In the cottage of the wooden castle, Art held a private letter in his hand and said to the three people sitting around the house, Cooper and Odogangus: "Baron Galwin said three things in the letter, one is that the army sent by Sapp to the court to assemble and fight has suffered heavy losses in the east, and a leading knight has been seriously wounded on the battlefield, and the army of Baron Galvin's domain has been seriously reduced,"

"The second is that Sapu Fort has recently been attacked by a group of bandits of unknown origin, Baron Galvin with the castle guards repelled the bandits who tried to break the wall, but those guys always appear around Sapu and are eyeing Sapu Fort tiger, Baron Galvin sent people to clear them once, but those guys are hiding and hiding, and they are always unable to exterminate them, and recently several groups of bandits have gathered around Sapu and have the intention of uniting to attack Sapu Fort, Baron Galvin has sent an urgent letter to Tiniez County to help suppress it, but there has been no response in the county, So he sent for me again. ”

"The third thing is that a war horse was sent to congratulate me on my promotion to knighthood, and Baron Galvin's letter implicitly offered to let me go to Sapu and Miss Lottie for an engagement."

After that, Art handed the private message to Cooper, Cooper glanced at it and passed it to Angus, then looked at Art, and said: "Master, I couldn't talk about the matter of helping to suppress, but since Lord Galvin wants to ask you to help with it, it must be true that you can't deal with it yourself, you are about to marry Miss Lottie, and Lord Galvin will also become your father-in-law, I am afraid you will not be able to refuse this request." Besides, you are also a patrol officer, and Sapp is also under your rule, so you should lead troops to help suppress it. ”

"As for the engagement to Miss Lottie, of course it's a beautiful thing. You also said that you would go to Sapp to ask Lord Galvin when you returned from the expedition, and now that everyone has offered it, it is time for you to do something. ”

Art touched the faintly painful arrow wound on his shoulder, and replied, "I will definitely help with the matter of helping to suppress, after all, my caravan may need Baron Galwin's care in the future, and this is indeed my duty." It's just that I'm engaged to Miss Lottie, and I'll have to prepare for it again. ”

"Are you worried that there isn't a decent house in the wooden castle for you and Miss Lottie?"

"Well, I'm not going to let her live with me in this thatched hut, can I?"

Cooper smiled and replied, "Sir, you don't need to worry too much about the newlywed house, even if you go to get engaged to Miss Lottie now, it will be forty days before you can bring Miss Lottie to the valley to complete the wedding, and it will not be possible for me to build a military village or castle during this time, but it is not a big problem for me to bring someone to build you a few new houses first." ”

Art had some doubts and asked, "Is forty or fifty days enough?" Miss Lottie's mansion in Sap was a very luxurious one. ”

"Sir, it is impossible for us to build a luxurious mansion for the time being, but now there are craftsmen and laborers in the territory, if we can suspend other construction work, we should be able to build a two-story lord's mansion with a mixed structure of wood and stone in fifty days, just like some simple mansions, in this single courtyard, tear down this house and the small wooden house opposite me, and expand it. On the first floor is the lord's hall, the official room, the kitchen, the servant's house, and the storage room; The entire second floor is your bedroom and resting place for Miss Lottie. It just so happened that we had brought back a lot of fine utensils from Tarburg, which could be placed in the new lord's mansion......"

"No, no, no, you pushed your house to expand the lord's mansion, so where do you live yourself?"

"Master, I can live in the barn in the wooden castle for a while, and then I will build a small house after all the construction is completed, anyway, I am a lonely old man, I can do anything."

"That's not good, you're the civil servant of my valley knights, how can you let you live in the barn? So then, when you build your mansion, you tear down the stable, and at the same time build a wooden house in that place for your future residence. ”

"This courtyard will be your own mansion in the future, how can I occupy your place?" Cooper rejected Art's offer.

"Why not? You are my civil affairs officer and my chief steward of the inner house, so what is wrong with you living with me. Art insisted on being neighbors with Cooper.

Cooper thought about it again, and had to nod in agreement: "Okay, but I'll build a small shack next to your mansion and live there, and when your mansion is repaired, I'll have someone build my own wooden house." ”

"Well, that's fine, but the other construction can't be stopped while the lord's mansion is being built, at least the chapel and the parish school will continue to be built, and I can't let Father Hamish and the orphans be crowded with the soldiers every day. As for the rest of the construction, it can be postponed a little, if the labor is not enough, the soldiers of the new army can be sent to participate in the construction, and the spring ploughing has not yet begun, and the farmers who have leisure can also send a group of people to build the wooden fort. ”

Cooper nodded yes.

"Otto, time is running out, I am afraid that Fort Sap is in danger, and I plan to bring the sergeant major and the Sentinel Cavalry to Sapp tomorrow, and if I need the help of the army, I will send someone to transfer the army. Now that our legionnaires are almost reorganized, the next step is the training of soldiers, we are now mainly training the shield array of soldiers, and the three-person battle formation will play a role in sporadic battles in the future, so the three-person battle formation cannot be abandoned. The training of the regiment will be carried out according to the method we have previously discussed, and the specific training will be carried out by you and several officers in consultation with each other. I'll probably be away for about ten days this time, and I'll see the results of your training when I get back....."

"Yes, sir." Otto answered.

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

On the morning of the second day, having breakfast, Art hurried out of the valley with Angus and the six cavalry of the Sentinel Cavalry, and ran towards Fort Sap to the west.

When passing through the edge of the dense forest in the north of the valley, Yate stopped to check the site of the military village in the northern pass, and during this time after returning to the valley, Cooper had brought the old carpenter Bard to survey here, and they chose the address of the military village in the north of the horse road on the gentle slope of the horse road out of the dense forest mouth, which is only more than 50 steps away from the horse road and only more than 10 steps away from the edge of the dense forest, which is a flat land on the gentle slope on the right side.

"My lord, we have cut down all the trees in the vicinity within a hundred paces of length and width, and piled them aside for later use. Now Gehr and I are taking them to dig the footing here, delineating a rough military village area, and when we build the military village later, we can first build the walled wall, and the army can be stationed in with the military tent, and then slowly repair the barracks and build the tower...... "The construction steward Lawrence is still recuperating from his injuries, and the deputy steward Gehr is okay with the management of prisoners of war, but he doesn't know anything about the craftsman's work, so the construction of the military village is temporarily in charge of the craftsman's deputy steward Bad, and Gehr assists in the management of labor."

"The construction of the military village cannot be rushed, this is the northern pass of the entire valley, and it is also the main station of the army in the future. Especially the walled wall, it would be better if it could be built with stone. ”

Bard nodded again and again, and then raised an objection: "My lord, it's no problem for the general village to be built more solidly, but it is unlikely that the entire military village wall is built with stone, because the surrounding area is mostly dense forests and wastelands, and the stone is difficult to find, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to polish the stone, I'm afraid~"

"Since stone masonry is not possible, let us use earth, and fill in the clay with wheat straw and gravel between the two wooden walls. I talked to Cooper about this kind of civil construction method before, and he has seen such a construction method, you can ask Cooper more about it. ”

Bard is an old carpenter who is only good at craftsmanship, although he also knows a little about construction, but after all, he has not seen much, he is not very clear about the method of mixed construction of civil and engineering proposed by Art, but he still replied: "Since the lord and the old butler have already come up with a construction method, then I will go and ask the old butler more questions, but I guess according to your construction method will take a longer time." ”

Art stood on the gentle slope, looked over the treetops under the gentle slope and glanced at the wasteland outside the dense forest, and said: "There is no problem with this, the army can be temporarily stationed in the wasteland outside the dense forest before the military village is built......"

"That's okay, since I want to build soil, I'll let people dig the foot of the outer wall of the military village deeper......"

.........

The group left the edge of the forest and continued westward, camped overnight in the wilderness, and at noon on the second day crossed narrow mountain trails with overlapping peaks and mountains to reach Sap Fort in the middle of the valley.

Because the bandits stormed the Sapu Fort some time ago, the farmhouses around the Sapu Fort were looted by the bandits, so at this time, the gate of the Sapu Fort was closed, the fields and roads were empty, and the shacks and stone houses outside the village were burned and looted by the bandits.

When Art's eight horsemen were still a mile away from the fortress, the horn of the enemy sounded in the castle, and more than two dozen castle guards armed with spears and armaments caught up with the walled city.

Art led the way into the Land of Two Arrows, ordered the advance to be halted, and told Ron to carry his heraldic banner to the gate to report his report.

Ron rode his horse under the city wall with a banner and reported Art's identity to the leader of the guards on the wall. The leader of the guards on the city wall heard that it was a knight who had come to help in the suppression, and did not rush to open the city gate, and left the wall and returned to the village to ask Baron Galwin for confirmation.

After a while, Baron Galvin led a few of his followers up to the city, and saw that the messenger under the city was Art's guard, and hurriedly asked people to open the gate and come down to greet him.

I haven't seen him for more than half a year, and Master Galvin is even richer, but his face, which was always smiling and groaning in the past, can't hide a little melancholy.

"Art, I knew you were coming." Galvin warmly hugged Art, then saw six or seven horsemen behind Art, and asked, "You didn't bring the army here?"

"Lord Galvin, after receiving your private message, I was worried that Sappburg was in danger, so I immediately brought someone over. Now that my army has just returned from the battle in the Northlands, and is regrouping, recuperating, and training, I will first come to find out the enemy's situation, and if it really needs a large number of troops to come and attack, the army can come to Sap Fort in three days. Art explained.

When Galvin heard this, he felt a lot more relieved, and quickly got out of the way and let the Yat and the others enter the castle.

Ron and Galvin were already acquainted, and Art introduced Angus and Lusignan to Galvin, and Galvin became more affectionate when he learned of their identities.

Entering the castle, there were several castle guards and more than 20 temporarily conscripted peasant soldiers standing on the city wall, they won the battle to defend against bandits some time ago, so the momentum was very strong, and Baron Galvin was quite atmospheric at a critical time, not only provided sufficient food, wine and meat every day, but also gave rewards to the conscripted peasant soldiers, plus they defended their homeland, so these 20 or so peasant soldiers did have a fierce posture of not afraid of death.

"Lord Galvin, are these your new castle guards?" Ron asked Galvin, who was walking in front of the line.

Galvin turned his head and smiled, and replied, "Some time ago, Saap was besieged by bandits, and all my guards stayed in the village to defend against the bandits, but these days it has been a little quieter, and most of the guards have been sent to escort my caravan, and now the castle is mostly guarded by young farmers from my territory."

"Lord Galvin's herdsmen are well-organized, and even the ordinary people under your rule are all strong men, I have lived a lot, and I have seen a lot of castles, but it is rare to see a place as rich as Sapp." Walking along the neat roads of the fort and looking at the wooden houses and houses on both sides, Angus could not help but praise the wealth of Sapu Castle.

Galvin smiled and replied: "Everyone, I have been doing commercial trade all these years, and I have also earned some money, so I don't need to reach out too much to the lords, and there are also some squires who follow me to do some business, and there are also squires who have made money, so my hands are a little richer."

While laughing and talking, the group had arrived at Lord Galvin's lord's mansion, and everyone behind Art praised the luxury and exquisiteness of Galvin's mansion, causing Baron Galvin's face to groan.

"Everyone, please come into the hall and rest for a while, I will ask the servants to prepare some simple food for you to fill your stomach, and I will hold a simple banquet for you in the evening."

After arranging the others, Galvin came to Art's side and said softly: "Art, you follow me into the inner house, I have something to discuss with you~"

Art turned his head to look at Angus and Ron, who made a smile and led the others into the hall of the lords......

Art had no choice but to follow Master Galvin into the mansion......