Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is more than ten days later, and it is only one day before Gervais sets off for Winterfell to meet Alice.

At this moment, Gervais had just come out of the cultivation space, and there was an uncontrollable smile of joy on his face.

After Gervais's hard cultivation these days, coupled with the help of the tenfold bonus of the red kiwifruit, he finally broke through to become a bronze high-level knight.

"Finally, I have some self-preservation power in front of me! In a few months, I broke through three realms in a row, and I am afraid that I can scare people to death if I say it! Ha ha! I'm a genius! ”

Gervais was complacent, and at the same time felt a little relieved.

Although the large and small nobles of the Duchy of Jean are counting on the merits and benefits of the southern expedition, the Duchy of Alban is not the kind of lamb to the slaughter who has no power to resist.

After Gervais broke through to become a bronze high-level knight, with a critical sword slash, he was already a silver beginner-level knight in front of hard steel, so his confidence at this time increased greatly.

"Your Excellency!"

When Gervais came to the vestibule, Thomas was directing a group of slaves to load the wagon, and when he saw Gervais's face full of joy, he immediately stepped forward to salute respectfully.

"Well, Thomas, how's the supplies going?"

"My lord, the materials have been counted, and now they are being loaded, and you can leave directly when you leave tomorrow!"

"Well done, Thomas!"

Gervais looked at the 15 carriages in front of him that were slowly being filled, and complimented Thomas with satisfaction.

The number of Gervais in this southern expedition is estimated to be the largest among the minor nobles, with a total of 293 people, and you must know that the minimum number of viscounts required by the conscription order is 150, which means that the number of Gervais is already twice the minimum requirement.

This is very rare among the nobles, even if the other minor nobles have sufficient soldiers, but most of them will only bring enough of the required number, and it is good not to violate the lower limit of the requirements, after all, after two months of expedition, the cost of eating and drinking is calculated on their own heads, and no nobleman will be so generous.

Of course, the majority of Gervais's 293 men are non-combatants.

Among them, there were 11 guards, 14 Laurie's guard squad, a total of 98 slave soldiers, the rest were 130 battlefield ambulance squads, 30 slaves in charge of heavy supplies, and finally 10 serfs selected from the storm collar to bury pots and cook for the soldiers.

"My lord, Bernard Blacksmith has just come to the castle, and the weapons and equipment you have customized for him have been forged, and I have just asked the servants to ride the carriage to fetch it!"

Being praised by Gervais, Thomas's smile became brighter and his figure became more humble.

"Oh! After the weapons are returned, you will let Ike take care of distributing them to the soldiers. ”

"As for the wages for forging, you can settle it directly to Bernard after verifying that it is correct!"

"Yes! My lord! ”

"By the way, Thomas, did Bernard say that the little steel cannon I asked him to rush to work on the other day was ready?"

Gervais suddenly remembered one thing, it was about artillery, and this small steel cannon was the front-loading artillery in his previous life.

Originally, Gervais didn't have the idea of forging artillery, after all, this thing consumes too much gunpowder, and Gervais's little inventory can't support a large consumption of artillery.

However, since the capture of Wright's sea ship some time ago, and then the occupation of the Golden Island, Gervais has the idea of building cannons.

Of course, he wasn't going to make much, just make four or five small cannons, and these small-caliber cannons were prepared for the defense of the Golden Island.

After all, the Golden Island is isolated overseas, and if the enemy attacks by boat, the troops on the Stormwind Territory may not be able to support it so quickly, and at this time, artillery has become a crucial thing to protect the safety of the Golden Island.

Artillery can shell enemy ships from hundreds of meters away, which can effectively prevent enemy ships from approaching and landing.

In order to verify the usefulness of the artillery, Gervais approached Bernard again a few days ago and handed Bernard the six-pound front-loading fire** paper he had drawn, hoping that he could finish forging one before he set off.

Artillery is actually no different from muskets, the only difficulty is in the material, if the material is not up to standard, the artillery is definitely not willing to try, but Gervais has a thing like Mithril against the sky, so this only difficulty can be ignored, and the scale of the nitrate mine is the limit to the development of Gervais's artillery.

"My lord, it's already forged! Just now Bernard Blacksmith said let me send a few more people, because that little steel cannon of yours weighs hundreds of pounds! He said that there were fewer people and he couldn't lift them. ”

Thomas Malley replied.

"Very well, Thomas, you can send someone to the Tiangong Stone House later, and ask them to send over the gun carriage I arranged to make a few days ago!"

Hearing that his small steel cannon was completed, Gervais was also eager to try, but the gunpowder was too precious, so he dismissed the idea of testing the cannon, and Bernard's craftsmanship was still very trusting.

"Yes, sir! The little one will send someone to the Tiangong Stone House later! ”

Thomas respectfully responded.

"Yes! Then you get busy first! ”

After confirming everything, Gervais returned to the Inner Castle, and took a comfortable shower before going to the study and sitting down at his desk.

"The woods between the beach and the small lake on the Golden Island have been emptied, and the construction of the camp is already underway!"

"The docks for Stormwind Collar and Golden Island are already being built, and it will be completed in a while!"

Gervais held a notepad in his hand, densely filled with projects that needed to be arranged or had already been arranged.

These projects were summarized and planned by Gervais during this time, in order to avoid the development of the territory from coming to a standstill after his own departure.

For projects that are already in progress or completed, Gervais will put a checkmark at the back to make sure that he can see at a glance what has not yet been arranged.

"Recruit 14 guards, this will be done by Audri himself, just in time for them to train under the gentle slope!"

Gervais set his sights on the last row of items to be scheduled, a guard recruitment plan.

In the last battle with the pirates, Audri's subordinates lost 2 people, from the original 14 to 12 people, and this time Gervais plans to recruit 14 soldiers again, and then expand the number of Lauri and Audrey's two squads to a squad of 20 people.

"Build an earthen wall at the edge of the dark forest!"

"Do you want to cross this out, after all, it is now known that the appearance of the orcs is a conspiracy of the church, and I am not prepared to resist the orc invasion in the Storm Territory."

Turning the notebook forward and turning a page of paper, Gervais hesitated a little when he saw the to-do matters written down some time ago.

This plan was written by Gervais before Wright's attack, and he didn't know the real reason for the orc's appearance at the time, so he planned to wait for the town's stone house to be built, and then let the idle lords and slaves go to the edge of the dark forest, where a 4-meter-high earthen wall could be built.

At that time, Gervais can rely on the earthen wall to tentatively resist the invasion of the orcs, and by the way, he can brush a wave of energy points.

Gervais's territory is on the edge of the Dark Forest, but due to the mountains, the area bordering the Dark Forest is only about 10 kilometers.

Gervais has only one requirement for this earthen wall, that is, height, as for solidity or anything, Gervais does not have any requirements, as long as people step on it and it will not collapse.

Because if you want to build a wall as solid as a castle, then this section of the earthen wall is not to mention one or two months, even if it is half a year to build, with more than 2,000 people in the territory, it is enough to choke.

As for the construction of such an unsturdy earthen wall, is it useful?

Of course, it works, Gervais's earthen walls are specially prepared for orcs, and orcs appear every year during the winter season.

The reason why the winter in this world is called cold winter is because once winter comes, the temperature will become extremely low, and the most extreme temperature can sometimes be as low as minus thirty or forty degrees.

With such a low temperature, it is no exaggeration to say that there is no problem with dripping water into ice and urine into columns.

Therefore, as long as the temperature drops, Gervais will let people pour water on the earthen wall, as long as it is poured continuously for half a month, the originally soft earthen wall will definitely not be weaker than the copper wall.

Moreover, the walls are frozen, the surface is extremely smooth, and the defense has improved a lot.

"Let's build it! Anyway, these people are idle, so it's better to find something for them to do. ”

"Although I may not resist the invasion of the orcs, having an earthen wall can be regarded as increasing the difficulty of the orc invasion, and maybe these orcs will all go to Lenny's territory along the earthen wall!"

After thinking about it for a while, Gervais was still going to build this earthen wall, as if it was to give a little benefit to the serfs, so that they could also work and receive a salary in the autumn.

And there is a place to consume the energy of these serfs and slaves, so that they do not have enough to eat and hold on, and instability will occur.

After Gervais led the southern expedition, only Oderri's 12-man guard team defended the territory during this time, and it was necessary to allocate people to patrol the island, which was an absolute defensive emptiness.

Although there is a master of Bernard's hidden identity in charge, it is best not to make a mess, after all, Bernard shoots all day long, and there is a risk of exposure.