() ps: I wish you all a happy new year, I'm sorry, there was no update for the New Year a few days ago, I hope you understand!

"It's impossible,.. High-speed updates"

Inside the first trading post, a boyar officer said to me.

Behind this boyar, Valan soldiers in newly issued saucer helmets were pushing several carts and taking everything they could muster. The Varans were poor at raiding, the ground was littered with broken armor and broken spear shafts, and I saw a farmer collecting clusters of arrows scattered all over the place with a broken bag, but for every two he collected, one leaked out of his broken bag.

When I arrived, it was close to noon, and I found the Valan officer in the name of Giovanni. I told him that if he went at full speed, he would be able to reach the second trading post when it got dark.

"My lord, that trading post has been weakened." I said to him, "Barricades are no longer a problem. The prince was unprepared and instead believed in the useless magic of some Salanders, and was defeated. If we bring enough wood and make a simple ladder, it will be easy to break down the trading post. ”

"How can I do what the prince can't do?" The man said to me, "I've heard about Giovanni's lifting of the siege, but I'm not there, I don't know the situation, and I can't listen to you." And boy, you'd better not say anything about 'the prince failed' or 'the prince failed', if there are any rumors among my men, I will peel you off and put it on my shield! ”

"Then you will be given an unstrong shield that will not be able to stop the dagger," I patiently said to him, "but if you let your men cross the Ryazan River quickly, I swear, you will arrive around the trading post with Giovanni's soldiers and join him." The fighters of the trading post were less than fifty people, and the rest were farmers and forest hunters, and morale was low. Debilitated. Although they have temporarily weakened us with the strange spells of the Salanders. But they can't do anything on their own! My lord, you also know about Joey, Joey is our brother, but he was cut off by those people, and the opportunity for revenge is just around the corner, do you want to come and take care of the baggage team? ”

As the three carts passed behind the officer, the wheels of the cart at the front suddenly sank into the mud. The whole cart fell to the ground, the plundered goods fell to the ground, a few hams were stained with mud, and a dozen bracers and a few rusty helmets were scattered to the ground. The servants of the next few cars laughed, laughed at their friends in the first car, and then took the opportunity to pull the flask on their waists and drink.

A few Valan warriors cursed and came over to see what was going on. The farmer who was pushing a cart next to the first one slapped him, and the people in the next few carts had enough of having fun and came to help with the cart. In the distance, the peasants were fighting over the bacon buckets, and the soldiers were lazily watching the crowd around them, not interested, but only came to scold the farmers when they encountered a situation and told them to do their jobs.

These soldiers were looking forward to war, but also to the looting after the war. Although the mercenaries are more orderly when it comes to looting. Not a single soldier can directly take away the loser's belongings. But after the orderly looting, the salaries of the mercenaries will naturally rise. And in the place where the battle tèbié is hard. In order to release the hatred and exhaustion of the soldiers, the mercenaries would sometimes distribute looting permits to the soldiers, as they had done in the past, so that they could plunder. At that time, if an officer is caught, or if a raided resident goes to the mercenary chief, the soldier with a plunder permit will be exempt from punishment.

The boyar officer turned back and said to me, "Boyar, although I thank you for doing me a favor and writing to my family, you are only a small soldier, and you are called boyar only because you come from a noble family, and if you want to make a big difference in the first battle because of this, then go home!" My soldiers will plunder this place and wait for Giovanni's orders. You said Giovanni went upstream, it's good, I'll send soldiers to contact him, that's the end of your advice, I'm not going to listen to one more word, get out, kid. ”

The officer turned his head, strode on the mud, and gave orders to the soldiers around him to burn down the houses in the area, several of which were burning and smoking. My efforts turned to smoke and dust, and the wind blew them away.

When I returned to my soldiers, they sat around and talked. After a while, a soldier brought the officer's decision, and he took all my Valan soldiers away, leaving the mercenaries to me.

I pulled the soldier aside, and he was visibly unwilling to listen to me, with an impatient tone.

"What, Victor?"

"Listen, with the Valan soldiers by my side, I can stabilize those mercenaries, and now that you have taken all my helpers away, how can I lead them?"

"We're mercenaries ourselves," said the guy, "what's so hard about dealing with these people?" He asks for money, and you give him wine; If he asks for wine, you give him a woman; She wants a woman, and you give him money. Anyway, nothing goes his way, but he always does things more or less the same, and they will follow you when there is a war. Didn't Giovanni teach you? ”

"Nope."

"I also heard that you were his illegitimate child, and I thought he would give it to him," the soldier frowned, "well, don't ramble here, it's not good to let others think that Giovanni is sending you to spy on the soldier again." Oh, if you are really asking us what we think of the Prince, then I sincerely wish him a long life and a hundred years of death, and finally die on the warm belly of a woman. ”

My ability to command my soldiers is almost nil, and I can barely hold Giovanni's prestige hostage and lead a squad in a downwind battle, and when I am defeated, my soldiers leave me. Although it seems that the transfer of soldiers is the decision of the officers, I know that the few Valan soldiers of Guntz can be transferred, and they must have found their past commanders and asked for transfer. I am not yet a good officer, not even an officer, in the eyes of these Valan soldiers.

"So what do I do? I've brought back four people, and you'll have to fill them up for me. ”

"Find it yourself," said the soldier, "and ask for your own weapons and armor." A word of advice to you, don't tell anyone what I said: the weapons and armor of your squad should be returned to you when they leave your ranks, but you have to come back yourself, do you know what I mean? You go to them and ask for it. If you want to eat, drink, or tent, go to the quartermaster, if you have a soldier, give you one soldier's rations, if you have two soldiers, give two soldiers' rations, and look for Giovanni for your own salary, the quartermaster doesn't care. If you have enough people, maybe Giovanni will crown you a prince or something? ”

The soldier left me with a mocking smile.

The only thing left in my team is Cruzkal, a Rhodoc mercenary who has just defected.

"What's going on?" When I walked up to him, Kruskal was stewing a squirrel in his helmet, and the soup contained some usable stems and leaves that we had dug up when we were escaping. "Guntz, they've just left, let me wish you all the best."

"They're not coming back." I said to Kruzkal, "My troops have been severely shrunk. ”

"Well," said Kruskal, "it seems that I went to the wrong person, is my ration guaranteed?" He asked me.

"Yours has, mine doesn't." I said, "I'll have to go to the prince and ask for it." ”

"What does that have to do with me?" "As long as my rations are taken care of," Kruzkar said. I'm going to have to go find Guntz and see what captain these guys have defected to, and if it's the right fit, will you recommend me? ”

"I would say you are treasonous."

"Treason for what?"

"Principality of Valan, of course," I said.

"I joined the Duchy of Valan because of the mutiny, why should I remain loyal at this time?" "Don't you Varans always say that? ”

"I've never said that, it's Guntz them."

"You see, when you have a disagreement, you draw a line with them, how do you make them accept you?" Kruzkal wanted to cut off the squirrel's tail, and I handed him a dagger, and he nodded at me, "Thank you very much!" ”

Then he sprinkled a handful of oats into the water, mixed a pinch of salt into it, and scooped out a small piece of jelly from a small jar with a wooden spoon, and stirred it as if it were in water.

After a while, he realized that I had no intention of leaving, so he looked at me with an embarrassed smile, "This is only enough for one person, my lord." ”

"I'm not thinking about it," I said to Kruzkal, "and although I was driven out of a few soldiers, it was a plus, and now that I was recognized as a de facto boyar, I was able to recruit soldiers." When we escaped, how many of your comrades would continue to follow Giovanni? ”

"A small number," said Cruzkal, "the mercenaries are familiar with the mercenary chiefs of the various places, who are well known in various parts of the continent. Giovanni is not famous, but the mercenaries have their own opinions, he is the youngest and one of the fastest rising, and he now has many opportunities to challenge those much larger enemies. Someone as smart as me would make that choice, and if a little stupid, maybe follow some fancy looking mercenary leader or something. ”

"Can you find some of these people to come to me?" I asked him, "How many people can you find?" ”

"Not much," he said, "about a dozen or so." What is the salary of a Valan? Equipped with armor and weapons? ”

"You get someone first," I said to him, "and then we'll go together and get the armor and weapons back." ”

"'Want' to come back?" Kruzkal said, "How? ”

"With danger, with fists, whatever you want," I said to Cruzkal, standing up, "and since Guntz can leave the team without punishment, it will be no problem to strip them clean." ”