Throughout the winter, the barracks stove could not be extinguished

In a firewood room, countless wood and oil are piled up together, making people worry that it will catch fire at any time, and there is a musty smell in the woodhouse, since spring, the wood here begins to grow mushrooms, as long as the mushrooms are raw, the wood is completely unusable, the wood inside is soft like meat floss, and the wood in the forest is never lacking, and the farmers use ox carts or carry a large amount of wood to supply here every once in a while

Although there were only a hundred soldiers in the barracks, there were quite a few craftsmen, many of whom were craftsmen themselves, and there was a blacksmith workshop where dozens of bundles of dry wood were burned every day, and the clanging sound would not stop until very late

The Valans felt that weapons made at night were better than during the day, because at night the goddess Valkyrie would guide the spirits towards the temple, and these spirits would leave a part of their souls because of their attachment to the earthly world, and these warlike spirits would attach themselves to the weapons they made, and each weapon would be hung at the door of the blacksmith shop for one night, and then retrieved the next morning, and if it did not go through this procedure, the soldiers would dislike these weapons

And other iron tools, such as plowshares, pots, iron chisels, spoons, etc., are not so particular, first, these things do not need to be blessed, and second, many of these things are sold to other countries, so there is no need to bother the goddess Valkyrie

At night, the Valans would sit around the campfire, blow the Qingyue flute, and sing the vigil song, which was not in Wikian, and had a lot of Nord vocabulary in it, which was said to be the imprint of their Nord ancestors

Varankov sent several more letters, but most of them Giovanni didn't let me read, I didn't know what was written in them, and I helped him clean up the barracks every day

The barracks had one hundred and twenty-one registered soldiers, ninety-four Valans, seventeen Vicchians, and a few Burke crossbowmen and Salander spearmen

I'm curious about the origins of these men, and I imagine what they'll do when we're fighting the Burkes and Salanders, and they'll run to the opposite camp?

Giovanni thought my question was silly, and he thought for a long time, "Why did they run back?" Their food, equipment, and military ranks are all given by us, and these guys used to be mercenaries, whoever hires them, they will fight for whoever they run back to, what do they run back to? ”

"But are they Burkes and Salanders?"

"People can't decide to be born," Giovanni thought that I must have something wrong, "these people are very reliable, they are all my soldiers, don't make trouble in front of them"

In fact, these soldiers are really nothing special, they are basically indistinguishable from other soldiers in normal times

The only thing the Salander soldiers did in a day like the Salander was to find time to pray, while the other soldiers were in the chapel

They would have nothing to do, and the Salanders did not eat pork, they provided their own food, and the equipment of the Salanders was light, separate from the rest of the soldiers: the leather armor was decorated with iron and bone pieces, tied with leather ropes, and the weapons were spears made of long oak saplings, strong and handy, and these Salanders were often placed in the middle of the ranks, walking with the axes and shields of Valan's infantry in the middle of the ranks

The Salander soldiers said that in the Barriya Oasis, there is a plant called bamboo, which is hollow, elastic and tough, and extremely lightweight, and the famous Barriya hired spearmen, and it is equipped with this kind of bamboo spear that grows extremely fast and is easy to replenish

The Valans felt that this was a Saraand bragging, and if the bamboo was hollow, how could it grow? What does it rely on to absorb the water and soil in the ground?

As for the Berks, there is no difference, although they believe in the teachings of the Western Church, but they adopt the rites of the Eastern Church, in fact, it is not their original to do so, many Wikibians who convert from the Eastern Church also do this, the Berkes take these methods to get along with their comrades, and these Berks' crossbow skills are very good, amazingly powerful, the Valans admire the long-range skills of these Berks, but for their fighting skills, they despise the Berks' weapon is a small marching hoe, The weight is barely noticeable when hung from the belt, and the Valans prefer to use a long axe and a spare one on their backs

However, the armor of the Berks was the most elaborate, they were neither like the Salanders, who wore leather armor with iron plates, nor like the Valans, who wore thick wool coats and chain mail on the outside, and they liked to put together the armor from a single piece of iron, and I know that these armors were very similar to the Swadians and Rhodoks in the west, and the crossbowman tradition of the Berks was indeed learned from the Rhodocs

This makes the armor of the Berks look very handsome, but the other meaning of handsome is that it is not practical: the iron used to equip one Berk can be used to equip two Valans and four Salanders, while one Berk is unlikely to defeat two Valans or four Salanders, and these Berks' equipment is not only expensive to make, but also surprisingly expensive to maintain, as long as there are cracks, deformation, wear and tear or even rust, the whole equipment will cost money to maintain, and the Valans' chain mail, If it is torn, it can be readorned with a small iron ring; It's as simple as the Salanders' armor is broken, just kill a dozen sheep and make another one

However, no one dares to underestimate the Berks, although the individual courage and strength of the Berks are not very outstanding, but when a hundred Berks form a formation, they can often defeat the multiplied Vychians, Valans and Salander Berks hussars are especially expensive, but once these hussars are formed, they can make all opponents invincible The large phalanx of Rhodok mercenaries is famous throughout the continent, but a few years ago, a Rhodok mercenary was defeated by General Lech's hussars, which was suffered by Rhodoc mercenaries

A rare failure

Every morning I have to go to the well to fetch water, three times to fill a small tank, which will run out in a day, and I am now in addition to Giovanni, ordinary soldiers also come here to fetch water, which makes me a little unhappy, and I am not here to fetch water for them

When Giovanni heard about it, he gave me a stick, "Find someone to fight a duel, and if you win, let him help you fetch water, and if you lose, you can continue to fetch water by yourself."

"But I'm keeping accounts every day, and these things are not my job, even if I fetch water, I'm also your servant, just use the water."

"What's this, each takes what he is good at, these soldiers have to chop wood, receive goods, strike iron, repair equipment, and load arrows during the day, have you ever done it? I had more than 60 soldiers go deer hunting in the woods, and they haven't come back for a few days. These soldiers are sleeping in tents outside, and they get up in the morning with ice slag on their heads, and you have a plank bed in the house with sheepskins on it, what do you have to complain about? ”

"Okay," I didn't expect Giovanni to have more reasons than I did, so I had to end the conversation, roll up my sleeves and go to fetch water

No matter how cold it is outside, the water in the well has not frozen, that is, the water spilled on the well platform will freeze after a while, and it is very slippery to walk up, and then every time I go to fetch water, I have to copy a shovel, shovel ice along the road, and then go to the forage house to pick up a bundle of grass and sprinkle it around the well platform, the situation is better

The food in the barracks is quite abundant

Beer can be drunk as you like, the beer here is thicker than Valankov's, I get dizzy when I drink it, but some soldiers almost drink beer as water, and when they have nothing to do, they come to a big glass and drink it, they are convenient everywhere I am annoyed These soldiers pee everywhere, making the ground slippery and not pulling, but once, a fat Burke stepped on his urine and fell to the ground, like a turtle turned over, he couldn't get up, and the soldiers around him all gathered around to heckle, and they all bet on when this person can get up, It's kind of interesting

Apples are also taken casually, it doesn't matter if you eat sour teeth, many apples are shriveled, the surface is wrinkled, a Salander asked for half a barrel of apples to make fruit wine, although it is obviously wine, but the Salander person insisted that it was a healthy drink, definitely not a wine, and everyone tacitly knew that the wine could not be drunk until spring

In the morning, it is usually an old man who gets up and bakes bread, these breads are frozen like bricks, and in order to fill the stomach, these breads are made extremely firm, and they are not soft enough to eat except for bread, and occasionally there will be mutton soup and pigeon soup, these things will be boiled all the time, and the soup will be served in the morning, and the Valans will use their helmets to catch it, and the meat will be fished out at noon, and the Valans do not like to use plates, and the chef directly scoops up the food with a large wooden spoon, Falling on the table in front of them, the Valans stretched out their hands to gather meat and eat it

I went and went for the first time

When they were eating, they took out the knives, forks and spoons they had brought with them, and then put an iron plate in front of them, waiting for the meal to start, and as a result, dozens of people in the entire barracks were quiet, people's expressions were frozen on their faces, holding bread or meat strips in their hands, squinting at me, as if looking at a freak Giovanni saved me in time, he pushed my cutlery away, and explained to everyone embarrassedly, "This kid is a little different, don't look down on him, he will slowly get rid of bad habits"

Everyone suddenly realized that they no longer observed me, and began to eat in a noisy manner

One meal in the morning, one meal in the afternoon, the barracks provided these two meals a day, and in the evening the soldiers would find their own way to get some food, frozen white beans, hard bacon, roasted pigeons, boiled onions, blood sausages, etc., they found wooden sticks, pierced these things, put them on the bonfire, roasted them, and ate them in the evening, and all kinds of fragrances wafted out in front of the tents

And at this time, my work is about to begin, and I have to listen to Giovanni or a specialized craftsman report on the progress of the day, or future purchasing plans, and then write down all these things

I'm getting to know how a barracks works

In the past, I thought that a barracks was a gathering place of soldiers in armor and armor, and these people would come forward whenever there was a battle, but now I know that behind a soldier is a myriad of things, and behind his helmet and armor is the blacksmith shop and the blacksmith inside, and the workers who are mining; His food is a burden to the farmers in the surrounding area, and if the farmer's harvest is good, the soldier eats well, and if the farmer's harvest is not good, the soldier will also be affected; If a soldier wants to travel, he does not just have to walk all the way, the food on the road, the procedures for customs clearance, the maintenance of the road, and the requisitioned ox carts and horses must be considered

In the spring, soldiers were to be arranged to open the fields and dredge the streams; In the summer, let them mow the grass, catch birds, and look at the greens; In the autumn, he was responsible for collecting grain and going out to buy provisions; In the winter, the barracks were repaired and the armor was taken care of

When the soldiers are needed, the barracks also have to maintain law and order around them, and hunt down the fleeing bandits

All sorts of things go on and on, and for a barracks, training soldiers is even a small part

I began to be a little embarrassed, a barracks of hundreds of people is so troublesome, to become a lord, to govern a large territory and hundreds of people, how difficult it is, if there is no means of governance, maybe in a few months these people will be scattered in a hurry, I still dream of going to the river land alone to accept the territory of the Lepnin family, I am far from prepared

One night, while I was recording the carrot yield, Giovanni stopped talking about the chaos outside, stopped talking, listened attentively, and then said that he was going out to have a look

I then began to transcribe a list of prices: "Carrots, a basket of thirty small silver beans; cheese, nineteen copper coins in a round; Cottage cheese, XVII

a round of copper coins; Mare's milk wine, eleven silver coins a bag, one hundred and forty silver coins a barrel"

The noise outside turned to cheers, and the noisy people began to sing, and Giovanni came back shortly after, and sat down in front of me, bringing in a chill

I looked up and asked him what was wrong

He said: "Ninety-six reindeer, record them"

From that day on, I began to eat venison every day until spring came.

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