Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 342 Map
There were two wooden houses in the yard, one for living and the other as a storage room. After walking a few steps, Lieutenant Colonel Elek had thoroughly inspected both houses, inside and out.

Apart from a simple table, chairs, and chest of drawers, the room was completely empty. Although it was indoors, it felt as desolate as a wilderness.

The oil lamp, covered in cobwebs, lay discarded in the corner, its flame long since dried up. The sun was setting, and the wooden hut was shrouded in darkness, like a cave, devoid of any other light source.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek frowned and asked, "Why are you living here?"

John Jessica, supporting himself against the wall, moved his feet little by little, finally sitting back down on the stool at the dining table, and asked, "This is my home. If I don't live here, where do I live?"

"Is this where colonels live?"

“Retiring due to injury only entitles me to half pay,” John Jessica replied emotionlessly. “Besides, I haven’t received half pay for three quarters.”

Winters glanced sideways at Lieutenant Colonel Elek, whose face darkened.

"How is that possible?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek asked impatiently, half astonished and half skeptical, "How could you not be paid for three quarters?"

John Jessica snorted and didn't reply, but his contemptuous expression was the most straightforward answer—believe it or not.

To be honest, before stepping into this courtyard, Winters had no idea what it would be like to see Lieutenant Colonel Jessica again.

To avoid an awkward situation, Winters had prepared many conversation ideas. But when he actually saw Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's dark eye sockets, he couldn't utter a single word.

To be more precise, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica is now Colonel Jessica—an automatic promotion due to injury-related retirement.

John Jessica looked at Winters and asked curtly, "What would you like to drink?"

"Water is fine."

“Nothing else.” John Jessica tilted his head. “There’s a well in the yard. Go get some yourself.”

Winters picked up the water jug, walked straight out of the cabin, drew another jug ​​of fresh well water, and washed the cup as well. When interacting with Colonel Jessica, he habitually omitted the insincere pleasantries and formalities.

Back at the cabin, Winters poured a glass of water for Colonel Jessica and Lieutenant Colonel Elek.

"Was he your subordinate before?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth. He shook his head self-deprecatingly: "What kind of stupid question is that? Otherwise, why would he go out of his way to visit you... Oh, I see, since he was your subordinate, it makes sense that he would draw pictures wherever he went."

“Oh?” John Jessica showed a slight interest.

Surveying is a difficult subject, and Winters admits he hasn't even scratched the surface, so he doesn't want to talk about it further.

Winters asked casually, "There's no fence around the well in the yard, so you usually draw water yourself?"

“There’s a farming couple on the other side of town who come to my place once a day to get me some food and drink,” John Jessica explained succinctly.

The former army lieutenant colonel was clearly more concerned with other matters than his own daily life: "Information is scarce here. Until just now, I thought you had died on the west bank of the Styx. Tell me, tell me something I don't know."

"It's a long story."

“Then take your time,” John Jessica said dismissively. “The one thing I have plenty of is time.”

"Lieutenant Colonel, let's wait until a more appropriate time to talk about it."

"The right time?" John Jessica frowned. Although the former army lieutenant colonel was known for his straightforwardness, that didn't mean he was dull-witted.

"There are outsiders listening, so it's inconvenient for you to speak?" John Jessica chuckled a few times and directly told Lieutenant Colonel Elek to leave: "My eyesight isn't good, so I won't see you out."

Even though Lieutenant Colonel Elek had long heard of [One-Eyed Jessica]'s reputation for being difficult to get along with, and even though Lieutenant Colonel Elek was naturally good-tempered, he was still left speechless and embarrassed, his face turning pale and then red.

Winters had to smooth things over for his former superior: "Lieutenant Colonel Elek is no stranger. If it weren't for Lieutenant Colonel Elek's help, I wouldn't have been able to find you here."

“Oh, I see,” John Jessica replied indifferently.

Based on Winters' understanding of his former superior, even when John Jessica made objective, emotionless comments, it sounded like sarcasm to onlookers; this was John Jessica's talent and instinct, not directed at any particular person or thing.

Winters nodded apologetically to Lieutenant Colonel Elek, offering his apology on behalf of Colonel Jessica.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek took a deep breath, sighed helplessly, and said with a mixture of sarcasm and admiration, "It seems that overseas assignments haven't changed you in the slightest."

John Jessica snorted, unmoved. He picked up the half-finished wooden mold on the table and continued to cut.

"What are you doing now?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek asked curiously.

“To earn bread,” John Jessica replied curtly.

It was getting dark, and after observing for a while, Lieutenant Colonel Elek finally realized that the other person was carving chess pieces: "It's too dark in here, why don't you get a lamp..."

Lieutenant Colonel Elek's voice abruptly stopped. John Jessica's knife strike was slow, but extremely precise, so precise that Elek forgot he could no longer see his opponent.

“Why not put on a lamp?” John Jessica’s tone was almost cruelly calm: “It’s better to be blind, it saves money on lamp oil.”

The wooden house fell silent, with only the sound of sawdust separating from the wood frame audible.

“I still don’t understand.” Lieutenant Colonel Elek slapped his knee and couldn’t help but ask, “How could they not pay you your salary? General Alpad issued a special order: to provide generous compensation to officers who retired due to injury or to the families of officers who died in battle in the expeditionary force. Something must have gone wrong; it shouldn’t be like this… I’ll go back and find out.”

John Jessica seemed not to hear anything, concentrating intently on carving the chess pieces.

Winters fiddled with his water glass without saying a word.

In the silence, Lieutenant Colonel Elek gradually came to his senses. He slowly stood up, squinted at his colleague, and asked hesitantly, "You wouldn't... not have signed the affidavit?"

John Jessica scoffed dismissively.

The truth has come out! Signing an oath and severing ties with the puppet government of Zhuwangbao was a process that all officers serving in the new military government had to go through.

Under military rule, the consequences of refusing to swear allegiance are not as simple as just "withdrawal of salary".

John Jessica was spared imprisonment, trial, and execution, perhaps as a favor because of his blindness.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek was at a loss for words: "It's just a piece of paper, is it really worth making such a fuss about? Why bother? Sigh, you're lucky you weren't executed..."

John Jessica put down his carving knife and wooden frame, stood up as well, looked at Lieutenant Colonel Elek straight in the eye, and stated his position word by word: "First, I am loyal to the Republic of Palatul, and only to the Republic; second, I do not believe that Alpad Duyom and his leading political faction can represent the Republic of Palatul."

"Can those bloated, fat councilors in the Grand Council of Kingsburg really represent us?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek retorted. "Believe it or not, right now—at this very moment—those fat pigs are having a heated discussion about how to package and sell Palatour to the United Provinces!"

“If you don’t split Palatour from within, how will you give the United Provinces an opportunity?” John Jessica’s voice was cold and steady: “No matter the reason, Alpad’s actions are rebellion.”

"It was clearly the Fortress of Kings that betrayed us!"

This argument is pointless because neither side can convince the other.

John Jessica picked up his carving knife again and continued carving the chess pieces. Lieutenant Colonel Elek sat down angrily and gulped down the entire glass of ice-cold well water in one go, beads of sweat constantly dripping from his forehead.

There was another moment of silence.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek slapped his thigh, glaring angrily at his colleague: "Fine! Do as you please. But you have to come back to Oaklinburg with me. I'll find you a place to stay."

Lieutenant Colonel Elek took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead, looked around the empty room, and said angrily, "Since you're convinced the military government is a traitor, let's see who has the last laugh! But not here—you won't survive the winter living in this wretched place!"

John Jessica was unmoved by the kindness of his contemporary and comrade-in-arms, and retorted sharply, "Can you hold out until next winter?"

"What do you mean?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek asked with a cold, stern face.

John Jessica swept the table clear with a flick of his arm, then dipped his finger in the water in his cup and traced patterns on it. The sun was about to sink below the horizon, its rays shining brightly, but inside the cabin, it was almost pitch black.

John Jessica drew stroke by stroke in the darkness, not for anyone else, but for himself. Every stroke was meticulous, as if he wanted to project mountains and rivers onto this small wooden table.

Although the specific lines are not clearly visible, Winters judged from the general outline that Colonel Jessica was probably drawing a Platonic map.

“New Reclamation Province, West Forest Province, North River Province…” John Jessica casually drew on the map in the dark: “Going north is the Republic of Monta, and going down the Jinliu River to the east are the United Province and Venetta.”

John Jessica's map was very large, encompassing not only the Republic of Palatine but also the other four countries of the alliance.

Maps that could depict a vast territory within a small space with considerable accuracy were probably only ever seen on the emperor's desk before.

With this map, both intangible and tangible, Winters also examined the internal and external situation of Plato in a macroscopic and intuitive way for the first time.

"Jinliu River, Jinliu River is the key to everything." The watermarks had dried up, but John Jessica still accurately pointed to the Jinliu River, the rushing river that ran through the area between the two mountains: "Without breaking through Jinliu River, no matter how sharp General Alpad's saber is, he will only be trapped in this northwestern corner of Jiangbei Province. Am I wrong?"

“That’s right,” Lieutenant Colonel Elek readily admitted.

"Have you broken through the Jinliu River barrier yet?"

"No."

“If we can’t break through the Jinliu River, we can only advance eastward along its north bank.” John Jessica took out chess pieces and placed them one by one on the invisible map. His eyes could not see the light, and his body was confined to the small room, but his mind had never been so free.

John Jessica stated coldly, "Throughout history, the Land of the Galloping Horses has always been [poor on the north bank, rich on the south bank]. Even if you fight all the way to the border with the United Provinces, the land you can control will never exceed a third of Palatum. And the heart of Palatum—the cluster of towns along the banks of the Emberflow River—is something you cannot touch either. Am I wrong?"

“That’s right.” Lieutenant Colonel Elek nodded slowly.

"In other words, even in the best-case scenario, the Kings' Castle controls twice the land and three times the population of yours. As a professional officer, do you think you have a chance of winning?"

“Population, land, wealth… you only calculate these, but you’ve overlooked the most important part,” Lieutenant Colonel Elek retorted bluntly.
"Warfare relies on people! A lion can subdue a hundred sheep! The Fifth and Sixth Legions—the Republic's most elite standing armies—are entirely under the control of the military government. Not to mention, the vast majority of professional officers are on our side. Those idiots in Zhuwangbao only know how to fight for power and profit; how can they possibly win?"

John Jessica chuckled hoarsely, and Winters even detected pity in his laughter: "With enough money, weapons, and manpower, you can have as many soldiers as you want; with enough training, even recruits can be forged into an elite standing army. That's how the old marshal won the Sovereign War thirty years ago. Don't you understand that?"

"[Armed civilians are not an army; armed civilians are merely the raw material for an army]." Lieutenant Colonel Elek also quoted a famous saying of the old marshal: "An army cannot be forged overnight. Don't forget, Kingsburg has very few officers, and veterans are even scarcer."

"But they have one person, and that one person is enough."

"Who?"

“Sackler… Brigadier General.” John Jessica uttered a name heavily, and he said decisively, “With more than twice the manpower, land, and wealth, as long as Sackler’s mind is not clouded, he cannot lose this battle! He will turn this war into a brutal war of attrition, tightening the noose around your necks little by little until you are finally strangled. He will win… but Plattow will lose.”

Lieutenant Colonel Elek was taken aback at first, then suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter. He laughed so hard he was doubled over, gasping for breath, tears and snot streaming down his face.

Even the usually composed John Jessica was bewildered by the other man's sudden burst of laughter.

John Jessica's expression gradually shifted from surprise and confusion to seriousness: "What are you laughing at?"

“What are you laughing at? I’m laughing at you for only knowing how to calculate military costs, not political ones. That’s your problem, and it’s Sackler’s problem too.” Lieutenant Colonel Elek struggled to stop laughing. He wiped his eyes and cruelly revealed the truth: “Sackler is dead.”

The water glass landed on the ground, and because it was made of wood, it bounced a few times.

John Jessica's breathing became heavy, and after a long while, he managed to ask with difficulty, "How did you die?"

Winters coughed lightly: "It's a long story."

"Who knows how he died? We don't know either, but he's definitely dead," Lieutenant Colonel Elek said nonchalantly.

"Perhaps he died in a political conspiracy—having usurped the position of Grand Speaker, Magnus's next step is to control the army, and he will certainly see Sackler as a thorn in his side; or perhaps he died of assassination—after all, he betrayed all the soldiers of the Republic; or maybe he died of illness, who knows? In any case, he is dead, that is certain. As for how he died, we don't care."

When did he die?

"It's been a while."

John Jessica took a long time to process this bolt from the blue. He sat there motionless, as if mourning Sackler.

After a while, John Jessica looked up, looking somewhat tired, and said, "Please go, I've learned enough for today. I won't see you off."

Lieutenant Colonel Elek stood up and sighed, “I know your relationship with Sackler is unusual… Why don’t you come back to Oaklinburg with me? As long as I have a roof over my head, there will always be a place for you to stay. You really can’t survive the winter here—you can’t even start a fire! If you can’t bear to leave your hometown, I’ll send you back in the spring, okay?”

John Jessica shook his head, as if repeating, "Go, leave, let me be by myself for a while."

Lieutenant Colonel Elek reluctantly put on his hat and said to Winters, "Let's go then, we'll come back to visit tomorrow."

Winters made no move.

"What's wrong?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek asked.

Winters remained silent as Colonel Jessica and Lieutenant Colonel Elek debated. He stared intently at the invisible map on the table, like a stone sculpture.

The Jiangbei Province, where the Paratu military government is located, is surrounded by the Republic of Paratu, the Republic of Monta, and the Great Wilderness. Beset by internal and external troubles and surrounded by enemies, it is clearly in a dead end.

However, the deadlock was not without its key points, and the Jinliu River defense line was not impregnable. The Xinkendi Province, which faced the western section of Jiangbei Province across the river, was likely the key to turning the tide.

If they go upstream, bypass the newly reclaimed land province, and cross the Jinliu River, then the river defense line of Zhuwangbao will be rendered useless, and the military government's sword can pierce straight into the heart of the Red Rose.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek's mention of "political accounts" and "military accounts" was a wake-up call for Winters.

The Platonic Civil War was no longer just a military struggle, and the participants were not limited to the Red Rose and Blue Rose factions.

The United Provinces are stirring, and Veneta is already poised to act. Monta and Varn's attitudes are ambiguous, and even the Empire, far away on the other side of the Shaded Mountains, may be eyeing them covetously.

Taking military considerations as the sole starting point is far too simplistic.

But ultimately, the battle must be fought on the battlefield to determine the victor.

Winters' thoughts returned to his body, and he looked at Colonel Jessica, saying sincerely, "Before I came to visit you... I actually thought that if you were not doing well, I would take you away."

"Pick me up?" John Jessica chuckled. "Where to? To Veneta?"

"Not to Venetta—of course, if you would like to go to Venetta, we can arrange that for you."

"I've finally made it home, I don't want to leave again."

“How about going to the New Reclamation Land? The New Reclamation Land Province, Iron Peak County.” Winters paused for a moment, then added, “My place.”

John Jessica chewed on the phrase "my place," then suddenly sneered: "Your place?"

"This description isn't quite accurate, but it's close enough."

John Jessica's expression turned serious, and the veins on his hands bulged.

He straightened his body, staring intently at Winters with his dark, hollow eyes, and uttered each word with unwavering resolve: "I! Won't! Go!"

The little cabin fell silent once more, this silence even quieter than before. The sounds of breathing and heartbeats were clearly audible, and the wind whistled across the roof.

Winters grasped his old superior's hand: "You have to go."

[The map... is being drawn.]
[Upon entering the backend, I saw the following: "Updated for two days this month, totaling 1.5 words." I was so ashamed I wanted to bang my head against the wall.]
[The donkey sauce couldn't break the millstone, but the donkey sauce was broken by the millstone.]
(End of this chapter)