Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"Are you going to kill us! Or are you going to let us go!" Lieutenant Adam kicked the door fiercely and roared at the guard: "Have fun! Why are you torturing people! Bastard!"

Unfortunately, the soldiers outside the house seemed to be deaf and turned a blind eye to the angry second lieutenant prisoner.

This made [Lovrensix Adam] even more angry, and he slammed the door: "Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!"

The roof trembled with his impact, and fine dust fell and danced in the sunlight.

The soldiers outside remained silent, but moved a few pieces of wood to block the door.

"That's enough!" Major Ronald next door shouted to the second lieutenant: "Save your strength! Don't get yourself hurt."

Adam gasped and stopped when he heard the major's words.

The officer prisoners were held in solitary confinement in a farmhouse outside Gevaudan.

They were neither killed nor released. They were provided with two meals a day and were kept like this.

At first, some people thought that Winters wanted to surrender them, and everyone agreed not to be traitors for this reason.

But the little boy never showed up from beginning to end.

Then, some people thought that Winters wanted to use them for ransom or as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

But the guards outside didn't show any such intention. To be precise, the guards didn't talk to them at all.

Therefore, the anxiety and uneasiness in the hearts of the captured officers increased day by day.

"Senior!" Adam walked up to Captain Epel: "You need to say a few words! How is the situation outside? When will General Adams send troops? What's wrong with you?"

The farmhouse is small, with only two rooms. Major Ronald had one room, and the other lieutenants had one room.

Among the lieutenants, Epel was originally the major's deputy, so the lieutenants naturally regarded him as their backbone.

But since the captain was imprisoned, he hasn't said a word.

He became a body that could only move around without a soul. He was neither worried nor angry, only numb.

Adam yelled, but Epel didn't even look at him, and continued to hug his knees and look out the window.

"That bastard Montagne, how on earth did you get into this state?" Adam was distressed and angry. He rushed to the window and yelled at the guard: "Call Winters Montagne! What on earth did he do to you? What kind of evil spell did Senior Epel cast! [Severe regional discrimination against the Veneta people]!"

"Adam." Epel suddenly said: "Come here."

Adam was startled at first and subconsciously walked to the senior.

Epel patted the floor: "Sit down."

Adam sat down obediently.

Then, Epel returned to his previous state, looking out the window and saying nothing.

Adam sat for a while and then stood up angrily.

"[Old saying] I can probably guess a little bit about what Winters is doing." Lieutenant Istvan folded his arms, leaned against the window, and carefully observed the outside of the farmhouse: "[Old saying] is very interesting."

When officers did not want their guards to understand what was being said, they would switch to the old language.

"[Old Slang] Do you know what he's up to?" Adam asked in surprise.

Stephen spit out a word: "[Old term] Reclamation Law."

"[Old slang] What?"

"[Old language] The Reclamation Law of the Legion Headquarters is to recruit refugees to open up wasteland. Haven't you noticed that in the past few days, you haven't seen a single refugee outside?"

"[Old saying] It doesn't matter what Montagne is doing." Adam's mind was entirely on another thing: "[Old saying] Senior Epel's mind has been damaged by witchcraft. You take the lead and we think of something. Find a way to escape!"

"[Old saying] If you can't escape, you can't even ride a horse. How can you escape?" Istvan chuckled: "[Old saying] But you can try."

…

Winters was not deliberately neglecting the seniors, but because he was so busy that he forgot about them.

Winters sent all the scouts he had to Mont Blanc and Vernge, adjacent to Tiefeng County, to monitor every move of the new reclamation army.

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Moritz, Lieutenant Juan and Andre were leading the cavalry to patrol the roads in and out of Tiefeng County day and night, setting up nets to intercept sentries entering Tiefeng County from Baishan County and Wargne County.

Winters issued a [Blockade Order]: No one is allowed to leave Tiefeng County without the approval of the garrison, and no one is allowed to enter Tiefeng County.

He wants to hide Tiefeng County in the fog as much as possible.

At the moment, all of Winters' energy is focused on the refugee camp outside the city. He even eats and sleeps in the refugee camp.

Bard stayed in the city most of the time, taking care of the affairs of Gévaudan.

As for Captain Richard Mason, as the second-highest-ranking officer in the military, Senior Mason has been missing all day. He rides out of the city early in the morning every day and only comes back at night. It is said that he is looking for the clockmaker.

…

The atmosphere in the refugee camp is solemn.

A large number of fleeing farmers came to Gévaudan to beg, but Gévaudan did not allow the refugees to enter the city. They only served porridge outside the city every day, and even temporarily built city walls to block the refugees.

The victims who were guarding outside the city used a few wooden sticks to set up tents and barely lived in them. More and more of them gathered, eventually forming a huge, dirty and muddy camp.

There is no such thing as a camp wall or "border" in this so-called camp.

But now, it has.

After Moritz and Don Juan invaded Jevaudan, they immediately sent troops to control the refugee camp.

After Bader arrived in Gevaudan, he intensified his control over the private camp.

The refugee camp, which originally had no boundaries, is now surrounded by two "walls" made of wooden stakes and ropes.

There is a gap of about six meters between the two rings of walls, and soldiers in armor patrol them.

Any refugee who trespasses in the open space between the two walls will be punished by whipping or hanging - this is a rule formulated by Bud himself.

"No escaping! No quarreling! No grabbing when porridge is being distributed!" These are the three rules Bader set for the refugees, and the punishment methods are very monotonous, with only two types: three lashes for the first offender, and hanging for the second offender.

The corpse hanging on the wooden stake in the open space is the most straightforward warning.

Even Andre and Don Juan felt that Bud had gone too far, not to mention Winters, Moritz, and Mason.

But Bud was determined to do it.

Major Ronald had nothing to do with the refugees. He selected young and strong men as soldiers, and threw the rest outside the city. He distributed some boiled wheat porridge every day.

He's just stalling.

And Winters and Bud want to solve the problem completely.

…

"What's your name?" Winters asked without looking up.

The fleeing farmer in front of him answered tremblingly: "Peter."

Behind Peter, there was a long line of ragged victims, with no end in sight, stretching deep into the refugee camp.

It's not that they consciously lined up, but that the whips and sticks hurt their bodies too much.

Hearing the farmer call himself [Peter], Winters had a splitting headache because this was the fourteenth Peter he had met today.

There is no other way. From common people to princes and nobles, everyone uses those common names over and over again.

Not to mention that some church nobles would restrict the choices and stipulate that subjects must choose names from the scriptures.

Many farmers never leave their small villages in their lives, with a limited population and repeated names.

But Winters now wants to "register households and people", and duplication of names has become a big problem that bothers him.

Fortunately, he has thought of a way.

"Which town and village are you from?" Winters asked the farmer.

"Qingfeng Town." The farmer whispered, "Shibi Village."

He did not dare to speak loudly because military law was enforced in the refugee camp and noise was strictly prohibited.

Anyone who dares to make a loud noise will be immediately taken out and whipped.

Thanks to such cruel methods, less than three hundred soldiers were able to temporarily suppress the refugees who were dozens of times their number.

This is not a long-term solution, and Winters must relieve the pressure before it explodes.

Looking at the face of the farmer in front of him who was tanned by years of hard work, Winters said helplessly: "If you look black, your name will be Peter Black."

The farmer named Peter was stunned for a while before nodding.

Winters quickly wrote a few lines of scrawled letters on the paper: "You are Peter Blake from Qingfeng Town and Stonewall Village. Do not confuse with other Peter Blakes."

"My lord..." Peter asked timidly: "Is there another Peter Blake?"

"Yes." Winters snorted softly: "Yes. Age?"

"What?"

"How old are you?!"

"thirty-one."

"Do you have land at home?"

"No, I farm the land for Mr. Kwa."

"Married?"

"No."

"Then you don't have children, right?"

"No."

"Father, mother, are you still there?"

Peter's nose felt sore: "They're all gone."

"My condolences." Winters sighed: "Live well and you will find a way to survive."

Peter didn't know why and nodded blankly.

Winters took out another small wooden sign, wrote [Peter Blake of Qingfeng Town, Stone Wall Village] on it, and handed it to the other party.

"This is your name, and you will have to rely on this to receive food from now on." Winters pointed behind him: "Go over there, show this to that person, and go to the camp in Qingfeng Town."

Peter didn't react yet, he stood there stupidly.

"Go over!" Winters stared unconsciously.

Now Peter understood, and he ran forward.

He couldn't help but take out the small wooden sign and read it. There was a row of letters and a series of numbers on it.

"Is this my name?" Peter thought to himself. Someone had taught him to recognize names, but he could never remember them.

After running a few steps forward, he was stopped by another soldier.

The other party grabbed his wooden sign arrogantly, looked at it, and roughly shoved it back to him.

"From Qingfeng Town! Go to the southernmost camp!" the soldier warned harshly: "If you make the wrong move, you will be whipped!"

Peter Blake from Qingfeng Town and Shibi Village went all the way to the south.

After the wooden sign was checked again, the soldier responsible for guarding the door let him into the Qingfeng Town camp and gave him a large piece of black bread.

In the camp, he unexpectedly met his fellow countryman - another Peter.

Before that, he didn't even know that this fellow countryman known as "Fish Eye Peter" was also in the refugee camp.

"What's your name, Peter?" Yuyan asked eagerly, and he said happily: "Adults say Yuyan is ugly and hard to pronounce. So now I'm not called Yuyan, but Peter Fisher!"

"My current name is...Peter Blake." Peter Blake replied with a little pride.

On the other side, another farmer came to Winters.

"What's your name?" Winters asked without raising his head.

"Peter," the farmer whispered.

A groan came from the deepest part of Winters' chest, and his head hurt even more.

…

The refugees must be separated and must not be allowed to gather together. This is the unanimous view of the six-member group.

For refugees, numbers are courage.

One disaster victim may be timid, but a hundred disaster victims dare to loot a village, and ten thousand victims can plunder a city.

The refugees must be separated, but not too scattered, otherwise it will be difficult to manage.

Dividing them into sixteen sub-camps according to their place of origin became the most reasonable strategy.

And staying with fellow villagers will make refugees feel safer.

Winters didn't know how the White Lion specifically "organized households and unified the people", so he could only follow his own ideas.

"Weaving the common people together like a basket" requires first knowing how many common people there are.

Winters organized all the refugees outside the city into family units and registered them according to five items: [Male and Female], [Age], [Place of Origin], [Physical Ability], and [Family Members and Property].

All his soldiers who could read and write were transferred to register the refugees, including Winters who also went into battle himself.

He also borrowed thirty-three bookkeepers and scribes from various merchant houses in the city.

"Blood Wolf" spoke, and the merchants happily sent their employees over.

Winters also gave temporary lessons to some smart soldiers, teaching them how to read the most basic words.

For example, the soldier guarding the Qingfeng Town camp cannot read at all - it would be a waste to send a soldier who can read and write to guard the gate.

But he can still perform his duties well, because Winters taught him the word "Qingfeng Town".

The refugees left the main camp, were screened and registered, and then entered branch camps in various towns.

Although this process has its bumps, it is generally orderly.

As everyone becomes more familiar with the work at hand, efficiency becomes higher and higher.

And compared to the dirty refugee camp, the new camp planned as a temporary military camp is obviously more comfortable.

Winters even personally led people to dig toilets in each camp - epidemic prevention is a top priority.

After entering the branch camp, food was given to the refugees as soon as possible.

Not porridge, but bread. If your stomach is full, you won't panic.

Anyway, the refugees don’t have much property. All their property is carried on their shoulders and carried in their hands, and they can go wherever there is food to eat—a bit like the nomadic Hud people.

Winters hated repetitive work.

He was so dizzy trying to name the refugees, and couldn't even recognize the words when writing the letters, that he couldn't help but think: "It would be great if the refugees could read and write! They write by themselves, and I can just take a look."

But he soon dismissed the idea.

How is it possible that everyone can read and write? That must be in heaven, right?

"Or I teach all the soldiers?" Winters came up with an alternative: "Let them do this work, so I don't have to do it."

Just as he was thinking this, Ciel ran over out of breath.

"Why are you still here?" Charles held his knees and gasped, "Have you forgotten who is coming today?"

"What?" Winters asked, but he kept moving his hands and accurately placed a piece of registration paper into one of the sixteen wooden boxes.

"Mademoiselle Navarre is coming to Gevaudan today!"

Winters stood up suddenly, his chair knocked backwards.

"Ciel!" Winters held up the chair, pushed Ciel onto the seat, and put the quill into Ciel's hand: "Come here!"

After saying that, he jumped on the saddle and galloped away like flying.

…

Although, it would be unreasonable to rush to bring the family to Gévaudan before he has established a foothold.

However, Winters missed Anna too much, and Anna missed Winters too.

So when Pierre came to meet with Gevaudan, he also escorted his female relatives over.

Winters was supposed to go to greet her, but when he saw Anna, Anna was already waiting for him at the officer's residence in the garrison.

"My sister and I are really honored that you can take time out of your busy schedule to come here." Catherine smiled brightly and curtsied to Winters. Not wanting to leave her sister, she also came to Gevaudan.

Winters can already ignore this level of cynicism.

He walked straight to Anna and hugged Anna hard.

Catherine exclaimed, kicked Winters in the calf angrily, turned and left the room.

"You shouldn't come here, it's too dangerous here." Winters hugged his lover tightly.

Anna hugged her lover's neck: "But aren't you here?"

…

Winters finds Pierre and Scarlett at the stables.

Changsheng and Botayun were also taken to Gevaudan, Scarlett was giving Changsheng milk, and Pierre was accompanying his sister.

When Scarlett saw Winters, her first words were: "Bottayun doesn't want to give up milk. I want to feed Changsheng goat's milk and cow's milk."

Chang Sheng already looks a little like a foal, and has lost some of the fragile feeling he had when he was just born.

Winters stroked Changsheng and said, "Okay, I'll look for him."

"A horse that grew up drinking goat's milk?" Pierre joked: "Can it still be ridden? Let's find another gelding with a foal."

Leaving Scarlett in the stable, Winters and Pierre have something very important to say.

"There is something that only you can do." Winters said to Pierre.

"I'll go," Pierre replied without hesitation.

Winters said nothing else. There was no need to say anything more between him and little Dussac.

He didn't need to explain how important it was and why Pierre had to go.

Pierre would not complain that he had to travel back and forth between Gevaudan and Wolfville without any leisure time.

"Balion Sawyer." Winters said a name.

"Blacksmith, cook." Pierre nodded.

"He is being held by Blue Rose, that is, in the hands of Arpad." Winters looked at Pierre: "I want you to determine his location."

Pierre nodded calmly.

Arpad had a large number of Dussac's cavalry at his disposal, so Pierre, who was calm, alert and Dussac, was the only man suitable for the task.

"Who do you want to take?"

"Vashika, pick an older Dusak."

"What else do you need?"

"Gold coins, lots of gold coins."

"Go to Lieutenant Bader. If you need anything, you can go to him."

"yes."

"Be careful." Winters squeezed Pierre's shoulder: "Just confirm the location. There is no need to force the rescue, I will go there myself."

"Don't worry." Pierre showed a smile.

This is one of the rare occasions when Winters said "Follow me" instead of "Follow me", but he is no longer a centurion. He must adapt to letting his subordinates do something independently. He must also learn to trust and rely on subordinate.

Winters wanted to give a few more instructions.

The sound of rapid hoofbeats interrupted his words, and a red-maned war horse galloped into the courtyard, and it was Angelou who was riding on it.

"Centurion." Angelou dismounted and handed Winters two letters: "Mr. B wants to give it to you."

Two letters, one with the emblem of the New Reclamation Corps, the other with a black cross painted on it - meaning urgent.

The first thing Winters read was the letter from the New Reclamation Corps. As he read it, he raised his eyebrows slightly.

Then he glanced at the black cross letterhead.

"What's wrong?" Pierre asked worriedly.

Winters handed the letter to Pierre.

The first letter came from Maple Stone City, the headquarters of the New Reclamation Army.

He did not specify who the recipient of the letter was, and only used the title "Gévaudan Residential Office".

The content is very simple. The legion headquarters requires the Gévaudan garrison to pay the full amount of grain dues this autumn.

The second letter came from Lieutenant Colonel Moritz.

The content is simpler: The new land reclamation army troops in Baishan County and Wargne County are gathering.

[The last chapter was slightly revised at the end]

[If you want surnames and first names to truly enter thousands of households, you need to first point out the policy of "census"; population "surveys" are nothing new, such as William the Conqueror's "Domesday Book". But the real "census" will have to wait for a long time, and the "refugee enumeration" system can be regarded as the forerunner of the census]

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