Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Bighorn River, by the floating bridge.

A thin man wearing a Hurd robe stared at the tips of his boots and said intermittently to another group of ragged men: "King Khan praised us... You have done a good job. After the strike, we will give you felt tents, cattle and sheep." ...and female slaves..."

Why do men suffer so much when they are clearly rewarded?

They had no joy or pride. Most of them had numbness in their eyes, and a few had anger and unwillingness written on their faces.

Another thin, masked man ripped off his scarf and spat hard.

The spitting sound was not loud, but the thin man wearing Hurd's robe felt as if he had been stung by a wasp.

He suddenly raised his head, glanced at the people in front of him, and shouted hysterically: "How dare you run away! Don't do it! Why do you blame me? What do you hate? You treat me like the Hud's dog, but who the hell cares? Me! You..."

The masked man who took off his scarf walked out of the crowd, walked up to the man in Hurd's robe, and said coldly: "That's enough."

Everyone who looks directly at the masked man's face will be deeply shocked.

Because where the masked man's nose should have been, there was only a terrible scar and two holes for air leakage.

If you look carefully, you can't find the ears that should be there in the masked man's hair.

The masked man didn't have any congenital defects, his nose and ears were cut off.

The Heds don't chop off the hands or cut off the ankles - they keep them for work. Therefore, for escaped slaves, they would cut off an organ that did not hinder their work or cauterize them until they were executed.

The thin man wearing Hart's robe did not dare to look at the masked man. His body trembled, and he stopped speaking in an instant, tears welling up: "Captain..."

The masked man wrapped his scarf again and his eyes dimmed: "I have long ceased to be your captain."

On the wide Bighorn River, a pontoon bridge spans both banks.

The natural chasm turned into a thoroughfare. Hundreds of soldiers and war horses were crossing the pontoon bridge into Tiefeng County. There were shouts and curses in Hirdian everywhere. Only this small group of people spoke with a Platuan accent. lingua franca.

Suddenly, among the men in ragged clothes, someone knelt down and cried loudly, crying so sadly and sadly.

Why is he crying?

Is it because you can’t go home even though you have returned to your hometown?

Or is it because he built this pontoon bridge with his own hands?

…

The beacon smoke had not yet reached the Cow Hoof Valley, and the riders asking for help were still galloping on their horses, but Winters had already learned about the existence of the pontoon bridge from Tai Chi.

Technological diffusion is one of the side effects of war.

During the Battle of the Great Wilderness, many craftsmen and officers accompanying the Plato Expeditionary Force were captured. As a result, the Terdun tribe mastered the technology of using prefabricated parts to erect pontoon bridges and even higher levels.

Winters could now finally understand what the knocking sound had been all night long - it was preparing for the construction of the pontoon bridge.

Winters's bargaining chip was a multiple-choice question: Taichi could choose to believe that the head belonged to the Firewarmer, or not.

If Tai Chi didn't believe that the Fire Roarer was dead, then Winters would kill all of Tai Chi's tribe anyway, and then turn around to deal with the Fire Roaster;

Or... Taichi chooses to believe in the news of Fire Roaster's death, lay down his weapons and surrender, Winters gets time, and Taichi and his men stay alive.

Given the choice between the two, Taichi chose himself without hesitation.

The prerequisite for negotiation is trust. Does Taichi trust Winters? I'm afraid not. Same goes for Winters.

But when you are drowning, you can only hold on to the rope even if it is thrown by the enemy.

Now that he had made up his mind to turn his back on the Fire Keeper, Tai Chi immediately revealed the Fire Keeper's plan, and his decisiveness surprised even Winters.

There was a lack of fodder in the Terdun tribe and it was difficult for the war horses to travel long distances.

Therefore, from the beginning, the fire-warmer only sent part of the main force to make a detour, while his direct subordinates retreated to the unburned pastures to wait for fighters.

Perhaps the presence of the fleet disrupted the fire-warmer's "narrowness", or perhaps the fire-warmer had a darker intention.

When Taichi led his troops to rush to the east bank of the Big Horn River and restrained all Winters' troops, the elite of the Firewarmers' sweat tent did not appear.

Where are the fire-warmers? Tai Chi no longer cares. Winters could roughly guess it, but he had to pacify the remaining Taichi troops first, and then he could free up his hands to deal with the Firewarmers.

After high-fiving and swearing an oath, Winters followed Taichi alone into the camp of the remnants of Teltown.

Taichi held the symbol of the Khan - a blue nine-horsetail tapestry and the head of the fire-warmer, and announced the death of the fire-warmer to the Teldu people.

The head is fake, but the banner is real.

Khan Dazhu was originally left in the west bank camp to serve as a suspect by the fire-warmers. During the second battle across the Big Horn River, the camp on the west bank of the Teltown tribe was defeated by Winters, and the quiver guarding the big banner fled with the flag.

Winters pursued the quiver warrior for fifty miles and finally captured the large quiver from under a corpse.

With the genuine cyan nine-horse tail tape and Taichi's recognition, the fake head became the real one.

The Terdun people passively accepted the news that the fire-warmer was dead. They had been beaten to the point of losing their will to fight. Their greed for plunder dissipated, leaving only the instinct to survive.

Winters, as "Hestas", swore an oath with Taichi in public, agreeing not to harm those who surrendered.

The surrender ceremony was very simple. Winters personally sat in the Tellun camp. The Tellun people walked out of the camp one after another, leaving weapons, armor and horses in front of his flag, and took away a piece of bread.

The prisoners were escorted to the south bank of the Pangtuo River - there were no extra manpower to guard them.

Winters gave Taichi a hundred horses and fifty bows, but still asked Taichi to restrain his tribe.

After doing these things, Winters summoned all his commanders, village chiefs, town chiefs and squire representatives.

There was silence in the big tent, and the air was as cold as an ice cellar. Everyone who walked into the tent happily noticed the strange atmosphere.

Cheers came one after another into the tent - the surviving Tiefeng County people were celebrating their victory.

Under a series of questioning glances, Winters calmly told everyone: "This battle has not been won yet, and the elites of the Khan tent of Telduin may be attacking Jewardan."

…

Gevaudan, another ordinary day.

The recent issues of "War Communications" have not been sent back for a long time. Although people are eager to know the latest war situation, everyone has to live their lives as usual.

Compared with the news in Pangtuo River, the police situation on the north bank is more concerned by citizens.

It is said that a small group of barbarian cavalry sneaked into Beiba Town and were burning, killing and looting in the countryside.

General martial law has been implemented in Gevaudan, the citizens are in panic, and the price of flour has begun to rise again.

On the contrary, the farmers and townspeople who fled to Gevaudan have long been numb to such news. They work hard to earn bread, and the rise in flour prices has nothing to do with them.

The walls of the new city have been largely completed, but the refugees have no time to spare.

According to the plan of Tribune Mason, various labor teams began to build additional convex forts outside the new city, and laid out sewer lines, paved roads, and built houses inside the new city.

The "new city" that originally looked like a large military camp really has some of the fireworks of the city.

The new city is like a large construction site. Among the refugees who are working hard, there is a very inconspicuous man with one ear.

The one-eared man rarely speaks, so many times others think he is mute. But he worked hard, so it didn't matter whether he was mute or not.

When the bread was distributed at noon that day, the one-eared man met another man and had a few words with each other.

That night, Ivan, who was promoted to the position of temporary peace officer, hurried to the officers' apartment, carefully woke up Tribune Mason, and reported worriedly: "Sir, someone is missing again!"

At this moment, the one-eared one in Ivan's mouth had arrived in Forge Township, twenty kilometers away.

His name is not One Ear either. In the past, he was called [Ilse]. Perhaps some people in Wargne County remember this notorious gangster and smuggler.

"Big Thief Ilse" was wanted for robbing a military vehicle. He eventually fled into the wilderness and disappeared without a trace. But his family members were all imprisoned.

Nowadays, he more often goes by the Khedic name [Bruhe], which means red dog.

Red Dog knelt on one knee, stared at the toe of his boot, and was describing the details of the new city of Gevaudan: "...the leader stationed in Gevaudan is named 'Mason'..."

The people standing in front of him were none other than the person warming the fire and the old interpreter.

"Mason?" The fire roaster interrupted the red dog: "What do you mean?"

Red Dog racked his brains to explain: "It means stone masons and builders who play with stones to build houses."

"What? Is he a stonemason?" asked the fire-warmer.

"The name of the two-legged man is different from that of other tribes, and has lost its specific meaning." The old interpreter opened his eyes and said slowly: "You continue to talk, pick the key points - let's talk about city defense first."

Red Dog picked up a branch and sketched on the ground: "There was originally no city on the south bank of Jevaudan. Now this city was newly built by the stonemason leader, and all the people, animals, goods, and food are collected in it."

"How many people are there? How much wealth is there?" The fire-warmer's pupils expanded slightly.

"There are thousands of people, both men and women. They fled to the new city, taking their valuable belongings with them. There was also a lot of food. The food shipped from neighboring counties was stored in the new city on the south bank to supply the people in the new city. Transported towards the south.”

"How high is the wall?"

"Not high, very short, only a person and a half tall." Red Dog pointed at the connection between the city wall and the river with a branch: "And there is a weak point, right here."

"Weakness?" The fire roaster stared.

Red Dog said as if giving advice: "The stonemason leader leaned against the river bank and only built half a circle of city walls. There are no high walls or trenches on the side of the river. I guess... we can wade across."

"How can we wade into the water when it's so cold?" The old interpreter immediately scolded him in a deep voice, and then asked, "How many people are guarding the city?"

"There are no defenders. The defenders of the city have all gone to the south." Red Dog shook his head vigorously, suddenly raised his eyes to look at the fire-warmer, and then lowered his eyes quickly: "The Khan can advance quickly, before the defenders can react in time, Attack it in one fell swoop.”

There was a hint of dissatisfaction in the old interpreter's eyes, but he remained calm.

"Have they found you?" the fire-warmer asked Red Dog.

"Absolutely not!"

"Have you found anyone else?" the fire-warmer asked again.

"nor."

"Very good, you go down and rest." The fire-warmer took out a gold medal and threw it in front of the red dog.

The red dog picked up the gold medal and gave it back to the fire-warmer: "Thank you Khan, I don't want the gold medal."

The fire-warmer's face darkened: "Then what do you want?"

"I would like to be a slave in the Khan's house! Be your eyes that see during the day and your ears that listen at night!"

The old interpreter seemed to be smiling but not smiling.

The fire-warmer was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly: "Then you are allowed to stay with me and become a slave."

The red dog almost put his head between a pair of boots, trying desperately to thank him.

"Just get down."

The red dog left with great gratitude. After leaving the sight of the fire-warmer and the old interpreter, his smile quickly disappeared, as if the person who was groveling just now was not him.

Late that night, the main force of Teldun Khan's account, who had just arrived in Forge Township, rushed towards the new city of Rewardan without stopping.

At the same time, the regrouped Tiefeng County troops also moved towards Jevaudan.

[This chapter is theoretically the update at the weekend, to make up for the outstanding debt]

[Perhaps the update at noon is expected to be resumed? ]

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