Although there was some apprehension about the second half of his trip, the potential threat could not hold Barrett back. Now that the escort agreement has been signed, as the overwhelming group in this commercial operation, Barrett and his party naturally have to fulfill their duties.

Immediately after the conversation with the boss leader, Barrett began his duty, riding his purchased steed back and forth in front of the group. However, although the members of the Bloodstained Gray Flower Mercenary Group are considered elite among the adventurers, their number is really small. There is simply no way to defend a caravan - in such a thing it is difficult for quality to suppress quantity. Even if a black-lead knight kills the robbers who come to him, a single fire before the opponent's morale completely collapses is enough to inflict staggering losses on the caravan.

Ulrique's mercenary guild rarely organizes such escort missions, but haven't you ever eaten pork or seen a pig run (it seems more appropriate to reverse it now)? With the elite squad of the Bloodstained Grey Mercenary Regiment as the core, combined with those reputable adventurers registered by the union, it is enough to pull out a qualified escort team.

Anyway, most of the guards of small and medium-sized caravans in this world are temporarily assembled by teams of adventurers - even large carters with their own guards like the Boreham caravan will hire some cannon fodder before each trip. So this practice is nothing more than a commonplace thing in the eyes of paid caravans. What's more, the powerful combination of a powerful warrior of the Red Iron rank and a mage who can use fireball spells can make employers feel at ease.

However, the biggest regret is that none of the player combinations I saw in the Guild Hall were selected for this mission. Of course, Barrett only had a little regret in his heart. After all, with the strength of those players and the more important credit evaluation, it is not enough for them to take on such a task!

Especially the latter. Those second-generation players who haven't been in the game for long. There simply wasn't enough time for the Mercenary Guild to observe and recognize them. Therefore, the union side will never dare to take such a risk, if it is only a lack of strength and will be disgraced by the robbers along the way. If the guards and guards organized by the union steal and kill people and steal goods, then all the signboards they have built with great difficulty will be destroyed. Who would dare to come here in the future to entrust a mission!

Of course, it is reassuring to know that these aboriginal adventurers may not be strong, but they are experienced. With their presence, the defense work along the way is well arranged. At the same time, these people's respect for the strong also makes it very convenient for players to move. This puts players in a good mood.

Unfortunately, less than 5 days later, Barrett's good mood was ruined. Looking at the blood-soaked ground in front of him, he shook his weapon: "Isn't there too many goblins along the way!" ”

You must know that the caravan is still in the hinterland of the kingdom of Nohan. As the area where the government is most powerful, the bandits must be cleaned up regularly. As before, Barrett followed the Boreham caravan to Ulrike with little trouble. There are huge groups of goblins pouring up every day, as they are now.

Although these goblins are not enough to pose a big threat to the caravan. But the feeling of poking a goblin nest is not very pleasant. And only a few players were not injured as a result. Among the aboriginal adventurers and caravan members, there are still a few unlucky ones who are bandaged because of this - the healing magic of the Church of the 'Goddess of Wealth and Commerce' is always so subconsciously rejected in the heart.

"I've heard it in the guild before. Since last winter, the number of goblins heading north has increased considerably. I really didn't expect it to be so much. At this time, the leader of one of the Aboriginal adventurer teams sat on the ground and answered Barrett's question.

"Since last winter?" Touching his chin, Barrett thought to himself, 'Isn't that when we went north with the Boreham caravan?' I still remember that goblin raid vividly! But didn't it mean that they were later exterminated by a coalition? Does it have anything to do with the current situation? ’

Thankfully, it's a good thing. There are quite a few goblins encountered along the way. But I didn't expect the large number of formed 'troops' to appear like last year's trip to the Northland city-states. Therefore, although the attacks and harassment of these goblins caused a lot of trouble to the progress of the caravan, there was no obvious attrition after all.

After nearly half a month's journey, the caravan finally approached the last stop of the journey in the Norhan kingdom - the northern fortress of Brandenburg.

As the caravan advanced, a towering wall appeared in the player's field of vision. The walls are lined with battlements of arrows two meters wide every few steps. In the holes in the wall beneath the arrowstacks, sticks of ebony that is as hard as iron and extremely resistant to corrosion. They are able to counter siege equipment such as ladders to a certain extent, and at the same time erect towers when necessary.

The so-called building bucket is a covered wooden structure that provides an additional layer of protection for the defenders. When war comes, you can build a tower to increase the range of defenses and protect the forts and towers. The defenders were able to stand in and out of the wooden corridor and throw stones, or pour boiling water and quicklime to burn the enemy.

At the same time, it is different from Ulrique's façade. The walls here are not straight, but change from a convex polygon to a concave polygon. Such a change. Attacking any point in the castle will expose the attacker to more than one bastion surface, and the defender can use crossfire to perform multiple strikes. While preventing blind spots, it is also easy to throw more firepower at the enemy's key attack parts.

Moreover, Brandenburg, like Kosdaburg, did not have any shooting holes in the outer wall. However, its entire walls are not made of lapis lazuli, but are made of huge obsidian bricks. And it seems that molten iron was poured while reinforcing with ordinary adhesives. It is said that there are also key parts such as columns on the internal beams, in addition to the original obsidian. It is also specially strengthened with enchanted steel.

At the same time, in order to strengthen the defensive firepower, huge diamond-shaped towers were built on each wall every 20 meters or so. The towers are covered with cross-shaped shooting holes with round bull's-eye holes and arrow stacks. A considerable number of the openings were larger than the others, and behind the thick walls were the presence of a crossbow and other defensive equipment. As for the secret passages and secret doors used for surprise attacks, they can't be seen from the outside at all.

And in the city, a little further away from the city walls. There is a tower made of obsidian that is far higher than the other buildings, and it is the command tower of the entire fortress. The guards patrolling the battlements and the windswept banners on the central tower are vibrant. Especially those guards, from afar, they can feel a sense of slaughter.

Rielly, who was watching from horseback, exclaimed. "In terms of the design of the shape and the relatively complete firepower network, it probably reached the level of the middle and late sixteenth century in history. The special building materials and the effect of magic make it far more than the historical Spanish castle of Avala in terms of height and feeling. ”

At the same time, Lalu noticed a group of girls dressed in white on the side of the road not far from the fortress: "Lily, do you see if they are holding a celebration!" Their clothes looked like wedding dresses. ”

The color of the white garment made of linen is not pure enough, nor can it be as light as the spun yarn. There is no embellishment such as delicate bead embroidery. Even those who are not familiar with them can tell that their texture is almost inferior. Their style is not simple in flashiness. It's pure simplicity.

"What's the matter with those girls?" Unable to understand, Rielie asked Barrett on the side with a questioning tone.

And Barrett had no choice but to say with a strange expression: "These! It's all girls who want to beg for a living from those soldiers who can't stand loneliness. Some are specialized in this trade, and some are village girls in the neighborhood......"

Hearing this, the players present understood that these women belonged to the ranks of meat sellers, and they belonged to the legendary street girls. As for the taverns. I guess it's the kind that belongs to the resident store!

And because he was too poor to afford bright and good clothes. And the weather is too cold to wear strips of cloth to the streets to do business like a meat seller in the south. So they all wore cheap white dresses to pick up customers - in this era, white wedding dresses are actually the uniforms of women's branch girls.

However, this little episode was quickly forgotten by the players. Slowly, the distance got closer, and two drawbridges appeared in front of you on the ditch on the south side of Brandenburg. The suspension bridge with one in and one out can also solve the problem of transportation capacity with clear runoff.

After a long queue, the leader of the team, who finally took his turn, began to carry the money bag and began to negotiate with the tax collector at the city gate. At the same time, the guards also began to count what was on the horses carrying a lot of khaki bags. They didn't even spare the well-stacked pots and pans tied with rope.

After completing their tax obligations to the kingdom, the player's party finally made it to the northern fortress. If there is one thing that feels after entering this fortress - it is turbidity. The air here is really muddy. Even with the whirring cold wind blowing around him, it was still difficult to blow away the smell of many breaths mixed together.

"The smell here is unbearable." A kitten with a keen sense of smell. At this time, he immediately covered his nose with his sleeve.

Thousands of soldiers plus auxiliaries, and those who cling to them for survival. There are at least 10,000 permanent inhabitants in the whole of Brandenburg. If it had been in the winter months when the barbarians had invaded south, the population would have far exceeded those numbers. In addition, among the caravans coming and going from south to north, the smell of all kinds of goods and all kinds of livestock. The whole Brandenburg air becomes like a crowded market in the Middle Ages.

Brandenburg is actually a pass in the middle of the gorge. However, because the width of this canyon is really not short, it has finally become such a super-large fortress that is almost square after successive generations of continuous construction and addition. Therefore, after everyone walked into the city gate, they were directly greeted by the commercial area in the fortress. The commercial area of the fortress is located in a long strip on the central axis of the fortress. It has developed entirely on the basis of these two routes of entry and exit, from south to north.

The two roads are separated by wooden poles and tarpaulins for shade, and rattan baskets, square boxes and wooden tables for the stalls holding the goods. The goods on it include everything from vegetables, melons and fruits, chickens, ducks, fish and meat to daily necessities.

The presence of a large number of people must have been quite a huge attrition. And the logistics support of the world's army has not yet reached the time of independence out of the system. And even in the 21st century, the garrisons of the Celestial Empire still need a lot of purchases. Therefore, local procurement has become a major component of the army's supply solution.

Of course, the most important thing is that the garrisons here come from different territories, and they need to be procured by themselves, except for the grain rationed by His Majesty. This is because the territory of the kingdom is already quite small, and the eating habits of different territories are also quite different. If you unify procurement, it is easy to cause problems of one kind or another. However, the main factor is the fear of unfair distribution of procurement personnel.

There is buying and selling before killing, no! If you buy it yourself, it will naturally attract a variety of merchants. The first to appear were the lords in the marquisate who carried goods in baskets on their shoulders in order to be able to subsidize their families. Due to the kingdom's preferential treatment of soldiers, they quickly attracted many small merchants who saw business opportunities. After the trade route to the grassland was opened, a large number of gold diggers gathered here.

Now, a bazaar has been set up in the center of the two roads. However, under the constraints of the fortress administrators, this small bazaar also played a good role in one-way isolation.

After entering this safe zone, the natives who were responsible for the defense of the caravan breathed a sigh of relief. They had a high level of trust in the kingdom's military ramparts. At this time, Barrett rode directly to the side of the leader: "Mr. Bosi, are you going to let the caravan rest in Brandenburg for the night, or are you going to go out from the north gate and enter the steppe directly now." (To be continued......)

PS: Modify the wording. Thanks to the monthly tickets of 7 people, including "Light Fish", "Farewell Waltz", "Don't Mess Toad", "Paladin Little Seven", "Clear Night Starry Sky", "It's Hard to Think of a Name 5" and "Ten Centimeters". Thanks to "Xi Yan'er" for the big reward.