Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 258 School

  Winters always said he would do it, and he immediately wanted to go to Wolftown to pick up Karman and the potter brothers.

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

  Revodan is close to three hundred miles in a straight line from Wolf Town, which is a real trip. Winters has a lot of matters related to Wolf Town at hand, and if he can do it all at once, it will save him all the trouble.

   "Charle." Back at the garrison, Winters set about arranging the trip: "Go to Andre and ask him to prepare the horses he will send to Bud, and bring them with him tomorrow."

  Ciel nodded and said yes, and left quickly.

  Andre grabbed more than 1,000 mares and foals from Baishan County. In addition to the more than 300 horses in Tiefeng County, the garrison suddenly had a huge herd of nearly 1,500 horses.

  Andre and Mason are leading people to build stables, cut grass, and prepare the horses for the winter.

   Mason doesn't know for the moment that he's been "raised" to be the head of the racecourse—Winters is still looking for a good opportunity to talk to his senior.

  According to Bard's opinion, the horses in Iron Peak County will no longer be kept in a centralized manner for the time being.

   Only the best war horses are left, and the other inferior war horses and riding horses are distributed to various military villages and farms. Even mares without foals were selected to be carried along.

  The conditions were harsh, and no matter what kind of horses had to work in the fields.

  Andre was very unhappy, but since Winters nodded, he had no problem.

  Mason breathed a sigh of relief. If all 1,500 horses stayed in Gervoudan for the winter, they would starve and freeze to death a large number of them—it was impossible to support them.

   Diversification, while risky, can also greatly reduce the need for fodder and stables.

   "The iron items to be sent to Lieutenant Bud are also delivered this time." Winters called his taciturn standard-bearer: "Go to the warehouse to order and load the truck, Heinrich."

  Heinrich nodded, silently waiting for the next order.

   "Go to jail." Winters seemed to smile: "Take that Big Bentine guy with you tomorrow."

  Heinrich nodded again.

   "That's all, let's go."

  Heinrich raised his hand to salute and left silently.

  Ciel is lively and agile, Heinrich is calm, these two "children" Winters sincerely like and trust. From the beginning, the two were his military police, and later served as his guards, orderlies, messengers...

   Winters wanted to let the two children out to take on greater responsibilities. But he was reluctant to let Charles and Heinrich take care of the big and small matters of his life, which effectively improved his work efficiency and quality of life.

  How can a dignified man be a bodyguard for a lifetime? —This is Winters' pure cognition.

   He decided to respect the ideas of the two children, asking their opinions before deciding where to go.

  Thinking of this, Winters couldn't help sighing. He played with the knife unconsciously, regretting that there were too few people around him who could be alone.

  What is meant by "person in charge"?

   is the person who [the military decision will issue an order to "build a stable", take the order to leave, and come back when the stable has been completed, and the whole process does not need to be asked any more].

  In addition to Winters himself, only a few people such as Bud and Mason have the ability to independently plan, execute and make independent decisions.

   Even Andrei, who was bad at math, was pulled out to be used as a comptroller—it’s really a lack of people.

   Even Winters' personal bills and the garrison's account books are still managed by Anna.

  The human resources of the new garrison are not comparable to the old garrison. Major Ronald has more than 20 officers, and Winters counts only six of them. Among them, a mysterious and handsome man has always been in charge, and another mysterious and handsome man is too lazy to care.

   Gervodin was not without financial masters, and old Priskin could obviously keep his accounts in order, but Winters did not trust the old tobacconist.

   A person with ability cannot be trusted; a person trusted by Winters has no such ability.

   In the end, only "Madame Montagne" is in charge.

   "The accounting school thing must be done as soon as possible." Winters subconsciously used a knife to draw white marks on the table: "You have to train and train people you can trust into talented people."

   It was Anna's suggestion to set up an [accelerated accounting school], which Winters gladly took note, but now it's more urgent than he thought.

   "Who's going to start the accounting school?" Winters' head started to hurt again.

  Thinking about it, he can only come by himself.

   "Site, funding, students, teachers..." Winters wrote down the things he needed to run a school item by item on a piece of paper.

   Suddenly, he took a deep breath and slammed the table: "It's all these things anyway, why don't I expand the military training class by the way?"

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

   It was getting dark, and the other warriors had dinner and were going to bed. The sergeants and ten commanders selected by Winters gathered to listen to Winters' lectures.

   That was a bittersweet past, and Winters could be mad to death every day. All the people who came to the class were blind, and the most basic words were taught on the spot.

   The bigger problem is that the attitude is not serious, and it is completely taken seriously. There are also a lot of chess pieces that Winters used to demonstrate tactics.

   After only one evening class, Winters completely abandoned the gentle teaching method and raised the banner of stick education without hesitation.

  Can't memorize the alphabet?

  Beat!

   Can’t tell the difference between east, west, north and south?

  Beat!

  Can't recognize the map sign?

  Beat!

The   vine whip didn't even know how many vines were interrupted, and the soldiers who came to class secretly called Ciel "one more".

  Because every time Winters interrupted a cane whip, Ciel would immediately hand over a new one.

  Tamas, Bart Shaling, Samukin... They are all "centurions" who were beaten out by Winters with a cane whip.

  Since you can set up an accelerated accounting school, it does not seem difficult to set up another accelerated military school.

   Winters became happier the more he thought about it.

"Infantry! I'll be head of the division," Winters wrote on the paper, thinking to himself: "Cavalry, too! Andre - let's Bud. Artillery, Senior Mason Although there is not a single cannon now..."

  Step, Ride and Cannon, the classic three disciplines of Ned Smith's military system.

  Winters stared blankly at the three words on the paper, and a bold thought popped out in his mind: "Maybe... I can surpass the shackles of the old marshal".

   The thought made him remorse—how dare you compare yourself to the old marshal?

   But the idea also made him shudder with excitement.

   Winters realized that he was starting anew, he was facing a blank sheet of paper. So he can do whatever he wants!

   He vigorously crossed out the words infantry, artillery and cavalry. Take a new piece of white paper and write in the most solemn font first:

   Infantry, cavalry, artillery.

  Three categories are the foundation.

   He bit the pen, recalling one after another in the Battle of the Archipelago and the attack on Bian Li in the Battle of the Great Wasteland, and wrote the fourth word on the paper—sappers.

   In the Ned Smith military system, the sappers and the artillery are not separated, and the artillery section is responsible for everything except the infantry and cavalry.

   This was no problem, because the artillery was small in those days; for many princes, it was too expensive to keep one. Therefore, they do not have artillery under their command, and they hire artillery from outside when fighting.

   Turning artillery into a permanent branch of the army, alongside the cavalry, is already a leap for Ned Smith.

   And Winters Montagne intends to go even further - he wants to separate the sappers from the artillery and make it a separate discipline.

   Every siege he has experienced reminds him that the role of sappers in warfare has become increasingly important.

   Like in ancient times, the opportunity for two armies to form a battle in the open field is now pitifully rare. Siege warfare is the main theme! The sappers are eligible to take one course exclusively.

After    wrote about sappers, Winters mused and wrote down a fifth word - baggage.

  The current military system of the republics is that whoever the "corporation commander" assigns to manage the baggage, whoever is in charge of the baggage. Mainly from the artillery department, because there are few artillery pieces and many artillery troops, you don't care who cares?

   Some unfortunate cavalry and infantry officers are also sent to transport baggage, such as the former Jieska brigade.

  Since the sappers were taken out, the logistics should also be taken out and trained separately.

   In this case, artillery is simply artillery. Artillery officers no longer have to worry about all kinds of chores, they just need to play with the artillery at ease.

   Winters pondered for another moment, then carefully folded the white paper and tucked it into his small notebook. It was a big deal, and he had to consult with Bud, Andre, and Mason.

   Accelerated accounting schools are totally trivial by comparison.

   "Ask Anna to be in charge of planning the accounting school." Winters thought to himself, "I'll just do it."

  …

   The next morning, a convoy drove out of Revordan.

  Winters set off for Wolf Town with more than 400 horses, seven carts, axes, shovels, and ploughs, as well as a death row prisoner.

   There is no ceremony to speak of, just a few people such as Mason, Anna, Saosha and Carlos to see off.

   "Peace." Anna carefully smoothed Winters' neckline and placket: "Good wind."

   "What's this?" Winters laughed heartily: "In the past, I rode a horse alone and could go back and forth in two days. Now it's troublesome and uncomfortable at all."

   Being able to get out of the city to get some air, Winters is simply elated. The little lion will follow whatever he says... He is too bored.

  Anna snorted softly and calmly pinched the soft flesh on Winters' waist with her fingernails, causing the latter to take a deep breath.

   "Come back early." Anna's smile was as pure and flawless as that of a saint.

   Winters nodded desperately.

   The movements of the two of them were very subtle, and the others did not know what was going on. But the short-lived scene was discovered by the blacksmith Shaosha, who had been secretly paying attention.

   In his opinion, it was the female wolf that moved her finger lightly, and the blood wolf trembled and begged for mercy on the spot.

  This made the blacksmith Saosha feel more sympathetic to Lord Tribune and admire Madame Montagne even more.

   Winters came to Saosha and Carlos, and he felt an inexplicable pity in the eyes of the middle-aged blacksmith.

   "You two work harder." Winters said with a smile: "When I come back, I hope to see enough ore and charcoal for at least one trial."

   "Don't worry!" Shaosha and Carlos nodded heavily.

  …

  Yesterday afternoon, Winters, who couldn't hold back, took the map and went straight to Iron Peak. Along the road paved with slag, he found the abandoned mine with ease.

   As the old blacksmith Boltain said, the whole Iron Peak Mountain is an "Iron Mountain". Standing on the mountain, I took a shovel and inserted it into the ground. Before the head of the shovel was submerged in the soil, the tip of the shovel had already touched the hard stone bed.

   Therefore, Tiefeng Mountain is bare and not a single tree grows. The bottom of the mountain is better, because the weathered rock debris is blown to the bottom of the mountain, forming the soil. The higher you go, the more desolate Tiefeng becomes. Only a few weeds survive in this harsh environment.

  Iron Peak Mountain has changed hands several times in history. Neither the Hurd nor the Paratus would let go of such a natural iron mine.

   So the surface outcrop on Iron Peak was drained long ago.

  Seventy years ago, the [Suta] of the Hurds occupied this place again. The Suta Department dug shafts along the veins and gradually exploited the shallow deposits. There are still remnants of their old smelting furnace on Iron Peak.

   Thirty years later, the land was recaptured by the Paratus.

  Suta, who was expelled from this land, sang sadly: "If I lose my Tiefeng Mountain, my sword will not be sharp; if I lose my Jiuqu River, my six animals will have no interest."

  The Suta tribe lost Tiefeng Mountain and was forced to move westward, and was finally crushed in the brutal tribal melee in the wasteland, and was eventually annexed by the Teltown tribe. The once prosperous Suta Department was swept into the garbage heap of history, which is embarrassing.

  The past of the Hurds need not be mentioned again, the pages of time have been turned.

   Thirty years ago, the blacksmith Bortain moved here, and he came to rely on the mountains to eat the mountains. He mined ores to smelt iron, forged farm tools, and sold them to newcomers.

  The newly relocated farmers are in high demand for agricultural tools, and iron is in short supply. Blacksmith Boltain seized the moment and made his first pot of gold.

   Once you have money, you begin to pursue it. In order to obtain higher-quality ore, the blacksmith Boltain led people to dig an inclined shaft two hundred steps into the mountain, and then extended the working face to both sides.

   The veins here are sandwiched between the quartz layers, making it more difficult to mine.

   But compared to the Hurd people's shafts, baskets, and mining methods with slaves as the main labor force, the mining efficiency of the old blacksmith Boltan was greatly improved.

  Forge Township became prosperous, and Tiefeng County was even exporting ironware to Lin County.

After   , the wind changed again - after several years of consultation and debate, the Senas Alliance was officially proclaimed.

  The republics lowered their tariffs with each other and began to trade more widely. Prosperity in commerce is good for the republics, but bad for the forge and the blacksmith Bortain.

  The cheap ironware and bar-shaped iron materials produced by the steel castle were transported into Palatu by water, and the Palatu blacksmiths who were still in the handicraft workshop were defeated and quickly occupied the ironware market in Palatu.

  Old blacksmith Boltain is one of the "rout."

   And then it was what Winters saw - almost no one in the Platoon blacksmiths smelted iron, and they all bought ready-made steel fort bars; no one was forging swords, and they all bought ready-made sword bars.

   This may be a good thing for the league as a whole, but it is a bad thing for Winters today, a big bad thing.

  He wants to change this phenomenon.

  …

   Winters has sent people to find out the conditions of the mine, and at the same time he ordered Saosha and Carlos to mine ore on a small scale and prepare to test the blast furnace.

   It is impossible to restore the abandoned Iron Peak Mine at one time, but it is not difficult to dig out hundreds of kilograms of ore for trial production.

  Because of the "mining" itself, there has been no leap forward for thousands of years.

   Thousands of years ago, slaves and today's miners all carried chisels and hammers down the well, and chiseled with a pair of arms. It is nothing more than a copper chisel becomes an iron chisel, and an iron chisel becomes a steel chisel.

   According to the old blacksmith Boltain, there is also a "cracking method" that uses fire first and then water. But in poorly ventilated mines, this dry method often kills people, so few mine owners use it.

   Winters finally came to Mason: "Senior, Gervodin will leave it to you."

Juan is addicted to hunting, Andre is addicted to walking horses, Lieutenant Colonel Moritz is addicted to alcohol, Bud is away, Winters is gone, the only reliable decision-maker in Gervodan is “Richard Mason Military Civil Protection” official".

   "Don't worry." Mason smiled bitterly: "Nothing will happen."

   Actually, Senior Mason has also been addicted to his new cannon car and cannon casting project recently. However, the senior has a strong sense of responsibility and is very good at talking. He doesn't just let go like the other three, and just let it go.

  Winters raised his hand to salute the senior silently-there are six people in the military resolution meeting, three people don't work, and only they know the pain of the remaining three people.

   Mason raised his hand solemnly in return—but he was still thinking about his new gun wagon.

   "If the axles are strong enough." Mason's thoughts have drifted far away: "Maybe it can be done without a shock-absorbing structure?"

   After a simple farewell, Winters mounted his horse in stirrups, and finally nodded to several people.

  Anna walked to the Winters Horse with a glass of wine and brought the stirrup wine before her departure.

   drank it all, and Winters set off.

   [It is difficult for the innovator himself to realize that he is "innovating" because to him he is merely improving what is already there. For example, Watt and the improved version of the steam engine, the prototype of the steam engine existed before Watt, and he did not have the idea of ​​"I can change the world when I build this thing". What drives Watt is a need for money and fame, and what drives society as a whole is the need for prime movers at that time]

   [There is a need for improvement, and many modern things seem to be "one-stop" things, and their history is much longer than people think. The book The Old Regime and the Revolution is a good argument]

   [Innovation is not only an inspirational eureka, but also a process of development with context, regularity and step by step]

[In the late Roman Republic, the Gallic province records have a centurion called "one more", because every time he broke a vine cane, he would take a new one and hit it ...but for context, the legionnaires have a lot of respect for this one more centurion]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment]

   (end of this chapter)