The day after returning to Kitsby from Aosta, Art led the caravan to return north to Burgundy, leaving Saltravin and a few capable caravan backbones to form a southern caravan of the European merchant house in Provence, and the subsequent grain transported from the outpost to Aosta will be transported by this southern caravan, and Art will also send an army to protect the safety of the grain caravan. 77dus

On the way back, they were never harassed by the "wild men" in the northern wilderness of Kitsby, and these bandits were not stupid, and the blood stains of the outpost cavalry killing the "wild men" were not dried for more than ten days, and no matter how hungry they were, they did not dare to look at this group of bloodthirsty fellows again.

The trip south to Provence was not exciting, but Yate's goal had been basically achieved, he was not only able to buy grain from the north at a low price and transport it to Provence at a high price, but also with the help of Berrion to obtain the authorization to enter the southern goods store of Provence, this thing may not be of much use in the war season, but once the war subsided, he will be able to enter the territory of Provence to operate the southern goods trade.

The group returned to the border outpost in a carriage, and everyone did not stop at the border to rest, and the convoy carried a batch of southern goods that had been "intercepted" in the recent period and then continued to drive to Jushi Town, where the convoy would continue to travel north to buy grain after a few days of rest.

When I returned to Boulder Town, it was a busy scene, dozens of captured bandits were being detained in the Boulder Town camp, and several large carriages of goods and materials were also stored in the Boulder Town camp.

It turned out that a week ago, Redogan sent a secret letter reporting that a group of powerful bandits had recently appeared in the county, contacting the scattered bandits, intending to loot several wealthy estates in the county.

After receiving this banditry, Otto and Angus carefully discussed and planned, and when the group of bandits captured a wealthy manor in the county and was about to retreat, they "surprised" annihilated the bandits, and returned part of the money and materials seized from the robbers to the owner of the manor, but the "unrecoverable" goods had to be stopped......

Since then, there has been no large bandit in Tinets, and the "Border Inspector" has fulfilled the duties entrusted to him by the court.

While enjoying the food specially prepared for him in the camp of Boulder Town, Art listened to the two henchmen sitting on the low bench in front of him report on the situation of the bandits, and boasted: "This time the bandits have been well done, especially the timing is good, we have driven out the bandits for the owners of the manor, and we can also get some war gains from the bandits to supplement the military expenses, which is a win-win situation." When you go down, you will distribute the rewards to the soldiers who participated in the battle against the bandits according to the information of the captures. ”

The two of them, Odo Angus, laughed softly.

Art waited for the two of them to laugh, and then asked, "Angus, how is the matter of the Legion training?"

Angus replied: "My lord, the matter of the reorganization and training of the soldiers has been basically completed, the soldiers of the four squadrons have begun to coordinate with each other after more than a month of joint training, and during the training period, two new soldiers were cut to the garrison corps as farmers because of unqualified training, and we selected two new recruits to be promoted to soldiers, and the others have met your requirements." Now the soldiers have begun to enter actual combat training, and the main forces of this time to suppress bandits are the rebuilt first squadron and the newly built fourth squadron, and their combat strength is somewhat inferior to that of the second and third squadrons, but they should be able to catch up after a period of training. ”

"How's Ron doing?" Art asked, he was very concerned about this henchman who had been deliberately sent to the legionnaires for training.

Angus glanced at Odo, Odo nodded, and Angus replied: "Ron is still a little arrogant, in the process of this bandit, he left the squadron soldiers and three of his subordinates to bite the bandit leader and chase for an afternoon, although he finally caught the bandit leader, but his soldiers were also killed and slightly injured, he himself was slightly injured, and now he is recuperating in the military tent." ”

"No wonder he never came to me, it turned out that he made a mistake and didn't have the face to see me. Did you order that you should not pursue it privately? ”

"Not really, so Ron can't be considered disobedient."

"Well, although Ron didn't disobey the military order, his stubbornness and stupidity caused us to lose an elite soldier, and fined him half a month's military salary, so that he could reflect on it."

"Yes, besides," Angus said again.

"What else?" Art motioned for Angus to continue.

"In addition, Viscount Pierre sent someone to check the number of our soldiers ten days ago, and the county seems to have some things about usurping power and expanding the army privately~ Viscount Pierre wants us to reduce the number of troops to make the county feel more at ease."

Art put down the wooden spoon, his face was full of unhappiness, and replied: "Don't bother, our expanded army does not occupy any food and equipment in the county, and they cannot restrain me. Besides, the court has no time to take care of us now, and as long as we don't go out and cause trouble, it won't affect them. ”

Angus replied, "Yes, I think so too, but Viscount Pierre does seem to be worried about us being in trouble in the county. Viscount Pierre scolded us for this crackdown, saying that we deliberately waited for the bandits to capture the manor before going to suppress the bandits, with the purpose of "robbing" the rich families in the county through the hands of the bandits. Anyway, the county will not report to the court for this bandit......"

Art smiled, "I don't say anything about this, anyway, even if the court gives a reward, the money doesn't reach my money bag in the end, it doesn't matter." ”

"But too many troops do attract suspicion, so we'll have to find a way to hide it."

After pondering for a while, Art thought of the recent need to send an army south to guard the grain, and said: "In this way, in the near future, I will send an army south to Provence to escort the grain, and we will send the second and third squadrons to guard the grain, and declare to the outside world that these two squadrons are mercenary guards hired by the caravan, anyway, the caravan is under the name of Baron Galvin, and he can't say that Baron Galvin's caravan hired mercenaries is arrogance, right?" In this way, I immediately wrote a private letter to Viscount Pierre, saying that I had cut half of the army......"

After arranging the "disarmament", Art turned to Odo again and asked, "How is the matter of recruiting and training recruits and preparing for armament?"

Odor was about to get up and answer, but Art waved to stop him.

"My lord, after the reorganization some time ago, there is basically no one left in the legion recruit team, so recently I have selected five young and strong people from the people to enter the recruit team for training, and at the same time, the border outpost and Boulder Town are also recruiting a group of young and strong people who are suitable for training as soldiers to enter the recruit team, and at present, we have twelve recruits, who are receiving basic training for recruits at the training ground outside the valley wooden fort, and the third squadron is responsible for training."

"In terms of armament and baggage, some time ago, after the caravan went out to buy and the valley craftsman workshop forged and repaired by itself, our weapons are basically enough for the soldiers, and there are still some spare swords, spears, axes, shields, bows and arrows and other weapons in the arsenal of the wooden fort. But we are in short supply of armor, and since we ended the Eastern Campaign, we have not captured much armor in almost all of our battles, and armor such as chain mail, iron scale armor, and leather armor is not easy to buy and very difficult to replenish. Fortunately, during this time, the Craftsman Workshop began to make some simple iron helmets and cuirass under the leadership of two craftsmen, this plate armor is not full-body plate armor, but more similar to iron armor plates), but the gap is still very large. ”

"Other items such as military tents, burqas, boots, bedding, water bladders, cutlery and other items are also gradually being prepared."

"But my lord, our military expenses during this period are too large, do we simplify the armament of the legion a little, can we not equip all soldiers with heavy weapons such as armor for the time being, and then discuss it when we have enough money in the future?"

Yate also sighed after hearing this, and replied: "Yes, we haven't fought with the regular army for more than half a year, and the weapons, armor, money and materials obtained by clearing out the bandits are too weak, and the caravan is just starting now, and the pressure on raising troops is indeed too great." ”

"I still have to find a way to go out and raise soldiers in battle~" Art used a wooden spoon to flick the broth on the small table.

Odo replied casually: "My lord, if we are going to send an army south to Provence to deliver food, why don't we go to Provence and accept their employment to fight for the Provencens?" The Lombards were wealthy, and their armies should be well-equipped. ”

Angus was awakened by Otto's words and said, "My lord, do you remember the news from Hawkeye in the Northlands? The court of Besançon is recently recruiting a group of troops to go south to Provence to help, if we can take the opportunity of the palace to send troops south, not only can we justifiably go south to fight, but also get the food and military expenses provided by the court, if we can make war achievements in the future, I think the court will also approve. ”

"However, if we become the conscription army of the palace and receive the salary of the palace, we will have to be dispatched everywhere, and we will lose a lot of freedom, and our actions will be quite restricted in the future~"

Art closed his eyes and thought about the words of Otto and Angus, and after a long time, he opened his eyes and replied: "You have a point, I can go and fight for it~"

"I'll do this later, Otto, you send someone back to the valley in a moment to bring Lawrence to Boulder, and tell Lawrence to leave the construction steward to Gel for the time being, and I will let him take over the caravan for a while. In addition, let Bass select a few honest and reliable garrison peasants to accompany Lawrence to escort the caravan north. ”

"Yes, I'll send someone back to the valley to give the order at once."

Two days later, a caravan headed north with a private message from Art to Earl Balwin, and when Art returned to the valley with his army and prisoners of war and captures, perhaps after a short repair, he would have to go around with his army again.

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Chapter 172: "Reduction" of the Army