After Alvin came out of the palace, he went straight to the market in the outer city. Mercenary groups of all sizes had been buying various supplies for the past two days, and the market was bustling with people. When Alvin saw this scene, his legs felt weak.
Fortunately, after squeezing for a while, Alvin found Langyun in a shop that specialized in dry meat, bread bags, fried noodles and other military rations. Langyun was bargaining with someone. He nodded when he saw him, and then continued to bargain with the boss. Alvin didn't bother Lang Yun, and just looked at the various dry foods. He picked up one, took a bite, and tasted it, lamenting that these hard days were coming.
After Langyun reached an agreement, paid the deposit and wrote down the delivery address, Alvin found the opportunity to talk to Langyun.
"Will you send them directly to Chen Zhu's horse farm?" Alvin asked.
"Yes, Your Highness, it's all settled. They will send it over in the afternoon. Just order the goods and pay them the remaining money." Lang Yun replied.
"How many days' worth of food do I need to buy?"
"If there are five hundred of us, what we bought today can last us for twenty days. This dry food will take about five carts."
"What about five days later?" Alvin couldn't help but ask.
Lang Yun glanced at Alvin with a smile and pulled him out, "Your Highness, I see that you don't travel far. You will definitely go to the next supply town in twenty days to buy some."
"Oh. I understand. These mercenary groups in the city are buying dry food now, and the price must be high. It will be cheaper if you buy it along the way." Alvin suddenly realized.
"Although it's not much cheaper, it's definitely cheaper than Saryuhi." Langyun said with a smile, "These twenty days are enough for us to get to the next town."
Alvin nodded and asked again: "You should be careful with your budget. By the way, have you bought the carriages carrying the goods?"
"Yesterday I saw a few carriages that could pull goods at the stable, so I bought a few less today. Your Highness, please go and talk to His Highness Chenzhu later about requisitioning his carriages for pulling goods. ." Lang Yun said embarrassedly.
Alvin looked at Langyun in surprise, "Aren't you asking me to scold you?"
"There's nothing you can do about it, Your Highness. We still have the Luni to buy this and that, so we can save as much as we can." Lang Yun said helplessly, "Didn't you complain about the tight military budget yesterday?"
"That won't save you much." Alvin said with a bitter smile.
"Hey, Your Highness, a carriage that pulls goods costs five runes, and the worst one costs three runes. The saved runes can be used to buy more wine, dry food, tents, etc." Langyun explained. road.
"Langyun, if I become the king one day, I will definitely let you be the minister of finance. As long as you don't move money to your own home." Alvin teased with a smile.
Langyun was also embarrassed by Alvin's smile, and said with a wry smile, "Then I have made a reservation for His Highness's Finance Minister."
The two of them were so busy that they didn't even take a few sips of water. They spent most of the day just buying this and that at the market and discussing prices. Alvin thought to himself that, as Lang Yun said, this money was really too good to spend, so he really had to use it sparingly. The supplies for these hundreds of people alone cost nearly a thousand runies. This was prepaid from the 28,000 military expenditures.
In the evening, the two of them went their separate ways. Alvin had to go home to pack his bags, and Langyun went back to the racecourse to inventory the supplies. Alvin did not forget to tell him to urge Laiwu to hand over the printed flag of the "Quartet" mercenary group to the Military Affairs Office.
When Alvin returned to the Earl's Mansion, he was already slumped into the sofa. When the housekeeper in the mansion saw Alvin coming back, he came over, obviously he had something to say.
"Sir, the master is not coming back today and will live in the camp outside the city." The steward said and took out an envelope from his pocket, "The master asked me to give this to you, the master."
Alvin took the envelope, took a look at it, and asked, "Didn't it mean that the army will leave tomorrow? Why are we going to live in the camp today?"
"Young master, don't you know?" the steward said in surprise, "the commander-in-chief of the army will go to the army the night before departure to have a warm and affectionate relationship with his soldiers."
"Commander of the army? Is the old man the commander-in-chief?" Alvin raised his face in surprise and asked.
"Yes, I am the commander-in-chief of the Right Army this time. Don't you know, Master?" The housekeeper was also a little surprised.
"I've been too busy these past two days." Alvin looked helpless, and then asked, "Then who will be the commander-in-chief this time?"
"Your Majesty has taken charge of the central army. I heard that the commander-in-chief of the left army is Governor Yuan Kang." the steward replied.
Alvin nodded, "Okay, you go ahead and do your work."
After the butler left, Alvin opened the letter and read it.
Earl Philip briefly mentioned the fact that he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Right Army, but he and Alvin listed in detail what kind of property the family has, how much gold and silver can be used, and where they are stored. These are all very clear. Recorded in letters. He also encouraged Alvin to form his own mercenary group, and at the end he also asked him to be careful not to lose his life when marching and fighting.
Alvin didn't know whether to laugh or cry for a while after reading it. He didn't understand what his father meant at all. "This old guy, why did he write down the family's property so clearly? It's not like he can't come back."
He returned to his room with some melancholy, glanced at the falling clouds outside the window, and began to pack his luggage. He first put "The Laws of Space and Time" and "On the Final Damage of Magic" in his luggage, and then put some more in the wardrobe. The clothes and shoes worn in autumn and winter are packed in.
"I don't know if Mr. Fei will go to the front line this time." Alvin looked at these two books and wondered. Since the pillow sword meeting, he has either been injured or busy doing other things. He hasn't been scolded by Mr. Fei for a long time, and he feels a little itchy.
Alvin originally planned to pack his bags and lie in bed without going out, but when he thought about what the butler just said, he felt that as the deputy leader of 500 people, he still had to go to the horse farm outside the city.
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When they rushed outside the city, they found that the horse farm of Chen Zhu's family had now become the camp of the "Sifang" mercenary group. Looking around, the tent has been set up, the bonfire has been lit, the leg of lamb must be roasted, and the beer must be drank.
When everyone saw that the deputy captain arrived with a bag on his back, they all toasted to celebrate. When Lai Wu and others saw Alvin coming, they also came to greet him.
"You mean I've been busy all day and you're already here drinking?" Alvin asked angrily.
"Aren't we waiting for you?" Chen Zhu said with a smile, "Originally Lai Wu was going to go on stage to say a few words. I also said that I would wait for you, so the two group leaders came together to say something."
"If I have anything to say, everything is arranged by Captain Laiwu." Alvin picked up a bottle of rum that had just been opened on the ground and drank heavily.
"That won't work. If you don't come, Lai Wu won't dare to go up and say it." Kaiba teased with a smile.
"By the way, Lai Wu, has that flag been handed over to the Military Affairs Department?" Alvin asked.
"I handed it in a long time ago. I handed it in as soon as I got it. Oops, you guys are urging me to death." Lai Wu complained.
Alvin walked up to Lai Wu with a wine bottle, and the two of them touched each other. Then Alvin asked in a low voice: "You went to the Military Affairs Department and asked about the mercenary group reported this time. How many are there? How many people are there in total?"
"We need to discuss this matter in detail tonight." Lai Wu also whispered.
Alvin nodded.
While people were still drunk, the Fourth Young Master gathered all the more than 500 people together. When Lai Wu saw everyone jumping on top of a carriage, he started an inspiring speech. Everyone was so excited by what he said that they wished they could fly to the front line and fight the Tingxiao people right now. Overall, this simple swearing-in meeting was very successful.
Alvin thought that he had said such good things, but he had to follow the rules. He pulled Lang Yun to his side and asked him to draft a rules and regulations for the mercenary group as soon as possible.
That night, the four young masters gathered in Laiwu's tent, their expressions a little solemn.
"Today I went to the Ministry of Military Affairs and found out that the largest mercenary group has three thousand people, but they are very rare, just one or two. There are about a dozen groups with one thousand people, and the remaining few hundred people There are probably dozens of regiments." Lai Wu was the first to speak.
"Wow, if you calculate it roughly like this, the total number of mercenary groups dispatched by the empire this time is about 30,000?" Chen Zhu asked.
"I guess it's about the same," Lai Wu said.
"With so many people, why can't they fight to get meat?" Chen Zhu asked in surprise.
"It's not easy to grab. When you get to the front line, you have to follow the unified dispatch of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and you can't act without authorization." Lai Wu said helplessly.
"Then we definitely can't listen to them. We pay for the military expenses ourselves, why should we listen to the Ministry of Military Affairs?" Alvin said angrily.
"If you act without authorization and are discovered by the Ministry of Military Affairs, you will be notified of being removed from the list and treated as a rebel." Lai Wu glanced at Alvin.
"Then you plan to follow the arrangements of the Ministry of Military Affairs? They may arrange some odd jobs for you, such as guarding unimportant city gates. They will not pay attention to the difficulties of our small mercenary group." Alvin said.
"Just guard the unimportant city gate for a while. Don't let us die when the time comes. This is the most exciting thing." Kaiba said with a bitter smile.
"I have an idea." Laiwu said, unfolding a sheepskin map on the desk. "We will first follow the large army to the Twin Mountains of Rendenor and enter the territory of Maine. By then, they will definitely go directly northward. The line is moving in. Let’s go east first and go north along the Yaofan coastline.”
"You mean not to report to the Maine front line first?" Alvin asked, "What's the point of doing this?"
"Look, the Tingxiao people came in from the Malode Plain. The castles on the plain can't stop the Tingxiao people's siege. But further south, to the Yiling Bernard Castle," Lai Wu He carved a mark on this place with his fingernail, "This place is a choke point, easy to defend and difficult to attack. With Prince Resa sitting in charge, the Tingxiao people will definitely not be able to defeat it."
Alvin and the others studied it carefully and nodded that it was indeed the case.
"But they have so many mercenary groups, it's impossible to just sit and stare." Laiwu continued, "These mercenaries will definitely go east and south along the Yaofan coastline to plunder."
"Yes, we have problems with military expenses, and so do they. Tingxiao's regular army can afford it, but these mercenaries can't afford it." Chen Zhu suddenly realized.
Lai Wu nodded and said with a smile: "So, I expect that there are many small groups of Tingxiao mercenaries who will be unable to sit still. If we go north along the coastline, we will definitely gain more than following the large army directly to Yiling Bernard." It’s much richer on the Fort front.”
"When we take full advantage and report to the front line, we will say that we lost our way during the march. I don't think the Ministry of Military Affairs can do anything to us." Chen Zhu said.
"Okay, Laiwu." Kaiba clapped his hands and smiled, "I didn't expect that one of us would have a military genius, haha."
"That is, after all, the leader of our mercenary group." Chen Zhu started to encourage.
"But, for our five-hundred-person troop, would it be too dangerous to take this route?" Alvin wondered, "Although we won't encounter any regular troops along the way, the Tingxiao people's mercenaries The number must be more than ten times, or even dozens of times more than ours."
"There's nothing we can do about it. The timid will starve to death and the bold will die of hunger. The Laiwu route is the most suitable for us right now." Chen Zhu retorted.
"Okay, anyway, I don't want to compete with a group of people for food. If it's dangerous, just be dangerous." Alvin nodded.
"Okay, let's just discuss it together." Kaiba agreed, "That's it. After passing the Twin Mountains, we will march along the Yaofan coastline."
"The 'Five Hundred's' march is so exciting." Alvin raised his lips.
"What are you doing? There are currently five hundred people. After a few battles, it may be expanded to several thousand people," Lai Wu said with a smile. "You, the deputy commander, have no ambition at all."
"Yes, you still have to have dreams." Chen Zhu agreed.
"Then I have to go back and have my spring and autumn dream." Alvin glanced at the night sky outside the tent and thought that the city gate should be closed at this time. He could only sleep in the camp tonight and return to the Earl's Mansion tomorrow morning. Bar.
He was troubled, knowing that he still had a problem that he needed to solve.
