Zhao Hu looked at the account book in his hand solemnly, which recorded the food he had just collected in his territory this month.

This year's rainfall is abundant, and the rare harvest of grain is 30% higher than in previous years, but these cannot make Zhao Hu feel in his heart.

The grain in the castle granary had long been full of the warehouse, which was enough for the people in the castle to eat for three years, but the taxes in the towns in the territory were very small, only more than three thousand gold coins.

If the knights under his command had not been exhausted, the money would not be enough to make an annuity for the knights. The account book shows that every year, the food stockpiled in the castle is transported out and sold half of it to fill the big hole.

Thinking about the knights that these families spent a lot of money to raise, but ran away without a trace when the family was in the most dangerous situation, Zhao Hu couldn't help but feel disgusted with the knight's appearance, which was sacred and dirty inside.

Seeing the young master's tight brows, the tax collector Stad reported with speculation that "there are bounties in various villages, and 200 young and middle-aged people have been collected, among which many hunters from the villages have also participated. The Zhao Li family has already applied the prosperous Feishui Town exchange, which can increase our income of 500 gold coins."

"Hunter?" Zhao Hu, who was looking through the account book, stopped his work. In fact, Zhao Hu couldn't understand what was written in this account book at all. The complicated numbers and hundreds of merchants and the names of tenants made Zhao Hu dazzled. He pretended to look through the account book just to show it to the tax collector, so that the tax collector would do less tricks.

"Yes, thirty-eight hunters participated in the recruitment. These barbarians who liked to run around the mountains used to run far away when they heard about recruitment. This time, they ran back because they saw the Lord's notice." The tax collector Stad breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Lord's attention removed from the account book.

It is impossible to completely ensure that there is no problem with the account book. As a hereditary tax collector, Stad believes that he is much more honest than many of his colleagues.

I just concealed some smaller transactions. Although the money was not much, it was enough for my expenses and I was old. How to hand over this position to my son safely is the issue I care most about.

"You just asked your son to take over your position. You can bring him. I need to meet my future tax collector." Zhao Hu closed the account book on the table. The 300 gold coins were used to eliminate daily expenses, and the remaining 1,000 pieces were left. Calculated enough for the bounty this time, which made Zhao Hu, who had always worried about not enough gold coins, relieved.

After reading the account book, Zhao Hu had a certain understanding of the source of income for a lord. What determines the lord's gold coins were the level road taxes and town head taxes in his own territory. Others such as plundering the enemy lord's income, redeeming the hostage income, and the emperor's reward income are uncertain. Therefore, if you want to have money, besides fixed taxes, you can only plunder the enemy and rob the land.

"You are the son of the tax collector. I heard from your father that you have been a entourage knight in the Marquis of Nas for a year. How could you suddenly think of coming back to be a tax collector? Being a knight is more promising than being a tax collector."

When Zhao Hu saw the tax collector Stad leading a heroic young man into the hall, he really didn't expect that the fat tax collector would have such a heroic son. Unfortunately, the boy's right foot was obviously a little limp, and he walked around and it was a pity to look at it.

When the young Starn saw Zhao Hu sitting on the lord's seat in the hall with bright eyes, he couldn't help but feel a sudden sudden feeling in his heart. He felt as if he was seen thoroughly by Zhao Hu's sharp eyes. "Is this the idiot lord circulating outside? How could a person with such a look be an idiot?"

"I used to be the captain of the archer under Marquis Nas, but in the battle last year, I was shot by the Kazakhs and had to come back." Thinking of his bloody battle but not appreciated by the Lord, Starn's face dimmed, and his fingers placed on both sides were nervously pinched into a ball.

"You go down first. Since you have been a knight entourage, you should be my adjutant first! Tomorrow, all the 200 soldiers recruited will be transferred to the castle. I will preside over the training myself!" Zhao Hu looked at the sadness and anger on the young man's face and waved his hands to the tax collector's father and son.

"This is the real strength of the Knight!"

Zhao Hu looked at the young man galloping in the center of the castle playground. Staren, the son of the tax collector skillfully swung his sword left and right on the horse's back. The sword lights flying up and down were like crossed light chains. The scarecrow heads as targets were lightly cut off by Staren's gorgeous knife-drag technique, which attracted the praise of the peasant militia standing around.

"If the knights who rushed into the hall that day were riding on war horses, I wonder if he would have a chance to stand here?" Zhao Hu saw that Starn, who was just a follower knight, had such smooth sword-drag skills and the ability to skillfully shoot left and right on the horse, and secretly thought: "I don't know what kind of power the regular knights with sharp spears, big swords with close-fitting hands, and heavy armor would be. No wonder the main combat force of the empire was still knights, and ordinary troops dominated by peasants could not compete with these war machines that practiced killing since childhood."

"Sir, look at these recruits." The knowledgeable old housekeeper disliked the young Starn's show-off. As an old man who served the orthodox knight family throughout his life, these shows-offs are just some fancy pediatrics that make people shout out. The task of recruiting soldiers this time is what the old housekeeper cares about.

Zhao Hu looked at the peasant militia that were summoned. Most of them were young and middle-aged people, holding all kinds of weapons, from farm tools to pig-killing knives. Although they all tried hard to pretend to be energetic, the long-term malnutrition still caused the peasant team to be very messy.

Among them, dozens of archers wearing various animal leather stood on the right side of the team. Although they were relatively thin, they had a thick and developed right arm and an Octavian scary look. These should be hunters from various villages mentioned by the tax officials.

"Turn out all the weapons equipped this time, I can't let the people in my territory kill the enemy like this." Zhao Hu waved to the guards who were pushing a cart of weapons behind him.

This time, Zhao Hu decided to move out 200 weapons from the castle's arsenal to equip his first unit. As an old knight family, there was nothing else, but the weapons and equipment were still piled up in the warehouse. Some accumulated over the years, and many were seized from the enemy.

"Sir, is this a bit too short? This is a guard sword for archers. We were killed before we could cut the enemy." The farmers were curious about surrounding the carriage full of weapons, and their faces were a little bleak when they were excited.

As an adjutant, Starn curiously picked up a dagger from the car, waved it a few times in his hand, then looked at other things in the car, his face turned ugly and green.

The entire carriage is filled with short swords that are only half long and one-man tall wooden shields for archers. These armors equipped for archers on the battlefield cannot confront the enemy head-on. The opponent's spear can make you feel cold from two meters away.

"Discharge all the equipment on the carriage first." Zhao Hu waved at everyone in front of everyone.

Zhao Hu held a wooden shield that was tall in his left hand and a wooden dagger in his right hand, and pressed Starn, who was holding a spear in front, and pressed him close to him.

"bump!"

After the three-meter-long spear in Starn's hand was blocked by the shield, he had no chance to stab it out. The spear swept across and couldn't use any force, but he just kept retreating helplessly until he retreated to the wall, gritting his teeth and watching the big shield swaying in front of his nose, but he had no choice.

Because Zhao Hu had already relied on the cover of the big shield to rush within one meter, within this short distance, the short sword in Zhao Hu's hand is definitely fatal. It only takes a killing with very small movement space to kill Starn easily.

The farmers who were originally laughing and laughing no longer laughed when they saw the majestic Starn in front of them with such despicable but shameless but very effective movements by the idiot lord. Everyone found that the short sword with a big shield was so dangerous! Even the knight, Starn, was forced into a desperate situation by this tactic.

Use a large shield to quickly approach the enemy and shorten the distance, and use a dagger to give the enemy a fatal blow. In the highly intensive melee, the infantry phalanx tactics with giant shield body defense, javelins, daggers and other close-fitting fighting weapons are like raising the sharp hilt of the knife, which inadvertently pops up a fatal blow.

This is a memory that left a deep impression on Zhao Hu, and it is also the purpose of Zhao Hu's training this time. The javelin was being built by the blacksmith in the castle. Two hundred people could form a small square formation. At that time, this special force would definitely surprise the enemy.

"You are going to the battlefield in one month. If you still want to come back alive and get a generous bounty, practicing these is your only chance." Zhao Hu threw the short sword and giant shield in his hand to the ground. When the peasant militia looked at some weapons, his eyes replaced the despise of what he had just despised.

"A knight rewards one gold coin, and a lord rewards one piece of land." Many farmers came for the head of the silver coin. Although the front was very attractive, these farmers did not think that those killing machines in heavy armor could think of them.

However, Zhao Hu's demonstration just now made these goals that originally made farmers feel out of reach suddenly seem to be within reach.
Chapter completed!