Starting from the city of Iver, in the next two weeks, Manuel personally guided Art and his party, and successively visited the three states of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden. These three forest states are mountain confederations.

The core body is also the backbone of the fight against Habsburg.

The attitude of the three forest states towards Art and his party was not as enthusiastic as that of the Bern state of Iver City. They hated the Habsburgs and the Swabians, but they did not have much goodwill toward the French and Burgundians. After all,

The mountains were invaded by the Burgundians hundreds of years ago.

However, Art's "sincerity" always impressed them. When the heads of states learned about Art's strength and his promises from Manuel, their attitudes were naturally surprisingly consistent.

In this year of great calamity, population is not a problem that the Mountain Confederates are stingy about. They are worried about the hungry people who are about to rebel. So when Art proposed the conditions for recruiting mountain people from the Confederacy, the Confederate leaders hardly hesitated.

So they agreed. After all, they also knew that it was impossible for a provincial count to take away all the mountain people of the Mountain Confederation.

Recommended, it’s really good, it’s worth installing for all book lovers, and it’s supported by both Android and Apple phones!

As for the issue of borrowing troops, the Confederate leaders were not so happy. After all, the more troubled the times, the greater the need for swords.

Art also had no intention of annexing the Mountain Confederacy's army. In fact, even if the Confederate leaders gave him the army, he would not dare to take over.

At present, the Earl of Wales already has the first branch of the Wells Army, the Southern Border Guard Army, the Western Border Guard Army, and the Western Border Guard Army that does not need to be supported by Art. If we also count the standing peasants and soldiers from various places under the Garrison Army,

After registering peasants and soldiers, the army that Yat needs to support has exceeded three thousand people. Not only do the three thousand people have to eat and drink, but they also have to provide military pay, weapons and armor to the gold-swallowing beasts.

If we continue to expand our army on a large scale, Yate will really go bankrupt.

So after several rounds of "bargaining," Art made a compromise and reached a contract with the Mountain Confederacy.

First, the Mountain Confederation formed an alliance with the Earl of Wales. When necessary, the Mountain Confederation would assemble no less than three thousand elite mountain troops to assist Art in the battle. Of course, these troops were not free.

Second, the Mountain Confederation and the Principality of Burgundy formed an alliance against the Principality of Swabia. The Mountain Confederation had to attack the Swabians bordering the Principality of Burgundy at least once a year to ease the military on the eastern border of the Principality of Burgundy.

pressure.

This is not difficult for the Mountain Confederation. Since the Permanent Alliance, they have not gone down to the mountains to fight the Swabians a few times. In this world, if they don't fight, they can only wait for death. Now they just extend their tentacles a little to the north.

That’s it.

Third, the Confederacy allowed Earl of Wells to select no more than 300 elite soldiers from the mountain army. This was a bit difficult to handle. Elite soldiers are the soul and backbone of an army. In the end, Art used three soldiers per soldier.

At the price of one hundred pfennigs, fifty soldiers from each of the four mountain states, including Bourne, will be "drawn", and the specific implementation will be done by the Welsh Legion.

For more than half a month, Art visited several core states of the Mountain Confederation, spent all the money, food and materials he carried, and gained a lot.

"...The entire Mountain Confederation has a population of nearly 300,000. If you include those mountain tribes that have not yet joined the Confederacy, it is estimated to have a population of 500,000."

"On this trip, we used food as bait and recruited 226 households and 1,283 mountain people from the mountains. Nearly a hundred of them are from Luo Meng's hometown and nearby areas."

"The mountain people are simple, but also relatively closed-minded and ignorant. Many people regard us as slave traders and think they will be sold to farms and mines as serfs, so not many people were recruited during this trip."

At Fort Andermatt, Giles, the deputy director of the Government's Residential Affairs Department who was responsible for recruiting refugees, reported to Art about the recruitment of refugees.

Giles was short in stature and had a poor appearance, with yellowish hair and deep-set eye sockets, giving him a somewhat rat-like appearance. This man was one of the earliest settlers in the Wells Valley. Five years ago, Scott and Rowe

Lens was successively promoted to civil officer, so he was also promoted to the village chief of the valley.

Because this man was energetic and capable of doing things, he was later transferred to the command of the settlement officer Scott as a steward. When Art was promoted to earl and continued to expand his territory, he was also responsible for recruiting people.

After the establishment of the Government Affairs Office, he continued to serve in the Ministry of Tunnel Affairs and performed well in the construction of the southern part of the valley. At the end of last year, he was appointed deputy minister of the Ministry of Tunnel Affairs, ranking behind Deputy Minister of Tunnel Affairs Lin En.

Art waved his hand, "Everything is difficult at the beginning. The mountain people have lived freely in the closed mountainous area for thousands of years. Even the Habsburgs could not lose their determination to yearn for "freedom" and suddenly asked them to leave their homeland to do something.

Recruiting people always requires a process. However, it has been difficult to survive in the mountains in the past two years. I believe those who want to survive will figure it out sooner or later."

"Giles, your garrison department must properly settle these mountain people. They are your best bait to win over the mountain people. As long as these people live well in our province of Wales, those stubborn guys will naturally come to their senses."

Giles nodded in agreement and continued to ask: "Sir, according to the estimates of the Government Affairs Office, based on the strength of the entire Wells Province this year, we can recruit up to 5,000 to 9,000 people, and more food supplies, etc.

A series of problems were highlighted.”

Art raised his hand, "People are the most precious resource. If we can't take advantage of the famine in the mountains in the past two years to expand the territory, we may not have this opportunity in a few years."

"These selected mountain people are not just farmers. At least one-tenth of them can directly wear armor and hold spears and go to the battlefield."

The population of the entire Earl's Province of Wells is currently roughly composed of three parts. The earliest group of residents were refugees from Provence many years ago. They accounted for one-fifth, and most of them came from the Provence War; the largest group was

The Burgundians account for more than three-fifths. They include aborigines from places such as Tyniec County, Beaune City, and Fort Marci, as well as people recruited from various places before and after the War of the Successor;

The source of the smallest group is complicated. They include Swabians who were looted from Bultenberg in the western Swabia and mountain people who fled from the Mountain Confederation. They also have those recruited from the coastal states in the southern continent.

Craftsmen, laborers, and even the former Lombards under Christopher who had recently been taken under his command.

"Wales is a melting pot and we need more people to heat up this melting pot."

"Last winter, I allocated 500,000 pfennigs to the government specifically for the purpose of hoarding food supplies. This year there will be a bumper grain harvest in the north, and we have our own purchasing channels. The food supplies purchased with 500,000 pfennigs can support the province of Wales.

Add another 20,000 to 30,000 new citizens."

The money that Art can invest in the new residents is really limited, but he only needs the government to do its best to support him through this year.
Chapter completed!