Chapter 34: A Dull and Boring Life as a Lord

"Your care for the commoners is the first time I have ever seen such a thing in my life."

Banji said to Arthur.

He was a standard Maester, wearing a proper gray robe and carrying the chain that served as a Maester's mark.

It is said that those who are familiar with such chains can discern the rank of the owner.

The original owner's family had neither hired nor come into contact with many Maesters, so Banji's rank could not be determined from the chain.

"I simply treat them as human beings," Arthur responded indifferently.

Banji had been here for ten days, and after he took over the command, the construction work suddenly became organized and orderly.

The ring trench had been excavated for half a month, the surrounding wall was progressing simultaneously, and the stockade Arthur had envisioned already had its outline.

The design of the ring trench received Banji's support, and he added a few points, namely that the ground between the stone wall and the ring trench could be piled up at a steeper angle.

Just enough to stand on, but not enough to exert any force.

As for the inside of the ring trench, stagnant water was introduced and mixed with loose soil to create mud.

The trench was also dug a bit deeper, about the depth of one and a half men.

In such a situation, once a soldier wearing Iron Armor fell in, they would have no hope of getting out without the help of others.

Arthur also felt that this kind of muddy moat was stronger than his original idea.

Intellectuals really do have more devious minds!

The two thousand adult males promised by Count Janos had also arrived; they spent every day moving large stones from the riverside and, under the direction of stonemasons, reshaping them into suitable forms.

The entire stockade was large enough to easily accommodate three thousand people for eating, drinking, and living.

To ensure drinking water and hygiene, Arthur also ordered the digging of ten wells and the construction of dozens of latrines.

Of course, a considerable number of wooden houses were also built, surrounding Arthur's family castle.

The most common tall tree in the Riverlands is the beech tree. This is a deciduous tree that can reach up to thirty meters in height and is a good material for making furniture.

The workshops along the Sanhe use the wood from this tree to make handicrafts that are bestsellers in the Seven Kingdoms.

Naturally, beech trees were also used to build the wooden houses and repair the stockade walls.

"Then you keep an eye on things; I am going to check on the training of the new recruits."

"Happy to be of service to you, Lord Arthur."

After bidding farewell to Banji, Arthur headed to the training ground around the family castle.

Here, Amber was having the newly recruited militia familiarize themselves with the hand-and-a-half sword.

After Arthur proposed building the stockade, he recruited fifty militiamen in the name of strengthening the territory's defenses.

They were all able-bodied men selected from various villages.

These people did not participate in building the stockade; every day, they simply trained with Amber and the few elite soldiers sent by Bracken to assist in the defense.

Letting Amber organize them was truly because Arthur had no one else under his command.

One couldn't let the guest soldiers manage them, could they?

As for armor, there was none yet; Arthur needed to think of a way.

Whether to rob some or go out and find a great lord to buy from, he had not yet made up his mind.

He had, however, managed to acquire a batch of weapons.

One hundred hand-and-a-half swords obtained from Meiren Jishi.

This type of Knight's sword, most common in Westeros, is also called a single-handed sword, hand-and-a-half sword, or a hybrid one-and-two-handed sword.

According to the weapon development of his past life, this was the mainstream weapon of the late European Middle Ages.

Its product features integrated the thrusting of a Knight's sword, the chopping and slashing of a two-handed sword, and the classics of a Changjian.

It had no obvious weaknesses and no outstanding advantages; it focused on balance.

Thanks to the extremely prevalent Knight culture on the Westeros continent, the weapons equipped by the armies were also "Knight-ified."

In addition to hand-and-a-half swords, infantry were generally equipped with round shields, Knight sword-and-shield sets, and dueling Great Shields.

The kind of Goumiandun used for a Lance would not be equipped to the army in large quantities.

What Arthur could not understand was why no lord in this land liked to give soldiers weapons like Spears or long pikes?

In small-scale battles, the shield and sword combination was indeed a bit more suitable.

With slightly larger numbers, the combination of Spears and battle formations would clearly have the advantage.

Furthermore, no army liked to equip a large number of Crossbows.

Whether it was a hand-cranked crossbow, a waist-drawn crossbow, a foot-drawn crossbow, or the lever-action crossbows and Ballista of Qiao Fo Li Da Di, none were equipped to the troops in large numbers.

As for the Crossbow, apart from Plate Armor, it could penetrate both Chainmail and Lamellar Armor.

For leather armor or cloth armor, Archery could penetrate them and cause casualties.

Arthur guessed that this distorted state of weapon development was influenced by the dragons of the Targaryen family.

As long as a dragon appeared, it was an overwhelming advantage; ordinary soldiers simply could not influence the outcome of the battle.

In this abnormal atmosphere, the Spears and powerful crossbows that should have been developed all came to a standstill.

Only armor continued to iterate and evolve to the level of Plate Armor.

Ordinary soldiers were reduced to a security force and bodyguards for nobles, serving at most the function of collecting taxes.

Arthur pondered whether to discuss with Banji to see if he could arrange for some Spears and powerful crossbows to equip his own troops.

"My Lord, our training efforts are flourishing," a new recruit said to him.

Although called a new recruit, on Arthur's unit panel, they were called peasant soldiers.

After he carefully studied the panel, he deduced the upgrade path for an ordinary soldier.

It was divided into five levels in total; taking the Riverlands Soldier as an example, the first level was the unarmored peasant soldier, followed by new recruit, veteran, warrior, and Daizhun Quanjia Zhongbubin.

The one hundred elite soldiers assisting in the defense of Stone Hedge were at the level of a Level 3 Veteran.

And Amber was also a veteran.

The previous thirty-five were displayed as second-tier recruits.

After learning of this, Arthur was deeply struck.

The soldiers that truly belonged to him consisted of only one veteran, while the rest were recruits and unarmored peasant levies.

It seemed this was still due to a lack of training and combat.

With his current strength, he could not go out and find people to fight to level up his soldiers, so Arthur could only order them to increase the intensity of their training every day.

"Continue training," the Lord replied.

"Amber, you join the training too," Arthur ordered, seeing the Steward standing at the front giving commands.

Now, as long as they were soldiers under his command, they all had to train for him.

Amber made a bitter face and reluctantly joined the training squad, being guided by the garrisoned elite soldiers in practicing sword dancing.

After watching the crooked and awkward sword dancing for a while, Arthur returned to the site where the stockade was being repaired to supervise the progress.

Whether it was Arthur's own subjects or the laborers from Nan'an, everyone was working very diligently.

He couldn't even find a single example of someone slacking off.

Ah, this dull and boring life of a lord.

There wasn't even a maid in black stockings in the castle, and Arthur truly felt it was somewhat uninteresting.

He could now understand why kings and great nobles holding a Tourney could attract knights and nobles from the entire continent.

Because staying on one's own territory was simply too boring.

And not everyone was like Marquess Wade Fulei, who had married N wives one after another.

As for Arthur himself, no noble in the vicinity thought highly enough of him to be willing to marry their precious daughter to him.

Just as he was feeling bored, someone came over.

"We have discovered the trail of Cyril."

PS: There haven't been many votes lately; how about giving some recommendation votes and monthly tickets to soothe my young and fragile heart?

(End of this chapter)