Iron Powder and Spellcaster

When the morning light broke, the soldiers began to pray.

Angelou carefully washed Red Mane's back and recited in a low voice the incantation passed down by the Dussa people from generation to generation:

"...There was an iron man standing on the top of the iron pillar. The iron man was leaning on an iron staff and commanded iron tools, steel knives, sharp swords and all kinds of weapons: 'Go back to your mother earth and hide away. Servants of the Lord and my companions, flee from my horses. The shafts of arrows return to the forest, the feathers to the birds, the swim bladders to the fish'..."

The militiamen who had been languishing around the campfire all night gathered around the chaplain to receive the Last Communion.

The sound of chanting echoed and drifted in the purple mist, and people's faces were reflected in a blur of blue light.

…

At the same time, on the other side of Iron Peak, by the Big Horn River.

The dam, with some of its wooden pilings removed, has become shaky and could collapse at any time.

Captain Moreau, who is wearing a mask and is setting up the explosives, is the last person left in the dam.

On the shore, naked men worked together, shouting chants and pushing the huge triangular raft down the river.

Other farmers pushed carts and loaded stones into the raft in an orderly manner.

Out of everyone's sight, a group of fierce warriors riding Hed horses were galloping towards the dam.

…

The golden crow leaps out of the horizon, and the blurry outline of the earth gradually becomes clearer in color.

Standing on the hill controlled by the Terdun people, the Tiefeng County Army's formations could be seen at a glance.

"[Herd] Oh, if the leader of the two-legged men thinks that he can fight in the field by protecting his wings." The fire-warmer who climbed the mountain to watch the enemy dismissed it: "[Herd] Then I think he has eaten carrion and gone crazy. "

The nobles of the Teldu tribe who were wearing armor echoed and laughed wildly.

Looking down from a high position, the ant-like villains at the bottom of the mountain formed a huge array of arrows.

The west side of the Arrow Cluster Array is the foothills of Tiefeng Mountain, covered with coniferous trees and shrubs; the east side of the Arrow Cluster Array is a dense virgin forest.

Little people spread out on the road and the farmland on both sides, guarding the plains between mountains and forests.

The opponent's two wings seemed safe, but in fact, neither the mountains nor the forests could completely prevent the cavalry from outflanking.

The flat and empty farmland is undefeable - except for the trenches temporarily dug by the opponent in front of the position.

The Teldun Khan Court took action quickly, and several capable hundreds of cavalry troops left the camp with all their strength and drums, and each found their way around to the rear of the arrow formation.

The old interpreter looked at the enemy formation at the foot of the mountain, his brows furrowed.

From the forward encounter to the confrontation between the Chinese army, the opponent clearly had enough time to occupy the hill where he was - the terrain was higher and easier to defend.

However, the opponent still chose to form a formation on the ground. Why?

The old interpreter couldn't figure it out, but he didn't say anything. He was a little tired, a feeling that had become stronger since crossing the Bighorn River.

From the perspective of the Telton people, the formation of the Tiefeng County Army is like a cluster of arrows; but from the perspective of the Tiefeng County Army, their formation is more like the letter T upside down.

Winters arranged the front in battalion units. A total of twenty-seven battalions were divided into three parts: left wing, center army and right wing.

Among them, the Chinese army is the most powerful column. Each battalion is arranged in a fish scale pattern, covering each other at random.

The left and right wings are composed of [Youth Militia] and [Male Militia]. The overall position is retracted and arranged in two lines - young soldiers in front and mature soldiers in the back.

In order to prevent being outflanked by the enemy as much as possible, Winters carefully selected this place as a battlefield.

"Forming a formation on the mountain is equivalent to allowing the enemy to surround our army. If the Telduans choose to encircle us instead of attacking, our army will have difficulty maintaining supplies and will inevitably collapse."

When explaining the formation to his subordinates, Winters explained why the formation was formed on the ground:

"In the formation at the foot of the mountain, although the terrain is not conducive to our army, nearly a centaur on the enemy's right wing was either defeated by our army or trapped in Xia Tiefeng County. The enemy chief's troops are limited and it is difficult to launch a powerful roundabout."

Looking around at the eyes of his subordinates who were either eager to try or dodge uneasily, Winters inserted the dagger into the center of the map: "This narrow area between the mountains and the forest is the most suitable battlefield for defeating the Telton people in a majestic manner."

…

Mason stood on the top of the bell tower of Gevaudan Cathedral and tried his best to look into the distance.

The siege of Gévaudan has been lifted, and the streets are filled with people celebrating.

The only bridge connecting the two sides was demolished by Mason at the beginning of the siege, but fortunately the timbers were well preserved.

Mason used boats, timbers and remaining bridge pilings to build a temporary pontoon bridge on the river. Horses, weapons and militiamen were constantly passing through the pontoon bridge to reach the south bank.

The artillery captain was always calm and collected, but at this moment his anxiety almost solidified.

"When will the remaining two teams arrive?!" Mason asked through gritted teeth.

The commander of the mounted infantry group swallowed: "It shouldn't take long."

Winters's regiment of mounted infantry totaled nearly 500 men and was organized into four detachments.

Because the battle situation in Gévaudan was not urgent before, the mounted infantry brigade did not rush to Gévaudan immediately. Instead, they went to clean up the small group of Terton raiders that had infiltrated into Upper Tiefeng County. Mason also supported this. .

However, it is easy to disperse the troops, but it is difficult to assemble them.

Suddenly, the church bell rang.

The bells rang one after another as the monks celebrated the victory of the siege.

Mason yelled at the commander of the mounted infantry group: "No wait!"

"Yes!" the other party roared in reply.

Gendarmes took to the streets to disperse the citizens, Gévaudan quickly returned to martial law, and the defending militia regrouped in the square.

Mason told the crowd bluntly: “I need volunteers.”

As Mason's gaze swept across, the Gévaudan militiamen lowered their heads. They finally escaped death, and no one wanted to put themselves in danger again.

"Sir, I can't ride a horse or lift a knife." Old Priskin dragged his grandson to Mason and said, "Let him go with you."

"Count him in."

After a fierce ideological struggle, Ivan also raised his hand.

…

The sound of trumpets filled the sky, and the silhouettes of cavalry danced at the edge of the field of vision—the Teltuns began to march.

Like a shepherd separating a mixed flock of sheep, the nobles of Terdun each led their troops down the hillside, slowly approaching the people of Tiefeng County.

Looking at the barbarians all over the mountains and plains, [Monkey] and [Doug] on the left wing of the front had dry mouths, cold hands and feet, and the blood vessels in their temples were pulsing "bang bang".

The greed of cutting off one's head to receive a reward was extinguished by a bucket of ice water poured down from Duotou.

Monkey and Doug looked at each other, both seeing death in each other's eyes.

The Tertuns stayed outside the range of the artillery and spread out in a wide horizontal formation.

A Terdun light horse galloped to the front of the formation with a spear and a helmet, signaling negotiations.

…

In the center of the battlefield.

"Pay the tribute." The old interpreter repeated the conditions that were obviously not acceptable to the other party: "The Great Khan Paul will stop fighting until he dies."

The fire-warmer was not present, and a Qing Lingyu came on his behalf.

Of course, the real purpose of the negotiation is to explore the other party's true and false situation, and the actual leader is the humble old interpreter.

The fire-warmer did not expect his opponent to surrender. But it would be better if the opponent really agreed to pay tribute.

Looting is the concentration of loot from bottom to top, while tribute is the distribution of loot from top to bottom. Whenever possible, the leaders of various tribes prefer to collect tribute.

The old interpreter looked at the strange combination in front of him: a tall, thin, elegant middle-aged man, and his two fully armed guards.

The former looked nervous, holding the reins with his left hand so hard that his joints turned white, but he didn't know where to put his right hand.

On the contrary, the postures of the two guards were more comfortable and relaxed.

The old interpreter noticed that the tall and thin man glanced at the guard on the left from time to time, but he resisted and did not dare to make any big moves.

He said a few words to Qing Lingyu, and Qing Lingyu immediately pretended to yell.

"Master Tuman is asking you." The old interpreter observed carefully: "Since we are negotiating, why don't we meet in person? Instead, use the sneaky trick of a substitute?"

The tall, thin, middle-aged man——Jacob Green was shocked when he heard this.

"I don't use my real face, I'm afraid of scaring you." Winters took off his helmet slowly: "Aren't you using the same trick? Mr. Interpreter."

Just hearing the other party's voice sent a chill down the old interpreter's spine for no reason. He watched with a stiff expression as the face of the other party under the helmet was revealed bit by bit.

When the identity of the other party was completely confirmed, he felt nothing and became numb.

Qing Lingyu on the side was confused: "[Hede] Who is this person?"

"[Hedian] That champion of Plato." The old interpreter simply replied.

There is no need to explain anymore, for the Teldu people, there is only one and only one Plato champion.

Qing Lingyu took a deep breath subconsciously. Sensing the rider's panic, the war horse raised its front hooves and neighed.

"That's it, that's it!" In an instant, the old interpreter figured out all the joints and laughed uncontrollably: "You think you can win?"

"No matter who wins." Winters was unmoved and replied coldly: "You die first."

When enemies meet, there is no need to say anything.

Winters pulled the reins lightly and spurred the horse away.

Another guard riding a black horse took out a terrible head with only one ear from the saddle bag, threw it in front of the old interpreter's horse, and followed Winters away.

The old interpreter didn't need to count his ears - he didn't even need to look - to know who the head on the ground belonged to.

Red Dog is dead. The other party is not here because of Gévaudan, let alone because of countermeasures.

The other party came here to end everything completely.

…

On the way back to the central army, another soldier riding a black horse who participated in the negotiation asked Winters: "Can you see how many knives the barbarian has?"

"The number that can be seen should be around four thousand." Winters muttered: "There may be men and horses hidden on the reverse slope."

"I think it's about the same." The black-horsed soldier wore a helmet and said in a muffled voice: "Fifteen thousand infantry - half of them are farmers who have just taken up arms, and the remaining half have only fought with you for one battle - with at least Four thousand Herd barbarians are fighting in the field, are you really sure of winning?"

"Isn't there you?" Winters asked.

The black-horse soldier snorted coldly.

…

The war did not break out immediately.

The Teltowns stopped outside the range of the artillery and did not move any further—actually they were overly worried, because Winters did not have a cannon.

Most of the Terdun people were dismounted and resting, and many even took off their saddles, confronting the Tiefeng County army not far away.

If the fire-warmers pressed down on the entire army in a fit of rage, this battle might be able to end happily.

The fire-warmer's patience has obviously improved, but Winters is no longer the reckless centurion he once was.

"Give me the order." Winters was not in a hurry: "Each battalion took turns to move out each company and continue digging trenches."

Monkey and Doug, who were sitting and resting, received the tools, followed the company commander into the trench in a daze, and resumed the work of digging soil.

"This is not a fucking war!" The monkey's nervousness has long since dissipated, and he cursed and waved his pickaxe: "The stupid barbarians won't come to fight, and they won't leave. The same goes for you, too! If the barbarians don't come to fight us, we will Go fight the barbarians! Dig holes! Dig holes! Dig holes! Dig holes endlessly!”

After a few strokes, the monkey was too lazy to move. Doug, on the other hand, was as quiet as ever and just focused on working.

The surrounding "prime-age soldiers" didn't bother to pay attention to this grumbling boy. In the company of prime-age soldiers, the two poor boys who were thrust in were complete outsiders.

Regardless of the purpose of the fire-warmers, Winters' response strategy can be explained in one sentence: If you don't attack, I will continue to fortify the position.

The Tiefeng County people's action of digging trenches soon triggered a chain reaction.

Hundreds of Terdun cavalry rushed out of the formation like arrows and rushed straight towards the Tiefeng County central army.

The Teltun people who had not been dispatched also mounted their horses one after another. The originally loose Teltun army suddenly gathered strength and creaked, and could shoot a fatal blow at any time.

"Yellow flag." Winters ordered calmly.

A yellow pennant was quickly raised on the flagpole to warn the entire army.

The huge infantry formation was like an awakening giant, coming to life in an instant.

"Yellow flag!" The ordering soldiers from each battalion shouted with all their strength: "Yellow flag!"

The militiamen looked at each other, but Winters' battalion and company commanders knew what they had to do.

"Pick up your weapons!" The commander of the first front waved his cane: "Move quickly!"

Amid roaring and scolding, the young soldiers on the first front stood up in a hurry, preparing to face the enemy.

"Here we come! The barbarians are here!" The monkey in the trench threw away his pickaxe and crawled out of the trench with a loud cry.

A black shadow came towards me, and with a "pop" sound, the monkey was forcefully beaten back into the trench with a vine whip.

The company commander holding the cane whip shouted: "Keep digging trenches! No movement is allowed without orders! No sound is allowed!"

The monkey was rolling on the ground in pain, with blood, tears and snot everywhere, and screamed in agony.

"Shut up!" The company commander was furious and immediately drew out his saber: "Do you want to die? Shut up!"

The monkey couldn't hear what the company commander was saying, and he was still crying.

Seeing that the company commander's eyes were obviously serious, Doug grabbed a handful of soil and stuffed it into his friend's mouth in desperation, causing the monkey to cough violently.

Similar things are happening across the battlefield.

It was only thanks to the execution ability of commanders at all levels that the Tiefeng County Army did not fall into disorder and chaos.

Therefore, when the young soldiers on the first front entered combat mode, the mature soldiers on the second front still sat firmly on the ground to rest, and did not even stop digging trenches.

And every commander emphasized one word repeatedly - quiet.

No war cries, no cheers, no shouting, this is how the army fights.

"Lance!" The order sounded from all over the Chinese army: "Leave it flat!"

Thousands of warriors neatly leveled their long spears, pointing directly at the enemy. From a distance, they looked like rolling waves of wheat.

The Terton cavalry split into two at the tip of the central wedge formation, like water spread by a sharp blade.

They swept through the formation, used their riding and shooting skills, and galloped close to the edge of the trench towards the left and right flanks of the Tiefeng County Army.

"Fire!"

The musketeers of the Tiefeng County Army fought back, and one after another the Terton cavalrymen were shot and fell off their horses.

"Green flag! Left and right wings!" Winters saw the enemy turning to both sides and ordered: "Let the light troops come out!"

Not only did Winters have no artillery, he didn't even have many muskets.

He preferred to use musketeers intensively rather than spreading salt, so only the Chinese army had a complete company of musketeers.

The melee troops on both wings could only rely on light troops using bows, arrows, javelins and slings to provide cover.

Faced with the power of Terdun's cavalry charge, the lines of the young soldiers on both wings wavered. If there hadn't been a trench in front of them as a barrier, many militiamen might have thrown away their weapons and fled.

It was only thanks to the control of the company commander and sergeants that the first front line did not collapse on the spot.

The green square flag was raised on the flagpole and the snare drum sounded.

Hundreds of light infantry rushed out from the channel of the trench in front of the first battle line, struggling to throw javelins and stones at the Teltown cavalry.

Another group of adults who could control longbows stayed behind the ditch to guide the bows and shoot arrows.

The light soldiers are specially selected to serve as adults aged sixteen or seventeen and a half. Although their strength has not yet matured, they are the bravest and most reckless age.

Some daring light soldiers even wanted to drag away the bodies of the Tertun people. Perhaps in their desperation, they forgot that all they needed was the head.

Being entangled by light soldiers, the Teltown cavalry had no time to shoot the militiamen behind the ditch. They had too few troops and did not dare to charge directly into the formation. They could only conduct a little trial.

Looking at the motionless second front of the Tiefeng County Army, the old interpreter on the hill had no expression on his face.

Gravel will be easily blown away by the wind, but if it is put in a pocket, even cannonballs will not be able to do anything to them.

The old interpreter looked far into the distance and saw that the sun had already risen above the treetops - it was really a nice sunny day.

[This chapter requires a map, I will draw it right away]

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