Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Although Winters, who left Wolf Town, had the idea of ​​"just escaping back to Veneta" more than once, he never put it into practice.

Not to mention what will happen to the military status after running away, a horse alone is not enough to support a long-distance trek. Not to mention, as a stranger, how to escape pursuit in this strange land?

Escape was unrealistic, so Lieutenant Montagne could only think about it.

Winters came out of Wolf Town not to escape, but to find Andre.

His new companion was called "Rezhik" by the people of Dusa, which means reddish-brown horse. So Winters also named the three-year-old stallion "Red Mane".

Winters, who got on Red Mane, immediately decided to go to Blackwater Town. Go meet Andre and try Red Mane's skills.

The Union Army's equestrian discipline divided the horse's gait into five categories: canter, trot, canter, canter, and jump. If you don't want to tire the horse to death, the last three steps cannot be continued for a long time.

Therefore, the most daily riding is a trot. A war horse that can run seven or eight kilometers per hour is considered qualified.

But Red Mane ran and rested all the way, and it only took about six hours to bring Winters to Blackwater Town, more than fifty kilometers away.

This speed also has the negative factor that Red Mane is not adaptable to new riders. Once it adapts to Winters' weight, the pace will be better.

It seemed that ponyboy Angelou was right, Red Mane's foot power was indeed excellent.

Although he knew Redmane was a good horse, Winters didn't realize he was getting a huge bargain. Because it is much easier to buy a war horse that has been trained by an experienced rider than to buy a raw horse and train it from scratch.

The horse owner was willing to sell such a good horse to Winters entirely for the sake of Gilad Mitchell.

The infantry officer Winters was ignorant, but the cavalry officer Andre was knowledgeable.

Just like when he saw Qiang Luck for the first time, Andre couldn't take his eyes away when he saw the red mane. His eyes were shining, and he was circling the red mane in admiration, looking at and touching it, almost drooling from his mouth.

If Winters hadn't been able to return to Wolf Village without his mount, Andre would have borrowed Red Mane's ride for a few days anyway.

"Hey! How can anyone reason with this? How come you, who came from the infantry department, always managed to get such a handsome horse?" Second Lieutenant Cellini stroked the horse's mane and said sadly: "It's a pity that Bud is not here! That guy Bishop I’m sure I’ll like this horse when I see it.”

Winters couldn't help but laugh at the way his friend sighed.

Winters patted the horse's butt and said to Andre: "Then you get me a horse, and I'll give you this red-maned horse. How about we switch rides?"

"Get out!" Andre became even more sad: "Where will I get the money to buy a horse?"

"Then wait until you have money. I'll come to you for a serious business." Winters stopped smiling and asked Andre seriously: "Has anyone from home come to see you?"

To be honest, Lieutenant Montagne lived very comfortably in Wolf Town.

For Winters, who has lived in a crowded, dirty and busy environment in the city since childhood, the natural conditions of Wolf Town are simply too good to be good.

It is located on the border of Plato, with a vast area, sparsely populated areas, and high altitude, so the air is fresh and clean. Looking around, there are no cramped houses, only endless wilderness.

And as the only civil servant in the town, he almost has the status of half a feudal lord. Winters felt comfortable having no one to give him orders anymore.

But Langtun Town is too closed-off! There is absolutely no channel for understanding outside information.

Since Winters arrived in Wolf Town, he has not seen anyone from outside except a few traveling traders.

Lieutenant Woick said that the military postman would come to Wolf Town regularly in the future, but Winters has not seen the postman so far.

After staying for less than a week, Winters was eager to know what was happening in the outside world:

Has the dispute between Veneta and the United Provinces subsided? How was the negotiation between Plato and Venetta? When can I go home?

But being trapped in Langtun Town, Winters didn't know anything. This isolation from the outside world was almost a form of torture for him.

When asked about this, Andre's expression dimmed: "No! I didn't even see a Veneta person in this wretched place!"

"I thought Blackwater Town was bigger than Wolf Town and would be better informed." Winters was a little disappointed.

"What better place than this shitty place? I asked someone to send a message to Bud to see if he has any news." Andre spread his hands and said helplessly: "I am just messing around now, if I can Take it one day at a time. I have figured it out. If you don’t work when you get paid, you are resisting. When you get home, you will be considered a victory!"

The two brothers and sisters looked at each other, sighed at the same time, and smiled bitterly at the same time.

Although he didn't get any news, Winters didn't get anything.

When he returned to Wolftown from Blackwater the next day, Winters had two more heavy arquebuses in his saddle.

The gun was borrowed from the Blackwater weapons depot. Blackwater Town is far more prosperous and wealthy than Wolf Village, so it can afford real weapons.

The muskets in Dussa Village are all shotguns with a small charge. They lack such powerful large-caliber muskets to deal with large beasts.

As a result, Lieutenant Cellini lent two of the best matchlock guns to Wolf Town free of charge with a stroke of his pen.

Hearing that there were large beasts in the forest around Langtun, Andre, who was already panicking, suddenly became extremely excited.

If it weren't for the fact that the garrison officer couldn't leave the garrison for too long without permission, Second Lieutenant Cellini would have personally carried a gun and gone into the forest of Wolf Town to "remove harm to the people."

Even though he couldn't stay in Wolf Town, Andre still grabbed Winters and told him that if there were any confirmed traces of the giant beast, he must send a fast horse to notify him.

Andre patted his chest and promised to bring the best hunters in Blackwater Town to help.

Winters knew that Andrea Cellini was just uncomfortably idle;

He also knew that if the wolf disaster hadn't happened, his current mental state would probably be similar to Andre's.

Winters, who returned to Wolf Town with two heavy muskets, was surprised to find that he had only been in Blackwater Town for one day and there had been a lot of trouble in Wolf Town.

Ever since they heard that there were ferocious beasts in the woods, villagers in every village now looked at everything like ferocious beasts.

Several times in one day, villagers came to the town hall and swore they had seen ferocious beasts near the village.

But when Mayor Mitchell led his people to the scene of the sighting, not even a hair could be found, let alone the beast.

When the witnesses were questioned again, the villagers' description changed to "seeing a black figure" or "hearing the roar of a vicious beast."

This kind of thing happened again and again. By chance, Winters, the resident officer, went to Blackwater Town again, and Mayor Mitchell, a man over fifty years old, was exhausted.

Another time during this period, a villager in Hexi Village was so frightened that he was pissed off by the "huge black beast shadow" in his mouth. In panic, he ran directly to light a beacon fire.

When old Sergei led Dusak and others to Hexi Village in a hurry, they found that the villagers in Hexi Village had gone back to work in the fields as if nothing had happened. The old man was so angry that he scolded his mother.

After returning to Wolf Town, Winters took hunter Ralph around again and checked every place where the so-called "evil beasts were sighted", but no paw prints or animal hair were found at all. type of evidence.

Although the villagers swore that they had definitely seen the ferocious beast, Winters was 80% sure that they were scaring him.

On the way back to the town hall, Winters asked the hunter: "Did you find anything in the woods the day I went to Blackwater Town?"

"Sir, I found some trees with peeling bark in the forest over at the Protestant Village, and found black-brown animal hair on the trees." The old hunter Ralph looked cautious and replied respectfully: "From a habit point of view Look, the ferocious beast may be Zong. Bears like to rub their backs on trees. But even if it is Zong, it must be a very, very big one. However, Xiong Zong usually eats more pine nuts and berries, so he may not Come and harass us.”

"Continue to observe, pay attention to safety, and report to me at any time if there is any situation." Winters gave a few instructions, and then asked the hunter: "How is it? Is your son getting used to living in Mitchell's house?"

For safety reasons, the hunter and his son temporarily moved out of the forest cabin. Girard invited them to live in his home, but Ralph refused to stay in the guest room like guests. Instead, he took his son to live with the long-term workers of the Mitchell family.

"Thank you for your concern, sir." When mentioning his son, a smile appeared on Ralph's vicissitudes of life: "Captain Mitchell has always treated us father and son very well, and I am very grateful."

"Captain Mitchell?" Winters captured a special title. Only people in the village of Dussa would call Gilad this way.

He raised his eyebrows and asked the hunter with some confusion: "Ralph, are you also from Dussa?"

"Previously."

Winters was even more confused: "Then why don't you live with the Dusaks?"

After a long silence, Hunter Ralph answered with difficulty: "I'm sorry, sir. I can't remember why."

Although he was confused, Winters didn't continue to ask questions when he saw that the hunter didn't want to talk.

…

After returning to the center of town, Winters first went to the blacksmith shop.

In this era, only cities had professional craftsmen, because full-time craftsmen could not support themselves in the countryside.

Farmers do not need tailors, bakers, builders... they sew their own clothes, bake bread, and build their own houses.

But not everyone has the ability to refine metals, burn red iron blanks, and forge and bend hot steel. Moreover, smelting is an asset-heavy industry that requires not only technology but also a variety of tools.

Therefore, blacksmiths are one of the few professional technicians who can make a living in rural areas. Peasants could do just fine without tailors, bakers, and stonemasons, but they needed blacksmiths.

Blacksmiths play an important role in rural life. You need a blacksmith to make farm tools, mend pots, and even pull teeth.

Of course, the blacksmith shop is also an important part of the commercial street of Wolf Town - although there are only two dirt roads, one horizontal and one vertical, in the center of the town and there are buildings that can be counted on ten fingers.

The blacksmith in Wolf Town was also a Dussac. After being resettled in Wolf Village, he resumed his old business. The blacksmith shop was originally in the village of Dussa, and after the village was incorporated into the town, Girard spent a lot of effort to persuade the blacksmith to move the shop to the town.

The shop was very simple, without even a shop floor, and the forge and anvil were open to the street.

A young man who looked to be in his early twenties was shirtless, holding a bright yellow iron bar with pliers in his left hand, and holding a small hammer in his right hand, and was busy at the forge.

The young man was of medium height, shorter and thinner than Winters. Judging from the physical appearance alone, he is far from the burly and powerful blacksmith in the general impression.

But the hammer in the young man's hand seemed to have special magic power. With his light strikes, the hot steel was bent gracefully, and the shape of a horseshoe was revealed in the blink of an eye.

Watching the young man forge the iron billet, Winters suddenly remembered Anna's evaluation of the stone carvings of the loggia: "It's not that the stone is chiseled into a statue, but the person trapped in the stone is chiseled out."

The skill of the young man in front of him was so superb that even a layman like Winters could see it.

After watching the young man hammering a horseshoe, Winters asked, "Is the shop owner here? Are you the shop owner's son? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Winters asked, and the young man who was concentrating on forging the iron billet realized that someone was coming. He looked up at Winters, smiled and nodded.

The young man's face was blackened by smoke, but his teeth were white as white.

The loud voice of old Misha, the owner of the blacksmith shop, came from the backyard: "How can I be so lucky! If that boy in my family had half the conduct of Balian, I would die without regrets, sir."

Misha came to the front yard, pointed at the young man and introduced: "This is Balian from the Protestant village. When you came here before, he went to the city to feed. Balian, this is Lieutenant Montagne, the chief of this town!" "

The young blacksmith - Balian seemed a little reluctant to let go. He forced a smile and bowed, but did not speak.

"Are you your apprentice?" Winters nodded in return and asked Misha with a smile: "The craftsmanship is really good."

"Well, I am Master Misha's apprentice." Balian replied restrainedly.

"There's no need to take care of my face!" Old Misha laughed heartily and patted Balion on the back: "I'm not worthy of being an apprentice. This kid is much more capable than me! He was also a stove master in his hometown. The family fortune is lost! I treat this great young man as a partner. If my bastard doesn’t live up to his expectations, this stove will belong to little Balian sooner or later. It’s a pity that I don’t have a girl..."

Seeing old Misha chattering without knowing where he was going, Winters quickly interrupted: "How is the thing I asked you to do?"

"I will definitely take your commander's orders seriously!" Old Misha ran back to the backyard with a smile: "Wait here for a while!"

After a while, Misha came out holding a long object wrapped in red cloth in both hands: "Take a look, do you like it?"

Opening up the red cloth, there were three knife strips underneath.

Winters got on the carriage with his hands empty, and was sent to Wolf Town for no reason, without any sword or gun.

But as a garrison officer, what can he do if he doesn’t even have a handy weapon? So Winters approached the blacksmith Misha and wanted to make some swords.

Winters' order was: a sword-shaped practice sword, a long-edged sword, a one-handed sword, and finally a Dussart.

In the ancient language, the word "Dusa" refers to the special shape of the long and narrow saber used by the Dusaks. The literal translation of Dusak is "the person who uses the Dusak saber". It is not known which of the two words Dussa and Dusak appeared first.

Now that he had the opportunity to learn the saber skills of the Dusan people, Winters certainly would not miss it. He was currently learning Dussac's saber skills from Gilad, so he added another saber to the order.

But it was this lucrative order that put Misha in trouble. According to old Misha, he can shoot swords, but the quality... is not as good as the ready-made sword bars in the city, and the price is even more expensive than the ready-made sword bars.

What is currently sold on the market are sword bars produced in Solingen, Monta Republic.

It is said that old Misha said that in Solingen, one blacksmith was only responsible for one process, and a sword strip had to pass through the hands of more than a dozen blacksmiths to complete. The blacksmiths there are highly differentiated, and even the blacksmiths responsible for annealing have independent guilds.

Therefore, even if shipping costs are included, the sword strips produced in Solingen are cheaper and of better quality than those sold by blacksmiths in other places. The self-employed swordsmiths were so squeezed that they vomited blood and changed careers one after another.

Even in the Republic of Plato, many blacksmiths have given up the job of forging swords. They no longer produce swords, but work as sword carriers.

Therefore, old Misha’s opinion is: if you are not in a hurry to use it, just wait until he orders ready-made sword bars from the city and sends them to you.

Only the Dussa saber was easy to handle. Old Misha said that he could go to the village and collect a few unused knife blades. His shop could make knives.

The three knife strips in front of me were collected by Misha from Dussa Village in a few days.

Winters inspected the three knife blades carefully and asked with some dissatisfaction: "Are these knife blades too old?"

"Old is better!" Old Misha slapped his thigh, obviously having the opposite understanding: "A good blade can be passed down to several generations. Old means it is durable. The blade of my saber was made by my father from the wild people in the north. The ones I robbed were very sharp in my son’s hands. My father and I have chopped down the Northland savages, and I’ve chopped down the Hart barbarians.”

"Okay." Seeing that old Misha was about to start a tirade again, Winters quickly stopped: "Then let's take this one."

Winters pointed to the longer of the three blades.

"Okay!" Old Misha happily wrapped the other two pieces again: "Bairion, please measure the size of the second lieutenant."

Although the knife blade is ready-made, the handle still needs to be customized according to the shape of the hand.

Just as Balian was measuring the size of Winters' palm with a tape measure, Alzi, the grocer in the shop next door, ran into the blacksmith shop in panic.

"My lord!" Alqi said breathlessly: "Beacon!"

Dussa and Dusak are words from another world. It is more interesting to write them this way, because they are different from this world. I also wrote a little more last night, but I only wrote more than 1,700 words. I overturned and rewritten it twice, but I still felt that the pace was still too slow. I didn’t ask for leave because I didn’t take a break either…

Thanks to the book friends who voted for recommendation before, thank the book friend Yi Xin for the recommendation vote, thank the book friends who have the most in your life, Sky Lens, The Yellow Rabbit of the Flower Planter, I don’t know what it is called, Justice and Purity is Koala, Calmness Di Hui Guo, Jiang Xue Diao Weng, Book Friends 20180828194024530, An ideal uncle in his thirties, Kun Kun, writesrblock, Book Friends 150811225630563, Nothing is Xiao Gao, Tianshui Youbei for their recommendation votes, thank you all.