Iron Powder and Spellcaster

After the fire swept through the bridge forest, Winters had much less trouble chopping wood.

The once lush forest land was now scorched black.

Only a few bare tree trunks like broken walls are left, standing lonely on the peat.

Winters led people to cut down the large trees that had been burned on the surface and haul them away, and the unusable burned wood was taken back as firewood.

In the following days, the Hud people repeated their old tricks and set fires again and again in an attempt to burn down the remaining forest land.

There is a saying that goes, Fool me once, it's your shame; Fool me twice, it's my shame; Fool me three times, it's your shame together. The Hud people obviously don't know this sentence.

The Platuan people have suffered great losses and have become cunning.

The logging team no longer blindly cut wherever they cut, but first opened up several criss-crossing firebreaks in the forest.

In this way, the remaining parts of the bridge forest were divided into small areas by fire breaks.

Even if the Hurds set fires, there is only a limit to how much forest can be burned down at one time.

Fire breaks are also roads, and cavalry can quickly support them in the forest through fire breaks.

At the same time, because only less than one-third of the area of ​​Qiaolin is left - and it is still getting smaller day by day, the area that needs to be defended has also shrunk.

Not only did the Hurds fail to ignite another fire, but they were ambushed by Lieutenant Colonel Robert outside the forest, killing and injuring many of the light cavalrymen carrying fire and accelerants.

All in all, these few days have been a rare relaxing time for Winters.

He does not need to participate in the battle, as long as he takes people out to cut trees every day.

Ciel picked up his blanket. The blanket was badly burned, which made Winters a little sad.

That was the best thick woolen blanket that Mrs. Mitchell had brought to him when he left Wolf Town.

To avoid freezing to death, Winters requested a new blanket from the logistics department.

As a result, the Logistics Department sent him an eiderdown quilt specially provided by the school officials, which was a blessing in disguise.

Because the bridge forest is divided into small areas, the range of activities of animals in the forest is increasingly restricted.

During a break from cutting down trees, Winters led his militiamen to give the rabbits, pheasants, deer and other things in the bridge forest a happy reunion.

To put it simply, some people form a circle and rush out, while others form a pocket formation and wait, a bit like hunting.

Although the amount of meat distributed to each person is not much, Winters enjoys it.

In addition, as the hero who was the first to warn, the Legion gave Qiang Yun a special grant of four eggs a day.

The eggs were all laid by hens carried by the army and were extremely precious. Even Winters did not receive this treatment.

And Lalo Lalo, who proposed the strategy of fighting fire with fire, got an awesome war horse.

The Dussac boys were all jealous, but Lalo Lalo was not very happy.

Winters noticed that Lalo was forced to smile, so he asked him why.

After repeated questioning, Lalo finally confessed: Sir, it's not that I don't appreciate praise. I'm a farmer, what's the use of a war horse? It needs food and care, and I can't even raise it.

Winters was at a loss for words for a moment. He found that he was in a rush and had indeed thought poorly.

Old Lalo asked hesitantly: Otherwise...can you change me to a mule?

For your war horse, five mules are more than enough! Winters clapped his hands and laughed: I originally wanted to give you two heavy draft horses that can pull the plow. But then I thought about it, draft horses also need food. . Then exchange it for two mules, and the extra value will be converted into ducats.

Angelou went to the carriage team again and selected a strong, beautiful livid mule for Lalo.

The mules that Angelou picked were strong, strong-mouthed, and their coats were as shiny and smooth as satin. The thighs and buttocks feel firm.

Lalo's fellow villagers were full of praise when they saw this beautiful big animal, and Lalo himself was even more precious.

But there was only one, because the carriage and horse team's transportation capacity was also tight, and there were not many spare draft animals.

The remaining money from Winters was converted into gold ducats and handed over to Lalo privately.

He thought carefully this time: a mule is still in the envy range. If money is added to it, it will enter the jealousy range.

The gold coins are all sewn into the belt. There were only two people in the military tent. Winters handed the belt to Lalo: Other than the weight difference, it can't be seen from the appearance.

Lalor thanked her profusely and carefully put away his belt.

Lalo Lalo is at least twice as old as Winters. His hands are full of calluses and he is a very mature and steady person.

Winters shouldn't have said anything, but when he thought of the people from Wolf Town who squandered their hard-earned money in Gevaudan, he couldn't help but warn him: Don't gamble...and don't spend it on women's bellies. Take it back, Bring it to your family, even buy some new clothes.

A young man in his early twenties was telling a middle-aged man who was nearly fifty years old. This scene was extremely funny and absurd.

But Winters spoke sincerely and from the bottom of his heart, and Lalo nodded solemnly: Don't worry, Centurion.

…

Winters is having an easy time these days, but Sackler and Arpad are not having a very stable life.

The Hedians stopped trying fire attacks, but the harassment of the Plato army did not stop there, but intensified.

Scattered Hurd Qingqi went to the Palato camp in the middle of the night to fire guns, blow horns, and fire arrows, which annoyed the Palato people.

The sentry rang the bell as a warning, and the Huds turned and ran away. As long as the sentinels don't sound the alarm, there will be no end for the Hurds.

Szekely set up an ambush outside the camp and arranged for hussars to stay on duty overnight, but the effect was not ideal.

Because the White Lion is happy to engage in small-scale battles with the Platons, and is even more willing to use this method to consume the spirit of the Platons.

Tonight we will kill them all, and tomorrow the white lions will come from another tribe.

In the end, Sackler discovered angrily that the best thing to do was to ignore it.

So the Palatine defenders in the north and south highlands concentrated on strengthening their camps and ignored the Hurd Qingqi who came to harass them.

When the Platians refused to fight, the Hittites became more aggressive.

The most egregious one was when a few Hurds lit a bonfire outside the range of the muskets, grilling meat, singing and dancing.

When Brother Rhett heard about this, he smiled and asked Winters: Are you going to send some women's clothes next time?

Winters didn't understand the mystery and answered honestly: The clothes of the Hud people are similar to men and women, and they all have the same style.

The old magician felt bored and walked away with a sigh.

Faced with the Herds' repeated provocations, the soldiers and junior officers were so angry that their teeth itched.

General Sackler was determined. He ordered the defenders of each village to dig three trenches to enclose the area between the southern highland, the northern highland and the river bank, making it clear that they were going to be hedgehogs.

Knowing that the Platoans would not attack, the White Lion still sent people to harass and provoke them every day.

Because in this way, the confidence of the Hed tribes is gradually recovering from the disastrous defeat in the Battle of the Nameless Valley.

The Hittites walked their horses out of musket range, while the Platoons watched.

The Hittites peed out of musket range, while the Platoons continued to watch.

The Hedians wrestled out of musket range, but the Platoons watched--but with great pleasure.

So the Hurds stopped the wrestling match and switched to other more humiliating activities.

Lieutenant Mason sighed every day, regretting not bringing the cannon, otherwise I wouldn't be so angry.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica proposed a plan: build a fort fifty meters away from the camp and select soldiers with Orion origins to garrison it; and gather all the rifle rifles in the army and give them to the Orions for use.

Fifty meters is within the effective killing range of ordinary matchlock guns, and the musketeers on the camp wall can provide support for the fort.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica also saw the potential of rifled guns.

However, because this kind of gun is expensive to make, it is currently used as a hunting toy in the hands of military officers and wealthy families.

Apart from this, only hunters who are forced to make a living will spend a lot of money to buy a rod.

It's better to try than stare blankly, so Sackler agreed to Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's plan.

The general decided that the other officers had to hand over their precious shotguns, and even Winters' double-barreled short-barreled gun was taken away.

The Platuan people have a general comparison mentality, and they naturally pursue beauty when wearing guns. Officers' rifled guns were all carefully crafted, and the decorations on the guns were more expensive than the muskets themselves.

Officers at all levels were very reluctant to hand it over to the big soldiers.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica offended many of his colleagues invisibly, but his method had immediate results.

Rifled gun shooters can already pose an effective threat to targets within a hundred meters - although they cannot shoot one at a time.

If one shot fails, just two or three shots...

After being beaten to death and injuring more than a dozen people in a row, the Hud people did not dare to be unscrupulous anymore.

Prior to this, the Huds even ran to a place less than fifty meters away from the camp wall to provoke demonstrations.

Since the rifle shooters came into play, the Hurds all retreated two hundred meters away.

It's just that the nighttime situation is still annoying.

Because the piers had limited defensive capabilities and could easily be touched, rifle shooters retreated to their camps at night.

The Hed people dare not act recklessly during the day, but they will be more aggressive after the sun goes down.

The two sides went back and forth like this, and the low-intensity fighting never stopped.

In these terrible days, there was only one thing that comforted the Platuan people: due to the stable supply of wood from Qiaolin Camp, the progress of the bridge was very satisfactory.

The bridge piles are extending to the other side of the river at a speed of at least ten meters per day and have already crossed the center of the river.

The Hurds on the other side of the river were also racking their brains to destroy the bridge.

The Hed people's way of thinking is extremely straightforward: can't a heavy arrow hit? Then I'll switch to light arrows.

So they quickly made a batch of bone arrowheads and light arrows with thin wooden poles, and set up bows and fired arrows at the Platoans.

The arrows became lighter and had a longer range, but their power was also weaker and they were more seriously affected by the wind.

The Huds fired hundreds of light arrows against the wind, and the hit rate was appalling.

The arrow that hit by chance fell on the Plattus without any pain.

Not powerful enough? Then I'll use a stronger bow.

So they nailed three heavy bows into a crossbow and carried it to the river bank to shoot at the piling boat.

If a special heavy bow is used, it may still pose a threat to the piling boat.

But the Hud people's bed crossbows only used ordinary horn bows, and the Plato pile driver boats were so heavy and heavy that arrows hitting them were like scratching an itch.

The Hurds on the other side coated their arrows with resin and tried to set the piling boat on fire.

Still failed, the fire started not being extinguished as quickly as the Platoans.

After shooting for a long time, the ship and the bridge were fine. The Hed's bed crossbow collapsed, injuring several people.

The desperate Hurds launched another tractor-trailer, and more than forty people pulled the tip pole and threw stones the size of human heads towards the bridge and raft on the water.

This time it was a real threat to the Platoans.

A stone the size of a human head cannot sink a raft, but it can kill or injure people.

However, when the Hurds launched the trebuchet, the bridge was less than a hundred meters away from the other side of the river.

Sackler sent musketeers and riflemen directly onto the bridge to engage the Herds on the other side of the river.

However, the Hud's equipment still had the same old problem - it was poorly made and could not be used for a long time.

The raft was not sunk, the bridge piles were not damaged, and the trebuchet disintegrated on its own...

The Herds who operated the trebuchet dispersed in embarrassment, and the two sides ended another day of fighting.

Winters watched the battle from the river bank and saw the whole process.

Watching battles is one of the traditional entertainment activities of the army. Many officers who are not on duty come to the river bank to watch the battles.

When the officers communicated, most of them agreed with this view: the closer they get to the other side, the greater the resistance they will encounter; today the Herds can launch one trebuchet, and tomorrow they can launch five or ten; the final beach breakthrough , I’m afraid it won’t be easy.

There were all seniors and seniors from Palatu present, but Winters didn't want to interrupt and hid in the back like he was all ears - he was actually very familiar with the situation.

On the way back to the Bridge Forest Camp, Lieutenant Colonel Robert asked casually: Winters, do you have other ideas?

In front of familiar superiors, Winters was less reserved.

He stroked Qiang Luck's mane and replied: I think everyone thinks too highly of the Huds on the other side. If the bridge is pushed forward another fifty meters, the Huds on the other side will probably run away.

How do you say that? Lieutenant Colonel Robert became interested.

Several other officers accompanying him also pricked up their ears. They all knew that the young boy next to them had fought against the Hud people on the other side.

Winters nodded sheepishly and explained: The Hed people on the other side are actually a miscellaneous army put together by many small tribes. Their combat power is far inferior to that of the large tribes such as Chihe Tribe, Teldu Tribe, and Suzi Tribe. Direct lineage can easily fall apart.

The quick-thinking colleague already understood what Winters wanted to say, and Lieutenant Colonel Robert patted his thigh.

They walked around Plato and robbed a lot of money. The white lion allowed them to stay on the other side of the river, which was beyond my expectation. This shows that the white lion is very prestigious in their minds, but... ... Winters braided Qiang Yun into a braid and said with a smile, That's it.

When Winters went to the Borderlands, Alaric [The Storm Eagle] almost cornered him.

But if the current Jessica Brigade were to defend the Styx Camp, Winters was confident that he could beat Alaric's Thousand Soldiers to the point of crying.

Even the dullest colleague realized at this moment:

Our own troops on the West Bank are bent on fighting home;

The Heds on the other side have already grabbed enough capital, and their fighting will is much worse than when they went to Plato.

As long as the bridge can be built to the other side, the rest shouldn't be too difficult.

Back at Qiaolin Camp, Winters had dinner, inspected the camp, and wrote letters as usual - he actually regarded writing letters as writing a diary.

He used the disintegration spell to blow up trees every day, and the spellcaster training was also omitted.

After doing all this, he got into the eiderdown quilt.

The eiderdown quilt is good everywhere. Winters thought regretfully, But it's still not as comfortable as my old blanket.

…

The sound of hooves rolled like thunder.

There are also rapid tolls of bells.

Winters jumped off the couch and reached for his sword.

Is this a dream? He slowly turned his head, trying to identify the direction of the horse's hoofbeats.

Not a dream! It’s really the sound of hooves!

Winters cursed angrily, rushed out of the military tent and shouted: Enemy attack!

The power of this roar was close to the sonic boom, making him dizzy.

The soldiers scrambled out of the tent and began to arm themselves.

Charles and Heinrich hurried over and put on Winters' armor.

[Indistinct expletive]! Winters was furious: You just can't sleep peacefully, can you?!

It's the other way around! It's the other way around! Charles shouted anxiously: The armed uniform is on the wrong side!

Winters was still angry, but suddenly his stomach hurt from laughing: I said it felt like being strangled by the throat...

The taciturn Heinrich suddenly spoke: Sir, the sound of horse hooves seems to be coming from the camp.

Winters was horrified and his hair stood on end: That's right...he came from the camp...

After putting on his armor, Winters strode towards his camp.

Charles went to fetch the horses, while Heinrich hoisted the standard and followed the centurion.

The sound of horse hooves circled the camp.

The green-helmeted messenger cavalry rushed into the Qiaolin camp, galloped on the main road, and shouted: General Arpad has an order! Everyone who can ride a horse should follow! Arpad...

After hearing the words of the messenger cavalry, Winters breathed a sigh of relief.

At a certain moment just now, he thought the camp had been breached.

The braziers were lit one after another, and the Shuangqiao camp was waking up.

After the team was assembled, Winters led his troops to the school field.

When the Montagne Centurion walked into the school field, there were not many people on the school field, which made Winters a little proud.

Seeing the familiar Lieutenant Varga, Winters hurried over and asked, Squad leader, what's going on?

I don't know either. Lieutenant Varga saluted with a wry smile.

Riding into the school grounds, it was Lieutenant Colonel Robert.

Centurions present! Lieutenant Colonel Robert ordered: Follow me!

After saying this, the lieutenant colonel galloped out.

Winters and Varga looked at each other and rode after them.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert didn't say anything and led a few people out of Qiaolin Camp.

It was hard to recognize the direction at night, but Winters could vaguely feel that he was heading towards the river bank.

Winters was worried about losing his luck, so he slowed down a little, so he fell behind.

Before he reached the river bank, under the silver moonlight and through the sparse shadows of the trees, he saw something rolling in the river.

Fire ship! No, not a ship! What the hell is that!

If the Jessica Battalion in Chapter 89 were to defend the Riverside Camp in Chapter 48, they would really be able to beat Alaric's Thousand Soldiers to tears.

Not only did the strength of the troops double, but the experience of the soldiers was unmatched at that time.

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