A line of cavalry galloped past me

When the cavalrymen saw Konstantin's banner, they all raised their shields and shouted in greeting, Konstantin nodded, pinched the reins of his horse, and raised his right hand in return

There were about twenty horsemen, but each of them had a few horses, so it seemed that there were a lot of them, and the horses they rode were all short and stocky, and it was said that such horses were superior in endurance, and the Valans did not race horses every year, but the horses with the best stamina ate oats every day, and the best hay even in winter

Farmers from June, when the grass is abundant in the pastures, they will start to harvest the forage with a scythe, and the work of stockpiling for winter will continue until September and October, and the crops will be harvested until the oats and rye, the farmers will also use the scythe to harvest, and for wheat, they will use a small sickle to harvest in Vrankov, the yield of the land is not high, generally four people harvest, two to clean up the wheat stalks and bale them, and two acres of land can be cut in one day. In the past, the service period of two to three days a week would be reduced to one day, and of course, the serfs had to help the lord's family clean up the land at any time

On the top of a ditch, where the water was shallow, the water had begun to freeze, and a horse slipped as he ran up, and almost threw the rider down, which made his companions laugh merrily, and the cavalry broke through the ice, rumbled through the birch forest, and ran off into the distance

Konstantin was by my side and explained things to me

I was arranged to be a Varan officer as a servant, and it is said that I took away a young Valan nobleman, who had no backers in his family, and hoped to enter the army to obtain military merits in exchange for land, Constantine told me not to worry, he said that the little noble family had no power, and he did not dare to blame me, and as a subordinate, he should have been prepared to be replaced at any time

Konstantin also told me that the equipment that Father Peter gave me was a standard light cavalry equipment, and I was not qualified to walk around the barracks in those equipment, which would make everyone hate me, and in the end, I only wore cotton clothes, leather armor on the outside, helmet, and brought a short sword and my longbow to the barracks, and with these things, my heart was a little bottomed

The barracks was in the forest north of Vrankov

There were four farms in this forest, but they were very dilapidated, and the Lucasino family let the soldiers find a way to feed themselves, so after the soldiers captured the captives or bought the serfs, they arranged for them to work on the farms, and many of the serfs tried to escape, but they were all captured, and the captured farmers would be beaten and starved for three days, after which the Valan soldiers would give them the best food, and after a few times, the stubborn farmers would not want to go

Konstantin said: "This is the craft of horse training learned by the Kugits: first torture, then starvation for a few days, and finally a good meal is arranged, so that even the most stubborn horse will be served."

Obedient Victor, people and horses are the same, it's not okay if it's too ruthless, it's not okay if it's too soft, you have to do it just right."

"Man is not a horse," I was somewhat unimpressed by the methods of Konstantin's soldiers, "and the peasants will run away at the first opportunity"

"So what do you say?" As soon as Konstantin stretched out his hand, his servant handed him a wine pouch, and he pulled the stopper and poured it into his mouth

"Destroy the slave contracts of the serfs, distribute land to them, and let them move freely"

Listening to me, Konstantin shook his head disdainfully, "Then tomorrow there will be no one left in this forest."

"No," I said, "tomorrow many farmers will come and ask for the protection of the lord, and the forest will gradually be cultivated into fertile fields, and the warehouses will be filled with grain and meat."

"," Konstantin didn't want to hear me any more, "you're as tender as a chicken, and what you said is a story, and it sounds pretty decent, do you think I want the serfs to hate me?" He grinned, "When I was a child, like you, I felt that if you were good to the people, they would repay you, and in fact it was, I don't deny it, but then the price of my current situation is too great, if you have a year or two to run a small territory with peace of mind, maybe it will be okay, but if you want to manage an army, or if you want to govern a contiguous territory, the law is much more useful than a gift."

Constantine suddenly quickened his horse, and his retinue immediately followed, and I was pushed aside by the soldiers who were added behind, and I tried to catch up from the side of the road

There are still the footprints of the soldiers on the ground, I followed these people all the way forward, the shadows of the trees are swaying, the winter overcast sky is very low, it is estimated that it will snow in the evening, Constantine wants to arrange for me, and then rush back overnight, tonight there is a small banquet at Lucasino's house waiting for him to preside over Gorkocha has been here for a year or two, but he finds it boring, it is more interesting in the city, so he is transferred back to the city defense team

The barracks were full of soldiers, and when they saw Konstantin, they all stood up and saluted the Valan soldiers by tapping the edge of their helmets

This is a military camp converted from a church, it is said that in ancient times, the Chanda people once built a huge church here, but the Salander people later destroyed the church here and never rebuilt it again, after the Chanda people withdrew, the regional church here was also abolished, leaving only a monastery and a few ascetics here to do penance After the rise of the Lucasino family, they built the church in the city, and took the remaining priests, and those who did not want to go were driven to Ivangelod

It is said that the bishop of the diocese of Ivangelod has always demanded that Valankov return the monastery here, or pay the tax of the region to the Church, and Lucasino did not care at all: in the years of war, the convention of all the wasteland and abandoned houses was 'who restores'

Complex, who possesses'

The Zen people built the monastery very strong, the stone is wide and thick, like the bones of the earth, standing in the forest, Vrankov's walls are dwarfed by here, but the monastery has long lost its ancient glory, you can still see large pieces of broken stone in the forest, digging into the ground can always dig up the whole building material, it is speculated that this forest may have been all included in the monastery hundreds of years ago, and this size of the monastery is not worth mentioning at all

The glory of the classical era has faded in the eastern lands, the heroic age has ended, and the chapter has not yet begun

I followed Konstantin across a three-arched stone bridge, two soldiers with spears at the end of the stone bridge, the water under the stone bridge was thirsty, a farmer led two mules, he used a pointed hammer to crush the ice, and the ice water below was taken The soldiers breathed cold air and spit out bursts of white mist, their helmets were frosted everywhere, there were small bonfires everywhere, and groups of people were sitting around the fire, and the soldiers were setting up pots on the fire, and boiling lamb and turnips in it, Several soldiers were using daggers to chop onions to add precious flour to it, and the soldiers found a grass leaf in the forest, which could be kneaded to give a flour-like powder, which could be added to the soup to make it thicker, but the leaves would also make the soup fishy and sour

There was a little commotion with the arrival of Konstantin, although the cavalry in front had already told them of our whereabouts, and Konstantin's face shone with a glint of flesh, and he licked his tongue happily, and did not refuse the roast leg of lamb and the wooden bowl of soup handed to him by the soldiers, and he ordered his servants to distribute the wine to the soldiers, and the soldiers were in a great uproar

There is a roofless auditorium, the floor is neatly stacked with stone carved stone benches, this used to be a chapel, from the scale of the can accommodate more than 400 people to worship together, it is like a small square, and the remnants of the broken wall also show a very high outline, if the building here is restored, it will be very glorious

Now it was a large and chaotic camp, the soldiers had set up tents between two stone benches, or made temporary beds out of wooden planks, the floor tiles on the aisles had been dug up, and a high brazier was erected around the auditorium was a large pool, and the water in it was drying up day by day, and many people were resting around it, and this morning a large herd of deer passed by the edge of the barracks, and the quartermaster led more than sixty men with bows and arrows and rode horses to hunt down the deer, otherwise there would have been more people here

Konstantin crossed one tent after another, and then walked to the depths of the auditorium, where there was still a remnant of the roof, and the floor was relatively clean, there was no sludge or urine, only a few flour-stained wooden basins, broken wine barrels, and some leather fragments, and weeds grew in the cracks of the floor tiles outside, and as long as people did not step on them often, these grasses would pop up, but in this corner, there were no weeds, and it was obvious that the owner was one

Decent people

A man with his back to Konstantin was roasting the fire, and beside him was the captain of the cavalry who had previously been us

The captain saw Konstantin first, and smiled and reminded the man with his back to us

The man looked back, and I was taken aback, it was almost the second Konstantin, only a dozen years younger than him, and a little more handsome, or shouldn't have said that, Konstantin might have been like that more than a decade ago

"You're here," I saw the man in front of me holding a letter in his hand, "who is this?" ”

"I told you to be your servant," Konstantin burped, "this kid can write, just like you, dear brother"

"Oh?" The man raised some interest, "Can you write?" I haven't been home all this time, where did you get this kid from? ”

"Lord's Family" Konstantin and the man looked at each other, and then laughed, "But don't look down on Lord Valan, this time Lord Kalinin is an old loach, the old man let's not despise the old loach" Konstantin was stunned, "You lost weight, Giovanni, how many women slept last night?" ”

"One, called Left Hand and the other called Right Hand, she also wanted to come, but I was a responsible person, so I said to her, I only need one at a time, and I will come to you tomorrow"

Konstantin patted his chest happily, "These two women's names are really interesting, I also knew these two girls when I was young"

"If you live in the barracks of the forest all year round," said Giovanni with a blank face, "you will get to know them again."

"Okay, okay," Konstantin frowned, "don't make me clamoring to go back every time I come, like that unproductive guy in Kolkica, you won't have to stay in the forest soon, the old loach is going to go to Little East Lake City to do business with hundreds of soldiers"

Giovanni's eyes lit up, "Really?" ”

"Of course," Konstantin pushed me out, "Kalinin used this kid as collateral, damn, it's just a million profits, but the old man in the family thinks that this kid can be cultivated, please give him a good guide during this time, so that he doesn't get caught by Lech and cut off his head and stick it on the stake."

"This is easy to do," said Giovanni, "I chop off his head and salt it, Lech will never find this kid unless he has a dog's nose, but brother, I'm afraid that the business of Little East Lake City will be in flux."

"What's wrong?" Konstantin's eyes widened

"You must have gone out early in the morning, and it doesn't matter if you missed the messenger, my cavalry captain brought me a letter from the city just now," Giovanni said this, suddenly looking at me, "Don't you know how to read?" Come, read this passage and I'll see if you want to stay," he gave me the letter

The letter was written on a thick piece of hard paper, folded, and ironed with lacquer, and I took it, a little nervous, afraid that I would make a joke if I read it wrong

Good thing for me

After looking at it, these letters are not too difficult, although some words are not recognized, but it is not difficult to pronounce, and you can roughly guess what they mean

I settled down and began to read, this is a transcription, the original letter is addressed to Lord Valankov, "A month ago, the envoy of the Kingdom of Great Burke to the Kingdom of Vecchia. Sir Pilsudski and the entire mission disappeared in the territory of VikiaSir Ivanhoe, who was on a mission of peace and intended to seek the well-being of both of you and me, has unfortunately disappeared or has been killed, and Vikia has an unshirkable responsibility, and the garrison of the snowy mountains of West Wicchia claimed that he had never seen the Burke mission, and blamed the disappearance of the mission on the city of Ivangorod; And Ivangelrod showed the signature of the mission, as a proof that the disappearance of the mission and the fact that Ivangorod was so perfunctory, where did he put the face of my Great Berk Kingdom? ’”

"I, Lech. Pilsudski, Supreme Regent of the Kingdom of Berke, Attorney General of the Grand Council of Burke, Grand Master of the Knights of the Hussars of Burke, and Earl of Cominburg, hereby urges the King of West and the Council of East Vykia to find out the truth as soon as possible, and to give the Kingdom of Berke a proper explanation that if your state is capable of finding out the truth and maintaining regional stability, I welcome it on behalf of the Kingdom; If your state is unable to meet our needs and is unable to track down the criminals, the Kingdom of Burke is willing to send troops to help your country maintain stability, recover thieves, garrison troops to deter rebellion, and fulfill its duty to maintain the peace and tranquility of its friends."

"Signed: Wright. Pilsudski to all Wiki city-states "

I looked up and saw Konstantin frowning

Giovanni wrinkled his nose,

"You stay with me".

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