Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 155 Crossing the River
According to the handbook issued to officers, a proper field camp must include trenches, walls, drainage ditches, stables, toilets, two entrances and exits, an easily accessible water source, and be located in a defensible terrain.

However, in reality, the camps along the supply line varied in quality, and were generally guarded by one or two tents of soldiers, with a maximum of three tents.

One part of it could accommodate two full-strength legions, and had complete walls and trenches. It was a temporary military camp built when the army passed through this area a few months ago.
The rest were much simpler; they were done by digging a ditch around a level open space.

The campsites were mostly located near rivers, built on the west bank of the fording grounds and pontoon bridges. This was done both to obtain water and to ensure the safety of the pontoon bridges and fording grounds.

Rivers were the biggest headache for supply trains during marches.

Rivers in the Great Wilderness are heavily influenced by the seasons because they rely on snowmelt for water.

During the summer when rainfall is plentiful, the river can swell to several meters deep. In winter, it enters a dry season, and most rivers can be forded – which is one of the reasons for choosing to send troops out in winter.

From a macro perspective, the water system between the two mountains originates from the snowmelt of the Shade Mountain Range and the Golden Summit Mountain Range, and is a typical dendritic water system.

Geographer White likened the land between two mountains to a leaf, with the rushing river flowing from west to east as the main vein and the tributaries at various levels as lateral veins and veins.

According to this analogy, most of the rivers that caused trouble for the supply trains were not even considered minor.

Even a small river that's only calf-deep can be quite a challenge to wade through in this season.

Although Plato rarely freezes in winter, it is still cold.

……

One carriage after another crossed the shallow water, which was about ten meters wide, and the supply train arrived at today's campsite.

But this did not mean the end of a hard day's work. The drivers were busy unloading the horses, and the militiamen needed to tidy up the camp facilities: clearing the trenches, reinforcing the walls, and digging new toilets.

While others were busy hoeing the ground, the person in charge of cooking in each tent would start a fire, fetch water, and prepare food.

As compensation for carrying iron pots on their backs during marches, they were exempt from heavy physical labor—though it's hard to say whether cooking or digging toilets was more tiring.

After the reorganization was completed and the night shift and patrol personnel were arranged, Winters issued a dismissal order.

He was cold and hungry, and his backside ached terribly from sitting in the saddle all day. All he wanted was a bowl of hot soup and some rest.

But Lieutenant Colonel Jessica stopped him halfway, along with Bud and Andrei.

The lieutenant colonel spoke in his usual lukewarm tone: "You few will have dinner with me."

The three lieutenants looked at each other in bewilderment.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica has been in office for more than three weeks, but he has always maintained a professional attitude and has no personal relationship with the three Winters so far, nor does he seem to have any intention of developing a personal friendship.

However, the lieutenants couldn't refuse their superior's invitation to dinner.

However, the lieutenant colonel did not go straight back to the barracks. Instead, he led the second lieutenants to the stables, where the supply train's horses were kept.

Winters and his two companions followed the lieutenant colonel around the stables, watching him wipe the sweat from the horses' backs and occasionally check their hooves and legs.

The quartermaster in charge of feeding the horses, a Dussac in his thirties, rushed to the stables upon hearing the news. He looked extremely nervous as he faced the four officers.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica glanced at the centurion and asked coldly, "The horse wasn't brought into the pen long ago, was it?"

"Yes, sir." The centurion wiped the sweat from his brow.

The lieutenant colonel reached into the manger and grabbed a handful: "What's this?"

"Premium feed, sir. Guaranteed to be sufficient, no deductions per milligram."

"What's this?" The lieutenant colonel kicked the wooden bucket next to the manger.

The squad leader became increasingly apprehensive: "Water! Just drawn from the river, guaranteed to be clean."

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica suddenly erupted, grabbing a bucket and smashing it at the clerk.

The squad leader dared not dodge and was knocked back several steps by the bucket before regaining his balance.

"The horse's sweat hasn't even cooled down yet! And you dare to feed it water and feed it!" The lieutenant colonel slapped the squad leader hard across the face again, knocking him to the ground: "Do you want to die?"

The squad leader panicked and begged for mercy repeatedly, "I...I just..."

"Shut up!"

The squad leader got up and dared not speak again.

"Go find your centurion tomorrow and receive ten lashes yourself." Lieutenant Colonel Jessica gave the man a look of disgust: "Get lost!"

The squad leader, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, fled as if he were escaping.

“He was taken down as a squad leader,” the lieutenant colonel told Andrei.

"Yes."

……

Later, in Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's tent.

The lieutenant colonel and second lieutenants sat around a small table, still talking about what had just happened.

"You damned bastards!" Lieutenant Colonel Jessica was still furious. "You don't care about your own animals! Look at their warhorses, they wait until they've dried off their sweat before feeding them."

The supply train consisted of about a hundred large wagons and over two hundred draft horses. Some of the wagons and horses were military property, and the drivers were simply hired laborers; the remaining wagons and horses belonged to the drivers, who were paid more.

The coachman's horses were looked after by the coachman. The army's horses were looked after by several Dussacs assigned by the lieutenant colonel.

But they don't seem to care much.

“How about letting the coachman look after it?” Winters asked.

"Same here, they don't care about things that aren't their own." The lieutenant colonel shook his head: "The coachman is easier to control than the soldier."

The group fell silent for a moment, eagerly awaiting the arrival of dinner.

The lieutenant colonel pondered for a moment and said, "The wagons are all fully loaded now, which is the most demanding time for the horses. We absolutely cannot afford any accidents. We only have four spare draft horses, which are more precious than soldiers. This matter needs to be assigned to an officer to be in charge. With an officer supervising them, the subordinates will not slack off."

The lieutenant colonel first looked at Winters and shook his head. Then he looked at Bard and Andrei, presumably to choose one of the two cavalry officers.

Andrei immediately looked away, and Bard sighed and said, "I'll do it."

"Okay, then it's you." The lieutenant colonel nodded.

The orderly pulled back the tent flap and brought out plates to the officers.

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

The four soldiers didn't have any pre-meal prayers; they could start eating as soon as the food was placed on the table.

Winters almost vomited up the soup he had drunk yesterday after just one small bite of the paste in his plate.

It's disgusting, sour and smelly, like it's been washed with foot binding cloth.

If something looks like swill, smells like swill, and tastes even more like swill, then it must be swill, right?

Winters looked at Andrei in shock, and Andrei looked at him in shock as well.

In contrast, Jessica and Bud looked perfectly normal, as if they were eating completely different things.

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

The lieutenant colonel was forcefully breaking apart a piece of bread that had become dry and hard due to dehydration when he casually replied, "I'm not inviting you to a banquet; I'm helping you correct your mistakes."

"What is wrong?"

"Getting too close to the soldiers is a mistake!" the lieutenant colonel said coldly. "I understand the feelings of these local troops, but you are in the military now. Keep your distance from the soldiers, or it will affect your judgment."

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

Andrei chuckled and asked Bad, "You can actually eat this?"

Bader glanced at Andrei and replied, "If you were born into a tenant farmer's family, you would have been able to eat it too."

"Alright, stop being so picky." Lieutenant Colonel Jessica said, quite displeased. "It's good enough to have food in the barracks. Soldiers aren't cooks. As long as they can cook the food, that's good enough. Why do you care about the taste? You've never been to war before. Otherwise, you could eat a plate of pig slop."

The three, who had been through a lot together, exchanged silent glances, neither intending to correct the lieutenant colonel. "It's not about whether we've fought in wars or not," Andrei said slowly, stirring the porridge in his plate with a spoon. "It's just that, compared to what you've been through, this stuff is really hard to swallow."

"Compared to whom?" Lieutenant Colonel Jessica raised an eyebrow.
"Compared to... Montagne's (Montage's nickname) orderly."

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica sneered, clearly not believing him.

The next day, the lieutenant colonel believed it.

On the third day, the lieutenant colonel did something that was "typical of him".

Blacksmith Berleon was transferred to the battalion headquarters to serve as a full-time cook.

……

Although there was a legal "buffer zone" between the Hade tribes and the Plato's sphere of influence, the geographical definition of the buffer zone was constantly changing.

The buffer zone agreed upon by Ned Smith and the three major ministries of Hart included the area south of the Jinliu River, which is today's Xinchuangdi Province.

[Note: Jinliu River is the name given to the Benliu River within the territory of Palatú.]
Overall, the Paratul people pressed forward step by step, while the Hed people retreated step by step, with a no-man's land roughly 100 kilometers wide between them.

Although it's called a no-man's land, it's not actually completely uninhabited.

The most common type is the shepherd.

The original agreement between the two parties was that "the Parat people would not cultivate the land, and the Hed people would not graze livestock," but there was no stipulation that the Parat people could not graze sheep in this area.

This is not a word game, because nomadic life in the cracks between powerful forces was a traditional skill of the Parat people.

As early as Imperial Year 273, a nationwide wool trade guild, the Mesta Honor Society, had already emerged in Palatum.

Even most of Plato's pastoral terms are derived from Hede.

Agriculture does not bring gold and silver, so before the Republican era, Mesta's taxes were always an important source of revenue for the Duke of Palatine.

After Richard IV inherited the Duchy of Palatine, he also received an annual income of over 1 pounds of silver from the Mesta. [Note: Approximately 9.8 Ducat gold coins]
Impoverished Palatine shepherds drove their sheep across national and religious borders, not only migrating seasonally between powerful forces but also guarding against plunder by the Had.

But it was these shepherds from the lower classes who accumulated wealth for the Palatine nobility, enabling them to build castles, hire armies, and wage a protracted war against the Hart tribes.

Historically, if Plato hadn't withstood several large-scale eastward invasions by the Hed tribes during their heyday, Folsland and Venetia would have long since fallen to the iron heel of the Hed tribes.

The Palatine shepherds left behind lonely castles on the old border, as well as countless stories and legends featuring them.

Therefore, even though the vast majority of Parat people live by farming, Andrei's fondness for using the derogatory term "sun sheep" gives us reason to believe that this vulgar description may very well have actually occurred.

……

Sheep herding in uninhabited areas is an industry with official backing, and it was even a pillar industry of Palatour in the past.

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

For example, illegal land reclamation involves some farmers who cannot afford to buy land secretly going to uninhabited areas to reclaim wasteland.

The Paratul government will not specifically arrest them, nor will it provide any protection to illegal settlers, nor will it recognize their property rights.

Many bandits and robbers would also hide on the other side of the border river to avoid trouble.

Many illegal settlers have fallen victim to their crimes, but the authorities rarely send law enforcement forces across the border river; these individuals are mostly apprehended by bounty hunters.

In addition, there were caravans and smugglers.

The official Plato system sometimes allows trade between players and sometimes prohibits it. The situation is constantly changing, but the demand remains constant.

As the saying goes, "From the east come tobacco, alcohol, oil, cloth, and sugar; from the west come cattle, sheep, mules, and horses."

When trade is permitted, it's considered caravan trading; when it's prohibited, it's considered smuggling. In any case, there are always people driving caravans between the tribes of Hart and Palatul throughout the year.

Most of the time, the Paratul government turned a blind eye—but that was only for livestock goods such as cattle, horses, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, and oil.

Any caravan that dared to smuggle ironware, guns, or gunpowder was to be hunted down without mercy. Even if they had crossed the central line of the no-man's-land, the Paratul cavalry would pursue them to the death.

However, precisely because of this, ironware, guns, and gunpowder were sold at extremely high prices in Hart's tribes, leading to frequent instances of people taking risks.

Besides the Paratul people, the Hede people also live in this "no man's land".

The three major tribes that signed the agreement with Ned Smith were the [Haidong], [Suz], and [Teldon], but the Hed people also had a large number of small and medium-sized tribes.

There were always Hard tribes that entered the buffer zone after suffering disasters or failing to seize pastures, and these Hards were also not protected by the tribal council.

Sometimes they would plunder Paratul settlers, and sometimes they would be slaughtered by settlers, bandits, or even Paratul cavalry.

In short, when a person steps into this "no man's land," he is essentially leaving behind all laws, rules, and civilization in the world.

People of all kinds—Hards, shepherds, illegal settlers, robbers, smugglers—struggled to survive here.

They sometimes cooperated, sometimes fought each other. Nothing but the knives and guns in their hands could guarantee a person's life and property safety.

The objective of the Paratu Republic's campaign is to push this region another 100 kilometers westward.

……

It took the supply train a full twelve days to cross the 100-kilometer-wide no-man's-land.

Most Paratu people grew up hearing stories like "there are bandits on the other side of the border river," so they were inevitably a little apprehensive at first.

In the end, they didn't even encounter many rabbits, let alone bandits.

The journey was uneventful, and everyone felt a little lost.

There was no other way; three teams of a hundred men each were responsible for escorting the supplies. Only a fool would dare to target a supply convoy.

……

The buffer zone is bounded by the river on the Plato side, and the same applies on the Hed tribes side.

Moreover, the boundary river of the Hed people was much more impressive than that of the Parat people.

Blocking the convoy was a river nearly 400 meters wide, with a rapid current and unfathomable depth, connected only by a swaying pontoon bridge.

After crossing the river via a pontoon bridge, the convoy stopped at the camp located at the bridgehead to rest.

However, the garrison refused entry to unauthorized personnel, so the small vendors had to spend the night outside the camp.

The garrison at the bridgehead camp was also much larger than at the previous camp, consisting of a hundred men, under the full command of a captain.

After settling the convoy, Winters and the others climbed up the camp's watchtower to enjoy the view.

“Look, this river must be what the people of Hed call [Kurvalea], meaning the River that carries away souls, the River of the Underworld.” Brother Reid pointed to the river, his face glowing red, and said, “I’ve long heard of the river’s magnificent power, and seeing it today, it truly lives up to its reputation!”

“Kurvalea…Kurvalea…” Winters pondered the word for a moment, then suddenly realized, “Isn’t Kurvalea a kind of dance? It seems to be…the Dance to the Styx?”

Brother Reed sneered, "You still won't admit you're ignorant? That's [Courvalletta], the etymology is the same, just the affixes are different."

Winters had only heard Herstace mention it once, and couldn't remember how to pronounce it. Thinking of the old shaman, he sighed sadly.

"With such a magnificent view before you, why are you sighing? You're spoiling the mood!" The old cultivator rolled his eyes.

"I'm thinking of an old friend." Winters chuckled. "Old man, you'd better live a long life, don't die so easily!"

"Don't worry! I'll definitely be alive before I die!" The old cultivator laughed heartily, showing no restraint whatsoever.

That shouldn't be any more tonight. I've been writing since 4 a.m. yesterday. For the past few days, I've been going home to sleep first, then getting up to write. Tonight I'll try to get a good rest and adjust to the time difference.

Thank you to all the readers who voted for the book before;

Thank you to readers Sodabird and Knight of Heaven and Earth for the recommendation votes;

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(End of this chapter)