Iron Powder and Spellcaster

In Hailan City, a grand parade ceremony is taking place.

Walking at the front was a black-robed monk carrying an incense burner. A strange aroma escaped from the shaking incense burner and filled the entire street.

Amidst the smoke, the atmosphere of the parade became mysterious and psychedelic.

Four priests followed closely, carrying the remains of St. Mark contained in a gold box - since two Veneta merchants stole the remains from the Port of Conquest and brought them back to Hainan three hundred years ago, the St. Mark's remains have changed. He became the patron saint of Hailan and even the entire Veneta.

Winters was wearing a full set of ceremonial armor, riding the divine horse 'Force Luck', holding the captured Tanirian war flag upside down and following behind the saint's remains. The same was true for other Veneta officers returning from Red Sulfur.

Behind the queue of knights were three prison cars. The sea blue man didn't recognize the prisoner's face, but he knew without a second thought that he must be a big shot in the Tanirian Federation.

Their guess was correct. The famous pirate, captain, and explorer William Kidd was in the prison car in the middle.

The prisoners brought back from Red Sulfur Island were not the only ones in the prison car. General Serbetti and General Leighton sent all the prisoners back to Hailan to participate in the prisoner dedication ceremony.

However, the transport ship holding ordinary prisoners unfortunately sank. Only a few important prisoners who were held in solitary confinement were still alive, and they were all in prison cars.

Although the queue of prisoners looked a little shabby, it did not affect the joy of the Veneta people.

The prison car was followed by two elaborately decorated carriages. A clown in rich costume grabbed handfuls of silver coins and spice powder from the purse on the carriage and threw them at the crowd, triggering bursts of looting.

It was as if the carnival had arrived early, and the whole city was in a state of excitement.

The streets and alleys on the roadside were crowded with people, children ran to the roofs, and women leaned out of the second-story windows along the street, waving bouquets and fans. Many civilians followed the procession joyfully.

Gun salutes fired, bells rang, people set off fireworks and held thanksgiving services, and the city turned into a sea of ​​joy and happiness.

The long procession circled the city and finally returned to the starting point of Parliament Square.

As the captured battle flags, weapons, armor, and even four cannons were thrown one by one in front of the guard loggia - right at the feet of Perseus, who was holding the head of Medusa high - the crowd became more and more fanatical. .

The excitement infected everyone, and everyone caught up in it was unable to extricate themselves. The people gathered in Venetta shouted over and over again "Victory! San Marco! Victory! San Marco!" desperately reaching out to touch the golden box containing the holy relics.

The atmosphere was confusing and fanatical, as people thanked gods and saints for the victory they had brought, and longed for even a tiny bit of blessing themselves. This victory parade has become something of a religious procession.

Even the officers' honor guard became the center of the whirlpool.

The reserved and excited girls and young women were thrown into the Seine Sea. They threw their bouquets and silk fans at the majestic knights.

Many bold women even took off their masks and veils and threw them to the officers acting as an honor guard - in Venetian culture, this is an extremely, extremely explicit hint.

For a moment, Winters felt like there were raindrops of hard objects hitting him, and the rain of arrows from the Tanirians had never been so dense. He was only lucky to be wearing a full set of plate armor and helmet, otherwise he would have been hit all over his head.

After seven salutes, the figure of Consul Debela appeared on the guard loggia.

The Archon began an impassioned speech, but Winters could barely hear anything.

In fact, no one in Parliament Square should be able to hear the specific content. The crowd responded with huge cheers to every word DeBella said. The cheers even interrupted Debella's speech several times, forcing the consul to wait until there was a slight silence before continuing.

But Winters didn't care what the people on the loggia were saying. According to procedure, once the consul begins his speech, the guard of honor can be dismissed.

The noise made Qiang Yun a little uneasy, and the three-year-old stallion snorted dissatisfiedly. Warrant Officer Montagne just wanted to leave the Parliament Square, which was filled with a fanatical atmosphere, as soon as possible.

Taking advantage of the crowd's attention being diverted to the consul who was giving a speech, the officers who returned from Red Sulfur Island communicated with gestures, dismounted, and led their mounts to squeeze out of the square with difficulty.

Of course, the honor guard could not leave quietly like this. The girls along the way stuffed jewelry, paper with addresses, and handkerchiefs embroidered with family crests and initials into the arms of the young men.

There was even a small folding fan made of fragrant wood inserted into the viewing window of Winters' helmet. The foreign object was thrust straight into his eyes. Winters dodged subconsciously and bumped into the arms of another woman.

The officers squeezed out of the square in embarrassment, and when they reached a sparse crowd, they were able to take off their helmets, which made them breathless.

"Huh? Where are the Don Juans?" Second Lieutenant Pisani nodded and found that the number was wrong.

"Ah? He's missing?" Winters was shocked when he heard this. After counting again, he found that not only Don Juan was missing: "You won't be trampled on, right?! I'll go back and look for him!"

After that, Winters mounted his horse and headed towards the crowd.

Captain Lailuo reached out and grabbed the reins of Qiang Yun, and said helplessly: "You boy, you are really... Since they didn't follow us out, they must have somewhere to go. Don't disturb others recklessly. Good thing!"

Only then did Winters understand what was going on, and he dismounted again dumbfounded.

"Montagne is too young to understand." Pisani asked teasingly: "Senior Lello, why did you come out with us?"

Lai Luo and Pisani looked at each other and smiled meaningfully.

Not long ago, Winters was in a hellish siege battlefield. Now, he has become a war hero and has returned to the prosperous, crowded and bustling Hailan. His friends around him are talking about women, women and women.

Winters has not been able to adapt well to this change in distance contrast. The grand scene in front of him always seems like a dream, not real at all.

In the square, the noisy voices gradually gathered into one name: "St. Mark! St. Mark! St. Mark!"

Hearing the shouts of the crowd, Winters smiled: "I don't remember any Tanirians killed by Saint Mark himself."

The other officers around him smiled awkwardly when they heard Winters' rebellious speech.

"We are the hands of St. Mark! Hahaha, this is actually a lively and lively place to make everyone happy." Pisani immediately laughed and hugged Winters' neck: "Do you think this old man is willing to go there? Spraying on the loggia? Who makes the Veneta people like this? If he doesn't make everyone happy, where will he get the money to continue the war?"

Winters knew that he had made a mistake, and also knew that Senior Pisani was trying to smooth things over for him, so he nodded and laughed in agreement. .

"Despite the huge momentum, this may be the cheapest way." Lai Luo also felt a little disappointed: "The Hailan people will forget our name in a month, but even in a hundred years people will recall our name. A grand victory parade. This old man, Debella, is very good at winning people’s hearts!”

In the familiar carriage not far away, Winters saw the people in the car waving to him. Knowing that the people in the car were waiting impatiently, he said goodbye to the others. The officers of the honor guard had their own places to go, so they were naturally disbanded on the spot.

Winters tied Qianyun's reins to the back beam of the carriage, and then opened the door.

Anna was in the car and had been waiting for a long time.

She stretched out her hand to get Wen Tesla into the car, and said with a smile: "I really feel that Hailan hasn't been so lively in a long time."

"The battle hasn't been won yet. It would be too early to celebrate victory now." Winters sighed, feeling a little worried when he mentioned this matter.

But what Winters didn't realize was that this was not the mood for such a thing. The air in the carriage seemed to have suddenly become colder because of his coldness.

Anna held Winters' hand without letting go. She vaguely felt that Winters seemed to be no longer as happy as before.

She squeezed Winters' hand and feigned anger: "Mr. Montagne, you really should learn how to please girls!"

"Hahaha, who can teach me?" Winters' face showed a heartfelt smile for the first time today.

"Of course it is..." Halfway through Anna's smile, her eyes were suddenly attracted by the helmet Winters placed next to her: "...Huh? What is that?"

Before Winters could react, Anna had already let go of his hand and picked up his helmet.

There is a small and exquisite folding fan stuck on the helmet.

At this time, Winters was completely ignorant of the crisis at hand. He replied somewhat inexplicably: "Isn't it a folding fan?"

Anna took off the folding fan from the helmet, unfolded it and inspected it, then picked up the helmet and sniffed it. Having come to a conclusion, Anna looked at Winters with a very playful look.

Only then did Warrant Officer Montagne realize that something was wrong. He carefully explained: "This was stuffed into me by someone else...I don't even know who stuffed it...in fact, I don't want it either...I almost touched this folding fan." to my eyes..."

Anna played with the folding fan, with a faint smile on her lips. She didn't speak, just listened to Winters defend himself.

"If you like it... give it to you?" Winters said helplessly. But after thinking about it, he felt that this kind of gifting was a bit strange, so he changed his mind and said, "How about I buy an identical one and give it to you?"

"No, I want this one." Anna suddenly put away the folding fan.

"Okay, it's yours."

Anna suddenly stood up and moved closer to Winters. The hair caressed Winters' face, and the distance was so close that Winters could almost feel the heat from Anna's body.

There should be no difference in human body temperature, but Winters could really feel Anna's body being hot at this moment.

"You...you...what are you going to do..." Warrant Officer Montagne's breathing almost stopped.

Anna stretched out her arms, put her arms around Winters' neck, and then...unbuttoned the belt buckle of Winters' breastplate.

The ceremonial armor Winters is now wearing is not the crude chest plate armor issued to ordinary sword and shield wielders. Although this set of ceremonial armor does not fit well, it is a set of exquisitely crafted three-quarter plate armor.

This set of armor protects the core area particularly closely. If encountered in hand-to-hand combat, it would be enough to give even the most skilled swordsman a headache.

But even with such a tight-fitting armor, the women still stuffed several handkerchiefs into the gaps under the armpits and waists. Winters didn't even notice when people were being squeezed in - there were just too many people, too crowded.

Winters consciously unhooked his arm armor, and sure enough, he was stuffed with two handkerchiefs.

"You're quite popular...Mr. Montaña." Anna took the time to fold the handkerchiefs one by one and spoke word by word.

The handkerchiefs were all sprayed with perfume, and the carriage was extremely fragrant.

Winters said helplessly: "Once you put this helmet on, you won't know whether it's a person or a ghost inside. If there is anything really popular, it's just this armor. You put on this and walk around the square. Circle, you will definitely gain more than me."

Anna chuckled and put the folded handkerchief into Winters' hand: "Okay, okay, you can keep these handkerchiefs. When you are old, you can use them to recall your glorious days."

"Do I need it?" Winters also felt angry and funny: "I'll do a trick for you."

After saying that, he put the helmet on Anna's head, grabbed the handkerchief and stretched out the car window, and began to concentrate.

Although from an absolute point of view, Winters' magic level improvement is not significant. But after a lot of battles, his skills in using magic were completely different from before. It means that the strength has not changed much, but the skills of exerting force and fighting have been hammered and become more and more proficient.

Winters smoothly entered the spellcasting state and released the fire spell, and the flammable silk handkerchief instantly caught fire.

Anna took off her helmet and snorted softly: "I'm not afraid of you accepting other people's handkerchiefs."

"I don't want to accept it, I'm afraid." Winters felt exhausted.

Anna glared coquettishly, then suddenly leaned forward and gently touched Winters' forehead with her lips, and then casually threw the folding fan engraved with a certain lady's name out of the window as if nothing had happened.

The black carriage slowly left Parliament Square.

…

In fact, the speech delivered by Consul de Bella - which Winters did not listen carefully and the people in the square did not care to listen to - was important.

Although the war is not over yet.

But De Bella used a grand victory parade to make Veneta people firmly believe in three things: Veneta has won, Veneta is winning, and Veneta is still moving towards new victories.

Debella took the opportunity to announce three things.

First of all, in the future, the captured Tanirian cannons and weapons will be used to cast a new statue of St. Mark - this is basically the traditional habit of the Veneta people, of course, all old cannons and weapons will be used;

Secondly, all debtors can receive relief from their debts through military service;

Finally, draws will be carried out in the rural areas of Veneta to form two new legions. The war will continue until Veneta is finally victorious;

The second and third things are actually the same thing: troop sources.

The standing army consists of recruited, elite professional soldiers; while the reserve army consists of citizens who have received good military training.

That is, half of the Legion of Grand Veneta and the entire Legion of San Marco are entirely composed of the urban population - most of which are citizens of Hailan City.

These drafted reservists are the city's essence. Receiving weapons training and carrying weapons are a privilege in Veneta, and the lower-class citizens who are tired of making ends meet do not have the energy or money to obtain them.

Therefore, reserve soldiers are essentially "citizen soldiers" and are wealthy merchants and craftsmen in the city. They receive military training once a week, and a considerable number of reservists purchase their own weapons and armor.

Because of this, although they are not as elite as the standing army, the reserve soldiers also showed strong combat effectiveness in the battle on Red Sulfur Island.

But the two legions had already siphoned off nearly 10,000 absolute urban laborers—able-bodied adult male citizens.

If we continue to recruit reserves on a large scale, the production and life of Hailan and other Venetian TC cities will inevitably be affected.

Therefore, new legions and replacements will be recruited from rural areas... Whether this decision is a good or bad decision is unknown to anyone.

A week after the victory parade, a new fleet was assembled at Hailan Port.

Before leaving, Consul Debela held a grand departure ceremony.

The gongs and drums were noisy, the horns were blaring, and the clergy held religious ceremonies to bless the fleet.

Debella handed a battle flag to the fleet commander Clo Zeno. On the red base of the battle flag, there was a lion embroidered with gold thread, wearing a crown on his head, two wings on his back, one paw holding a sword, and the other Holding a scripture in one claw.

The consul solemnly announced:

God has given you the divine mission to use your courage to defend this Republic and to avenge those who dare to insult it and violate its security. We bestow upon you this victorious and awe-inspiring battle standard. It is your duty to carry it in triumph without tarnishing its honor.

Amid the cheers and salutes of the people, the fleet slowly left Hailan Port.

However, in fact, the ship only contained additional troops and military supplies. The two new legions had not yet been assembled, and even their numbers had not yet been determined.

Clo Zeno is also just a commodore, and his status in the military is far lower than that of Nareshaw, Antonio and Layton.

However, there was no ceremony when the Legion of Grand Veneta went out, and there was no ceremony when San Marco went out. Instead, the ceremony of a small supply fleet made the expedition very lively, and those who knew the inside story couldn't help but laugh.

Winters was also in this fleet.

The reason why he returned to his homeland was to escort prisoners part-time, and his main purpose was to recuperate from his injuries. Dr. Kane sternly told him, "If you don't want to have an arm amputated, go home and rest."

But after three weeks of rest, Winters felt that his arrow injury was almost healed.

He didn't want to fight, but Antonio was on the front line, and Bud, Andre, and Moritz were all on the front line. He couldn't bear to hide in the safety of his homeland and watch his relatives and friends bleed.

Therefore, Warrant Officer Winters Montagne applied for early return.

The faces of the farewell people on the shore were no longer clearly visible, and Winters returned to the cabin. He carefully opened the delicate pendant in his hand, which contained the portraits of Kesha and Ella...and Anna's.

The soul of the person being painted can be captured with delicate brushstrokes on a small piece of paper. This is Anna's gift.

Anna's voice lingered in his ears: "Write to me! Mr. Montagne, write me a hundred letters, please write every day. Tell me, you can tell me! I will also write to you every day!" I will wait for you...I will write to you every day! Please write to me too! Don't forget me..."

Winters stared for a while, then closed and buckled the pendant, and carefully hung it back around his neck.

Before leaving, he promised Anna that "when this is over...leave the army or apply for a safe position."

"Retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel is actually not bad." Winters was lying on the bed, thinking in his mind.

…

On the shore, the shadow of the boat on the other side of the sea has gradually disappeared below the sea level.

Elizabeth supported the tearful Serbian lady, and Sofia held Miss Navarre who burst into tears.

Ella didn't expect that her youngest self would be the strongest in the end. She actually wanted to cry, but she firmly believed that "nothing will happen to Winters."

…

Along with the soldiers, there were also appointed officials, receiving envoys, businessmen, priests, speculators... The number of these non-military personnel was more than twice that of military personnel.

With dreams of glory and wealth in mind, Veneta's Fourth Fleet sailed toward the Tanilia Islands.

Note: This story is purely fictional. "The remains of St. Mark were stolen 300 years ago" is inconsistent with the timeline of this universe. The technological level in the book is probably between the 16th and 17th centuries, and the "bone stealing" in this world occurred in 828. Please don’t take the plot of the novel seriously either.

Thanks to the book friends who voted for recommendation before, and to the book friends who voted in the past two days: Xiaocheng Boyang, Please Call Me Pleasant Goat, Black Computer Accessories, Social Justice Lao Wang, Justice and Purity is Koala, Your Life Thank you all for your recommendation votes for "The Most In The World", "WritersBlock", "The World", "The Calm Gray Pass", "Yun Zhongyue 1981", "Tian Lian Jian", "There is a Beauty in Tianshui", "Sada". Thanks to Yun Zhongyue 1981 for the reward. Thanks.