Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 280 Part-time job

   Ganquan - cousin of the Fireboiler, Turukota of the Teltown Division - it is not known that the Tartai Division has been wiped out.

  Gan Quan didn't even know that most of the nearly 1,000 horses in the Tartai Department were abducted by cunning two-legged people with estrus horses, Qingshui and wheat seedlings.

  Compared to the Taertai Department, which was attacked head-on, the Ganquan Department's intrusion into Lower Tiefeng County was almost effortless, because the upper reaches of the Dajiao River were completely undefended.

   But Ganquan also has Ganquan's troubles - he can't find anyone.

   Following the stream that joins the Dajiao River upstream, Ganquan soon found the first village. Continuing down the road, they found the first town.

   But there is a dead air everywhere, all the houses are abandoned, all the property is taken away, no dog barking can be heard, no people can be seen, and the empty villages and towns are terrifyingly quiet.

   The red feathers of the Ganquan Department are all young men in their early twenties. They have never seen such a battle before, and they are at a loss.

   "Bald tail, you serve my grandfather." Gan Quan called the old slave: "Tell me, what should I do?"

  [Note: Ganquan's grandfather is the father of the fire roaster]

   "The Platoons can't migrate like the tribes." The old slave [bald tail] held the rosary and drooped his eyelids: "They just hid."

   "Where are you hiding?!" The triangular eyes of the young Hong Lingyu [Qing Ma] flashed fiercely.

  The old slave Bald Tail did not answer directly, but looked at the boots of the leader Gan Quan: "You can find moist, loose, darker soil inside and outside the village."

"why?"

   "It is impossible for farmers to take away all the food and property and bury them nearby."

   The leader ordered, and the group searched everywhere, and soon found some clues in the courtyard, under the cowshed, and among the fields.

  Without shovels, the people of Teltown dug out these poorly hidden cellars with hand planers and planks.

  The dark cellar is mostly food, but also farm implements, iron utensils, bottles and cans, cloth... Any items that farmers can't take away in time are buried in it.

  The members of the Ganquan Ministry were beaming and ecstatic.

   A group of Teltown people first kneaded and baked naan, and had a delicious meal. Then gear up, ready to work hard, with a posture of digging three feet into the ground.

  Everyone is beaming, but Gan Quan is increasingly dissatisfied.

   Seeing his followers quarrel and even fight over a roll of cloth, a porcelain plate, and a kitchen knife, Gan Quan's anger grew stronger and stronger.

   To the poor Teltons, a white nail, a straw mat, and even something that the Platoons are too lazy to bury are good.

   But Ganquan wants more than that.

"Huh, ah... Look at what this is?" Shi Jian shouted and ran to Gan Quan, holding something in both hands: "I've never seen this treasure! It's like a stone, but it's like water. !transparent!"

  The object held by the stone arrow is one foot square, crystal clear, and the surface is smooth and delicate like porcelain. It looks like a crystal, but it doesn't look like it.

   "What is this?" Tsing Ma approached in surprise and carefully reached out to touch: "Where did it come from."

   "There is a big tent on the south side. I took it down from the wall of the house."

   "This is glass." The old slave bald tail lowered his eyelids, his eyes were as dull as dry wells: "The two-legged people call it [common language] glass."

  The old slave Bald Tail's common language pronunciation is a bit awkward, probably because it hasn't been said for many years.

   "Liu Li?" Shi Jian exclaimed, "Shouldn't Liu Li be colored?"

   "I've never seen such a transparent and flat glass." The old slave said hoarsely with a bald tail: "It should be a very precious thing, and it can be dedicated to the sweat of the fire roaster."

   "Very precious?!" Shi Jian smiled wide-eyed: "There's a whole wall in that big tent! I'll tear it down right away."

   "Okay!" Tsing Ma said happily, "I'll go too."

  Gan Quan's face was ashen, he grabbed the glass plate from the stone archer and smashed it **** the ground.

  The glass plate hit the stone and shattered to pieces.

  Shi Jian's expression changed from shock to sadness. He knelt on the ground, picked up a piece of glass, and asked Gan Quan, "What are you doing?"

   "This is what a two-legged man built a wall!" Gan Quan pushed the stone arrow away, his scarred face was particularly ferocious, and he shouted: "You are still holding it as a baby!"

  Shi Jian and Qing Ma were shocked by Gan Quan's actions and froze in place.

   Tsing Ma's triangular eyes drooped, comforting with good words: "You and I have plundered so much food and property, it's easier than riding a horse, isn't that great?"

"Where is it?" Gan Quan glared at Qing Ma fiercely: "What the two-legged people left behind are things they don't take away! They took the fattest meat away and left a pile of rotten bones, but you waited for it. Suck it like a treasure!"

   "Why do you say that?" Shi Jian asked back, "Aren't food and black money very good?"

  [Note: Iron can be used as currency in the wasteland, so the Hurds call it black money]

"Then don't you want slaves? Do you want women? Do you want gold and silver?" Gan Quan was furious: "Do you want to be satisfied with this little thing now? Dedicate the stolen goods to that Yan, after dedicating it to the fire roaster, how much do you and I have left?"

   Qing Ma and Shi Jian gradually understood what Gan Quan meant, and the two stopped speaking.

  The old slave's bald-tailed expression was unhappy. He pressed his chest and saluted, and asked Gan Quan, "Kota, is the plunder now not enough?"

   "Not enough!" Gan Quan shouted: "Not enough!"

   "What does Kota want?"

   "Slaves! Gold and silver! More treasures!"

   "After getting these?" The old slave Bald Tai raised his head and looked into Gan Quan's eyes.

  Gan Quan was stared at and scolded: "You old slave! What's the purpose?"

"Then burn down the village." The old slave bald-tailed bowed his head: "divide the crowd into two parts, hide the small part, and pretend to leave after setting the fire. Wait for the two-legged people to come back to put out the fire, and then follow them. Just like hunting, follow the trail to find the prey's hiding place."

   Qing Ma and Shi Jian heard the words, their eyes lit up.

   After thinking for a while, Gan Quan decided to follow the old slave's bald-tailed approach.

  More than 100 members were divided into two wings.

   The seventy-odd cavalry on the left wing, led by Qing Ma and Shi Jian, took most of the horses and trophies, set fire to it, and left with great force.

The 30-odd cavalry on the right wing, led by Gan Quan himself, hid in the mountains near the village, leaving only a few secret whistles on the hillside, blowing horns as horns.

  The materials of the villages of the Palatu people are mainly grass and trees, and the fire burns quickly together. Before long, the entire village was engulfed in flames.

  The black smoke shot straight into the sky and could be seen from a dozen kilometers away.

   Ganquan waited patiently like a trapped hunter.

waiting…

  Wait...

  I waited until the farmhouse was burnt to the ground, the fire turned small and finally extinguished by itself, and the horn of the dark whistle was not heard.

   Gan Quan could barely hold back, but Qing Ma and Shi Jian couldn't take it any longer. They sent riders to ask about the situation, but Gan Quan scolded him severely.

   vented his anger at the messenger, Gan Quan found the old slave Bald Tail: "What do you think of your idea, what do you do?"

  The old slave Bald Tail shook his head: "The will of the leader of the two-legged people in this village is very tough."

   "Tough will?" Gan Quan gritted his teeth and said viciously, "Then burn the woods! I don't believe I can't force him out!"

  The old slave Bald Tail moved the rosary: ​​"It is also a way to set fire to the forest."

   On the contrary, Gan Quan was a little hesitant: "Are you sure this method can force the two-legged person out?"

   "Not sure, this is Kota's way."

   "Then what do you say?"

  The old slave Bald Tai struggled to open his dim eyes and asked, "Kota wants a living slave or a dead slave?"

   Gan Quan's eyes widened: "What do you mean?"

   "Fire is the power of the gods, and mortals can't control it. If you set fire to the forest, maybe you will be burned to death before the two-legged people run out."

   "What then?"

  The old slave Bald Tail said calmly: "There are other villages here. This village can endure it, but the next one may not. Kota can burn village by village."

  Gan Quan thought about it, but still couldn't make up his mind.

"If you set fire to the forest, if you burn it, it will burn." The old slave Bald Tail looked at Gan Quan's boot toe: "But has Kota ever thought that the young and chicks of birds and beasts will also be burned to death? No matter what the reason is, If the fire is raging, the soul will have to wander in the wasteland for a hundred years before being accepted by all spirits again."

   Gan Quan was very unwilling: "Then I came to this village once, and I didn't capture anything?"

   "Didn't Kota get a lot of stuff?"

   "What kind of capture are junk items?" Gan Quan was furious.

The old slave Bald Tail lowered his head: "Then please keep waiting here. If it's freezing cold today, the two-legged people are not as tough as the children of the tribe. Sooner or later, they have to make a fire to keep warm and cook food. Wherever the smoke rises, look for it."

   "What if it still doesn't work?"

   "Then go to burn the next village." The old slave Bald Tail's tone was flat: "Kota is a hunter. As long as the hunter is patient, there will always be a chance."

   So Ganquan continued to wait, from noon to dusk.

  The members of the Ganquan tribe, who were initially in high spirits because of the looting, gradually became yawning. Gan Quan himself was equally tired.

   Just as Gan Quan arranged for the rest of his subordinates to take turns to rest, the dark post on the hill rolled over and ran over: "Kota! Smoke! There is smoke!"

  Gan Quan suddenly refreshed his spirit and rushed up the hillside.

   In the twilight of the setting sun—though not obvious, plumes of purple smoke can be seen rising from the treetops in the distance.

   Ganquan observed for a while and determined that it was the smoke from the fire and not the mist of the night.

  Leaving a few people to record and indicate the direction, the right wing of the Ganquan Department galloped out of the mountain col and galloped away in the direction of the smoke.

   Just stepped on the scorched earth of the village, and there was a sound of horns in the vicinity.

  A dark whistle galloped: "Kota, someone is sneaking up to get close to the village!"

"where?"

   "There!" The whistle pointed to the border between farmland and forest.

   Gan Quan laughed viciously at the old slave's bald tail: "Two-legged people are strong-willed? They can't help coming out!"

  The old slave bald tail pressed his chest and bowed his head deeply.

   Ganquan looked at the lower position, the smoke was in the northwest, and the figure was in the southwest; the smoke was far away, and the figure was close.

   "Go to the near one first." The old slave Bald Tail suggested: "The far one is not in a hurry."

   "Okay, let's go nearby. Kill the man! The woman stays!" Gan Quan smirked and turned around the horse: "I will reward each of you a female slave!"

   More than 30 riders turned around and ran towards the southwest. Horses' hooves trampled the wheat fields, and some newly sprouted wheat seedlings were uprooted.

   At the junction of the forest and the farmland, a woman carrying a bucket in each hand is walking along the field ridge to the village.

   The sound of horses' hooves sounded, and Heard rode roaringly. The woman was so frightened that she threw away the wooden barrel, turned and fled towards the forest.

   The Hurds chased after them in a hurry, and the woman couldn't care less. She held on to her hijab and ran as fast as she could. The long skirt was rolled up by the wind, revealing two bare white legs.

  The members of the Ganquan tribe on horseback couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

   "Don't kill her! Don't let the arrows go!" Gan Quan shouted with a grin: "Play with her! Let her take you and me to the old camp!"

  Like a wild cat playing with a mouse, the members of the Kanizumi team slowed down their horses while making strange noises to intimidate the woman.

  The vegetation on the edge of the woodland was sparse, and the woman could not hide her figure at all. She fled deeper into the forest for her life, her clothes were shattered, and more skin was exposed.

   A group of Teltown people became more excited and shouted louder.

  The woman's physical strength gradually exhausted and she ran slower and slower.

  Gan Quan laughed wildly and pulled out a snoring dynamite, stepped on the stirrup, stood up, opened the bow and released the arrow.

   The roaring cockroach flew towards the woman's back with a screeching sound, and the shooting accuracy was limited. The arrow only landed behind the woman, but it scared the poor woman to the ground.

  The woman got up and continued to run for her life, running even faster than before.

   All the people of Teltown laughed wildly, but the old slave Bald Tail kept silent and slowed down his horse.

   Most of these Teltown people were also slaves, and they were bullied and oppressed on weekdays. But all their resentment seemed to be unleashed in the process of inflicting violence on more vulnerable beings.

   "Disperse!" Gan Quan shouted loudly: "Don't let her run away, wrap her from the wings!"

   The Ganquan tribes at the back accelerated to the left and right, and more than 30 Telton people slowly spread out into a fan shape.

In front of   , the woman whose clothes had rotted into strips was unstable on her feet and fell again, falling into a dead leaf.

   Gan Quan was so irritated that he urged his horse to chase after him.

   "Anyway, the old bald tail will talk about two-legged people." Gan Quan thought to himself: "First arrest her, then try..."

  When Gan Quan's spirit was extremely excited, he suddenly felt that the world was spinning, and he flew up like clouds and mists.

  The rest of Terdun saw the leader's warhorse's knees bent at an unnatural angle, the warhorse fell down with a neigh, and their leader was forcibly thrown off the saddle, rolling in mid-air and flying forward.

   Immediately after, they saw a figure jumping out of the dead leaves. The man was carrying a big stick and brutally smashed their leader in the head.

  The skull is broken first, and the stick is broken later.

  The direct descendant of the Teltown tribe, the cousin of the fire roaster, and the ambitious Heller Ash "Ganquan" died just like that.

  As if hearing an order, dozens of figures appeared like ghosts, as if they had jumped out of the ground—in fact, they had actually jumped out of the ground.

  The ghosts are holding a pointed wooden stick in their hands, and they will stab and smash when they see the rider. In an instant, several people have fallen.

   "There is an ambush!" Terdun people shouted in horror: "Run!"

  Terdun people stabbed the horse and whipped the whip fiercely, driving the horses to speed up the breakout.

   ran ten meters and rushed to the front of the two Telltons to repeat the mistakes of Ganquan - there were other stumbling blocks in the woodland, and God knows where the woman led them!

   "Can't get away! Kill!" A Teltown man pulled out his machete and slashed frantically.

   Another Teltown man took off his horn and wanted to ask for help.

   "Hey."

   Accompanied by a sharp piercing sound, the Terdun man who wanted to blow his horn screamed, his left hand and left face were nailed with a javelin.

   Under the severe pain, the horn was also released.

   The one who threw the javelin was a dignified middle-aged man, who calmly pulled out another javelin: "[Common language] Be careful the barbarians are dead and the net is broken! Set their horses!"

   The sound of heavy footsteps was getting closer, and a young man with a pale complexion came out of the bushes with a group of men holding various farm implements.

  The young man saluted in front of the middle-aged man: "Major! Here we are."

   "I don't need you here." The middle-aged man pointed in the direction from which the Teltown people came: "Around the battlefield from the east, if there are brute soldiers chasing after them, stop them."

   "Yes!" The young man raised his hand and saluted.

   "Mr. Eper." The middle-aged man returned his salute solemnly, but after all he was still uneasy: "Be careful."

  Eper nodded, raised his hammer as a flag, and disappeared into the woods with the militia.

  …

   At the same time, to the northwest of the village, deeper in the forest, Lieutenant Asko was galloping wildly.

  He rushed along the river valley into a hidden camp.

   "Who made the fire!" Asklema shouted: "Who made the fire?"

   Seeing that the visitor was not a barbarian, the people in the camp gradually gathered.

  This hidden camp is almost the size of a small town, but there are only women, old people, and children in it, and not a single young man.

   "Sir." An old woman walked over tremblingly: "It's me."

Facing an old woman, Asko got angry and shouted: "Major Ronald strictly ordered that no one is allowed to start a fire without permission! Listen to your left ear, but your right ear leaked out? Put out the fire! Immediately !"

  The crowd fell silent.

A peasant woman in her 40s complained bitterly: "I also made a fire. It's too cold! The children are cold and sick. Without a fire, they can't even eat hot food. Can't stand it!"

   One person took the lead, and the others followed suit.

  Women and children were placed here alone. A dozen of them were crowded into a tent, and they were not allowed to light a fire, leave, or even speak loudly. Everyone was full of complaints.

"Idiot!" Asko scolded angrily: "You build a fire here, there is smoke! You can see it from five kilometers away! This camp is exposed! If we hadn't lured the barbarians away, the barbarians would have been killed! Your husbands and sons are working hard because you are making fires!"

   Asko heard someone scream, and he was surrounded by wives.

  Women and children were inquiring about the news:

   "Is my son safe?"

   "Where's my dad?"

   "How about the men?"

   "Why is the village smoking?"

  Ask was dazed by the quarrel, he shouted: "Stop arguing!"

   No one paid any attention to him.

  Asko was heartbroken, stabbed the horse's ribs lightly, squeezed out the crowd, and left in a hurry after saying "pack your bags and change the camp as ordered".

  …

   On the other side of the forest, the battle did not drag on for long.

  The bows and arrows, fast horses and machetes that Telton people rely on to fight are ineffective in the forest, and the melee depends on numbers and tenacity.

  The 30-odd light cavalry who rushed forward were quickly wiped out, and the 70-odd cavalry who followed were repelled by the militia.

   "The horses that can still walk will be taken away! The living Hurds will also be taken away! The corpses will be left behind." Major Ronald, leaning on a javelin, commanded the wolf town militia to clean the battlefield.

   "What about the horse corpse?" Someone asked.

   "Take all the meat you can, and throw the rest here." Major Ronald urged: "Hurry up! We have to go quickly!"

  Lieutenant Adam, whose clothes were torn into strips, untied his scarf and rolled his skirt up to his waist, exposing his thighs.

   He carried an axe and scolded the horse as he unloaded the flesh from the corpse: "Bastard! The barbarian won't come, let's weave a basket! When the barbarian comes, we have to fight him! Just count him and call people!"

   Every time Adam said a word, he chopped an axe, and his anger was vented on the horse's corpse.

   The Terdun people who were so excited and shuddered just now would feel very complicated if they saw that the "bare-footed woman" turned out to be such a foul-mouthed Palatine man.

   Luckily they didn't have to look because they were almost all dead.

  Eper walked past Adam and taught in a low voice: "Stop talking nonsense."

  Three former officers stationed in the camp led more than 200 wolf town militiamen to quickly clean up the battlefield.

   Dozens of Terdun people lay naked on the ground, and their robes, boots, machetes, bows and arrows were all reused.

   "Are the ears cut off?" Eper asked Ronald.

   Ronald chuckled and shook his head: "No one credits us."

   "Cut it! Why not?" Adam said angrily: "Isn't it fair that one ear is worth a hundred hours of work?"

  Epper ignored Adam and continued to ask: "Where are the wounded sent?"

   "Sent to the women's and children's camp."

   Hearing the word [women and children camp], some militiamen tentatively asked: "Sir, when will we be able to reunite with our wives and children?"

   The other militiamen also pricked up their ears.

"Barbarian Hurd hasn't left Tiefeng County for a day." Ronald explained to everyone with kindness: "We can't work together for a day. Don't worry, as long as the men's camp is not destroyed, the women's and children's camps are safe, your wives, children, parents It's also safe."

The    militiamen looked a little disappointed.

Adam leaning on the axe could not see, and scolded sharply: "Let you reunite with your wives and children, and you mother can still have the heart to fight? Don't you all coax your children and sleep with your wives? You are comfortable, and when the barbarians come, all of them Wash your neck and wait to die?

   This is war! Something to die for! The **** thought it was an outing? If the barbarians don't leave, who would dare to enter the women's and children's camp privately and hang you in front of your wife and children! If you don't believe me, try it! "

  The Wolf Town militiamen stopped talking.

   "Sir!" Someone shouted in the distance: "There's a living mouth here! You can speak our words!"

   Major Ronald was refreshed and walked over quickly.

   An old Hurd man was sitting under a tree, holding a string of rosary beads and closing his eyes. The old Hurd's face is full of ravines, and it seems that he is very old.

   The battle just now didn't affect him, because he didn't even enter the encirclement and dismounted from a distance.

Major    Ronald looked up and down the old Hurd: "Do you speak Common?"

   "Are you called Common Tongue?" The old Hurd slowly opened his eyes and said bluntly, "I was still called Imperial Language when I was young."

   "Huh, you really know how to speak." Lieutenant Adam tutted in amazement: "Where did you learn it?"

   "No need to learn, I will speak naturally."

"what is it call?"

   "The Hurd call me a 'horse without a tail', which is a bald tail. The Palatine calls me..." The old Hurd smiled half-smiling: "Father Saul."

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   (end of this chapter)