Giovanni read the letter in silence

I couldn't see any expression on his face, and Giovanni pinched the letter, took a slight breath, and threw it in the fire

I was a little surprised to watch the flames lick the letter and engulf it, "Can Daddy Peter's letter be burned like this?" ”

Giovanni looked at me and didn't speak

He stood up with the sword on his waist, and walked outside, the non-commissioned officer cleaned up the papers that had fallen around, and then followed, I drank thick soup, and ate some broken bread, and felt very sleepy, so I went back to my room and went to sleep, I haven't slept for a long time, and now I feel very comfortable to sleep, and the tiredness in my head is released little by little, which makes me dizzy, and I feel that my head is dragging my body into a swamp, and soon I fall into a deep sleep

By the time I woke up again, it was already night

The laughter of the soldiers outside startled me, and I got up, and the old man in the cobbler's shop squinted and yawned, and when he saw me wake up, he coughed a few times, "Victor, you're awake"

"What's going on out there?" I don't know if there's any event today

The old man showed a very disgusted expression, "A group of soldiers are fighting wine, arguing to death" and then he raised his eyebrows open-mindedly, "Soldiers are always like this, you might as well go and play with them"

Soldier? What soldiers?

I went out into the clearing, and saw a huge bonfire burning violently in the center of the clearing, surrounded by shadowy people, several barrels of wine were pried open and piled aside, some people were happily drinking from large wooden cups, and beside me, seven or eight cooks were making barbecue or hot slices of bread, and as soon as the food came out, it was packed in baskets, and when the baskets were full, someone would bring these things to the campfire, and those people would cheer

How are there so many people here?

I used to think that there were only about a hundred people in the barracks, but now there are two hundred people sitting here, and these people are cheerfully greeting each other, as if they have known each other for a long time

A soldier who had asked me to write a letter saw me, and immediately forced me to drink half a glass of dark beer, and then took a boiled egg out of his bosom and gave it to me

I asked him, "What's going on?" How can there be so many people? ”

"These?" The soldier laughed, "These are useless soldiers, they can't fight, they can't sleep with women, they are just useless, the key is that they can't drink, they can't drink more than you."

"I can drink," I felt that the soldier was drunk, so I beat him away, and I peeled the egg as I went, and the eggshell was thrown to the ground, but when I finished peeling the egg, I was snatched away by a drunken soldier

I was annoyed, so I looked at them

These are some peasant-like people, dressed in thick coats, deerskin boots on their feet, and pointy fordoras on their heads, these people are dancing in a Wikibian dance: arms folded, squatting, legs bouncing on the ground, looking funny and agile, these people are dancing and singing obscene songs, and they seem very excited

There were so many of them, and when I looked around, I saw that there were quite a few people sitting under the trees around them, each drinking wine, cutting flesh with knives, and gesturing weapons at each other

Their weapons were also very simple, many with pitchforks and sickles by their side, many with short bows behind their backs, and several pots of arrows at their waists, while others only had some thick wooden sticks, which were tied to the tips with thick iron sheets, and the iron sheets were nailed to the wooden sticks with large iron nails, and such weapons were said to knock people out at once

I even saw some Salanders in turbans, sitting around, with special cooks serving them food: large plates of chicken; flatbread stacked together; The white dough in a wooden basin looks like bread, but it is very smooth

I searched for Giovanni and finally saw him in the crowd

Giovanni was chatting with several people, one of them was a Salander, and when I walked over, Giovanni was telling the Salander about building a mosque and it seemed that the Salander was not very satisfied, because Giovanni said: "This is up to the locals to decide, if more than a third of the people believe in Allah, I will allow you to build a mosque, otherwise, you can only invite an imam yourself, I can arrange a place for you to worship, you cannot force my people to convert, nor do you allow them"

When Giovanni saw me, he threw me a leg of mutton

The leg of lamb slammed into my arms, leaving my arms full of oil

Giovanni said to the Salander next to him, "You know what? In Xiaodonghu City, it's this kid who follows me."

The Salander nodded, "I know, there are a lot of Creelians in that place, and I've heard they're going to open a bank"

"What is a bank?" Giovanni was a little puzzled, "What's that?" ”

The Salander man showed a deep and cunning expression, "Anyway, it is a good thing for everyone, it was first conceived by the Zen people, but I don't see any benefit in running such an expensive and sophisticated institution in such a remote place, there is already a bank in Salander, and I believe that even if the wealth of the world gathers together, that banking industry will be enough to cope"

"Oh," Giovanni nodded incomprehensibly, "it turns out to be a place like the Gold Bank, and it looks like the Creelians still have some capital," Giovanni said cautiously, "I don't think in the future, a bank like that will not be enough."

"Hmph," said the Salander, with some contempt, "I hope these guys are in danger of faith, and I don't see why you should be involved with them."

"Haha, my friend," said Giovanni with a smile, "it was they who paid me to bring you here, and your sixteen warriors, all of whom are like this, and it is because of their funding that I can take you into the camp."

This is exactly what I don't understand, and I immediately ask, "Who are these people?" I've heard people say 'soldiers' or something."

Giovanni glanced at me, then leaned his neck and drank the wine in his glass, and the Salander snorted dissatisfiedly, as if he thought I was a little rude, and it was not at all respectful to speak in front of the elders

"I knew you would ask," said Giovanni, "remember the two men we met when we were in Riverlands?" A woodcutter, a hunter"

I thought of the barking of the hounds in the forest on a snowy night, and the blood on the mouths of the dogs when Giovanni returned with the dogs

"Remember" I picked up the leg of lamb with a twig and bit the soft parts "Is there any salt, Giovanni?" ”

"Young man," said Salander at last, "can't you forget your leg of mutton when you listen to your elders?" ”

Giovanni giggled and said something to the Salanderians, in Salander, and I heard the words 'Kalinin', 'Count', 'Valankov', and I guess I was talking about my special identity again

Salander still seemed a little dissatisfied, and he spoke word by word in jerky Wikivian, presumably to make sure I understood, "Even the son of the Sultan, when he sees his elders, must not be so presumptuous as the illegitimate son of a broken lord, he is as rude as a sheep"

"Sheep don't eat leg of lamb" annoyed me a little by the Salander's chatter, and I couldn't help but sarcastically say to him

"Hmph, I'm full, I wish you peace, Giovanni" Salander stood up and brushed his sleeves away

Giovanni had fun for a while

"Victor, you have just provoked a good Salander cavalry officer," said Giovanni, "his father and brother are Mamluks."

"Mamluks?" I frowned, "How could the Mamluks have sons and brothers?" Haven't they all been gelding? ”

"Nonsense," Giovanni drank too much, and some big tongues estimated that his drinking was also one of the reasons that made the Salander man just now unhappy, "Who said that the Mamluks were eunuchs?" Except for those last emperors of Chanda, who liked this kind of close ministers who are neither male nor female, I don't know who will like this kind of profession in the future, don't say such ignorant words in the future, there are many countries in Vidosaland that were founded by Mamluk officers, and these officers are all upright men, if you say such ridiculous things in front of them, if they jump up and fight you fairly, then God will not be able to help you."

"Okay," I didn't pout, "I see, so what's around here?" I saw the freemen, I saw the Orions, I saw the Mamluks."

"He's not a Mamluk," Giovanni breathed, "Actually, he was originally a Mamluk reserve officer, but unfortunately his father died in the palace of Salander, where the old Sultan of Salander burned himself to death, and his father, a follower of the man, committed suicide, and his brother, who followed the useless Great Sultan to Svadia, and now it is said that he was under house arrest in Parabon with the poor Great Sultan, and the whole court was lodged in a mosque in Paraven, waiting for a comeback."

"Oh, that's right" I don't know

"As for the others, Victor, remember what I told you? What about those freefolk soldiers? Giovanni looked at me and said, "I told you about their characteristics?" ”

"Yes, they are large in number, easy to recruit, but they have poor discipline, and they are demoralized, and they are easy to be defeated, but they are used to transfer food and maintain law and order in the town."

"That's right," said Giovanni, "Victor is now in front of us with such people, except, of course, a few elite mercenaries who come from all corners of the wilderness, and the price of hiring them is known only to those who are very familiar with them, you know?" Victor? ”

"I don't know"

"Well," Giovanni nodded, "these people are very cunning, for example, if you give him a bag of salt, he will follow you to war, but if you give him two bags of salt, he will think that you don't understand the market, at this time, he will test you, deceive you, and then squeeze your money bag clean, so the work of conscription is not so easy, for example, I can't," Giovanni said with some frustration, "I used two hundred bags of wheat and fifteen barrels of wine, plus enough weapons and armor, uh, plus a few bags of silver coins, At most, I can pull a team of twenty or thirty people, but Joey, that guy can get me forty people, and that Salander guy just now can get more than fifty people, and sometimes I really envy them."

"What's that," I broke off the branch and threw it into the fire, "isn't it enough for you to recruit them I heard that a commander should be someone who can command a general, not a person who directly commands a soldier"

"Oh?" Giovanni had some appreciation, and my compliment made him very useful, and he continued to ask: "What do you do if you recruit someone who is more capable than you and has a bad temper?" ”

"Can I recruit it?"

"Am I not such an example? You see, I'm not good at recruiting, but I can find the best recruiter."

"Then I'll make friends with them, so that they don't get dissatisfied" I thought in my heart that this answer was silly, because I already knew that a lord was destined not to make friends with his men, "uh, I don't know"

"It's okay," said Giovanni, "you don't have to worry about it in ten years, I'll show you how to do it, don't talk about it, say something else, do you know what that letter is today?" ”

"What is it?"

"My dad asked me to help Konstantin, what would you do if it were you?"

When they didn't need Giovanni, the big Valankov couldn't tolerate him, and if they wanted to drive him away to the ends of the earth as a mercenary, they would let him put down the rebellion, and now let him contribute to the family

Just like when they need me, I am the young master of the family, the son of Alexei, the person with the honor of the family, and when I am not needed, I am the object of marriage, the hostage of the family, and the bond of friendship

Giovanni said, "Vido, those who have no support can only rely on themselves, only in this way can the chess pieces awaken and eventually become chess players, become people who manipulate others"

Giovanni should already have the answer in his mind, he didn't come to listen to my advice, he wanted to listen to my approval, not anything else, and I didn't need to touch my head

"I don't see any benefit in helping them if it were me," I said, "I wouldn't go".