Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 169 Enlarged Meeting

  The steel-like General Yanosh was gone, the tough guy with the bell-like voice and strutting his head was gone, and there was only an old man who was like a gossamer on the army couch.

   Seeing the scene in front of him, Brigadier General Sackler was shocked and speechless.

   After hearing the news, Major General Arpad stepped on Sackler's footsteps and rushed into the tent, but he couldn't hide it.

   "What's the matter?" Sackler's lips trembled.

   "Typhoid fever first." Arpad walked to the bed, tucked the old man with the quilt, and whispered, "Then there was a stroke."

Sackler rushed towards Arpad and grabbed the opponent's collar fiercely. His rage had made him lose his mind: "You are so bold! You dare to isolate the inside and outside! You... how dare you hide it and not report it! You! What are you trying to do? ?"

   Arpad was so offended by his apprentice, but he was not angry at all, and he looked at Sackler silently.

   Compared to General Yanosh's loss of command ability, Arpad's unscrupulous actions made Sackler even more furious, which was no different from a mutiny.

   Sackler's chest heaved violently: "If you hide it for one more day, you will be surrounded by one more day? What do you want to do next? Can't hide what you want to do that day? Kill us all? Talk!"

"Have you finished the fire? Then listen to me." Arpad took the opponent's hand away from his collar: "Once the news of General Yanosh's stroke spreads, the military's morale will definitely be shaken, and it will only be given to the barbarian chief [ Yasin] can take advantage."

"Shut up!" Sackler was furious: "The general is seriously ill, we should retreat immediately! You concealed the news just to continue the battle! Just to get another general star! You set up the army for your own selfish desires. Your safety is at stake, Arpad Duyoom! I am at odds with you!"

Major General    Arpad sneered disdainfully. He dragged a bench and sat down at his leisure. He asked, "Do you think I am here for power? Status? General?"

   Sackler said nothing, his eyes almost bursting with rage was the answer.

  Alpad patted the dust on his breeches and said casually, "As long as you support me, I will apply for retirement after this battle and go home to raise horses and grow flowers."

   The only one who answered the major general was a cold snort from the depths of his nose.

The other party obviously didn't believe it, but Alpad didn't bother to swear any more. He stared at Sackler and asked word by word, "Do you know why we are here?"

   Sackler was taken aback for a moment, his anger subsided a little, but he still didn't speak.

   "I tell you, this battle is not for land, slaves, money, power - it has nothing to do with those!" Arpad Yang pointed to the direction where the city of Hedtu was located: "We are here to fight this city!"

Arpad paused and continued: "The man who built this city, I had noticed him eighteen years ago when he rode an old horse for me as a scout. He was only fifteen years ago. When he was 50, I had him on the list. Over the years, I watched him roll on the grassland like an avalanche, and even woke up at night from a dream."

   Sackler did not expect the other party to say such a thing, and was suppressed by the momentum of the major general for a while.

"The Republic is now a drunkard sleeping on a pyre." Arpad gritted his teeth: "I don't care about the generals! I'm here to level the Chihe Department! I'm putting out the fire for the Republic! General Sackler !"

  …

  No one knew what kind of agreement Arpad and Sackler had reached. Anyway, that afternoon, all the colonel-level officers in the army were called to participate in the enlarged meeting.

   Although it is said to expand the meeting, but no matter how large it is, it cannot be extended to lieutenants like Winters.

   Lieutenant Colonel Jessica went to the meeting - although Lieutenant Colonel is currently a lowly militia officer, he is a serious Colonel anyway.

   The lieutenant colonel had just left for the meeting, and Winters, Bud, Andre and Mason also gathered in the tent for a small meeting.

  Mason and his convicts were officially assigned to the Jesska Brigade. The brothers and sisters are now huddled together to keep warm, and they still take care of each other.

   There were no outsiders in the tent, and a few people gathered around the Suoya stove and talked without any scruples.

   "I don't think anyone can hold back anyone else, otherwise we won't engage in military democracy." Mason held a cup of hot water and smacked his lips: "I can't say that I have to resort to anonymous voting."

   Winters put his boots on the edge of the iron furnace, and said casually, "It's better to make up your mind than dry it."

  Andre, who was reaching for the fire, nodded in agreement.

   The restlessness and agitation in the Palatine army now, no one knows better than the lower-ranking officers.

   There were even cases of self-mutilation among soldiers, and many were quietly packing up.

   "I guess we still have to fight." Mason yawned: "I heard that four waves of slaves were released into the city one after another. If the troops were withdrawn, wouldn't the Japanese sheep lose their lives?"

  Andre came to be interested: "What do you mean by letting slaves into the city?"

   The others also pricked up their ears.

   "Before we came, General Arpad ordered the captured slaves to be driven into Bianli City - of course, the old, the weak and the sick. The Hurd people in the city have the backbone and accept them all."

  The tent was quiet for a while, only the wood in the hearth was beeping and burning.

  …

   Driving the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled into the city was a "very disrespectful" siege tactic.

   Letting people into the city is equivalent to adding more mouths to consume reserves. If you don't let people into the city, the fighting spirit of the defenders will be weakened.

  In some cases, the defenders would even take the initiative to drive the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled out of the city, and a tragedy would follow.

   Winters knew this all too well, he had not only heard of it, but had seen it with his own eyes.

   During the siege of Gusa, the defenders who lacked supplies resolutely drove "Useless Mouth" out of the city, but they were immediately driven back by the siege army.

   With nowhere to go, hungry and terrified, those poor people wandered between the walls and the siege fortified for eight days.

   Winters has never seen more desperate humans than those, and none of them survived in the end.

  It was not wise for the Hurd people in the city to dare to let people into the city, but it made Winters feel a little admiration.

  …

  Bud suddenly frowned and asked, "Tanylia no longer buys slaves, do the Paratus still arrest slaves?"

The    Islands have been divided between the Provinces and Veneta. The federation allowed the slave trade, but prohibited slave ownership in the federation, and Veneta banned it altogether.

"Really? I don't have any information, so I don't know very well." Mason was slightly stunned: "But if the islanders don't buy them, they can sell them in the principalities south of the Golden Summit Mountains. Hurd slaves are very popular, and they are all different. Christians, there is no moral pressure to enslave them."

The   Platoon tradition of capturing slaves has always been criticized by other Allies, and it is also an important part of the stereotype that "the Highlanders are barbaric".

   "Let the Platoons capture you and sell you as a slave" is a classic scare child phrase from Hailan citizens.

   But when Winters came to Palatu, he discovered that there were hardly any slaves of Heard in the country of galloping horses, and they were all exported. Probably too close, afraid of the Hurds running back.

Mason thought for a while and added: "There's no need to sympathize with the Hurds. In the early years, they captured the Palatians as slaves. It's just that the war situation has been one-sided over the years. People plunder the Hurds as slaves. It is said that the Hurds themselves will capture slaves from each other... Hey! This account is worthless."

   Lieutenant Mason's words made others sigh. The Hurds and the Palatians have been in a tug of war for hundreds of years. I'm afraid they can't tell them clearly. Outsiders are too arrogant to judge right and wrong.

   The four of them chatted around the stove and chatted about the past and anecdotes of the military school. Life in the frontline camp was hard and boring. This was a rare leisure time.

   There are two main troops of the standing army beside him, and even if there is a war, it will not be the militia troops.

   The Jesska Brigade finally took on the real responsibilities of the militia again, mainly doing some manual labor such as digging trenches and digging toilets, and going to a distant place every other day to chop down trees and bring them back as firewood.

  Andre and Lieutenant Mason were unhappy every day, and they thought they were inferior, so they couldn't get up.

   Winters thought nothing of it, and he was more than happy to stand behind and cheer for the Palatians when they fought.

  The middle Berrian came into the tent and handed the repaired barrel to the second lieutenant for inspection.

  This rifled gun was used too much in practice and combat, and the rifling was leaded. Not only will the accuracy of the head become worse, but there is also the risk of blowing the chamber.

   Originally, Winters had no good solution, because it is reasonable to leave it to the gunsmith to deal with it, but Berrian said he could solve it.

  The method of the blacksmith is simple and ingenious. He first inserts an iron rod into the barrel of the gun, pours lead, pulls it out and smears rapeseed oil.

   In order to maintain the ostentation of senior officers, the logistics department brought a lot of porcelain tableware from Palatu, which was inevitably damaged during transportation and use.

  Berrian picked up broken pieces of porcelain, crushed them into powder, sifted them through a sieve, and sprinkled them on lead rods.

   Rub it back and forth in the barrel with a lead stick adhered to the porcelain powder, and after a while, the part of the lead will be worn off.

   Winters checked the barrel against the fire. The chamber was bright and shiny, and no burr could be seen.

The smoothness of    is not inferior to the two reed guns given to Antonio by the Oathbreaker. Moreover, the two guns are smoothbore guns, and Winters' gun is a rifled gun, which is more difficult to polish.

  Polishing has always been the hardest and most expensive part of weapon and armor production.

   Winters thought, and asked the blacksmith, "Mr. Berrian, can you carve rifling?"

   "Rifling?" Berrian said hesitantly, with a look of embarrassment on his face, "I don't really understand, but it is said that a rotary car is required."

   "Will the spinning wheel be built?"

   "I have seen it, but I have never made it."

   Winters probably knew it, and the blacksmith didn't want to say it, so he didn't continue to ask.

The second lieutenant smiled and patted the blacksmith's shoulder: "Mr. Berrian, it's a pity that you stay in Palatu. Come with me to Veneta, you will make a fortune. I guarantee that the sea blue people must be very fond of rifled pistols. "

  Andre laughed when he heard this, but Mason and Budd were a little puzzled.

   But Bud quickly figured it out, shook his head lightly and laughed, he explained to Lieutenant Mason with his ears, and the lieutenant couldn't help laughing.

  In the tent, Berian was the only one left, who was at a loss for what to do.

   "What did you say? Laugh so happily?" Another person opened the curtain and walked into the tent, bringing in a chill.

The    lieutenants all stood up abruptly when they heard the familiar voice.

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska went straight to the iron stove and reached over the top of the stove to bake the fire.

  Berion saw this and was about to leave.

   Winters took out the purse and threw the barrel and the purse to the blacksmith before he came out of the tent.

With only a few officers left in the tent, Lieutenant Mason asked boldly, "Will it finish so early? Sir?"

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska sneered: "It's not at all, it's just calling us to arrange a battle."

   "Agreement above?" Winters asked.

"I don't know what the two old guys, Sackler and Arpad, are doing, and General Yanosh didn't show up." Jesska's tone was a little suspicious: "I have to play it anyway...but it's not our turn. Go into battle."

   The four lieutenants breathed a sigh of relief.

   "Lead the shovel tonight." The lieutenant colonel said, "Go dig a trench tomorrow."

   The technique of polishing the rifling comes from "Dedicate Everything to the Party". Although the title of the book sounds very popular, it is not a political propaganda book, but a simple autobiography of a military worker. There is only a thin book, the writing is very simple, my enlightenment reading. I still remember the accounts of the use of crude equipment to produce firearms, bullets, and mortars.

   Because of the description in that book, I think it is feasible to use this method to machine rifling. After all, Mr. Wu Yunduo is a man who can make guns using only grinding discs, screws, and tree stumps (the barrel should be bought XD).

   Thanks to the book friends who voted for the recommendation before and today, thank you all.

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   Thanks again to the book friends who voted today. Thank you.

   (end of this chapter)