Iron Powder and Spellcaster

When Winters opened his eyes now, he saw dozens of people eating, drinking and eating.

He recruited the men and horses in the pot circle.

He also experienced the pain of the pot ring.

Before this, he had never worried about logistics.

Logistics was a problem that only senior officers had to worry about, and Winters was just a centurion. Whatever the top sends to him, he will send to the bottom.

If it's not enough, go to the logistics department to ask for it. Otherwise, there is nothing we can do.

As long as he doesn't embezzle or enrich himself, the soldiers will be thankful.

But it's different now. He has become an officer without a superior, leading an army without a rear--although there are only thirty-eight people at the moment--he has to rely on himself for everything.

To put it bluntly, if everyone has nothing to wipe their butts with, they will immediately think of Captain Montagne.

Intercepting the food collection team relieved Winters' urgent need, but it also made this new team face a difficult choice.

Do you want to return the food?

Winters called together the key personnel in the team and held a fireside meeting.

Pierre, Angelou, Ouashika, and representatives from several other villages sat in a circle around the campfire, and Winters told everyone about the current situation.

The branches crackled and peeled in the fire.

Angelou said timidly: "Give it back to the folks. These grains belong to the folks. They snatched them from the folks in Wolf Town."

Winters nodded, encouraging Angelou to continue. He wanted to hear what other people thought.

He was currently whittling wood by the light of the fire, planning to carve out a few chess pieces.

"Give it back?" Pierre snorted coldly and asked, "What shall we eat?"

Angelou was asked. He was gentle by nature and didn't like to think about things that were too complicated. So he lowered his head and fiddled with the branches at his feet.

Pierre bit his lip and said cruelly: "Why don't you give it back! Don't give back even a grain of wheat! If any family really doesn't have anything to eat, if we give them some more, they will still thank us."

The knife in Winters' hand paused for a moment, and he nodded: "This is also a way."

Representatives from other villages did not dare to interrupt, but it could be seen from their expressions that they agreed with Pierre.

Although they sympathized with the farmers of Wolf Town, in the end, filling their own stomachs was more important.

"The food requisition team went to rob the villagers of food, and we will go to rob the food requisition team again. So what's the difference between us and them?" Angelou suddenly raised his head and said sadly: "Then we will stay at the edge of Wolf Town from now on. , wait until the food collection team robs all the villagers and then rob them? Aren’t we becoming carrion-eating crows and hyenas?”

Now it was Pierre's turn to retort silently. He crossed his arms and muttered: "It's still different."

"There's no need to quarrel." Vashika came out to smooth things over. He neutralized the two people's opinions and asked tentatively: "How about... half of it goes back?"

Upon hearing this, Winters, who was carving chess pieces, almost cut his hand.

For a moment, he really wanted to pry open Vashika's skull to see how this kid came up with such a "genius" method.

But he remembered Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's attitude towards the second lieutenants - listen more, talk less, and make decisions.

You can't attack everyone casually, otherwise no one will dare to speak.

Before Winters could say anything, Pierre pushed back: "Pay back half? It's better not to pay back at all! Pay back half? Everyone will hate us!"

Vashika also shut her mouth.

"Okay, let's arrange the night watch while the others rest. Angelou stays." Winters brushed off the sawdust on his body and put a horse head chess piece into his pocket: "Let's set off tomorrow and go back to Wolf Town."

The Dusaks stood up cleanly, accustomed to obeying orders.

Representatives from other villages were a little flustered.

The team has been living in the bandit camp in the forest for the past few days, and they are a little uncomfortable with the sudden decision to go to Wolf Town.

"We can't stay here any longer." Winters thought to himself: "Otherwise he will really become a robber."

The bandit camp has no walls, no barracks, no sentry posts, and not even a few tents.

Even Winters just spread out a blanket next to the campfire as a bed.

Living in this kind of place, people's mentality may even change.

Everyone else had already walked away. Angelou pinched the corner of his clothes nervously: "Did I say something wrong just now?"

"I said nothing wrong, you are a good boy." Winters said softly to Angelou - in fact, the age difference between the two was less than four years: "I just want to tell you this, go back and sleep well."

Angelou raised his hand in salute and walked away in a daze.

Winters took out two blankets, one as a quilt and one as a bed, and soon fell asleep.

He had just fallen asleep when Vashika's cheerful voice woke him up.

Winters' head hurt: "What are you doing?"

"Centurion, I have thought of a good idea!" Vashika rushed to report immediately. He said happily: "This time, we will return it to the folks in Wolf Town. From now on, we will stay next to other villages and towns to wait for the food collection team. We’ve robbed all the other villages and towns, and then we’re going to rob the food collection team, isn’t that the end of it?”

After all, Winters overestimated his endurance and kicked Vasya over.

The furious roar woke up all the creatures in the forest: "Get out!"

…

A team of about forty people and more than twenty large vehicles.

After randomly rolling up everything they could take away from the camp and throwing it into the car, Winters' troops set off.

The convoy stretched into a long queue on the road, and it was noisy.

Without the leadership of the sixteen veterans, the convoy would fall apart on its own.

Villages, small towns and even gangsters in the forest along the way are secretly spying on the team.

Is it a collection team?

Not like that.

In the past few months, I have only seen collection teams carrying grain to Gevaudan. This is the first time I have seen a convoy carrying grain going back.

"Lift your head! Lift your chest!" Winters rode his horse and patrolled back and forth: "You are soldiers, not bandits! Leave me alone!"

Amid Winters' scolding, the tense cheeks of the "recruits" gradually relaxed.

They thought: Right? I am already a militia member, why should I be afraid?

"Wahika!" Winters shouted from a distance.

"Here!" Vashika hurried over on horseback.

"Sing a song for everyone!"

Vashika looked bitter: "Centurion, I only know the songs of our Dusa people..."

Most of the songs in the army only have tunes and no lyrics.

On the contrary, it is a folk song, with just a few tunes and a variety of lyrics.

Winters glared: "You can sing if I ask you to! Why are you being so awkward?"

Vashika trembled with fear.

He coughed a few times, blushed, and shouted at the top of his voice:

"Brother, get out of the village!

It’s really hard for me to keep my little sister!

Holding my brother’s hand!

Send me to the gate..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Winters couldn't laugh or cry. He waved his hand and gave Vasya a whip: "What the hell are you singing?"

The militiamen also laughed good-naturedly.

Vashika covered her head, feeling extremely aggrieved: "This is the song of our Dusak people! Dusak left home to serve, and the women walked to the entrance of the village to see off..."

"Okay! Then keep singing!"

Vashika continued to roar:

"Tightly pull my brother's sleeve!

Tears welled up in my stomach!

I just hate that I can’t go with you, sister!

I just hope that you, brother, will come home early..."

Vashika sang poorly, three out of four lines being out of tune.

But as he sang, the militiamen's eyes became wet.

The homeless farmer in the newly cultivated land and Dussac, who has been paying blood tax for hundreds of years, suddenly have a resonance.

"Don't just listen!" Winters stood up and shouted to everyone: "Sing along! Learn to sing!"

…

…

“Brother, ride away!

Little sister, I am suffering!

How long does this journey take!

I hope you will also grow old..."

Accompanied by songs like ghosts crying and wolves howling, Winters' team entered Wolf Town.

Immediately afterwards, Winters waved his hand and ordered that all food be returned to the people of Wolf Town.

Villagers from all over the village gathered in the town square, and even the farmers from Lang Town who had not had their grain confiscated came to watch the excitement.

Everyone had a smile on their face, both those who received the food and those who distributed it.

It is easy to identify whose grain the grain belongs to, because the grain is contained in straw baskets made by farmers and a small number of sacks.

Straw baskets and sacks are handmade products, so each family has different weaving habits. In order to avoid taking wrong things on weekdays, many farmers even leave unique marks.

So the return went smoothly.

Winters also acted as a temporary judge for a time: both farmers said that a basket of wheat belonged to their family, so Winters asked them to go home and get the reed baskets they had woven at home. Comparing the two, the truth comes to light.

It's been a long time since the town center was burned down, and it's been a long time since so many people came to Wolf Town.

Winters sat on the hillside outside the town, looking at the lively scene of Wolf Town with satisfaction.

"Sigh." Pierre sat next to Winters. He still felt a little distressed: "I think it's better not to pay it back at all. Whoever is short of food will be helped. It can also make everyone remember your kindness."

Winters laughed and asked: "Do you think the people of Wolf Town are stupid? Will they not understand what's going on? There is no need for this kind of trickery! Don't worry, I will get supplies for everyone."

"Well, I'm not worried about supplies." Pierre said sadly: "I'm worried that they will resent you in the future. You helped them once, but what about the second time? What about the third time?"

"It's okay." Winters lay back on the hillside and patted Pierre on the back: "It's okay."

…

After returning all the food to the people of Wolf Town, the second thing Winters led the team to do was collect the remains in the cemetery.

The cemetery is located next to the church and is surrounded by shrubs. It was originally a solemn and peaceful place where people could remember the deceased.

Now it is no longer the same.

The better the tombstone, the more damaged the tomb will be.

The dug graves were like wounds in the earth, cruelly exposed.

Bodies were scattered everywhere, many of them unclear as to who they were.

There are also deceased relatives who are still alive, and most of their remains have been collected.

The bones scattered in the cemetery now belong to those who have no connection with the human world.

Winters led everyone to bury the remains that could be distinguished individually, and those that could not be distinguished were placed in a newly dug mass grave.

Many people from Wolf Town also took the initiative to stay and help.

With everyone's efforts, the excavated graves were filled back one by one. It's like a wound healing, but there are still shallow scars.

After returning the food and collecting the remains, Winters assembled his team on the ruins of Wolf Town.

"Here." Winters stepped on the scorched earth under his feet and drew a circle casually with his cane: "Here, we are going to build our military camp. The military camp is home and the rear. From now on, we are no longer rogues. ,bandit."

People listened quietly.

"I know that you are staying with me not because you are willing to be a soldier, but because you have nowhere to go." Winters leaned on his cane and smiled: "So I thought about it and needed a ceremony to let everyone understand. , you are no longer farmers. Come on! Bring the things!"

Angelou came over carrying a sack of jingling things. They were gold coins!

Winters took the purse, walked up to the people, and handed each of them a ducat with his own hands.

He said to the soldiers word by word: "This thing is called military pay. When you are a soldier, you receive military pay. From now on, you are soldiers, and we all have obligations to each other. Maybe you still don't understand why we are fighting. , but you will gradually understand."

"Okay." Winters tapped his cane lightly: "Let's take the oath!"

There are no clergy, no holy symbols, and no other additional rituals.

One by one, the soldiers walked up to Winters and swore allegiance to him.

Oath-taking is a regular ritual in the army. It is a bit strange to swear an oath to an individual in the Republic, and it is not what Winters wants, but this army is currently united by personal charm.

Although it is still small, from this moment on, it is enough to be called an army.

After the oath-taking ceremony, the army of less than forty men obediently accepted the reorganization.

Winters was like a painter standing in front of a blank sheet of paper. He could finally build an army according to his ideas, without restraint or restrictions.

There are only 8 people in the ten-man team, which is too small and inconvenient to undertake night guard, patrol and other functions, so Winters increased the number to 12 people.

It was too crowded for 12 people to live in one tent, so Winters divided it into two tents.

There are 6 people in one tent, and the two tents share a pot, so they are a group.

A group of soldiers has a captain and a deputy captain.

Because of the phalanx tactics, the smallest tactical unit of the alliance's current military system is the brigade.

However, the Centurion sometimes performed combat missions alone. The 80-man Centurion was too small, and Winters felt deeply inconvenienced.

At the same time, the experience of commanding two centurions gave him some experience.

He plans to expand the Centurion to 120 men, keep the size of the brigade unchanged, and add a first-level command layer between the Centurion and the brigade, perhaps called a squadron.

The internal organization of the brigade became 1:2:4. There were three officers in the two centurions. No matter who died in battle, someone would replace him.

However, this is just Winters' draft, and he has no way of knowing what problems he will encounter when it is implemented.

Because he now only has thirty-eight soldiers, three groups plus two messengers, which is not even enough for a hundred-man team.

The most important question right now is: Where will he find food for everyone?

[Thanks to the leader for updating this chapter]

[Because I have never thought about having an alliance leader before, and I have never made an agreement with book friends, so please allow me to explain to book friends here:

The leader's update is limited to the two current book friends (a total of 4 chapters are added, currently 2/4).

My ability and energy are actually very average, far inferior to those energetic masters.

Four thousand words per chapter a day is almost the limit. When writing is difficult, I only have 3,000 words a day. Occasionally, due to overtime and other things, I have to miss another day.

On days when my writing efficiency is high, I write one chapter at a time, just like the previous two days and three updates.

Although I have been clamoring to prepare manuscripts, I have never been able to save them...

If there is a leader in the future - although I don't think there will be one, I'm sorry that I can't add more updates like this time. Because I really can't guarantee that I can write one more chapter on the basis of daily updates.

I am very grateful to the two book friends of Shangmeng, thank you to every book friend who is willing to read this story, thank you all]

[Brother Red’s character card has been updated and is still at the end of the second volume]

[Thanks to book friends for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation votes, monthly votes, rewards and comments, thank you all]