Iron Power And Sorcerer

Iron Power And Sorcerer Chapter 156

2021-01-23

Chapter 156 Crossing the River
According to the contents of the pamphlet issued to officers, a complete field camp Must include trenches, fences, drains, stables, toilets, two entrances and exits, must have an easily accessible water source, and must be in defensive terrain.

But the actual situation is that there are good and bad camps along the supply line. Generally, one or two soldiers are in charge of guarding, and there are no more than three camps at most.

One part can accommodate two full Legions, with complete walls and trenches, which were temporary barracks built when the army passed by a few months ago;
The rest are much more rudimentary, Dig a circle of earth trenches in a flat open space to complete the work.

The campsites are mostly located near the river, on the west bank of the walking field and the pontoon bridge. On the one hand, it is in order to obtain water sources, and on the other hand, it is also to ensure the safety of the pontoon bridge and the pedestrian field.

River, the most troublesome thing for the baggage team during the march is the river.

The rivers on the Great Wasteland are severely affected by the seasons due to their reliance on snow and ice melt for replenishment.

In summer, when rainfall is abundant, the river can swell to a depth of several meters. In winter, it will enter the dry season, and most of them can walk alone - this is one of the reasons why they choose to send troops in winter.

From the perspective of the general environment, the Water Element between the two mountains originates from the ice and snow melt water in the shaded mountain range and the Golden Peak mountain range, and is a typical dendritic Water Element.

Geographer Bai Ruisi compares two mountains to a leaf, the river running from west to east is the main vein, and the tributaries at all levels are the side veins and thin veins.

According to this analogy, most of the rivers that cause trouble for the trucking team are not even the veins.

But even a calf-deep river is enough to run once in this season.

Although it rarely freezes in winter in Palato, it does not hinder the cold.

……

The carriage drove through the ten-meter-wide shoal one by one, and the carriage team arrived at the campsite today.

But this does not mean the end of a hard day. The coachmen are busy unloading their horses, and the militias need to reorganize the camp facilities: clear the trenches, strengthen the walls, and re-dig the toilets.

While everyone else was hoeing the ground, the person in charge of cooking in each tent had to make a fire, fetch water, and prepare food.

As compensation for marching with iron pans on their backs, they don't need to take part in heavy physical labor - but it's hard to say which is more tiring, cooking or digging toilets.

After the reorganization was over, and the night guards and patrols were arranged, Winters issued an order to disband.

He's cold and hungry now, and sitting in the saddle all day makes his ass hurt. He just wanted to drink a sip of hot soup and quickly rest.

But Lieutenant Colonel Jesska stopped him halfway, and Bud and Andre were also found by Lieutenant Colonel.

The lieutenant colonel still had his usual lukewarm tone: "You guys have dinner with me."

The three second lieutenants looked at each other in blank dismay.

Lieutenant Colonel Jesska has been in office for more than three weeks, but he has always had a business-like attitude. So far, he has no personal relationship with the three Winters, and it seems that he has no intention of enhancing personal friendship.

However, the second lieutenants couldn't refuse the invitation from their immediate bosses for dinner.

But the lieutenant colonel did not go back to the barracks directly, but walked with the second lieutenants towards the stables, where the horses of the baggage team were placed.

The three of Winters followed Lieutenant Colonel around the stables, watching Lieutenant Colonel touch the sweat on the horse's back and check the horse's hooves and legs from time to time.

The ten commander in charge of feeding the horses was a Dussac in his thirties, and he rushed to the stable after hearing the news. Facing the four officers, he looked very nervous.

Lieutenant Colonel Jesska glanced at the ten commander and asked coldly, "It hasn't been a long time since the horse was brought into the shed?"

"Yes, sir." He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Lieutenant Colonel reached out and grabbed a handful in the manger: "What's this?"

"Concentrate, my lord. Make sure you have enough, no milligrams are deducted."

"What is this?" The lieutenant colonel kicked the barrel by the manger.

The ten commander became more and more sincere and fearful: "Water! Just hit it from the river, it is guaranteed to be clean." husband.

The ten commander didn't dare to hide, and was knocked back a few steps by the bucket to stabilize his center of gravity.

"The sweat on the horse is not cold! You dare to feed the horse with water!" The lieutenant colonel slapped the ten commander to the ground again with a slap in the face: "You want to die?"

The ten commander panicked and begged for mercy: "I...just..."

"Shut up!"

The ten commander got up, dare not speak.

"Go to your Hundred-Men Commander tomorrow to lead the ten whips." Lieutenant Colonel Jesska gave him a disgusted look: "get lost!"

Ten Commander such as the amnesty, fled away.

"His ten commander is down," the lieutenant colonel said to Andre.

"Yes."

...

Later, in Lieutenant Colonel Jesska's tent.

The lieutenant colonel and the second lieutenants were sitting around a small table, still talking about what happened just now.

"damned bastard!" Lieutenant Colonel Jesska was still angry: "It's not my own animals that don't feel bad! Look at their war horses, they are all waiting to get rid of their sweat before feeding them."

The baggage team consisted of 100 carts and more than 200 draught horses. Some of the chariots and horses were the property of the army, and the coachmen were mere hired hands; the rest were owned by the coachmen, who were paid more.

The coachman's horse is looked after by the coachman. The army's horses, the lieutenant colonel arranged for a few Dussacs to look after them.

But they don't seem to care much.

“How about leaving the coachman to watch?” Winters asked.

"It's the same, it's not that I don't feel sorry for my own things." Lieutenant Colonel called the head: "The coachman is not as convenient as a soldier."

The few people were speechless for a while, waiting for dinner Serve up.

The lieutenant colonel pondered for a while, and said, "The carts are now fully loaded, and it is the time when the horsepower is the most exhausted. There must be no accident. We only have four spare draw horses, which are more valuable than soldiers. An officer must be assigned to take charge of this matter, and those under the supervision of an officer will not slack off."

The lieutenant colonel first looked towards Winters and looked the head. Then looked towards Bud and Andre, presumably to choose one of the two cavalry officers.

Andre immediately avoided his gaze, Bud sighed upon seeing this, and said, "I'll come."

"Okay, then you." The lieutenant colonel nodded.

The orderly opened the curtain and brought the plates to the officers.

Winters was numb from hunger, but the smell of food made his stomach churn again.

The four soldiers don't have any pre-meal prayer process, and they can start when the food is placed on the table.

But Winters nearly spit out the soup from yesterday with just a little taste of the mushy stuff on the plate.

It was disgusting, sour and smelly, like a foot wrap.

If something looks like swill, smells like swill, and eats more like swill, it should be swill, right?

Winters looked towards Andre in shock, and Andre looked in shock towards him.

On the other hand, Jesska and Bud looked as usual, as if they were not eating the same thing.

"Sir, do you usually eat this?" Andrei asked cautiously.

The Lieutenant Colonel was breaking out the hard and dry bread due to dehydration, and replied casually: "I'm not inviting you to dinner, I'm helping you correct your mistakes."

"What? Wrong?"

"The mistake of getting too close to the soldiers!" the lieutenant colonel said coldly: "I understand the feelings of the rural army, but you are in the army now. Keep your distance from the soldiers, Otherwise, it will affect your judgment."

Although the lieutenant colonel didn't say it, Winters knew what the lieutenant colonel was referring to, which annoyed him a little.

Andre made a haha and asked Bud: "You can eat this too?"

Bud looked at Andrea and replied: "If you were born in The tenant's house, you can eat too."

"Okay, don't pick and choose." Lieutenant Colonel Jesska was quite displeased: "It would be nice to have something to eat in the military camp. Soldiers are not cooks. If they can cook things well, they are qualified. What do you care about taste? You just haven’t fought a war, otherwise, you can eat a plate of pig food.”

We have experienced a lot together. The three of them exchanged glances without words, but they had no intention of correcting the lieutenant colonel.

"It's not that you haven't fought a war." Andrei said slowly, stirring the mush on the plate with a spoon: "It's just that in contrast, the things you have here are really hard to put down. Pharynx."

"Compared to whom?" Lieutenant Colonel Jesska raised an eyebrow
"Compared to... Monty [Montagne's nickname] orderly."

Lieutenant Colonel Jesska sneered, obviously in disbelief.

Second day, the lieutenant colonel has a letter.

On the third day, the lieutenant colonel did something "as expected of him".

Blacksmith Bellion was transferred to the battallion command as a full-time cook.

…

While there is a de jure “buffer zone” between the Heard ministries and Plato’s sphere of influence, the geographic definition of the buffer zone is constantly changing.

In the buffer zone agreed by Ned · Smith and the three Hurd ministries, the part south of the Ember River is today's New Reclamation Province.

[Note: The Ember River is the name of the Ruin River in the territory of Palatu]
Generally speaking, the Palatu people are pressing step by step, the Hed people are retreating step by step, and each other Roughly a hundred kilometers wide no man's land.

It is said to be a no-man's land, but in fact it is not completely uninhabited.

The most common is the shepherd.

The original agreement between the two parties was that "the Palatu people will not cultivate, and the Hud people will not herd livestock", and there is no rule that the Palatu people cannot herd sheep in this area.

This is not a play on words, because nomadism is a traditional art of the Platonic people.

A national woolen trade guild, the Mesta Honor Society, had appeared in Palato as early as in Imperial Calendar 273.

Even Plato's grazing term derives most of its etymology from Hedd.

Agriculture could not bring gold and silver, so before the Republican era, Mesta's taxation was always an important financial income for the Duke of Palato.

Richard IV also received more than 10,000 pounds of silver from Mesta every year after he inherited the Duchy of Palato. [Note: about 98,000 ducats gold coin ]
The poor Palatu herdsmen drove sheep across the borders of countries and religions, not only to migrate with the seasons between the forces, but also to guard against the plundering of the Hudds.

But it was these lowly shepherds who accumulated wealth for the Palatine nobles, allowing them to build castles, hire armies, and stubbornly wage long wars against the Hordes.

If it wasn't for the large-scale eastward invasion of the Heard tribes during the flourishing period several times in history, Forsland and Veneta would have fallen under the iron hooves long ago.

The Palatine shepherds left behind a lonely castle on the old frontier, as well as countless stories and legends featuring them.

Because of this, even though the vast majority of the Palatans live by farming, Andre likes to use the derogatory term "Japanese sheep", and we have reason to believe that this indecent description is likely to be true happened before.

……

Shepherding in no-man’s land is an industry with official endorsement, and it is even a pillar industry in the past.

However, there are also trades that are not officially supported by Plato.

For example, some peasants who cannot afford land will secretly go to uninhabited areas to open up wasteland.

The Palato government will not arrest them on purpose, nor will they provide any protection to the thieves, let alone recognize their property rights.

There are also many bandits and robbers who also hide on the other side of the boundary river to avoid the limelight.

Many thieves were killed by them, but the government rarely dispatched law enforcement forces to cross the boundary river, and most of these people were caught by Bounty Hunter.

apart from this and caravans and smugglers.

Pallato officials sometimes allow and sometimes prohibit mutual markets. The wind is always changing, but the demand is always there.

as the saying goes, "Tobacco, alcohol, oil and sugar from the east, cattle, sheep, mules, and horses from the west."

It is a caravan when the mutual market is allowed, and the smugglers when the mutual market is prohibited. Anyway, there are always people driving the caravan between the Hurd tribes and the Palatine throughout the year.

Most of the time, the Palatine government turns a blind eye -- but that's for livestock and groceries like cattle and horses, tobacco, alcohol, sugar and oil.

Any caravan that dares to smuggle iron, guns, and gunpowder will be spared. Even if they had crossed the middle line of no man's land, the Palatine hussars would chase them to the death.

But because of this, ironware, guns, and gunpowder are sold at extremely high prices in the Heder divisions, so desperate people are not uncommon.

In addition to the Platonic people, there are also the Hurd people in this "no man's land".

The three groups that signed an agreement with Ned · Smith were [Haidong], [Suz], and [Telltown], but the Hurds also had numerous small and medium-sized tribes.

There are always Heard tribes who enter the buffer zone after a disaster or failure to compete for pastures, and these Heards are also not protected by the various councils.

They sometimes kidnapped Palatine squatters, and sometimes they were slaughtered by swindlers, bandits, and even Palatine hussars.

All in all, when a person steps into this "no man's land", he is equivalent to leaving all the laws, rules and civilizations of the world.

Herds, shepherds, thieves, robbers, smugglers... all kinds of people struggle to survive here.

Sometimes they cooperate, and sometimes they fight. Except for the gun in the hand, nothing can guarantee the safety of a person's life and property.

The goal of this battle of the Republic of Palato is to push this area to the west for another 100 kilometers.

……

It took the trucking team twelve days to cross the 100-kilometer-wide no-man’s-land.

Palatu people mostly grew up listening to stories like "there are bandits on the other side of the boundary river", and they were a little nervous at first.

In the end, let alone bandits, I didn't even encounter a few rabbits.

We walked all the way without any disturbance, and everyone was a little disappointed.

There is no way this can be done. The three Hundred Men Squads are responsible for the escort.

 …

The buffer zone is bounded by the river on the Plato side, as well as on the Harder side.

And the boundary river of the Hurd people is much more stylish than the boundary river of the Paratus people.

What stopped in front of the convoy was a large river nearly 400 meters wide.

Crossing the river via the pontoon bridge, the convoy entered the camp at the bridgehead to rest.

However, the defenders refused to wait for idlers to enter the camp, and those small traders could only spend the night outside the camp.

Qiaotou Camp also had far more defenders than previous camps, with a Hundred Men Squad under full command of a captain.

After settling down the convoy, Winters and the others climbed to the camp watchtower for a view.

"Look, this river should be what Heard calls [Curvalea], which means the river that takes away the soul, the river of the underworld." Red cultivator pointed to the river red light He said with a full face: "I have heard that the imposing manner of this river is majestic. I can see it today. It is really name is not in vain!"

"Curvalea...Curvalea..." Winters chewed on the word for a while, and then suddenly realized: "Isn't Kurvalea a dance? It's like... a dance to the Netherworld River?"

Reid cultivator said with a smile: "If you say that you are ignorant and incompetent, you are still not convinced. That is [Cour Valletta]. The etymology is the same, but the affixes are different."

I only heard Hestas say it once, and so did Winters Can't remember how to read it. Thinking of the old shaman, he sighed sadly.

"What are you sighing with such magnificent scenery in front of you? The wind is ruined!" The old cultivator rolled the eyes.

"I remember an old friend." Winters smiled: "old fogey, you have to live longer, don't just die!"

"Don't worry! I must have been alive before!" The old cultivator laughed heartily, but he was not shy.

There should be no more tonight, I have been writing until now at four o'clock in the morning. In the past few days, I went home and went to bed first, then got up to write. I have a good rest tonight and try to adjust the jet lag.

Thanks to the book friends who voted for the recommendation before;

Thanks to the book friends Soda Bird and Knight of Heaven and Earth for their recommendation tickets;

Thanks to the book friends 20191007064305842 , Xianxia·Book Insect, Kepler B22, Xianjian Private Deed h, Ami, Calm Ashes, Huai Jiang Suan, Sky Lens, Justice and Pure Is Koala, Book Friends 160501224737305, Anarch's Son Lin Dengwan, 95Small Captain, Jiang Xue Diao Weng, Book Friends 120325172509365, Book Friends 20191007064305842, Mackerel, Storm Freezing Point, agent12580, Soda Bird, Pants are a bit tight, Book Friends 20181105235059673 for the recommended tickets, thank you all.

(end of this chapter)