Chapter 56 Food, clothing, shelter and transportation

Lorist needed the help of Count Miranda, and without the lord's permission, no matter how strong Lorlist's family army was and how rich the funds were, he would not be able to get the manpower and material support of this area of Port Ammetrin, which had a great impact on Lorlist's northward strategy.

Lorist had several discussions with Fat Man and his knights, and they all agreed that the greatest difficulty in the northward journey was how to make it through the two thousand miles of the kingdom of Redlis. It would be no problem if Lorist only took a dozen people through the kingdom of Ridlis, but now there are more than 6,000 people following Lorist north, and there are a large number of supplies, which has become a problem.

The kingdom of Redlis was founded by the former Grand Prince of the Cresson Empire, who was known for his tyranny, greed, and lack of faith in the former Imperial era, so the old emperor revoked his inheritance and sent him to the province of Portoorg, far from the imperial capital. As a result, the eldest prince was like a fish in water when he arrived in the place, and he quickly obtained the military and political power of the province of Puerto Org with the help of the emperor of the mountain, vigorously looted civilian assets, formed a private army, and even pretended to be a robber to rob merchants. For example, the destruction of the Norton family's caravan is suspected to be the work of the great prince.

When the old emperor died, it was the eldest prince who was the first to raise the anti-flag, dragging the entire empire into a bitter civil war. Now, less than a year and a half after the armistice was signed, the Grand Prince has found an excuse to provoke a war with the Duchy of Forrendo, in fact, he wants to get his hands on the richest central region of the former empire. Fortunately, the four Grand Dukes of Fakel, the Duchy of Forendor, the Duchy of Handla, and the Duchy of Sabaji in the central region have a clear understanding of the character of this great prince, and the four principalities have formed a military alliance and sent a coalition to resist the invasion of the Grand Prince.

Lorist and the knights were worried that now that they were in the Duchy of Rum, they would enter the territory of the Kingdom of Redlis if they traveled north, and they were carrying a huge amount of supplies and many dependents of the army, so they could easily become the target of the Great Prince. The eldest prince is said to have a hard time, although the territory is as many as seven provinces, but he has looted the people's wealth has been scraped three feet high, the territory is full of smoke, everywhere is the grass for the common people, mountain bandits and robbers emerge in endlessly.

And the army of the eldest prince is now inseparable from the coalition forces of the four principalities, and it has reached a situation where it is difficult to ride a tiger. Thanks to the burning and looting of the army of the eldest prince, the four principalities, from the nobles to the common people, all hate the eldest prince, even if the eldest prince wants to withdraw his troops, the army of the four principalities will definitely counterattack into the kingdom of Ridleys. It is said that the eldest prince can only borrow money to finance his military expenses so that the war at the front line does not collapse.

Shi Fatzi thinks that if he walks along the avenue, no matter how strong the family army is, he will not be able to avoid becoming a fat sheep in the eyes of the eldest prince. It is highly likely that the Grand Prince will risk the world's condemnation and send his garrison to besiege Lorlist's northbound party. Anyway, he and the Norton family have an old grudge, and they will definitely not let go of the opportunity to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, not to mention that Lorist still carries so many supplies.

Both Fat Man and Bodfinger thought that the best way was to take a detour, and they chose a northbound route to the west, which would pass through the territories of a dozen lords, large and small, and it would be more than three hundred miles longer than walking along the avenue. Shi Fatzi thinks that there are many advantages to taking this route, such as the strength of the family army can completely crush these territorial nobles, and there is no problem in forcing them through. Moreover, there are serious bandits in these territories, we can suppress bandits and train our troops along the way, and we can also get the gratitude and assistance of the nobles of the territory.

Bodfinger thought that in order to pass through the kingdom of Redlis, it was necessary to maintain a minimum journey of fifty to sixty miles a day, and as long as half the mile was passed, then even if the eldest prince got the news, he would not be able to do anything about us, because he would not be able to catch up with us if he sent an army. When we occupy this place, we can say that we are safe.

The location on the map that Bodfinger points to is a border fortress called Benzburg, which is the border between the kingdom of Antinac of the Three Princes and the kingdom of Ridlis of the Great Prince. This place was familiar to Bodfinger, who had fought here when he was still in the White Lions. He said that the White Lion Legion defeated the Great Prince's army here, but the Grand Prince's army was supported by the Fude Business Alliance, and finally the White Lion Legion withdrew from Benzburg, giving up this choke point that controlled the border between the two countries to the Grand Prince's army.

Bodfinger said that after that fight, the two countries could not afford to fight again, and then an armistice was signed and the White Lions were disbanded. As the eldest prince turned his attention to the central region, only a garrison of more than a thousand men was left here. Half a year ago, when Bodfinger and his children passed through here to the city of Morient, they found that the garrison of Benzburg was extremely lax. If you can take advantage of its unpreparedness to attack suddenly, then it will be easy to take this fortress with the strength of the family army.

Lorist understood what Bodfinger meant, took this fortress, handed it over to the third prince, not only sold the favor of the third prince, but also did not need to worry about the eldest prince's pursuers, and his team could go north along the avenue with peace of mind.

After determining the route, what needs to be solved is how to make the northbound team travel more than fifty miles a day, which is very simple, and can only rely on the carriage, otherwise it is very good to be able to walk thirty miles a day with the old and small military dependents. According to Shi Fatzi's plan, if a group of four or five families is a four-wheeled carriage full of twelve or thirteen people, then at least two hundred and fifty carriages will be needed for nearly 4,000 military dependents. Coupled with the carriages needed by the troops and the carriages for transporting supplies, in the end, Shi Fatzi found that he could not get on the road without 600 four-wheeled carriages.

Shi Fatzi made the most of the manpower of his dependents with the army, and he was divided into groups according to their respective skills, and worked hard, but it is estimated that he can only produce 200 four-wheeled carriages in a month, plus the existing more than 100 in his hand, which is still half short. In addition, horses pulling carts are also a problem. A four-wheeled carriage with two horses, six hundred wagons required twelve hundred horses, and Lorist had only six hundred horses on hand, plus those captured from the raid on the slave camp and the Slov manor.

Lorist was on a tight schedule, and he had to arrive in the Northlands by March to inherit the title and family domain. It's the end of November, with only three months to go, and Port Ametrin is nearly 5,000 miles away from the Northlands.

The reason why it was decided to stay in Slov Manor for another month is that there is no way, within this month, you have to buy a carriage to get on the road, as long as you pass through the kingdom of Ridleys, then Lorist can rest assured that the team will slowly go north, and he will take a few people to take the first step, and hurry to the north to inherit the title and territory.

Therefore, Lorist needs the help of Count Miranda very much, as long as Count Miranda agrees to mobilize the materials and manpower in the territory to help Lorist build or buy carriages, that month is enough. Originally, Lorist was still thinking about how to get to know the local lord and ask for help, but who knew that Count Miranda automatically sent it to the door, how could Lorist be overjoyed. The purpose of sending the manor to the relatives of the members of the slave hunting group was to befriend the local lord, Lord Earl, so that he could agree to his request.

The Earl of Miranda stayed in the Miranda estate for four days, and the Earl was very pleased with Lorlist's move to change the name of the Slov estate to Miranda Manor, and he promised to help Lorist as much as he could, mobilizing the human and material resources of the territory to help build the four-wheeled carriage, and collecting a thousand pack horses for Lorlist. Perhaps the Earl also wanted Lorlist's party to go north as soon as possible, so that he could become the true master of Miranda's estate.

Lord Count unabashedly told Lorist that he was going to move the castle he lived in to Miranda Manor, first, the terrain here is good, it is difficult to attack and easy to defend, and the surrounding environment is good, and the defense facilities in the manor are much better than the castle he currently lives in. The second is that the Earl believes that after moving to the Miranda Manor, his control over the port of Ametlin will be strengthened, as long as the port is not only invested and developed, but soon the port of Ametlin will become a hen that will lay golden eggs in the hands of the Earl, and the prospect of rolling money is just around the corner.

Lorist naturally expressed his admiration for the Earl's vision, and as a thank you for the Earl's willingness to help him provide carriages and horses free of charge, Lorist decided to give the Earl's three-masted sea ship to the Earl as a gift, fulfilling the Earl's wish to own a sea ship. In fact, three hundred four-wheeled carriages and a thousand pack horses pulling carts were worth as much as the ship of the sea, but it would be too undignified for the nobles to trade with each other as nakedly as merchants. So one was willing to provide free help, one handed over gifts, and everything was tacitly carried out.

Count Miranda did what he said, and on the third day, he sent his chief steward, nearly a hundred servants, and dozens of maids to Miranda Manor, and assigned two young and beautiful maids to serve Lorist, and specially asked the chief steward to come over to greet him, indicating that the two maids had taken the honey incandescent divine liquid, and Lorist could use it with confidence.

Lorist knew each other and immediately asked all his knights to move out of the main building, and each of them looked for a house in the manor house as a temporary residence, so that the chief steward could recruit craftsmen to rectify and decorate the main building according to Count Miranda's preferences.

Miranda admired Lorlist's knowledge, and if it weren't for Lorlist's desire to go north to inherit the family's domain and title, he would have wanted to take Lorist under his command.

Perhaps it was the seizure of those Slov's shops that made the Earl a lot of money, and in the four days of the manor, he signed several agreements with Shi Fatzi, who was lying on the soft couch:

First, the Count of Miranda entrusted Lorlist's family army to train for him a private army of more than 700 men, a total of 120 heavy armourers, 240 crossbow archers, and 360 spearmen, for a month.

Second, the 720-strong private armed force is to be assembled within three days and is to be stationed at the camp of the former slave hunters on the southern outskirts of Ametlin Harbour, and its armament is to be provided entirely by Lorlist, with a total of 20,000 gold fords for training commissions and armaments.

Third, Lorist will sell the surplus weapons and equipment to the Count Miranda at a 6% discount, and the Lord Count will take them out and sell them.

Fourth, Lord Count will provide Lorist with three hundred beef cattle and two thousand sheep, the cost of which will be deducted only from the cost of the purchase.

After signing the agreement, Count Miranda left the estate to raise money and recruit personnel. And Lorist and Fat Man found Ell and Telman, and asked the two to leave for Molent City immediately, without him, Fat Boss thought that Lorlist's idea of buying those scrapped and auctioned weapons and equipment in the academy was really great, and Lorist only acquired seven colleges last time, and there are a total of twenty-eight graduate schools in the college district, and there is still a lot of potential to be tapped.

Shi Fatzi regretted that he hadn't discovered this path when he was in the academy, if he had monopolized this business of refurbishing and selling scrap weapons from various academies, then he would now be worth at least one million gold fords!

El and Telman brought 50,000 gold vice-delights with them on this trip, not only to purchase the weapons and equipment of the academy, but also to customize the axles of 700 pairs of four-wheeled carriages. Lorist also wrote a letter to President Peterson, believing that with the help of the Peterson Chamber of Commerce, the axle of the carriage would soon be completed.

Miranda Manor was in the heat of labor, and Lorist knew how difficult it was to prepare for the 6,000-man journey. In terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation alone, the fat man had already prepared for the matter of clothes, and the customized acquisition in Molent City, coupled with the seizure of the Slov Manor and the confiscation from the residential area, was enough to ensure the supply of the team.

Food is to prepare dry food for the journey, like the supply provided by the Count of Miranda who is now stationed in the manor, the daily consumption of food by 6,000 people reaches 10,000 catties, plus other non-staple foods, such as fresh meat, vegetables and fruits, so that the chief steward of the Count of Miranda in charge also shouted that he could not bear it, and the Count of Miranda was forced to pay for the grain of the two major ships to solve the problem.

Since this month's supply was provided by the Earl, all the grain that Shi Fatzi had ordered and collected before was used to make dry food on the northbound road. Fat Man decided to make marching black bread, which was different from what the bakery was selling, and one was half a meter long, thicker than Lorlist's arm. After being baked in the oven and cooled, it was so strong that Lorist suspected that it was comparable to the hardness of the bricks.

A march of black bread is enough for an adult to consume for ten days. The way to eat it is also different from other breads, you can't gnaw it with your teeth, otherwise you have to break your teeth. The correct way to eat is: first, if the time is enough, you can put it on the fire and bake it for half a day, bake it soft and cut it into two slices, and you can eat some dried meat in the middle, especially hungry. Second, if you don't have enough time, use a hammer to smash the block down, put it in a basin, add water and boil, and it will immediately become a porridge, and add some wild vegetables and minced meat or something is a big pot. Third, if the time is particularly tight, add blisters, soak for a while, you can break off a small piece and chew it slowly in your mouth, but be careful of burping.

The ingredients for making marching brown bread are very simple, rye flour, bran, salt, and then you can add any grains, as long as the dough is well risen, you can make brown bread. Bodfinger said that when food was scarce, the White Lions' marching black bread was filled with sawdust and leaves. The guarantee period of marching black bread can be as long as half a year, and Shi Fatzi is ready to make 10,000 marching black breads, each soldier carries two with him, and his family members carry one each. Lorist praised this as good, and if the weapon is broken during the battle, you can also smash the enemy with the black bread you carry......

In addition to the black bread of the march, there were also 300 cattle and 2,000 sheep purchased by Count Miranda the Fat Man, all of which were to be slaughtered to make bacon jerky and dried meat, as well as mutton sausages, beef jerky and shredded beef, as a meat supplement for the road. In addition to these, Shi Fatzi also ordered nearly 1,000 catties of preserved dried plums and green olives as snacks for everyone to adjust their tastes during the long journey.

There is only one way to live in a house, tents, and a large team of 6,000 people cannot find a hotel to rest. Shi Fatzi is very thoughtful about this, in addition to the soldiers' military tents, the arrangement of the military dependents is also the same as the carriage, a carriage arranges a tent, and when the carriage is surrounded by a peripheral barrier, the tent is set up inside, and this problem is solved.

Needless to say, use a four-wheeled carriage. It's just that this trip to the north is not a normal group trip, but will encounter all kinds of dangers, so there must be an army escort, with the army there are more things, to prepare the carriage to transport logistics supplies, to prepare the team of pharmacists, to prepare spare weapons and equipment, to prepare the fine fodder for the mounts and the forage for the carts and pack horses, so the convoy swelled more and more.

El and Telman returned to Port Ametlin on December 23 aboard a sea-going ship from the Peterson Chamber of Commerce. They brought back seven hundred axles of four-wheeled carriages. They reported that for the 700 axles, President Peterson had all the spare axles from all the car shops in the city of Morente, and that he had to dismantle more than 100 of his own four-wheeled wagons.

In addition to the axles, they also spent more than 20,000 gold fords to drain the so-called scrapped weapons and equipment of the arsenals of the eight academies, if it wasn't for the time to come back in a hurry, they really wanted to let go of the arsenals of any academy, but they were worried that there were too many to carry, and there was not enough time, so they hurried back.

As El and Telman say, there are really too many weapons and equipment. When Fat Shi asked Count Miranda to fulfill the agreement to buy the surplus weapons and equipment, the Count was dumbfounded. Because he found that even if he took out all the copper plates around him, it was only enough to buy one-third of the excess equipment that Shi Fatzi said, which was still a five-fold discount according to the market price instead of a six-fold discount as stated in the agreement.

In the end, the Earl spent 60,000 gold coins to buy a quarter of the surplus weapons, but he was very happy that he could make a thirty percent profit by selling them to his nobles.

Shi Fatzi found that the convoy he planned had swelled to more than 800 vehicles, of which more than 100 were carrying extra weapons and equipment. So he decided to go all the way north and sell all kinds of weapons and equipment to the nobles of the territory along the way, first act as an armed caravan, and then invest the windfall profits obtained in the development of the northland.

Time flies quickly, the busy New Year has arrived, all the preparations for the northbound have been completed, and the convoy has been prepared and will set off in three days.

In celebration of the New Year, Lorist announced that each soldier would be given a golden merde, and that each of the military dependents, young and old, would receive a large silver coin, and a grand New Year's banquet was held, which aroused the cheers of the soldiers and their families.

In the dead of night, Lorist couldn't sleep, looking at the bright starry sky alone in the courtyard, and the northward journey was imminent, what would his future lordship be like......