Iron Powder and Spellcaster

In the large tent of the Wolf Town military camp, Lieutenant Colonel Moritz sat at the table with his chin propped up, gently shaking his wine glass.

There was also a small plate of almonds and green olives on the table, which someone had bought all the way from Gevaudan.

The man who bought these things was holding the wine bottle and carefully telling Moritz about his experiences over the past year.

And as soon as Moritz's glass was slightly empty, he would refill it immediately.

Don Juan broke into the big tent and saw this scene. He was so angry that he said, "It's not lunch yet, and you two started drinking?"

"Without him." Moritz took a sip of the light golden eaux-de-vie and said with a smile, "Only me."

"I invited you here to get him away! But if you pour it well, a few bottles of wine can buy you over. Have you forgotten the general's order?"

Moritz yawned, looked at Lieutenant Juan, and replied slowly: "His father asked me to collect his body. I can try to kill him and bring back a body, but there is no guarantee of success." If you want me to twist his will and force him to do something he doesn't want to do, I can't do it."

Winters found another cup and asked Senior Juan to sit down.

Juan raised his neck as if to vent his anger, and poured half a glass of strong liquor directly into his throat.

"Save your drinks." Moritz felt a little distressed: "I plan to drink for many days."

"How many days?" Juan asked.

"Senior." Winters sincerely requested, "I have something I want to ask you for help with."

…

The men were wading in the Pangtuo River, and Winters was seeing the old pirate off.

"There is no need to send it away, sir." Gold's front teeth have not yet been set, and his smile is leaking: "This has been sent to Blackwater Town. You can go back."

When they came from Veneta, there were sixteen people including Gold, the two ladies, and Juan's men.

When we returned, there were only three of them: Gold, one of Juan's hussars, and one of Winters' Dussac.

"Be careful along the way." Winters said apologetically, "Lieutenant Juan will stay here for a while, so there are only two people to guard you."

Gold laughed loudly: "I am very familiar with this road, and there is no need for guards at all. As long as I still have one life, I promise to bring your letter back to Hailan."

Juan obviously came to look for someone, but he was detained by Winters and had to explain the reason to Antonio.

The only person Winters had who could act as a messenger and guide was Gold, so he had to let the old pirate make another trip.

Winters and Juan selected two capable young men for the old pirate, on the one hand to serve as guards, and on the other hand to familiarize more people with the [New Reclamation-Veneta] route.

When others are familiar with this route, the old pirate won't have to run around anymore.

"I'm leaving, don't worry!" Gold laughed loudly, whipped his horse, and galloped away.

Winters watched each other until the figures of the three riders disappeared among the trees.

Then he rode back to Wolf Town. His will was firm and he still had things to do.

…

It takes about six months for barley to grow from sowing to maturity. It is sown in late February or early March as soon as the weather gets warmer and harvested in September.

Oats are divided into varieties. The oats of the Plato strain are relatively late-maturing and take about four months to grow. It is usually sown in May and harvested in September.

Palatine agriculture generally adopts the three-field system. The cultivated land is divided equally into three parts: one piece of land is planted with winter wheat, another piece of land is planted with supplementary grains, and the remaining piece of land is left fallow.

Barley, oats and rye, plus some legumes and vegetables, were the main crops of the Palatine farmers during the [spring-autumn] agricultural cycle.

But before the grain is fully mature in September, a new round of collection has already begun.

The reason is simple. If the wheat is completely ripe, what will the farmers have left for the collection team? It has been harvested cleanly long ago.

The so-called "rush to harvest" means that we must harvest the wheat before it ripens.

If you rush, the wheat will be ripe.

These are valuable experiences accumulated during the [Sovereignty War] thirty years ago, and they are not outdated now that they are brought out again.

Although unripe wheat cannot be eaten, it is still good and can be fed to horses. It is excellent horse feed.

War horses like and need this nutritious and moisture-rich fine material the most.

Because it is difficult to store crops that have not yet been dehydrated, the Palatuan people use silage technology.

The process of chopping, sealing and fermenting the still green crops is a bit like making yogurt, retaining the nutrients and moisture of the crops while "detoxifying" them, which is called "silage".

Silage can not only be stored for a long time without deterioration, but also has a sour taste. Cattle, horses, and sheep especially like to eat it.

However, the silage process requires high levels of operator experience and skills. In Plato, it is generally only used in large military horse farms.

No one would be so luxurious as to use immature grains for silage. Isn’t that a waste of things?

But this kind of thing is actually happening in newly cultivated land now - the farmers' rations are not as good as the feed for the war horses.

The New Reclamation Army was quite polite at first. After all, the New Reclamation Province was their own territory.

Red Rose and Blue Rose's forced conquest teams didn't treat people as human beings at all, and the New Reclamation Army was powerless to stop them.

Seeing that the food was taken away by the other two parties, the new reclamation army's expropriation efforts became more and more intense.

Tiefeng County is located in the southwesternmost tip of the Xinkendi Province and is the most remote and backward county. It was also affected by this storm.

Maplestone City gave a death order to the Gévaudan garrison, so the expropriation team set off from Gévaudan again and rushed to villages and towns in various places.

However, the collection of Gevaudin encountered a small problem...

"Sir! Mercy!" The leader of the expropriation team - [Sergeant Pitt] rushed to kiss Winters' boots: "I am also forced to have no choice! I don't want to go out to grab food. But my wife and children are in Gevaudan. If I don't obey the military order, my whole family will sit together! Please show your kindness..."

Peter's hands were tied behind his back and he was tied with four other people, obviously unable to move.

But when he saw the "bandit leader" approaching, his strong desire to survive led him to drag four people and still almost rush to Winters' horse.

It was Pierre's saber that silenced Sergeant Pitt.

"Dare to take another step forward." Pierre covered his face and looked at the sergeant coldly. The second half of the sentence he didn't say, the blade said it for him.

Sergeant Pitt fell to the ground, crying for mercy, as did the other Gévaudan soldiers.

For a time, there were begging voices everywhere, which was unbearable to hear.

Winters has become numb from seeing and hearing that everyone suffers, and everyone is forced to do so.

But he was not here to listen to the complaints of these Gévaudan soldiers.

"Have all the weapons been collected?" Winters asked.

"Confiscated."

"Carriage, food?"

"It's all done too."

Don Juan galloped over: "What nonsense are you talking about? Get the hell away!"

Winters nodded: "Take them all away."

Hearing the words "Take them all away", Sergeant Pitt jumped up from the ground like a spring: "Take them away? Aren't you going to let us go? Are you going to take us away?"

"Who said you should be released?" Pierre asked coldly.

"But, but we always let people go before!" Peter yelled at the top of his lungs: "We handed over our weapons and carriages, and we didn't resist. According to the previous rules, people were let go! Why did they kill us? We didn't do anything. Didn’t do it! Ah…”

Peter was shouting and crying, crying with tears streaming down his face: "If I had known, I would have fought with you...ah..."

The surrounding prisoners became restless when they heard Peter's miserable cries.

Winters, who had already walked away, realized something was wrong and came back quickly.

He jumped off the saddle and kicked Peter over: "Stop crying! Who said I want to kill you?"

With tears and snot still hanging on his face, Peter asked in surprise: "You won't kill us?"

"If you cry again, I'll kill you first."

"Then why don't you let us go?" Peter wiped away his tears randomly, suddenly felt sad, and cried again: "In the end, you still want to kill us? Why don't you just kill...mom in another place..."

Winters had nothing to do with this rough guy who was prone to tears.

He used amplification to announce to the surrounding Gévaudan soldiers: "From now on, you are all my prisoners. If you don't seek death, you will not die. Take them all away!"

"Do bandits also want to take prisoners?" Peter asked sobbing.

Sergeant Pitt's food collection team was taken on the road.

The further he walked, the more he felt that the people who robbed the grain trucks were not bandits, because there had never been such powerful bandits in the newly cultivated land.

This group of "bandits" consisted of about twenty riders and the remaining thirty or so on foot.

As soon as the whistle sounded, the bandits rushed out from all directions at the same time.

The food collection team had no time to react and was already surrounded.

In this case, the temporarily recruited "soldiers" of Gévaudan instantly lost their will to resist and obediently handed over their weapons and surrendered.

Although the "bandits" all had their faces covered, the words of the several "bandit leaders" on horseback gave Peter a sense of familiarity.

As he walked, Pete suddenly realized that the bandit leader had a "chief's accent" and unconsciously spoke with a bit of Guitu accent.

The further they walked, the more familiar Peter felt: Isn't this the road to Langtun Town?

Continuing to walk, Pete became more and more certain: Yes, this is the way to Wolf Town.

Why don't the bandits avoid people and are still walking towards the town?

Why is there a military camp in the town?

Why are there cells in the military camp?

Pete yelled: Damn it! What bandits? I was beaten by the Wolf Town militia!

Peter was a little happy, a little angry, and mostly confused.

I am happy because since the other party is not a bandit, he will not kill indiscriminately, and at least my life will be saved for the time being.

Angry because the militiamen actually disguised themselves as bandits and ambushed him, the real Sergeant Gévaudin.

He was confused because he didn't understand how the Wolf Town militia got such courage.

Because he was a sergeant, Pete was placed in solitary confinement.

He was taken to a secluded, cramped prison cell.

It took Peter a moment to adjust to the light in the prison.

He saw two other people in the prison. They were unkempt, with messy beards and hair, sitting in the corner.

Peter was surprised to find that the two people were... knitting straw sandals.

The two of them moved quickly, the grass poles shuttled in their hands like needles and threads, and the soles of their shoes extended at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Peter dared not move.

In the cramped cell, two disheveled men knitted straw sandals in silence.

This scene is really weird and terrifying, with a mysterious religious atmosphere.

"Huh? Someone's here again?" One of the men finished knitting the soles of his shoes, looked up at Peter, and knocked on the wall calmly: "Hey! Someone's here again."

A head poked out from the bars on the wall - it turned out that the next door was still a prison cell.

"Is it Gévaudin's too?" the man in the next cell asked hoarsely.

"Yes, I am Peter from the south of the city." Peter looked at the other person carefully and suddenly shouted: "Ivan? Are you dead? Were you killed by bandits?"

The man in the next cell is none other than Sergeant Ivan of Gevaudan, who is famous for his "beating of his wife after drinking".

But Peter no longer recognized Ivan at all. In the past, Ivan was a burly, rough, and bad-tempered strong man.

Today, Ivan is almost out of shape, his savage energy has been drained away, and there is only endless tiredness and sadness in his eyes.

"You...you..." Ivan's lips trembled, and his voice was filled with tears: "You...why are you here..."

…

At the Rewardan garrison, all the officers gathered in one room and were having a meeting.

There is only one issue: "banditry".

Forced conscription inevitably leads to the rise of bandits.

Gévaudin's attitude was to suppress them if they could, and just to train troops; if they couldn't be caught, there was nothing they could do.

But there is a group of bandits running rampant in the southwest of Gévaudan, and their actions have forced Gévaudan to face it.

This group of bandits came and went like the wind and moved quickly, specifically targeting the grain collection team of Gévaudan.

Whenever the grain collection team enters their territory, it is like a mud cow entering the sea, never to return.

Initially, this group of bandits only operated within the three towns of Heishui Town, Wumastiff Town and Langtun Town.

In less than ten months, their tentacles quickly extended to Niuti Valley and Yuanhua Slope. Someone in Shengke Town also reported the traces of this group of bandits.

There is even a vague saying that as long as you cross the Saint-Georges River south of Gevaudan, no place is safe ahead.

Although hijacking of grain trucks is uncommon, it does happen from time to time, and it is happening more and more frequently.

It is because there are too many bandits, and most of the Gévaudan soldiers are new recruits who lack training. It is already very difficult to take charge of local defense, and the bandits cannot be suppressed.

But unlike other gangs, this group of bandits running rampant in the southwest of Gevaudan not only robbed grain trucks, but also robbed people.

No one from the food collection team who fell into their hands could escape.

Even if it was easy to recruit soldiers now, Gévaudin couldn't bear the constant bloodletting with a small knife.

"We must hang them as soon as possible. These bandits are not ordinary bandits. The surrounding villages and towns are protecting them. They want to cause big trouble!" Major Ronald made the final decision: "I speculate that they ambushed my military police. Then they His lair should be in the forest between Wolf Town and Blackwater Town."

"Is there any other information? For example, what is the name of the bandit leader?" Captain Epel asked.

"It's a mystery. This group of bandits has no name." Major Ronald said thoughtfully: "But according to my informant, the surrounding villages and towns call them... the Blood Wolf Gang."

As he spoke, Major Ronald looked at Lieutenant Cellini.

Hearing the word "Blood Wolf Gang", Andre was furious, and there was even a trace of tears in his angry eyes: "Blood Wolf Gang? Damn it! Winters Montagne is dead! Just Die by the River Styx! Which bastard dares to use his name as a bandit? I will kill him myself!"

"You really have to do this. The informant said that there are many horse thieves in the Blood Wolf Gang, and you have to rely on your Dusak to deal with them." Major Ronald sighed: "In my opinion, they should be Winters' old subordinates. , became deserters and then became bandits. If you can recruit surrenders, recruit them as much as possible. We need veterans. I make the decision. As long as they surrender, I will pardon them and let them come to Gévaudan to serve as soldiers. "

Lieutenant Andrea Cellini led his troops and angrily set out to suppress the bandits.

A week later, the sad news came back.

Cellini's centurion was wiped out.

The bandits sent a message asking Gévaudin to pay for his ransom.

"Alas, Andre is just too impulsive. In an upright duel, he won't lose. He must have been ambushed because of his reckless advance." Lieutenant Bader was as calm as ever.

He concluded to the officers stationed in the new land: "This group of bandits wants a ransom, which means that Lieutenant Cellini is still alive. The bandits and Andre's Centurion will fight head-on, and the losses will not be small. This time I Go with Captain Mason, first reconsider the situation under the guise of sending ransom, and attack steadily to annihilate all these bandits."

Captain Mason next to Bud nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

In addition to the local troops, Gévaudan's only mobile force was the "militia" sent back by Blue Rose.

But Major Ronald is still a little worried: "I don't underestimate your fighting ability, but you are not natives of Tiefeng County after all. I asked Lieutenant Akos to accompany you and act as your guide. In all the towns in Tiefeng County, he They’re all very familiar.”

"Okay." Bud's smile was extremely sincere: "It couldn't be better."

Six days later, the bad news came back to Gevaudan again.

Bard's Centurion and Mason's Centurion were also wiped out, and no one escaped.

Major Ronald smashed the table with his palm and cursed loudly.

Meanwhile, Winters is finally reunited with Bud, Andre and Mason.

"What do you want?" Bud only asked Winters one question: "What do you want?"

[This chapter says there is a map, it will be more intuitive if you look at the map]

[Andre's last appearance was at the end of Chapter 9. As for why Blue Rose wanted to send these "Tiefeng Town Militia" back to the new land, please allow the author to explain later]

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

[About the history of silage: The etymology of silage comes from the Greek word (siros), which means the use of "cellars" or "burrows" to store human food. As early as 4,000 years ago, Egyptians siled millet in stone containers. It was initially thought to be a sacrifice, but it was later discovered that it was not. Around the same time, the Celts in Central Europe began to silage cabbage (which continues to this day as sauerkraut). About 2,000 years ago, the Germans began to store silage food. Put the entire plant into the hole and cover it with compost. The earliest records of pasture silage come from Italy in the 13th century. Northern and Central Europe have systematically made grass silage since the 18th century, and ordinary farmers already know that dry grass in the fields is not high-quality cattle feed. But there was a lack of concept of "control" in that era. Whether you get silage or moldy and smelly garbage depends entirely on the operator's ability and luck]