Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 323 The Old Man, Wolf, Sheep and Turnips

   Iron Peaks, Gervodin.

   "There is no pass." Ivan repeated this sentence many times, and he was already a little tired: "No one can leave."

  The stopped carriage contained a family of four and all the family's soft possessions. The wealthy man drove the carriage himself, while the hostess hid in the carriage with a pair of children.

  The news spreads faster than the plague. The knight on the white horse with the bow has not yet arrived in Gervodin, but the plague in the town of Saint Ke is known to everyone.

   Helpless to say, when the flames were everywhere, the civilians of Iron Peak County flocked to Gervodin in panic to seek shelter; and when the plague came one after another, people eagerly wanted to escape the crowded city.

   "Hey, I'm in a hurry, and I can't get a pass in time." The host smiled ingratiatingly, and his stubby fingers nimbly stuffed Ivan into a bulging little leather bag: "It's convenient, sir."

  The bag is hard and feels like a coin.

  Ivan couldn't help sighing. It was impossible to remain unmoved, Aksinya and the child were still counting on him.

   Since the start of preparations for the war, the price of Revodan has only risen, not fallen. Although there is a ration of flour, it has been a long time since Ivan's family has seen meat and fish.

  "Sir." Ivan didn't take the leather bag, because his mouth and nose were covered with a triangle scarf, his voice was a little dull: "Although I don't know your name, your family should be quite rich..."

   The chubby male master said in his heart, it seemed that being slaughtered was inevitable.

   Ke Ren was under the eaves and had to bow his head, but he still greeted him with a smile: "My name is Ivan, Your Excellency, Ivan Ashtar."

   "Oh? Your name is Ivan too."

   "So... we have the same name?" The male host tried his best to cater to each other: "What a coincidence, what a coincidence."

   "Mr. Ashtar." Ivan's words were interrupted, and his thoughts were also interrupted. He was silent for a moment, and put a lot of effort into sorting out the language: "You look like a rich rich man, maybe you are a learned person. If you were walking on the street on weekdays, you wouldn't look at me directly. , am I right?"

  The host was getting more and more confused, he hit haha: "Oh, brother Ivan... Where do you want to go?"

"But now you took out the money and took the initiative to give it to me." Ivan ignored the other party and continued: "You do this because you think I am a powerful person. At least now, I have the power to let you go. Go. Is that so?"

   "Huh?" The simple bribery suddenly escalated into a philosophical debate, and the host's mind couldn't turn around for a while.

"Actually, I don't have any power. Only the tribune has the power to let you go, and I only have the right to stop you. Now that I have collected your money, I will be hanged before sunrise tomorrow." With all the thoughts in his mind poured out, Ivan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the other party expectantly: "You are asking me to exercise power that I don't have... Do you understand what I mean?"

   For the family, it was the first time they saw Ivan and tried to bribe him for the first time.

   But for Ivan, this is the first time he has faced the sack of money. The two parties thus formed an unequal relationship.

  Ivan's words are his vent to all bribes, and it is also the result of his thinking-the reason to convince himself not to bribe.

  The male host was in a fog. He just wanted to put some money in to pay for the other party, but was inexplicably lectured.

   The host stared at Ivan suspiciously for a while, and asked in a low voice, "Are you asking for extra money?"

   "No." Ivan said blankly: "No one can leave without a pass."

  …

   At the same time, on the road between Gervodin and Wangqiao Town, a group of cavalry was discouraging a group of refugees.

There were only twelve cavalrymen, but there were hundreds of refugees.

   "Gevodan is suffering from a plague!" The cavalry headed by him was not young. He stood in the middle of the road, waving his arms, and shouting as hard as he could in a somewhat immature voice: "Go back! Everyone!"

  The refugees did not dare to attack the cavalry, but no one was willing to leave.

During the stalemate, an old man leaning on a long staff, tremblingly walked out of the crowd, begging: "Master! If there is no way, who would want to leave their homeland! We haven't seen the plague, but starvation is real. The barbarians robbed and burned all Zhuangzi's food, and we really can't stand it any longer. My lord! I beg you to be merciful and let us go!"

  A scrawny mother also stepped out of the crowd, holding her infant baby and crying to the cavalry.

  The crowd, who were afraid to move, became restless, and the refugees stepped forward to the cavalry.

   "Please listen to me!" The young cavalry headed by shouted: "The relief food will be here soon!"

   But the loud hoofs and cries drowned out the voice of the young cavalry, no one heard what he said, and no one cared what he said.

   The young cavalry clenched their teeth and waved, and the twelve cavalry turned their horses and left with whiplashes.

   "They backed out!" the crowd cheered.

   Someone exclaimed: "They are here again!"

  I saw twelve cavalrymen lined up in a horizontal line, and the adjacent cavalrymen were close to each other as if they were connected by iron chains, and slapped the refugees with overwhelming momentum.

   Before the cavalry could rush to the vicinity, the momentum of the crowd's advance was curbed and destroyed.

  Because of hunger, the mother holding the baby has no energy to run at all. She turned around, turned her back to the hooves, and held the child in her arms.

  The expected tragic scene where the horses hooves smashed the human bones did not happen, and the cavalry stationed their horses steadily outside the crowd.

  The fleeing refugees gradually stopped, and the young cavalry led by them rushed forward, took off their helmets, and revealed a mature and calm face.

   "Please listen to me." Anglo repeated what he just said clearly: "The relief food will be here soon."

   This time everyone heard it clearly.

  The refugees gathered again, and Anglo quickly inspected the crowd: no injuries, no injuries, broken arms, no injuries...

   Then he saw a middle-aged man in ragged clothes sitting on the ground with a painful and distorted expression. A middle-aged woman and several children of different ages were anxiously surrounding the middle-aged man.

   The middle-aged man didn't make any sound, but large beads of sweat kept oozing out from his forehead.

  Angelo felt a pain in his heart, and he whispered to the old Dussack beside him: "Baran Timojevich?"

   In the cavalry, the old Dussack [Balan] was half a medic. The old man sighed, dismounted and walked towards the injured middle-aged man.

  To be honest, old Balaam didn't care about the life and death of the peasant, and his character also carried the cruelty that was deliberately cultivated by Dussack as the "emperor's whip".

   But when Balaam heard the company commander use the honorific title of "real name and father's name", he knew that the little baby was soft-hearted again.

   "Sir." The old man who stood up first came to Angrumma, summoned up his courage and asked, "Relief... Is there really? When will it come?"

   "I'm not an adult." Anglo comforted the other party and said: "Don't worry, it's not fake, the Montagne Civilian has ordered the allocation of military rations to everyone, it should be in..."

   said, Anglo turned to look back.

   At the end of the road, above the hill, a carriage slowly climbed out of the horizon, then another, and more behind.

   A prominent red flag is placed on each carriage.

   "It's already here," Anglo replied.

  …

   Any place where life gathers is naturally a breeding ground for disease.

   The wealthy who had flooded into towns and cities because of the war are now thinking of leaving.

   And the poor, driven by hunger, began to gather in towns and cities again, forming a second wave of people.

The principle of    is simple: lack of safety, people will crowd to safe places; lack of food, people will go to places with food.

   Winters kept the crowds from entering the city - the more people, the more uncontrollable the plague.

   On the other hand, he wants to stop the crowds from leaving the city - let people leave, and the plague is likely to spread to all parts of Iron Peak County.

   But there were some people leaving that Winters couldn't interfere - Colonel Geisa and the hussars too.

   This time the troops were dispatched, and the Teltown part was divided into left and right flanks. Although the right wing was smashed in Iron Peak, the left wing still raged in Vigne.

  The right wing of Teltown is dominated by the direct descendants of the fire-boilers, and the left wing is the foreign tribe.

   This division is of course because of the selfishness of the fire roaster. But it also resulted in Tertown not having a clear command core, and the big and small leaders acted independently, which made it more difficult to deal with.

   After the main battle of [Winters-Fireboilers] ended, Colonel Geisa was planning to go to Vigne immediately.

The reason why    stayed until now is to wait for someone.

  When the dusty Major Ronald and his party finally arrived at Gervodin, Colonel Gessa, who had been waiting so irritably, was about to leave.

   Winters didn't want the hussars to leave because he was worried that the [Aichen Plague] that had just been brought under control would be carried out.

   But the problem happens here.

  [Aichen Plague] had just appeared on a small scale in the shack area, and was noticed by Father Kaman, and then was held tightly by Winters.

   So that this "plague" looks like a painless joke: not many people died, but the response method is so cruel, is it an overreaction?

The reason why the   hussars left was very good. After all, the battle was not over, and Vigne County needed them.

   In addition to epidemic prevention, Winters had no reason to force the Hussars to stay. And the reason for epidemic prevention itself is not convincing in the view of the other party.

  So in the end, Winters had to send off the reinforcements.

  …

  Q: How to distinguish between the Platonic and the Veneta?

  A: Look at the beard.

  Palatu people take beards as beauty, as if the thicker the beards, the more masculine they are.

  The Veneta people are on the contrary, the upper lip, lower jaw, and cheeks are all clean. Veneta people can not bathe, but their beards must be shaved, otherwise they will always feel uncomfortable.

   Even in the Republic of Veneta, there is a mandatory rule written into the law: Veneta public officials and businessmen who stay in overseas colonies and trading countries must shave.

   The reason for this strange law is to "distinguish you from me".

   In other words, the Veneta people not only do not intend to integrate into other countries, but also have a deep fear of being "melted" by other countries, so forced shaving becomes a form of identity proof in disguise.

  As long as the discerning person saw the few young men without beards at the scene of the farewell, they would roughly know where they came from.

   The farewell party was small, and only a few prominent figures from Gervodin were invited to accompany it.

  According to the custom of the Paratus people, it is always appropriate to eat and drink a lot after winning a battle for three days and three nights.

   However, due to the limited conditions and special circumstances of Iron Peak County, everything was kept simple, and Colonel Gaisa didn't pick on Winters' fault.

   Seeing Ronald's younger brother still alive, Gisa was overwhelmed with emotion, and hugged him on the spot and kissed him hard.

  Yes, a solid kiss.

   "Kissing", the main way for the Palauans to express intense emotions such as excitement, joy, reunion after a long absence, long live friendship, etc., can also be performed by men and men.

   face to face, lips to lips, as for whether there is saliva exchange, it is unknown.

   Shouldn’t be — right?

  Andre looked at the Platonic seniors who were kissing passionately with disgust, and asked Winters worriedly: "They won't kiss us too, will they?"

  Winters' mind was filled with the chores of epidemic prevention. He glanced up and replied without emotion: "No, kissing is intimacy, and they are hostile to us."

  Andre looked around, Ronald and other former Iron Peak officers reunited with Colonel Geisa and his party. The scene was very warm and touching. A group of grown men hugged, kissed, and cried.

   By contrast, Winters and Andre are vaguely isolated despite being in the crowd. No one talked to them, and no one came to hug them.

  Andre snorted lightly, took a sip from the glass: "I know why Lieutenant Colonel Moritz and Bud are unwilling to come."

"The identities of Lieutenant Colonel and Senior Juan are still being kept secret. Senior Mason and Bud are too busy to get away." Winters replied mechanically. He also took a sip of the liquid in the wine glass, which tasted slightly bitter. Pulled him back from the world of epidemic prevention.

  Winters changed the subject and touched Andre's beer mug: "The point is - in this terrible scene, who else can I count on besides you?"

  Andre snorted again and touched Winters' beer mug.

   Drank all the golden liquid in the wine glass in one breath, Andre burped and complained in a low voice, "Is this also worthy of beer? It's tasteless."

   Winters suddenly had a strange feeling. He seemed to have returned to the Navy Blue Army Officers Club, sitting with Andre on the windowsill on the north side of the second floor facing the square, blowing the wind and drinking beer.

   Winters took a sip: "Hmm."

  Andre raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to look at Winters: "What are you laughing at?"

   "Am I smiling?" Winters touched his cheek.

   "You don't know yet?"

   Winters thought for a while: "Then I didn't laugh."

  Andre sneered and poured himself another glass of light golden liquid.

   Since it is a farewell to the Paratus people, how can you make it without drinks?

   But Tiefeng County is short of food, not to mention drinks. The old widow Alan's wine cellar has long been empty, and there may be a few bottles of wine in some people's homes, but they are nothing more than wine and other drinks.

   In the end, the chubby representative of Niu Hoof Valley came up with an idea: smash dry bread, soak it, boil it, add koji, ferment...

   The final filtration yields a strange liquid that resembles beer, but is not beer.

  According to Mr. Chunky Representative, in the army of General Janos, the big-headed soldiers would use bread to brew this "fermented water" to satisfy their cravings.

   is what everyone is drinking at the farewell party.

   Winters didn't like the taste of wine very much, but he liked this strange liquid with no "wine taste".

  Two Veneta stood in the middle of a group of eagerly chatting Paratus, silently drinking fermented water, cup after cup.

   A chubby gentleman walked through the crowd and went straight to the two of them.

   The fat man took off his hat, bent down slightly, and smiled brightly: "Captain Montagne, Lieutenant Cellini."

   "Mr. Leo." Winters nodded in greeting, poured a glass of fermented water and handed it to the other party, and asked calmly, "How?"

  Mr. Leo - the plenipotentiary representative of the Navarre firm - took the glass and held it in his hand without drinking: "It's been negotiated."

   "It's all settled?"

   Mr. Leo put away his smile: "Please don't worry."

   Winters breathed a long sigh of relief.

   "What's going on?" Andre didn't know, so he looked at Winters and then at Mr. Leo: "What to talk about? With whom?"

  Andre returned to Gervodin with Ronald and others, and missed a lot of meetings.

   Hearing Andre's question, Winters was so confused that he didn't know how to explain it.

   "May I explain to Lieutenant Cellini?" Mr. Leo offered to ask.

   "Excuse me." Of course Winters was happy.

"Lieutenant Cellini, you should know about Veneta's wool textile industry." Mr. Leo shook the cashmere fabric on his body: "On the one hand, we, the Veneta people, the Navarre business has a batch of wool that needs to be transported back to Victoria. General Neta and Serbia have a group of war horses that also need to be transported back to Veneta, and Captain Montagne needs to send food to Iron Peak County. The other side is the Paratus, who control the roads and food..."

   "Okay, I understand." Andre was dizzy and interrupted impatiently: "Isn't it the old man, the wolf, the sheep and the turnip!"

   [Shamefully out of context...≡(▔﹏▔)≡]

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   (end of this chapter)