Iron Powder and Spellcaster

For Winters, it seemed like he had closed his eyes for less than a second before Ciel woke him up.

"Brother!" Ciel shook Winters anxiously: "Wake up!"

Winters had a headache and couldn't breathe smoothly: "What? How long have I been sleeping?"

"A beacon has been lit in Shovel Harbor!" Ciel helped Winters up: "You slept for less than two hours."

"Shovel Harbor?"

"right!"

"war?"

"Yes! It's definitely Fenghuo! I confirmed it!"

"Don't worry." Winters fell back on the bed: "Sleep."

Ciel was stunned for a moment, Winters had fallen asleep.

"Brother!" The worried Ciel tried to wake Winters up for the second time. He was anxious and angry: "The mayor may not be a good person, but Shovel Port is our friendly force no matter what! If Shovel Port is lost, Isn’t this the same as letting the Huds in? Wake up..."

After being forcibly awakened twice in a row, Winters slowly sat up from the bed like a puppet.

Charles didn't dare to speak anymore.

Winters leaned on his knees and supported his forehead, and a painful groan came from his chest: "Water."

Ciel hurriedly brought water over, and Winters drank it all in one gulp.

The cold water made Winters feel sick to his stomach, but he felt much more conscious.

"Don't worry about the beacon fire in Shovel Harbor." Winters lit the oil lamp casually, his voice a little hoarse: "It will go out on its own."

Just as Charles was about to ask, he heard heavy footsteps downstairs.

The visitor rushed upstairs and went straight to Winters' residence. He knocked on the door first and then entered the room - it was Heinrich.

"Sir." Heinrich reported calmly: "The beacon in the direction of Shovel Harbor has just disappeared! I'm afraid the beacon tower there has been pulled out."

"How could it be pulled out?" Winters laughed helplessly: "The people from Shovel Harbor killed it themselves."

Not only Charles was confused, but Heinrich also looked puzzled.

"Are the beacon towers along the way still there?" Winters asked.

"Still."

"They will be wiped out one after another." Winters was sitting on the bedside. Although he was very uncomfortable, he looked determined: "The messenger from Shovel Port will come over soon and inform Gévaudin that [the barbarians have been annihilated, Shovel Harbor is safe and sound], don’t worry.”

Seeing Charles and Heinrich standing speechless, Winters sighed and pointed to the bed and chair: "Sit."

The two of them sat down obediently.

"Have you ever seen a pack of wolves hunting?"

Charles nodded and Heinrich shook his head.

"Prey is scarce in winter, and wolves must work together to hunt large animals to survive." Winters patiently explained to his most trusted 'attendants': "But the wolves will not rush in recklessly. Instead, they will get as close as possible first. Prey, then observe and select targets - usually weak, old and frail individuals, and finally take action."

Ciel reacted quickly: "You mean...monkey butt face is testing?"

"Whether it's a test or not, there won't be many troops." Winters yawned: "Otherwise, there would be no news from Andre and Mr. A."

Charles asked eagerly: "But what if there is something wrong with Lieutenant Cellini? Or in a more serious situation, they are wiped out..."

"It's possible, it's good to think about it." Winters leaned a pillow on his back and reminded happily: "But don't worry, don't think about how the Telton barbarians fight, first think about how they maintain the army. You know Hurd How did people gather?"

This time Charles and Heinrich both shook their heads.

"It's no different from the imperial nobles. The small Kota takes the guards, subjects and slaves to find the middle Kota, and the middle Kota takes the troops to find the big Kota - that is, the monkey butt face. How much does this process cost? time?"

Charles and Heinrich shook their heads again.

"I don't know either." Winters chuckled.

Ciel's breath was stagnant, and Heinrich's face turned slightly red.

"But it won't be easy, because the Hud people have to prepare their own rations." Winters' expression suddenly changed: "Now the weather is getting colder, the pasture is withered, and the horses will lose weight from eating from morning to night every day, let alone marching. . And the drier the grass, the larger the pasture area each horse needs every day. If you were like monkeys, would you gather many war horses in one place?"

"No." Charles shook his head.

"What about you?" Winters asked Heinrich.

Heinrich struggled to speak: "No."

Winters guided the two of them: "Then if you are roasters, what is your most appropriate strategy?"

"Spread the horses out to eat grass." Charles replied quickly: "The more horses there are in one place, the less they will be able to eat. And we have to walk slowly to prevent the horses from getting too tired. It is best to eat all the way - —It’s like herding!”

Heinrich nodded silently.

"Then do you think the barbarians encountered in Shovel Harbor will be the main force of the Telton tribe?"

Charles replied hesitantly: "Probably...no?"

Winters was noncommittal and continued to ask the two attendants: "If you were me, what would be your first move?"

"Cross the river and take the initiative to beat them before they gather?" Charles asked tentatively.

Winters let out a long sigh and hit Ciel hard on the head: "What should I ask you to think about first? Whatever the people of Teltown lack the most, you must make them lack even more!"

Ciel held his head and cried in pain.

"Destroy the pasture," Heinrich whispered.

Winters sat up again and nodded approvingly: "Not bad, how to destroy it?"

"fire."

"Yes." Winters patted Heinrich on the shoulder: "This is the first step to deal with the Tertun people. The enemy has many soldiers and we have few; the enemy is strong and we are weak; the enemy attacks and we defend. .

We must first find ways to weaken the enemy before we can fight. Aren't monkey-butt faces called fire-warmers? Just in time to warm him up - the two lieutenants were doing this in no man's land. "

Charles asked with a grimace: "What about Shovel Harbor? Just ignore it?"

"Don't worry about it." Winters waved his hand: "The mayor of Shovel Harbor is a veteran of Dusac, and he has thousands of strong refugees in his hands. Isn't he busy training the refugees recently? With two brigades of militiamen in hand, if the company If we can’t block the mouth of the river, then we should die as soon as possible.”

"If he dies, he will die. What will happen to the people in Shovel Harbor?" Charles couldn't bear it: "Should we assemble the troops first?"

"Even if we want to send troops to support, we have to wait until dawn. Marching at night is not feeding meat into the wolf's mouth?" Winters knocked Ciel on the head again: "Let's talk about tomorrow's matters tomorrow. Even if we have to fight tomorrow, today You must have a good rest at night.”

Ciel held his head and said "Oh".

"Let me tell you, what the Shovel Harbor side is most afraid of right now is the 'reinforcements'." Winters sneered: "They are afraid that I will take the opportunity to send troops to occupy Shovel Harbor. With the barbarians in front and the rebels behind, it will be difficult to fight. . So let’s simply stay still and let them concentrate on dealing with the Hurds. We’ll know how the battle goes in the morning.”

Charles and Heinrich raised their hands in salute.

Winters unbuttoned his clothes - he had not taken off his clothes because he was too tired when he went to bed - and said: "I guess... the messenger from Shovel Harbor is coming towards Gevaudan. It must be a great victory, so the garrison doesn't have to worry. Don’t come to help, huh.”

Seeing that Winters was going to bed, Charles and Heinrich prepared to leave.

Winters stopped the two of them: "When this war is over, I plan to open a military school. The students... are tentatively rated as centurion-level officers. Do you want to go?"

Both Charles and Heinrich were stunned.

"You two can't always be my guards." Winters said with a smile, "Do you want to lead troops?"

Ciel's eyes suddenly turned red: "I will be your guard for the rest of my life."

"Don't rush to answer, think about it slowly. Anyway, we have to solve the problem of monkey's butt and face first." Winters pushed the two attendants out of the door: "Unless the barbarians break into Jevaudan, you are not allowed to disturb my sleep again! "

Charles and Heinrich failed to recover from the shock. They stood at the door looking at each other for a long time before tiptoeing downstairs.

…

Early morning, Shovel Harbor.

Mr. Alpha got off his horse and walked into the town church with his sword in hand. His face was hidden under his helmet, and his plate breastplate was stained with blood.

The church is the tallest and strongest stone building in Shovel Harbor. The large beacon tower is located on the church bell tower. It naturally became a command post during the war.

Mr. Alpha passed through the altar and entered the spiral staircase, heading straight to the roof.

Mayor Portal was on the roof.

As soon as they met, Mr. Alpha asked Portal directly: "Did I say, 'You are not allowed to light the beacon tower without my consent'?"

His voice came out from the helmet, sounding a little muffled.

"Seeing the beacon fire on the other side of the river, the boys guarding the beacon tower panicked and lit it up." Potal pointed to the gray-faced young men in front of him: "I'm also teaching them a lesson. ."

Beacon fire is a system. Specifically, beacon towers are large and small, divided and general.

There is a small beacon tower on the river bank, and a large beacon tower on Shouzigang Church.

If the large beacon tower does not move, the information will be controlled within Shovel Harbor; if the large beacon tower is lit, Jevaudan will receive a warning.

After sending away the men guarding the beacon tower, Portal asked eagerly: "How is the battle going?"

"Everything that can be solved has been solved." Mr. Alpha took off his helmet and shook off the sweat from his hair: "Some remnants of the enemy ran into the forest, and some took advantage of the chaos to break through and ran east. There are about a dozen in total. ."

"The Barbarian is really here!" Potal gritted his teeth and slapped his thigh. He sincerely thanked Mr. Alpha: "Thank you for being here."

Mr. Alpha shook his head expressionlessly.

Portal didn't pay much attention to guarding against the barbarians. According to his logic, how could the Hedians dare to come again after they were killed and defeated in September?

On the contrary, Mr. Alpha is very serious. He personally arranged the defenses and beacon towers along the Glorious River in Shovel Harbor.

After receiving the beacon fire alarm this evening, Alpha also went to support immediately.

Time, the key is time.

Time is not on the side of the Teltown people:

The water surface of Guanghui River is wide, and every time a sheepskin raft crosses the river, it will be washed far downstream, and it needs to be carried back upstream by horse, which will delay a lot of time;

Time is not on the side of the shovel Hong Kong people either:

The crossing point chosen by the Teltown people was forty kilometers away from Shovel Harbor. Even if an adult keeps walking, it would take a day to walk 40 kilometers.

So it's a race and time only favors the faster one.

So Alpha chose to jump ahead - time also favors those who prepare in advance.

The Shovel Harbor militia was divided into six teams by Alpha and distributed throughout the river. Through careful planning, Alpha kept the Shovel Harbor militiamen within two hours of any point on the river bank.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this.

Needless to say, the advantage is that Shovel Harbor's defense becomes extremely weak.

Now that Shovel Harbor's attention is focused on the river bank, it is equivalent to exposing its back to the tip of Gévaudin's knife.

You must know that Port Shovel is less than 40 kilometers away from Gévaudan, and Gévaudan has cavalry...

"Has the messenger been sent?" Alpha held his helmet between his legs.

"Sent. I have already told Gévaudin that we are safe here and do not need any support." Portal wiped the sweat from his forehead: "How about taking the troops back? We suffered a defeat tonight, He The German barbarians should not come again. And the more we prevent the rebels from coming, the more likely they will come. Right now, it is more important to deal with the rebels."

"It took a lot of effort to send the militia everywhere, and it is even more difficult to collect them." Alpha shook his head: "What if the Hud people observe our movements and cross the river again? We failed to destroy their boat."

Potal asked impatiently: "What if the rebels attack us?"

"The leader of the rebels knows how to handle things." Alpha smiled: "He is not a despicable person."

…

Early in the morning, outside the north gate of Jevaudan.

"Open the door! Open the door!" A veteran rider slapped the door frantically: "I have urgent military information to report to the garrison officer!"

The city wall of Gevaudan is very short, but it is not easy to climb over.

"What's the fuss about?" the ten-capion commander at the top of the city scolded the visitor: "See your Excellency the military tribune, wait until tomorrow morning!"

"I have an urgent military situation!" the rider shouted, "I am the messenger from Shovel Harbor!"

"That's not possible!" the tenth captain replied: "Who knows if you are a spy of the barbarian?"

"Then you put the hanging basket down and I'll climb up!"

“There’s no hanging basket.”

"Put the rope down and I'll send the letter up."

"No rope."

The messenger from Shouzi Port stood there for a long time, then suddenly pointed at the top of the city and cursed: "You are sincerely refusing to let me in. It's an urgent military situation, can you afford to delay it?"

The ten-capion commander at the top of the city didn't talk nonsense. He waved his hand and pointed seven black holes at the intruder.

"The tribune of Montagne said." The ten-capion looked at the messenger at the bottom of the city: "Anyone who disturbs his sleep will be killed."

…

Winters slept peacefully for the rest of the night because no one bothered him again.

But he still couldn't sleep much, and his habit made him wake up naturally at dawn.

After freshening up, he cheered up and went to Anna's apartment to have breakfast.

"The Montagne couple" are currently openly separated, and breakfast is a rare time for him to spend time with Anna.

However, there were clear distinctions on the table. The women's food was quite rich, but Winters' plate only had two pieces of black bread - the standard ration for the Tiefeng County army.

Catherine looked at Winters with her chin propped up, and said in a half-admiration, half-joking tone: "You are really good at setting an example."

Winters was particularly bad at dealing with little Ms. Navarre, so he smiled and nodded without saying anything.

Anna gently stepped on her sister's feet and poured some warm water for Winters.

"Are you going to stay at South Bank all day today?" Anna asked softly.

Winters replied guiltily: "Probably lately."

Ciel knocked on the door and came in, and reported to Winters: "The messenger from Shovel Harbor is here."

"When did you come?"

"Last night, I waited until now. Do you want to see me?"

"not see."

"He came with a letter."

"No."

"Send him away?"

"Ask him to bring a message to Portal." Winters gnawed on the hard black bread: "'Send twenty heads.'"

[Late, sorry again]

[Recommend a book written by a book friend, "Saving Nuwa from the Immortal Sword\