Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 262 Prison

  Visiting Ronald and the other seniors was Winters' last thought.

  Thinking about "Why do I (we) rule Iron Peak County" makes Winters realize that no one of these captured alumni will be on his side. If so, it must be with bad intentions.

   Winters believed that he had "conquered" Ironpeak by defeating the old ruler by "force".

  If he rebelled against the New Reclamation Army with a clear-cut attitude and sent battle letters in all directions, maybe one or two ambitious Palatine officers would come to defect.

   But if you do that, the crusaders might come to visit next week - and General Bitter Winter can't stop it.

  General Adams had many headaches, and Winters didn't want to be the one that most troubled His Excellency.

   So he showed weakness as much as possible, and deliberately showed a gesture of staying in a corner. The Vigne field troops were swept away by Don Juan, but Winters did not send any formed troops over the line.

   On the contrary, he sent a letter to Maplestone City explaining that he also paid a bag of gold coins as a token of the tax arrears. He still has the number plate of [Revodan Station] to this day.

   This moderate attitude is also good internally: less pressure to rule, maximizing approval, and inheriting the authority of the old garrison.

   Just like Beiba Town, they don't really support Winters, and Winters doesn't have the energy to exercise direct rule over Beiba Town right now.

   So Winters issued a decree in the name of the garrison. They could talk to each other in face, and Beiba Town pretended to be deaf and dumb.

   Of course, there are always some particularly "brave" guys who refuse to accept discipline. Winters has been busy with autumn farming recently and has no time to pay attention to the flies.

   "Time to relax." Winters rubbed the hilt of his sword.

   But this ambiguity also has obvious disadvantages. If the enemy looks down on Winters, then potential allies look down on Winters even more.

   Not to mention that from any point of view, the New Reclamation Corps has an overwhelming advantage. In the eyes of many, it is uncertain whether the new Iron Peak government will survive until this time next year, and of course they will not bet easily.

   Winters can only rely on his comrades, his old troops, and the warriors who have been allocated the land. But even his old troops and warriors would inevitably feel uneasy in their hearts, and they all depended on his prestige to maintain them.

   So he simply gave up the idea of ​​recruiting captured alumni and honestly managed his real foundation.

Winters rode on horseback, feeling disappointed, because he gradually figured out why the aristocracy appeared: "To gain the support of the majority, you must benefit the majority, which is too difficult. It's better to only benefit a small number of people. Some people, and then conquering most people by force is easy. A knight? Isn't a knight a 'soldier' ​​with horses, attendants, and fiefs?"

   Walking, he came to a camp far from the village and farm in the north of Wolf Town.

The    guard saw that Winters was coming and immediately lowered the hanging door.

  This camp is very interesting, its hanging door is not facing out but inward, because it is a prison. The warriors who stayed in Wolf Town called it the [Wolf Forest Prison].

   Since an unpleasant escape, the officers and captives have all been moved to Wolftown. Samukin did not want officers to have contact with ordinary prisoners, so the prison was specially built for officers.

Major    Ronald was writing a letter when he heard the sound of hooves outside and looked up to find Winters walking to the door.

   "Why are you here?" Ronald put down the pen and paper and smiled.

   "It's almost winter." Winters walked into the cell with a package, and replied with a smile, "Mrs. Zun asked me to bring you a coat and blanket."

He took out another pipe and a large bag of cut tobacco leaves from his carrying bag, and apologized: "This is the best I can find. No one grows cigarettes this year, please don't dislike it. There are also two tins of candy, Also in the bag."

   "I'm welcome." Ronald took the tobacco leaves, took out his pipe from the box beside him, and filled it up: "Haha, my stock is already out."

   When Ronald filled the tobacco leaves, Winters naturally took the pipe and lit the senior.

"Your wife still lives in the official residence, as do other seniors' families in Gervodin." Winters handed the pipe back to the senior: "The salary is paid as before, and each family will send flour and non-staple food every week, please. no need to worry."

   Winters' tone did not carry any alms and pity, as if he was chatting with seniors at home.

   Ronald took the pipe, took a sip of it comfortably, and slowly spit it out: "How is Changsheng?"

"Don't mention it." Winters had a headache when he mentioned Changsheng: "Changsheng drinks goat milk, plays with dogs, shakes his head like a puppy all day, jumps around, and even wants to learn how to bark, which is completely misguided. "

  Ronald laughed so hard that he wiped his tears and said with a smile: "If you can come to see me, it means that you have won the battle."

   Winters nodded.

   "How was the process?" Ronald asked curiously, "Can you tell me about it?"

  Winters took the pen and paper, took out two chess pieces and sat down facing each other, deduction for the senior. The two of you spoke, and I spoke, and the atmosphere was very warm.

   That's all, Ronald couldn't help but admire: "Your battles are getting better and better."

   "You won."

   "Your army has a sword and a dagger. Your enemies are all staring at your sword, but they don't notice the dagger hidden behind you. It's not surprising that you are defeated."

   Winters thought of Don Juan and Moritz, and said embarrassedly, "I'm actually a dagger, and the one hidden behind me is the sword, the deadly sword."

   "[Old language] youth is a terrible power." Ronald was a little sentimental, and asked again: "How is Lieutenant Colonel Zipper in Vigne?"

   Winters was silent.

   Ronald sighed, but comforted Winters instead: "[(Ancient) only the dead are immune to the disaster of swords and soldiers], these are unavoidable, don't worry too much."

   The two chatted a few more times, but there was nothing more to say.

  Winters got up: "Do you have any letter that you need me to take back?"

   "There are exactly three." Ronald carefully took out two letterheads, hurriedly wrote the third letterhead on the table, and handed them to Winters: "Please leave it to my wife."

   Ronald unpainted or folded, and handed it open to Winters.

  Winters didn't even look at it. He carefully folded the letter for the senior and put it in his arms: "It will be delivered. When I return to Revodan, I will bring you some recreational things such as chessboards and books."

   "It couldn't be better." Ronald nodded with a smile, and pointed to the next door lightly: "You'd better go and see where the lieutenants live. Second Lieutenant Adam... I'm in a bad mood, you have to persuade me."

   "I'm going right now." Winters turned and walked towards the cell door.

  Ronald was silent until one of Winters' boots stepped outside the threshold before he said softly, "Thank you."

   What exactly is Ronald thanking? Thank you for taking care of his family? Thanks for showing respect to him? Thanks for not saying anything about trying to surrender?

   Winters didn't know either. He nodded and left, the cell door closed again.

On the side of the lieutenant's captive, the situation was different from Ronald. Ronald lived in a single cell, while the lieutenants lived in several large cells side by side.

   Winters actually captured some lieutenants from White Mountain County and Vigne County, but he left those seniors temporarily in Gervodin and did not put them together with the prisoners of Iron Peak County.

  Eper and Asko, two people who had had suicidal thoughts, lived in a room, silently weaving baskets like a skilled craftsman.

  Istvan and Adam lived in one room. The former was sitting against the wall, looking out the window at the blue sky; the latter was lying on the straw mat and sleeping with his head covered. Both of them wore shackles on their hands and feet, a small souvenir of a failed escape.

   Most of the other officers and captives did the same—sitting listlessly, fiddling with straw and wicker. Except for Epel and Asco, no one is seriously making baskets.

   The footsteps of "Dong, dong, dong..." came from the corridor, and the officers and prisoners became alert in an instant. Even Adam sat up straight, only Eper was still focusing on weaving baskets.

   They were all familiar with the sound. The guards were wearing straw sandals, clogs, and leather shoes, and in the corridor were obviously a pair of military boots with iron nails.

   Then, Adam saw a hateful apprentice appear in front of him.

   Without waiting for Winters to speak, Adam slammed into the cell door, and the wooden fence was shaken by the impact: "Winters! What to do if you want to kill! Come on quickly! Don't insult people!"

   "Hello squad leader!" Winters raised his hand to salute: "According to your rank, you should salute me first, but you will always be my squad leader!"

   "Stop doing this!" Adam shook the prison door frantically, and the shackles rattled: "Let me out, duel! I will share life and death with you!"

   Winters laughed it off and turned to salute the other seniors. No one responded to him, only Senior Eper nodded and continued to make baskets.

   Winters silently placed the paper packs containing raisins and tobacco at the cell door, one for each cell door. He didn't say anything, he just gave something.

  Adam stared at Winters, shouting furiously: "With this little favor! You want to bribe us?"

   "You're dreaming!" Adam kicked the paper bag fiercely.

The    paper bag was kicked out of a huge breach, tumbled and hit the wooden fence across the corridor, and dark green raisins and tobacco leaves were scattered on the ground.

  Rao is that Winters' threshold has been raised a lot, but he is still angry. He glared at Adam: "What are you doing?"

  Adam was stunned at first, and then became more and more furious: "You deserve to ask me?!"

   "The soldiers watching over you have no raisins to eat, and I have no raisins to eat." Winters picked up a raisin expressionlessly: "If you don't want it, return it. Don't waste anything."

  Adam was already furious to the point of madness, and began to hit the wooden fence again: "[Vicious swear words insulting the Veneta people]!"

   Winters blew the dust off the raisins, wiped them, and ate them. Ignoring the mad cow-like Adam, he turned around and walked outside Eper's cell.

  Istvan, who lived in the same cell with Adam and was also wearing shackles on his hands and feet, grabbed Adam and asked coldly, "Winters, what are you trying to do by locking us here?"

"Nothing." Winters answered honestly: "I'm locking you up because I can't let you go. Officers are precious war resources, and letting you go is tantamount to capitalizing on the enemy. I can't let you go, and I don't want to kill them, so Just shut it down."

   "What did you say?" Adam laughed wildly: "You said you don't want to kill?"

   Winters frowned slightly and asked, "Squad leader, do you want me to kill you?"

   "Come on!" Adam roared like thunder: "Kill me! I will never make a sound! Open the door! Duel!"

   "Enough!" Eper, who had not said a word for a long time, suddenly shouted.

  Epel's voice seemed to have a miraculous effect. Although Adam was staring, panting, and blushing, he closed his mouth.

   Among the lieutenant's captives, only Eper and Asko could earn a full portion of bread, and the other captives who were unwilling to work could only receive half. When Adam was dizzy with hunger, it was Epel who gave Adam the bread every time. So Epel spoke up, and Adam obediently obeyed even though he was angry.

   "Don't be ashamed!" Eper scolded in a deep voice: "If you want to die, then commit suicide. If you really want to die, who can stop him? Sit me down!"

  Adam was trained so that the tip of his nose was sore and tears rolled in his eyes. He walked back to the corner of the wall and sat on the ground. The shackles collided, making a cold sound.

   "Winters." Istvan leaned against the cell door and asked with a playful smile, "You don't expect to recruit us in this way, do you?"

"What did you say? I never thought of using labor to reform you." Winters also smiled: "I can't use you, because I don't trust you. Latu is firmly bound. If I break Maplestone City one day, I may be qualified to ask you to help me. Now? Forget it. Let you work because my soldiers have to work hard to farm the land. If you don't It's unfair to my soldiers to eat and drink."

   "Okay." Istvan smiled and said, "If you break Maplestone City, remember to come back to me."

   Winters also smiled and nodded.

  Adam still couldn't hold back, and asked sarcastically, "Work? Then you'll let us weave baskets?"

   "That's right."

   "[Exasperated obscenity]!" Adam jumped up at once: "You just want to humiliate us! Basket weaving! Basket weaving? Basket weaving is a woman's job!"

  Winters raised his eyebrows and asked, "Women's work? Have you ever seen a blacksmith?"

  Adam subconsciously wanted to say "I have seen", but he flipped through his memory and found that he had never seen it. The desire to maintain dignity makes him want to insist on answering "I have seen", but the deeper self-esteem makes him reluctant to lie.

   He fell silent, and his aura instantly dropped a bit.

"There are men and women, but it's mainly men who do it. Who says it's women's work?" Winters' momentum was slowly rising: "Let you weave baskets, because this is the easiest and easiest job. If you weave a basket a day, you can eat bread, and occasionally wine and meat. How can there be such good things outside? Go to the labor camp and see how many baskets the prisoners there must weave a day to fill their stomachs!”

   "Come on!" Winters took a semi-finished product and neatly woven it into three layers. He made it up crookedly, but he did make it up: "I will never force you to do what I can't do! I can do it, why can't you do it?"

   "That's what I said, but it's better for us to work as a carpenter or blacksmith than to weave baskets." Istvan still had a smile on his face.

"Carpenter work? Blacksmith work?" Winters sneered: "Give you an axe, will you chop on my warrior's head? Senior, I'm telling you, I don't trust you. My life depends on me. Your eyes are more important than your dignity, so you can only weave baskets.

   I also want to ask you a question that has been bothering me for a long time - what else do you do but kill and destroy? What else can you do? What else do you want to do? "

   The smile on Istvan's face gradually solidified. This question made his body stiff, his chest seemed to be hit by a sledgehammer, and his hair was stuffy.

   The more people who think about it on a daily basis, the stronger their reaction to this question.

   On the contrary, Adam didn't feel anything. He stuck his neck and shouted, "Anyway, I don't make baskets!"

   "You don't want to weave baskets?" Winters asked coldly.

   "No editing!"

   "Okay! I'll give you another job!" Winters said and left.

Before leaving, he stopped briefly at the door of Senior Eper's cell: "Many archives in the towns of Iron Peak County are missing. You used to be in charge of the archives, and Bud wants to ask for your assistance. If the Legion returns to Iron Peak Feng County, they also need these files."

   "You don't have to explain me." Eper lowered his head and weaved the basket: "Let Bud come over and talk to me in detail."

   "Thank you." Winters left the prison without looking back.

  …

   Having visited Wolfwood Prison, Winters is about to embark on a journey back to Revordan.

   He came with a huge team, and when he returned, the team was even bigger.

   So Winters asked Samukin to take the captives slowly, and he himself took the Mitchells and the "accounting school prep students" one step ahead.

  Bard selected 30 young people from the farms in each town according to the three-level incremental standard of "honesty, intelligence, and arithmetic skills", the youngest being less than sixteen years old and the oldest twenty-two years old. The best seedlings are both honest and know arithmetic, and the worst are only honest. They will be part of the first batch of cadets at the accounting school, as Winters is also working hard to recruit students from Gervoudan and family members of the military.

  When Winters put Mrs. Mitchell into the carriage, Carman led a slave horse and a pack horse to the town square, as he had done when the Wolf Town Centurion went out.

   "Don't ask!" Kaman said with anger in his eyes: "I don't answer either."

   Winters nodded expressionlessly.

  What is the relationship between Kaman and Ellen Mitchell? Winters is still unclear, but he is sure it is not a relationship between a man and a woman. Even just assuming that, Winters felt offended by two respectable men.

  The two are very different in age! Mrs Mitchell was forty and a half. As for Karman? Winters' first impression of Kaman was young, no more than thirty years old.

   Winters has limited knowledge, but one thing he can confirm is that Kaman has been silently protecting the Mitchells. This feeling of "wanting to protect" is very strong, even to the point of being desperate.

   Winters sensed and took advantage of this, already making him feel guilty. For him, it was enough for Kaman to go to Gervodan, and he did not want to spy on Kaman's privacy. If Kaman is unwilling to say, he will never ask.

"Pierre and Scarlett are in Gervodin, and the Mitchell Manor has become a farm. It doesn't make sense for Mrs. Mitchell to stay in Wolftown. It's better to go to Gervodin to have someone to keep company with you." Winters was serious "And I think Mrs Mitchell also prefers to live in the city."

  Kaman sneered and did not speak.

   Winters arranged the harness and said casually: "Believe it or not. Whether you go to Gervodin or not, I will not leave Mrs. Mitchell alone in Wolftown."

   He was telling the truth, Scarlett missed her mother, and Ellen missed her children, so she should take Ellen to Gervodin to live temporarily.

  Kaman snorted softly and stepped on his horse: "I won't let you know any secrets about magic, give up as soon as possible."

   "Don't worry." Winters pun.

   Winters recalled the great cause of Antoine Laurent, the father of spellcasters, and his attitude was as optimistic as ever: as long as Carmen was abducted to Gervodin, other problems would be solved easily.

  Kaman is reluctant to take the initiative to speak?

Don't    dumb horses ride the same way?

   On the way back, Winters rode side by side with Kaman. He gently poked Kaman with a needle: "Didn't the dispatch of priests have to be approved by the Pope?"

  Kaman defended hard: "I didn't belong to the Wolftown Church. The official priest of the Wolftown Church is Father Anthony. My actions are relatively free."

   "You're gone, what about the believers in Wolf Town?"

   "I will write to the bishop of the region and send a priest from Gervodin."

   "Then you're going to accept Gervodin Cathedral?"

   "I'm not going to be Bishop of Gervodin..."

   asked, Kaman began to pretend to be deaf. No matter how Winters poked him with the needle, he ignored it. In the end, Kaman didn't ride a horse at all, but hid in the trainee's carriage, completely avoiding Winters.

"Failed to experience inhibition-type magic." Winters regretted recording in his spellbook, he bit his feather and wrote another record: "Lethal-type magic... Need to use a safer test method. "

  …

  The situation over Samukin is also interesting.

In principle, the prisoners in the   Wolf Township labor camp have two destinations: to continue serving their sentences and to receive a pardon.

   The prisoners who continue to serve their sentences will be taken to Forge Township, where they will join the camp with more than a thousand prisoners.

  The prisoners who have been pardoned can actually be divided into two categories, like [Ivan] and the former Gendarmerie sergeant [Gurahi] these Revodans, they naturally want to return to Revodan and their families.

   No, the two have already made an appointment to go home together, and there is also someone to take care of them on the way.

   There were also many prisoners who were landless peasants. They were not from Revodan, and they did not know where their families were now.

"Take me with you, Chief Samukin." A prisoner named Riemann found Samukin and begged pitifully: "I have nowhere to go, and I don't know where I can get a stutter. Dong, I really have nowhere to go... Please take me with you and let me continue to work with you."

  Samukin used to be a landless farmer. He silently looked at the faint mark of the holy emblem under Riemann's burlap clothes.

"The tribune of Montagne always told me 'there will be a way out'." Samukin patted Riemann on the shoulder: "I will go to the tribune to apply. Tell everyone - there is nowhere to go, just stay. Here with me, as a free man."

  …

   Winters has left, and Samukin has also left, but the matter in Wolfwood Prison is not over yet.

   The day after Winters left, former ensign Adam was taken to cut down trees.

  The autumn wind is cold and cold, and it is hard to cut down trees. Adam was still in shackles on his hands and feet, and his arms quickly swelled up high. On his first day as a lumberjack, he gritted his teeth.

   Then the second and third day.

   On the fourth day, Epel sent a message to Bud, asking Bud to transfer Adam back to make baskets.

When   Adam also started learning basket weaving, Winters just returned to Gervodin.

   "How is it?" Winters and Senior Mason came to a face-to-face ceremony: "What happened?"

"What can happen?" Senior Mason replied with a smile: "Everything is fine. Two or three tons of ore have been dug out from the Iron Peak Mine. What are Carlos and Saosha busy with 'roasting'? It seems to be called this. Sean Brother's bricks also burned smoothly. If Carlos didn't insist on waiting for you to come back, I would have done the next step for you."

  Winters could not wait to kiss Senior Mason with all his might.

   He hugged the senior again, almost bursting into tears: "I knew only you could be trusted!"

   Mason was strangled and coughed, and smiled helplessly: "But there is one more thing you have to deal with yourself—the White Mountain County has sent messengers here."

   [Force conquest is a natural way to obtain the legal right to govern, and it should be regarded as the most common way in history]

   [Charles Matt (688-741) pioneered the system of knighthood and fief, from which the “European feudal system” we know today originated. Matt is the hammer, his name is Charlie, so the good warhammer is nicknamed the hammer, so he can also be called the hammer Charlie. From the perspective of the future, Charlie Matt was a visionary, but given the circumstances at the time, the purpose of his promotion of the fief system was to gain more troops and loyalty. In many cases of the fief system, the free peasants were also assigned to "knights" as serfs, tenants and subjects. Are farmers willing to agree? Certainly not willing. But they can't beat...]

   [About Kaman, you can see when the Wolf Town Militia set off, when the Battle of Styx was at the infirmary, and when Kaman just returned from the wasteland and returned to Mitchell Manor]

   [The starting point has a search function that can search all cached chapters, which is really useful]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment]

   (end of this chapter)