Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"Wow! It's a statue of a Sabine woman! How did the ancients carve the stone into a gauze texture?" Anna, with a funny mustache on her lips, wandered happily in the mercenary loggia: "Also With this one, look at the lines of her body, she’s so beautiful!”

However, Winters was a little absent-minded at this time. No matter what Anna said, he would answer with "uh-huh" and hold the hilt of his sword to protect the girl disguised as a man.

The Loggia of the Guards is a promenade adjacent to the Parliament Square and was built during the imperial period. In the past, the emperor's envoys read edicts from the top of the loggia and received petitioners inside the loggia.

Because this loggia symbolizes the majesty of the emperor, it is not only extremely high, but also contains several statues created by famous artists. Next to the loggia is where the royal guards used to be stationed, hence the name Guards Loggia.

After the War of Sovereignty, the Republic of Veneta inherited the gallery. Although there are still some major public ceremonies - such as the oath-taking ceremony of the administrator - it is still held here. But usually this is just a place for citizens to relax and enjoy the cool air, and it is no longer an inviolable royal forbidden area.

Elizabeth, who was afraid that the world would be in chaos, gladly became Anna's messenger. In return for providing the drawings, Anna asked Winters to wait outside Mrs. Anguizola's studio at nine o'clock this morning with two horses.

So Winters waited for Miss Anna, who was dressed in men's clothing and had a mustache.

"I skipped class!" Anna's big eyes were full of excitement: "Take me to the guard loggia! Did you bring the horse?"

"I brought it, but I didn't bring the ladies' side saddle." Winters said apologetically, "Why don't you wait for me to find a carriage?"

Sitting astride a saddle with your legs spread apart is a very rude behavior for a woman, so there are side saddles specifically for women. But Anna got on the horse happily: "No, I have long wanted to try what it feels like to sit upright."

At this moment in the guard corridor, Winters looked at Anna who was admiring the statue, and suddenly felt a sense of unreality, as if the fierce battle at Haidong Port the night before yesterday was just a dream.

On the street, workers pushing wheelbarrows and vendors driving mule carts were quarreling fiercely; in the carriage passing by, a lady opened the curtains curiously and watched; the well-dressed gentleman turned a blind eye to this, Riding a horse passed slowly.

Pedestrians are busy with their own livelihood, while Anna is indulged in the art of sculpture. This is another ordinary day in Aquamarine City, but the soldiers can already smell the increasingly pungent smell of gunpowder and blood.

When the battlefield was cleared the night before yesterday, more than 600 corpses were counted. The attackers entrenched in the shipyard tried to escape by rowing boats on the beach, but most of them were overtaken by cavalry and hacked to death from behind.

Without any torture, the prisoners spit out a name: Captain Drake. Captain Tanilia and a prominent member of the Planters' Union, and a feared pirate on the Inland Sea.

This was a long-planned sneak attack. The pirates took advantage of the high tide and boarded small boats to land in batches and hid in the forest east of Haidong Port. Two days later, on a night of howling south winds, they launched their attack.

A group of pirates pretended to attack the dock with great fanfare. When the defenders of the duck-billed fort went to support the dock, another group of pirates ambushing outside the fort took the opportunity to seize the fort.

Subsequently, the two groups of pirates attacked front and back and defeated the defenders together.

Immediately afterwards, the pirates began to set fire to the docks and seize the warships moored in the harbor.

After the warship returned to its home port, most of the sailors had returned to the shore to rest. There were only a small number of crew members left on the warship, and they were in panic and could not organize effective resistance.

The heroic sailors on the three warships fought off the pirates and tried to sail the warships out of the harbor. Two of them were sunk by the heavy artillery of the duckbill battery at the narrowest point of the bay's exit. The other one was ambushed by a pirate ship hiding outside the bay after sailing out of the bay, and its whereabouts are unknown.

The sailors of the other warship stayed in the cabin. The sailors could not drive the ship away, and the pirates did not dare to go down. The brutal pirates finally set fire to the warship.

Two warships in the dock were towed to the coast to clean up the barnacles on their hulls. The pirates could not drag them back to the sea, so they simply burned them together.

The sailors on the remaining four warships were killed by the pirates. With the strong south wind, the pirates drove the four warships away from Haidong Port.

In just two hours, four of the ten warships of the Veneta Navy in Haidong Port were taken away and six were burned.

The last complete warship in the harbor was actually the Imperial warship "Virtue" that Winters was responsible for welcoming that day. There were dozens of loyal soldiers left on board the Virtue, and the pirates who wanted to seize the warship were shattered.

At the same time, the captain of the Virtue calmly understood the situation and did not leave the bay blindly. Because the fort has changed hands, most of the gun positions in the port fort must be facing the entrance and exit of the bay, and there are not many gun positions facing the home port. The captain of the Virtue decided that instead of plunging into the open sea where the enemy's situation was unknown, it was better to deal with the artillery forts in the bay.

In fact, when the officer cavalry team from Dongda Camp arrived at Haidong Port, most of the pirates had already escaped. Being able to grab a real warship is already a huge profit. Any pirate who boarded a naval warship had only one thought: to get the ship away.

In the end, the pirates who were entrenched in the shipyard were all abandoned men who had not boarded the ship. They still robbed and set fire to the port, but when they turned around, they found that the ship had been driven away. Most of them were trapped in the shipyard, and a small number remained in the gun battery.

So there was the scene that Winters saw: a lone warship in the bay was shooting at the duckbill fort; a warship was burning beside the dock, the sailors and the enemies in the shipyard Fierce fighting.

Antonio said to Winters, "War is a means, not an end."

But now, there is no alternative to war.

The entire Hailan City has now learned about the attack on the naval port. Soon, the entire Veneta and even the entire Alliance will learn the news.

In just one night, the Veneta Navy lost half of its warships. This was an undeclared sneak attack. Regardless of whether Captain Drake was instructed by the Federation or not, the Veneta regime has determined that it was the Tanilia Federation that launched the sneak attack on Haidong Port.

After the War of Sovereignty, Veneta reconvened the General Assembly of Citizens for the first time. Messengers were flying on the road to deliver the news, and citizen representatives from various cities were gathering in Aquamarine City.

The Archon will address the general assembly, but everyone already knows what he is going to say.

"war!"

The prices of iron, copper, sulfur, and nitrate are skyrocketing, with a new price every minute;

The navy is commandeering all the armed merchant ships it can find, recruiting sailors with high daily wages, and conscripting all the prisoners it can find.

The Army Reserve received call-up orders, and officers who had been placed in various sinecures were assigned to new positions within the army.

The Third Army Corps was quickly replenished from the usual half-man force to full strength; a reserve Army Corps had already set up its officer skeleton, and was just waiting for the replenishment of reserve soldiers.

The main war faction originally wanted to use the dock assassination case to put pressure on the ruling committee, but this is no longer necessary. The functions of the dock assassination case and the management of the guards at the headquarters were transferred to the Hailan City Security Headquarters, and the Military Police Division of the Army Headquarters was abolished.

Lieutenant Colonel Field, Major Moritz, Warrant Officer Winters, and many other officers who were idle were reassigned to new duties. Lieutenant Colonel Field and Major Moritz went to the Reserve Army to lead troops, while Winters was asked by Antonio to serve as a trainee in the Third Army.

Veneta's war machine was already in motion, and all officers were just cogs in the machine. No one can control his own destiny, at least not a small warrant officer.

As the vortex began to turn, Winters found himself being dragged along by the current. He spent so much energy investigating the dockside assassination case that it was useless to say it was useless. Perhaps for the big shots, this is just a round of political games.

He suddenly began to envy Andre's carefree personality: "Don't think so much, we will do whatever we are asked to do." Perhaps Andre was more suitable to be a soldier than himself.

"What are you thinking about?" Anna waved her hand in front of Winters' face, interrupting Winters' thoughts: "Did you listen to what I was saying?"

"Of course." Warrant Officer Montagne came back to his senses and changed the subject calmly: "You found me and asked me to accompany you to the guard loggia? Have you never been to the guard loggia?"

The Guards Loggia is considered a landmark building in Aquamarine City. Winters has often played here with his friends since he was a child, or made appointments to meet here. He didn't understand that he just came to the square for a walk, why bother with so much trouble?

"How could a lady come to a place like this? These statues are all...all...that..." Anna blushed and spoke softer and quieter, and the last few words could not be heard at all.

Winters looked at the marble and bronze sculptures around him. The male statue's primary sexual characteristics were nakedly displayed in public: "Naked?"

Anna said "hmm" softly.

"You know she's naked and you still come to see her?"

Anna, who was shy a second ago, kicked Winters hard in the calf.

Warrant Officer Montagne dodges quickly: "Why are you so barbaric?"

Anna said angrily: "I come now as a man."

"You really don't think that others won't recognize you as a woman because of what you're wearing, do you?" Winters asked.

"Anyway, don't think of me as a woman now."

Winters bowed lightly: "Mr. Navarre, please stay here and enjoy it slowly. I have something else to do, so I'll go ahead."

"Don't leave." Anna hurriedly pulled Winters' sleeve: "How can you treat a girl... It's not safe here anyway... We agreed that I would paint you a painting and you would be my bodyguard. Do you want to refuse the payment?" "

"This is Parliament Square." Winters was amused: "This is probably the most secure place in Veneta. What's so unsafe?"

Anna let go of her hand, sat on the stone platform at the base of the statue, and whispered: "You won't understand, you are a man, you are safe wherever you are."

As she spoke, Anna buried her head in her arms, not knowing what she was thinking.

Winters sighed, turned and left.

After a few minutes, he came back again, carrying two large cups.

When Anna looked up and found that she was alone in the guard loggia, she almost went crazy with anxiety. Seeing Winters coming back, he angrily kicked Warrant Officer Montagne in the calf again: "Did you really leave? Where did you go?"

"Aren't you a man now? I'll treat you to a man's drink." Winters sat carelessly on the stone platform at the base of the statue and handed the cup in his hand to Anna.

Anna was stunned for a moment, then sat down on the edge of the stone platform and took a sip: "Sweet?"

"Sweet beer does not contain hops, so it cannot be stored for a long time. It is always brewed and sold freshly." Winters himself also took a big sip: "When I was a child in Shanglu, I always came to the veranda with my friends to drink sweet beer. I didn’t expect that six years later, that beer girl is still selling this thing.”

As he said that, Winters took another sip and smacked his lips: "It just tastes a little different. It always tastes better in my memory."

"So are you still here to drink sweet beer with your friends?" Anna asked Winters while holding the cup in both hands and sipping.

Winters thought about Benway who was hiding in the farm in the suburbs, and shook his head: "No chance now, my friend is... very busy right now."

The cool breeze was blowing, and the two people were sitting in the corridor in silence, drinking sweet wine.

Anna suddenly imitated Winters' carefree sitting posture, and her legs were no longer carefully closed, but stretched out comfortably. The upper body leaned back, leaning on the base of the statue, and stretched out comfortably.

Winters extended the wine glass to Anna. Anna was stunned for a moment, then smiled and clinked the glass with Winters.

She looked in the direction of Parliament Square and said softly: "Thank you, this may be the only opportunity in my life to come to the Guards Loggia to appreciate these sculptures with my own eyes."

"You give me the drawings and I'll do the work for you. It's a fair deal." Anna's sudden attitude made Winters very uncomfortable. He raised his glass and took a sip of wine to hide his embarrassment.

"Actually, I envy you." Anna whispered: "Because I am a woman, I cannot go to see anatomy, see models, or look directly at nude statues. No matter how I paint, I can only display it in my bedroom. Art dealers will accept paintings by female painters. Even Mrs. Anguizola can only paint portraits of others. I have only seen these sculptures in paintings before. Although they are in the Congress Square, I passed by here several times in the car, but I’ve never gotten out of my car and walked here.”

"Actually, just like now, you can come anytime you want."

"That's why I dare to come here because I am accompanied by... guards." Anna said angrily: "Mr. Montagne, you still don't understand! For a lady, there is no safe place except at home."

"Who told you that?" Winters couldn't help but want to laugh.

"My mother! And other respectable ladies!"

Winters feels that Anna is a contradiction, with a free side but at the same time constantly restraining herself.

He drank all the sweet wine left in the glass and took Anna's glass. Anna froze on the spot, staring dumbly as the man in front of her drank all the sweet beer in his glass in one go.

Afterwards, Winters went to return the cup first, then led the horse and led Anna through a few turns in the alley beside the Parliament Square and came to a small open space.

Anna was led to the grass between the houses by Winters in the fog all the way.

"Okay, here it is, this is where we used to play with swords." Winters inserted a stake into the ground with satisfaction and tied the two horses.

"Why did you bring me here?" Anna crossed her arms to protect her chest and asked warily.

Winters waved his hand: "Don't worry, I'm not interested in men."

Anna was angry and ashamed, and pretended to kick Winters again.

Winters took off the scabbard, pulled out the sword, and handed the sword to Anna, holding the scabbard in his own hand.

This is a typical ceremonial straight sword, short, light, and narrow, but it is also a real edged weapon.

But Anna didn't reach out to take it.

Winters said seriously: "Miss Anna, I agree with you. There is a natural physical gap between men and women. Although there are thin men and strong women, if most men in this world want to harm you, you There is no good way. But I can teach you some swordsmanship for self-protection in times of crisis. I hope it won’t come in handy one day.”

After saying that, he put the ceremonial sword into Anna's hand.

"The only thing I want to teach you is to be brave." Winters pointed to his chest, throat and eyes: "A lot of times it's not about skill, it's about courage. As long as you dare to poke hard at these parts Go down and stab me deep enough. Even if you don't die, you will be seriously injured. Come on, try to stab me."

With that said, Winters held the scabbard in his right hand and stood in front of Anna.

"What are you thinking about? Do it!" Winters said in the tone of Instructor Gnar: "I'll let you stab me."

Anna was almost crying: "I...when I get home...can I practice with a dummy?"

"Will the dummy fight back? Will the dummy bleed?" Winters scolded sternly: "Didn't you draw that picture of Aphrodite who looks like the God of War? When it's your turn, are you cowardly?"

"You...you know?"

"I'm not [an expletive that should never be said in front of a lady]!" Winters snapped: "Stab!"

Anna closed her eyes and stabbed out.

…

…

In Mrs. Anguisola's studio, Elizabeth looked at Anna with red eyes and asked in surprise: "What's going on? My brother is not a bad person, there must be some misunderstanding..."

Anna shook her head, but thought about what Winters said when he sent her back.

…

"Why do you always shed tears..."

Anna sat on the horse, just wiping tears and saying nothing.

"Isn't it because I knocked the sword away? This is a very common thing in swordsmanship practice."

Anna still didn't speak.

Winters said cautiously: "After today, will the account of those drawings be settled?"

"I gave you ten paintings, and if you work as my guard for half a day, can you clear both of them?"

"Well, if you have anything else you want me to do, let's talk about it together." Winters said helplessly: "Actually, I still suggest you convert it into silver coins, and I can pay you directly."

Hearing this, Anna asked angrily: "Do you just don't want to see me again? I don't want to see you again!"

"No, that's not the case, Miss Anna." Winters smiled miserably: "I'm going to fight. If I can't come back, you won't be able to collect this debt... You see, although men are better than women, Safe, but sometimes men have to go to the most dangerous places, don’t they?”

It is actually a mercenary loggia, but in order to comply with the setting and provide reasonable avoidance, the one in Aquamarine City is a guard loggia. I'll add pictures when I have time. It's been too late to finish writing these two days. I feel like I'm going to get cold if I continue like this. I should go to bed before twelve o'clock tomorrow anyway.

Thank you time:

Thanks to the book friends who voted for recommendation before, thank you. Thank you to the book friend who doesn’t know the name of the recommendation ticket, thank the book friend writersblock for the recommendation ticket, thank the book friend Yanyunsan for the recommendation ticket, thank the book friend 20181013204343295 for the recommendation ticket, and thank the book friend Biesu Zizixin for the recommendation ticket. Thank you all, thank you.