were paid accordingly. An ordinary soldier was paid more than the average craftsman in the city, and all food and lodging were provided by the army, and of course morale was high.

After the dinner, Yate summoned all the commanders above the squad leader, the steward of the wooden fort, the captain of the fort team and others to hold a military meeting in his hut. As more and more people attended the meeting, Yat's hut was already a little crowded.

Art moved the chair to the side of the wooden bed and sat down, looking around the room full of people, they are military or civil command and administrators, and they are also the backbone and hope of Yat's growing strength.

The crowd was bounded by a long table in the middle of the room, and on the left side of the door sat five people, Otto, Ron, Bass, Kazak, and Tuba, and on the right side, Cooper, Scott, Lawrence, Salter, and Lynn. This sort of seating was not intentional on Art's part, but because Art used to let Cooper and Otto sit on both sides to facilitate questioning, so everyone gradually formed the practice of military and civilian officers sitting on both sides, which was also convenient.

Art coughed a few times and cleared his throat, seeing that everyone was also quiet, and said: "Everyone, except for the Simon brothers at the border outpost, all the military officers and civil affairs officers of our valley wooden fort and the patrol team have gathered today, and we will not have such an opportunity to gather together quietly for a long time in the future. We have discussed many matters concerning the departure of the army and the caravans accompanying the army, and I will not go into too much detail. Today I want to give you a morale boost. ”

Everyone in the room was a little surprised, in the past, the council held in the wooden house was to listen to the stewards report their own affairs or arrange military and civilian affairs, but today Art did not arrange any affairs.

Art raised his hand and stared at the crowd, "Don't be surprised, I have told some of you something, and some of you can guess what I want to say."

Art paused and said, "After I am a declining nobleman, I am tasked with reviving the family and clearing the shame. In the early winter of the previous year, when I learned that Lombardy and Provence were at war in the south, I felt that the time had come, so for more than a year I had been recruiting farmers and soldiers, and constantly running around to fight, in order to find a way out of the troubled times........."

"Now, I have been entrusted by the court to be canonized as a trainee knight by Viscount Pierre, although I don't have a knighthood fief, and I can't change your civilian status, but if I can make a career in this expedition, I may be officially canonized as a knight, enjoy the title and fief, and when the time comes, everyone who will follow me to bleed desperately will be honored with me......"