Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 257 School
Winters was always a man of action, and he immediately set off for Wolftown to pick up Carman and the potter brothers.

But after a little thought, he decided to set off the next day.

The straight-line distance between Revodan and Wolf Town is nearly 300 miles, making it a truly long journey. Winters has many matters related to Wolf Town on his hands, and getting them done in one go would save him the trouble of going back and forth.

“Charles.” Upon returning to the garrison, Winters immediately began arranging the trip: “Go find Andre and have him prepare the horses to be sent to Bard. We’ll take them with us tomorrow.”

Charles nodded in agreement and quickly left.

Andrei seized over a thousand mares and foals from Baishan County, and together with the more than three hundred horses that Tiefeng County already had, the garrison suddenly had a huge herd of nearly fifteen hundred horses.

Andrei and Mason are leading a team to build stables and cut hay to prepare the horses for winter.

Mason was unaware that he had been "recommended" as the stable manager—Winters was still looking for a good opportunity to tell his senior about it.

Following Bader's suggestion, horses in Iron Peak County will no longer be kept in centralized facilities for the time being.

Only the best warhorses were kept, while the other, lesser-quality warhorses and riding horses were distributed to various military settlements and farms. Even mares without foals were selected and prepared to be distributed along with them.

Conditions were harsh; all horses, regardless of breed, had to work on the ground.

Andrei was very reluctant, but since Winters had agreed, he had no objections.

Mason breathed a sigh of relief; if all 1,500 horses had stayed in Gevordan for the winter, a large number would have starved or frozen to death—it was simply too expensive to keep them.

While dispersing the population carries risks, it can also significantly reduce the need for hay and stables.

“Send the ironware that was to be sent to Lieutenant Bard this time as well.” Winters called his taciturn standard-bearer: “Go to the warehouse, collect the supplies, and load them onto the wagons, Heinrich.”

Heinrich nodded and waited silently for the next order.

“To prison.” Winters seemed to chuckle. “Take that Bentin guy with you tomorrow too.”

Heinrich nodded again.

"That's all. Go now."

Heinrich raised his hand in salute and left silently.

Charles was lively and energetic, while Heinrich was calm and collected; Winters genuinely liked and trusted these two "children." From the beginning, they were his military police, and later also served as his bodyguards, orderlys, and messengers...

Winters wanted to let the two children go out and take on greater responsibilities. But he couldn't bear to part with them. Charles and Heinrich took care of everything in his life, both big and small, which significantly improved his efficiency and quality of life.

But how can a grown man be someone's bodyguard for life? — This was Winters's naive view.

He decided to respect the two children's ideas, ask for their opinions first, and then decide where they should go.

Thinking of this, Winters couldn't help but sigh. He unconsciously fiddled with the small knife, lamenting that there were so few capable people around him.

What is meant by "a person who can stand on their own"?
This refers to the person who [issues the order "go build the stables" in the military decision-making meeting, leaves to carry out the order, and returns to find the stables already completed, without needing to interfere in the entire process].

Apart from Winters himself, only a handful of people, such as Bud and Mason, have the ability to plan, execute, and make decisions independently.

Even Andrei, who was terrible at math, was pulled out to be the chief accountant—there was a severe shortage of people.

Even Winters' private bills and the garrison's ledgers are still managed by Anna.

The new garrison's manpower was nowhere near that of the old one. Major Ronald had more than twenty officers under his command, while Winters only had six, one of whom, a mysterious and handsome man, never bothered with anything, and the other, a mysterious and handsome man, who simply couldn't be bothered with anything.

Ghevorden was not without financial experts, and old Priskin could clearly manage the accounts perfectly well, but Winters did not trust the old tobacco merchant.

A capable person cannot be trusted; the person Winters trusts does not possess such ability.

In the end, it was up to Madame Montagne to take charge.

"We also need to get things done at the accounting school." Winters subconsciously scratched white marks on the table with a knife: "We need to cultivate and train trustworthy people into capable individuals."

Setting up a [crash course in accounting] was Anna's suggestion, which Winters gladly noted down, but now it seems more urgent than he imagined.

"Then who should set up the accounting school?" Winters' head started to ache again.

After much thought, he realized that only he could do it himself.

“Site, funding, student body, teachers…” Winters wrote down the things needed to run a school on a piece of paper.

Suddenly, he took a deep breath and slammed his hand on the table: "Since it's all the same stuff anyway, why don't I expand the military training program as well?"

Previously, Winters' [military class] was mainly conducted in the evening.

As darkness fell, the other soldiers finished their dinner and prepared for bed. Winters' chosen sergeants and deputies gathered to listen to his lecture.

That was truly a painful memory; Winters was furious every day. Everyone who came to class was practically illiterate, and even the most basic vocabulary had to be taught on the spot.

The bigger problem is the lack of seriousness; people don't take it seriously at all. Some even stole quite a few of the pieces Winters used to demonstrate tactics.

After just one evening class, Winters completely abandoned his gentle teaching style and resolutely raised the banner of corporal punishment.

Can't memorize the alphabet?
beat!
Can't tell east from west?
beat!
Can't recognize the map markers?
beat!
Countless rattan whips were broken, and the soldiers who came to class would secretly call Charles "one more."

Because every time Winters broke a vine whip, Charles would immediately hand him a new one.

Tamas, Bart Sharing, Samukin... they were all "centurions" forged by Winters through sheer force of beatings with a rattan whip.

If they can run an accelerated accounting school, then running an accelerated military school doesn't seem too difficult.

Winters became happier the more he thought about it.

“We need an infantry section! I’ll be the section chief.” Winters wrote on the paper, muttering to himself, “We need a cavalry section too! Andrei—Bard will do it. Artillery section, Senior Mason! Although we don’t have a single cannon right now…”

Infantry, cavalry, and artillery: the classic three disciplines of Ned Smith's military system.

Winters stared blankly at the three words on the paper, and a bold idea popped into his mind: "Perhaps... I can transcend the old marshal's constraints."

The thought made him feel guilty—how dare you compare yourself to the old marshal?
However, the idea also thrilled him to the point of trembling.

Winters realized he was starting from scratch, with a blank slate. Therefore, he could do whatever he wanted!
He forcefully crossed out the words "infantry," "artillery," and "cavalry." He then took a fresh sheet of paper and wrote down in his most formal handwriting:

Infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

The three main categories are the foundation.

He bit his pen, recalling the sieges of the islands during the Battle of the Archipelago and the attacks on Bian Li during the Battle of the Great Wilderness, and wrote down the fourth word heavily on the paper—engineer.

In Ned Smith's military system, engineers and artillery were not separated, and the artillery section was responsible for everything except for infantry and cavalry.

This was not a problem, because artillery was a small force in that era; for many feudal lords, maintaining an artillery unit was too expensive. Therefore, they did not have their own artillery and hired artillery units from outside when they were at war.

Making artillery a permanent branch of the army, on par with infantry and cavalry, was already a leap forward for Ned Smith.

Winters Montagne, however, intended to take an even bigger step—he wanted to separate engineering from artillery and establish it as a separate discipline.

Every siege he experienced reminded him that the role of engineers in war was becoming increasingly indispensable.

Opportunities for open battles like those of ancient times, where two armies arrayed themselves in battle formation, are now extremely rare. Siege warfare is the dominant mode of combat! Engineers are qualified to specialize in this area.

After writing "engineer," Winters pondered for a moment and then wrote down the fifth word—"logan."

The current military system in the republics is that whoever is assigned to manage the supplies by the "corps commander" will be in charge of the supplies. This is mainly done by people from the artillery section, because there are too many artillerymen and too few cannons, so who else would be in charge? Some unfortunate cavalry and infantry officers are also sent to transport supplies, such as the former JSKA battalion.

Since engineers have been singled out, logistics personnel should also be trained separately.

In this way, artillery would simply be artillery. Artillery officers would no longer be bothered by various miscellaneous tasks; they could simply focus on operating the cannons.

Winters pondered for a moment, then carefully folded the piece of paper and tucked it into his small notebook. This was a big matter, and he needed to discuss it with his companions, including Bud, Andre, and Mason.

In comparison, crash courses in accounting are a minor issue.

“Please have Anna take charge of planning the accounting school,” Winters thought to himself. “I’ll handle the execution.”

……

The following morning, a convoy drove out of Ghevordan.

Winters set off for Wolftown with over four hundred horses, seven large carts, axes, shovels, rakes, and plows, and a death row inmate.

There was no ceremony to speak of; only a handful of people, including Mason, Anna, Chauza, and Carlos, came to see him off.

"Have a safe journey." Anna carefully smoothed Winters' collar and lapel.

“What’s wrong with that?” Winters laughed heartily. “In the past, I could ride alone on horseback and make the round trip in two days. Now it’s troublesome and not comfortable at all.”

Winters was overjoyed to be able to get out of town and get some fresh air. The little lion insisted on going with him... he was also incredibly bored.

Anna gave a soft snort and subtly pinched Winters' waist with her fingernail, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Come back soon." Anna's smile was as pure and innocent as a saint's.

Winters nodded vigorously.

The two were acting subtly, and no one else knew what was happening. But the brief moment was noticed by the blacksmith, Shao Sha, who had been secretly observing them.

In his view, the blood wolf trembled and begged for mercy on the spot with just a flick of the female wolf's finger.

This made the blacksmith Chaussa feel even more sympathetic to the bailiff and even more admiring of Madame Montagne.

Winters approached Chaussa and Carlos, and he noticed a strange pity in the middle-aged blacksmith's eyes.

“You two keep up the good work,” Winters said with a smile. “When I come back, I hope to see enough ore and charcoal for at least one trial.”

"Please rest assured!" Saosha and Carlos nodded emphatically.

……

Yesterday afternoon, Winters, unable to contain himself, grabbed a map and headed straight for Iron Peak. Following the road paved with slag, he easily found the abandoned mine.

Just as the old blacksmith Boltan said, Iron Peak Mountain is an "iron mountain". Standing on the mountain and sticking a shovel into the ground, before the shovel head even sinks into the soil, the tip of the shovel has already hit the hard stone bed.

So Tiefeng Mountain is completely barren, not a single tree grows there. The foot of the mountain is a little better, because the weathered rock fragments are blown down to the foot of the mountain and form soil. The higher you go, the more desolate Tiefeng becomes, with only a few scattered clumps of weeds stubbornly surviving in such harsh conditions.

Iron Peak Mountain has changed hands several times throughout history. Neither the Hede people nor the Palatul people would let go of such a natural iron mine.

Therefore, the surface outcrops on Tiefeng were mined out long ago.

Seventy years ago, the Suta tribe of the Hed people reoccupied this area. The Suta tribe dug shafts along the ore veins, gradually mining the shallow deposits. The remains of their old smelting furnaces still exist on Iron Peak Mountain.

Thirty years later, this land was reclaimed by the Parat people.

The Suta tribe, driven from this land, sang sadly: "We have lost Iron Peak Mountain, which has dulled our swords; we have lost the Nine-Bend River, which has left our livestock without grazing land."

The Suta tribe, having lost Iron Peak Mountain, was forced to migrate westward, and was ultimately crushed in the brutal tribal warfare on the wasteland, eventually being annexed by the Teldun tribe. The once powerful Suta tribe was thus swept into the dustbin of history, a truly lamentable end.

There's no need to dwell on the past of the Hed people; the pages of time have already been turned.

Thirty years ago, blacksmith Portan moved here and made his living off the mountains. He mined ore, smelted iron, forged farm tools, and then sold them to new immigrants.

The newly migrated farmers were in dire need of farm tools, and ironware was in short supply. Blacksmith Portan seized the opportunity and earned his first fortune.

With money came ambition. To obtain higher-quality ore, blacksmith Portan led his men to dig a sloping shaft two hundred paces into the mountain, and then extended the working face to both sides.

The mineral veins here are sandwiched between layers of quartz, making mining even more difficult.

However, compared to the Hed people's methods of mining using shafts, baskets, and slaves as the main labor force, the mining efficiency in the time of the old blacksmith Boltan was greatly improved.

The village of Forging Furnaces became prosperous and thriving, and Iron Peak County even exported ironware to neighboring counties.

The tide then turned again—after several years of consultation and debate, the Cenas Alliance was officially established.

The republics lowered tariffs on each other and began to trade more extensively. This boosted commerce, which was good for the republics but bad for the forge town and the blacksmith village of Boltan.

Cheap ironware and bar iron produced in Steelburg were transported by water to Palatine, which utterly defeated the Palatine blacksmiths who were still in the workshop stage and quickly occupied the Palatine ironware market.

The old blacksmith, Boltan, was one of the "utterly defeated".

Then it became what Winters saw – almost no one at Plato's blacksmithing anymore smelted iron; they all bought ready-made steel bars. And no one forged swords anymore; they all bought ready-made sword blades.

This might be a good thing for the league as a whole, but for Winters right now, it's a bad thing, a huge bad thing.

He wants to change this situation.

……

Winters has sent men to scout out the mine's condition, and he has ordered Chaussa and Carlos to begin small-scale ore mining in preparation for a trial blast furnace.

It's impossible to restore the abandoned Tiefeng Mine to operation in one go, but it's not difficult to extract a few hundred kilograms of ore for trial production.

Because mining itself hasn't seen any significant leaps in progress over thousands of years.

Thousands of years ago, slaves and today's miners both carried chisels and hammers down into the mines, chiseling away with their bare arms. The only difference is that copper chisels have become iron chisels, and iron chisels have become steel chisels.

According to the old blacksmith Boltan, there is another method called "cracking," which involves first burning the material and then pouring water on it. However, in poorly ventilated mines, this dry method often results in fatalities, so few mine owners use it.

Winters finally approached Mason: "Senior, I'm entrusting Gervodan to you."

Juan was obsessed with hunting, Andrei with horse riding, and Lieutenant Colonel Moritz with alcohol. With Bader gone and Winters gone, the only reliable decision-maker left in the city of Gevodan was "Richard Mason, the military tribunal for the people".

"Don't worry," Mason said with a wry smile, "Nothing will happen."

In fact, Senior Mason has recently become engrossed in his new cannon and cannon-casting project. However, he is responsible and easy to talk to, unlike the other three who, when they say they're going to abandon their responsibilities, really do so.

Winters silently raised his hand in salute to his senior—there were six people in the military decision-making committee, three of whom did no work, and the pain of the remaining three was known only to themselves.

Mason solemnly raised his hand in return—but his mind was still on his new artillery vehicle.

"If the axles are strong enough," Mason's thoughts drifted far away, "maybe it would work without a shock absorber structure?"

After a brief farewell, Winters mounted his horse and nodded to the group one last time.

Anna walked up to Wintershor with a wine glass and offered him a parting drink before his departure.

He downed the drink in one gulp, and Winters whipped his horse and set off.

[Innovators themselves rarely realize they are "innovating" because, to them, they are merely improving upon existing things. For example, Watt and his improved steam engine—the prototype of the steam engine existed before Watt, and he didn't have the idea that "creating this thing will change the world." What drove Watt was a need for money and fame, while what drove society as a whole was the contemporary need for a prime mover.]
[Demand drives improvement, and many things that seem to have been achieved overnight in modern times have a history far longer than people imagine. The book *The Old Regime and the Revolution* provides a good example of this.]
Innovation is both a Eureka moment of inspiration and a gradual, systematic process of development.
[In the late Roman Republic, the Gauls recorded a centurion known as "The One More" because every time he broke a grapevine cane, he would take a new one and continue... However, judging from the context, the legionary soldiers had great respect for this centurion who could break another cane.]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments.]
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(End of this chapter)