Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 287 Fighter

   One stone stirred up a thousand waves, shaking the three counties and nineteen states.

  The courier went to Gervodin, Shovel Port, Vigne and White Mountains to deliver the latest military information.

   Inside Tiefeng County, the cavalry of orders frequently traveled between towns, and the number of patrol troops on the road also increased sharply.

  The blockade of the war has made the people increasingly eager for outside news. Therefore, from the day that Niuho Valley was under military control, the temporary military command posted a bulletin in the town square every morning, reporting the enemy situation, battle situation, capture and death list.

  In the extremely depressing atmosphere, the men relied on listening to the battle to relieve their boredom, while the women anxiously reviewed the death list.

The    announcement originally had no title, and the people called it a "war newsletter".

  Since the birth of the War Communication, there has always been a crowd in the town square, and every now and then a plea to “recite it again” has been heard.

   Everyone “reads” the war newsletters eagerly, waiting for tomorrow’s after reading today’s.

  Today's war bulletin was posted later than usual, much to the dissatisfaction of the people who had been waiting by the bulletin board early.

As soon as the    announcement was posted, the crowd gathered.

   Although it came late, it was also longer. It used to be one and a half sheets of paper, but today it is three full sheets of paper.

  [The whereabouts of the enemy chieftain’s army is unknown]—The first item caused everyone’s panic.

   Like solid cannonballs plowed into columns, the crowd explodes like boiling kettles. The people in front were yelling and screaming, and the people behind were desperately trying to find out what was going on.

  After careful consideration, Winters decided to inform the people of the real enemy situation.

  Because bad news is like baldness, no matter how thick the wig is, there will be a day when it will be exposed. Instead of sitting helplessly and watching the rumors spread, it is better to tell the military and civilians in an upright manner.

   "Stop arguing!" An old man with white beard and stick before the announcement shouted, "I haven't finished reading the announcement yet! If you don't want to listen, I'll leave!"

  The old man is a well-known doctor and gentleman in Niuho Valley. He reads letters and announcements to the illiterate people with enthusiasm every day. He is quite prestigious among the town folks.

   Hearing the old doctor's scolding, the crowd gradually quieted down.

   The old doctor narrowed his eyes and aimed at the bulletin board, his upper body leaning back a little unconsciously.

   "What did you write? Good old man?" He asked impatiently.

  The old doctor held his cane tightly, and his eyes flashed: "The next communication is a handwritten letter from the tribune of Montagne."

  …

   Iron Peaks, Shovel Harbor, Church.

Alpha leaned back on the bench and recited word for word: "...if you ask what our goal is, I can answer in one word, it is victory! Victory at all costs! Victory without fear of all terrors No matter how difficult the road ahead is to win! Because there is no victory, there is only destruction..."

  The old doctor of the Oxhoof Valley was inaccurate, and this article was not the only one written by Winters Montagne.

   In fact, all the words in the "War Newsletter" were written by Winters after hesitating the words and biting them to pieces.

   Only other communications are issued in the name of the Provisional Military Command. Only in this open letter, Winters signed his name.

   This open letter is also the first article with "feelings" published in War Newsletter.

   The previous content was a mechanical report of the battle situation, with no emotion and no temperature, like a steel doll spitting out cold numbers.

  This open letter is different, the author's generosity and enthusiasm can be felt between the lines.

   The mayor of Portar listened to the complete text silently and asked, "Is that all?"

"There's another title." Alpha flipped through the previous pages of the announcement, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth: "To all the military and civilians in Tiefeng County—the ability to rhyme has improved a lot, but the naming ability is as poor as ever. "

   "To all the military and civilians in Tiefeng County?" Mayor Potar noticed something different: "That means all villages and towns can receive this announcement?"

   "It should be." Alpha brushed off the announcement: "We can all receive it, and of course other villages and towns can receive it."

   Mayor Portar guessed right, this was the first "War Newsletter" sent to the entire Iron Peak County.

  Before limited by the printing capacity, the "War Newsletter" was only posted in Oxhoof Valley and Gervodin.

  It was all up to Senior Mason to come up with a solution: Winters wrote the content the night before and sent it to Gervodin. Using the printing equipment of Revodan, it was printed overnight, and then sent to the whole county and even the neighboring county.

   The Mayor of Portar smacked his lips: "In addition to these few notices, the rebels also sent us fifty horses and three hundred big sticks with iron tips..."

   "That's called a thorn mallet." Alpha corrected the other party, he smiled: "But the term 'big stick with an iron tip' is also appropriate."

   "Okay, thorn cone... thorn mallet." Potar's expression was a little subtle: "I used to ask them for weapons, but I didn't give them. Now they are suddenly so generous, I really don't know what they want to do..."

"I didn't give it before because he could send troops to support Shovel Harbor at any time. Now giving us weapons and war horses is to tell us that we can only rely on ourselves after Shovel Harbor." Alpha let out an imperceptible sigh: "Winters Meng Tagne is going to give up his life."

  …

   Late at night.

  Winters Montagne pierced through his armor and stood on the banks of the Bighorn with his sword in hand, a blood-red flag screeching behind him.

   is not the east bank, but the west bank.

   A pontoon bridge across the Big Horn River lay quietly in front of him, and hundreds of soldiers and warhorses were crossing the pontoon to reach the west bank.

  Everyone who walks over the pontoon will salute the military tribunal waiting at the bridge.

  This fleet has been hidden by Winters for a long, long time...

   The main point of guarding Tiefeng County is guarding the river, and the key point of guarding the river should be guarding the river course, not the river bank.

   The water combat capability of the sheepskin raft is deplorable. In order not to overturn, the people of Terdun even kneel on the sheepskin raft.

   The raft overturned as soon as it hit. The big raft is stable, but it is inconvenient to move, and it is most afraid of arson boats.

   It is rude to say that the galley [Good Luck] when Gold was pirating was a well-deserved overlord when it was placed on the Big Horn.

Does    Winters have a boat?

  No, because all the ships in Iron Peak County were in Shovel Harbor, and all of them were detained by Mayor Potar.

   But when he learned that the Teltown Department was going to take advantage of the warm winter to launch a second round of attacks, he immediately ordered Samukin to start building rafts and boats.

The    navy was also of great use at Plato—a bitter lesson of the Fifth and Sixth Legions at the Battle of the Styx, which he never forgot.

   But Winters never used the fleet once.

   To storm the Tartai Department, he deliberately used the raft instead of idling the boat.

After   Telltown's brigade arrived at the Big Horn, he set up defenses on the river bank and gave way to the river.

The   Terdun people used enemy exhaustion tactics and disturbed the West Bank more than 20 times in one night, when everyone's spirits were about to break. Several orders to "put the boat into the water" were on his lips, and were swallowed by Winters again.

  This fleet has been hidden in its hands, and it is very hard to hide.

  Tonight, I can finally take it out and show it to the people of Teltown.

Once again confirming that the cyan nine ponytail was just bluffing, and that the fire-boiler pro-army had already left, Winters immediately ordered the companies of Tiefeng County to withdraw from the fortress along the river, and Samukin's "Volunteer Brigade" and "adult soldiers" succeed.

   The city defense of Niusho Valley, which was originally in charge of Samukin's "Volunteer Brigade", was transferred to the "strong-aged soldiers" temporarily recruited from Niusti Valley.

   By moving flowers and trees, Winters moved out a mobile force.

  The size of this force is not large, including him, a total of 647 people.

   There is only one criterion for selection—it will not fall off while riding on a horse.

   Seized nearly 1,000 Herd horses from the Tartai Department, and each company’s emergency training content added an equestrian.

   This makeshift "cavalry regiment" looks very odd:

   A small number of people use the long saddles of the Palatine people, which are good for fighting;

   Another part of the people used the short saddles of the Hurds, which are good for riding and shooting;

   There are also some people who don’t have a saddle at all, just tie a layer of soft pads to the horse’s back, and use simple iron and wooden rings as stirrups.

   These people include Dussack who grew up on horseback, infantry soldiers who drive ducks to the shelves, and adult men who can ride horses recruited from the townspeople and villagers.

  Andre and Don Juan arbitrarily took away the cavalry squadron, adding to the predicament of Iron Peak.

   But Winters never had a single complaint, and he had never fought a battle where everything went well and everything went smoothly.

  Because of the humble and simple, it is the norm for a spear to be sharpened at both ends.

  If you don't have a warhorse, you will take a warhorse, if you don't have a cavalry, you will train a cavalry. If you don't have a saddle, you will take a blanket on top.

   The "Cavalry Regiment" has all crossed the river, and Samukin led the people to start dismantling the pontoon bridge.

  Winters stepped on the stirrups, holding the saddle with the other hand, looking back at the men's faces that were determined, calm, frightened, or tired.

Without rhetoric, he cut to the chase: "As you all know, the pro-armies of the barbarians have already moved. They may be moving northward to attack Shovel Harbor and Vigne County. If that's the case, Zhongtiefeng County is temporarily safe. "

   Winter nights are very quiet, not even the chirping of insects, only the heavy breathing of people and horses can be heard.

"But Teltown people are more likely to go south, because the farther north you go, the harder it is to cross the river." Winters calmly analyzed the predicament of Tiefeng County: "Go south and cross the river from the lower Tiefeng County, Then take the land route to the back of the Oxhoof Valley - the great detour that the Hurds are best at.

  At that time, we will be attacking from front to back. The Teltons from the west bank held us in check, and the troops that circled to the east bank smashed us like hammers. The noose is getting tighter and tighter, and our only way out is to preempt the Teltowners on the West Bank.

   Although there are many people in Telton, they are scattered along the river for hundreds of miles; although the generals are wide, they are detached and intriguing; "

"Some of you are soldiers who have recently been granted fields, some are Dussacs who have served for generations, some are civilians who were recruited, and some were still prisoners a few days ago. It doesn't matter who you were before, from now on, you, me, he , we are all warriors fighting for our lives and our homes."

Winters pointed to a small boat on the river bank: "Whoever doesn't have the courage to fight this battle, get on the boat and go back to the east bank - there will be no blame. Because I don't want to die with such a person - he actually Afraid to die with us."

   As soon as these words came out, the crowd was deadly silent, and even the sound of breathing gradually decreased.

   The tall and thin public opinion representatives and the short and fat public opinion representatives who had quarreled outside the town hall were also among them. Because the two could ride horses, they were both recruited as "strong men".

   Hearing that he could go back by boat, the tall and thin public opinion representative sweated uncontrollably on his forehead.

   He once ridiculed the "Children's Fight" battle report in the announcement that "nine enemies were killed and several enemies were injured" in public.

   But when it was his turn to go to the battlefield, the blood flowing in his heart was not blood, but liquid fear.

  Really aware that you are going to die and watching people die in the announcement are completely different things.

   He tried to move, but his heels seemed to be frozen to the ground. He couldn't explain why he couldn't move, honor? dignity? Don't want to be laughed at by the short fat man? The smiles of his daughter and son appeared in his mind, and the cry of the baby granddaughter echoed in his ears.

   One hand grabbed the shoulder of the tall and thin representative, pinched it, and released it—it was actually the short and fat representative.

   The short and fat representative was also pale, but nodded slightly to the tall and thin representative.

   Tall and thin means his eyes are a little wet, and he also nodded. The old enemy of more than 20 years gave birth to some kind of empathy silently.

   "From tonight until the end of the world, our bravery will be remembered forever." Seeing that no one came out, Winters stepped on his horse: "Go!"

  The tall sandalwood horse swayed slightly, and Winters sat firmly on the saddle, as if growing on it, and rode his horse to the north.

  The riders mounted their horses and followed.

   "You follow me closely, I will take care of you." The short and fat representative said anxiously to the tall and thin representative.

   After he finished speaking, he deftly put his heavy body on the saddle, carefully adjusted the pleats of his jacket, and then stabbed the horse's ribs and rushed out. The scabbard swung to the rhythm of the run, glistening dimly in the moonlight.

  The tall and thin representative wiped away his tears and followed suit.

  …

  The roar of hooves was like muffled thunder, which could not be hidden at all.

  The cavalry team galloped on the west bank, and the beacon towers, watchtowers, and fortresses on the east bank raised fires in turn, not only to pay tribute, but also to mark the distance.

   Winters galloped at the forefront, and his flag-bearer Heinrich held the flag high behind.

  Many people who have just learned to ride don't dare to straighten their backs at all, they are crouched tightly on the neck of the horse, and sometimes someone falls from the horse's back.

  Riders should not only be alert to potholes, but also to beware of trampling and falling off their companions.

  Some warhorses carried two men—one who could ride and one who couldn’t, and several slave horses on the saddle.

  There was only one thought in everyone's mind: to keep up with that flag.

When the   Terdun people were at their most ferocious, they harassed 23 times a day and a night. The two farthest crossing points were nearly 60 kilometers apart, and several times they even sent a small group of light cavalry ashore.

The defenders of    Iron Peak County were exhausted, but at the same time, the camps of the Teldun people were also torn apart.

   For attackers, the wider the battlefield, the better. However, the military is impermanent, and once the relationship between the offensive and defensive is reversed, a once-in-a-lifetime and fleeting opportunity will be exposed.

   Winters Montagne's duty was to catch it.

   The number of firelights on the observation tower on the opposite bank has changed from one to two.

   "Disperse!" The agreed signal has appeared, and Winters drew his saber: "It's here!"

  Crossing the hillside, a small Teltown camp comes into view.

   Winters rode off.

  The cavalry shouted and followed.

   And the warriors who had just learned to ride turned over and dismounted, drew their weapons, strode their stiff legs, and slayed the people of Teltown who were running away.

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   (end of this chapter)