Iron Powder and Spellcaster

When someone comes, someone leaves.

It had been less than ten days since the fall of the Teldun Khan Court, and the remnants of the enemy had not yet been completely wiped out, but many fleeing civilians could not wait to embark on their way home.

On the roads in Middle Tiefeng County and Lower Tiefeng County, groups of men, women, the elderly and children trudged towards their homes.

Their houses may have been burned to ashes, and their caches of food may have been plundered. Why they were in such a hurry to return home, no one can tell.

Perhaps there is a weak but clear voice in everyone's heart: "As long as you go home, there is always a way."

In addition to the people who returned home, a considerable number of people chose to stay in Shengke Town.

Most of those who stayed were young and strong, and the vast majority were "militiamen", many of whom had participated in previous wars.

Although the war was over and the militia forces were officially disbanded, there were still many militiamen staying in the military camps and unwilling to leave.

Because as long as you stay for one day, you can at least have two meals a day.

But there may well be another reason why the militiamen stayed.

"Before the Sovereignty War, Veneta's large and small commercial city-states all relied on mercenaries to fight their wars." Antonio said slowly: "There is a very common situation in mercenary groups - although many veterans curse fighting, they stay in the corps all their lives. Some Veterans save enough money to remove their armor and return to their fields, and eventually return to the battlefield. No one can explain the reason for this."

Antonio went on to explain: "Comradeship is something indescribable. People who have faced death side by side will naturally have a certain bond. I have seen soldiers abandon their wounded companions, and I have seen soldiers risking their lives to save them. Comrades. Whether this bond is strong or weak, it is real. Many veterans do not want to talk about the brutal battles they experienced, but they miss the days they endured with their brothers in the same camp."

"That's why I said that although your army is poorly trained and equipped, it is very energetic." Antonio looked at Winters: "It is not an army that hates each other, is at the end of its rope, and will disintegrate at the slightest push. An army. Weapons can be bought and skills can be practiced, but if an army has no soul, it has no soul. It would be a pity to disband like this."

…

Not only did some people choose to stay, but more hungry people were gathering towards Shengke Town from all directions.

Women, children, sick people, disabled people...all kinds of people have only one thing in common, that is, they all have nothing because of the destruction of war.

As the base camp and baggage accumulation place of the Tiefeng County army, Shengke Town stores a large amount of food and supplies.

Driven by hunger, these poor people set up tents outside the town of Shengke and wandered around the military camp and the town every day, looking for food from the dregs leaking from the army's fingers.

It was at this time that a short man with an unattractive appearance approached Monkey and Doug in the military camp.

"Why haven't you two gone home yet?" The short man smiled shyly and handed over a greasy paper bag: "Would you like some scones?"

Doug took the paper bag and did not open it. He just stared at the short man in confusion.

"Who the hell are you?" The sleepy monkey poked his head out of the tent and asked with an unkind expression.

The short man explained hurriedly: "I just want to ask why you two don't go home."

"Do you care?!" Monkey took the paper package from Doug's hand, opened it and saw that it was a pancake, and immediately wolfed it down: "What does it have to do with you?"

The short man licked his lips and plucked up the courage to ask: "Are you two homeless? Your parents are dead, and you have no house or farmland. You have nowhere to go?"

The sore spot was poked, and the monkey's anger suddenly surged up.

He suddenly jumped out of the tent, grabbed the short man by the collar, and cursed viciously: "You're looking for a fucking beating!"

"No, no, no." The short man shook his head desperately: "Everyone with a family has left, so I want to ask you two, do you have nowhere to go?"

The monkey screamed in anger, raised his arm and was about to slap the other person in the face.

The short man subconsciously protected his head, shrank his neck, and closed his eyes tightly.

Doug grabbed his friend's arm and separated the two of them with his body. He asked the short man: "What's the matter with you?"

The frightened short man suddenly fell in love with the thick-lipped honest young man who saved him. He stammered and explained: "Roussillon said you two are quite good, so I came to see you."

Roussillon was previously Monkey and Doug's sergeant.

Upon hearing this name, the monkey's attitude suddenly softened and even became a little timid: "Sergeant Lu Xirong... who are you?"

The short man replied sheepishly: "They are my subordinates."

The monkey's knees felt a little sore for a moment, and his head felt like it had been hit with an iron bone, making a buzzing sound.

Doug grabbed his friend and asked the short man in a low voice: "Why did you come to us?"

"I just want to ask you two." The short man scratched the back of his head: "Since you have nowhere to go, are you willing to serve as soldiers? It's not a militia, it's the Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment - the real land-granting soldiers. "

The monkey's body stiffened, his jaw trembled, and he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

Doug frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

"Me?" the short man replied: "My name is Peter Burnier."

He said with a bit of pride: "The last name of Bunir was given to me by Lord Blood Wolf himself."

A chill rose up from the monkey's tailbone, and he stood upright with a start: "A Thousand Acres?! Are you a Thousand Acres?! That legendary blood wolf champion who received a Thousand Acres reward?!"

"No, no, no, there is no thousand acres - in fact, there are only more than 900 acres." Shorty Peter explained hurriedly, and he sighed helplessly: "This nickname... is getting more and more exaggerated as it spreads."

…

…

Karman, wearing a full-coverage black robe and a mask shaped like a bird's beak, stooped out of the tent.

Everyone else outside the tent also covered their mouths and noses with triangle towels.

"How?" Winters looked serious and asked first: "What is it?"

Kaman glanced at Winters, glanced at the people around him, and said calmly: "The symptoms are a bit like [(Ancient Language) Eichen Plague], but I can't tell... I still need to go back and check the books."

To avoid panic, Kaman deliberately used Archaic words.

The vast majority of people present could not understand what Kaman was talking about, and those who could understand did not understand the specific meaning of "The Plague of Aichen".

Winters couldn't remember what the "Plague of Aichen" actually meant, but he clearly heard the second half of the phrase - plague.

This is enough.

"Get out of here first." Winters made a quick decision, leaving two guards to guard the tent, and then led the others back the same way.

The location where Winters is located is a [shack] outside Shenk Town.

People naturally like to get together. A few branches raise a curtain, which is the so-called "shack". Many shacks are clustered together in what is called a "shack field."

If the army in Shengke Town never disbands, the shack will always exist.

The final form of development was the "Shack Street" next to the Shuangqiao Military Camp - a slum street that harbored dirt and evil.

The shack in front of us was just a camping ground where hungry people set up tents and huddled together for warmth.

Walking on the narrow, winding muddy path between the tents, Winters led Kaman, Charles and others outside.

The refugees gathered here saw that the group had a good background, and they hid in the shacks one after another, as if they were afraid and ashamed.

Horse meat stolen from the battlefield was cooking in the iron pot. Through the curtain that was blown open by the wind, Winters saw someone doing the skin and meat business.

Walking all the way outside, four companies of the 1st Battalion led by Tamas were waiting.

"Surround us!" Winters summoned Acting Battalion Commander Tamas and the commanders of each company, and ordered through gritted teeth: "Don't make too much noise, but no one is allowed to go."

Tamas raised his hand in salute, turned and left.

"[Aichen Plague], is there any cure?" Winters asked Kaman.

"Fire." Kaman thought for a moment: "Historical records show that during the Plague of Aichen, Hippocrates discovered that blacksmiths who worked with fire every day rarely got sick, and finally used fire to drive away the great plague of Aichen. The specific method is to Incense and mugwort were burned in the streets, and the clothes and bedding of the sick were burned..."

Winters listened carefully, his eyebrows getting tighter and tighter.

I took every precaution, but it finally came. Since ancient times, people have discovered that plagues always follow wars.

The logic is not difficult to understand: if you eat well, wear warm clothes, and live in a roofed house, your risk of getting sick is small; even if you get sick, your chance of surviving is high.

Without enough to eat, without warmth, and living in crowded and dirty shacks, good people will be tortured to death sooner or later.

"Why didn't I notice the problem of the shanty towns earlier?" Winters couldn't help but ask himself: "Why didn't I give priority to arranging accommodation for the refugees."

But now is not the time to feel sorry for ourselves. The rotten, filthy and overcrowded shanty towns are simply crucibles of plague. Every second it exists, the risk of a pandemic increases.

"There are currently two large shack areas around Shengke Town, and several smaller ones." Winters made up his mind and drew a simple map on the ground: "All of them must be pulled out."

"How to pull it out?" Kaman raised his eyebrows and asked.

"The old method." Winters continued to draw the map: "Build a new camp near the shack area. It can't be too big, otherwise there will be no isolation effect. It can't be too small, otherwise it won't be completed quickly. In the existing camp Everything, everything must be burned, burn it all to ashes for me.”

"All burned?" Bart Xialing keenly grasped the key to the problem: "Then what do they eat? What do they wear?"

"Clothes and bedding can be boiled in hot water before use." Father Kaman said: "The water must be boiled before drinking, but this requires a lot of fuel."

"Fuel is easy to deal with." Winters' left leg felt sore and he stood leaning on a cane: "Food will also be provided by us first."

Bart Schalling didn't say anything, he just saluted silently.

"Then what shall we eat?" Winters also knew this without asking his subordinates.

"Don't worry about the food problem." Winters looked around at his subordinates: "I'll take care of it."

Although no one knew what Winters could do, the words from the tribune still made many people feel relieved.

Some company commanders were worried that once the soldiers learned that there was a plague in the shack area, they would have to face the plague head-on. There will inevitably be large-scale flight, and even trigger a camp roar or rebellion.

Therefore, the three company commanders, including Bart Schalling, tended to conceal it.

"It's useless." Winters ended the argument with one sentence: "It can't be hidden."

Later, all the soldiers of the first battalion assembled and lined up. They will be the first people besides Winters to receive the notification, followed by the entire army, and then the entire Iron Peak County.

Looking at the soldiers who had just walked off the battlefield with scars from their wounds, Winters had mixed feelings.

He tried to organize his words: "...In the refugee camp and in the city of Gevaudana, due to the strict implementation of epidemic prevention disciplines, although some people got sick, they were all controlled in the end...I don't believe that the plague is a disaster sent by gods. If Heavenly Father He is merciful, he will only help us, and will not spread plague..."

At the end of the day, he, who was always eloquent in his speeches before the battle, didn't know what to say.

He was silent for a moment, his eyes scanning the faces: "I remembered it. [Aichen Plague], the last quarter of the 200,000 Aichen people died. Tiefeng County just experienced a fierce battle, She cannot withstand another plague. So...she is counting on the courage of each of you, and everyone is counting on the courage of each of you...I need you to fight again..."

…

"Wear the triangle scarf." Short Peter's face was covered tightly, and he repeatedly warned: "Don't touch it with your hands. If anyone resists, poke him with a spear. Don't take it like a dirty thing when you see it. The plague is not worth it..."

The monkeys in the queue felt weak at the knees and weak all over, scolding themselves bloody in their hearts.

Without hesitation, Monkey accepted [Chief Sergeant] Peter Bunier's recruitment on the spot.

In the previous battles with the Terton Department, the Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment paid the most lives and suffered the greatest casualties.

Soldiers who died in battle or were disabled due to injuries needed to be replaced, and the infantry regiment was in urgent need of fresh blood.

Therefore, without waiting for official approval from above, each company began to recruit new recruits on its own. From this perspective, from the moment the Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment was born, it had a tendency to self-perpetuate like a living thing.

To Monkey's surprise, Doug, who had originally planned to go home and live in land, saw that his friend had chosen to join the army, and he also accepted Peter Bunier's recruitment.

At that time, the monkey was a little moved and a little jealous: "You have earned so much land, why are you still a soldier?"

However, now, the monkey only has guilt and a feeling of distress in his heart. Because of his decision, Doug is also going to do this damn "epidemic prevention" for who knows what.

The monkey wants to escape.

Shorty Peter thought so too.

He looked calm, but that was only because his face was covered.

In fact, the moment he learned that there was a plague in the shack, Shorty Peter's knees were shaking and his forehead began to sweat.

But dozens of pairs of eyes were staring at him, and even if he wanted to escape, he would have no way to escape.

Shorty Peter saw acting battalion commander Tamas wave to him.

He turned around and burst into tears.

However, the soldiers of the first company could only see Sergeant Burnier's back, but not his tearful face.

"Let's go!" Shorty Peter's shout was on the verge of breaking.

The large and small shacks outside Shengke Town have been surrounded by various companies with wooden stakes and ropes, and some civilians are stepping up the construction of new camps.

But we cannot just ignore the shacks.

The soldiers held torches and short spears and were led by Sergeant Peter Bunier, known as the "Blood Wolf Champion", and walked into the shack without hesitation.

After being blocked, the shack first fell into panic and chaos. Seeing that they could not leave anyway, people gradually fell into numbness.

Because of hunger, the shacks were originally very cruel places. People became even more indifferent when they learned of the plague.

The mother's body was lying in the shack, and the children's cries were ignored.

Leaving this situation unchecked will only lead to the further spread of the plague.

Regardless of whether they died of illness or starvation, Shorty Peter led people to move the corpses out of the shack and burn them. The tents and belongings of the deceased were all burned on the spot.

The monkey heard someone whispering: "Did you see, Sergeant Bunir seems to be crying."

"Fuck you!" The monkey, whose eyes were full of red bloodshot eyes and filled with tears, yelled: "That's because of the smoke! It's because of the smoke!"

[Ow two chapters? After doing the math on my fingers for a long time, I can’t figure it out anymore]

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