Report the sights of the northern giants as soon as they are discovered, and the troops stationed in the county will strike at the first time to kill the damned giants.

The Cohen County Warden disagreed.

"The northern giants are much taller than us, and for every step they take, we have to take at least two or three steps to catch up. Their speed in the running state is equivalent to that of our cavalry. Moreover, giants also have horses, which far surpass us in terms of speed and strength. ”

"As long as the northern giants are willing to run wildly without their lives, they can run faster than our cavalry."

"The archers of those barbarians have been trained since they were children, and they can shoot a crow in the eye from two hundred meters away."

These words were obviously exaggerated, and Baron Hutson knew it, but he could not refute it, for Viscount Cohen was more than twice his age and was a powerful magistrate among the nobility. Whether it is financial resources, power, connections, and other aspects, it is not comparable to the "military aristocracy" without fiefdoms like themselves.

The more important reason that Viscount Cohen said next is very strong———— the county of Moriente is very large, including the county seat, there are as many as a dozen large and small cities. Fort Radford, for example, has 300,000 inhabitants. Other small towns have at least 50,000 people.

With these cities at its core, the surrounding area is dotted with hundreds of villages and small towns. The common village pattern in the Saxon kingdom was four to one, that is, a small town was dominant, with four villages radiating nearby. Of course, this situation is not universal to all kingdom regions, there are always some places where the development of the town is limited by resources, rivers, topography and other factors, and the number of villages around it is small. On the whole, however, the "four-to-one" was the unwritten basic administrative unit of the Saxon kingdom, and the number of inhabitants in each area of four villages and one town was about 10,000 according to the standard of population that prevailed in most places.

"I know you are a good officer, otherwise the Marquis of Brackbarn would not have appointed you as the commander of this army." Viscount Cohen looked at Baron Hutson's young face, he saw the stubbornness and persistence of the young man, and saw a little confusion and vacillation, so he struck while the iron was hot, and further explained why he did it.

"You should be in Moldant City for the first time, you are not familiar with this place. But I'm different, this is my father's fiefdom, the previous Count of Morente. I grew up here, and although I wasn't good at military affairs, I thought I was a good lord, I knew how to run a business, and I was very tolerant of the common people below. ”

Speaking of this, Viscount Cohen changed his words and said with a smile: "You are very familiar with the city of London?" ”

Although Baron Hutson didn't understand why the other party asked this, he hesitated for a moment, but still nodded subconsciously: "Yes." ”

"Are you familiar with the civilians in the city of London?" Viscount Cohen shifted the conversation slightly to what he needed.

“…… Sort of! Baron Hutson remembered the pubs he frequented in the Ghetto, and the scantily clad bar girls who were very welcoming to him. In London, the aristocrats liked to disguise themselves as ordinary people to enter the plebeian pubs, lurk among the poor ghosts with a special sense of superiority, listen to them whine, and even follow the drunkards to curse the king and the lord in the dirtiest words. This is by no means transgression or betrayal, it is purely just venting.

Of course, you can also meet some pretty chicks in that kind of place. Compared to the salon of the noble lady, or the hooking up with a noble woman at the ball, the "country girls" in the plebeian bar are more wild, and in the eyes of a nobleman like Baron Hutson, there is a special flavor.

Viscount Cohen's face was calm: "Then do you know where the daily food needs of those civilians in the city of London come from?" ”

Baron Hutson hesitated again. He asked uncertainly, "...... You mean bread? ”

Neither ridicule nor sarcasm, Viscount Cohen expounded in an ordinary and plain tone the important interdependence between the village and the city.

"A four-to-one village or town can support 500,000 to 100,000 people. Without these villages, without enough peasants, not to mention London, not even the city of Morient would not be able to sustain itself. Under normal circumstances, there is enough grain reserves in the city of Morente to consume for half a year. As soon as I issue an order to raise the purchase price by one to two percent, the peasants in the nearby villages and small towns will send their grain stockpiles over, so that the supply time of the grain reserve base will increase to one year, or even one and a half years. Of course, I can also order forcible expropriation in the name of "war...... I only want to say one thing: without these villages and towns, even the most powerful garrisons in the cities are useless. ”

Baron Hutson finally understood the meaning of Viscount Cohen's words: "You want to divide this army into pieces and distribute them to various villages and towns?" ”

"It's not all the troops, just half of the troops." Viscount Cohen smiled again: "Send 10,000 soldiers and distribute them to various villages and towns according to the size of the hundred-man team. The locals stationed there will provide them with food, and they will even eat better than staying in the city of Moldon. I promise the mayor and the village chief will bring out the best bacon and wine......"

"Wait." Baron Hutson interrupted him and asked suspiciously, "Ten thousand?" You asked me to send 10,000 soldiers to disperse the garrison? ”

"Yes." Viscount Cohen doesn't think there's anything wrong with this: "According to the information we have so far, the northern giants are not going south on a large scale, and their main force should still be in the fortress of Kamui, or even further north. Hehe, I also participated in the Northern War when I was young, and I know very well the strength and practices of those giants. Although we lost this time, they have not taken the initiative to go south for hundreds of years, and I think this time is no exception. ”

Baron Hutson shook his head vigorously with a gloomy face: "No, this time is different, the northern giants have developed muskets, and their weapons and equipment are even much better than ours. Your Excellency, you must pay due attention to this. ”

"It is because I attach importance to this that I asked for reinforcements from London." Viscount Cohen was completely in the tone of a passer-by: "If you win the war, the situation will naturally become different. Young man, you have to learn to think deeply, the northern giants did not go south on a large scale, but only sent stragglers to attack on a small scale, which in itself is worth pondering. However, the situation is obviously not as complicated as you think, and I am sure that the Marquis of Brackbarn also saw this, otherwise he would have sent far more than 20,000 troops, at least no less than 50,000. ”

Baron Hutson frowned, lost in thought.

He was a good general, but he was not a qualified politician, and he did not think about things economically. This is a merit and the baron's greatest flaw.

"My request is not excessive, 10,000 soldiers have been left in the city of Morente, and it is completely up to you to decide how to arrange it." Seeing the effect of his persuasion, the smile on Viscount Cohen's face grew stronger. He gestured with his right hand, and the attendant standing beside him immediately handed over a money bag that had already been prepared.

It is a black money bag made of fine linen and cotton cloth blend, and the surface is embroidered with beautiful patterns with silk threads, and it is valuable in itself in terms of craftsmanship alone. Both the material and the finished product can be sold at a high price in the market.

The moment his fingers touched the purse, Baron Hutson felt a heavy surprise and surprise. He untied the tether and saw gold coins that reflected a dazzling sheen. It was a special currency that circulated mainly in the aristocratic circles of the Saxon kingdom and was issued by the royal mint. The obverse of the currency is engraved with the portrait of Wilson, the third Saxon king, who fell ill at a young age and had lost all his hair by the time he ascended the throne at the age of twenty-two. In order to take care of his image, Wilson wore a wig all the year round, and later many people in aristocratic circles rushed to follow suit, and soon formed a trend.

A beautiful wig must be blonde and smooth and supple.

This special currency is numbered, because of the high gold content, coupled with the high technical means of anti-counterfeiting marking, so it has a considerable value, one is equivalent to fifty gold pounds. In aristocratic circles and folklore, he was nicknamed "Blonde Wilson".

The value of this "blonde Wilson" full of money is self-evident. Baron Hutson felt the deepest part of his heart be slammed, and he stroked the surface of the gold coin with his trembling fingers, as if touching the most intimate parts of his beautiful mistress's body...... When he raised his head, there was no confusion and persistence in his eyes, only fanaticism and a little hesitation.

Viscount Coen looked at him with a smile on his face, and whispered softly full of temptation: "The king will never understand what a vassal like me thinks, and the Marquis of Brackbarn will only look at the problem as a whole. In fact, I have a common opinion and interest with them, and that is the safety and benefits of Moriente. This is my fiefdom, my ancestors were dukes, and I have to protect the commoners here, and all the people. ”

The muscles in the corners of Baron Hutson's eyes twitched slightly: "Ten thousand soldiers...... Isn't that enough? ”

Viscount Cohen's smile was kind and kind: "Everything has a price. If you're willing to send more soldiers to garrison the villages, I'll pay you more than you already have. ”

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the money bag in the baron's hand: "The same number of blonde Wilson, and a small town of three thousand inhabitants located in the south of the city of Morente. ”

He had inquired in detail about Baron Hutson. This is a military aristocrat who has stayed in London all the year round, completely relying on military merits, not much property, and his salary is pitiful, and more importantly, he has no fiefdom.

Speaking of which, it was also caused by the king's stinginess. More than 100 years ago, the Saxon kings rarely gave fiefs to their vassals, and then formed the later "feudal fiefs". Those old nobles who own fiefs must pay a certain amount of "renewal money" in order to continue to have a title and enjoy the same benefits as their ancestors. Generally speaking, the succession of descendants to the title must be the successive extension of the previous title, such as the duke's son can only become a marquis, and the son of a marquis can only become an earl, so as to be deduced.

If Elizabeth had not received the help of the local magistrate and had paid the corresponding price, she would have been reborn as a viscount, not an earl.

Compared with an old aristocrat with a fief like Viscount Cohen, Baron Hutson is undoubtedly the poor ghost of the aristocracy.

His tough heart, which belonged to a soldier, was beating wildly again———— and the blonde Wilson, who was two large pursees, and a fiefdom that was not too big, but was vital to him, was a maddening multiple-choice question.

As long as you have a higher title, you are eligible to give fiefs to lower nobles. It was a bargain between nobles, and the king never interfered.

At this moment, Baron Hutson figured it all out.

What Viscount Cohen wants, is the safety of Moriente.

What the King and the Marquis of Brackbarne wanted to be the same as the Viscount Cohen on the surface, but in reality they were very different.

The latter ensured above all the cities, and it seemed to them that the peasants could be requisitioned at any time, and that a single order could arise indefinitely from among the urban poor. Even if the northern giants kill all the peasants in Morente County and destroy all the villages and towns, as long as the cities are still there, they can restore the production capacity of these villages and towns in a short time.

Suppose that the whole of Moriente had as many as a million peasants, and all of them would then die at the hands of the northern giants, and such a thing would have had disastrous consequences for Viscount Cohen, but the king and the Marquis of Brackbar would not see it that way, and they would only supplement it by requisitioning an equal number of urban poor from London, Welshburg, Princeton, Cape Town, etc...... This was the most advantageous solution for the high-ranking rulers, reducing the chaos in the city, compensating for the war deficit, and weakening the control and financial resources of the local nobility.

It is no wonder that Viscount Cohen has repeatedly demanded that 20,000 trained musketeers be sent to various villages and towns, and he does not hesitate to pay large sums of money to bribe himself.

"Don't worry! I'll leave it up to the Marquis of Brackbarn, and he won't blame you. Viscount Cohen's smile was meaningful: "Hehe, only the money in your pocket belongs to you...... This is a true proverb. ”

……

The secluded Black Forest hides everything.

Densely grown woods stretch from the northern mountains to the plains. The dense trees grow in a staggered manner, never cut down deeply, and the seeds fall to the ground and become saplings, which grow into timber year after year, forming a large natural barrier.

White woodcutters never go deep into the woods, they only cut wood on the outskirts of the Black Forest. There are a large number of wild beasts, brown bears, wild boars, bobcats, wolves, foxes, leopards...... They form a complete food chain based on herbivores, but they do not exclude humans from entering this circle as new predators.

The beasts also wanted a change of taste, and the salty human flesh seemed to them to be delicious, nutritious, and easy to digest.