Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[Tiefeng County]

[Gewardin]

A week after the news that the "New Reclamation Army" and the New Reclamation Expedition Army jointly sent troops to Jinghu County reached Jevaudan, Red Rose's envoy was finally able to meet with the "Tiefeng County Tribune" again.

Winters Montagne personally invited Major Meyer and Major Nievitz to his private residence to have dinner with him, and the two majors could not help but feel refreshed.

It had been some time since Major Meyer and Major Nevitz had been here, and the treatment they received had been lukewarm.

Although Tiefeng County does its best to meet their living requirements, it strictly prohibits them from leaving their residence at will and does not allow them to have contact with people other than the designated hosts. It's called protection, but it's actually house arrest.

Winters Montagne had only one formal negotiation with the two majors, and did not give any substantive reply.

Regarding all of the above, Major Meyer and Major Nievitz showed full understanding, generosity and confidence.

After Major Meyer informed Winters Montagne of the price offered by Red Rose, he stopped pressuring him again and again to meet with Captain Montagne.

He played cards, read books, and basked in the sun leisurely all day long. Occasionally he went hunting accompanied by the receptionist, as if his real purpose in coming to Tiefeng County was to relax and vacation. As for Winters Montagne, he would fall in love with him. He didn't care at all which side.

The days passed like this, and when the war in the newly cultivated land resumed, Gevaudan seemed particularly calm, like an isolated island in the stormy sea: the shops were open as usual, the market was held on time, and the construction site on the south bank was still noisy from morning to morning. In the evening, after the construction workers got off work, they could still buy cheap flour and buy a small piece of candy for their daughter.

On this day, a week after the news of Maplestone City's dispatch of troops reached Tiefeng County, Major Meyer and Major Nievitz were invited to a banquet at Winters Montagne's home.

There are eight officers' apartments in the Tiefeng County garrison, which are neatly arranged on both sides of a stone road that can accommodate two carriages parallel to each other. They are across the street and are protected by a wall as high as one person and a team of guards.

Winters' house, on the southeast corner of the small neighborhood, was not the largest or nicest house.

The largest and finest house, located in the center of the block, originally belonged to Major Ronald's family.

After the Blood Mud War ended and Major Ronald's family moved out, the house became vacant. Winters originally wanted to move in, but Major Seber beat him to it.

After Major Seb came to Gevaudan, he confidently moved into the apartment that originally belonged to Major Ronald, and also directed other "Redemptor" officers to occupy all the remaining vacant apartments.

As a result, Winters could only continue to live in the small house, so his dining room could only accommodate one table. Therefore, he did not invite other guests to accompany him - at least he told the reason for not inviting other guests as an anecdote. That's what he said to Major Meyer and Major Nievitz at that time.

"Captain Montagne's life is really frugal and simple." Major Meyer looked at the furnishings in the restaurant - there was nothing else except a few paintings of unknown origin.

He politely said complimentary words: "However, with your current status, living here is really a bit shabby and aggrieved."

"It may be a little shabby, but it's not that much of a grievance." Winters, who was sitting at the main seat, stretched out his upper body, struggled to bring back the earthenware pot with beef stew from the other end of the dining table, and served it to himself: "The house is small and warm. .”

Anna, who walked into the restaurant with another main dish, saw this scene, smiled and kicked Winters' chair quietly, silently warning the latter - pay attention to table manners!

Winters immediately obediently put the pot back in its place and arranged it.

Anna looked at the three guests apologetically and walked to the kitchen again.

As soon as Anna left, Winters brought the pot back to him.

"Sorry, I'm used to it." Winters apologized, but showed no intention of stopping. He raised his chin towards the third guest and said half-jokingly: "This pot of beef is too close to him. If I don’t move faster, I’m afraid I won’t be able to eat a piece.”

The third guest at the other end of the long table, Axel from Orange, laughed dumbly: "Shouldn't it be me who says this? When I was in the academy, I was hungry every day in the middle of the night. You must at least be responsible to the Chief Bursar. Just as much responsibility.”

The old but timeless Army Academy joke made the four people sitting around the dinner table smile.

"When you were studying." Major Meyer asked with a smile, looking back on the past, "General Bursar or Lieutenant Colonel Morton?"

"No, it has been replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey." Winters paused and said, "But the food provided is still just as bad."

Major Nievitz, who had been rarely speaking, also cleared his throat and said, "I still remember the story. A guy who was admitted as an external student ate in the cafeteria for the first time and fished out a rat tail from the vegetable soup, which scared him. He shouted in panic, "Rat, there is rat meat", and then the classmates next to him said to him..."

Winters, Axel, and Major Meyer said in unison: "Then why don't you eat it quickly?"

After saying that, the four of them laughed loudly and slapped the table while laughing, causing the cups and plates to bounce around.

Anna walked into the dining room from the kitchen with a soup cup in hand. When she saw the four people at the table laughing, she slightly raised the corners of her mouth and asked, "What are you talking about? Are you so happy?"

"We are talking about something that only we understand." Winters smiled and took the soup cup and placed it on the table.

The main dishes have been served. Winters glanced at Major Meyer and Major Nievitz, and nodded slightly: "Two seniors, please forgive me for the limited conditions and poor hospitality."

"Only foxes and wolves complain that the dishes provided by the host are not rich." Major Nievitz said a Platonic proverb and said: "It is we who did not bring gifts to your door who should apologize to you."

Major Meyer also smiled and nodded his thanks.

In fact, Major Meyer and Major Nievitz didn't care how many plates were on the table, or even whether there were plates on the table.

Winters Montagne entertained them both in the form of a family dinner—an act of kindness that already pleased them more than any delicious meal.

Not to mention that Winters Montagne also invited a special guest at the same time - Mr. Alpha from Shovel Harbor and Second Lieutenant Axel Orange of the Federal Provincial Army.

As one of the leaders of the "rebels", he was grandly invited to the home of the "tribune". Axel was obviously not used to it. Although he still maintained his demeanor, his eyes and tone showed a bit of embarrassment and confusion. .

On the other hand, Major Meier - his face remains calm and he talks and laughs happily. He knows everything from the royal secrets of the empire to the most popular drama in the United Provinces recently; from the history of Veneta's development from a city to a country to which family in Plato The racecourse is the favorite to win this year, and he can talk about anything.

Even with the dirty jokes that couldn't be avoided at the dinner table, he was able to control the scale so that he would not embarrass the only lady, but also make Anna couldn't help but laugh along with her.

It seemed that he had no idea why Axel appeared here; it seemed that the decision to "send an envoy to Tiefeng County for peace talks while placing internal agents in Shovel Harbor" was not the regime to which he was loyal.

…

Major Meyer's ability to be so calm and composed certainly has his confidence.

Since Maplestone City dispatched troops in mid-May and publicly announced in the name of the "New Reclamation Army Headquarters" that it would expel the "Alpad Rebels" and regain Jinghu County, the struggle taking place within the New Reclamation Province has shown a A one-sided situation.

The crusade troops of the [New Reclamation Army] and the [New Reclamation Expeditionary Force] launched an offensive along the provincial highway, advancing with great success and overwhelming momentum.

The defense line of the Blue Rose Army was vulnerable. The towns in Jinghu County that had previously announced a change of flag were now once again loyal to the Great Council of the Kings Castle one after another.

Every time a village or town is recaptured, Maplestone City's legion headquarters will send groups of messengers to report the victory with great fanfare to Warnie County, Leiqun County, Bianjiang County, Baishan County—and of course Tiefeng County. .

Because of Maplestone City's massive victory propaganda, in today's new reclamation province, even hunters living alone in remote mountains and forests have vaguely heard that "there is a war in Jinghu County" from the merchants who exchanged supplies;

Even an illiterate old woman in the country knows to some extent that the "official army" is gaining victories;

As for those who pay close attention to the war situation because of their vital interests, there is no need to say more.

The same is true for Tiefeng County - it is no exaggeration to say that the civilians of Tiefeng County are far more concerned about this war than the civilians of the other four counties.

On the ridges of the refugee farms, in the workshops of Forge Township, and by the fireplace of Gévaudin's mansion, there were well-informed people talking excitedly.

The audience may be worried, or unable to conceal their fear, or applaud, or secretly rejoice... Due to differences in interests or emotions, they respond with completely different attitudes.

At present, except for the Maple Stone City Direct Area and Jinghu County, which is currently at war, the remaining five counties that have not been affected by the war have invariably tightened their borders.

Additional patrols were dispatched and double checkpoints were set up, making counties that had been sealed off from the inside even more airtight.

However, the latest news about the war is still spreading, spreading from the air, in the wind, and accompanied by rain to the new land, Plato, and even the alliance countries.

Compared with the strict defense of other counties, Tiefeng County chose a compromise approach to respond to the propaganda offensive of the "Legion Headquarters".

The Tiefeng County garrison does not allow messengers sent by the "Legion Headquarters" to report victory in various towns, but the Tiefeng County garrison will faithfully relay the content of the victory report from the "Legion Headquarters" - "Communication Announcement" was issued during the Blood Mud War. 》channels.

Not only that, the whimsical Winters also included his own comments on the "Legion's Good News" in the "Communication Bulletin".

Captain Montagne, who used the pseudonym "Engineer Officer Elek", helped listeners and readers with no military knowledge to squeeze out the moisture in the victory reports, analyze the actual battle situation, make future predictions, and occasionally attached some map auxiliary explanations.

Winters's article received a good response, but after two issues, he felt deeply tired. He instinctively found Senior Mason and left Senior Mason in disgrace.

Although he failed to ask Senior Mason to help, Winters finally successfully handed over this "glorious and arduous" work to others.

Starting from the third issue, the battle report commentary part of "Communication Report" has been taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Jessica.

The lieutenant colonel scolded Winters with a stern face at first, but after taking over the pen, he wrote in detail and earnestly.

To be precise, the lieutenant colonel did not "take over the pen" or "write an article."

Winters hired two scribes for the lieutenant colonel and also built a comfortable rocking chair for the lieutenant colonel. Therefore, most battle report comments are completed by the method of "the lieutenant colonel lying on the chair and commenting, and the scribe recording beside him".

In the comments of the battle report, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica pointed out bluntly:

First of all, most of the so-called "recovered towns" listed in the legion's victory report are actually small villages and small enclosures. Even considering that his map has not been updated for more than ten years, it is impossible for all of those villages and enclosures to become "towns". ";

Secondly, there are only two hills in Jinghu County, "Yinque" and "Qingmeng", and the rest are hills and plains. Therefore, except for the narrow passage between the two mountains, Jinghu County is almost undefendable. However, the "Good News" never mentioned that there was fighting at the mountain pass, which could only mean one thing - the "Arpad Rebels" took the initiative to give up the outer dangerous areas and chose to clench their fingers into fists. The lieutenant colonel boldly speculated that the fist would not be placed anywhere else but at Bazenauer;

Finally, the lieutenant colonel very, very, very restrainedly evaluated the deployment and strategies of the two armies and the commanders of the "crusade force", Colonel Sarnell and Colonel Croy - of course, it was the "restraint" in the eyes of Lieutenant Colonel Jessica. ", and still uses the pen name of "Engineer Officer Elek".

In addition to finding a new content for the Correspondence Report, Winters' other contribution to the Correspondence Report was to give it a new name.

With a stroke of his pen, he crossed out the second half of "Correspondence Report" and changed it to "Correspondence" - which is concise and saves ink.

After starting to retell the "Legion Victory News" and appendix commentaries, within a few days, the "Newsletter", a special newspaper published for the general public, became the most fashionable thing in Tiefeng County.

Every day from morning to night, people stand in front of bulletin boards all over the county, either reading them themselves or begging others to help them read them. Some towns even had to send people to guard the bulletin boards to prevent someone from tearing the "Newsletter" away in the middle of the night.

As for the small-sized "Newsletter" printed on inferior paper, demand exceeds supply. Literate commoners rushed to circulate and copy it, and some copies even appeared on desks in neighboring counties.

"Engineer Officer Elek" has also become the most mysterious figure in Tiefeng County, and everyone wants to see his true face.

…

Since the war is the most talked about topic in the new land at the moment, it is natural that the Montagne family's dining table cannot be separated from it, especially when someone deliberately brings the topic to it.

"According to the content of the victory report sent by the legion, it does not look like a big battle, and the troops in Maplestone City are not advancing particularly fast." Winters basically agreed with Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's point of view. He fiddled with the spoon and asked if there was any Ruowu smiled and looked at Major Meyer: "What do you think? Your Excellency, Major."

[Although...I can only get here first today...≡(▔﹏▔)≡]

[91,124/100000]

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