Iron Powder and Spellcaster

With the arrival of reinforcements, the newly formed infantry troops outside Zhuwangbao have reached the scale of seven battalions.

Among them, the Baishan County Infantry Regiment, Leiqun County Infantry Regiment, Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment each have two battalions, and the Bianjiang County Infantry Regiment has one battalion.

However, since the battalions are generally understaffed, the total force is less than 3,000.

For a big city like Zhuwangbao, it is still too few.

Jason Cornelius has many wrong perceptions of the "Fourth Republic", but there is one thing he judged very accurately:

In the battle of Hegu Village, the "rebels" only won a miserable victory, and a short month is far from enough for them to recover to their heyday.

However, in addition to the seven battalions of infantry, the rebels also have at least thousands of light and heavy cavalry.

Therefore, the Southern Front Army in Zhuwangbao showed no signs of going out of the city for field battles, and they squatted behind the trenches, waiting for the "rebels" to actively run into them.

So, for Richard Mason, how to more efficiently deploy every manpower in his hands is the key to victory.

[Siege Camp]

Before dawn, the cadets of the Second Army Academy were dragged out of their tents by the shrill sound of military bugles and gathered in the open space with sleepy eyes.

Richard Mason appeared in front of the queue and said a few words of encouragement to the reserve cadets.

In fact, John Jessica did not arrange this process, but Mason always felt a little guilty, so he came here on purpose, after all, his name was still written in the column of the general manager of the "Second Academy" roster.

Then, the empty-bellied reserve officers were taken out of the camp.

Hodel was in the queue, following in a daze, not knowing where to go, and not daring to ask.

The moon had already set, and even if it hadn't set, it would have been as small as a tooth mark and useless.

In the long queue, only a few torches were lit at the head and tail of the team, and most of the reserve officers could only hold the belts of the people in front of them and move forward in the dark.

After stumbling to a certain place, the only torch was also trampled out, leaving only the captain holding a special, very dim lantern.

The reserve officers were divided into smaller teams according to their classes and continued to march.

…

Due to reasons known to everyone, the first enrollment scale of the "Second Army College" far exceeded expectations, and the quality of students was mixed, making the original school plan completely unfeasible.

So a vice-president who is now in hiding decided not to assign subjects to the freshmen for the time being, and to assign directions to the students after the basic courses are completed.

In this process, some people who should have been screened out during the entrance examination but were not screened out because the qualification standards were lowered too low can be screened out.

Therefore, the "class" of the Second College is not linked to the military branch, but is just a living and learning group. Each class has a full quota of 30 people and is managed by a captain.

The captain of Hou Deer's class, by coincidence, is the baby-faced lieutenant who always appears next to Principal Jessica.

All the lieutenants and staff of the Second Academy had something missing, except Babyface, who had all his limbs intact.

At first, the students were curious about what Babyface was missing.

Until later, a rumor spread that Babyface was actually a prisoner.

Now it made sense. The students lost their curiosity about Babyface and their respect for him.

However, Houdel was very well-behaved in front of Babyface, and tried his best to stop others from causing trouble for Babyface.

Because when Babyface walked into the classroom with a smile and announced to Houdel's class that he was their district captain, Houdel immediately recognized:

This Babyface was the prisoner who had a very close relationship with Blood Wolf when he first met Blood Wolf and practiced sword with Blood Wolf outside the prisoner-of-war camp.

Even if he was burned to ashes, Houdel would not forget the "flattering" smile on Babyface's face when he gave the water bottle to Blood Wolf before him.

...

There were 30 people in Houdel's class, divided into two columns, following Babyface.

For some reason, the further we walked, the more tense the atmosphere became.

The baby-faced man lost his smile. He squinted his eyes, pursed his lips, and carefully scanned his feet, as if he was looking for something.

As he walked, a faint light appeared in front of him.

At first glance, Houdel thought it was a firefly, but he soon realized that the light was actually in a very far direction and was moving left and right.

Just as Houdel was trying to identify the light source, a red light suddenly flashed in the direction of the light source.

Then, two sounds - a dull thunder and a strange sound of breaking through the air - almost simultaneously reached Houdel's ears, and the latter sound gave Houdel goose bumps instantly.

"Cannon!" Houdel screamed, dragged a classmate beside him who he didn't know, and fell to the ground without caring about his dignity.

In fact, when Houdel heard the sound, the shells had already arrived, but the landing point was far away from where Houdel was, so many students in Houdel's class did not realize that the shells had passed by them, but were frightened by Houdel's strange cry.

But soon, everyone lay on the ground like Houdel - because red lights appeared one after another in front of them, and rumbling thunder woke up the earth.

Now, even the most slow-witted people realized that it was a cannon.

All the students lay on the ground, not daring to move.

"Where did you take us?" Houdel did not care about the silence rules of the night march, and asked the baby-faced man in a sharp voice.

"Where else could it be?" The baby-faced face was innocent. He was not lying on the ground, but half-squatting with a very calm posture. "Of course it is the Castle of the Kings."

Houdel clearly felt the classmates beside him tremble. He himself didn't know what to say, so he could only curse angrily, "[Plato dialect expletive]!"

"Cadet Hodel, you deduct one point," the baby-faced man showed the friendly smile he used when introducing himself to the class, and then said to the other reserve officers with a smile, "Don't worry, at this distance, only the unlucky ones will be caught. The shell hit. Stand up and keep walking. We haven't reached the place yet."

After that, he got up first, held the lantern, and continued to walk forward.

The students looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and finally got up one after another, bending their waists and knees, and followed cautiously.

It was at this moment that Hodel discovered that Baby Face was not walking around randomly.

On the ground, both the way back and the way forward are guided by a white line.

Hodel twisted the white powder that formed the lines.

Um? lime?

After planning the route in advance, and thinking of the first lecture of the Chief of Staff, Hodel finally relaxed his heart in his throat again - he thought that Kadar Lagre, this young boy, was going to lead them to surrender to the enemy.

Sure enough, after walking a little further, Baby Face finally found what he was looking for.

He stopped in front of a small pile of rocks.

It was a small triangular pile built with stones, very inconspicuous. If it hadn't been plastered on the side facing the crowd, it's hard to say whether Kadar would have missed it.

"Okay, this is it," Kadar turned around and called to the students: "Sit down and rest where you are."

"Rest here?" Some students were shocked, "But the cannon..."

Kadar hid his contempt for the dilettantes and still smiled, "Didn't I tell you? At this distance, you are safe."

"But……"

Kadar sat directly next to the triangle pile, picked up a stone stained with white ash, and motioned to the students present:

"Have you seen this stone? It was arranged by Major Richard Mason himself. Major Mason can go to dangerous situations personally, so what do you have to be afraid of?"

After saying that, Kadar blew out the lantern and "rest where you are."

Losing the only light source, the surroundings were completely plunged into darkness, and only a few lights in the direction of the King's Castle could be seen in the distance.

It was impossible to leave, so whether willingly or not, the thirty students sat down.

Hodel was the first to sit down. To be precise, he lay down directly - it was dark anyway, no one could deduct points from him even if he was not well behaved.

Claude quietly touched the monkey, bit his ear and asked, "Do you know what Babyface wants to do to bring us here?"

Hodel thought for a moment and suddenly laughed, "I guess it's digging a toilet."

"No, you..." Claude was a little anxious.

"Don't believe it?" Hodel pretended to be profound, "Let's wait and see."

The defenders of the King's Castle seemed to have discovered that the "rebels" were still too far away from the city wall, and firing artillery at this time was a waste of ammunition.

Or maybe it was because the babyface blew out the lights and they completely missed the mark.

In short, the defenders' artillery did not fire again, and even the fire on the city wall was extinguished, which allowed Hodel to take a chance and secretly take a nap.

Just when Hodel was half asleep, someone came to his side again and touched his shoulder.

"Who?" Hodel was startled and almost jumped up from the ground.

The person who came to see Hodel was also startled, but he quickly reacted and revealed his identity, "I want to say thank you."

Only then did Hodel realize that the person who woke him up was the guy he had knocked down during the first shelling.

Hodel was a little angry when he was woken up at the most critical moment, but he still held back and did not get angry. He wiped his saliva and nodded perfunctorily, "It's a small matter, that shot might not have been aimed at us."

The student who came to express his thanks also realized that he had disturbed Hodel's dream, so he was very sensible and thanked him again before leaving.

Hodel fell to the ground again, and when he opened his eyes again, it was already dark.

Two carriages came to everyone's side. Babyface called all the students up and led everyone to unload shovels, pickaxes, and stacks of half-person-high woven baskets from the carriages.

After unloading the goods, the carriage left. They could not stay here for too long, otherwise the bombardment would come soon.

"Are you resting?" Kadar picked up a shovel and drew a line on the ground casually, "Then let's dig."

"Dig...what?" Some students were puzzled.

"Dig a bunker," Kadar said with a smile. "First dig a trench and then build a wall. It doesn't have to be too big. Just dig a ten-meter-round earth fence."

Seeing that many students still looked confused, Kadar reminded him seriously: "It depends on you when it will be completed, but I suggest that you try your best to complete it before dawn. After all, if the enemy troops in the city rush out - although It’s unlikely, but if they do break out, this Tuweizi will be your only refuge.”

"So, everyone," Kadar clapped his hands, "Let's get started!"

…

The whole class can eat bread together, but the whole class cannot dig soil together, so it is natural to work in groups.

Hodel did his job and became one of the team leaders. After all, he had the status of "Blood Wolf Soldier", so everyone subconsciously looked up to him.

Houdel naturally chose Claude as his team member.

Just when he was about to pick all the students from Tiefeng County Army, an unexpected person appeared in front of him.

"Can you take me with you?"

The student who was just beaten up by Houdel but came to thank him, plucked up the courage and asked embarrassedly.

Houdel looked at Claude in surprise.

Because the student who volunteered was Madia Raul.

Madia Raul, among the "young masters", is also a relatively different one.

He has a rich father - it is said that he is a famous local rich man in Vone County;

and a brother who bought an official position - it is said that he is still weaving baskets in the prisoner-of-war camp.

In terms of origin, Madia Raul is an out-and-out "young master" and should be closer to the "leather boots boys".

But among the students who were born as "commissioned officers", little Madia is out of place.

Because he took the exam on his own initiative.

When some commissioned officers wanted to hand in a blank paper and just wanted to get out of the army, but they couldn't get what they wanted, a fellow who took the exam on his own initiative would certainly not be welcomed.

So Madia Raul was always alone in the military academy. The cadets who were soldiers did not accept him, and the former commissioned officers did not treat him as their own.

It was also for this reason that Houdel was a little hesitant in the face of Madia Raul's request.

He tilted his head and looked at Claude inquiringly.

Claude was always warm-hearted. He shrugged and handed Xiao Ma a shovel cheerfully: "Come on, we are just short of people."

The extremely nervous Majiya Raul smiled instantly. He took the shovel with both hands and took the other tools on the ground. As if he was afraid that Houdel and Claude would go back on their word, he kept asking, "Where are we going to dig?"

"Alas," Houdel unconsciously put on airs again, with his hands on his waist, and said in a fake manner, "You don't have to do this."

Claude raised his leg and kicked Houdel in the buttocks, "Hold it, hold it, disgusting."

Then he turned around and stretched out his hand to Majiya, "I haven't introduced myself formally yet. I am Claude Lee, and this is Houdel, who calls himself the 'Blood Wolf Guard'. In fact, he is just running errands for you. You can just call him monkey."

Majiya's eyes were a little sour, because this was the first time he was welcomed since he entered the Second Army Academy.

He clumsily put all the tools under his left arm and shook Claude's hand, "I'm Madia Raul."

"No need to introduce yourself, you're too famous," Monkey pushed Claude aside and shook hands with Madia, "Also, I have to tell you - the guards are errand runners!"

Madia nodded in confusion.

"I have a good buddy named Doug, but he's in another class," Houdel patted Madia's shoulder in a grand manner, as if he was a leader, "I'll introduce him to you when the time comes."

However, due to the difference in nutritional levels, although Madia Raul is younger than Houdel, he is a full head taller than Houdel. So Houdel had to secretly tiptoe to pat Xiao Ma's shoulder more smoothly.

Madia nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and was so happy that she was about to faint.

"Let's go," Houdel turned around and called Xiao Ma to start working.

As far as the eye could see, other classes were also digging the soil in full swing.

"Well, this is the beginning," Houdel thought.

--

At the same time, on the arrow tower of the new city wall, Jason Cornelius was observing what Houdel saw from another angle.

And because he was in a wider field of vision, what he could see was more comprehensive than what Houdel saw:

On the iron-gray plain, surrounding the new city of the Kings Castle, a series of small fortifications were rising from the ground;

The distances between the small fortifications were roughly equal, and the distances from the city walls were also roughly the same, which showed that the location of the fortifications had been carefully calculated and not randomly selected;

The small fortifications were arranged from the river bank to the river bank, like a pearl necklace, tightly entangling the city area on the west bank.

"The cannons are ready." Fritz climbed up the arrow tower to report.

Cornelius estimated the distance and shook his head, "Two kilometers, too far, don't waste ammunition."

"Then should we send people out of the city to catch them off guard?" Fritz made a suggestion dutifully.

Cornelius shook his head again, "Leaving the city is the right strategy. Our troops are precious and cannot be wasted in a field battle."

"What do the 'rebels' want to do," Fritz could not hide his doubts, "are they trying to do? Do they want to besiege us for a long time? Are they going to abandon the troops in the bishop's castle?"

Cornelius put down the telescope and said thoughtfully, "I guess they are 'putting on a show'."