Warhammer in a box

Chapter 166 Arming Serfs
Leo put on the armor and weapons given to him by Otto. He was very satisfied. He felt as if he had seen a bright future.

Leo was completely moved by this gift. He agreed to Otto's request and began to call him a good friend affectionately.

"Otto, my friend, don't worry! I will not forget the agreement between us. As long as my status continues to rise, your Chamber of Commerce will definitely have a place in Bretonnia!"

Otto also complimented him politely, and the two of them really seemed like good friends who had known each other for many years.

Zhang Heng looked at everything with satisfaction. Didn't the situation suddenly become better?

He immediately opened his online shopping page. He hadn't bought various miniature cold weapons online for a long time. The merchant was also very happy to see the arrival of Zhang Heng, a big customer.

The order placed by Zhang Heng this time was the largest one in all his history. Now that he has a small fortune, he doesn't care about the expenses. The merchant also gave him a considerable discount and guaranteed the fastest delivery.

The perspective returns to Bretonnia again. Leo has begun organizing his retainers to recruit soldiers in two nearby villages.

The return of their lord Leo meant that most of the serfs recruited in the last round had died.

Many serfs looked towards their lord's troops, trying to see if their family members who had left had returned with them, but after looking for a long time they did not see any familiar figures. It was obvious that the fate of these people was already doomed. Faint cries continued to be heard from the crowd, but the people in charge of conscription seemed not to see them.

He shouted loudly to the crowd around him.

"Lord Leo is recruiting soldiers again. It's time to dedicate yourself to the kingdom. The goddess is watching us. Lord Leo has given you a chance! This time, each person serving will receive four bags of food! Hurry up! Whoever wants to sign up, don't think about escaping. If the number of people is not enough, we will directly force people from each family! Everyone, hurry up!"

"Sir, didn't we have six bags of food last time? Four bags of food is not enough. We can't survive the winter. Without a man at home, we can't go to the forest to find food in winter!"

some serfs asked timidly.

"You ungrateful fellows! Don't you consume food in war? Without the protection of the knights, are you going to have to resist the orcs and beastmen in the forest? Not enough food? Then have one more person serve as a soldier at home, so that you can get more food and reduce the consumption at home! Hurry up! Everyone, hurry up!"

The conscripts ignored the serfs' demands. Although what he said was cruel, he was right in one point. In the country of Bretonnia, the deformed system made the knights an important fighting force of the country. If those powerful knights died, Bretonnia might be destroyed in a few days relying on these serfs.

Otto watched from the side, to be honest, he was not too saintly, but the life of these Bretonnian serfs was a little too miserable, in the Empire, if you were a soldier, at least you and your family would have enough food to eat, but in Bretonnia, they were simply looking for cheap cannon fodder and did not care about the life and death of the family at all.

"Brother, you increase their food supply and I will pay for the excess." Otto said as he came to the recruiting officer with a smile.

But the conscription officer still frowned and said, "Lord Leo said four bags of grain, that's it! The lives of these serfs are not worth much. If there are no more, go to the forest and catch some more. There are many people hiding in the forest!"

Otto took out a handful of gold coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the recruiting officer's arms.

"Don't worry! With the relationship between me and Lord Leo, he will definitely agree!"

Looking at the golden coins in his arms, the recruiting officer was excited, as this was his income for several years.

"Okay. Then you have to go and talk to Lord Leo yourself."

"Okay! No problem!" The conscription officer who had benefited from this also changed his tone and said, "Serfs, Lord Otto feels sorry for you. Is his Chamber of Commerce willing to give you more food? This time, we will increase the amount of food you can conscript! We will increase it to eight bags!"

"What?! Eight bags!"

When the serfs heard Otto's words, they cried out in surprise. Eight bags of grain would be enough for them to get through the winter if they ate them sparingly.

Some serfs even knelt down in front of Otto.

A young man even came directly to Otto and held up his feet.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! You saved our family's lives!"

"Get up, kid." Looking at the child in front of him who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, Otto felt a little distressed.

"Sir! My brother died in the last conscription, and this time it's my turn. If it weren't for you, my mother and my sister would have starved to death this winter!" said the boy gratefully.

Otto also leaned forward as he listened to the child's words.

"Get up, kid. Try your best to survive. Only by staying alive can you have a chance to protect you and your family. You don't need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank the Divine Emperor."

"Hmm? The Divine Emperor?!"

The boy was obviously hearing this name for the first time, but before he could figure out who the God-Emperor was, Otto had already left him.

In Bretonnia's social system, the largest group of Lilith's followers are the rulers of Bretonnia, that is, the knights. As a larger group of serfs, they respect the Goddess of the Lake, but her advocacy that serfs have the obligation to serve the knights and contribute nine-tenths of their labor income is difficult to gain the true faith of the serfs.

Among the serfs in Bretonnia, the gods they believe in are actually very similar to those of the Empire. In addition to Sigmar and Ulric, they also believe in Tal and the goddess of harvest.

Bretonnia does not require these serfs to believe in Lilith, and some knights even think that only noble people like them are qualified to believe in Lilith.

With the guarantee of food, this conscription went much more smoothly than usual. Eight hundred serfs were forced to join the army, and the weapons they were given were probably just some worn-out iron swords or even farm forks and kitchen knives, and they didn't even need to think about armor.

With these weapons and equipment, one can imagine how heavy the casualties of this team would be when facing the enemy.

"Otto, why do you give these serfs so much food? They won't survive long on the battlefield anyway." The arrogant chivalrous knight Leo asked puzzledly. He felt that the extra food might as well be given to him.

"Leo, my friend, since we have enough resources, why not arm more of these serfs as your property? The more achievements they make on the battlefield, the more merits they will have. Why not do it? The faster you rise, the greater my benefits will be. Don't worry, my Chamber of Commerce will pay for these things, and you don't need to pay a penny.

And I will provide each of your soldiers with an iron sword and a set of leather armor."

"What! Iron swords and leather armor? You use these things to arm serfs? Are you crazy?"

(End of this chapter)