Knight's Journey

Uncle York entered and casually removed his civilian clothes, placed them on a hanger, and sat down on the couch to one side.

Caesar did as York was did, putting his civilian clothes away and sitting on the other side.

The two men in army leather shirts were in no hurry to speak, and Caesar started the bottle open and filled a glass first for Uncle York and then for himself.

"Poom!" After a sound of clinking wine the two of them dried a glass first, and only then did they start talking about business.

"Not bad, getting more and more composed, looks like you kid has grown a lot over the years." Uncle York spoke first.

It was unbelievable, in the eyes of outsiders, the brash and heartless, rough and tumble York was educating a man to be calm. It seemed that this bearded man was not as simple as he appeared.

"Uncle York you are joking, what is this point of mine, I learned it from you." Caesar coyly said.

"Haha, you kid don't bullshit! Where did I teach you this, am I that kind of person?" Uncle York laughed. After saying that, the two of them laughed out in unison again.

"Uncle, is there any hope for me to be promoted this time?" Caesar filled another cup for both of them and finally couldn't wait to ask after opening first.

"Caesar, I've been taking you since you were a soldier, and I've been taking you now for four years, I'm looking at you as my own son, and I'm definitely going to give you a hand with your promotion this time." Uncle York assured Caesar that he really liked this witty and powerful lad.

"Uncle, I trust you!" Caesar did trust Uncle York, who he also looked up to as an elder.

"But, besides your help shouldn't be enough, what do I need to hit on Uncle you tell me." Caesar asked.

"My support alone isn't enough, but I'll call on old Carl to support you as well, and you'll need to take care of the rest." York said.

Old Carl was the deputy squadron commander of their squadron, Caesar heard that he had a lifelong friendship with Uncle York, outsiders seem this is a strict and serious of the old soldier, but to their soldiers is very good. Caesar's impression of him was good.

"Um, Uncle York whatever else you have to say just say it and I'll listen." Uncle York obviously had more to say.

"This election to vacate those two seats, those eligible to propose are the six first and second lieutenants of our four squads, the captains of the cavalry, and our first captain, Baron Kyle, and the one who is his oldest son, the current vice-captain of the cavalry, Young Master Soren."

Their battalion was a brigade size, with four squadrons of infantry, and one squadron of cavalry.

Caesar had seen their battalion's cavalry fight many times, and to be honest, Caesar felt that this group of cavalry had a challenge to three times their number of infantry in open terrain.

With their sturdy armor and straight knight lances coupled with the impact of their warhorses, the vast majority of infantry were no match for the cavalry.

"For this election, Baron Kyle won't participate, neither will the cavalry captain, the only people proposing it should be us six guys and Young Master Soren, I've already pulled two votes for you, and you'll need to pull at least two more for the rest." Uncle York said to Caesar.

"I only have a bit of a friendship with their vice-captain in the first squadron, I don't have much of a relationship with the vice-captain of the third squadron or the captain of the fourth, and aren't they both supposedly still recuperating from their injuries?" Caesar answered honestly and asked.

"Hmph, the hard battle is over, now is the time to scavenge for money, those two guys only recuperated from two weeks of injuries can not wait, and long age took the rest of their team's pups and just added in the new recruits to 'roam'." Uncle York said with disdain.

'Roaming' which is a term used in the army to mean going to capture villages that are still under the rule of the Kingdom of Shiloh.

Instead of taking over it would be better to say sweeping, like the village size resistance force are not climatic, there is no regular soldiers, mostly only some militia and reckless village men, the big villages have one or two hundred people, small villages have only a few dozens of people, a squadron can take care of it. In fact, their squadron, under the leadership of Uncle York, had also been going 'roam' whenever they had time these past two months.

The main task of their battalion was to capture towns that still had some resistance, and only merchants, rich farmers, and even nobles existed in cities above the size of a town.

Baron Kyle and his cavalry had little interest in villages with little value, and only the four squadrons of infantry were there to make extra money.

However, the baron's caravan does acquire the soldiers' captured goods: silver bracelets passed down from the countrymen's ancestors, hides and skins collected by the village hunters, and even livestock such as horses, cows, and donkeys. There were also some nice clothes and shoes that the soldiers 'swept up' and kept for themselves.

Soldiers have their own bottom line, at least the food is not robbed, the barracks senior also strictly prohibited, but if you catch a couple of chickens and ducks to improve the food, which is often done.

Caesar, also a rural man, would have been unashamed of doing all this bullying of the common people, but having experienced the sacrifices and deaths of war, he wasn't sure what kind of attitude he held toward these Shilohs anymore.

There was hatred, and guilt for the ordinary civilians they had beaten and displaced. However that doesn't stop Caesar from getting money, he also needs to survive and make things better for his family and his men.

Caesar got rich in that time, his pockets were so deep that he used to send money home and buy his men drinks.

"Uncle, we haven't gone 'roaming' in almost a week, are our army will have some action?" Back on topic, Caesar asked.

"Well, it's been decided that the Baron will join forces with Baron Kashir of the 7th Brigade of our Corps to attack the Phalanx City, which is why two squadron leaders were elected recently. Besides, there aren't any villages with any value left around here."

General cities had walls and moats, it was difficult to take them down with just their one brigade of more than 500 people, so the senior leaders often chose to cooperate with friendly forces, it had been two months since they had attacked the hinterland of the Kingdom of Shiloh, and they had fought three battles at the city level, all of them with other brigades, and Caesar had experience in siege warfare.

Although the casualties of the siege were not low, the generous rewards after the city was broken and the army's acquiescence in allowing the soldiers to make their own fortunes on the day of the breakthrough made everyone's desire for the siege greater than their fear of death.

In fact, the fortune made on the day the city was broken was the soldiers' main focus. This Baron Kashir's troops had already worked with their battalion twice.

The two men drank and talked, and in a few moments the bottle of ale was at the bottom. Caesar opened a second bottle and filled it for Uncle York and himself.

Uncle York lifted his glass and took a sip, then said "The vice squadron commander of the first squadron is also from our Iron Mine town, I also have some friendship with him, you send him some gifts, and I will go to talk about it, and strive to take this vote. As for the rest of the three people and I do not know them well, and even do not deal with, this requires you to work hard".

There is still a lot of nastiness in the barracks between the soldiers, not to mention the class of lieutenant-captains, and even Caesar, who is very well liked, can't guarantee that he's on good terms with half the junior captains in the battalion. It's the truth that you don't know what others think about.

"I suggest you think of something from Young Master Soren." Uncle York added as if he had remembered something after he finished speaking.

"You and Young Master Soren are both 18 or 9 years old and have a common language, so you might be able to make it if you seek him out to show your loyalty or give him some gifts. But then you'll be the young master's man from now on."

Baron Kyle had more than one son, and although the system of primogeniture was prevalent in the Kingdom of Garrel, it wasn't as if the Baron's other sons didn't have a chance to inherit the title. As far as he knew, the one who was temporarily helping the Baron manage his territory in the country was his second son.

"They are a nobleman, what gift can I give them that will look good?" Caesar said helplessly, "En, I'll think of something."

"I knew you kid had a solution, that's all I can help, the rest is up to you." Uncle York said as he patted Caesar next to his shoulder.

"Okay, Uncle, I'll try my best. Here, cheers ." Caesar raised his glass to clink with Uncle York again.