"You still have an army?" Baron Berrion didn't expect that this so-called patrol officer actually had patrol soldiers.

"Yes, my lord, I have a patrol team. But there are not many of them. ”

"Are there ten of them?"

"With the two of them, I have sixteen soldiers, and twelve recruits who are being trained."

Hope flashed in Baron Baron's eyes: "Arte, are you and your patrol soldiers willing to accept my hire to deliver food for me near Aosta in Provence?" I am willing to pay you the full amount. ”

"My lord, I can help you escort and transport food, but my patrol team just participated in the suppression of bandits at Fort Andermatt a month ago, and the damage was severe, and now they are repairing at the station. If you want to hire me to escort your food, you may have to be good enough to make me feel good. You must know that not only do you have to face fierce and cunning mountain bandits along the way, but now that central Provence is still a war zone, it is not easy to get food safely. ”

Baron Berrion was already anxious, and he still cared about Arte's conditions: "You say, what kind of conditions do you want?"

Art bowed his head and thought for a while, and replied: "Lord Baron, you have relieved me of the siege today, and I will not repay your kindness with greed, I promise to take all the soldiers of my patrol team to help you transport food to Aosta, but you have to pay me one hundred and fifty pfennies a day, and if you need to participate in a battle, you will be paid at least three hundred pfennies a day during the battle, of course, I believe that no ordinary bandit or robber would dare to rob a grain transport team of dozens of guards, and your heraldic banner is more effective than ten soldiers."

"Your terms are not excessive, I agreed, and I will pay you a week's commission after you gather your soldiers. After a week, I will pay it by the day, and I will be responsible for the rations of your soldiers. How is it? ”

"Deal!"

Art and Baron Berrion agreed to join the Baron in three days with all the soldiers of the patrol and five four-wheeled carriages in the village of Thorne.

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

Back at the Wooden Fort in the Valley, Art summoned several military and civilian stewards in the cabin for an urgent discussion.

"Cooper, the patrol party is about to leave the wooden castle and go to central Provence to escort the rations of a nobleman. The things that were arranged before were discussed and done, and let Lawrence select a few more young and strong castle citizens to join the fort protection team, and the fort guard team will send people to guard the prisoners of war who are building the road, and Scott will be in charge of all matters in the valley for the time being. ”

"Simon, how are you preparing for the construction of the outpost?"

"My lord, the matter of building the sentry post is almost ready, I have discussed it with the old butler and Lord Odo in the past few days, we have selected seven honest ones from the prisoners of war in Alsburg, and the wounded soldier who injured his eye has also been transferred to prepare for the construction of the outpost, and three more people have been transferred from the fort protection team, and the old butler has temporarily transferred the carpenter Bard to me, a total of thirteen people. There aren't a lot of tools, but the guidance of the old carpenter of Bard should be enough."

"Simon, you leave for the border as soon as possible with food supplies and start building a checkpoint. Otto, transfer some simple weapons to Simon, the border is not very peaceful, there must be weapons for self-defense. ”

"Yes, sir."

"Otto, stop training at noon today, repair in the afternoon, and go south with me tomorrow to escort the military rations. Has the training of the recruits been completed? ”

"My lord, the basic training of the recruits has been completed, and since yesterday, they have been temporarily organized into three squads, and the battle formation training has begun under the leadership of the veterans. Weapons and shields are also basically fully equipped. ”

"Okay, then let's discuss the expansion of the patrol team."

When it comes to the major issue of army expansion, several people have attached great importance to it.

"This time, I plan to expand the patrol team into four teams. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squads each send a veteran to the fourth squad, and the soldiers in each squad are selected from the recruits to fill the gaps. ”

"The newly formed fourth squad is headed by Tuba the leader of the second combat team of the original first squad, and the missing team leaders of each team are nominated by the squad leader and appointed by me."

"Bass's first squad, Kazak's second squad, Odo's third squad, and Touba's fourth squad, each squad of six people, a total of twenty-four people. So this time, in addition to adding a squad, I'm also going to add one more person to Ron's sentry team. ”

"Ron, I grant you permission to choose one of the recruits before they select them to enrich your Sentinel Cavalry Training, plus you and Jason, your Sentinel Cavalry will have three people, and the Sentinel Cavalry will be directly under my command and also serve as my guard."

"Otto, I remember that there was a guy in the third squad who didn't quite want to train for war, didn't he?"

Otto was a little ashamed that one of his third squad had a soldier worse than Jason, known as the "Silly Soldier", who had been apprenticed to a grocer in southern Provence and had been chosen by Art to recruit soldiers on the border trade routes. This guy likes to steal and play tricks in his usual training and is often punished, Odo wanted to expel this guy from the patrol team, but in the last battle in Alsburg, this guy showed some bravery, and at a critical moment actually killed a small leader of the mountain bandits, saved the lives of several soldiers, and the patrol team suffered a lot of losses, so Odo had to keep this person in the patrol team.

"My lord, although this soldier is cheating and sliding in his usual training, he also made meritorious achievements in Alsburg last time, so I have not expelled him from the patrol team."

"Well, since he doesn't want to train and fight, let him be in charge of cooking and feeding the cattle for the patrol team. You are the deputy of the patrol team, and you are also responsible for the management of food, supplies and weapons of the whole team, so this miscellaneous soldier is directly under your command. ”

"Alright, let's go back and prepare, let's start the reorganization after dinner."

…………

Outside the wooden fort, a few recruits were washing their bodies in the stream, not because they loved to be clean, but because Art had ordered the soldiers to wash at least once a week, and the heavy training had left them covered in slimy sweat.

A lean recruit with a strong physique poured water on his body while holding water and said to the strong man rubbing the sweat and mud on his back beside him: "Obote, Master Odo has just said that we will be assigned to the first squad in the afternoon, and we are about to go out, are we going to suppress bandits?" I don't seem to be ready. ”

Dahan stood up, picked up a rag on the shore and wiped the water droplets on his body, and replied, "What are you afraid of?" Lord Patrol has said that if we kill three enemies in battle, we will be able to restore our status as a free people. Death is nothing, death can restore the freedom of the soul. It is said that the team we are going to is the most powerful team before, and the leader of the battle team named Colin has cut off the heads of several enemies, and he is very brave. With him, we may not be able to regain our freedom in less than a year. ”

…………

In the wooden castle house, Colin, who was packing up and sharpening the blade of the notched short sword, looked up at Tuba who had replaced the short sword at his waist with a broadsword: "Tuba, you go, I am the only one left in the second battle group."

Tuba fastened the belt around his waist, walked up to Colin and patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Colin, you will be the leader of the second combat team in the future, and the two new soldiers will come to you in the afternoon, and you must train them strictly in the future." Only when you train well in peacetime will it be easier to survive on the battlefield. ”

"Chief Otto ordered me to go to Lord Yat at once, and when the recruits arrive, you will take them to Chief Bath to get weapons and equipment."

Before reaching the door of the big house, Tuba turned to the brother who had been with him day and night, and said, "Colin, this time the order of the lord is very urgent, and I estimate that the danger is not small. If I die, burn my body, and if you have the opportunity to bring it back to Capacchia, south of Provence, all my money will be your commission for doing so. ”

"Touba, what's wrong with you today? It's not like you! Colin felt that Tuba should be happy to be promoted to squad leader.

"Colin, I'm not afraid of death, I'm just thinking of a couple of brothers who were recruited from Kitsby to die in battle, do you remember what the short man said the night before he died?"

Colin recalled for a long time and replied: "He said that his hometown was occupied by the Lombards, and he would love to go back in the future~"

"Yes, I just listened to it at the time, and I didn't ask him where his hometown was. I didn't even know where he came from when Lord Odo asked me, so his soul would never return home. I want to go home too, even if it's just the soul. ”

Colin never thought of going home, he had no family for a long time: "Tuba, if I die, I'll be buried here, so you don't even want to cheat me out of a copper plate~ haha." ”

…………

In the fortified warehouse in the courtyard of the wooden fort, this is one of the most important warehouses in the entire wooden fort, storing all the important materials of the patrol team, including all weapons, armor, shields, spices, salt, cloth, valuable goods, and some military salaries.

Otto was bringing a young man with blond hair and sunken eye sockets to the storeroom: "Spencer, you got your wish this time, don't you want to train for battle?" From now on, you will be in charge of eating and drinking everyone, distributing the weapons and equipment of the soldiers, and the chores I send to you. I heard that you worked as an apprentice as a grocer, but this is not bothering you, right? But keep in mind that all supplies sent out from here must be ordered by Lord Arter or me, and if you dare to mess around, I want your head. ”

The blonde thought he would be removed from the patrol team, and was worried about how to make a living in the future, when Otto told him that he would leave the combat team to work as a "beauty job" that was paid and did not have to face harsh training all the time.

Odo led him into the storeroom, which contained a dozen neatly arranged sets of weapons—spears, swords, wooden shields, black robes, cloaks, knives, tomahawks, and bits and pieces of military equipment such as water bladders, boots, and belts.

"I'll send someone to assist you in distributing weapons and military supplies to the recruits in a while, and you pick out the full set of armaments of the soldiers of the patrol team from the storehouse, you are a veteran, you don't need me to tell you about the weapons and equipment of each soldier, right?"

The blonde guy counted his inventory of weapons and equipment as carefully and quickly as he had done under the grocer before, then turned around and asked, "Sir Odo, we need at least twelve sets of short spears and short swords and wooden shields, even if we use miscellaneous knives and battle axes instead of short swords, it will only be enough for eight sets?" Can't make up four sets of other weapons? ”

Otto smiled, "It seems that the adults have chosen the right person to let you do these chores." You just need to distribute the weapons and equipment according to the requirements of the officer who came to collect the weapons and equipment. In addition, you will have to return all your weapons to the storehouse, and you generally don't need to train or fight anyway, so all you need is a black burqa cape and a short knife. ”

"Yes, Chief Odo. I'll be ready right away. ”

…………

Emma was baking rye bread with the help of a few peasant women, and five or six loaves of bread, each weighing three and a half pounds, were baking in the improvised oven of the cottage, and a loaf of bread with coarse salt and chopped vegetable leaves was a soldier's standard staple for three days. More than two dozen of these loaves of bread had been baked in the rattan baskets in the room. These breads are easy to carry, the portions are very large, and because of the addition of a small amount of salt powder, the taste is also delicious, if it is accompanied by a little bacon, it can better supplement the soldier's physical strength, and greatly stimulate the soldier's combat power.

…………

The land between the valleys, on the land that has just been cleared up. Ron, who had arrived on Pegasus, was delivering Arte's orders to Lawrence and Scott, the steward of the Vale and the captain and vice-captain of the Fort Guard.

"Uncle Lawrence, your lord has ordered you to select five more young men from the castle to join the fort guards, and then send three brave men from the fort guards to accompany Simon to the border area to build a checkpoint, and you must also be responsible for guarding the group of prisoners of war and assisting the old butler to lead them to build the horse lane. This side of the valley was temporarily left under the care of my father. ”

Lawrence put down the iron hoe in his hand and replied, "Yes, I will immediately gather the peasants of the fort guard team and return to the wooden fort." ”

Scott, who heard the news, asked, "Ron, is there going to be a war?" ”