Chapter 11 Volunteer? militia!
Whenever winter comes, the citizens of Antolia become extremely busy.
No one knows when the hounds from the southwestern highlands will quietly attack. The only thing the locals can do is to collect more firewood and pick more wild fruits in the few days left.
This has almost become a habit formed by the people living in this land over the years.
At this time, the mercenaries and guards in the territory will also be busy.
From time to time, a flying horseman would gallop away from the city gate, always keeping an eye out for traces of plateau hounds.
Although theoretically speaking, after the first snowfall in Antolia ends, it will usually be half a month before the plateau hounds attack.
But no one dares to be careless. After all... it is not something that has never happened before for hound groups to migrate early.
In this land, almost every habit, every tradition, and even some trivial details of the people come from the lessons learned in blood and death.
Even though the mercenaries had already built a high platform near the southwest highland and prepared beacon fires ready to be lit with reeds, dry firewood, and cow and sheep dung, no one still dared to relax their vigilance.
Because although those ferocious creatures are called hounds, in people's memory, they are more like some kind of mutated monsters. They have long and straight black manes like wild boars, and sharp and pointed canine teeth that are tens of centimeters long.
They are bloodthirsty and ferocious. Although their limbs are slightly short, they are like a ghostly black shadow when they run. Not only do they run rampant, but their speed is comparable to that of war horses. They are beasts that are feared by everyone in Antolia.
Fortunately, these beasts only raid the territory every five years. Otherwise, desolation will replace chaos and hardship and become the new label of Antolia.
It was precisely when people were nervously preparing supplies for the winter that, following the recruitment of female textile workers, a new announcement appeared in the field of vision of the residents.
This is a notice drafted by Leon Jimena, Viscount of Antolia.
Although the subjects did not know how to read and write, Leon arranged for his personal attendants to read in shifts.
All in all,
the content can be roughly summarized into the following three points:
taking care of food;
giving out money;
and being a strong man.
As for the so-called Antolia Fire Volunteer Team...
the residents don't understand and don't care.
They only focus on one thing, food!
When the cold winter comes, every grain of food is extremely precious, and it is common to eat hay and bark.
The mere fact of being in charge of food is enough to make the citizens eager to give it a try.
You know, even if it is something as outrageous as weaving trees, the female workers can receive forty Andal silver coins every month.
As for this volunteer team,
its name sounds obviously longer, and it only requires strong men, so the pay will definitely not be bad.
So,
in just three days, one hundred residents who had gone through layers of screening became the first batch of members of the Antolia Fire Volunteer Team.
"Lord Viscount..."
Standing next to Leon, Todd's face was full of sincerity.
Looking at the one hundred citizens, he seemed to see more than a hundred eating mouths.
"I know what you want to say."
Leon interrupted Todd calmly: "You want to say that the food in the territory is not enough to survive the winter, and it is a bit inappropriate to be so generous now."
" That's not what I meant!"
Todd said quickly.
Then he held it in his mouth for a long time. Seeing that he couldn't think of anything else due to the lack of vocabulary in his head, he added in a low voice angrily: "But it's almost like this." "Don't worry, the food will be there
. That's enough."
Leon waved his hand, signaling Todd to calm down.
Of course he knew that establishing the Antolia Fire Volunteer Team at this time would inevitably be a bit hasty.
But Leon knew better that if he didn't do this, once the hounds climbed over the city wall like they did in the past, the people under his command would suffer heavy casualties.
This is not Leon's guess, but something that will inevitably happen in the Year of the Jackdaw.
The mercenaries of Antolia are indeed extremely brave, but due to the lack of manpower, there are always things they cannot take care of.
Therefore,
although the idea of forming this team was originally just to prevent fire.
But now, at least in Leon's mind, these people are the future reserve militia!
Although Todd and others are extremely loyal and brave, Leon also wants to build a new team of his own from scratch.
After all,
mercenaries are a specialty of Antolia, and
Leon has no intention of keeping those fierce men by his side forever to protect his own safety.
His previous desire to divert trouble to the east and bring trouble to the nobles in the south was also based on the same consideration.
Only disputes and threats
can make Antolia's battle-hardened mercenaries useful.
Looking at the young men lining up in the open space in the city, Leon was filled with joy.
At the same time, Juan, who was standing in the queue, was peeking at his lord from the corner of his eye.
Among a group of rough-looking men, the slightly thin Juan looked particularly conspicuous.
To put it bluntly,
he is the shortest and weakest person in the team.
Until this moment,
Huan also clearly remembered that when he signed up, the recruiting officer in the territory was suspicious of him:
"The lord has set the rules. No one under the age of fourteen is allowed to sign up."
The simple and straightforward words made Hu An was impressed, which became one of the reasons why he worked so hard in his daily training.
Although...
the content of the training surprised Juan, or most people. Feeling a little baffled.
Their daily task is to stand motionless and do some simple queues.
The young lord called it a military posture.
The people did not understand what military posture was, but as long as the lord took care of food and money, they were happy to accompany him.
The process is a bit boring, and the legs and feet are slightly sore, but the thing that Antolian people are not afraid of the most is hardship.
No matter how difficult it is, it is much better than dying.
So much so that Leon often marveled at the perseverance and perseverance of the people, and starting from the third day, he personally went out to train with the people in his spare time.
As for fire prevention and firefighting, they have become incidental gifts.
Only when the "volunteers" finish training or take a break, the explanation will be given by an elderly person with fire-fighting experience in the territory.
Eating, sleeping and participating in training are all the volunteers spend in a day.
As time goes by,
even if they are only undergoing simple training such as military posture and marching in step, the
Antolia Fire Volunteer Team has revealed an inexplicable and strange feeling.
And this feeling
is particularly obvious in Todd's eyes.
(End of chapter)