Chapter Ninety-Eight: Maple Grove Villa

Steward Codan and Sedkamp rode up the hill and came to Lorlist's side.

Lorist asked, "Do you know the details of why the Dunbasen family in Kitano Town withdrew from the garrison?"

"My lord, the last time you left Kitano Town with the Berunek knight, the next day it seems that something happened to the Dumbassen family. It's just that they are hiding it so deeply, and we can't find out why, but I remember that night the head of the Morin family, the head of the Hassan family, and the head of the Cupim family, went to meet with Master Dunbason, as if some agreement had been reached, and then the people of the Donbasen family withdrew from the garrison. Steward Codan replied.

"And what about you, what did you find?" Lorist turned to Sedcamp.

Sedecamp nodded and said: "Last night, I asked a member of the team who was dismissed from the garrison to drink, and he drank too much and told me that in fact, the four major families have been concealing the strength of their families, and each family has several clansmen who have been promoted to the silver rank, which is also where they dare to openly confront the family. It's just that what puzzles the four major families is that these clansmen who have been promoted to the silver level can't learn the systematic knowledge of fighting qi, they don't know how to use the fighting qi of the silver level, and they can only rely on their own exploration. The former garrison member also told me that this time the Dunbasen family had bad luck, and they only had a total of five silver-level clansmen, but somehow four of them died at once, and two black iron three-star ones also hung up, and their strength fell from the second to the last of the four major families. I suspect that the three families came to the door and threatened, and the Dumbassen family was forced to withdraw from the garrison. ”

Lorist laughed, that time on the way back from Beiye Town, he killed six people who blocked the road, originally thought that the four major families had a share, and Berunek recognized two of them as members of the Dumbasson family, but he didn't expect that the other four were also, which was also a cruel lesson to the Dumbassen family, and broke the spine of their family at once. Originally, he hoped that the four major families of Kitano Town would fight for the position of the three quasi-knights, but the winner was decided so quickly, and it turned out that the Dumbassen family was the victim, and he could only blame himself for being too heavy.

"Is there a problem with that Cassie?" Lorist asked again.

"I've asked a lot of people, and they only know of such a person, but they haven't been in contact with it. I checked with a few of the former garrison members, and they all said that they didn't know Cassie, and they didn't hear of any family Cassie was close to, and that they usually stayed in the Lord's Palace, with Lord Bérunec. Aside from Master Dumbasson, Cassie had no contact with any other family owner. I don't think he's going to have a problem. ”

Lorist sighed and said, "It's strange to me that the knight of Berunik was poisoned by Master Donbasen for two years, and he was almost under house arrest in the Lord's Palace. Didn't Cassie, as an acolyte, find the slightest sign of suspicion? However, since I didn't notice the problem, after arriving at the family's manor castle, you ask Cassie to report to the guards, and I will teach him to awaken his fighting spirit, as a reward for his two years of companionship with the knights of Bérunec. ”

"Your Excellency, you have treated the garrison of Kitano Town too favorably this time, not only paying them salaries, but also giving them leather armor and spears, but I suspect that they will not act according to your arrangement. Steward Codan said.

"Yes, they don't have a choice. Have you forgotten that I changed the rules of the field?" said Lorlist.

"You're talking about the rule that the garrison distributes sixty acres of land to each of them?"

"Yes, four hundred garrisons, sixty acres each, exactly twenty-four thousand acres, can be said to occupy all the fields in Kitano Town. The Morin family, the Hassan family, and the Cupim family have already taken up all the places in the garrison, do you think they will let go of those fields? In this way, the garrison members who did not belong to the three major families were not only removed by the garrison, but also lost their fields, what do you think they will do?"

"They're going to make trouble?"

"Of course, the original idea of the three major families was to let me form a garrison of the new town and recruit all these people, so that these people could be appeased, and secondly, their influence could be extended to the new town. It's just that I didn't expect that I wasn't going to form a garrison for the new town right away, but I just said that I would form a garrison after the construction of the new town was completed. So those people lost their whereabouts, they had neither land nor garrison positions, all preferential treatment was gone, do you think they were willing?"

Lorist sneered: "I gave the three major families a one-month deadline, just in the hope that those people will make a fuss, and make trouble until they and the three major families turn against each other, and in the end, the three major families will not be able to stand it and send a garrison to escort them to Huyangtan to build a new town." Soon they will be pitted against each other. In this way, Beiye Town will lose more than half of its population, and I estimate that there are only three or four thousand people left from the three major families, and these three or four thousand people, excluding women, children, old and children, can go into battle at most about a thousand people. At that time, we will be dealing with these 1,000 people, not the original six or seven thousand people in the entire town of Kitano. ”

The steward of Kodan was enlightened.

Lorist looked at Kitano Town in the distance, and the last carriage transporting personnel had also left the city gate: "Let's go, Steward Codan, you are responsible for placing these people in the open space in front of the manor castle." Sederkamp, you are responsible for explaining our new pension rules to the bereaved families of the former family soldiers, and reassuring them that our family will not treat those who serve the family loyally, understand?"

"Yes. My lord, I understand. Sedcamp replied.

......

The open space in front of the family's manor castle was bustling, the Steward of Codan was arranging the tent, the Steward Hansk was settling accounts with the transport convoy in Kitano Town, and the Steward Speer was reporting to Lorlist.

"My lord, Lord Josk has brought one hundred and twenty-four four-wheeled carriages this time, and the family manor castle has gathered eighty-seven four-wheeled carriages, which are mainly the spare carriages of the family caravan from a few years ago and the baggage wagons of the marching army. However, most of the families had two-wheeled carriages, which were mainly used to transport supplies on the estate or to transport hired laborers to farm, and one hundred and thirty-five could be provided if the adults needed them. ”

"Steward Speer, how much extra manpower is there on the manor this time?" asked Lorlist.

"My lord, the Steward of Hansk has already counted seven hundred and forty-eight people with extra manpower. ”

"So, with the addition of 1,427 people in Kitano Town, there are 2,175 people we have to transport to the Morgen Hills Castle site this time, so we need two hundred four-wheeled carriages to transport personnel, and how many food and materials can the remaining carriages transport?"

"Your Excellency, the main thing you have to transport is food and cloth. The family warehouse stores a lot of grain, not much cloth, but a lot of fur can also be transported to make clothes. If even the two-wheeled carriage is transported, it can transport 100,000 catties of grain and a batch of furs. Speer replied.

"So be it, arrange as you say, and use the two-wheeled carriage as well. Lorist commanded.

Lorist turned his head to look and saw that Joske was wandering around him, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Hey, Joe, what are you thinking?"

"Oh, my lord, I'm wondering. When we went to Kitano Town, I found the three characters Kitano Town engraved on the city gate. But why is there no name on the gate of our family's manor, the castle?" said Joske.

That's right, Lorist remembered that everyone usually called it the family's manor castle, and it seems that there was no name for the manor castle. It's strange, the family has been inherited for more than 200 years, why no one named the family's manor castle.

"Steward Speer, do you know why?"

Steward Speer shook his head, and then Steward Hansk finished settling the score, and Lorist asked the same question.

"I remember that there seemed to be a person who asked before, when the old man was still there, he said why is it so troublesome, there is a manor castle and a town in the family territory, and that town is already called Kitano Town, which is the territory of the garrison. And the manor castle belongs to our family, so it's called the family's manor castle, which is more intimate. Steward Hansk replied thoughtfully.

Lorist shook his head: "This won't work, in the future, there will be more manor castles in the family territory, and it will be easy to get confused if it is not named." Let me come up with a name, you see that the surrounding mountains are full of maple forests, and our family's manor castle is called Maple Grove Villa, and you can find a stonemason to engrave this name on the castle later. ”

"Your name is so good, it's very appropriate, I'll have someone engrave it today. Steward Hansk said.

Lorist stopped the Speer steward who was about to leave: "Speer steward, please be tired for the past two days, and prepare the supplies and carriage as soon as possible." Today is the 5th of March, and I hope to leave on the 7th of March, so that I can be at the castle site on the other side of the Morgen Hills by the 8th. “

"Okay, don't worry, my lord, I promise that the convoy will be able to leave on the seventh day. Steward Speer agreed and hurried away.

"My lord, in fact, there is time, you don't have to rush to get the convoy to go. Josk said from the side.

"No, Joe, have you forgotten what the steward of Boris over there said? I'm going to get there by the 8th to see if there's a chance to swallow up the supplies this convoy is carrying. Lorist said.

......

On March 7, at about 9 a.m., a convoy of 211 four-wheeled carriages and 135 two-wheeled carriages transporting men and food supplies left Maple Grove and set off for the castle site in the Morgen hills.

This time, Lorist went with Steward Hansk and Steward Kodan, and Steward Hansk sent more than 200 young men who were training in Maple Grove Villa to be ready to awaken their fighting spirit as coachmen, and asked them to run with the convoy first, and then continue to resume training after returning.

Pat took the sixty awakened guards from the guard team that had just been formed in Maple Grove Villa and the sixty former bandits that Josk brought with him when he came to form an escort team, riding Northland horses to conduct a guard patrol along the way.

Lorist complained to Sedkamp, who was following him: "Why do I always feel like I've been dealing with the convoy? You see, starting from the city of Moriente was to form a convoy, and finally left the convoy in the city of Gerdos, and only a few days before you and Pat got me a convoy in the town of Vonata. Now I've only been at home for a few days, and I'm going to follow the convoy again. The team team is so tired ......"

Knowing that Lorist was joking, Sedkamp smiled and didn't answer.

But Josk laughed: "My lord, you can wait for the day to leave, I will take the convoy first, and you will catch up tomorrow." ”

Lorist waved his hand and said: "No, I found that I am a hard worker, I will be worried all the time in the day of waiting, I can rest assured, it is better to follow the convoy with peace of mind." ”

......

It took Lorist seven and a half hours to get from the castle site on the other side of the Morgen Hills to Maple Grove with Sedcamp and Patter, and now it took an estimated fourteen or fifteen hours to return with the convoy, almost twice as long.

The convoy had been on the road for five or six hours, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, Joske, who was in front of the convoy, had sent someone to ask Lorist if there was a small lake a few miles away, and if he wanted to stop the convoy and rest for two hours before going on the road?

Lorist was about to ride his horse to the front to take a look, when he suddenly noticed that there was dust and smoke rising from the mountain beam in front of him, and dozens of horsemen came out of the mountain beam, brandishing their weapons and making a screaming and terrible scream, and rode straight from the mountain beam to the convoy......