Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The night is long and it seems like there is no end in sight.

The black war horse with a white star forehead and sandalwood spurted white foam from its mouth, its ears were tightly pulled back, its long neck stretched forward, and its heart seemed to tear open its ribs and jump out of its chest.

Winters on the horse tried his best to steady his body, breathed desperately, and stepped deeply into the stirrups with his boots.

Every time he defeated a camp, the number of people following him became fewer and fewer; every time he climbed a hillside, a rider would tilt his body and fall straight out of the saddle.

The sound of hoofbeats in my ears became thinner and thinner, while the roaring thunder ahead became more and more deafening.

Perhaps when he broke into the two campsites ahead, Winters still had a slight advantage in making a surprise attack.

But the further they go, the more prepared the Telton people are. They already knew what happened through the mouths of those who escaped. Even if no one informed them, the sound of swords clashing had already reached their ears.

There are no more surprises or unprepared attacks, only head-to-head fights one after another.

The horse leaped up the hill, and hundreds of Terton cavalry suddenly appeared in front of Winters.

Heinrich followed Winters and ran to the top of the hill. The enemy cavalry spotted Winters' flag and galloped down the opposite hillside towards him.

The Telton people did not build walls and trenches in their campsites, and holding on to them was tantamount to waiting for death. Some Kota fled immediately, but the leader of this cavalry chose to take the initiative to fight.

Winters reined in his horse and took off his helmet.

The helmet's cotton and silk lining looks like it was just fished out of the water. The same is true for the war horse. Sweat flowed down from both sides of the horse's ribs, dripping to the ground.

He looked around and counted his men, only twenty-eight of them were left, and almost all of them were wounded. Ciel was not among them, nor was Tamas among them, nor for many others.

There may be some people left behind, but they probably won't be able to catch up.

The short and fat representative and the tall and thin representative of Oxhoof Valley were also among them. They were the only civilians left among the twenty-eight riders.

"You stay," Winters said to the short, fat representative and the tall, thin representative.

After saying that, he shook the sweat out of the pads a few times, buckled the helmet on, and set up the hooks.

The squat deputy looked over Winters' shoulder as the Terton cavalry dispersed and surged up the hillside like a wave.

His dry lips opened slightly, wanting to say something. But Winters had already drawn his saber and driven his horse down the hill.

The short, fat public representative glared at Winters' back, suddenly raised his saber high, slashed hard at the horse's buttocks with the back of the saber, and galloped down the hill with gritted teeth.

The tall and thin public opinion representative ran along in a daze, and he didn't even know where he had thrown his saber. It wasn't until he was the only one left on the hill that he regained consciousness as if from a dream.

A sense of joy surged into his heart, but it was followed by a great sense of shame.

He stood there for a long time, then suddenly shouted and rushed down the hillside on his horse. Before he could run out of the sand rope, he suddenly stopped his horse again, but in the end he was unable to take another step forward. The middle-aged man, who already had a son, cried.

The distance between the two sides quickly shortened, and Winters targeted an enemy running at the front.

The man rode a tall maroon horse and brandished a scimitar, with a gold-encrusted scabbard swinging at his waist.

Not all Teltuns have swords, and the Teltuns with spears always charge in the first row. This was how Winters identified the leader of the Teltowns.

The Terton man also recognized Winters as a powerful enemy. He urged his horse to speed up and charge towards Winters.

The Tertun man lifted his butt off the saddle, tilted his upper body slightly, and raised his machete high.

Winters put the saber on his shoulder and was also ready to attack.

The cavalry passed by in an instant. But in that brief moment, the forces of man and horse will come together - not just your own, but those of your enemies.

Just if the angle of the stab is wrong, the saber can fly out of the hand and the wrist can be dislocated.

In addition to what he learned in the military academy, Winters's riding skills came more from the actual combat experience and practice after leaving the ivory tower. He already has deep knowledge of the technique of horse-riding and stabbing.

At the moment when they were separated, Winters and the Telton man swung their weapons at the same time.

Winters struck first, and his saber accurately struck the opponent's tip. With just one blow, the Telton man's palms and arms were numb.

The Teltun man's chest felt cold, and he clutched the scimitar tightly, trying to turn his back to block. At the same time, he pulled the reins hard, trying to distance himself.

But it was too late. The two sides missed each other by about half a horse's body. Winters' scimitar drew an arc and circled back above his head.

He stood in stirrups, leaned out and slashed at the opponent's back, while dragging the handle of the knife backwards.

A terrible wound was made diagonally on the Natterton's back, and he slipped heavily from the saddle like a lifeless bag of flour.

Winters no longer paid attention to the man, and after a round of hedging, the two sides fought in a melee on the hillside.

His armor was particularly conspicuous, and the second and third Teltun rushed towards him without thinking.

Winters gave the second enemy a splitting spell. Blood immediately poured out of the man's nose, ear canals, and eyes, and his body fell limply.

The third enemy did not realize what was happening and continued to urge his horse and thrust his spear towards Winters.

Winters used all his strength to tighten the reins and avoid the thrust that went straight to his heart.

Sparks flew everywhere, and the tip of the spear scraped across his left rib, leaving a slight dent on his breastplate.

Clamping the spear shaft with his left arm, Winters slashed diagonally towards the opponent's bent neck, which was wrapped in a leather neck brace.

His saber was curled, so that what should have been a fatal blow was blocked by the stiff leather neck brace. But the opponent's eyes were still blackened by the force of the blunt blow.

Chopping didn't work, so Winters thrust the blunted saber into the opponent's chest. He felt no emotion while doing it.

The opponent instinctively grasped the blade with both hands and fell from the saddle with a scream.

Winters released his hand and replaced it with the opponent's spear. It might be faster to kill the enemy with magic, but the night was far from over, and he had to save some magic power.

The Terton cavalry had already discovered that this soldier was so brave that no one dared to take the initiative to attack him again.

Winters saw a bunch of swaying red feathers in the melee. He held his spear, stabbed the horse's ribs, and charged straight towards the red feathers.

The Terdun people along the way were afraid to avoid it and gave in one after another.

The Hong Lingyu was shocked to realize that there was no one between him and the brave warrior, and he jumped on his horse and ran away without hesitation.

Seeing this scene, the Telton people's will was shaken, and they broke away from the melee and flew in all directions.

Winters urged his horses and continued the pursuit. At this moment, the black war horse with white star forehead and sandalwood he was riding on let out a shrill cry.

The horse's front legs could no longer support its body, and it fell to its knees with a thud, its chest slamming into the ground. Its body slid forward a short distance due to inertia, and the place where it contacted the ground immediately became bloody.

As if the earth suddenly collapsed, Winters sank first, and then was thrown out of the saddle.

The world was spinning and he rolled several times before he stopped. A stream of heat flowed down his forehead and into his ears, and the inside of his skull was buzzing. His shoulders, arms, neck...everywhere hurt.

Winters struggled to his feet. The horse fell to the ground, its mouth open, its hooves twitching slightly, looking at him with sad eyes, as if to say, "I can only go so far."

Hong Lingyu, who had already run some distance, was overjoyed when he saw Plato's warrior falling off his horse. Hong Lingyu shouted loudly and blew his whistle to order his followers to return.

Nearly half of the Teltown cavalry who had fled also cheered up, turned their horses and came back to fight.

Winters leaned on his spear and trudged to the horse. He did not give the horse a name. His emotions were hidden under his helmet. No one knew whether he was crying, angry, sad or numb.

There is no need for a person with emotions on the battlefield. Having emotions will make you appear weak. What is needed on the battlefield is a numb, ruthless killing machine wrapped in iron armor.

The surrounding Tiefeng County cavalry realized that Winters was in danger, abandoned the enemies in front of them, and rushed over to protect Winters regardless of their own safety.

Seeing this scene, the Telton people were even more convinced that the fallen soldier was a nobleman, and they beat the mount one after another desperately and charged at Winters.

The arrows flew with a scream, and either fell into the soil, or hit the armor and bounced away.

Winters no longer looked at the horse. He held the spear tightly, put it on his knees and broke the spear into two pieces in the middle.

Hong Lingyu was still wondering why the other party broke the spear inexplicably, and then only saw something flashing past.

The pain came later than the sight, and Hong Lingyu felt a bone-crushing pain in his heart, as if a bone had hit his chest in a round shape.

Hong Lingyu also fell off his horse.

What the surrounding Terdun people saw was another scene: after the soldier broke the spear, he threw the upper half with incredible power, knocking their Kota to the ground.

More hoofbeats were approaching from a distance - Ciel, Tamas and others who had fallen behind were gradually arriving on the battlefield.

Nothing could stop the Teltuns from rout. They fell on their horses and fled from this dead place like frightened birds.

The last thing Hong Lingyu saw before losing consciousness was the soldier walking towards him holding the other half of his spear, speaking words he couldn't understand.

What Winters actually said was "It's just you and me now."

After defeating the powerful Terton Centurions, Winters paused to gather his stragglers.

Tamas brought Winters another maroon war horse.

"Stay the wounded." Winters put on the stirrups and said in a cold and clear voice: "Send a signal to the other side and ask them to come over to pick up the people and clean the battlefield."

"yes."

After a short rest and changing horses, the cavalry attacked the enemy again.

…

Tiefeng County, Gervaudan, Mitchell Villa.

There were many iron pots set up in front of the house in Mitchell Villa, and something was cooking.

The inside of the house is almost turning into a tailor's shop, and the women are cutting the collected undyed and bleached linen and cotton into strips.

There were many clothes-drying poles set up behind the house, and strips of boiled cloth fluttered in the wind, like tassels on clothes.

Anna tied her hair with a silk scarf like a married lady, and combed everything inside and outside the courtyard - as well as three other "shops" of similar size.

"No! Madam Montagne, we are running out of firewood." A little girl with soot in her hair and cheeks ran over to Anna in a panic.

Maybe there was dust in her eyes. The little girl rubbed her eyes while talking.

"Don't be anxious, speak slowly." Anna pulled the little girl to the side, took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the latter, and asked patiently: "How could it not be? Didn't Captain Mason send two cars last night?"

Mason did send two carts of firewood last night, but the woman working here secretly took some home.

In fact, each person didn’t get much, just a handful. But you take a little, I take a little, today is not enough to burn.

The little girl didn't dare to say anything, but Anna had a clear mind and probably figured out what was going on.

"They didn't dare to come to me, so they asked you to come?" Anna asked gently.

The little girl nodded.

"You are not to blame for this matter." Anna touched the little girl's head: "Go back. I will solve it."

The little girl walked away obediently.

Gévaudan has also recently implemented a separate camp system for men and women, but the progress is not going well. In Winters' absence, Mason could not suppress the gentry and merchants in the city.

In desperation, Mason had no choice but to do the next best thing and only implement limited male-female camps among families who came to seek refuge.

Therefore, many women and girls lived in houses such as Mrs. Mitchell's house and the Navarre sisters' house.

Anna was thinking about Mason when Mason walked in from outside the courtyard.

"Mr. Mason." Anna bowed and saluted.

"Mrs. Montagne." Mason took off his hat.

"Is it Wen..." Anna asked with slightly bright eyes, but she was still a little shy to call Winters by his first name, so she changed her words: "Is there any news about Mr. Montagne?"

"Sorry, no." Mason shook his head with a hint of apology.

In fact, there was, but Mason couldn't bear to say "Winters crossed the river to fight, and the outcome is still unknown." Mason couldn't bear to say it. He would rather wait until there was a definite result.

Anna's eyes were a little dim, and she politely requested: "If you have any news, please tell me as soon as possible. Whether it is good or bad."

"Definitely, definitely." Mason replied guiltily, and he changed the subject: "Where are Mrs. Mitchell and little Ms. Catherine?"

Anna felt a little tired - there was no news after the man left. He was obviously very close, but he didn't even send a letter back.

She managed to maintain a smile: "They are preparing for another fundraiser."

"You have really helped us a lot." Mason praised from the bottom of his heart and did not hesitate to praise him: "If it were prepared by the army, I don't know how long it would take to prepare it, and the quality would also vary. There are three in a pack like this. Cleaner bandages than I’ve ever seen.”

“Just do what you can.”

"Can I help you with anything?"

"There are indeed some." Anna cheered up and returned to the role of Mrs. Montagne: "What restricts this small 'shop' now is not manpower, but raw materials and tools. More pots are needed here - four irons The pots are no longer enough, and more firewood is needed. Raw materials are also insufficient, and the fabrics obtained from donations are limited, and it is not a long-term solution..."

Mason took out his notebook, listened and took notes, nodding frequently.

"That's all for now." Anna held on to the hem of her skirt and bent her knees slightly: "Please excuse me, Mr. Mason."

Mason nodded respectfully and returned the favor: "I should do everything. As for the fabric, it may be a bit troublesome. Pots and firewood are easy to deal with. I'll send you a few carts first."

With nothing else to do, Mason said goodbye and left.

Anna looked at the skyline, her thoughts drifting to the far south.

"Where are you?"

[Thanks to the leader of the book friend [Big Fat Immortal Buddha], thank you]

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

[About bandages]

[Bandages have an interesting history, wrapping something around a wound to stop bleeding - humans have known this for a long time. It was originally made of leather strips or tops, and sometimes the leaves of various plants were also used. After the emergence of fabrics, people began to use cloth as a wrapping material]

[The Ancient Egyptian Pharmacopoeia clearly describes how to bandage a wound. They used clean unbleached linen to wrap the wound, apply a variety of herbs, and change the bandage regularly. The period for bandage replacement varies for each type of wound]

[The situation in ancient Rome was different. People there wore cotton and linen clothes, but initially they did not use cloth to bandage wounds. They mainly used thin strips made of various metals and alloys, which must have copper. The ancient Romans believed that copper could Hemostasis]

[In the late Roman period, there was a return to cloth bandages. And mainly using red cloth. But at that time, I still used whatever cloth was on hand]

[By the 18th, military doctors began to prepare clean linen in their backpacks, and housewives who took good care of themselves would also prepare a piece of clean cloth to wrap up small wounds made during daily cooking or housework. Initially burlap was used, but later it was found that muslin was more suitable for dressing wounds]

[As for gauze, it won’t appear until the end of the 18th]