The Magyar vanguard was only half a day's march ahead of their main body.
When the setting sun dyed half of the sky red, a slight tremor came from the earth, and frightened birds kept rushing out of the distant forest. Simon's soldiers looked at the scary scene on the other side of the river, with more or less worry and confusion on their faces.
"Sir, this is today's dinner."
A servant in a white apron opened the curtain at the door and brought in several plates of smoked jerky torn into strips. Another servant followed closely behind him, holding hot beet soup in one hand and hot beet soup in the other. One hand held a hard piece of black bread.
"Are we all starting to eat these things now?" Simon frowned slightly. This was really different from his daily dietary standards. Even during the march to Thuringia, he could at least eat fresh roasted food. Game meat.
"It's strange. Today our archers almost turned over the nearby woods, but still found nothing. One archer said that this may be caused by excessive hunting in this area recently." Servant Afraid that Simon would be angry, he answered as respectfully as possible.
To be honest, as the owner of this forest, Count William of Thuringia had already complained about tens of thousands of strange soldiers using all the resources in his forest without restraint.
The changes that have taken place in his forest during this period are huge - the density of the trees is visibly less dense than before. And now, all the poor animals living in this forest have been driven to extinction.
Of course, this is not what Simon should be concerned about. He only knows that his militiamen have been able to eat fresh meat and offal almost every meal. Although there is only a pitiful one or two pieces in each bowl, it is undeniable. , being able to eat meat can be regarded as satisfying one of the few luxury needs of a commoner in this era.
"What will the soldiers eat today?" Sir Bill on the side was obviously more considerate of the soldiers.
"Oatmeal, brown bread and nettle, bean and mushroom soup, my lord."
"Where's the meat? There's no meat at all?" The fat man Huffman, who loves meat, opened his eyes wide in surprise.
"Yes, Sir. We only have a basket of dried meat now, which was brought from the lord's kitchen. Without permission, the cook would not dare to stew the meat for the soldiers. After all, this large piece of dried meat is If the meat is only given to the baron and the three lords, it will be enough for a week, but if it is distributed to the soldiers, it may be eaten in one day." The servant had a troubled look on his face.
"It seems I have to think of a solution." After listening to the servant's report, Simon began to think.
Providing some meat to the soldiers for a long time has indeed improved their physique and made them stronger, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to become frugal from luxury. Once the supply of meat is stopped, it will definitely have a certain impact on the morale of the soldiers.
"Master, if you are willing, I can take a group of soldiers to try my luck nearby. Maybe there will be villagers with high moral character willing to donate some pigs, cattle and sheep to help us." Miller, who was sitting at the table next to him, smiled slyly. He smiled and everyone understood what he meant. To be honest, this kind of behavior is no different from robbery. He is worthy of being a miller's child.
"Are you sure the villagers donated voluntarily?" Simon said with disbelief, "Save it, we don't have to do such a disgraceful thing just for meat."
"What about the deal?" Fatty Hoffman finished chewing the dry and woody bacon and poured a big gulp of cider down his throat to help the dried meat swallow. "We can use the money to buy some livestock they don't need and slaughter them. .”
"This is a good idea. But as far as I know, because of the continuous war, the local farmers in Thuringia rarely use Denier silver coins. They mostly barter directly. We don't seem to have anything Something that will interest farmers." Sir Bill, who had been sitting silently, spoke up.
"They will definitely be interested in wine," Sir Miller, a former miller, said to Bill. "The question is, how much wine do we have now?"
Simon asked the servant Riddle who was on standby to go out and check the baggage. After a while, Riddle ran back panting: "Master, we have five barrels of cider, two barrels of wine and three barrels of ale left."
"This is only enough for our soldiers to drink for a few days. Maybe we have to spend extra money to buy a new batch of wine from the wine merchants who follow the caravan. You know, not having meat and wine is a problem for our soldiers. An extremely scary thing." Miller said with a worried look on his face.
"At least we don't have to worry about wine," Simon said, patting the heavy money bag on his waist. "I prepared a hundred Denier silver coins for this war. Last time I asked Riddle to ask about wine. At the bargain price, one silver coin can buy eight barrels of cider. I can exaggerate to say that even when the Magyars across the river die of old age, our soldiers will not cut off the supply of wine."
"In that case, I feel relieved," Sir Miller's brows widened, "However, we have to be careful not to place all our hopes on unreliable businessmen. You know, there are tens of thousands of people in this area. , the wine dealer’s goods are in very short supply, maybe these profit-seeking guys will raise the price, or all the wine will be sold out later, and it’s hard to get a drop.”
"Then let Riddle go buy a batch of wine and come back now." Simon counted out five medium-quality Denier silver coins from his purse and placed them on the table in front of him. "Riddle, come here. Take them. For these five silver coins, go to the red-nosed wine merchant stationed next to the Duke of Franconia’s camp, and ask him to send forty barrels of cider or beer.”
"As you wish, my lord." Attendant Riddle came to the table and took away the silver coins. He looked as carefully as if he were treating his newborn child. For civilians, this is a real sum of money. A huge sum of money.
"Besides, my lord, it seems that we don't have too many staple foods." Sir Miller looked like he was no longer used to the rock-hard brown bread. He swallowed the soup as if taking a bitter herb and moved his mouth The chewable food is sent to the stomach.
"We still have close to thirty bags of oatmeal and brown bread. If we eat today's amount every day, our staple food will only be enough for ten days." Sir Bill added.
"What if we run out of food? Do we still have to buy it from the grain and grass merchant next to the Duke's camp?" The fat man was a little worried. Although the Magyar army has arrived on the other side, God knows when these barbarians will launch an attack. attack.
"I don't agree. That grain and grass merchant is really too greedy. A grilled dried eel sells for two copper coins, five loaves of black bread sells for three copper coins, a hanging sausage sells for six copper coins, and a smoked pig leg sells for ten copper coins... My God, The price of food here is twice as high as that in Feldburg!" Miller said with disgust.
"Then send ten soldiers to escort the baggage carriage back to Henneberg Castle to buy food." Simon put his hands on the table and thought for a while, and finally made up his mind. "We need at least ten days of food reserves, Henneberg." The price of food in Bergburg is quite stable. Fatty, you are responsible for this. We need bread, oats and beans. If there is dried meat at a suitable price, buy some."
"Okay, sir. By the way, if there is smoked fish, do you want to buy some?" The fat man scratched his head. During Lent, fish and a very small amount of poultry are almost the only sources of meat for all Christians.
"Fish is too expensive, let alone smoked fish. In view of the current situation, let's forget about meat on fasting days." Simon rejected the proposal without thinking.
…………………………
Now, Simon's army is not the only one encountering food supply problems. Lange has also been worried about this matter recently, but he has never been a follow-the-rules person, or in other words, he has his own way of providing food for the troops.
Before the sun completely set, a group of soldiers wearing clothes with the coat of arms of the Dorsten family led a group of livestock toward Lange's camp while talking and laughing.
A brown-haired man sitting on the side of the road idly peeling tree branches with a knife raised his head slightly, and he smelled the smell of blood on these soldiers.
The man was wearing uncomfortable burlap clothes and had a basket of firewood on the ground next to him. He looked exactly like a lazy woodcutter.
"Hey! Get away, you farmer collecting firewood!" The leading soldier noticed the brown-haired man's gaze. However, in his opinion, this poor guy was just coveting them, or he wanted to mess with a piglet. Go, so he whipped the whip and hit the ground next to the man.
"I'm sorry, sir, I'm sorry!" The man looked frightened by the flying dust. He hid behind the oak tree beside the road in panic.
"That's ridiculous!" The leading soldier was very satisfied with the man avoiding him like a mouse, but he had no idea that this cowardly-looking woodcutter was actually a spy arranged by Baron Winter to collect intelligence on the main road.
The brown-haired spy keenly scanned the soldiers passing in front of him. Some soldiers had conspicuous dried blood on their hands and coats, which was definitely not the soldiers' own blood. And when he looked at the group of livestock, he discovered something that surprised him even more - most of the cows, sheep, and pigs were female.
Generally speaking, unless absolutely necessary, no farmer would be stupid enough to give up these livestock that can still produce milk, goat milk and suckling pigs, so there is only one possibility.
He stood up and raised his head. The leaves above his head were so lush. So, after the group of soldiers walked away, he licked his lips and climbed up to the oak tree in front of him.
When he climbed to the top of the tree, he looked towards the direction from which the group of soldiers came - in the distance, close to the horizon, a plume of thick black smoke shot straight into the orange-purple sky, and the faint fire light lit up like the tail of a firefly. The sunset is about to go out.
He shuddered.
"These bastards! That's Earl William's village, and those are the people of the kingdom we want to protect! Where do they have the courage to do such a sinful thing?" The brown-haired spy muttered, jumping down from the tree. He looked around for a while, and after making sure there was no one around, he quickly walked towards Baron Winter's camp.
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