The road was extremely boring, so Zhou Mingyue asked casually.

The Temos knight couldn't help but smile wryly: "Spring ploughing is about to begin, how can it be possible to recruit peasant soldiers again?" ”

Zhou Mingyue suddenly understood.

Indeed, with the world's backward agricultural technology, if spring ploughing is missed, not only a few people will starve to death after that.

Besides, Viscount Hanks's side can't recruit peasant soldiers, so Count Max's side must not be able to recruit peasant soldiers.

At this time, to recruit peasants and soldiers is to cut off the future development potential of their own territory.

But then again, that's a good thing.

There are only knights on both sides, and if there are standing soldiers, a big battle will kill a lot of people.

By the time they arrived at Hanks Castle, many knights had already set up barracks outside the castle in advance.

Since there were no peasant soldiers, the number of tents erected on the grass outside the castle was much smaller.

Thinking about it, there are only more than a dozen knights under the command of Viscount Hanks, and each knight has thirty standing soldiers, which adds up to more than three hundred.

There were lookouts on the towers of the castle, and soon the castle gates opened, and a knight rushed out of the gates to meet them.

The knight wore armor dyed gray-blue, and had the family crest of Viscount Hanks on his left chest.

He is a Knight of Hans directly under Viscount Hanks's castle, to put it bluntly, he is a knight who has no territory and receives a salary to eat under Viscount Hanks, similar to a court nobleman.

Zhou Mingyue had seen the Hans Knight, but was not very familiar with him.

"Hey! On behalf of Hanks Castle and Lord Hanks, Lord of the Thirteen Towns and Thirty-two Villages in the North, I would like to welcome the arrival of the two knights. ”

Driving the war horse at a trot, the Hans knight had a full beard and an extremely loud voice, which was probably one of the reasons why Viscount Hanks chose him to greet the other knights.

"Dear Hanks Castle Guard-Knight Hans, I am a battle-hardened warrior, Temos Knight, the master of Temos Manor and Iron Castle Village, Blackwater Village, it is a pleasure to meet you."

The Knight of Temos responded with a greeting peculiar to the nobles of the Kingdom of Flor, even though they were already familiar with each other.

Subsequently, between the two warhorses, the two pounded each other's chests and patted each other's shoulders to show intimacy.

That's right, the greetings between the nobles of the Kingdom of Flor are so cumbersome and complicated.

First of all, you need to report your territory, honor and even title one by one, and then you will carry out different forms of friendly actions according to the level of the two titles.

In fact, if both parties are above the title of viscount, these words should be shouted out loudly by the nobles' personal entourage.

"Dear Hanks Castle Guard-Knight Hans, I am the conqueror of the Savage Zone, the master of the Totem Valley, the independent knight Zhou, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Although he felt that his words were very middle-class, which made him very shy, Zhou Mingyue still mustered up the courage to say it, and then staggered with the other party's war horses, beating each other's chests and patting shoulders to show intimacy.

Of course, this is only a greeting between knights, if it is a nobleman with a higher title, it will be changed to a veneer salute, a sword salute and so on.

Under the guidance of Knight Hans, Zhou Mingyue and Knight Temos came to the grass outside the castle, chose an open space, and let his soldiers set up tents, while the two of them followed Knight Hans to the castle to attend the banquet held by Viscount Hanks.

Well, to be honest, if the war starts at the time of spring ploughing, even if the farmers on the territory are not recruited, the morale of the knights will not be too high.

The reason is very simple, if it is a war against a foreign country or a barbarian, it is easy for a knight to gain honor, or even to get a promotion in the title, become a baron, and so on.

But fighting with Count Max, that is, a war between the nobles of the same country, there is not much honor, and it is difficult to beat Count Max to death, as for the harvest, I don't know how much there will be, how not to demoralize the knights.

In such a situation, a banquet is undoubtedly the highest way to boost morale.

However, with the basic material conditions here, this banquet is just like that.

The food that came out was lamb in white water, boiled greens, the kind with a little salt, but the wine served was not bad, the wine from one of Viscount Hanks's estates, and everyone had a plate with a little pepper-like condiment in front of them.

Those knights had long been accustomed to such banquets, and it was usually impossible to eat meat openly, so as soon as the meat was served, they immediately took out a silver-handled knife, cut the meat into small pieces, dipped it in a little spice, and ate it deliciously.

But Zhou Mingyue really couldn't accept such food, and after cutting a small piece and eating it to the point of vomiting, he could only hold the bread and gnaw it.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the bread served at the banquet, it was ordinary white bread, but with a little honey in it and some raisins sprinkled on the noodles, it tasted good, and there was no problem in filling the stomach.

As for the banquet performances such as singing and dancing, magic, acrobatics, etc., which Zhou Mingyue expected, there was no such thing as it existed.

As a viscount whose territory is close to the border, he can't afford to raise it for the time being, or there is no such performance group here.

Being able to fill the plate in front of the knights with meat and let them drink freely, Viscount Hanks has done a good job.

After spending a few days at Hanks Castle, several nobles invited by Viscount Hanks also arrived at the castle with their knights and troops.

"Honorable Lord Hanks, Lord of Hanks Castle and Thirteen Towns and Thirty-two Villages in the North, I am ......"

With the arrival of these nobles, the grass outside Hanks Castle became crowded again.

Viscount Aaron, Baron Garfield, Baron Maxwell, Baron Elijah, and Baron Dennis were a total of five sword-wielding nobles plus more than thirty knights under their command, and the standing soldiers of these nobles were not a small number together.

As far as the Kingdom of Flor is concerned, the Baron generally has 150-200 direct standing soldiers, and the Viscount Castle has 300-500 direct standing soldiers.

It is not surprising that Viscount Aaron brought only 200 direct standing soldiers, and Viscount Aaron also had his own castle to guard, and it was impossible to bring all the direct standing soldiers.

The four barons each carried eighty to one hundred standing soldiers, which could be regarded as a great face for Viscount Hanks.

Combined with the 1,000 standing soldiers brought by the more than 30 knights, the number of troops living outside Hanks Castle reached 2,000!

Of course, with the arrival of the allies of a viscount and five barons, Viscount Hanks did not wait any longer, and the next day after holding a welcome banquet as usual, he ordered the standing soldiers of the castle, stood on the city wall and reprimanded Count Max for his shamelessness, and then marched south.