Chapter 303 Horse bandits must be suppressed at any time
The so-called self-responsibility means that Horn has to deliver the goods to your door.
Martin mentioned before that the Kush Territory and Kasha County are actually bordering each other.
But of the two main roads leading to Kasha County, one land route was blocked by the Ibe Knight of Jinhe Township, and the other water route was blocked by the Lower River County Church.
Among the several roads available for transportation, Horn put forward three conditions:
First, it must be able to be transported on a large scale.
Second, it is difficult to be harassed by the Temple Knights of Lower River and the Ibe Knights of the South.
Third, the distance should be close enough, avoid detours, and try to facilitate and speedy transportation and passage.
The Holy Gun Cavalry investigated everywhere and finally found the only road that could meet Horn's requirements - the El Ancient Road in the dense cave forest southwest of the Kush Territory.
If you take this ancient road, the total distance from Fort Joan to Xiaochi Castle is 250 kilometers.
Calculated at the speed of a fully loaded carriage, it would take four to five days to arrive, and a round trip would not take more than ten days.
The main reason why it was abandoned was that after the canal was built, the safety and carrying capacity of the waterway were much stronger than this ancient road, so it was abandoned.
After decades of desolation, it has become a base camp for refugees, horse bandits and bandits.
They use this as a base every year to raid manors and villages in the three nearby counties, and also rob passing merchants.
The nearby lords tried to clear it out several times, but failed to clear it out. Every time they were allowed to escape, they would resurgence within a few days.
Later, these bandits and robbers learned the lesson, found the pain points of the market, laid out new tracks, and collected protection fees instead of robbing.
In these years, he has lived a happy life for more than ten years by continuously exploiting nearby estates and passing merchants.
But such comfortable days will no longer exist.
Because Horn does not allow Kush to have such an awesome person!
"Is the Black Hat Army's recruitment finished now?" Although Horn still had the same lazy voice as before, Busak clearly heard a lot of sonorous sounds from it.
"It's all over. All eight legions have been replenished, and the new batch of two legions are currently in training." Busak did not dare to neglect, and replied after a moment's thought.
Horn nodded: "Are they all recruited according to my request?"
"Yes." Busak nodded, "They are all skitarii with innocent wealth and good health. They have excellent qualities and will be very close to the Holy Father.
Mixing these new recruits with the two old Guards regiments can probably make up four Guards regiments, but it will take a while to get used to it. "
Horn currently has 200,000 people in his hands. With the qualifications to be able to pick and choose, he will naturally not accept them all as he did in the past.
Therefore, Horn's recruits recruited near Fort Joan of Arc all followed the requirements of the Guards Corps.
According to Horn's idea, under the name The Salvation Army, there may be two battle groups, namely the Black Hats Chapter and the Guards Chapter.
Currently, the Black Hats already have six legions, and adding two more will satisfy the conditions.
As for the Guards Chapter, there were only two legions, which were too far apart, so Horn decided to carry out a wave of reinforcements first.
"Then the Black Hat Army and the Holy Gun Cavalry are still free, right?"
"The Black Hats are free, but the Ibe knights in the south have been moving a bit recently, and the Holy Gun Cavalry has to monitor them."
"How about letting the North Mountain Knights monitor the Holy Gun Cavalry? "Horn arranged casually.
Rene on the side suddenly walked to Horn's ear and whispered: "Your Majesty, the cave forest is a valley forest terrain. The Holy Gun Cavalry cannot use it, but it is suitable for the North Mountain Knights. .
Besides, there are at most a thousand bandits, so there is no need for such a big fight..."
Horn was slightly stunned, and then suddenly realized that he had risen too fast and was still standing there. In the past, I had the mindset of stud every day. They were obviously a relatively weak group of enemies, but Horn still wanted to use all the strongest forces available instead of allocating troops rationally.
To look forward without thinking about the future is yes.
"Then let the Holy Gun Cavalry stay still and let the North Knights attack the bandits."
The North Knights are really useful.
This idea flashed through Horn's mind.
According to Horn's idea, in order to implement this plan, 400 donkey carts and carriages must first be collected from horse and carriage shops and civilians throughout the Kush territory.
The Kush territory is not big, but there are still 400 carriages.
During the Battle of Pavia, the Ibe Knights and the Order Company sent Horn a lot of draft horses and riding horses, and the number of horses must be enough.
Now the church is using an economic blockade strategy against Horn, and business routes are cut off.
For local citizens and farmers, maintaining these carriages is a huge expense.
Therefore, the Papal Palace decided to centrally rent carriages, which was good news for them.
Since food needs to be transported, Horn also hires transporters, absorbing a group of unemployed people and ensuring the livelihood of some people.
Let these carriages be divided into a fleet of twenty, and one group will set off every morning and noon. Each freight carriage can pull 2000-3000 pounds of goods.
Ten days later, when the first freight carriages returned, Horn was able to harvest more than 10,000 gallons of grain every day.
Not only did it meet the food shortage in the Kush territory, it also accumulated military rations for the southward movement at the end of May.
One million gallons, at the current rate, will take almost three months.
Three months later, it will be the harvest season in July, which is just in time to connect.
However, during the period when the carriages are mobilized, that is, before May, Horn must defeat these nimble bandits in the mountains.
Fortunately, he had a premonition of this matter, and sent the Cheka in advance to inquire about the news and terrain, and even prepared the money and food for sending troops.
Horn turned to look at Rene who was leading the horse: "Have these bandits noticed our actions?"
The Cheka supervisor who personally held the horse said solemnly: "We are already a little alert. These bandits are extremely well-informed.
We have found that every time they are surrounded by the lord, they can react and escape in advance.
The Cheka has not been able to find the source of the information so far. I suspect that the citizens and businessmen in the town are colluding with them. Can you authorize me to launch an investigation? "
"Don't worry yet." He put his fingers together. , Horn shook the palm of his right hand towards René, "Go to the villages near the cave forest and check, maybe there will be surprises."
"You mean, those villagers are colluding with the bandits?" Rene's usually calm eyes flashed with doubt, "But aren't they forced by bandits to pay tribute every day?"
"There is a rule in suppressing bandits. The people and the bandits are one. After killing all the bandits in the mountains, there are still some bandits in the villages that have not been killed.
Do you think the mountains are a good place? They have to live. , Who will help them sell their stolen goods?
The necessities and daily necessities in life cannot fall from the sky."
Lazily, Horn wanted to put his elbow on René's shoulder. Didn't make it.
Turning his head and looking at Rene's missing ears, he realized that this kid was almost as tall as himself.
Withdrawing his hand angrily, Horn said in a deep voice: "Two monks from the Holy Father Order died nearby. You can start from this aspect."
Rene bowed slightly: "Yes, your Majesty."
(End of this chapter)