After hearing the news that the Lombards were interested in attacking the princedom of Burgundy, Arte was prepared for danger and began to be on guard against the Lombards. Soon after, a small team of fifty men was sent to the south of the valley, and they were asked to find a temporary camp near the valley mouth that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, but not too close to the Lombard village they had discovered, so as not to expose their target. The later grain and grass baggage will be delivered on time.

The squad was led by Squadron Leader Hans and assisted by Burry, who had previously been promoted to Squadron Leader.

There were forty soldiers in the detachment, all of whom were veterans of Hans's command and experienced in each battle; In addition, there are ten soldiers who have just finished their recruit training, and most of them are from Orion; There are also two or three baggage guards selected by the baggage team, who are responsible for the management of the accompanying mules and horses, baggage, and simple medical treatment.

Due to the current unclear situation, the construction of the additional trade road is under construction. Art only asked this small group of men to find a dangerous place to build a camp at the mouth of the valley in the south.

According to Yate's previous confession, the group successfully found the basin marked on the map. By the time they arrived, it was early spring, and the size of the lake in the basin had shrunk considerably by the reduced volume of water in the surrounding rivers. The broken fishing nets at the edge of the lake have long since disappeared~

Arriving at the basin and repairing a little, Hans and his men continued a long distance along the river heading south, until they reached the point where the river came out of the valley before they chose a suitable camp.

This is located at the southernmost point of the valley, the valley mouth is extremely steep, except for the turbulent river, there is only a narrow channel less than twenty feet faintly visible on the side of the riverbank, out of the valley mouth is still a large wild land, but it is already part of the Duchy of Lombardy.

The selected camp is located more than 300 steps north of the valley mouth, which is a relatively open space in this canyon, about 100 steps in length and width, the open space is facing the river on the left and the cliff on the right, and it can barely build a garrison camp.

After selecting the garrison camp, Hans immediately sent his men back to the valley as fast as possible. Soon after, a team of 100 people arrived with food tools, led by a craftsman and a construction steward.

After more than half a month of construction, a temporary outpost at the mouth of the valley to resist the invasion of the Lombards also took shape.

The cliffs on both sides of the checkpoint are high, and the forest is dense and the slopes are steep. The river on the left side of the road is fast-flowing, and the boulders in the river are moss-covered and unusually smooth.

The checkpoint is built on the cliff on the right, which is made of river stones. It's more like a half-section of wall than a sentry post. Due to the narrowness of the road, you can only pass by a four-wheeled carriage at most. According to the craftsman's opinion, this place was not suitable for a small fortress. The purpose of the outpost was to stop the infiltration of the Lombards without fear of their large armies. Because as far as the surrounding terrain is concerned, except for infantry and cavalry that can barely pass through, there is no way that anything like a large siege machine can appear here. Even if the enemy builds a ladder, you can only build one at a time.

Therefore, Hans agreed to the craftsman's plan to build a heavy stone wall on the mountain. At the same time, several gaps are left in the middle of the stone wall for observing the situation on the other side. The stone wall could accommodate four people standing at a time, and a stone wall with four openings was built to prevent soldiers from being injured by arrows. A small camp was set up a little more spacious near the checkpoint to provide shelter for the soldiers on duty.

After the post was completed, the craftsmen organized soldiers to cut down a lot of trees to build a simple camp for the more than 50 people in the open space behind the checkpoint. The valley was humid and uninhabited for hundreds of years, and inconspicuous things such as insects, snakes, rats and other inconspicuous things could easily cause diseases among soldiers. If you don't get healed, you may die in the wilderness. Previously, when Ron had led his men to explore the valley, one of the soldiers had to stop his advance and return to the valley due to the illness of one of his soldiers. Fortunately, the sick soldier was treated in time, otherwise he would have had to serve by God's side.

In view of this lesson, the barracks built by the Arterate craftsmen had to be kept off the ground, supported by large logs at the bottom, and high enough for a horse to stand on it. The bottom serves as a stable and feed shed. The upper floor was used as a barracks for soldiers, and at the same time stored grain, grass, baggage and other materials. In this way, not only can the amount of work be reduced, but also time can be saved.

Once the checkpoints and barracks had been built, the craftsmen who had completed the task returned to the valley with everyone. Now, the only people stationed here were the fifty legionnaires and two squadron leaders.

I have been stationed here for more than a month, and there is no sign of the Lombards. The soldiers usually did not dare to drink and gamble on beans, so they could only take bows and arrows to the surrounding mountains and forests to hunt some wild things for a change of taste. Of course, all this can only be done with the tacit consent of Hans. This place is not as good as the valley, and it is inaccessible, and if you don't let these brothers around you find some work to pass the time, most of them will be sick.

Like these soldiers, Hans found himself something to do, and that was to take his good brother Bury with his homemade fishing rod and go fishing by the river.

At the bend of the river, Hans arrived with his fellow Bury after arranging his duty. The two sat on the stones, took off the wine naan from their waists from time to time, poured two sips, and then drank a small pinch of green beans.

"Hey, Hans, I said did your own rod work?" Burry, who had not seen a fish bite the hook for a long time, was a little anxious, so he lifted the fishing rod and pinched the fishing line kneaded into hemp rope with several skins in his hand to look at it. Then he checked the earthworm hanging from the hook made of twigs, and shook his head incessantly.

"You kid, what's the hurry, fishing requires patience. Just like you, the fish would have been scared away a long time ago~" Hans said with relief.

Bury sighed lightly, then threw the hook into the water again, tossing aside the rod made of long sticks. Untied the wine naan from his waist and drank it alone.

"Bury, you're a squadron leader now, just like me. You can't do things as recklessly as you used to be, and it's right to calm down and think about it. Hans persuaded bitterly.

"I know, I know, you talk a lot. Look at you, so loud, scared my fish away~" Bury casually lifted the fishing rod, and suddenly felt a force coming from the end of the fishing rod.

"Hey, it's fishing! It's fishing! Bury shouted. Hans, who was sitting on the side, also hurriedly got up~

Eventually, a large fish weighing two pounds was caught out of the water by the two of them.

"I'll just say there's a fish~" Hans grabbed the fish's gills and kept looking at the big guy about the length of his arm.

Burry smiled as well, and grabbed the wagging tail of the fish with both hands. said: "It's okay now, I can finally stop chewing those hard jerky today."

After that, the two put away their fishing rods and ran towards the camp in a hurry~

…………

When it was dark, the light emitted by the fire lit up, and the two of them ate the sizzling fish meat in the iron pot in the barracks, and the room was filled with the aroma of fish soup.

"Come, drink one~" Burry picked up the naan and clinked glasses with Hans.

"Come~" Hans put down half of the fish head in his hand, picked up the wine naan and poured it into his mouth.

Just as the two of them were having a good time, the sentry came to report.

This afternoon, a few soldiers went out hunting and strayed into a dense mountain forest near the side of Mount Merral. Just as a few men rushed forward to check on a wild boar after putting it down, one of the soldiers was shot in the calf by an arrow that suddenly flew out of the dense forest. In a panic, several people hurriedly carried the wounded soldier out of the way. After a few people left, the wild boar was dragged into the depths of the dense forest~

“…… What the? A wild boar of more than 100 pounds was robbed like this! That's worth a week's worth of food. Bury, who heard the news, was furious, his eyes widened wider than the brass bell, as if he couldn't snatch back the wild boar and didn't give up.

"Let's go, take the people, I'm going to see which bastard dares to rob us!"

Hans hurriedly grabbed Burry and said, "Burry, have you forgotten that the Earl has instructed you not to provoke those people in the jungle for the time being. Their identities are unknown, and it is unclear whether they are friends or foes. ”

"It's not clear enough! It's all bullied us, and I have to take someone to teach them a good lesson today! Bury shoved Hans away, and ran out of the barracks and downstairs. Hans also hurried out.

"Bury, have you thought about it, now that it's getting dark, we don't know anything about the situation in the mountains at the moment. What if you rush to lead troops like this, what if you encounter an ambush. Don't forget, our mission is to hold the valley. If the Earl blames us, we can't afford it. ”

Bury stopped abruptly and glanced back at Hans. "So what do you say?"

"In this way, after dawn tomorrow, we will bring people to negotiate and let them return our prey."

Calm down, Bury agreed with Hans, dismissed the soldiers, and returned to the house with Hans.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Hans and Bury gathered twenty soldiers and prepared to go out into the jungle to find the ones who had stolen their prey yesterday.

At the moment when they just left the camp and walked towards the dense forest, a figure that had been lurking not far away to observe immediately disappeared into the bushes~

…………

"Chief, they're coming~"

Deep in the forest, a hunter-like man who had just hurried back from the entrance to the hill reported to a man dressed in animal skins, with prominent cheekbones and an unusually tall physique.

"Everyone is ready, as soon as they cross the line, release the arrows!"

"Yes!" The crowd replied in unison.

…………

"Sir, what the hell is this place? There are weeds and shrubs everywhere, you say, how can anyone live in such a place? ”

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and get out of front for me!" Burry, leaning against a tree, yelled, panting incessantly. Hans, who was on a wooden stick, was also sweating profusely and kept wiping his forehead.

"Burry, you said you had to compete with others and bring us to such a hellish place~" Hans grumbled incessantly, untying his wine bag and taking a sip.

Burry just glanced back and didn't say a word. Continue to direct those in front of you to clear the way.

Half a day later, the road ahead gradually became wider, and there were faint traces of human activity.

"Bury, you see, there are a lot of footprints here~" The sharp-eyed Hans shouted to Burry, who was walking in front. Bury immediately stopped and walked in to check. Immediately, the group followed the footprints to the innermost pass of the hill.

"Sir, come and see~"

As soon as the soldier in front spoke, he was shot in the neck by an arrow flying from the dense forest on the right, and immediately spat blood from his mouth and fell to the ground.

"There are enemies!" Hans shouted, then took the arrow from his back with his backhand, and with his right hand took out a light arrow from the quiver at his waist and put it on the string, his eyes searching for his target.

Burry, leaning behind a large tree, held a sword in his hand, and looked around from time to time, looking for the figure of the enemy.

Other soldiers also crouched down with their bows and arrows drawn or swords in their hands, ready to engage the enemy.

After a few moments, there was a sudden silence in the dense forest, and there was not even the sound of birds.

Hans, who was covered by the boulder, took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and came to Burry's side with a roll. said: "It's over, it looks like we're in ambush."

Burry, who was on the side, took advantage of Hans's speech to glance in the direction where the arrow had just flew, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"What now? These bastards are on high ground, and we can't even see their shadows! ”

"In this case, I'll call and talk to them."

Burry nodded in agreement.

Then Hans cleared his throat and cried out, "Fellow of the mountains, we have no ill will. The purpose of our trip is only to retrieve the prey that you have stolen yesterday, and as long as you return it to us, everyone will be safe. If~"

Nation~

Before Hans could finish speaking, a trembling-tailed arrow was nailed behind the trunk of the tree where the two were leaning.

"These bastards, if I catch them, I'll have to cut off their heads!" Burry gritted his teeth, his eyes full of anger.

After the two waves of people confronted each other, a word came from the dense forest: "The people who brought you will get out of here immediately, if you dare to step in one more step, you will all die!" If you hadn't blocked the road in and out of the valley, we wouldn't have been able to get along with you for a wild boar! The mountain man threatened in Burgundian.

Immediately, there was a roar in the dense forest, demonstrating to the group.

"You bastard, you dare to shout here after stealing our things. I'll tell you the truth, we're the Earl of Wales in the north side. Wood. Wells's men. If you dare to offend our Earl, all of you will die sooner or later! Burry was furious, and also angrily scolded and threatened the people on the mountain.

…………

"Art. Wood. Wells? An old man who had just climbed to the top of the hill on the other side of the hill said silently.

"Master Christopher, why are you here?" The man who was the leader on the hill hurriedly stepped forward to help the old man.

"It's not that I'm afraid that you reckless guys will cause a big disaster! By the way, the Earl of Wales in the north he just mentioned is not called Arter. Wood. Wells? The old man's voice trembled slightly.

"Yes, Master Christopher. Could it be that they were the same guy's men who brought someone in the last time? The man in the lead suddenly remembered the guys who had come to explore with a few guards last year.

"It seems that it is really him~" The old man said softly.

"Who the hell is that Christopher, who is he?" The man in the lead was full of doubts. In his memory, the last time he heard that this person's surname was Wells, the old man's heart was full of guilt. But he never mentioned who this person really was. Now it seems that this man must have met the old man.

"G~" Just as the man could speak, the old man stopped him.

"Quick, return to them the prey you brought back yesterday?"

"Return it to them?" The leading man was puzzled and continued, "Then what will we eat in the future?" These people have sealed the only exit in and out of the valley, how can we go out and exchange food with the people in the villages near the mouth of the valley? ”

"We still have enough food to last for several months. The top priority is to return the prey to them immediately, otherwise all of us will suffer~" The old man was excited and coughed a few times.

"Master Christopher, don't worry, I'll send someone to return the prey to them immediately~"