As far as the matter is concerned, the Saphugg family and the Midsummer Hugg family are not related to each other, and Baron Galwin and the Count of Flanders have not had any close contact before.

However, at this family banquet at the Earl's Mansion in Midsummer, the two branches of the Hugue family were unusually happy.

At the family banquet in the mansion, the Count of Flender led several of his cronies and Galvin, Art, and Felix on the guest side to exchange glasses frequently, and even the apprentice knight Ron and the military priest Robert as attachés were personally toasted by the Count of Flender.

The food at the banquet was not as luxurious and delicious as the Earl's Palace, but the hospitality of the host family and the change of glasses after putting down the noble shelves made the banquet lively and unforgettable.

Even Ron, who was a commoner, felt that this banquet was not the slightest pressure, and he would always remember the scene when Count Flender held the wooden cup in one hand and climbed on his shoulder with the other, shouting to raise a glass for the common "glory scar" on their faces, and if he had not followed Arter, Ron might have been able to draw his sword and kneel on the spot to swear allegiance to Count Flender.

Natural leadership, I can't envy it. Art has to admit that some people have such a powerful aura, so that you are overwhelmed by the magical charm of the other party when you first see each other, and you are willing to live under your command.

The feast lasted from the sunset to the west until the night was dark.

Art, along with Ron and Robert, were placed in several adjoining rooms. When the servants had retreated, Art had the guards guarding the door summon Robert, the priest of the army.

Robert was a clergyman, he didn't have the same alcoholic habit as Hamish, and he only politely clinked glasses with Flender and several nobles in Midsummer during the banquet, so unlike the drunken Ron Robert is now sober.

"Robert, what do you think of this Sect Master behind me {allegiance}?" When Robert sat down, Art got straight to the point.

Robert, as if he had anticipated what Art had called him for, touched the cross in front of Mō Xiōng and replied, "This is a good monarch, but also an ambitious fanatic. However, this person hides himself too much, and the person who hides in the shadows is always watching everything, and the person who can let go of everything often wants to pick it up. ”

Robert rolled his eyes, recalled, "His hands are full of thick sword calluses, his limbs are covered with scars, his head has a lot of gray hair, and his heart is certainly not full of sunshine as we see." When I was in Besançon, I also heard about the deeds of the Count of Flanders, who was rumored to have harvested the heads of a thousand enemies in one night, and Lián Zhàn did not spare those who died or surrendered. ”

"His reputation in this matter is much greater than yours, and you have beheaded a hundred robbers who have surrendered, and he has chopped off the heads of a thousand soldiers."

Robert was not drunk, so his assessment was sober and rational.

Art pondered for a moment, his fingers tapping on the armrest of his chair.

"Robert, so you think Count Flanders is a man worth delivering?"

"So, if I hadn't met you first, I would have immediately joined the Count of Flanders, and an earl of ambition and scheming and wisdom and charm could not be more desirable than you, a little baron."

Art smiled bitterly, "Father Robert, what you said is really sad. ”

Robert shrugged his shoulders, "My lord, didn't you specifically let me follow you all the way from the valley to here to listen to a few words of flattery that would make you tasty?" ”

Art sighed and said helplessly: "Sweet wine is not intoxicating, and pleasant praise is disloyal." I'll just take you as saying the opposite. ”

"My lord, though I don't know where you learned these rhetorical grammars, I have to praise you for these wise proverbs that pop up casually from time to time."

"Continuing with the topic just now, rationally speaking, Count Flender is a worthy suzerain, but such a suzerain is too ambitious, in other words, becoming his subordinate will also become a stepping stone for him to step on, with such a suzerain, there are too many chances to die."

"There are as many opportunities to die as there are me, and there have been a lot of people around me since I became a border patrolman." Art sighed.

"It's different."

"What's the difference? They all have to die. ”

"The head of the man who dies with you will be buried in the grave, and the head of the man who dies with him will be laid under his feet." Robert didn't know how to describe the subtle difference.

"Then you just think I'm a good person?" Art asked with a smile.

Robert's face contorted, and his expression exaggerated, "Oh my God, if you are all good people, I'm afraid there will be no evil people in this world!" You don't have a good reputation among the nobility, not to mention the whole country, in Tignets alone, a third of the people hate you, a third fear you, and probably a third think you're not bad, because they're your father-in-law's family and business allies. ”

"Huh? I always thought I was a good person to be loved. Well, since you don't even think of me as a good person, it seems that I have to put myself in the right place. ”

"Do you want to be buried in the grave when you die or do you want to be padded under your feet?" Art abruptly reverted to the subject.

Robert pointed to himself and said, "Me? ”

"That's right! You. ”

"When I die, I will neither step on my feet nor go into the ground, I choose to ascend to heaven to serve God."

Both looked at each other and smiled.

"Today's banquet is very harmonious, but the Count of Flender has not said a word of importance, so I guess he will invite you or ask you to discuss the matter alone with Lord Galvin early tomorrow morning, he is an ambitious earl, and he will not simply invite you to Midsummer, you should think carefully about the topic of conversation with Count Flanders tomorrow." I will visit the Bishop of Midsummer to-morrow, and I will not accompany you unless the Count invites me. Robert guessed that tomorrow Art would be invited by the Earl of Flanders to a secret council.

Art also nodded in agreement, and the two exchanged goodnight before going back to their rooms to rest.

However, the result was not as they expected, and Flender was in no hurry to summon Art to talk to the secret discussion.

On the second day, Count Flanders, who knew that the guests were drunk and not awake, did not disturb the rest of the guests, and he ordered the servants to bring the light food to the guests' rooms, so that the guests could sleep until they woke up naturally and then eat some simple food to fill their stomachs.

Near noon, Flender sent someone to invite the rested guests to the hall, and told everyone that he had prepared lunch in the barracks south of the city, and that after the meal, he would take the guests to visit the Midsummer Mercenary Legion.

Arte, who was already ready to be summoned, was surprised at first when he heard Flender's arrangement, and then he understood Flender's intentions - as the host and guest this time, Flender wanted to use his strength to make Arte think about it first, so that the next topic could be better discussed.

Art also happened to want to get up close and personal with the midsummer mountain mercenaries who had been touted countless times by his father-in-law Galvin, and maybe the Welsh Legion could learn from it.

The group crossed the "Xungui Street" where the nobles and the families of the officers lived, and walked along the river that crossed the city to the south of the barracks.

On the other side of the riverbank road, there is a stone building that is taller and wider than the Earl's Court, and the outer wall of the stone is also plastered with lime, which looks very atmospheric.

Continuing south, we passed through the free market, artisan shops, and civilian quarters in Midsummer City, and the people along the way stopped to salute when they saw Flender passing by, and Flender also rode on horseback and waved frequently.

It can be seen that Flender is indeed popular in Midsummer City.

"Cousin Flender, since your army is stationed on the edge of the city, why don't you let the soldiers live in barracks but in military tents?" Art looked at the camp of the Midsummer mercenary army from afar, and did not understand why Flender did not let the soldiers into the city or build barracks outside the city.

"Art, this is the glorious tradition of the Midsummer Legion, my army will not live in barracks wherever it goes, whether it is unconditionally or unconditionally, even in the coldest snowy winter?"

"Why?"

"As for the three reasons, one is that most of the Longxia Legion are born in civilians, and it is their nature to bear hardships and stand hard work, which is also the source of their brave combat power, warm and comfortable barracks are easy to make people have sweet dreams, and comfort and sweet dreams will make Longxia people fall; Second, because we are fighting outside all the year round and are in enemy territory at any time, camping in the open air can keep the soldiers on high vigilance and absolute military discipline, and the Midsummer Legion is rarely attacked by sneak attacks, because my soldiers will open half of their eyes when they sleep; Thirdly, because we have been fighting abroad all the year round, and it is inevitable that we will often move our camps when fighting in enemy territory, and it is impossible to move our camps to a place where there are houses every time, so over time, everyone has become accustomed to camping in the open air, and we may not be able to sleep when we return to the houses occasionally. ”

As they spoke, the group had reached the gate of the barracks, and a dozen officers and dozens of sturdy soldiers in armor lined up in a neat line at the gate of the barracks to greet Flender and his party.

Art jumped off his horse, handed the reins to the guards beside him, and walked after Flanders and Galvin towards the camp.

It was evident that the soldiers who greeted them at the camp gate must have been selected, they were all tall men of similar stature, and they were all dressed in long-sleeved chainmail and half-helmeted iron boots, and the burqa was tattooed with a roaring lion of the golden moor, which was Flender's family crest. The weapons in the hands of the soldiers are also relatively sophisticated, in addition to the common short spears and round shields, they can also carry swords, axes, hammers and other close melee weapons on their waists.

Flender turned his head to look at Art, who was carefully studying the soldiers, and explained: "Yat, these soldiers are my Hundred Guards, and most of them are veterans of more than two years of combat experience in the Legion. ”

Arte knew that it was no wonder that everyone was equipped with sophisticated weapons and armor.

Walking into the barracks, except for a small number of sentry posts and patrols on duty in the barracks, there were no idlers walking around the barracks noisy, presumably because Flender had issued a ban in advance.

Knowing that the Midsummer Army had arranged a drill in the afternoon, everyone did not drink happily at noon, and after eating the simple food on the plate, everyone walked through the camp and went out of the south gate to the training ground outside the camp.

The training ground was similar in shape to the Welsh Legion's training ground, but it was much wider, and it didn't have the heavy wooden runways that Art had created. Just a flat hard dirt wasteland.

At this time, three neat phalanxes stood silently in the training ground, they were wearing thin short jackets and linen trousers, and their heads were wearing inferior saucer helmets, and a few elite officers who looked like low-ranking officers were wearing a single layer of leather armor; The ordinary soldiers had only a winged iron spear and a small wooden round shield, and the junior officers still carried short swords, short knives, hand axes and other melee weapons on their waists.

This is a professional mercenary, not a conscripted peasant soldier, so this kind of armament situation still seems a little shabby.

However, in sharp contrast to the shabby armament is the resolute expression of the soldiers, although it is now May, the cold of the alpine region is still there, the thinly dressed soldiers have no fear, there is a rock-solid feeling in the cold wind, and their bodies and limbs have visible scars.

What shocked Yate the most was that the more than 800 people in the open space did not make the slightest abnormal sound, and there was no need to practice combat skills and battle formations, but this immovable military discipline had convinced Yate.

Flender began to explain to everyone: "The Longxia Legion has three infantry companies, named after the three counties of the Longxia Territory, and each infantry company has 300 men; One hundred cavalry directly under the legion, two hundred gōng nǔ hands directly under the gōng nǔ team, plus one hundred people from my count's guards, a total of 1,300 men. Standing in front of you are two infantry companies and a direct gōng nǔ team; The remaining soldiers are all in a city-governing city-state in the Southern Continent to defend the city for the lords, and they will not return to Midsummer until July. ”

"In addition to the Longxia Mercenary Corps, there are also a hundred county soldiers in each county, and there are also a hundred city defenders in Longxia City, a total of four hundred. In addition, there were two hundred private soldiers of lords of all ranks. ”

"Only two hundred private troops?" Art asked.

"The Longxia Territory is not as flat as yours, and the thin soil of the high mountains does not produce much food, and it is difficult for my lords to feed their lords if they want to count on the fiefdom, so most of the lords of Longxia serve in the Longxia Legion, and the young and strong lords in their territory are the source of soldiers in our army."

An earldom with less than 30,000 people can have nearly 2,000 soldiers, which in itself is already considered a "foothold by force", not to mention that the people of Longxia Mountain are all brave, if it is really a national conscription, the earldom of Longxia is enough to raise more than 5,000 troops, which is definitely a strong strength.

Art glanced around the field, and saw in the distance that there were twenty or thirty tall wooden poles behind the field, and round things hung from the wooden poles.

"Cousin Flender, those wooden poles are hanging from ~" Art raised his hand and pointed to the row of wooden poles.

"That's the head, the head of the executed soldier." Flender rightly said.

"They are the first deserters in all the expeditions to fear death, and I will cut off their heads and hang them on these wooden poles in front of everyone, and the squad leader of the first retired soldier will also be executed, but I don't have to hang my head on them and be scolded by others; The rest of the squad will also be punished. ”

"By the way, the last head was hung up a year ago." Flender's face was colorful.

After hearing this, Art understood why the military discipline of the Longxia Mercenary Legion was so strict, and it was not difficult to guess that the scars on the soldiers' bodies were not all glory in battle.

In fact, what Flender did not introduce was the reason why the Longxia legionnaires could endure harsh military law. In the Midsummer Legion, the mercenaries only had to hand over one-third of the loot to Flender, and the rest went to the soldiers themselves, which was the fundamental motivation for the soldiers to withstand huge battle losses and harsh military laws.

Moreover, the Longxia Legion only has strict requirements for military discipline on the battlefield, they can loot and kill civilians, rape ** women, and even have special camp prostitutes for the soldiers to have fun in the camp of the Longxia Legion, of course, they need to pay a high fee.

Art didn't know any of this, but he was just surprised by the slight shock that the Midsummer Legion had brought him.

"Order, the whole army attack!" As soon as Flender gave an order, the heralds around him waved their flags a few times, and the eight hundred soldiers in the field immediately responded......