Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 477 Blazing Furnace (1)

  [Vineta]

  [sea blue]

  The scorching sun hangs high in the sky, scorching everything on the earth indifferently.

  The heat wave was surging, and the city was shrouded in steaming water vapor, which could not be dispelled even by the coming monsoon.

   In the past, Hailan Harbor, where boats and boats converged and people flowed like a tide, is now clear and desolate, and it is a desolate scene.

  The three-masted ships were full of dock berths, but there were no porters on the trestle.

  Only a few seagulls hovered above the anchorage, refusing to leave for a long time, searching in vain for any fishy residue that could satisfy their hunger.

  The news that the Union-Provincial Army had crossed the Galloping River spread like wildfire throughout Hailan's streets and alleys.

  Beginning a long time ago, many Hailan people predicted that this day would come;

  It started a long time ago, and many Hailan people are looking forward to this day coming as soon as possible.

  But when the "allies" really stepped across the non-existent border, Hailan fell into an abnormal silence.

  The dark clouds in the sky are already clearly visible, and every Hailan person knows where the road under their feet will lead, but people will never know whether they are ready—until they can no longer look back.

   Whispering among themselves, the Hailan people waited for the Directorate's response.

  …

  A carriage drove out of Haidong Port and walked slowly along the Binhai Avenue.

  A small troop of cavalry from Dongdaying had already been waiting halfway. The leading officer politely confirmed the identities of the passengers in the car, and then escorted the carriage to Hailan City.

  The style of the carriage is ordinary: black paint, no emblem, and no logo.

  The draft horse that pulls the cart is also an ordinary, unremarkable horse. On the contrary, it was the cavalry escorting the carriage. All their mounts were smooth and smooth, with strong muscles and thin legs. They were all the best Plato breed horses.

  In the past, when this deliberately hidden carriage appeared on Hailan Street, it would definitely attract the attention of pedestrians.

   But the situation is different now—even if the flames of war have not spread to Vineta, the fashion of sea blue has inevitably been affected.

  Because the war is no longer just a few words sent back from the distant frontier, it has actually affected the life of every Venetian.

  In the inland sea where thousands of sails raced in the past, now there are only a few boats.

  The Federal Provincial Navy and the Vineta Navy arbitrarily detained ships flying the flag of the "Allies" under the pretext of searching for smuggled goods. As a result, the inland sea at this moment is more dangerous than the era when Taniria pirates were most rampant. Without naval escort, no merchant ship would dare to leave port easily.

  The loom and spinning wheel that brought great wealth to Vineta in the past are now covered with dust.

  Once tens of millions of weavers became destitute with no food or clothing, except for a few lucky ones who were able to leave the city and go to relatives and friends, the vast majority had nowhere to go and nowhere to go.

They either flooded into the port and competed with the foreigners entrenched in the pier for the few remaining bread; or wandered in squares and dark alleys, selling their bodies and begging along the streets; A glimmer of life was found on the land.

  In the city of Hailan alone, the number of homicides in the past month is more than the number of vicious cases in a quarter in Vineta.

   Every morning, broken corpses are transported out of the urban area and buried hastily in the mass burial cemetery in the west of the city.

  Businessmen clenched their wallets tightly and stopped buying easily; farmers held their grain tightly and did not dare to sell it casually. One after another, the price of flour was pushed to a new high, which further exacerbated the growth of slums.

  Under such circumstances, the aesthetics of Hailan Rich also unconsciously turned conservative and low-key.

  Peach red satin is pressed into the bottom of the box, and deep black velvet has become a new fashion;

  Simple and safe sedan-style carriages are more popular now, and those fancy convertible cars in the past are hard to find anymore.

  So when the cavalry escorted the carriage and drove through the streets of Hailan, it was the cavalry escorting the carriage that attracted the most attention, not the carriage itself.

  …

  The carriage from Haidong Port finally stopped outside the side gate of the Vineta Army Headquarters.

  The coachman jumped out of the seat, set up the footstool, and opened the door. There is no way to add humility.

  A man in his early thirties stepped out of the carriage first.

  Thirty generations of men are well-proportioned and handsome, with clean beards and spotless clothes and boots.

  He looked at the magnificent Army Headquarters in the distance with a vague smile on the corner of his mouth: "Sure enough, the more you lack something, the more you want to show off."

   "You can't be too demanding on the upstart's aesthetic ability." An indifferent voice came out of the carriage, and another one-eyed and fingerless middle-aged man got out of the carriage: "Captain Pisani."

   "You are right." Thirty generations of men nodded gracefully: "I was the one who was abrupt, Captain Tiye."

  Hearing this, Colonel Kara, who had come to the side door ahead of time, was furious, and the hilt in his hand was about to be squeezed out of water.

  However, from the beginning to the end, the two people who got off the carriage never took a serious look at Colonel Hara.

"enough."

  The last passenger—an old man with gray sideburns and eyebrows—stepped off the carriage.

  The old man was tall and well-built, and the thickness of his chest and back almost caught up with the width of his shoulders.

  Although the absence of sunburned skin indicates that he has been away from the wind and waves at sea for a long time, his eyes are still as sharp as a lookout. His legs were also the same as when he stood on the deck in the past, supporting his body firmly.

  Colonel Kara "reciprocated" and walked straight to the old man without looking at the two who got out of the car first.

  The colonel did not salute, but just nodded: "General Dandolo, welcome. Please follow me."

  The old man lowered his eyelids slightly.

   Colonel Kara turned around and beckoned, and the side doors of the "Imperial Palace" immediately opened to both sides. Although there was no military music or guard of honor, the guards drew their boots together and raised their halberds in unison to salute.

  [Captain Pisani] watched the army's "little performance" with great interest, and looked at his companions with a smile.

   And [Thiye] was stern, still expressionless.

  General Dandolo nodded, and under the guidance of Colonel Kara, a group of three walked into the army headquarters.

  …

  [Army Headquarters 2nd Floor]

  [Ma Zhengke Office]

  The owner of the office, Colonel Bozukhov, was leaning against the window sill with a cup in his hand, looking out the window coldly.

  The door was pushed open, and a captain walked in with a warrant officer in a brand new uniform.

   Before the two of them entered the office completely, the captain happily introduced: "Colonel, the trainee officer assigned to us this year, Paulino, Warrant Officer Paulino Cuomo."

  He put his arm around the shoulder of the warrant officer, and enthusiastically introduced to his junior: "This is Colonel Bozukhov—if nothing goes wrong, you will get along with the two of us this year."

  Warrant Officer Cuomo still had the characteristic childishness of an officer cadet who had just left the ivory tower. He immediately dropped the carrying gear in his hand and saluted forcefully: "Colonel."

   Bozukhov waved his hands helplessly, and scribbled back: "Close the door."

  The door was closed again, blocking the eyes and ears of the clerk, leaving only the officers in the office.

   "This year... 560 years..." Colonel Bozukhov looked at the ceiling, counting to himself: "Then you are the first..."

"No. 24." Warrant Officer Cuomo replied first, and then added with some embarrassment: "But counting the preparatory course, I only studied in Guitu City for four years, and the second and third years were in Hailan. Army Academy."

   Colonel Bozukhov sighed: "One year counts."

  He took out a new cup, poured some dark liquid from the delicate silver pot on the window sill, and motioned the warrant officer to his side.

Colonel Bozukhov said rather sadly: "You are the last generation. The last generation of Vineta officers from the orthodox Army Academy. After you, there will never be any Vinetas from the school established by the old marshal. walk out."

  Warrant Officer Cuomo held the cup, not knowing how to answer.

  The captain who led Warrant Officer Cuomo into the door tried to adjust the atmosphere. He took the silver cup from his junior and looked at the colonel with reproachful eyes: "It's still morning, and you started drinking?"

   "It's not wine." Colonel Bozukhov was close to the captain, so he didn't feel offended. He explained lightly: "This is a new thing from the Far East, called [coffee]."

  The captain took a sip in doubt, and immediately spat back into the cup: "Damn it!"

Colonel Bozukhov had no intention of explaining the refreshing effect of coffee to his adjutant, because he was already overwhelmed with grief and indignation: "Let the Interprovins take away the old field marshal's inheritance! Let the Grand Vineta Corps become the 'Army of the Navy'! Sign the A humiliating budget! Not counting all of this—the navy is still allowed to enter our gates? That old man Zio! What the **** is he thinking?!"

  The warrant officer dared not speak.

  The captain had no scruples. He asked inexplicably, "Navy? Where is it?"

   "Isn't it there?" Colonel Bozukhov pointed down casually.

  The captain immediately moved to the window, and Warrant Officer Cuomo followed suit.

  The two happened to witness Colonel Kara leading three men in civilian clothes up the stairs and disappeared into the blind spot of their vision.

  The captain pulled back his upper body from the window and confirmed to the colonel: "Colonel Kara brought those three guys?"

   "Just for those three bald men." Colonel Bozukhov sneered: "I won't guess where they came from."

   "Why did the admiral bring the navy to the palace?" The captain was dubious: "Borrowing a ship? Are you determined to send troops? Why didn't you hear the news?"

Colonel Bozukhov ignored the adjutant, but put down his glass heavily, stood in front of the new warrant officer, stared into the latter's eyes, and asked in a deep voice: "Warrant officer, answer me. We—Marshal Ned Smith personally established The army of the Vineta Republic, the most honorable army, who is the primary enemy?"

  The warrant officer instinctively replied: "Empire!"

   Colonel Bozukhov let out a cold snort.

   "Then..." The warrant officer's shoulders drooped, and he asked humbly and carefully, "Is it the Federal Province?"

  Colonel Bozukhov frowned, and looked at the adjutant with an unfriendly expression: "Are you pushing out the juniors who failed to graduate from the Luyuan Academy?"

   "How is it possible?!" The captain shouted injustice.

   Colonel Bozukhov folded his arms: "Then why don't you teach clearly what should be taught?!"

  The captain heard the words, kicked the warrant officer lightly, and reminded the latter with a cough.

   "Oh! It's that one! I remembered it!" The warrant officer blurted out as if enlightened: "Navy! Our primary enemy is the navy!"

   "That's right!" Colonel Bozukhov grabbed the warrant officer's shoulders and warned through gritted teeth: "Navy! Remember! It's the Navy!"

   [Sorry, the last few days were not good. But it’s fine today]

   [Supplementary explanation: Vineta’s land-sea conflict]

   [Veneta people often complain: the army that pursues elitism still has a strong aristocratic color, but people never complain about this to the navy, because the Vineta navy has always been [nobility]]

   [Army schools select students through public examinations. In theory, Vineta people only need a smart mind if they want to become army officers]

   [And if the Vineta people want to become naval officers, they need not only ability, but family background, money and a strong guarantor]

   [Hailan, who made his fortune from the commune, has no land for agricultural development, and there is no strict distinction between knights and serfs, so there is no real feudal aristocracy]

   [Instead of the feudal nobles occupying the ecological niche of the ruling class, it is the rich merchants and captains]

   [The business oligarch family is Hailan’s princes, the captains who cut through the waves are Hailan’s knights, the deck is Hailan’s land, and money is the foundation of Hailan’s survival]

   [Sea blue people can't tolerate nobles who monopolize power, just like they can't tolerate failed admirals, but they do provide captains and business oligarchs with almost noble status]

   [When Hailan took a big step and became the most honorable Republic of Vineta, these traditions were logically continued to the New Republic]

   [So Vineta’s land and sea conflicts are not only due to budgetary competition, but also have a natural antagonism between the populist faction and the aristocratic faction, the new rich and the old rich]

   [Thank you for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

  (end of this chapter)