Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 424 Preparing for War (Part 2)

The news of Jinghu County's change of allegiance came like a sudden summer downpour, catching unsuspecting pedestrians off guard and causing them to scramble for cover. However, once the rain stopped, the water quickly evaporated, leaving only faint white marks on the leaves, and the pedestrians continued on their way, grumbling and cursing.

Looking at the approaching dark clouds on the horizon, no one would doubt that this sudden rain was merely a prelude to an even more terrifying storm.

……

[Thervordan]
[A temporary camp for the "ransomers"]
“We can choose where we go—at least that’s what Winters Montagne promised.”

Facing the ragged, emaciated "ransomers," Major Cypher Carrington leaned back in a simple chair with bark still on, speaking in the characteristic tone of a Palatine knight who "didn't care much about anything other than women and honor":

"Those who want to go home will be given a pass and travel expenses; those who want to stay will be allocated land according to the standards for pioneers; those who have rendered meritorious service to the Iron Peak County Garrison will be rewarded according to the same standards as the soldiers of Montagne. Whatever they have, you will have too. If each of them has one hundred acres, you will also have one hundred acres."

The expeditionary officers and soldiers, who had endured many hardships to return to Palatine, surrounded Major Seber, listening intently as he announced his fate.

“Major, Montagne went to great lengths to ransom us.” A lieutenant, whose head had been shaved to get rid of lice and whose cheeks were sunken from long-term malnutrition, stepped forward and asked suspiciously, “And they just let us go for nothing? Are the Venetians really that generous?”

"Oh, you don't believe me, do you?" Major Seber revealed two wolf-like fangs and suggested with a smile, "Then why don't you go and ask him in person?"

The lieutenant awkwardly shut his mouth.

Seber crossed his arms and scanned his comrades, colleagues, and subordinates gathered in the low shack from left to right.

Among the faces he saw were those who had fought alongside him and sung triumphant songs, those who had huddled together for warmth in the desolate wilderness, and those he did not know but who had shared the same fate with him.

He turned to look out the window and waved his hand impatiently: "That's all I can get for you! If you're not satisfied, go find the Blood of the Wolf yourselves! Alright! Dismissed! Think it over carefully before making a decision."

The others present looked at each other, not because they were dissatisfied, but because the terms offered were so good that they were unbelievable.

"Major." A thin auxiliary soldier, leaning on two crutches, struggled to the front and asked timidly, "Can someone like me... also get land?"

The skinny auxiliary soldier's trouser leg below the left knee was empty; there was nothing there.

Seber couldn't bear to look, so he turned his head away and answered stiffly, "Yes! Why not? They're all there!"

The wooden shack suddenly became noisy. Those who hadn't heard clearly were frantically asking others what the major had said, while those who had heard clearly had even more questions.

"Could I put it on my tab, sir?" a soldier asked eagerly. "I want to go home first, bring my family over, and then claim the land. Is that alright?"

Another officer frowned and asked, "Sir, if we want to return to Jiangbei Province, does Captain Montagne have a boat?"

"Where will the land be allocated? Will Lord Montagne allocate it to us directly, or will we have to carve it out ourselves?"

"Are we only given land? What about farm tools and draft animals?"

Can the allocated land be sold?

Major Seber felt as if a thousand mosquitoes were buzzing in his ear canals, which irritated him to no end. He kicked the chair he was sitting on with a whip kick, shattering it, and roared furiously, "Shut the hell up!"

The shed fell silent instantly.

The major's expression turned fierce, like a wolf, and he shouted, "Why are you asking all this? I'm not Winters Montagne's man, how would I know?!"

Everyone present unconsciously avoided eye contact with the major.

After catching his breath, Major Seiber slapped his thigh and said helplessly, "Alright then! I'll go and fetch Richard Mason, and he can answer your questions."

The tense atmosphere in the shed eased, and everyone felt at ease.

"Oh, right." Major Seber suddenly remembered something and scratched his head: "Whether you stay or leave, your matter will have to wait for a while before it can be dealt with."

These words sent everyone's hearts leaping into their throats once again.
"Major," an officer asked tentatively, "how long is 'waiting a while'?"

"Wait until when? When the newly reclaimed lands are no longer at war, of course." Major Seber sneered, "Don't you know? Alpad's men have already occupied Mirror Lake County, and outside Mirror Lake County are the Grand Council's troops. Even if we issued you a pass now, would you dare to set off?"

After hearing the major's words, the crowd either seemed to be deep in thought or whispered among themselves.

A soldier mustered his courage and called out from behind the crowd, "Sir, are you going to stay or leave?"

“I’ll stay and help Montagne fight another battle,” Seber Carrington answered decisively. He paused for a moment, then looked up and said indifferently, “A major battle is imminent, and he’s short-handed. Although the kid says he doesn’t want anything, I don’t want to owe him a favor.”

……

[Thervordan]
[New Military Barracks]
"Sergeant!" The monkey ran excitedly into the barracks, his shouts echoing from afar: "Sergeant! Good news!"

Inside the barracks, veteran Lu Xirong was mending a tent. He looked up, his face grim, and scolded Monkey: "Keep your voice down! The barracks must be quiet. No disrespect allowed. Be careful, or the military police will hang you up and whip you!"

Upon hearing this, the monkey lightly slapped himself on the cheek. Standing beside Lu Xirong, he braced himself on his knees, finally managing to catch his breath, and asked mysteriously, "Have you heard?"

Lu Xirong was focused on mending the tear in the tent, completely ignoring the monkey.

"Hey! I'll tell you!" The monkey couldn't contain his excitement as he announced, "The commendation order has been issued! Lord Tamas has been officially promoted to battalion commander!"

"Oh." Lu Xirong didn't even look up.

"Why don't you understand?" The monkey pulled over a stool, sat down next to Lu Xirong, and leaned in with a sly grin: "This is a great thing!"

"What's so good about it?"

The monkey slapped his thigh and said with a grin, "Think about it! Now that Lord Tamas has been promoted to battalion commander, doesn't that mean the position of company commander is vacant?"

"Oh."

"Since Lord Tamas has been promoted, shouldn't Sergeant Bunir also be promoted?" the monkey leader analyzed matter-of-factly. "If Sergeant Bunir also gets promoted, then you would be..."

Old Lu Xirong bit off the thread, tied a knot, and then checked the stitches against the light. He then stuffed the tent tarpaulin into the monkey's arms. "It hasn't been used for a while. Take it out to air it and get rid of the musty smell."

Without a word, the monkey grabbed the cloth and ran outside. After quickly hanging the cloth up to dry, he rushed back.

When he returned to the barracks, Lu Xirong had already taken out the backpacks of his "tentmates".

The monkey squatted down next to Lu Xirong and complained, "Don't be busy! I have something important to tell you!"

Lu Xirong opened his backpack, emptied out its contents to inspect them, and showed no emotion on his weathered, deeply lined face: "This is the important thing."

“There’s no time to do this kind of thing.” The monkey sidled up to Lu Xirong, unable to hide its excitement: “I’m telling you—you’re going to be a sergeant again! A real sergeant! Hey? Why do you look unhappy?”

Lu Xirong ignored the monkey, instead taking the monkey's baggage and opening it. Then he froze, asking, "What's this?"

"What? What?" the monkey tried to play dumb. Lu Xirong reached into the monkey's backpack and pulled out a haphazardly crumpled fishing net, causing the backpack to deflate instantly.

The monkey swallowed hard and said with a grin, "A fishing net? Don't you recognize it?"

As he spoke, he took the fishing net and tried to unfold it. Unfortunately, because he had laid it out too carelessly, the knots in the net were tangled together and he couldn't untangle them no matter what he did.

Even though Old Lu Xirong had seen all sorts of people, he was still trembling with anger at the monkey: "Why did you bring a tattered fishing net instead of the things you actually need?!"

"Trust me! This thing works!" The monkey, clutching the fishing net, said with a mixture of grievance and pride, "I've finally realized that the fishing net is the most useful thing on the battlefield! No matter how strong or skilled you are, I'll seize the opportunity and swat you down—hey! You'll be helpless. It's only during the Battle of Blood and Mud that I didn't have a fishing net, otherwise that Qing Lingyu would definitely have been beheaded by me!"

"You know what war is like! You know what's useful! You know everything! You know the most!" Old Lu Xirong was so angry that he raised his hand and slapped the monkey on the head twice. He scolded him with disappointment, "I think you haven't dug enough latrines yet!"

"The tribunal punished me by making me dig the latrine because I beat a prisoner." The monkey nimbly dodged the old soldier's slap and ran towards the door, defending himself as he went: "But didn't the tribunal also reward me with that man's sword? That was all thanks to the fishing net! If I didn't have the fishing net, how could I have been credited for capturing that guy?"

"Still being stubborn!" Lu Xirong grabbed a fire poker and chased after him.

The two chased and fled, but Lu Xirong, being old, felt exhausted after only a few steps.

He stopped, panting heavily, and with his lower back pressed against the monkey, he snapped, "Alright! Stop running! Come here! I have something really important to tell you!"

The monkey, clutching the fishing net, looked on warily. He moved slowly toward the old soldier, like a snail wriggling, ready to run away at any moment.

"come over!"

"Please put the stick down first."

"Come here!" Lu Xirong angrily slammed his stick on the ground.

Realizing that the old soldier was truly unhappy, the monkey reluctantly returned to Lu Xirong's side.

The cunning Lu Xirong seized the monkey's weakness, grabbed the recruit's clothes, and swung a fire poker at him, beating the monkey mercilessly until it cried out in pain and begged for mercy.

After venting his anger, Old Lu Xirong, panting, threw down the fire poker and plopped down outside the barracks: "In the army, the most taboo thing is to talk back and be stubborn! You have to stand up straight when you're going to be beaten! Understand?"

The monkey rubbed its bottom and thighs, tears welling up in its eyes: "Where did I argue?"

“That’s just being stubborn!” Lu Xirong frowned and beckoned to the monkey: “Come sit down.”

"I think I'll stand. My butt hurts."

Old Lu Xirong sighed deeply, patted his aching knees, looked at the monkey, and said, "You kid... you've actually always been very lucky."

"Where's my luck?" the monkey said with a long face. "I fought two battles and didn't get a single kill! I finally captured a guy, and all I got was a sword. I was also punished by digging toilets for a month."

Old Lu Xirong shook his head with a wry smile: "You... your first time on the battlefield was in a bloody battle, and you were still able to walk off the battlefield alive and kicking. Doesn't that mean you were lucky?"

The monkey gave a dismissive "Oh," thinking of Sergeant Bunir and his childhood friend.

"Besides," Lu Xirong continued earnestly, "not every soldier can get away with offending a powerful figure. Who are they? Who are you? They just need to say a few words, and you'll have to sweat, bleed, and even risk your life!"

"But you're lucky. Lord Montagne is a rare, fair officer in the military. Punishment is punishment, and reward is reward; he never shows favoritism. You think making you dig latrines is punishment? That's favoritism! Believe me, if Lord Montagne wanted to punish you, even without him saying a word, many people would be eager to deal with you for him?"

The monkey sat down next to the old soldier and dejectedly let out an "Oh".

“So, little monkey,” old Luciano sighed again, “I’m afraid you’ll use up all your luck too soon. What will you do then?”

The monkey fell silent.

“I heard that His Excellency Montagne is going to reopen his school and is selecting loyal, reliable, and intelligent soldiers.” Old Roussillon revealed the real reason he wanted to tell the monkey—his solution for the monkey: “I have asked Sergeant Bunier, and he has agreed to add your name to the list. You are young and clever, and you still have a chance… don’t waste it.”

"I'm not going!" Upon hearing that he would be separated from the old sergeant, Monkey instinctively felt resistant. He hurriedly pleaded, "Sir, my parents died early, and apart from Dog and you, no one has ever been kind to me since I was little—from now on, I'll call you Dad! I've always gotten a headache just looking at words, Dad, please don't send me away! I'll do whatever you say from now on! Isn't it better to cut off our heads for military merit than to go to that damn school?"

Lu Xirong's eyes showed reluctance, but his tone did not soften. Instead, he reprimanded him more sternly and resolutely: "You brat, you don't understand anything! That's not an ordinary school; it's a school for training officers. Commander Tamas, Commander Xia Ling... those people you don't even dare to look up at now, all came from the same training class. Go in and observe carefully, learn well, and when you come out, you'll be an officer too! Isn't that better than being a private your whole life?"

"What's so great about being an officer!" the monkey exclaimed, wiping away its tears. "I don't care!"

Lu Xirong suddenly stood up, slapped the monkey hard across the face, and said sorrowfully, "Open your eyes and look! We just finished a war! And now we're going to fight another one! There will always be wars to fight! No matter how lucky you are, your luck will eventually run out! Do you want to end up like me, without children, without a home, without a job—with nothing! Destined to die on the battlefield?!"

The monkey grabbed Lu Xirong's clothes and started crying loudly.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the barracks, in the officers' office area.

"Make sure you explain this clearly to everyone. Say it repeatedly to make sure everyone understands." Tamas said without looking up as he scribbled his name on the supply list, "The Battle of Shovel Harbor is the last time heads will be awarded as a reward. From now on, indiscriminate killing of prisoners will be severely punished. But don't worry, the tribunal is drafting a new set of regulations for awarding merits and distributing spoils, which will be promulgated soon."

Peter Bunier nodded repeatedly.

Tamas frowned, squinted, and clumsily signed a few more documents. When he looked up, Peter Bunier was still there.

"Is there anything else?" Tamas asked.

“Battalion Commander,” Peter the Shorty lowered his head and asked hesitantly, “Can I really be a company commander? Can I really…can I manage hundreds of men? The thought of them dying if I do something wrong makes my legs go weak…”

Tamas thought for a moment, put away his pen and paper, and asked seriously, "Then do you think I'm qualified to be a battalion commander?"

“Yes!” Peter the Short answered without hesitation.

“But I never felt I was qualified.” Tamas remained silent for a long time before speaking in a hoarse voice, “I was just a stable boy, doing whatever I was told, going wherever I was told. I was taught to read by His Excellency the Tribunal, and I can’t even write my own name properly now! Am I qualified to command others? Am I qualified to shoulder the lives of four hundred and eighty soldiers? Bart Sharing is far more qualified than me to be the commander of the First Battalion. Why me? Why? I don’t understand either.”

Peter the Short didn't know how to answer.

“But sometimes…” Tamas struggled to find the words: “What happens to us doesn’t matter what we think. I didn’t want to lose, but we lost in the wasteland. I just wanted to save money to buy a piece of land and live a peaceful life, but now I’m sitting here… do you understand, Peter? What we think doesn’t matter—it should be said that it’s irrelevant! What matters is how we choose and what we do.”

Peter the Short nodded, looking bewildered.

“You’ve been on the battlefield, charging into the most dangerous places, repeatedly earning merit; the soldiers respect you. When you were in charge of a company alone, you fulfilled your assigned duties.” Tamas picked up his quill pen again:
"Whether you are brave or cowardly, capable or lucky, based on your resume, His Excellency the Tribunal believes that you can temporarily serve as the acting company commander of the First Company. Your performance will be used to determine whether you can be formally appointed in the future. So—congratulations, Company Commander Bunir."

Tamas lowered his head and continued checking the supply list: "Now, go back to your company."

"Yes."

Peter Bunier raised his hand in salute, then turned and left.

[82332/100000]
[Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it should be upper, middle, and lower...]
[Characters appearing in this chapter]
[Major Cypher Carrington: Formerly the Paratul Army's number one spitting gun, currently number two; a member of the Expeditionary Force, captured during the Battle of the Great Wilderness, and later ransomed by Winters; Paratulans traditionally use sabers to refer to the number of cavalrymen, and Cypher is the only one known as "That Saber" because of his near-mad bravery;]
[Veteran Lu Xirong: When Lu Xirong was drafted into the army by lottery, he was only eighteen years old. Now, he is a fifty-one-year-old man. He hates the army and he hates war, yet for him, the army is also a place like home, while war is the only thing he is familiar with.]
[Monkey: Another eighteen-year-old soldier, arrogant yet timid, clever yet reckless, slick yet loyal; he's good to whoever is good to him, and still an easy kid to understand.]
[Tamas: The head of Winters' twelve arhats... no, he should be called the head of his twelve personal guards; because the second company commander was too "capable," he had long been in a state of self-deprecation and self-doubt...]
[Peter Bunier: This man was unexpectedly short, and sometimes unexpectedly brave; very lucky.]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments. Thank you everyone!]
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(End of this chapter)