The road was boring, so Zhou Mingyue asked casually.

The Knight Temos couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Spring plows are about to come, how can we recruit peasants again?"

Zhou Mingyue immediately understood.

Indeed, as for the backward agricultural technology in this world, if you miss the spring plowing, you will not be a single person who starves to death afterwards.

Besides, Viscount Hanks cannot recruit peasant soldiers, so Earl Max will definitely not be able to recruit peasant soldiers.

At this time, recruiting peasants is to cut off the future development potential of your territory.

But then again, this is a good thing.

There are only knights on both sides. If there are regular soldiers, many people will die in a big battle.

When we arrived at Hanks Castle, many knights had already stationed military camps outside the castle in advance.

Since no peasant soldiers were recruited, the number of tents erected on the grass outside the castle was much smaller.

Thinking about it, Viscount Hanks only has more than ten knights, each knight has thirty regular soldiers, and together there are only more than three hundred people.

There was a lookout on the castle tower, and soon the castle gate opened, and a knight rushed out of the gate and came over.

The knight was dressed in gray-blue armor, with the family badge of Viscount Hanks on his left chest.

He is the Hans Knight directly under the Castle of Viscount Hanks. To put it bluntly, he is the knight who has no territory and has paid salary to eat under Viscount Hanks, similar to the nobles of the palace.

Zhou Mingyue had met Hans Knights, but was not very familiar with him.

"Hi! On behalf of Hanks Castle and Lord Viscount Hanks, the lord of Thirteen Towns and Thirty-Two Villages in the North, I would like to welcome the arrival of the two knights."

Driven the war horses to trot over, the Knight Hans had a beard full of face and his voice was extremely loud. This was probably one of the reasons why Viscount Hanks chose him to welcome other knights.

"Dear Hanks Castle Guard-Knight Hans, I am a warrior who has been through many battles, the owner of Temos Manor and Iron Castle Village, and the owner of Blackwater Village, is very happy to see you."

The Knight Temos responded with the unique greeting method between the nobles of the Kingdom of Flor, even though the two sides were already very familiar with each other.

Then, between the two sides' horses intertwined, the two beat each other's chest and patted their shoulders to show their intimacy.

That's right, the greetings between the nobles of the Kingdom of Flor are so complicated.

First of all, you need to report the territory, honors and even titles you own one by one, and then you will carry out different forms of friendly actions according to the level of the titles of both sides.

In fact, if both sides are above the Viscount, these words should be shouted loudly by the nobles' followers.

"Dear Hanks Castle Guard-Knight Hans, I am the conqueror of the wilderness, the master of Totem Valley, Independence Knight Week, I am very happy to see you."

Although he felt that his words were very awkward and made him shy, Zhou Mingyue still plucked up the courage to speak out, and then he interspered with the other party's war horses, pounding each other's chests and shoulders to show intimacy.

Of course, this is only a meeting ceremony between knights. If it is a noble with a higher title, it will be changed to a veneer, a sword-fighting ceremony, etc.

Under the guidance of Knight Hans, Zhou Mingyue and Knight Temos came to the grass outside the castle, chose an open space, and asked his soldiers to set up a tent. The two of them followed Knight Hans to the castle to attend the banquet held by Viscount Hanks.

Well, to be honest, when war begins during spring plowing, even if the farmers in the territory are not recruited, the morale of the knights will not be too high.

The reason is very simple. If you are fighting against foreign countries or barbarians, knights can easily gain honors, even get promotions in knights, become barons, etc.

But fighting against Earl Max is a war between the nobles of the same country. There is not much honor and it is difficult to kill Earl Max. As for the gains, I don’t know how much it will be. How can this prevent the Knights from feeling a little depressed.

Under such circumstances, holding a banquet is undoubtedly the highest way to boost morale.

However, with the basic material conditions here, the banquet was just like that.

The foods brought out were all white mutton, boiled vegetables and added some salt. The wine provided was pretty good, with wine produced by Viscount Hanks's estate, and there was a plate with a little pepper condiment in front of everyone.

The knights had long been used to such banquets, and they could not eat meat every time. So when the meat was delivered, they took out a silver-handled knife, cut the meat into small pieces, dipped it in a little seasoning, and started eating happily.

But Zhou Mingyue really couldn't accept such food. After cutting a small piece and eating it, he could only hold the bread and chew it.

Fortunately, the bread provided at the banquet was fine, just plain white bread, but it was a little honey and some raisins sprinkled on the noodles. It tasted pretty good, and there was no problem filling your stomach.

As for the singing, dancing, magic, acrobatics and other banquet performances that Zhou Mingyue expected did not exist at all.

As a viscount near the border of a territory, it is still unaffordable, or there are no such performing groups here at all.

Viscount Hanks has done a great job of being able to fill the plate in front of the Knights with meat and let them drink happily.

After staying in Hanks Castle for a few days, several nobles invited by Viscount Hanks also rushed to the castle with their knights and troops.

"Dear Hanks Castle and Lord Hanks, the lord of Thirteen Towns and Thirty-Two Villages in the North, I am..."

With the arrival of these nobles, the grass outside Hanks Castle became lively and crowded again.

Viscount Aaron, Baron Garfield, Baron Maxwell, Baron Elijah, and Baron Dennis, a total of five sword-holding nobles, plus more than 30 knights under their command. The regular soldiers under these nobles combined together are not a small number.

As for the current situation of the Kingdom of Flor, the baron generally has 150-200 direct standing soldiers, while the Viscount Castle has 300-500 direct standing soldiers.

Viscount Aaron brought only 200 direct standing soldiers, which is not surprising. Viscount Aaron also has its own castle to guard, and it is impossible to bring all direct standing soldiers.

The four barons each brought eighty to one hundred regular soldiers, which was very considerate of Viscount Hanks.

In addition to the 1,000 regular soldiers brought by the more than 30 knights, the number of troops living outside Hanks Castle reached 2,000!
Chapter completed!