Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 113 Victory is on the way to a new victory

   In the sea blue city, a grand parade ceremony is being held.

   Walking in the forefront was a black-robed monk with a censer. The strange aroma escaped from the shaking censer, filling the entire street.

   In the haze of blue smoke, the atmosphere of the parade became mysterious and psychedelic.

Four priests followed closely with the remains of St. Mark, which had been contained in a golden casket. Since two Veneta merchants stole the remains from the Port of Conquest three hundred years ago and brought them back to Aquamarine, St. Mark has become The patron saint of Hailan and even the entire Veneta.

  Winters wore a full set of honor guard armor, rode the 'Fortune' of the divine horse, and followed the remains of the saint with the captured Tanirian battle flag upside down. The same goes for the other Veneta officers who have returned from Red Iwo.

After the formation of the    knights, there were three prison wagons. The Hailan didn't recognize the prisoner's face, but he didn't have to think about it and knew that it must be a big man in the Taniria Federation.

   They guessed right, the well-known pirate, captain, and explorer William Kidd was locked in the prison car in the middle.

  The prisoners brought back from Chi Sulphur Island were not only those in the prison car, but General Serbiati and General Layton sent all the prisoners back to Hailan to participate in the ceremony of offering prisoners.

   However, the transport ship holding the common prisoners unfortunately sank, leaving only a few important prisoners who were held in isolation alive, all in the prison car.

  Although the queue of captives looks a bit shabby, it does not affect the joy of the Veneta people.

After the   carriage were two well-decorated carriages. A clown in Chinese clothes grabbed a handful of silver coins and spice powder from the purse on the carriage and splashed them on the crowd, causing waves of looting.

   As if the carnival came early, the whole city was restless.

  The streets and alleys on the side of the road were crowded with people, children ran to the roof, and women leaned out from the windows on the second floor along the street, waving bouquets and fans. Many civilians followed the parade with joy.

  Salutes were fired, bells were tolled, people set off fireworks, held thanksgiving services, and the city became a sea of ​​joy and happiness.

  The long procession went around the city like this, and finally returned to the starting point of Parliament Square.

  The crowd grew wilder as captured flags, weapons, armor, and even four cannons were tossed one by one in front of the guard's loggia—right at the feet of Pathus, who held Medusa's head high.

  Excited emotions infected everyone, and everyone caught in it could not extricate themselves. The people gathered in the Veneta shouted over and over again "Victory! San Marco! Victory! San Marco!" desperately reaching out to touch the golden casket containing the holy remains.

  The atmosphere is blurry and frenetic, people thank the gods and saints for their victory, and long for even the slightest blessing. The victory parade has in a sense turned into a religious parade.

   Even the officers' honor guard became the center of the vortex.

  Honichi was thrown into the Sea of ​​Senas by the excited girls and young women, who threw their bouquets and silk fans to the majestic knights.

   Many daring women even took off their masks and veils and threw them at officers serving as honor guards—a very, very blatant suggestion in Veneta culture.

  For a while, Winters only felt that there were hard objects like raindrops hitting him, and the arrows of the Tanirians had never been so dense. He was only fortunate to be wearing a full set of plate armor and helmet, otherwise he would have been smashed all over his head.

   After the seven rounds of salutes were fired in unison, the figure of Archon Debella appeared on the guard loggia.

   The Archon began an impassioned speech, but Winters could hardly hear anything.

   In fact, no one in Parliament Square should be able to hear the specifics. Every time Debella said a word, the crowd responded with huge cheers. The cheers even interrupted Debella's speech several times, forcing the consul to wait until a little quiet before continuing.

   But Winters didn't care what the people on the loggia were saying. According to the process, once the consul starts to speak, the honor guard can be disbanded.

  The noise made Qiang Yun a little uneasy. The three-year-old horse snorted in dissatisfaction, and Warrant Officer Montagne just wanted to leave the parliament square filled with frenzy as soon as possible.

   Taking advantage of the crowd's attention being shifted to the consul who was giving a speech, the officers who returned from Red Iwo Island communicated with hand gestures.

  The guard of honor could not have left quietly like this, and the girls along the way tried their best to stuff jewelry, paper with addresses, and handkerchiefs embroidered with family crests and initials into the arms of the boys.

  The viewing window of Winters' helmet was even tucked into a small folding fan made of fragrant wood. The foreign object slid straight into the eyes, Winters dodged subconsciously, and crashed into another lady's arms.

  The officers squeezed out of the square in a rather embarrassed manner, and when they got to a place where the crowd was sparse, they were able to take off the helmets that made them breathless.

   "Huh? Where are the Don Juan people?" Lieutenant Pisani nodded his head and found that the number was wrong.

   "Huh? People are gone?" Winters was also surprised when he heard this. After counting it again, he found that Don Juan was not the only one missing: "I won't be trampled?! I'll go back and find it!"

   Having said that, Winters was about to go into the crowd.

Captain Lailo reached out and grabbed the reins of Qiang Luck, and said helplessly: "You kid, it's really... Since they didn't come out with us, there must be a place to go. Don't be reckless and disturb the good things of others. !"

  Winters then understood what was going on, and dismounted again in disbelief.

   "Montagne is too young to understand." Pisani asked with a teasing: "It's Senior Lelo, why did you come out with us?"

  Lello and Pisani looked at each other, and both of them tacitly smiled meaningfully.

   Not long ago, Winters was in a purgatory-like siege battlefield. Now, he's a war hero, back in prosperous, crowded, bustling sea blue, surrounded by friends chatting women, women and women.

   This change of distance contrast Winters has not been able to adapt well so far, and the grand scene in front of him always looks like a dream, not real at all.

   On the square, the noisy voices gradually converged into one name: "San Marco! San Marco! San Marco!"

   Hearing the shouts of the crowd, Winters smiled: "I don't remember which Tanirian San Marco killed himself."

   The other officers around him smiled awkwardly when they heard Winters' rebellious speech.

"We are the hands of San Marco! Hahaha, this is actually a lively scene, let everyone be happy." Pisani immediately laughed and hugged Winters' neck: "You think the old man is willing to run to Spitting on the loggia? Who makes the Veneta like this? If he doesn't make everyone happy, where will the money come from to keep fighting?"

   Winters knew that he had made a blunder, and knew that Senior Pisani was giving him a roundabout, so he nodded and laughed a few times. .

"Don't look at the momentum, this may be the cheapest way to save money." Lai Luo was also a little disappointed: "After a month, the Hailan people will forget our name, but even a hundred years later, people will remember this. A grand victory parade. Debella, this old man, is a good man!"

   In the familiar carriage not far away, Winters saw the people in the car waving at him, knowing that the people in the car were in a hurry, so he said goodbye to the others. The officers of the honor guard had their own places, and they were disbanded on the spot as a matter of course.

   Winters tied the heavy-lift reins to the rear beam of the carriage and opened the door.

  Anna was in the car and had been waiting for a long time.

   She reached out and put Wen Tesla into the car, and said with a smile, "I really feel that Hailan hasn't been so lively in a long time."

   "The battle hasn't been won yet. It's a little too early to celebrate the victory now." Winters sighed, and he was a little worried when he mentioned this.

   But Winters didn't realize it: this is not the atmosphere to say such a thing. The air in the carriage seemed to have suddenly cooled by three points because of his coldness.

  Anna didn't let go of Winters' hand, she vaguely felt that the current Winters couldn't be as happy as before.

   She squeezed Winters' hand and said angrily, "Mr. Montagne, you should really learn how to please girls!"

   "Hahaha, then who can teach me?" Winters' face showed a sincere smile for the first time today.

   "Of course it is..." Anna smiled halfway through, and her eyes were suddenly attracted by the helmet that Winters put beside her: "...Huh? What is that?"

Before    Winters could react, Anna had let go of his hand and picked up his helmet.

  A small and delicate folding fan is inserted into the helmet.

   At this time, Winters was ignorant about the crisis in front of him, and he answered somewhat inexplicably: "Isn't it a folding fan?"

  Ana took off the folding fan from the helmet, unfolded it and checked it again, picked up the helmet and sniffed again. Anna, who had come to a conclusion, looked at Winters with a very playful look.

Only then did Warrant Officer Montagne realize that something was wrong, and he explained carefully: "It was stuffed by someone else... I don't know who stuffed it... Actually, I don't want it either... The fan almost touched my eye. …”

  Anna was playing with the folding fan, and there was a faint smile on the corner of her mouth. She didn't speak, just listened to Winters defend himself.

   "If you like...for you?" Winters said helplessly. But after thinking about it, he felt that this kind of gift was a little strange, and changed his words: "I should buy the same one for you, right?"

   "No, I want this one." Anna suddenly put the folding fan away.

   "Okay, it's yours."

  Anna stood up suddenly and approached Winters. The strands of hair caressed Winters' face, and the distance was so close that Winters could almost feel the heat on Anna's body.

There should be no difference in the body temperature of   , but Winters really felt Anna's body hot at this moment.

   "You...you...what are you doing..." Warrant Officer Montagne's breathing almost stopped.

  Anna stretched out her arms, wrapped it around Winters' neck, and… untied the belt buckle of Winters' breastplate.

   The honor guard armor that Winters is wearing now is not the shoddy chest plate that is issued to ordinary sword and shield fighters. Although this set of honor guards does not fit well, it is a complete set of three-quarter plate armor with exquisite workmanship.

   This armor is particularly well protected for the core area. If it is encountered in hand-to-hand combat, it is enough to cause a headache for the most skilled swordsman.

   But even with such a tightly stitched armor, several handkerchiefs were stuffed by the women through the gaps under the armpits and waist. Winters didn't even notice when it was crammed in - there were just too many people, too crowded.

   Winters voluntarily untied his armguards, and as expected, he was tucked into two handkerchiefs.

   "You're quite popular... Monta. Nie. Master." Anna folded her handkerchiefs one by one in a leisurely manner and said word by word.

  The handkerchiefs were sprayed with perfume, and the carriage was very fragrant.

Winters said helplessly: "Once you put on this helmet, you don't know whether it's a human or a ghost. If there's anything really popular, it's just this armor. You put it on and walk around the square. Circle, the harvest must be more than me."

  Anna laughed and put the folded handkerchief into Winters' hand: "Okay, okay, keep these handkerchiefs. When you are old, you can take them and recall your glorious days."

   "Do I need it?" Winters also felt annoyed and amused: "A trick for you."

   After he finished speaking, he put the helmet on Anna's head, grabbed the handkerchief and stretched out the window, and began to concentrate.

  Although from an absolute point of view, Winters' magic level has not improved significantly. But after a lot of battles, his skill in using magic is different from before. It is equivalent to the fact that the strength has not changed much, but the skills of exerting strength and fighting have been hammered increasingly sophisticated.

   Winters smoothly entered the casting state, released the fire spell, and the flammable silk handkerchief caught fire instantly.

   Anna, who took off her helmet, snorted softly, "I'm not afraid that you will accept other people's handkerchiefs."

   "I don't want to take it, I'm afraid." Winters only felt exhausted.

  Anna glared coquettishly, suddenly leaned over and touched Winters' forehead lightly with her lips, and then casually threw the folding fan engraved with a certain lady's name out of the window.

   The black carriage slowly drove away from the Parliament Square.

  …

   Actually, what Archon De Bella did—what Winters didn’t listen to, the people in the square didn’t—was important.

   Although the war is not over yet.

   But De Bella used a grand victory parade to convince the Veneta of three things: Veneta had won, Veneta was winning, and Veneta was on its way to new victories.

  De Bella took the opportunity to announce three things.

   First of all, in the future, the captured Tanirian cannons and weapons will be used to cast a new statue of San Marco - this is basically the traditional habit of the Veneta people, of course, the old cannons and weapons are used;

   Second, all debtors can receive debt relief through military service;

   Finally, draws will be performed in the rural areas of Veneta to form two new legions. The war will continue until Veneta finally wins;

   The second and third things are actually the same thing: the source of troops.

  The standing army is a recruited, elite professional soldier; while the reserve is a citizen who has received good military training.

   That is, half of the Legion of Great Veneta and the entire Legion of San Marco are all composed of the city's population - most of which are citizens of the city of Lamar.

   These drafted reservists are the essence of the city. Being trained in weapons and carrying weapons is a privilege in Veneta, and the underclassmen who are struggling to live have no energy or money to acquire them.

   So the reserve soldiers are essentially "citizen soldiers", wealthy merchants and craftsmen in the city. They undergo military training once a week, and a considerable number of reserve soldiers acquire their own weapons and armor.

  Because of this, although they are not as elite as the standing army, the reserve soldiers also showed great combat effectiveness in the battle on Red Iwo.

   But the two legions have drawn out nearly 10,000 absolute urban laborers - able-bodied adult male citizens.

   If we continue to recruit reservists on a large scale, the production and life of TC cities such as Hailan will inevitably be affected.

   So new legions and supplements will be called up from the rural areas... Whether this decision is a good or a bad one is anyone's guess.

  A week after the Victory Parade, a new fleet was assembled at Lamar Harbor.

   Before leaving, Debella Archon held a grand expedition ceremony.

   The gongs and drums blared loudly, the horns blared, and the clergy held religious ceremonies to bless the fleet.

Debella handed over to Admiral Chloe Zeno a battle flag. On the bottom of the red flag was a lion embroidered with gold thread, with a crown on his head, wings on his back, a sword in one claw, and a lion in the other. Holding the scriptures in one paw.

   The consul solemnly declared:

  God has given you a sacred mission to use your courage to defend this Republic and avenge those who dared to insult him and violate its safety. We award to you this victorious and formidable banner and your task is to carry it triumphantly, without tarnishing its honor.

   In the cheers and salutes of the people, the fleet slowly left the sea blue port.

   However, in fact, the ship was loaded with only supplementary troops and military supplies. The two new legions had not yet been assembled, and even their numbers had not yet been determined.

  Chloe Zeno is also only a Commodore, and his status in the army is far lower than that of Nareshaw, Antonio and Layton.

   However, there was no ceremony when the Great Veneta Legion set off, and San Marco did not hold a ceremony when they set off. On the contrary, the set off ceremony of a small supply fleet made it very lively, so that those who knew the inside story could not help but be amazed.

   Winters was also in this fleet.

  The reason why he returned to the homeland was to **** the prisoners as a part-time job, and the main purpose was to recover from injuries. Dr. Kane told him sternly that "if you don't want to amputate an arm, go home and rest."

  But after three weeks off, Winters felt that the arrow injury was almost healed.

   He didn't want to fight, but Antonio was on the front line, Bud, Andre, and Moritz were all on the front line, he couldn't bear to hide in the safe homeland and watch his relatives and friends bleed

   So Warrant Lieutenant Winters Montagne applied for early return.

   The faces of the people who were seeing off on the shore could not be seen clearly, and Winters returned to the cabin. He carefully opened the delicate pendant in his hand, which contained the portraits of Kesha and Ella...and Anna's.

  The soul of the person being painted can be captured with delicate brushstrokes on a small piece of paper, which is a gift from Anna.

Anna's voice lingered in his ears: "Write me a letter! Mr. Montagne, write me a hundred letters, please write every day. Tell me, you can tell me! I will write to you every day too! I'll be waiting for you... I'll write to you every day! Please write to me too! Don't forget me..."

  Winters stared for a while, then closed the pendant and put it back on his neck carefully.

   Before leaving, he promised Anna that "when this is over... leave the army or apply for a safe position".

   "Retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel is actually not bad." Winters lay on the bed, thinking in his mind.

  …

   On the shore, the shadow of the ship on the other side of the sea has gradually disappeared below the sea level.

   Elizabeth supported the tearful Serbian Madame Ti, and Sofia was holding the weeping Miss Navarre.

   Ella didn't expect that she would be the youngest and the strongest in the end. She actually wanted to cry, but she firmly believed that "Winters will be fine."

  …

   Along with the soldiers, there are also appointed officials, receiving envoys, businessmen, priests, speculators... The number of these non-military personnel is more than twice that of the military personnel.

   With dreams of glory and wealth, Veneta's Fourth Fleet sailed to the Tanilla Islands.

   Note: This story is purely fictitious, and the "Stealing of San Marco's remains 300 years ago" is inconsistent with the timeline of this universe. The level of science and technology in the book is probably between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the "stealing of bones" in this world occurred in 828. And don't take the plot of the novel seriously.

Thanks to the book friends who have voted for the recommendation before, as well as the book friends who voted in the past two days: Xiaocheng Boy, Please Call Me Pleasant, Black Computer Accessories, Social Justice Pharaoh, Justice and Purity are Koalas, Your Life The most recommended tickets in Lili, writersblock, the world of the world, calm gray past, the moon in the cloud 1981, sky lens, Tianshui has a beautiful woman, Sa Da [], thank you all. Thanks Yun Zhongyue 1981 for the reward. thanks.

   (end of this chapter)