The messenger gasped and dismounted, taking out a roll of yellowed letters from an old saddlebag. The stable boy next to the wooden castle stable quickly ran up and took the reins.
"Sir, messenger from Dorstenburg!" the guard at the gate of the wooden castle tower shouted loudly.
"The young master said to let him in."
The fat man's rich voice penetrated into the ears of the guards outside the door through the crack in the middle of the tower door. The guard nodded to the messenger and opened the door.
The hall of the wooden castle tower was bright and warm, which allowed the courier, whose face had turned pale due to the cold wind along the way, to take a breath, take off his gloves and rub his facial muscles that had become numb.
There is a rectangular stone firepit in the center of the hall, which Simon asked Ryan to help make a while ago.
Beside the firepit was a bundle of dry branches and a pile of chopped firewood. The firewood that has not yet burned out is emitting wisps of white smoke, and the billowing heat wave is burning the iron pot that is suspended by the grill directly above the fire pit.
"Little Klein, give him some hot water to drink."
"Okay sir."
Little Klein responded while taking a wooden cup from the large wooden table next to him, walked to the fire pit, opened the oak lid of the iron hanging pot, and scooped a cup of hot water for the messenger.
"Thanks!"
The messenger rubbed his hands that were also numb from the cold quilt, took the wooden cup, and after taking a few sips of hot water, his originally blue lips became rosy again.
"Dear Lord Simon, I have a letter from Lord Cooser." The messenger said, handing the wooden cup and the roll of parchment sealed with heraldic fire paint to little Klein.
"Very well, thank you for your hard work. I hope you can send greetings to my father and mother for me when you go back to life." Simon took the letter from Klein, but he remembered that he couldn't read and had a headache. He rubbed his temples and said, "Fat man, take the messenger to rest, and then call the village chief over."
"Okay, young master," the fat man standing next to Simon nodded, took out a bunch of keys from his waist, then walked to the messenger and said, "Follow me."
Not long after the fat man took away the messenger, the village chief came to the tower with staggering steps.
Simon handed the letter to the village chief and asked him to help him read what was written inside.
However, the village chief did not open the letter immediately. Instead, he looked closely at the heraldic sealing wax. After confirming that it was correct, he broke off the lacquer sealing wax and laid the letter flat on the table.
"To my dear Simon. My son, the Feast of the Annunciation is approaching, which means that spring is coming too. At Count Berg's banquet last month, my lord revealed his plan of war, which was to take place in The levied troops were gathered in the town of Dusseldorf a week before the Feast of the Annunciation, and marched towards the Count of Lowen within a day or two after the Feast of the Annunciation.”
"Are you in such a hurry?" Simon frowned and fell into deep thought as he listened to the village chief's narration.
He had only learned from Father James who held the calendar two days ago that there was still a week and a half before the Feast of the Annunciation.
"Originally, today was the day to recruit the army. However, something unexpected happened, and the heavy snow that had subsided returned again. So the earl decided to postpone the assembly time. New orders may be issued at any time, and all vassals and vassals in the earl's territory have returned. A knight must be ready to go to war at any time. Keother, March 18th."
"It seems that I have to hurry up. There is enough food and grass in the granary for the time being, and there is no need to worry about the soldiers' equipment. Even the trebuchet turret has not been built yet, but it is almost completed..." Simon held up the table. He held his chin and talked to himself.
In addition, Simon thought, he needed more animal and vegetable fats.
These oils can not only be used for food, made into lighting torches, or to maintain armor, but can also be made into fire arrows, which play an unexpected role in war.
However, Simon learned from the well-informed Gabriel that the fire arrow was not simply a matter of tying a piece of cloth soaked in grease to the arrowhead of an ordinary bow.
Fire arrows require special hollow arrowheads to prevent the flames from extinguishing when the arrows fly at high speeds in mid-air. In addition, the arrow body of the fire arrow will also be longer. This is to prevent the archer from being burned by the fire of the arrow when setting the bow.
Vegetable oil Simon can be purchased at Lange's lumberyard, half a day's journey south from the village of Verde.
As for animal fat, Simon knew that whale oil was one of the most flammable fats, and it should be produced in the ports of Abeldoorn and Redburg in the north.
As for lard, deer fat, rabbit fat and other fats and oils, including those purchased from the butcher in the caravan in the center of the village yesterday, Simon still has a lot of reserves in his warehouse.
So the poor fat man was busy again. Following Simon's instructions, he took ten well-equipped soldiers to the port of Abeldoorn to purchase supplies. Miller also took ten soldiers, and his destination was Lange's lumberyard, to purchase an additional batch of wood and a batch of vegetable oil.
"Fat man, after arriving at Abeldoorn Port, go to the bow and arrow workshop to see if there are any special fire arrows for sale. By the way, you also have to go to the pottery workshop to buy a batch of cheap small clay pots, and check to see if there is any asphalt. For sale." Before leaving, Simon gave the fat man careful instructions at the end of the village.
"Master, why do you want to buy asphalt?" The fat man was a little confused.
In his understanding, asphalt is just a material that adds color to weapons, tools, decorations, and sculptures.
After all, he grew up in the countryside in a backward area on the border of the kingdom, and many of the tools and methods for defending the city were unknown to him.
"Don't ask so many questions why, just buy it as I asked. By the way, I'll leave this roll of drawings to you," Simon said, stuffing two rolls of parchment with many patterns and marked sizes into the fat man's arms. , "When the time comes, give the drawings to the blacksmith at the port. I remember he is an old man with good skills. You tell him then that the parts on the drawings must be finished within two days."
"No problem, sir." The fat man said, carefully putting the precious drawings into his pocket.
"After you have arranged all the things, go to Redburg, which is adjacent to Abeldoorn Port, and bring this letter to Baron Red. I believe he will supply it at a more favorable price. You got a batch of whale oil." Simon smiled and handed another letter, which was only sealed with fire paint, into the fat man's hand.
"I promise to complete all of this perfectly!" The fat man patted his chest and vowed.
Seeing the fat man, the soldiers and the carriage gradually disappearing in the snowy field, Simon finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The asphalt was left as a defensive weapon for the empty village of Verde when he led his soldiers on an expedition. If Verde Castle is attacked, Mason Ryan knows how to use it to defend and buy the castle some more time to wait for rescue.
The parts given to the blacksmith will be used on the trebuchet on the top of the turret.
As for the letter given to Baron Red, Simon still clearly remembered that at Baron Iser's banquet, his fledgling self sold him a catapult at an extremely cheap price.
Baron Red was a generous, enthusiastic, and righteous man with a true nature. At the dance after the banquet that night, when he was drunk, he actually said that he would betroth his daughter to Simon, which flattered Simon at the time.
After all, it was just drunken talk, but no matter what, I became friends with Baron Red that day and got along quite happily. The small matter of selling whale oil at a discount should not be a problem for him.
………………………
In the past two days, all production in the village has stopped. Simon concentrated all his manpower and material resources on the turret of the western wall, striving to build the trebuchet turret before his possible expedition at any time.
The villagers also knew that after the turret was built, their safety would undoubtedly be enhanced, so they worked extra hard.
This morning, the caravan that had been holding a market in the center of the village for several days no longer sold goods. The businessmen packed their bags, sorted their supplies, and prepared to hit the road again.
"Master Simon, I originally wanted to leave with this caravan as a caravan guard," Pedi came to Simon, blushing and said with some embarrassment, "but I only found out after asking Mr. Brun. , they will next go to the West Frankish Kingdom in the west, pass through the city of Amiens, and finally reach Paris."
"This means that if you follow them, you will be equivalent to throwing yourself into a trap and returning to that sad place." Simon simply couldn't laugh or cry, looking at poor Pedi with sympathy.
"That's right, sir. Although it has been a year and it is not ruled out that they have given up their plan to hunt me down, I still dare not bet on my life. Those spies who lie dormant in the city with nothing to do all day long are just like foxes. Cunning and keen." After Pedi finished speaking, he shook his head and sighed.
"Then you can follow me on the expedition to Lorraine," Simon said, patting Pedi on the shoulder. "Perhaps you can also get many trophies, such as a set of heavy armor that truly belongs to you!"
The chainmail that Pedi is currently wearing was the one that Simon had to temporarily lend to Pedi after he killed Sir Linton last time. If Pedi wanted to follow the caravan, he would have to go back to the state of using light armor to conquer the world. The risk was too great.
"Okay, sir," Pedi nodded helplessly, "War is undoubtedly the best time to make a fortune, but it is also full of dangers. I hope God will bless me as lucky as always."
As soon as Pedi left, Father James, who was holding the tax parchment, approached Simon with excitement.
"Sir Simon, the caravan is about to leave, and the taxes we received have finally been tallied. Do you want to hear the specific amount?" Father James held the roll of parchment tightly like a treasure. Simon noticed that his fingers were covered in black ink.
"Okay, tell me about it!" Simon became interested and nodded quickly.
"This time we received from the caravan a tax equivalent to eight deniers, a bag of wool, ten eggs, half a bag of flour, a bushel of barley, two bushels of oats, two strong ropes, a Rolled rabbit skin, a small bag of black bread..."
In this dark age when the economy is in a state of slow recovery, the villagers hold very few coins and use more primitive methods of bartering for transactions. That is why Simon received so many materials as taxes. .
As for Arthuro, the pharmacist who stayed in the caravan to work as a doctor in Verde Village, now that the smell of war was filling the air, he was busy with his work.
After seeking the consent of little Klein, Simon temporarily used his unoccupied house in the village for Arthur to live in.
Arthur was quite good at tinkering. He placed the alchemy tools given to him by Brune one by one on the stove of Klein's house. I have to say that after this move, it immediately felt like an alchemy table. Unfortunately, the bellows and the four base tanks of water, red wine, oil, and spirits were missing.
In order to prevent moisture, he also put various herbal ingredients in a wooden woven basket, borrowed a rope from a neighbor, and hung the woven basket on the beam.
"Master Simon said that we need a lot of marigold potions and energy potions, as well as nightingale potions. Oh, by the way! If possible, he needs you to prepare some poisons for later use." Little Klein helped pharmacist Arthur pack away After clearing the house, he conveyed Simon's original words to him.
"Of course, of course, but do you really need to concoct poison? That is our family's forbidden formula!" Arthur was a little entangled and hesitant.
"If you don't want to now, forget it, but you can tell me all the raw materials you need, and I will prepare some. After all, I am prepared. I am afraid that one day in the future we will really fall into an extremely dangerous predicament and need some special means. Come and break the situation.”
"Okay, okay, you don't need to prepare it. In fact, I have the raw materials, and I also have poisons and potions. You know, the life of a caravan is dangerous, and I have to leave some means for myself as an escape route..." After hearing this, Acero waved his hand calmly.
