Sixty-seven surrendered mercenaries were eating together in the open space in front of the manor castle. Their food was very simple, just two slices of black bread and a bowl of broth. It's just that there is a big bucket of this broth, and whoever wants to drink it from the bowl can go and spoon it into the bucket.
When Lorist and Josk passed by, two mercenaries greeted them.
Josk introduced: "The older one is called Husky, and the one with the golden beard in the back is called Jim. The two of them are now the heads of these mercenaries."
Hawski and Jim came up to greet Lorist and Josk, Lorist waved his hand and said, "Forget it, you two come with us into the castle, and talk about what to do with you mercenaries."
After entering the castle, Lorist found a nearby room and brought two mercenaries in. After everyone was seated, Lorist was not polite, and said straight to the point: "Although you mercenaries surrendered voluntarily, I am actually very happy." I am worried about how to deal with you. It is not moral to kill us. If we don’t kill us, we will waste manpower to take care of you. After all, you have all awakened fighting spirit, and the lowest is the black iron rank. If we say that you will join us, we can’t believe you Loyalty, otherwise you wouldn't surrender so easily..."
The two mercenaries blushed, but had nothing to say, because what Lorist said was true.
"I can't kill you. I'm not willing to let you go. Maybe you will be hired by our enemy and meet us in front of the battle within two days. Wouldn't we be asking for trouble? I don’t have that much manpower to take care of you, so after thinking about it, I think it’s better to hire you at my own expense…” Lorist said.
The leaders of the two mercenaries raised their heads in surprise: "My lord, do you want to hire us?"
"Yes," Lorist nodded: "But don't worry, I didn't hire you to deal with your old employer. I believe you don't have that face, and you don't want it in your heart. If I force you, you will definitely go to work." If you don’t work hard, I have to worry about whether you will fight back.”
The two mercenary leaders lowered their heads in embarrassment, it was obvious that Lorist had hit their point. The older Hawski had experienced more, and he quickly raised his head and asked, "My lord, what do you want to hire us for?"
"Come on, get a map of the territory." Lorist shouted.
Lorist laid out the territorial map sent over on the table, and signaled the two mercenary leaders to come over and have a look: "This is our family's manor castle, and this is Beiye Town. We are planning to go to this place, Populus euphratica Beach with a small river. A new town will be built here. I believe you also know that there are often mountain barbarians in the Northland, and those barbarians like to go down the mountain to plunder. In order to prevent us from being attacked by the mountain barbarians when we build a new town, so I decided to go here, That is to say, a military camp was set up at the mountain pass where the two mountains meet, as the first line of defense against the mountain barbarians."
"The purpose of my hiring you is to ask you to guard this military stronghold. Of course, I will not ask you to do anything you cannot do. If there are too many mountain barbarians, you should stick to the military stronghold and light the beacon fire to us, and we will send Go for reinforcements. If the mountain barbarians have few people, then you can directly destroy them. With your rank of silver and black iron fighting spirit, it should be more than enough to deal with these savages. Of course, I will not let you do it for nothing, a living mountain barbarian savage , we offer a reward of gold coins for the head of the old man of the empire, if he dies, there will only be fifty silver coins of the empire.”
The two mercenary leaders looked at each other, and Hawski asked: "Can we go to that mountain pass to see the terrain first? Also, what kind of military camp do you want to build, my lord?"
"Of course it depends on the terrain. The location of the military camp can also be determined by you. As for the appearance of the military camp, you can rest assured that we will not fool you. If we want to build it, we must build it to be durable. The hundred barrels that came with the convoy this time I am going to use the glue vine juice in the construction of this military camp," Lorist said.
"Okay, we'll take this job." Hawski said, "But my lord, how do we calculate our employment money?"
Lorist smiled: "Don't worry, I'm more generous than Viscount Kenmais, one imperial old man's head gold coin per month for silver ranks, and fifty imperial silver coins per month for black iron ranks. If you catch or kill the mountain barbarians, you will get a bounty In addition. We will sign this employment agreement for one year first. After one year, you can renew the contract or leave at will. In addition, there is no rush to build the military camp. It will take about ten days. We also need to prepare labor and resources. Materials. But if you sign the agreement today, the employment fee will start to be counted from this month."
Hawski and Jim jumped up from their chairs: "My lord, I would like to help you."
"Well, since this is the case, I will ask someone to sign an agreement with you. After the signing, you two will take the mercenaries to go to Huyang Beach to set up camp. I will let someone take you there, and the supplies will also be sent there. said Lorist.
"Yes, but my lord, we need weapons and equipment, as well as horses..." Halski stammered.
Lorist patted himself on the forehead, how could he forget that these mercenaries were all his captives, they were all confiscated except for the clothes they were wearing: "Well, after you sign the agreement, you can Go and choose the weapons you are good at. In addition, I will provide you with thirty sets of iron chain armor, fifty sets of leather armor, fifty horses and four carts. These things are recorded first, and you can use the spoils of war and prisoners to pay back , and those sundries such as clothes, bedding, and camp tents, we will give them away for free, do you think it will work?"
Husky and Jim were overjoyed, and bowed deeply to Lorist: "My lord, your kindness and generosity are like the sun in the sky, warming the bodies and hearts of us humble mercenaries..."
"Get out! Shut up if you don't know how to flatter me, do you think I can't understand the words of Sigvar's hymn on me? Hansk is in charge, come and take these two bastards away, and those mercenaries I will trouble you about signing the agreement. After signing the agreement, ask Steward Speer to give them weapons and equipment... "
After the two mercenary leaders left, Lorist heaved a sigh of relief: "Finally, we've settled one thing. Let's go, Joe, I'll take you to see Mr. Kress."
…
In the evening, in the study room, Lorist and Josk were talking about some problems faced by the family while drinking the family’s treasured wine. Of course, Lorist could not help complaining, some things are taken for granted in Morente City , but here in the family territory, it was deviant, which made Lorist very uncomfortable, and felt very uncomfortable.
"Sometimes I really don't understand. The family has been reduced to this point and still clings to the tradition. When we went to see the boss today, didn't you see that the boss even scolded me for letting so many servants Both servants and employees have the opportunity to learn how to awaken fighting spirit. He said that the family used to reward loyal servants and employees by sending people to teach them to awaken fighting energy and then improve their status. Like me, I teach all servants and employees to awaken Fighting qi is subverting the tradition. In fact, I wish that even the maids can awaken fighting qi. How can I improve the strength of the family? Reward two or three servants and hired workers every year to learn to awaken fighting qi. It is hard to say whether it will be successful. ass... ”
Lorist seemed to be drinking a little too much, and his words became a little rough.
There was a knock on the door, and Lorist said, "Come in."
Pat came in and said, "My lord, here comes Steward Speer and Steward Hanske."
Lorist touched his face vigorously to wake himself up: "Please come in."
Lorist did not expect that Steward Speer and Steward Hansk came to protest, and the reason was that Lorist generously allocated thirty sets of iron chain armor to the mercenaries today, which made the two stewards feel distressed.
"My lord, armor is really too precious in the North Metro. Many families treasure it and are reluctant to use it easily. Even if we have 170 sets, you can allocate 30 sets to those mercenaries at once. It's really too generous and wasteful. My lord, can you get those iron chain armor back?" Speer said with a look of reluctance.
Lorist and Josk looked at each other, and they couldn't help laughing, especially Lorist, who leaned forward and backward laughing, making the two stewards laugh inexplicably.
Finally stopped laughing, Lorist said: "Okay, let's stop here, don't mention it again. Speer is in charge, you have to understand that these armors are actually the most common equipment. If you If you go to the castle site on the Morgan Hill, you will find that the guards there are wearing two sets of iron armor, the inside is a chain armor, and the outside is a chain armor. For our family, the most precious thing is These guard the lives of soldiers, not these armor."
"By the way, these iron armors are all produced by ourselves, because we have a master armor maker. The only thing that puzzles us now is that no iron ore has been found in the family territory, otherwise our iron armors will continue to flow, It won't take a year to fill all your warehouses, and then you'll be troubled that there aren't more people wearing those armors."
The two stewards, Speer and Hansk, looked at each other. They never dreamed that these armors were produced by themselves, and Lorist also said that the family already had a master armor maker, which was beyond their expectations. , This, this is really great news.
"By the way, Speer is in charge. How many armors did our family have before?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, there are seventeen pairs of iron armor in the family warehouse, two of which are full-body armor for knights. These two full-body armor are the special armor of the old master and the young master. In addition, there are four pieces of chain armor and seven pieces of chain armor. , two pieces of scale armor, one piece of plate armor and one piece of iron chain armor." Steward Speer knew all about the family's treasures, and reported the quantity and type without thinking.
"Well, you bring six pieces of mail armor and two pieces of scale armor tomorrow, and the eight guards here should also change their equipment. The six bronze-rank guards are equipped with mail armor and leather armor on the outside. Mess and Ya Those who have two black iron steps will wear scale armor. In addition, Speer is in charge, you can inform Knight Pachiko to go to the warehouse to choose a piece of armor. By the way, there is also Pat, he will also go to choose a piece of armor. Of the 170 sets of iron chain armor delivered today, 140 sets are left after 30 sets have been allocated to the mercenaries. I am going to use it to equip the 120 men who have just been formed in the manor castle. The guard squad, you will distribute the iron chain armor tomorrow. The remaining 20 sets of iron chain armor will be stored in the warehouse first, and some iron chain armor will be transported from the castle site on the other side of the Morgan Hill in a few days , I will reward those veterans who are over forty and now serving as instructors, in recognition of their standing up during the most difficult time of the family and never giving up." Lorist stood up and walked in the study Walked and said.
Steward Speer bowed his head: "Okay, my lord, I will arrange it according to your wishes."
"Also, didn't we bring over 700 pieces of leather armor today? You go to pick out 400 sets of similar styles at night, prepare 400 spears, and prepare 4,800 imperial silver coins for packing. Then load all these things into the carriage. Joe, you will go to Beiye Town with me tomorrow. I have to urge them to send the people over to me as soon as possible. Don’t dawdling and procrastinating with excuses, lest there will be any accidents caused by Nightmare Dreams. .” Lorist rubbed his chin in thought.
"My lord, is it too cheap to give these weapons and equipment to the garrison in Beiye Town?" Manager Hansk asked.
"If you don't do this, you can't make them feel at ease. Just like fishing, you have to put bait. These weapons and equipment are the bait to lure the guards to take the bait. After they swallow the bait, we have plenty of ways to manipulate them. At present, we can only be patient. Don't worry, I'll let them spit out these benefits again with interest. Besides, our family soldiers are all equipped with iron armor, and these leather armors are useless, so let's use them to appease the garrison." Lorist said.
"Okay, my lord, as you said."
…