Chapter 109: Knocking on Bamboo (First update for today~)

  Xia Ya and Rourou's group entered the territory of the Byzantine Empire, after crossing the border, they first arrived at a small town called Danzir, located not far from the northern border. This is a small town with a permanent population of barely 10,000 people, but due to its location on the border, there are many floating populations every year, and public security is also chaotic. However, the border trade has brought a lot of vitality to this small town.

  This time with the Odin people's war, the temporary military department of the war zone was set up here.

  Danzel is not too far from Wildfire Town. By horseback, it takes only two days to get there. If you hurry and ride through the night, you can arrive in just one day and one night.

  Although it's just a small town, its scale is more than twice that of Ye Huo Town. The wide and high city walls show the partial military function of this border town. Once war comes, the city can immediately transform into a military stronghold. According to the Empire's Military Law, the city wall was built according to the level of a military fortress, six meters wide, eleven meters high, with corner towers protruding at four corners.

  Turtle first came to Byzantium, and it was the first time he saw such a big city. His eyes were not enough, compared to the Wildfire Town. Here, although the prosperity is obviously beyond that small town without politics, the infantry armor guards wearing armor, and the Byzantine Empire's imperial flag, military flag, and banner on the city wall.

  The buildings in the city were obviously much taller and larger than those in Wildfire Town. As soon as they entered the city, Turtle almost didn't stop turning his neck, staring wide-eyed at the sights all around him.

  Compared to the Wildfire Town, this place seems more civilized. The people walking on the streets have slightly brighter clothes and the style of dressing is more obviously Byzantine: most men wear long linen robes and long boots with slightly raised toes.

  Those robes that are cut narrow at the waist best show off a man's robust physique, and on the streets one can see men carrying weapons everywhere, some warriors dressed in cheap leather or iron breastplates, wearing warrior badges, but there are far fewer such people than in Ye Huo Town.

  There were more shops of all kinds along the road, more blacksmiths and taverns. What struck Xia as strange was that the women of Byzantium seemed much more conservative than those in Wildfire Town. Most of the women passing by wore a hood over their heads, which not only protected them from the wind but also covered their faces. Their clothing was also relatively conservative. Only some women who looked wealthy and were surrounded by attendants would wear silk robes to enter some clothing stores or cosmetics shops.

  Danzel City was occupied by the military, and soldiers in uniform could be seen everywhere. Now that the war had ended, these soldiers seemed to have begun their rest, and even the taverns on the side of the road would occasionally stumble out a few drunken men, causing Shia to frown upon seeing them.

  These slackers in military discipline would absolutely never be seen in the Thirteenth Legion.

  Danzel is not only much larger than Wildfire Town in terms of city scale, but the surrounding area is also more diversified.

  On the outskirts of the city, there are many small villages, where vast tracts of arable land are located. The city of Danzel belongs administratively to the northern province of Moll in the Empire, and Moll is also a rather important grain-producing region in the north of the Byzantine Empire. More importantly, it still belongs directly under the central administration of the Empire and has not been assigned to any Thema military district - after all, this is a border area, although it produces grain and has lucrative border trade, every time war breaks out with the Oden people, this place is always the first to be threatened. Therefore, those bureaucrats in the Ministry of War also do not want to take over this territory.

  Those so-called provincial military governors have long since become aristocratized and militarized.

  The commander-in-chief of the temporary military department in the war zone is General Clark from the Imperial Military Department. He is a staunch supporter of the Tema military system, and his family has owned a Tema military district in the southeastern part of the empire for two generations. At the same time, General Clark also holds an important position in the Imperial Military Department.

  When Xia Ya followed Rourou to the temporary military department in Danzei, General Clarke didn't show much hostility towards Xia Ya, although this turtle brought a lot of trouble to the warlords in the military department.

  Klark almost casually handed Shaya a simple ceremony, stuffed a gold bravery badge into the hands of the tortoise, without even following the etiquette to personally put it on Shaya, and then hastily left without even saluting, as if he was worried that staying by the tortoise's side for another minute would get him into trouble.

  The simple and perfunctory medal-awarding ceremony made Rourou feel a bit disapproving.

  "Damn it, if Bonfret had come to accept the honor, this guy would have been a hundred times more enthusiastic and would have invited all the nobles in town to attend the ceremony, with a band playing and a red carpet laid out all the way to the gate... Your little ceremony is probably the most perfunctory one I've ever seen."

  Xia Ya, however, seemed to be completely indifferent. He pinched the gold emblem and thought to himself, "This piece of gold is worth a lot of money... Hmm, it's so heavy, it should be pure gold."

  The people in the temporary military department don't welcome Xia Ya, but Xia Ya doesn't care. Anyway, now it's... public expense travel, all transportation, accommodation and food are paid by the military department.

  The temporary military department took a photo of a chubby quartermaster in charge of receiving them (are all quartermasters brain-full and intestine-fat? The turtle is very suspicious.)

  Xia Ya was straightforward about food and accommodation, opening his mouth to stay in the best hotel in the city, asking for the best dishes and fine wines. The other party readily agreed, and even the military officer secretly gave Xia Ya a bag with twenty large gold coins inside, each enough to support an ordinary family of several people for more than a year!

  Then several fine war horses were led before Xia Ya, these good horses were provided by the military department as mounts.

  The temporary military department has only one requirement: you little brat, eat and take what you need, then get out of here quickly!

  Xia Ya, under the instruction of Lu Er, simply knocked on the bamboo pole with a loud noise, and also knocked away several sets of high-quality cavalry armor equipment. The soft armor was made of high-quality soft steel from a famous mining area in the southern part of the Byzantine Empire, which was light in weight and superior in defense. Such a set of soft armor is usually only equipped by officers at the level of flag team, and it must be the main battle flag team!

  Looking at his attendants all wearing this expensive soft armor, Xia Ya finally felt satisfied. Next to him, Lu Er let out a sigh: "Damn it, I was in the army for seven or eight years before I had the qualifications to wear such armor... You're actually so extravagant that even your attendants are like this..."

  Xia Ya rolled her eyes: "The matter of knocking on bamboo sticks, wasn't it you who taught me?"

  The other party's attitude is very clear: you can have whatever you want, but please get out of here as soon as possible.

  Xia Ya didn't mince words either, after getting what she wanted, she quickly left with a flick of her butt.

  When leaving Danzel City, Shaya's two attendants, Dororo and Soite, rode high-quality war horses, wore expensive soft armor, and even the saddles and stirrups on their horses were good things that only high-ranking military officers could enjoy.

  Xia Ya didn't even need to be mentioned, as he was wearing a suit of knight's armor worth at least several hundred gold coins. This was a half-body armor set, belonging to the light category, with each piece of armor made from high-quality soft steel. Only in vital areas such as the chest, back, and shoulders were thicker steel plates embedded. The armor's design was that of a standard imperial knight, although for Xia Ya to wear knight's armor at this point was somewhat overstepping his bounds. However, he had achieved great merit this time and receiving a title was already a certainty.

  Riding a red warhorse with the wind, this warhorse was also selected by Rour for him. According to Pangzi's words, such a level of warhorse can even rank among the top five in the mounts of the thirteen legion generals of the empire.

  Riding such a high-quality warhorse, wearing knight light armor, with a bear fur cloak bestowed by the military department on his back, and the attire of the many Doros and Soite behind him far exceeded that of ordinary flag team commanders. If one didn't know Xiya's identity, it's likely that anyone would think he was the general of that army corps traveling!

  In contrast, Rur, who is walking with Shaya, this genuine general, seems to be Shaya's follower instead.

  Xia Ya originally wanted to knock on a good horse carriage to hurry along, but this point, Lu Er refused.

  This fatty actually told Xia Ya a sentence in a rare serious tone.

  "Soldiers don't ride in cars!" The fat man said in a low voice, "A soldier who indulges in comfort is no longer a true soldier! This was what my teacher, Duke Minas, told me."

  Although Moll County is not a Thema military district, the imperial agricultural soldier system has been in operation for hundreds of years. Leaving Danzel City and passing through some small villages along the way, you can still see farmers wearing military uniforms but carrying hoes and shovels working in the fields. Each village has an empty training ground, but the agricultural soldier system has declined after all, and it is obvious that the weapons in the hands of these soldiers have long been rusty, and the weeds on many parts of the training grounds are as tall as a person.

  After leaving Danzel City, Pongzi's mood was somewhat strange. He received the latest order from the Military Department of the War Zone in Danzel, which required him to rush to the Imperial Capital of Osgilia within 15 days. At the same time, the commander of his Sixth Legion temporarily handed over the command to the First Flag Officer of the Legion.

  Moreover, Rour was also required, as a frontline commander in this war, to go to the military department for debriefing.

  It is said that this order was transmitted in an emergency using a special magical array within the military department on the evening before Rurul and Shaya arrived at Danzel City.

  Sorry everyone, today's update is a bit late, the second update will be here soon, please wait for a moment~~~