Lord Highlander

   Chapter 666 655. Gathering 2

The northern suburbs of Hailansa City stretch for tens of kilometers of mountains, and there are many oak trees in these mountains. Therefore, this mountain is called Oak Ridge by the Hailansa people. These oak trees produce a large number of gold and silver acorns every year. Hailanza City's most famous export product, almost the nobles in the entire Bena Province know that the acorn fruit of Hailanza City is the best fuel for heating in winter.

Over the continuous Oak Ridge is the Paglos Pass, which is known as the southernmost tip of the Paglos Mountains. Strictly speaking, this is not the southern foothills of the Paglos Mountains. Badlands.

From the Pagros Pass in the south of the barren land to the northernmost Pustule Mountain, almost across the entire barren land, the straight-line distance is about 140 kilometers, and Wall Village is located in a mountain next to the Pagros Pass In the col, the main reason why this col is livable is that there is a spring in the upper reaches of the col, and the stream here never runs dry all year round.

  If you want to live in a barren land, the problem of water sources is the first to bear the brunt. There are a total of 19 natural villages in the barren land, and these villagers mainly gather to live next to these 19 water sources.

  Of course, in addition to these natural villages, there are also some small villages with less than a hundred people. These villages migrate around following the dry and rainy seasons of the barren land.

  In winter and spring, they will leave the barren land to make a living, and in summer they will return here to plant some crops, and they will leave before the first heavy snow falls after harvesting in autumn.

They don't have houses or land, but almost every family has a four-wheeled caravan that can shelter from the wind and rain. Of course, there are also several families that jointly own a magic caravan. These people cannot be regarded as the aboriginals of the barren land, at least in On the side of Wall Village, they still insist on calling them homeless.

  The old village chief Brett took Surdak to visit ten natural villages near Wall Village.

This time Suldak is recruiting private soldiers, and once selected, apart from a fixed monthly salary of 30 silver coins, the most attractive thing is that the family members of the cavalry battalion can join Wall Village in the future, regardless of whether the cavalry battalion members Disabled or killed in battle, Wall Village will pay a pension and promise to raise the children in the family until they are sixteen years old to participate in the coming-of-age ceremony.

   Villagers are no strangers to lords, and the city of Hailansa has hundreds of lords, large and small.

  But Suldak was the first lord in the barren land. The villagers heard that Suldak offered such generous conditions, no matter young or old, everyone was willing to come out and join the private army.

  In fact, this is not difficult to understand. The barren land is barren, and there is a long dry season every spring. Not only do you have to watch the sky for food, but you also have to face the robbers on the other side of the desert.

  It is not easy to survive in the barren land.

  The reason why the villagers resist military service is because everyone knows that those young people who have no combat effectiveness can only be sent to the heavy armored infantry battalion as cannon fodder once they join the army.

  The lord's private army is different. The lords will not easily send the private army to the battlefield to fill the graves.

   And the series of benefits obtained after joining the private army can almost make the family have no worries about food and clothing, which makes the villagers in the barren land overwhelmed.

In just three days, Suldak recruited 200 people for the cavalry battalion. If Wall Village can't accommodate more people, Suldak can almost recruit 500 people in one go. Erdak didn't have any more horses to distribute to other veterans at this time.

   Right now, Suldak has almost requisitioned all the Gubolai horses in the village, adding up to a total of about 120 horses, together with more than 70 camels, which can be considered as enough mounts for the two hundred cavalrymen.

As a result, the road repair team in the village completely lost the support of the four-wheeled carriage. Right now, they can't build roads outside the volcanic ash-covered area, so they can only follow the road in the direction of the pustule mountain and enter the no-man's land covered by volcanic ash. According to the plan on the map of Suldak, build a cement road leading to the Great Rift Valley from there.

  Suldak's private army just assembled in the central square of Wall Village on the day the mercenary group arrived in Wall Village.

  …

  Crossed the Pagros Pass, and there was a desolation in front of the white snow.

Gabriel Gerry, the head of the sea giant mercenary regiment, passed the pass of the Pagolos Pass first on horseback. The mercenaries behind him were wearing thick leather clothes, and the cold north wind was blowing in front of them. It's much colder this side of the country than Oak Ridge.

Captain Gabriel is a senior mercenary captain. It is said that his personal strength is infinitely close to that of a rank two powerhouse. His subordinates are also fighters who have completed rank one. The name is very resounding, and the reputation has always been very good.

After serving in the military, Gabriel Gerry joined the unknown sea giant mercenary group. At that time, the mercenary group even had fewer than ten members. Now he is just forty years old after this winter, and he has been in the sea giant for twenty years. , and now the sea giant has grown into a medium-sized mercenary group of 30 people, which is definitely a first-class mercenary group in a small mountain town like Hailansa.

Gabriel also thought about leading the mercenary group to participate in the war of planes, but none of the lords in Hailansa City was that kind of leader, and he could not convince Captain Gabriel deeply, so he still brought the mercenary group The group mingled in the city of Hailansa.

   This time I received the commission to exterminate the desert bandits, which is considered the biggest deal this year.

  If you are lucky, after completing this order, they will be able to lie dormant for the whole winter, and wait until next spring to pick up the mission...

Therefore, Gabriel Gerry has done a very detailed investigation these days. He hopes that the robbers in the desert will not run so fast. A robber is worth hardware. As long as you kill a small group of desert robbers, this winter may become Very nice.

A flat concrete road has been paved from Paglos Pass to Wall Village. Although there is still snow on both sides of the road, Gabriel is in a good mood because of the smooth road. He can see the col from a distance, but he cannot see it from a distance. What are those white things in the upper reaches of the Qingshan Pass? When I rode closer, I found a huge dam suspended above the head. This dam was built between the mountains in the upper reaches of the pass, and it looked magnificent.

   "Leader, Wall Village is here!"

  A subordinate pointed at a dead tree in front and shouted loudly.

  In fact, even if he didn't shout, Gabriel knew the village.

The old village chief, Suldak, and a group of villagers stood at the entrance of the village, watching thirty mercenaries coming to Wall Village one after another. In addition to the members of the mercenary regiment, there were also people rushing to Wall Village. Erdak greeted Gabriel Gerry, pointed to the row house at the entrance of the village, and said, "Captain Gabriel, you and your companions can temporarily live in the row house before entering the desert. If you need anything, you can ask Village Chief Bright."

   "Warriors are welcome to Wall Village!" The old village head said at the right time.

   "When are you leaving?" Gabriel Gray jumped off the horse and asked Suldak while holding the horse's rein with one hand.

"tomorrow!"

  Suldak replied with a smile.

Gabriel Gray didn't say anything, and immediately ordered his members to clean up the temporary residence. The most important thing is to light a fire to completely warm up the room like a cold storage. His team members don't need his orders, and they are busy with their duties. .

   "There is still some time before dinner, and tonight we prepare broth and wheat cakes..." the old village chief said to Captain Gabriel.

   Gabriel immediately nodded in greeting.

  …

   At this time, people were still gathering towards Wall Village, and those merchants with a keen sense of smell once again set up their stalls at the entrance of the village.

   "Captain Karl and the others are here." Suldak pointed to the mountain pass and said to the old village chief beside him.

On such a cold day, Karl and the reserve knights did not wear metal armor. They wore leather armor and thick fur cloaks, wrapped the heavy armor next to the saddle, and looked at the green faces beside Karl. The eyes of the group of young people were full of novelty about the outside world.

  The old village chief frowned, stood at the entrance of the village and said to Suldak: "Do you want to leave those children in Wall Village? Do you think they can take care of themselves in such a cold day?"

  Suldak touched his nose, and said to the old village chief: "I want to take them to practice, after all, such a good opportunity is rare."

The old village chief Brett turned around, stared at Surdak with a serious face and said, "Dark, not everyone is born to be a warrior who can fight one against a hundred. Compared with your cavalry, they need to grow up more. space, you should also create such conditions for them, after all, you are their squadron leader."

  Seeing the old village chief speak so seriously, Suldak quickly said, "I know, with Andrew and I taking care of it, everything will be fine."

  The old village head warned with a stern face: "Don't underestimate those robbers!"

  Suldak smiled and said, "I didn't underestimate them. You see, I spent a lot of money to invite a mercenary group for them..."

Gabriel Gerry saw this group of young guard battalion reserve knights before he left High Lansa City, but he did not expect that they would also come to Wall Village, and he would have walked with them if he knew about it. Looking at his face, he couldn't help but think of himself who had just graduated from the academy and also didn't know the heights of heaven and earth.

Gabriel just glanced at it, and sighed slightly in his heart: Now there are so many wealthy families in Hailansa City, who graduated from the Knight Academy and put on formal knight attire. It is impossible for these reserve soldiers to come to the guard camp. The knight prepares these, and if he pays out of his own pocket, he can't buy this body without sixty or seventy gold coins!

  Squadron Captain Karl led a group of young reserve knights into Wall Village, and the old village chief and the villagers quickly made way.

  After those young reserve knights entered the village, they whispered and secretly looked at Suldak...the chief who would control them for the next four years.

  (end of this chapter)