Chapter 116, Inspection Militia and Kiir’s Response
Knight Rumi quickly rushed to the army with a group of manpower and supplies provided by local caravans.
The locals were unwilling to enter the Kendall army. Seeing the worry and reluctance on their faces, Knight Rumi did not force the other party to do as he said, so he allowed these people to settle outside the army.
To be honest, the battlefield that had just been fought at this moment was full of blood and flesh, not only the harpies shot down from the sky, but also the scattered horse corpses and bloody human corpses.
Someone with a sad look on his face was digging the body of his comrade out of the grass, and having the body held up, he asked each of the militia captains and deputy captains if they were the missing militia comrades from each team.
In the previous battle, many people had separated from their militia teams and dispersed. Now everyone could not hear them, so they gathered together in a mess, looking for their own teams, wanting to stay with familiar people.
When Knight Rumi saw it, he quickly stopped the people who were trying to identify the body. The other party couldn't hear him when he shouted. Knight Rumi had to stop the person in person, and he even talked and gestured to let the other person understand that this kind of blow was a blow. The matter of morale is not appropriate in the current chaotic situation.
It should wait until the army spends the night in the village tonight, and after all the teams have been sorted out, then the small militia team can go over to identify the bodies.
After dealing with such a bad thing, Knight Rumi found the Baron and reported to the Baron the results of what he had done.
"Then organize a group of lightly injured soldiers to go there for treatment. In addition, you notify Boze and ask him to find someone to transfer some unimportant materials piled on the ground to the carriage rented by the caravan."
the baron responded.
"Well, these local carriages will no longer be arranged in the logistics team during the march, but will be together with the remaining caravans accompanying the army, and let our caravans take care of them."
"Yes, my lord. And, my lord, I."
Knight Rumi had something to say, but when Baron Kendall turned his head and looked over, he hesitated.
Rumi knew that Baron Kendall did not want his knights to have too strong religious tendencies. Although it was impossible for people to have religious tendencies, he knew that the baron only regarded the churches in Kendall County as tools that could be used.
Although the Baron himself is a member of the Church of the Noble God, the Noble God is very different from other gods with a wide range of believers and cannot be generalized.
His territory is located outside the territory directly connected to Kendall County. Over the years, he has relied on his tenacious spirit and unity to survive the surrounding envious and difficult environment to this day. The factor of faith cannot be absent.
But he still couldn't open his mouth to explain his troubles to Baron Kendall.
"It's nothing, sir. Those local businessmen still understand the current situation quite clearly. It doesn't take much effort to communicate with them."
In the end, he could only change the subject.
"That's good. The relationship between the monster community and the trade routes on the Strange Wind Grassland, as well as the traveling caravans sandwiched between them, is not something that outsiders like us can comment on. We are just passing by on the march, and we will not go back to the city again. Here. I hope they can understand that our army is just a loan and there is no need to be so vigilant and worried."
The Baron explained: "Even though we just had a fierce battle with a local monster, it was not initiated by us. The threat of monsters is always there. When outsiders first arrive here, something like this will happen. . It's just that the newcomers who didn't understand these 'rules' before disappeared under the mouth of the harpy monster, and we only got through it because we were strong."
Baron Kendall was even a little unhappy when he said this: "If those merchants still resent us for having a conflict with monsters, why don't you think about how things would have gone if they had told all the little secrets about traveling through this trade route. to the current situation.”
Knight Rumi curled his lips secretly. The baron said this as if the local businessman had really said it and you were willing to abide by it. It’s not like we didn’t buy some sheep from the village where we stayed overnight yesterday, but didn’t the fighting still happen today?
Marching all the way, the elite army built by himself and the two knights under his command gave the baron who controlled it all a lot of pride. If he didn't really fight, how could he look at everything rationally.
The harpies are a local group of inhuman monsters that are in control of the superiors, while the Kendall army is an elite human army traveling all the way south.
A chance is something that has a high probability of happening and actually happens.
-
Knight Crow waved his arms and directed the body of the last harpy to be loaded into the cold carriage compartment.
Compared with the monster leader who requires a lot of effort to deal with, although the average harpy monster is three meters tall and has large wings, its actual weight is only equivalent to that of a warrior wearing iron armor. Among all kinds of monsters, it is already considered a very light one.
Even some huge beasts often weigh hundreds of kilograms or tons, so handling them is not a big hassle.
These harpies can be moved around as easily as little chickens. All you have to do is close your wings against your body, then find ropes to wrap and tie up your entire body, then stuff them into a carriage, freeze them, and the entire process is completed.
The real trouble is that blood spatters when the monster falls. Many soldiers subconsciously swallow part of the monster's flesh and blood. This may increase their physique in a short period of time, but it won't take long for various internal diseases to catch up with them. As a result, many innocent soldiers suffered from diseases and died prematurely.
This made Knight Crow frown fiercely.
He knew, of course he knew that many of these five hundred militiamen would definitely die in the subsequent series of battles. Even if he commanded and protected them more accurately, the war was so ruthless, and many of them would still die.
Most of the physical diseases that only break out on a yearly basis are really not something that many people can enjoy, but he still has an idea and wants to find a way to deal with this hidden danger.
However, potions or magical treatments that eliminate a small amount of monster flesh are not cheap things.
Knight Crow was a little troubled by this.
'Will the Baron pay for this? ’ He just thought about it and shook his head.
Impossible. After all, his friend and monarch also lost a lot of money this time and had a lot of troubles on his mind. How could he spend resources on such an 'unrealistic' place.
"Just hide it from the soldiers." Everyone would say that, he muttered quietly.
Sighing, he began to organize the scattered militia.
-
Kil nodded. He had just finished cleaning up the last area outside the army where broken coins had fallen on a large scale.
Everyone calmly picked up the coins they found into their pockets. After going back and forth to pick up the coins, everyone dumped their respective pockets into the cash box.
Then pairs of people searched each other's bodies to make sure no one had actually hidden some shiny gadgets.
boom.
Keir kicked the nearly full cash box shut, then hung the metal lock on the outside of the cash box in front of everyone, locking it firmly.
The key was handed over to an older clerk for safekeeping, and the cash box was moved into the carriage carriage they had obtained by the baron's guards in front of everyone.
The person holding the key is not with the cash box.
"Very good, everyone, take a rest. After the militia team has gathered, we have to collect all the damaged coins that they picked up spontaneously one by one."
Kiel said: "But I have to explain in advance that we cannot criticize or punish them for picking up coins. It is human nature, even if the money does not belong to them, but to our baron. Your lordship’s property.”
Keir smiled: "But just like crows like to pick up shiny trinkets, when you dig out their nests, you will always find some interesting things. We humans are also a kind of life that likes to do this. After all, everyone also They all like to hide these shiny gadgets in their homes.”
Everyone simply laughed for a while, and Kil continued: "This is nature, you can't blame them. As long as they can realize that this wealth has an owner later, and the owner is not them. Carefully check the militiamen, and The baggage they each carry.”
He looked at the sky and said: "This cannot be done in a short while. I will probably have to work until dark, and I will have to do it while walking for a while. Everyone, please be more careful. It will better reflect your loyalty to the Baron and show your best performance." Okay, I will report his name to Lord Baron later. Let Lord know who is the most loyal when defending his wealth."
Some people stood up, obviously not wanting to miss this opportunity. They did not doubt what Kil said. After all, his heroic performance in the previous battle was seen by everyone.
Being able to fly with Knight Crow in the sky to fight Harpies and play a key role, Kil's performance can simply make a bard write a poem.
In a small place like Kendall County, they are the kind that can be sung in pubs.
After waiting for a while, Kiel also sent someone to the army to check on the arrangement of the militia teams. After they came back to report that the militia teams had been organized, Kiel clapped his hands and called for everyone to set off together.
Kil asked the people he sent out to check before to bring a message to Knight Crow. Please ask the entire militia team to stand in line outside the crowded carriage team.
So, after walking half a circle around the logistics carriage team, I found several teams sitting on the soft grass to rest.
The chief and deputy militia captains in these teams have had their damaged hearing healed by the priests. Through them, they can have good control over their respective militia teams.
Knight Crow had only asked them to wait here without saying much, so they were a little surprised when Kil brought people over.
"Everyone, my name is Kil. You must all know me, right? I was ordered by the Baron to recover the damaged and valuable coins that fell from the mimic warriors during the previous battle. Please cooperate."
Kil said seriously.
His words made these militia captains very uneasy, because not only their members, but also many of them themselves secretly picked some up and took them in their hands.
I thought it was okay for everyone to do this in the chaos. After all, if others pick it up, if you don't pick it up, you will lose money. But I didn't expect that after the fierce battle was over, things were waiting here.
"Kil, Kil, come here."
Faced with a dilemma, the captain of the militia team who had met Kiel in the evening fight now greeted Kiel in a low voice.
Keir didn't care either. After getting closer, he lowered his head to listen to what he had to say.
The two people communicated for a while, and Keir whispered something to the other party, which immediately made the militia team leader relax. Seeing this man's performance, Kil whispered the same words to several others.
Everyone calmed down.
"How about it? Let's get started then? Everyone, please comfort your respective team members during the process. Don't cause some trouble, this is not good for everyone."
Kiel finished speaking with a smile, and then called a militia team.
The captain of the militia team called his team members and spread them out in a line. The view was blocked by the money-drawing carriage, preventing other militia teams from seeing directly, which increased their sense of uneasiness.
The baron's personal guards were all warriors, and for fear that they would act roughly, Kiel only asked them to watch from the sidelines while holding down the formation, while the hands-on inspection work was left to the clerk and several town militiamen who followed him.
Therefore, in the confusion of the less than ten militiamen, they were first asked to put down the weapons they carried, then to take off the simple leather and wood armor and luggage, and finally the clothes on their bodies.
The afternoon of spring is not cold, but the strange wind grassland with strong winds all year round is still not warm. Even though there was a fierce battle before, everyone is slowly calming down from the passion at this moment. The heat of exercise during the battle still cannot make everyone feel warm.
Seeing the naked young militiaman folding his arms in confusion and shrinking into a ball, Kiel frowned. He whispered a few words to a baron's attendant beside him. The other party was slightly surprised, but still At Keir's insistence, he nodded and left.
Soon, the attendant returned with two nervous cooks, holding in their hands some bread that they had purchased in Tol Village yesterday.
These things were originally used for food reserves, but Kiel asked for some. With his amazing performance in the battle just now, the logistics personnel agreed to his request.
The bread was not for himself, but for the militiamen who were being inspected.
"Break a piece of bread into four neat portions and give it to them, please." Kiel said to the two cooks, and pointed with his chin at the militiamen who were about to be inspected with ugly faces.
"Okay, Kil, it's a little thing, a little thing. Don't you have some? It was just made this early this morning. Although it is cold, it is still very soft. It will harden quickly if you put it aside."
The cook asked Keir ingratiatingly. But Kil shook his head and refused: "I killed too many monsters today and saw too much blood. I have no appetite."
These words made the two cooks feel quite ashamed. If you look closely, the armor on Kil's body has been scrubbed, but the gaps are still full of blood. If you sniff a little with your nose, you can smell a thick smell. The smell of blood.
It was just that they were surrounded by this smell in the carriage team before, so they didn't notice that now in the open space outside the carriage team, the bloody smell of Keir's body was very easy to identify.
This made them hurriedly hug the bread and walk away.
-
The inspected militiamen were originally a little confused as to why they had to be separated as a group and unloaded their weapons and equipment, but their captain was doing the same thing in a group, so they followed the captain's instructions.
But soon these young people from various villages saw what the logistics staff in front of them were doing. It turned out that they were searching their clothes and luggage, which made them feel insulted.
And they still took off their clothes like this for inspection, which really made them angry.
The inspector looked at the militiamen who were huddled up because of the temperature, but stared at them with disapproval. He sneered and poured out the important things stored in the money bag sewn inside the clothes of the militiamen, without caring about anything else. Things like small things from my hometown and amulets given by relatives and friends, and the normal dozen or so copper coins.
They picked up silver or gold coins that were broken into pieces and shook them vigorously in front of the militiamen.
At this time, some of the thin-skinned militiamen had lowered their heads. Their previous anger was no longer there, but they had expressions of fear.
Apparently they knew what they were getting.
But there are some shameless guys who don't take it seriously and even want to snatch the valuable and damaged coins back from the examiner.
The baron's guards nearby immediately stepped forward and caught the militiaman who wanted to make a move, letting the man watch the inspector throw the valuable and broken coins into a large pocket on their waist.
Just when there was a stalemate in the atmosphere, the cook came over with a full bag of bread, placed the extra bread on the clean grass, then picked up the relatively soft bread and broke it, and broke the round large bread from the middle. Cut it into four portions and stuff a large ball of brown bread into the hands of either the helpless militiamen or the deadlocked militiamen.
After making a gesture of eating, the cooks immediately walked away. One of them stayed here while the other went back to bring more bread as Keir asked.
The hungry militiamen were stunned for a moment. Between the valuable coins that were not their own and the tempting bread in their hands, everyone chose bread.
He immediately wolfed down the food-scented thing into his mouth, chewed it hard, then rubbed it carefully with his teeth, stirred it with his tongue, and finally swallowed it reluctantly.
Bread is not something that everyone can eat every day. Even if farmers grow wheat, the raw material for bread is finely ground or at least coarsely ground wheat flour. To grind wheat flour, generally large villages will use the mill that belongs to the knight's family in the village, or the windmill that belongs to the entire village instead of the knight, so that they can grind high-quality wheat flour.
Naturally, you can use a small stone mill to grind wheat flour manually at home, but this is hard and labor-intensive, and the children in the family who do not take up labor do not have the strength to use the small stone mill. As for large livestock such as donkeys or cattle, ordinary farmers do not have such things in their homes. Only wealthy farmers with a large population or a lot of fields have their own livestock.
However, the labor of livestock will also be used with caution and will not be used for grinding. Unless the big animals are too old and unable to work more in the fields, they will be used by a few families to grind wheat flour.
But most of these wheat flour will be exchanged for coins by merchants. Only during festivals will they be used to mix mushrooms or poultry to make exquisite food to celebrate the festival.
In the end, even the exquisite food of these festivals must be presented first to the priests in the village, then to the stewards of the knight master's family, and finally to the people who actually manage the village. Only what you keep will be enjoyed by your own family.
Finally, when the family eats it, the father and the married brothers have to eat it first. Only after they are full can it be eaten by other family members.
To be honest, although it was dangerous to follow Lord Kendall out to fight, the food we ate along the way really made everyone unsatisfied.
You can see the fishy smell of meat every day, and occasionally you can eat pickled salty fatty meat, which can't be more delicious.
Not only have they gained weight these days, many people have become physically stronger, even if they have to walk all day every day.
-
Kiir's lips curled up when he saw that the inspected militiamen were no longer resistant to body searches.
Soon, scattered valuable broken coins hidden in boots, inner pockets of clothes, between belts, and inside helmets were found and then confiscated. These items were returned to the hands of the militiamen who were choking on the bread.
They quickly put on their clothes and armed themselves again, and no one said anything about this kind of thing. So, the captain formed the team, and they regrouped in another open space and sat down to rest according to Kiel's wishes.
Then the second team of militiamen was called forward, and the process was still the same: inspection, distribution of bread, formation of the team, and repairs.
On the other side of the carriage, militia teams organized by Knight Crow kept coming to repair, and teams on Kiel's side continued to conduct inspections. Many broken coins were found. Regardless of whether the militiamen who were searched were willing or not, the money was loaded into them. into the examiner's pocket, and then, when full, poured it into the open cash box aside.