Iron Powder and Spellcaster

On the west side of the new reclamation province, the Bighorn River-Glory River serves as the natural boundary.

Crossing the Bighorn River and walking more than 100 kilometers westward is the wintering pasture of the Teltown region.

In the past month, tens of thousands of Terdun people have continued to migrate towards this place, making the number of tents in the winter pastures unprecedented.

But no matter how many tents there are, there are still no sights of thousands of horses galloping. At most, there are only three or three riders galloping across the sky.

The tents are far away from the tents, and the livestock are far away from the herds. They keep a cold distance from each other, like isolated islands in the yellow-green sea.

The reason why it looks like this is, on the one hand, the social form of the Hed people, and on the other hand, the necessity of survival.

The Hurds can be roughly divided into three classes:

Kota - that is, retired warriors and military aristocrats;

Halan - means the head of Guizhou, the subjects of the nobles;

Tihe'er - slave.

Because the living environment is harsh and dangerous, there is no difference in the living standards and political status between Guizhou heads and slaves.

The slaves of the great nobles were definitely better fed, clothed warmly, and even had a higher social status than ordinary Guizhou slaves - even if the former were slaves and the latter were not.

At the same time, the flattening of society has led to good class mobility.

After all, a Hed man may be the head of Guizhou today, but tomorrow he may be kidnapped as a slave and successfully achieve class crossing.

And even for the Terdun Department, which is regarded as one of the "three major departments", its organizational model is still "a group of small military nobles loyal to a large military noble."

A small military noble, plus his companions, guards, subjects and slaves, is a miniature tribe.

The fire-warmer is not only the object of allegiance of the small military nobles, but also the most powerful military nobles.

The amount of livestock that the pastures can carry is limited, so Hurd families must move farther apart to graze; the expansion of distance will increase the cost of governance. This loose social form naturally evolved.

For the Hurd society, this is necessary for survival; but for the rulers, it is the dispersion of power.

Firemakers want to make a change. He has heard that the White Lion is "reorganizing households and reorganizing the people", and he also wants to reorganize the Teldun tribe like the White Lion.

But now his prestige is not as good as before, especially the loss of the golden man who worships the sky, which has attracted a lot of criticism. Whenever the fire-warmer sees the Cotas whispering, he feels that the Cotas are making fun of him.

The essence of White Lion's system of household registration and uniforming the people is to compress the power space of the small military aristocrats - this is clearly seen by those who are roasting the fire.

However, there is one characteristic of nomadic life: [Herdsmen’s property either has legs or can be carried on long legs, so they can run away at any time].

If the Kota are not happy here at the Fire Keepers, they can take all their wealth and leave at any time, change to another tribe and continue to be Kota, or simply stand on their own.

Of course, this kind of "moving", which is tantamount to defection, will definitely have procedural issues, and it will be troublesome to wipe the butt, and it may even trigger a melee among various tribes.

But when their interests are really damaged, the Kotas will never hesitate.

Therefore, the fire-warmer did not dare to act rashly. He had to stabilize the Teldu tribe first, and then squeeze power from the Kotas little by little.

If you want to rebuild your prestige, the fastest way is to win the war.

For the Hurds, there is no problem that cannot be solved with the spoils of war. If not, it must be because there isn't enough loot.

And the fire-warmers have found a good target.

"Children of Terdun!" The fire-warmer walked into the tent majestically: "Are everyone here?"

The Kota in the big tent stopped making noises and saluted those who were warming up the fire.

The fire-warmers convened the Kotas for discussion, nominally to "divide the wintering pastures."

The agreement with Plato is no longer binding, and the Teldu Ministry no longer needs to maintain a 100-kilometer buffer zone.

As a result, a large area of ​​rich wintering pasture was created out of thin air in the Terdun tribe, and the Cota people were eagerly waiting for the roasters to share the meat with everyone.

The man who was warming the fire looked around the big tent and talked about another thing first: "You and I were both present in the autumn battle. We didn't get much money or women, but we tired out a lot of geldings. It was my order that was wrong. You can blame me."

Those who are warming up the fire expose their shortcomings on their own, and all the science towers do not dare to answer the question at will.

"The disciples still looted a lot of things." An experienced Kota said cautiously: "This is all thanks to you, the fire roaster."

The roaster sneered: "I haven't eaten the truly tender and plump leg of lamb. A few broken bones and trimmings, how can I share it with my disciples?"

The Kota knew the true purpose of the discussion in the Firewarmer's tent, but no one was willing to express their opinion.

It was the fire-warming person's uncle who was the first to stand up and asked bluntly: "Fire-warming person, just say it straight. We are all willing to go to the grass field, but you have to explain the context clearly. Just like a herd of horses following the leader, You tell us where to go so we can follow you."

"It's very simple. Although the two-legged people have suffered a defeat, they are still a tough nut to crack." The fire roaster said gruffly: "You and I may not be able to win in a knife-to-knife, arrow-to-arrow fight. Even if Winning will also require many casualties."

Kota from the Teldu Department nodded.

Thirty years of decline cannot be completely reversed by winning a battle. If we really open up the battle and fight another battle, the Platoans will definitely win.

"So we have to go back to the path of our grandfathers and ancestors. We must be like wolves hunting yellow sheep, bite the small and weak ones first, and avoid the big and strong ones." The fire-warmer bared his teeth: "Wait for the smaller ones. The weak ones will be eaten up, and the big and strong ones will be slaughtered..."

The Kotas all felt that this was reasonable, but they also felt that the fire-warmer could not say this. Youkota thought to himself: It must be the "Echige" of the roaster who prepared the rhetoric for him.

Echige is his father, and the person who roasts the fire has passed away. The only person who can be called Echige by the person who roasts the fire is the "interpreter" who fled to the wilderness thirty years ago.

"Just tell me what to do!" The fire-warmer's uncle interrupted his nephew rudely: "Stop being reasonable!"

"Okay!" The fire-warmer didn't hesitate, he said in a serious voice: "This winter will be warm, the grass has not dried up, the horses have not lost much fat, and there is still enough energy left to fight again, and the two-legged people will never think that you and I will come again. send troops.

Zhu Keta went back and gathered the men and horses. This year, the wintering pastures will be divided according to their efforts. If the effort is greater, the fatter ones will be taken. If the effort is less, the poorer ones will be taken farther away. I have nothing else to say, let’s just throw the beans and the decision will be made! "

After saying that, the fire-warmer slammed the table, and two slaves brought in a gold vase and two bowls. The two bowls contained red beans and black beans respectively.

The person who was roasting the fire took the lead in taking a bean from each of the two bowls and walked to the gold vase. With a "clang" sound, a bean fell from his hand into the bottle.

Other Kota also pick up beans and throw pins one by one based on their status and strength.

Kotas who are not strong enough are not eligible to throw beans, and Kota who are qualified to throw beans are not allowed to abandon their votes. Each Kota must choose a side. This is the bean-tossing decision, the simple and crude but efficient Hurd voting method.

The roaster turned his back to the gold vase and waited until the bean throwing was over before turning around.

He shook the golden vase up and down three times and poured the beans in the vase into the earthenware dish.

Red beans and black beans have distinct colors. Except for two black beans on the plate, everything else is red.

"Witness the gods!" the fire-warmer roared, smashing the pottery plate, announcing the completion of the ceremony.

…

When the Terdun Department began to gather troops, Tiefeng County, a hundred kilometers away, was also mobilizing troops.

The assembly order was sent to all military villages as soon as possible. The carriage loaded with ordnance rumbled out of the arsenal, followed closely behind the messenger.

The weapons and armor of the Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment were originally kept centrally, but now they have been delegated to individuals.

In order to minimize the logistical pressure, Winters asked the soldiers to prepare their own dry food for two weeks.

Suddenly, smoke was everywhere in Juntun Village, and every household was busy grinding, kneading, and baking flour.

It was at this time that the second company commander Bart Xialing discovered a serious problem - there were too many bachelors under his command.

The Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment was reorganized from the surrendered Tiefeng County garrison. As early as when Major Ronald was recruiting, the major deliberately selected homeless people with no families to join the army.

Because refugees without family members are more dangerous, and refugees without family members need less food rations.

The new infantry regiment inherited this structure, so most of the soldiers had enough to eat and the whole family was not hungry.

On weekdays, everyone can make do with a bite. When it came time to prepare two weeks of dry food, everyone was in a hurry - including Bart Schalling himself.

After Bart Schalling walked around the village, he immediately stopped the household-by-household method of making military rations.

He gathered all the men, women, and children in the village. The second company commander had seen how the old saint Red organized the soldiers to bake dry food. He decided to imitate the practice at that time and prepare dry food for all the soldiers in the company.

Manual tasks such as mixing and grinding noodles are done by men, while delicate tasks such as baking and mixing water are left to the few women in the second village.

A temporary oven was set up in the village square, everyone worked together and sweated like rain, and the atmosphere was like a celebration.

Seeing this lively scene, Bart Xialing suddenly felt a sense of desolation.

When the second company commander was extremely busy, Winters was also very busy.

Winters left full power to the blacksmiths Boltan and Chauchaun to deal with the affairs of the blacksmiths' guild.

As the person who founded the blacksmith guild, the old blacksmith Boltan knew the guild thoroughly. Since you choose to "take it slow", then no one is more suitable to operate the knife than the old blacksmith Boltan.

After communicating with the old blacksmith, Winters's vision is no longer limited to the blacksmith guild - the core of the interests of all guilds is monopoly. There can only be one monopoly in Tiefeng County, and that is the new government.

He arranged for Charles and Shaosha to cooperate and secretly conduct statistics on all the guilds in Tiefeng County.

But all these things must make way for war. Winters arranged the assembly route for each company of the infantry regiment, fell on the bed and slept for less than two hours, when he was woken up by Charles again.

The elders of nearby villages and farmers recognized as good at farming have been summoned to Jevaudan and are waiting for the tribune to discuss the matter.

It's helpless to say that the bread has to be eaten one bite at a time, and the things have to be done in the same way.

Although the war is close at hand, the first thing Winters has to solve is the agricultural disaster caused by the warm winter.

In a certain sense, this matter is even more important than guarding against the Hurd Barbarian.

Mild winters are rare, but they happen. Regarding the early jointing of wheat, farmers have come up with all kinds of weird ways, such as holding a market in the wheat field.

A farmer from Shengke Village vowed that as long as a market is held in the wheat field, the problem of wheat seedling jointing can be easily solved.

Winters seemed to be listening attentively, nodding "hmm" from time to time. In fact, his mind had already flown to the wasteland, and his mind was filled with the terrain of Tiefeng County.

Compared to running a county, marching and fighting was a job he was better at, more comfortable and more secure.

But he was more than just a soldier - something he had realized while still in Wolf Town.

Colonel Bode was also present at this meeting.

Regarding Winters' "rebellion", Colonel Bode was noncommittal, and the two got along as harmoniously as ever, as if Winters was still a centurion of the expeditionary force.

Winters didn't take the initiative to ask.

In Winters' view, Colonel Bode's calm appearance may be filled with struggle and confusion:

He fought desperately, was captured as a slave, and returned to his motherland with his broken body, only to find that his motherland was dead. It is still controversial which of the two new republics can represent Plato; his old army has raised a rebellion flag, but it is Because of this rebellious old man, he managed to survive from the wilderness.

All emotions and grievances are entangled together, and they are constantly being cut and sorted out.

Winters had no ability to explain the situation to the colonel, so he could only wait for the colonel to figure it out on his own.

Winters invited the colonel to attend the meeting, and the colonel had no objection. Then there was a one-armed middle-aged man in the corner of the conference room who was listening silently.

Colonel Bode accompanied Winters like this, first holding a civil affairs meeting, then listening to the petitions of the citizens of Gevaudan, and then inspecting the storage situation of Gevaudan.

Before the inspection of the warehouse was completed, news came from outside the city—Samkin had just arrived on the outskirts of the city with the Wolf Town Labor Camp.

So Colonel Bode and Winters left the city without stopping to hand over the "big labor camp" to Samkin.

Previously, the prisoners of war in Warnie County were randomly assigned to various military villages to assist in autumn plowing. At the same time, the power of the military villages was also used to supervise the prisoners of war.

Now that the soldiers in each village are regrouping, the prisoners of war cannot continue to stay in each village and must be gathered again.

After all the work was done, by the time Winters dragged his tired body and Colonel Bode back to Gevaudan, it was almost dark.

The colonel seemed to be Winters' shadow all day, barely speaking, just watching silently. Many people also thought that this one-armed middle-aged man was the tribune's attendant or bodyguard.

But the day is not over yet, Andre and Mason are waiting for Winters to have a meeting at the garrison.

Colonel Bode followed Winters to the meeting, but Don Juan and Moritz did not attend - Winters did not want the colonel to know the existence of the two Veneta officers for the time being.

Lieutenant Colonel Moritz was too lazy to hold a meeting, and Don Juan had already led his light cavalry into the wilderness for reconnaissance. Both men must abstain from voting, and their absence will not affect decision-making.

How to concentrate the war horses that are sent down? Where should the baggage be accumulated? How to defend the nearly 300 kilometers of river coastline? Whether to recruit militiamen... After discussing and making decisions one after another, there was only one issue left: whether to report the enemy's situation to the New Reclamation Corps.

"It's a fart report!" Andre sneered: "It doesn't matter whether the Legion believes it or not. If they ask [How did you know about the barbarian's movements], how will we answer?

‘Another group of barbarians told us. ’

‘The rebels are colluding with the barbarians! Suppress him! ’”

After one person played two roles, Andri concluded: "Damn it, in the end it will be the Legion and the Barbarians who will beat us together."

"You can't say that." Senior Mason retorted weakly.

"Can't you say that?" Andre sneered: "We are rebels, and the Herds are barbarians. The rebels fight barbarians, and the legion will not lose if anyone dies. Just watch!"

Andre became more and more excited as he spoke: "If you ask me, not only should we not inform the New Reclamation Army, but we should also find ways to lure the barbarians to Wargne County. In terms of wealth, Wargne County is not much richer than Tiefeng County. ? Let them go dog-eat-dog! It just takes away the energy of the legion, so as not to think about us."

"You don't need to deliberately lure him to Wargne County, the monkey's ass and cheek will go there by themselves." Winters pondered: "Last time, he hit with a clenched fist and suffered a loss. This time, he must open his palm and use more force. Attack. Let us worry about one thing and lose the other. The border of the newly cultivated land is more than 700 kilometers long... No kilometer is safe."

Hearing this, Colonel Bode, who had been listening silently, suddenly said with emotion: "The offensive and defensive positions have changed."

Winters, Andre, and Mason all looked at the colonel.

Colonel Bode asked the young people bitterly: "The Teltown Department has not been touched even once in these years. Do you know why?"

Winters shook his head. How can outsiders like them know the decision-making process of the Plato Army?

"Because they are the most honest and obedient." Colonel Bode said bitterly: "In order to maintain the internal balance of power among the Heds, we attacked the Heds on the north bank and released the Heds on the south bank. At that time, the wider the border, the better. We They can strike from any point. Now it's their turn to bite us."

…

Dark clouds were over the city and a storm was coming. While Winters, Bart Shilling and many, many others were preparing for the war without sleep or food, a trivial thing happened in Gevaudan: a man returned to his home.

Aksinya, who was putting her child to bed, heard someone knocking on the door.

It was already dark, and only dissolute drunks looking to take advantage would knock on her door.

Aksinya remained silent and pretended that no one was home, but the knocking on the door continued unhurriedly.

Aksinya was a little scared. She first hid the two children in the closet, then took the poker and walked carefully to the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me," a tired voice answered.

Aksinya's heart was beating violently. She opened the door suddenly, and her husband, Ivan, stood outside the door.

The poker fell to the ground, jumped a little, and stopped moving.

There was no hug, no tears, and no smile. Aksiniya stood quietly.

At the age of seventeen, Aksinya married Ivan. In the autumn of the previous year, her father was beaten to death with the shaft of a car by her brother and mother.

So Aksiniya silently married from Wangqiao Town to Gevaudan. The day after the wedding, the newlywed husband beat his new wife severely. After having children, the violence became less frequent, but it never stopped.

During the blind date, Aksiniya might have some affection for the tall and straight Ivan. But now, she has no love left, only the instinct of survival and the habit and numbness of life.

The only light that shines into life is her adorable child. Without them, she might have died long ago.

Aksinya couldn't recognize the person outside the door: the person outside was very tall, but very thin, like a reed that could be blown down by the wind; his back was unconsciously hunched, and his shoulders were slumped. Go down.

The person outside the door seemed to be Ivan, but it seemed not.

"I..." The person outside the door licked his dry lips and spoke with difficulty: "...Have you petitioned the tribune for me?"

Aksinya didn't nod or shake her head, she just stood quietly.

The person outside the door moved his Adam's apple up and down with great effort: "Thank you."

A few drops of hot substance fell on the back of Aksiniya's hand, which were tears.

Hot tears streaked down her cheeks. The strong Aksinya bit the back of her hand, knelt on the ground, and cried bitterly.

The person outside the door hugged Aksiniya and said as if he was swearing: "I...I will never hit you again..."

"You said this." Aksinya murmured painfully: "You have said this before."

The people outside the door were trembling with tears. The person outside the door grabbed Aksiniya's hand and placed it on the mark of the Holy Emblem on her chest.

Aksinya heard the man swear: "This is the last time."

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

[Whether or not to give a scumbag a chance for redemption...it's really confusing. If Winters’ previous character was to be followed, he would kill a scumbag like Ivan without hesitation at all, and he would not worry about it afterwards]

[Ivan was captured just after "Winters realized that he had to kill with due discipline and not kill casually according to his heart." If it had been before, Ivan would have died long ago]

[So Winters himself didn’t have enough to eat at that time, but he still left a life for Ivan who wasted food]

[The author remembers that it was Samujin who said, "I think it would be better to kill them all if they are locked up and wasting food." Winters replied, "The excuse of not having food is not enough to warrant a death sentence, and it is even more untenable.\