"Otto, you take a squad of soldiers into the fort and search carefully, don't miss a corner, make sure there is no danger."

"Ron, take your sentry ten miles to the east, return immediately if there is an enemy, and if there is no enemy, continue to the east for five miles."

"The others will rest in place and settle into Talburg for a while."

On the avenue on the west side of the fort, Art saw off the man who led the way, and after giving orders to several officers around him, he walked towards the small hill next to the fort.

"Sergeant Major, do you think this place is suitable for defense?" Art asked Angus, who was following him up the hill.

Angus looked around and did not directly answer Art's question, "If I were the commander of the southern front of the Swabian army, I would definitely occupy Glaru, because the terrain of this county is much higher than other places, and as long as I capture Glarus, I can gather troops and swoop down from south to north to capture all parts of the enemy's border." But because of the high terrain here, attacking from Swabia requires carrying a lot of food and carrying a lot of baggage over the mountains, and this terrain is not suitable for a large number of troops to march and fight, so I don't think there will be a large army attacking here. ”

Angston paused, pointing to the east of the carriageway, "If there is really an army attacking Glarushire, I guess it is most likely to come in from here, because this carriageway is the closest road to the county town of Glaru, and when the march is not trade and commerce, when it can reach the vital point, the enemy will not detour into the hinterland of Glaru from the farther and more rugged southern mountains." So, Lord Art, you really want to fight! I chose such a place~ There is no village fort manor as a support here before and after, and once the city is besieged, there is not even a reinforcement to come to relieve the siege. If there are fewer people, you can't hold it, if you have too many people, you can't afford to raise it, and it's hard to save if you are surrounded, so Viscount Herice would rather give up this choke point than send a single soldier here. You've really solved a big problem for him. ”

Art nodded in agreement with Angus.

"Sergeant Major, you haven't answered my question yet, can this place be kept?" Art asked again.

Angus thought for a moment and replied, "You can keep it, but you may not be able to keep it."

Art was interested, "Can you elaborate on that?" ”

Angus organized his words and said, "If you want to defend this fort, you must meet three things: first, you have enough ability to repair and strengthen the Tar fort in front of you, at least you must be able to withstand the heavy blows of the boulders and battering rams thrown by the enemy's heavy trebuchets; Second, you need to be able to build watchtowers and waiting towers around Talfort, and you must have support and support forces when Talfort is attacked. On the way I had already seen two collapsed waiting towers, and I guessed that there were other watchtowers ahead of Talburg; Third, the fort must be stocked with enough food, drinking water, weapons, and baggage, especially the stones and barrels and fire oil bows and arrows that are urgently needed for food and city defense. If these three conditions are met, you will definitely be able to hold on to such a narrow place. However, Viscount Heruth can't meet these three points with the strength of the whole county, can you meet them? Taking a step back, if you really do these three things, I think that the enemy will not attack from Tarburg here, instead of filling the pit here with the lives of soldiers, the enemy should work hard and make a detour through the southern mountains, at that time the fortified fortress you worked so hard to build will become a fortress that no one cares about, and your desire to establish meritorious deeds will be disappointed, this is not your fiefdom, and it will not be possible to give it to a trainee knight in the future, and the court may reward you for repairing an abandoned military fort, But after all, you're just creating a comfort zone for him. Unless you're not going to stay here at all....."

At this point, Angus paused and turned to look at Art, and asked, "You don't plan to stay here at all, do you??? Do you want to use this as a base to take the initiative to attack!! ”

Art looked into Angus's eyes and didn't deny it.

"Are you crazy? With your men, you still have a slight chance of winning defending this military fort, if you want to take the initiative......" Angus really thought that Art was crazy.

Art stared at Angus's anxious expression and smiled, "I'm not stupid enough to attack the Swabian army and fortress with such a few people. ”

Hearing Art's calm words, Angus breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Are you planning to attack their scattered strongholds and rear baggage lines?" Just like those pagans did to us when we were in the Holy Land? ”

Art turned to look at the carriageway leading to the Swabian border, "It's not just that I've gone so far with so many people to help the court hold an abandoned military fort. This was the perfect time to swoop down from Glaru to the east, where the most fertile fertile fields southwest of Swabia and the army's vital supply lines were heavy, not only with the rich towns and villages, but also with the food and material needed for the war to pass through, and the Swabian army, which was busy preparing to conquer the rich lands of the northern part of Burgundy, would not have thought for a moment that a rabbit would dare to bite an eagle. It's not glamorous, but it's the best strategy out there......"

Angus savored Art's words, the stiff expression on his face slowly relaxed, and he smiled when he understood Art's tactics, and said excitedly: "Then we have something to do!" Maybe after a war, everyone can become rich. "Angus is gearing up.

…………

The two of them stood on the hillside and observed the fort and its surroundings, and discussed the defense of the fort at a cursory.

After a while Odo came to report that everything was in order in the fort, and Art returned to the brigade and called a few officers and ordered:

"Bass, divide your squad into two groups, one to occupy the surrounding hillside and keep sentry, and the other to patrol along the carriageway, not too far, within two miles from east to west."

"Odo, take the rest of the people into the military fort, clean up the military fort, and strive to have a roof on everyone's head tonight to shelter from the wind and rain, and then immediately start repairing the Talfort~"

"Yes!"

"Yes! My lord. ”

Otto and Bas were ordered to go their separate ways.

Art and Angus circled around the fort again, and inspected the stone foundation of the fort and several collapsed exterior walls, the foundation of the fort was still very intact and solid, and the several exterior walls that collapsed were not man-made damage, but only natural collapse after disrepair; The most seriously damaged is the fort gate of Taal Fort, this fort gate has been artificially damaged for some reason, the two oak gates have been demolished, all the rivets and iron frames on the giant door have been pried away, and even the wood of the giant gate has been cut down little by little by passers-by and hunters with hand axes to make firewood for cooking, and the two wooden doors have no way to be re-installed in the card slot on the door hole of the military fort.

Angus took out the battle axe on his back, shook his hand and slashed it on the rotten giant gate on the ground, the giant gate was cut off a large piece at once, Angus picked up a piece of crumpled slag, and said: "Lord Yate, this castle gate is probably the most difficult to repair, where to find such a tall oak for a while, even if you find it, how much time and energy will it take to make two giant gates~"

Yate is not a craftsman, and there is no way for a while, so he glanced at it and shook his head and said: "Let the carpenter come over and take a look in a while, see if you can find an alternative way, go in and see ......"

…………

"Let's go, go inside, maybe you can still find the treasures buried by our predecessors, I heard such legends when I was an apprentice trader." Spencer took the lead with a shovel and went into the inner fort of Tarburg, and several prisoners of war followed him with brooms made of tree branches, and then the sound of shovels digging in the inner fort was heard.

"Baggage officer, Lord Otto asked us to come here to clean up the inner fort, aren't we going to hunt for treasure here?" A timid laborer looked nervously outside and said sideways to Spencer.

Spencer urged a few prisoners of war to search every nook and cranny carefully, then turned to the timid servant and said, "What do you know? I'm also cleaning the Inner Fort, and I'm going to make sure it's free of snakes, insects, rats, and ants. ”

As he spoke, he shook his sore arm, threw the shovel to the timid servant, and ordered: "You come, keep digging~"

After searching for a long time, except for some rotten pottery and broken tiles, there was nothing of value at all, Spencer threw away the broken tiles in his hand and said to a few laborers: "Okay, okay, don't look around, hurry up and get to work, clean up the inner fort, let's start cleaning from the watchtower." Spencer carried a dead branch up the staircase of the Inner Fort......

On the other side of the inner fort, a dozen peasant soldiers are using weeds and dead branches cut from the fort to build roofs and repair holes in several dilapidated wooden houses at the base of the outer walls, so that the houses are as sheltered from the wind and rain as possible, and they will live in these wooden houses for some time to come.

The damage to the outer fort, Yate and Otto are carefully surveying, and the damage to the outer wall is mostly a mixed structure of wood and stone, and such damage cannot be repaired by piling up a few stones.

Otto looked at a five-foot-wide gap in the back wall, "My lord, it seems that we still underestimate the difficulty of repairing the fort wall, and we don't know how to build a wall with a mixture of wood and stone." ”

"In the past few days, you have organized soldiers and laborers to repair as many places as possible that can repair the outer wall, and those places that cannot be completed will wait for the old butler to come to Talburg with the caravan, he is a builder, and these problems will not be difficult for him." Art said confidently.

"Yes, the old butler is a builder, and repairing the fort is just a simple matter for him. ”

"Well, but you can't wait for the old butler to direct the repairs, and the caravan may arrive here at some point. We must first ensure the basic defense capability of the fort, and those damages that cannot be fully repaired for the time being must be temporarily sealed with strong wood. ”

"Yes, I'll arrange for someone to start repairing it right away."

At the main gate of the wooden fort, Tuba and his soldiers and a few laborers drew a frame about thirty feet long and twenty feet wide with wooden sticks in the open space in front of the fort gate, and they planned to hollow out all the soil in the frame to form a ten-foot deep pit, and then a wooden bridge would be erected above the tunnel for pedestrians and carriages to enter and exit, and the excavated earth and miscellaneous wood and gravel in the fort would be piled up in the gate of the fort, and the door hole would be blocked, leaving only an exit ten feet horizontally and vertically for carriages and horses to enter and exit. The two giant gates were also cut off by carpenters and replaced with a small fort gate that could block the exit, and the wooden bridge was removed and the fort gate was installed in case of hostility. This is also a stopgap measure, and Art has no intention of staying here anyway.

While everyone was busy in the fort, Ron returned to Fort Tar with three cavalry from the Sentinels.

"Ron, why did you come back after a morning, is there any enemy ahead?"

Ron handed the horse to Jason, wiped a handful of dust on his face, and replied: "Sir, there is no enemy situation within fifteen miles ahead, and we have explored the outpost five miles to the junction of the mountains and the plains, and I took Red to an abandoned watchtower, and found traces of a small number of troops stationed in the watchtower, but there is no trace of enemy troops around, and there are scattered villages in front of the watchtower, so we did not continue to investigate for fear of exposure." ”

Art listened carefully and ordered: "Don't act recklessly in the future, if there are really enemy troops stationed in the watchtower, you are likely to be exposed, once the enemy detects that we are stationed in Tarfort, immediately start an attack, all my plans have failed." ”

Ron just wanted to find valuable information for Art, and he really didn't worry too much, but he was reprimanded by Art at this time, and he felt a little aggrieved.

Seeing that Ron was a little lost, Art comforted: "Okay, you guys are doing well, go down to eat and rest for a while, go down and follow Otto to the city of Geraru to find Lord Hereth to urge the promised supplies to us." ”

After Ron left, Art instructed Angus: "Sergeant Major, you will take a few peasants to set up a temporary sentry on the carriage road, and from this period onwards, no one will be allowed to travel between Burgundy and Swabia from this carriageway, in case the enemy knows too early that there is an army garrison in Tarburg......