Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[wilderness]

A naked man was holding a machete, lying on the back of an unsaddled red and white horse, and fled into the depths of the mountain as if lifeless.

While the man was beating the horse with a machete, he kept looking behind him in horror, as if he was being chased by some terrifying beast.

This man is none other than Chi Lian—a nobleman of the Jin clan, an archery officer of the Terdun tribe, and a personal follower of the fire-warmer.

Because he had been responsible for guarding the Holy Land for many years, Chi Lian usually did not participate in plundering, so he did not experience the Blood Mud Battle and luckily escaped.

But it was precisely because he had not experienced the tragic battle that turned the frozen soil into a quagmire that he did not know the need to be afraid of the blood wolf.

Without a saddle, there was nowhere to rely on. Every bump on the horse's back made Chi Lian painful, but he did not dare to stop. He clamped the horse's ribs tightly with his legs and beat the mount underneath him harder.

"[Hidden] Hurry! Hurry!" Chi Lian shouted in his heart: "[Kud] Halton Mountain! Save me! Protect my ant-like life, and my descendants will make morning sacrifices to you every day ! I will gather the scattered disciples, livestock and felt tents, and I will rise again like the sun! Quickly! Quickly!"

However, the pursuers came anyway.

A series of intermittent and inaudible muffled sounds came from behind Chi Lian at first, and then the hoofbeats became clearer and closer. Even the hoofbeats of the red and white flowers that Chi Lian was riding could not cover it up.

Chi Lian's actions were covert enough. He walked through streams and climbed valleys without any guards, and he acted alone.

But the pursuer's sense of smell was better. He followed the hoofprints, hair, and broken grass stems and branches.

Chi Lian looked back and realized that there was only one pursuer on the horizon, so he ignored it and continued galloping. Because his red and white flower is a good horse, it is easy to get rid of the pursuer.

However, contrary to expectations, although the pursuit horse was not as good as Chi Lian, he was a calm and calm rider. He carefully chooses the route that saves the most horsepower, rather than rushing as fast as Chi Lian does.

Therefore, although the pursuers disappeared behind Chi Lian several times, they reappeared on the horizon again and again.

Finally, the strength of the red and white flower gradually dried up, and the rhythm of the four hooves involuntarily slowed down.

The pursuers who had been following Chi Lian leisurely suddenly spurred their horses, closing the distance with Chi Lian like lightning.

The chasing rider stood up from his horse with wooden stirrups, stretched his bow and nocked an arrow. Chi Lian failed to react in time and fell within the range of the bow and arrow.

Hearing a "clang" sound behind him, Chi Lian screamed in horror. However, he did not feel the severe pain of the arrowhead piercing his flesh on his back. Instead, the red and white flower under his crotch let out a mournful cry, and his speed suddenly increased.

The chasing rider did not aim at Chi Lian, but hit the red and white flower's horse's butt with an arrow.

Chi Lian turned his head and looked at the place where the arrow was hit by the red and white flower, and felt completely despairing - because the pursuers obviously used not ordinary arrows, but special blood-letting arrows.

This kind of arrow is specially used for hunting large beasts. It pierces the flesh and blood and cannot be pulled out. Even if the arrow is pulled out by force, the wound will not close on its own. However, if the arrowhead is not pulled out, the sharp edge of the arrowhead will continuously create new wounds in the prey's body. Therefore, as long as such arrows are used to shoot the beast's torso, the hunter only needs to wait patiently for the prey to die due to unstoppable blood loss.

Chi Lian gritted his teeth, jerked the reins, and turned his horse to face the enemy.

The pursuers also followed Chi Lian and stopped to ride their horses.

With the rising sun, Chi Lian finally saw the pursuer's appearance clearly: he was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with fine hair just growing on his lips - he was still a boy between an adult and a child.

The most incredible thing is that the pursuers are wearing robes in the style of various tribes, and their hair is braided by the children of various tribes. The saddle they use is also in the style of the wilderness. They hold a horn bow in their hands and carry it on their backs in a nondescript manner. A musket.

The wolf-dog that kept biting him all the way was actually a disciple of various tribes? !

"[Herdese] Beast!" Chi Lian yelled angrily: "[Herdese] Why do you want to help the two-legged man?!"

The pursuer ignored Chi Lian. After confirming that Chi Lian had neither a bow nor an arrow in his hand, he gently pulled the reins and distanced himself from Chi Lian again.

"[Herd] Come on!" Chi Lian brandished his scimitar and roared as he rushed towards the pursuer: "[Herd] Fight to the death with me."

The pursuers tapped the horse's ribs, turned and walked away. He dexterously controlled the gray horse under his crotch, keeping an arrow's distance from the red and white horse. When Chi Lian stopped, he also stopped and continued to stare at Chi Lian from a distance.

Chi Lian was furious and had nowhere to vent. He hammered his chest crazily: "[Vicious Hurd expletive]! Come on! Come on! Aren't you going to use my life to ask for a reward? Come and get it." ! Come and get it!”

However, the pursuer is like a stone without emotion, remaining motionless despite being beaten by huge waves. No matter what Chi Lian did, the young man with the musket on his back showed no reaction and just looked at Chi Lian silently.

Another series of hoofbeats came from behind, and the figure of another rider appeared at the waterline of the hillside. Seeing Chi Lian and the young man at the bottom of the hillside, the rider immediately galloped towards them.

"[Herd] Brother!" You can hear the new rider shouting excitedly from a distance: "[Herd] You caught the red-headed man?!"

Chi Lian looked at the pair of brothers in front of him with despair. The appearance of the new rider was almost similar to that of the young man, but he was obviously younger. A horn bow and quiver were hung on the side of the saddle, and a musket was carried on the back.

The new rider galloped cheerfully up to the two confronting men. He was overjoyed to see that Chi Lian only had a scimitar but no bow and arrows. Turning around, he found that his brother had yet to take action, and he was a little confused.

But he soon decided that he didn't want that much.

The new rider untied his ropes, opened his bow and nocked an arrow, and volunteered: "[Herd] If my brother is not willing to do it, then I will do it!"

But the brother's hand held down his horned bow.

The half-grown man looked at his brother in confusion, but the young man just shook his head.

"Wait." The young man told his younger brother with his eyes.

Chi Lian had no hope of dying and shouted to the sky with grief and anger. Then he wiped away his tears randomly, got on his horse and walked persistently towards the depths of the mountain.

The two brothers who caught up with him neither stopped nor helped him, they just stayed close behind him.

After an unknown amount of time, the tranquility of the wilderness was once again shattered by the rumble of hooves.

A group of cavalry in black appeared in the sight of the three men. This time, they were no longer pursued by the disciples of various tribes, but by genuine Plato cavalry.

The young man fired a loud arrow into the sky.

The Palatine cavalry, who had followed the mark left by the young man and arrived here, heard the sound and galloped towards the location of the three of them.

The leader was none other than Saber Saber.

Chi Lian knew that his death was coming, so he turned his horse around and faced the enemy head on.

Seeing the desperate man chief and the guide brothers who were monitoring the man chief, Seb laughed loudly: "Leave it to me? Very good! Very good!!!"

Immediately afterwards, Seb saw the barbarian chief pointing a knife at him and jabbering a lot of Hurd words.

"Huh?" Seb couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and asked the guide brother: "What did he say?"

After hearing Chi Lian's scolding, the elder brother explained in the half-baked Two-legged language: "Chi Lian-headed man... wants to fight with you... a warrior against a warrior... an arrow against an arrow... "

Seb became interested: "Duel?"

"Major, please don't be impulsive." When Angelo heard that something was not going well, he hurriedly tried to dissuade him: "The Barbarian Chief knows that he cannot escape today, and he is trying to kill everything. Please don't give him a chance."

"When did you have the right to take care of me?" Seb squinted at Angel.

"The Tribune of Montagne ordered me to protect your safety." Angelou replied in a humble voice: "I am no longer a soldier of the Plato Army, so your rank of major has no meaning to me, but the centurion's instructions are My mission.”

Seb snorted and waved his hand nonchalantly: "I have a sense of propriety."

He waved his riding whip lightly and rode slowly in front of Chi Lian. Angelo reluctantly made a gesture to get his men ready.

However, Seb, who was confronting Chi Lian, did not draw out his weapon. Instead, he reached into his arms and fumbled for a long time before pulling out a dirty and old pipe.

He clumsily filled the bowl with broken tobacco leaves, spent some time lighting the tindercloth with a fire sickle, and finally lit the tobacco.

Chi Lian widened his eyes and looked at the inexplicable behavior of the two-legged man leader until he found that the other person put the little thing into his mouth and took a nice breath, as if he was enjoying his despair, his anger, His end.

"Senior Laszlo, Senior Robert." Seb silently thought to himself: "Did you see it?"

Immediately afterwards, he was choked by the spicy smoke and coughed violently - he actually didn't know how to smoke.

Chi Lian was furious, screaming and waving his machete towards the two-legged man who dared to humiliate him.

However, Seb, who was still coughing, quickly pulled out the short gun on the side of the saddle, pointed it directly at the chest of the barbarian chief, and steadily pulled the trigger.

There was a crisp "click" sound, fire light burst out, and gunpowder smoke spewed out.

There was a bloody hole in Chi Lian's chest, and a more terrifying hole was opened in his back. He threw his arms behind him and fell off the horse.

"Idiot," Seb said coldly.

Chi Lian is dead.

But it won't be long before Seb regrets letting Chi Lian die so easily.

…

[The valley where the Akaribu camp is located]

The sun has fully risen.

The victory was decided, and the brief but bloody killing came to an end.

Bodies scattered across the hillside were dragged to the valley floor and counted one by one. The captives—men, women, children—were imprisoned and supervised.

The wounded cavalrymen sat on the hillside to rest while waiting for medical officers to treat their wounds. The bodies of the fallen cavalrymen had been loaded onto the vehicle, their lifeless faces covered by black coats.

Except for a small number of cavalrymen who were still able to move, who went to pursue the fleeing enemies, most of the others were rummaging through the ruins of the camp, looking for food, water, and loot.

It was an unquestionable victory, a wasteland victory in which the winner took everything.

Different from the extremely poor Hurd tribe that Winters had seen, the Chilian tribe was unusually wealthy. At least the furs, jewelry, gold and silver utensils, and coins found in the camp were piled as high as a hill.

"Centurion!" Lannis, the former commander of the fifth company of the infantry regiment and now the temporary captain of the cavalry squadron, held a scimitar with a pearl sheath. The joy on his face could hardly hide: "It should be the saber of the barbarian chief! Dedicated to you. !”

Winters took the scimitar and asked, "Have the Sentinel sent out?"

"We have sent them out." Lannis immediately put away his smile and replied seriously: "Cavalry sentries have been sent out in twenty-four directions. No cavalry team that appears within twenty kilometers can escape our eyes."

"Let everyone give priority to collecting food, water and horses - these things cannot be eaten or drunk. We need to evacuate as soon as possible." Winters threw the machete into the hill where the loot was piled, and hit Lannis on the head with a riding crop: " Don’t worry about the loot, it will be distributed fairly to everyone.”

Lannis raised his hand in salute and left happily.

"Your Excellency." Heinrich, the flag bearer, asked softly from behind Winters: "You don't seem... happy?"

"No." Winters rubbed his chin: "I'm very pleased. We paid a small price, but gained a big victory."

"But you... never smiled." Heinrich pointed to his comrades in the valley: "At least you are not as happy as everyone else."

Heinrich was right. Almost all the light cavalry still alive in the valley had a smile of victory on their faces. Only Winters' expression remained serious.

"According to Tai Chi, the Red Training Department should have a large number of slaves." Winters said thoughtfully: "But... have you seen the slaves that should exist now?"

Heinrich was startled: "Only female slaves."

"That's right, only female slaves." Winters narrowed his eyes unconsciously: "Call the guide over to me."

Just when Winters, who was supervising the cleaning of the battlefield, was still puzzled by the fact that "there were almost no male slaves in the camp of the Red Training Division", the scout cavalry chasing the remnants of the enemy brought back unexpected information about the enemy.

It turns out that the permanent camp located in the open area of ​​the valley was only part of the old camp of the Chilian tribe. It was mainly used for the residence of the tribe's personal guards, servants, tent slaves and female relatives.

Deep in the valley, where the terrain is steep, there is another permanent garrison camp.

"You told me..." After hearing the report, Winters narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the guide sent by Tai Chi: "There is only one fortified camp."

Cold sweat suddenly broke out on the guide's forehead. He suddenly fell to his knees and explained incoherently: "The leader of Chi Lian is the most trusted friend of the fire roaster. The fire roaster trusts him the most and orders him to guard the holy place. So besides Chi Lian, His tribe, no one can enter his pasture! Even the location of this camp was found out by King Taichi with great effort! Batu, King Taichi... No, no, I, I really don’t know yet. There is a fortified camp! Batu! I really didn’t lie! Batu..."

Winters judged that the guide was telling the truth, but he was noncommittal. After pondering for a moment, he issued the order: "Assemble the entire army! Leave the first and second squadrons to clean the battlefield, and the other squadrons will follow me - it seems that today's battle is not over yet."

…

The deeper you go into the valley, the narrower the mountains become and the terrain becomes higher and higher.

The second permanent camp of the Chilian tribe is located on a high ground, backed by mountains and forests, and protected by natural watersheds on both sides. Only one side is open land - it is still uphill, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Some of the Chilian tribesmen who managed to escape had already brought news of the enemy's attack to the highland camp, so when Winters arrived, there were already many fully armed archers standing on the walls of the highland camp.

Winters roughly counted the garrison on the wall. The number was not large, but for the light cavalry he led, a permanent camp that was on alert would be a very hard nut to crack.

Major Seb chased the barbarian chieftain and disappeared without a trace. Angelou also went with him, so at the moment Winters didn't even have anyone with whom to discuss strategies.

So he ordered to summon all the temporary squadron commanders of the four cavalry squadrons and all senior sergeants.

"Judging from the situation in the valley camp, the Red Training Department is very wealthy. It is impossible to have so few slaves, and it is impossible to have only female slaves." Winters simply drew a topographic map on the ground: "Then all male slaves may be imprisoned in In the highland camp, the prisoners of the expeditionary force obtained by the Red Training Department the year before last may also be there."

Upon hearing the words "prisoners of the expeditionary force," the eyes of several old sergeants turned red instantly.

"Let's talk." Winters looked at his subordinates: "What do you think?"

This is a meeting and a test.

"A war horse can't climb such a high wall." Someone asked tentatively: "How about... try Nangtu?"

"Where can you find so many bags of soil at once?" Lannis retorted. He looked at the tribune: "Centurion, you still have to attack the city with infantry. There is wood in the valley camp, which can be made into a ladder. You Select some good men, and I will lead them to climb the wall directly with ladders. If possible, send some people to go around from the back mountain. Attacked from two sides, I don't believe the barbarians can hold it."

Winters looked at the subordinates he had trained: "You should know the risks of climbing the wall."

"Of course I know." Lannis replied nonchalantly. He wiped his nose and chuckled: "Didn't we capture a lot of barbarian armor? You can just send me a set in advance. I am the only one here who is from the infantry regiment. We must not disgrace the infantry regiment. You gave me my life, and it would not be a pity to die."

Winters silently recalled the old marshal's warning: "If someone is willing to die for you, don't put them in danger easily."

"Foolish talk." Winters scolded him with a straight face: "If your life is mine, it would be even more shameful to waste it."

Winters thought for a moment and made a decision. He tapped the ground with his cane: "Collect wood and kerosene and prepare for fire attack."

"No!" An old sergeant from the expeditionary force present became anxious upon hearing this. He was not a direct subordinate of Winters. His willingness to participate in this surprise attack was entirely because of Major Seber.

The old sergeant turned red in the face, scratched his neck and shouted loudly: "There may be some of our people there! Do you want to burn them to death together?!"

Lannis and other Winters' direct subordinates suddenly changed their expressions and clenched their fists tightly.

"They are also our people." Winters was actually a little annoyed when the old sergeant contradicted him in public, but he still explained as calmly as possible: "The key is not to set the fire, but to make the people on the mountain believe that we are going to set the fire - understand Yet?"

The old sergeant instinctively wanted to argue a few words, but when he saw Lannis and others' eyes almost blazing with fire, he closed his mouth angrily.

"If there is no problem." Winters sighed secretly and made the final decision: "Just execute it."

…

After cutting down trees and dismantling felt tents, just as the Tiefeng County light cavalry piled entire vehicles of combustible materials down the hillside, a small crack opened the gate of the highland camp.

Three riders galloped out of the gate. The leader was carrying a helmet and a suit of armor on a flagpole - he was the messenger coming to negotiate.

So Winters went up with an interpreter and guide.

"[Hed people] This is the blood of the Jin people, the nobles of the Teldun tribe, the descendants of the Bald Black Balatur, the sons of guest posts, the friends of Chi Lian, and the guardian of the Holy Land - White Star." A red Ling Yu loudly introduced his negotiator, and then shouted arrogantly: "[Hedian] Black-clothed disciple, inform me of your identity!"

"Batu, don't worry, guest posts... I've never heard of them." The guide whispered to Winters: "He's just a little person."

Having said that, the guide sent by Tai Chi rode forward and declared with great energy: "[Hedian] What is in front of you is the Chosen God of the Supreme Heaven, the Champion of Plato, the Master of Iron Peak County, the Styx River The warrior and the butcher of Qingqiu who dare not take away the blood of the wolf."

The face of the nobleman from the Red Training Department who came to negotiate was obviously darker. He cleared his throat and said a lot of Hurd's words.

"Batu, White Star greets you and congratulates you on your victory." The guide translated in a low voice: "If you allow him and his people to leave with weapons and horses, he is willing to dedicate this camp to you intact."

"He is not qualified to negotiate terms with me." Winters replied coldly: "Tell him that if he doesn't surrender, he will die."

Another series of conversations in Hadian.

The guide wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Bai Xing said that as long as you promise to spare his life, he is willing to dedicate the camp to you."

Winters narrowed his eyes, rode directly past the guide, and looked at the nobles of the Red Training Department who came to negotiate as if they were looking at a corpse: "[Hurd said] If you don't surrender, you will die."

The nobleman's face turned pale, and he eagerly wanted to say something else, but Winters didn't bother to pay attention, sneered a few times, raised his whip and left.

"Batu!" The bewildered guide shouted in panic behind Winters: "Bai Xing asked Batu, there are still Plato slaves in the camp, does Batu ignore them?"

But Winters had already walked away without looking back.

Ten minutes later, the horse-tail flags of the highland camp were removed, and Bai Xing led all the guards out of the camp to beg for surrender.

However, Winters, who had captured the camp without a single blow, had no joy of victory in his chest, only uncontrollable violent anger.

As he expected, there were slaves in the camp, and there were many, many slaves, not only the Platoans, but also the Hedians, and the prisoners of the expeditionary force obtained by the Red Lian Department were also among them.

Slaves owned by the Hurds generally did not fare well because the Hurds themselves were poor.

However, in addition to suffering from hunger and heavy labor, all the slaves under the control of the Akaribu had their tongues cut out - without exception. Some enslaved people had their toes cut off or were fixed to the wall with iron rings.

Many people have been tortured to the point of losing their human form, and they dodge like rats when faced with fire.

The old sergeant who had contradicted Winters before was now holding an old friend who was almost unrecognizable and crying uncontrollably. The veterans of the expeditionary force who had just regained their freedom had no tears left to shed.

Saber Saber, who had just returned, saw such a tragic situation, roared and pulled out his saber, intending to cut the dead Chi Lian into pieces.

Shirahoshi and the other Red Training Division guards were all dragged in front of Winters and knelt in a row.

"Tell me." Winters gritted his teeth and pinched Bai Xing's skull: "Why do you do this?"

Bai Xing couldn't stop trembling all over, and said everything like pouring beans into the bamboo tube.

…

Bai Xing held a torch and walked in front, leading Winters, Seb and others into the cave behind the highland camp.

The cave has a main corridor diagonally downwards. The walls of the corridor are full of traces of manual excavation. There are many branch lanes diagonally downwards from both sides of the main corridor.

Some side alleys have been sealed off, but a faint smell of corpses still escapes from the cracks in the stones.

There are also "ding-ding-ding-ding" chisel sounds coming from deep in some branch alleys.

After walking very deep, Bai Xing stopped. He flatteringly illuminated the rock wall with a torch, and invited the blood wolf to come forward and watch as if he was taking credit.

Through the dim firelight, Winters saw dark yellow marks like scratches on the quartz section of the rock wall, and those marks were flowing with a breathtaking luster.

In that moment, Winters understood it all.

Why was the Terdun tribe able to cast such an astonishing golden man? Why was the Chilian tribe not allowed to enter the territory? Why did the slaves have their tongues cut out? Why were there mountains of gravel piled up around the cave? Why were there so many drying materials inside the camp? Lots of wool.

Holy place?

It’s a copper-gold associated mine! And it’s a rich mine—Chi Lian’s confidence to recruit troops, the source of power for the Fire-warmers, and the biggest secret of the Teldun Department.

Although Seb was a little slow to react, he quickly realized what he was seeing. Without saying a word, he drew his sword and struck at Bai Xing.

However, his arm was held tightly by Winters, and no matter how hard he struggled, he could not move. If it were in the past, he might be able to have a break with Winters. But after more than a year of being enslaved, Seb's strength was far less than before.

Bai Xing was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground, but did not dare to run away.

"Don't let other barbarians know the secrets here." Seb growled: "Kill all the prisoners and guides, leave no one behind!"

"You can hide it if you kill him?" Winters asked.

"The mine also collapsed! Even if we can't get it, we can't let the barbarians get it! Do you know what will happen to this thing if it falls into the hands of the white lion?!"

"Don't worry." Winters grabbed Seb's wrist and put Seb's saber back into the scabbard: "Leave it to me to handle it."

…

[a moment later]

[Highland Camp Gate]

"Go tell Taichi," Winters told the guide: "I need to talk to him about the distribution of the spoils."

"That's it?" Seb stared angrily and asked, "Then what?"

"Things must be done one by one. Then, we will evacuate as planned." Winters looked at the enslaved people who had just regained their freedom, and then looked in the direction of Tiefeng County: "Waiting for Andre and Moreau Good news Captain.”

[Winning book lovers and list book lovers who have not yet registered their receiving information are requested to provide their receiving information as soon as possible]

[Continued from the author’s words from the previous chapter]

[Because it is very difficult for nomadic tribes to maintain a standing army (or for most tribal governments), "permanent guards" become very important, often with powers and powers that exceed the status of "guards" status]

[Like the "Oath Warriors" of the Celtic tribes, the "Knight Squires" of the feudal era, and the "Friends", "quiver warriors" and "Suwei" of the nomadic tribes of the Central Asian steppes, and even fantasy works\u0026amp; "Bloodrider" in A Song of Ice and Fire\u0026amp;gt;]

[These permanent guards not only eat and live with the leaders, but in order to maintain their loyalty, the tribal leaders will also use various methods to win over them, including but not limited to religion, oaths, honors, and even develop a relationship similar to brothers with them. Love and friendship often rely more on them in personnel appointments]

[So is it possible for nomadic tribes to build a large standing army? ]

[Answer: It is possible that after Temujin was proclaimed as Genghis Khan and unified the grassland tribes, he selected from nobles at all levels and the children of free men to form a "large army" of ten thousand people - that is, the Qixue Army . And Qixue’s original meaning is to protect]

[Before this, Genghis Khan only had "eighty people as bodyguards and seventy bodyguards as rotating guards.\