"Column Front--, flag-bearer, forward!"

In the sandy school field of the fortress, the imposing second flag commander Herthy stood in the command tower and shouted loudly, and his menacing appearance even startled the two flag bearers next to him, and hurriedly raised the flag below. The centurions who were standing at the front of the queue immediately blew their whistles, struck their shields with the hilts of their swords, and directed the soldiers to march in line.

The soldiers of the Battle Banner Legion, who had been ragged and tattered, were now in good spirits—shiny brass helmets, a new linen overcoat over narrow chain mail, leather boots on their feet and gloves on their hands. broadswords, throwing spears, spears, kite shields, daggers...... This is almost the full set of standard hoplites that can only be seen in Turin City, but it has appeared in the wild place of Handi.

Wearing these brand-new equipment, the soldiers who had enjoyed a breakfast of black bread and oatmeal porridge were prepared to practice the basic tactics of the heavy infantry on the school ground, which was filled with yellow sand, and the heavy infantry with a new appearance constantly changed their formations, from marching columns to shield walls to meet the enemy, throwing throwing guns, charging in columns, and so on.

At the other end of the school yard, the light infantry drew their bows and arrows at the newly erected targets, and shot all the scarecrow targets with a rain of arrows - the delicate warbows were powerful and had a straight range. Originally, Edward hoped to prepare more crossbows, but the wilderness of this area of Hantu was such that once there was damage, he couldn't even find a place to repair it, so he had to settle for the next best thing and use compound bows, which are more common here.

At first, Edward did intend to follow the level of a sergeant of the Knights of the Holy Tree. to arm this Banner Legion. But he soon dismissed the rather unrealistic idea - according to the young Sacred Tree Knight who held the flag for himself. Most of the knightly sergeants in the East are also from rich peasants, and the selection quality is extremely strict, the main reason is also because it is very honorable to be a soldier in the East, so the source of soldiers there is far better than that in Edward's hands.

In addition, all the expenses of the entire knight order were borne by the entire kingdom of Turin, and the size of a legion was barely formed, which was not something that Edward could afford. He was only able to settle for the next best thing and put a few older sergeants as instructors. Temporarily supervise the training of soldiers.

Standing on the gates of the fortress, overlooking the legionnaires in full swing on the school grounds, Edward's face was not very happy—it would take a long time for these soldiers to truly train in full, and he was also short of time now.

Thinking of this, Edward couldn't help but turn his head back to Lebinus, who was still standing there motionless like a javelin—the clerk named Virgil before he had gone to great lengths to recommend to himself this centurion, who was not much older than himself, and now looked at least like a soldier.

"Quintas Lerbinus, whose father is Titus Lerbinus, is a well-known family in Hantu. Edward glanced at him sideways, "Virgil told me that you would like to pledge your allegiance to me and help me recruit enough soldiers in the Greeny River Valley?"

"But before I swear allegiance to you. I hope you will grant me a request, a ...... A trivial request. Turninus slowly got down on one knee. The voice was soft but very powerful: "Clerk Virgil must have told you. ”

Edward nodded silently, the clerk had indeed said before, the reason why this centurion would remain in the legion was because of his father: "As long as it does not disrupt the counterinsurgency plan, I can grant you this request." ”

Edward's words were very vague, even if he agreed, he didn't agree. But Lerbinus didn't seem to care about this, and said with a calm expression: "If you want to win the support of the entire Green River Valley, it's actually very simple, just completely eliminate the hidden dangers here." ”

"In the hills between the valley and the wasteland, especially along the lower reaches of the river, there are many tribes of barbarians of the Mudland, the most powerful of which are the Clan Akama, who have long been entrenched in the vicinity of the valley and have always traded with Turin. ”

"After the outbreak of the rebellion, the Akama clan also launched several attacks on the fortress of the Green River Valley - most of them were organized by the small tribes attached to them, but this clan never officially joined the army of the 'King of the Land', but it has been plundering and slaughtering Turin's villages and caravanserais, so it is not on Turin's side. ”

"In other words, is this war tribe a wall-header?" Edward sneered faintly.

"Because they're so strong, they can do that. And this tribe ...... In other words, there is probably a reason why most of the barbarian tribes in the entire Han Land rebelled. When he said this, Repinus's expression looked a little embarrassed: "And the Duke of Berion is probably not out of the relationship." ”

Seeing his appearance, Edward could somewhat understand that Berrion Marcherus, as the Duke of Hantu City, had the absolute right to tax this land. According to the old system of the kingdom, the people of Turin paid one-tenth of the tax, while the "Hantu" who were not fully naturalized had to pay an additional half, and at the same time bore a lot of tribute and conscription, but if they joined the army, they could still be exempted, which was not very heavy.

But for the Duke of Berrion, this money was not even enough for him to feed his army, let alone bribe the nobles of the Turin City, who were eminent - otherwise how could so many people be cheering for him?

In order to protect the source of soldiers and to be able to retain his good reputation, he was quite tolerant of the local Turin towns, but he was not so polite to those barbarian tribes, and the taxes were even unbelievably heavy, even if the local indigenous tribes could not pay the taxes if they handed over all the remaining rations.

In such a situation, it is only natural that many tribes will be unable to bear to rebel, and for Berion this is his purpose - the continuous skirmishes will not only produce a strong enough army, but also give him a reason to continue to demand supplies and money from the kingdom, and at the same time be able to plunder from the war, feed his army with the blood of the Hantu, and bribe the important nobles to side with him.

"The Red Horse Clan is the key to your ability to secure the support of the entire Greenland Valley, and if they can prove your strength, they will naturally choose to show loyalty to you, His Highness Anson Marcherus. ”

After saying this, Repinus said no more. Edward could understand what he meant - all he could choose was to force the Red Horse Clan to surrender to him, or completely eliminate this scourge, otherwise the Green River Valley would not submit to him, this was the choice he made for himself, and the corners of the black-haired knight's mouth curled: "I heard that you are just an empty centurion now?"

Lebinus nodded, and Edward smiled slightly: "Interested in becoming the chief centurion of the new Battle Banner Legion?"

"I will prove that I have this qualification with my exploits. Lessinus nodded heavily, "Exploits, and loyalty to you, Lord Edward Witwood!" Edward's smile was even more playful, he was talking about himself, but he didn't mention His Royal Highness Anson Marcheruus, the little prince.

He was a very clever fellow, but he was also very honest - at least he knew what he should say under what circumstances, not like the clerk Virgil Brutus.

"In fact, the envoy of the Red Horse Clan was already outside the barracks, waiting to be received. Edward said lightly, "How about coming with me to meet these fanatics?" (To be continued.) )