Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 167 Bian Li
Where mountains and rivers meet, danger and peril are inevitable.

Two swift, silvery rivers converge into one, and the earthen city of the Hed people was built on the high ground where the two rivers meet.

When the supply train first arrived at the camp, Major Bello from the intelligence division of the legion led the officers to observe the enemy.

Bello led the group to cautiously stop half a kilometer away from the city wall.

Apart from being somewhat rudimentary, the earthen city in the distance looked no different from any other ordinary fortified town.

The earthen city is situated on higher ground than the surrounding area, making it impossible for outsiders to see what is happening inside; they can only see shadowy figures moving about on the city walls.

Smoke curled from chimneys above the city, suggesting that people were cooking.

Major Bello pointed his riding crop at the city wall: "Gentlemen, that's 'Bianli'."

“Bian Li? What do you mean?” Lieutenant Colonel Jessica asked.

“That’s what the barbarians call it, supposedly meaning the confluence of two rivers,” Bello explained. “In our terms, perhaps it should be called Confluence City.”

“It’s not clear from here.” Lieutenant Colonel Jessica raised his whip. “Come closer.”

Major Bello quickly intervened: "Squad leader! No!"

"Can't I even look closer?"

"The barbarians in the city have cannons!"

"Cannons?" Jessica's eyebrows shot up. "Where did they come from? Do the Heds know how to forge cannons?"

Bello smiled wryly and said, "The barbarians probably don't have that ability yet. I guess someone is smuggling them to them."

"How many of Hart's troops are in the city?" Lieutenant Colonel Jessica gently tugged at the reins.

“Many, I don’t know the exact number.” Bello sighed and replied, “Within several hundred miles, all the barbarian tribes that didn’t flee west have run into Bianli City.”

How long has the siege lasted?

"About a month and a half."

"More than a month? The Hed people haven't starved to death yet?"

“I find that strange too.” Major Bello shrugged. “Maybe the barbarians have already run out of food, and the smoke from the cooking fires is just a distraction.”

Winters was greatly puzzled and couldn't help but ask, "Since the Heds dared to build a city and hold out, couldn't they even last two months with their food supplies?"

Andrei, Mason, and others pricked up their ears; they had the same question.

Major Bello did not answer directly upon hearing this. Instead, he frowned and looked at the lieutenant, his expression as if asking, "Don't you understand?"

Jessica chuckled and waved her hand dismissively: "He's a Veneta."

"Oh, I see." Bello laughed heartily, his brows immediately relaxing.

Winters and Andre immediately became angry, and Lieutenant Mason also looked embarrassed.

Bard spoke up before anyone else: "Major, we really don't understand, please don't hesitate to enlighten us."

“The Hed people mainly drink milk and eat meat as a supplement,” Lieutenant Colonel Jessica said. “They have almost no ability to withstand risks. This is why, in the past, whenever the Hed people suffered a disaster, they would raid Palatour.”

Major Bello explained the logic to Winters and the others: the Paratians could survive on stored food, but the Hedians could not.

Contrary to the barbarian image of "eating raw meat and drinking blood, drinking alcohol and eating meat", the Hede people mainly live on milk, supplemented by wild vegetables and wild wheat sown during their nomadic journeys. Poorer Hede herders rarely even eat meat.

Therefore, the Hurds could not hold the city. If they chose to be trapped in the city, the livestock, with nowhere to find food, would starve to death even faster than the people.

Without livestock, the Hud people might be able to survive for a while by eating meat, but once they run out of livestock carcasses, they will have no choice but to eat people.

Moreover, since they eat animal meat, even if they can hold out until the Paratul people retreat, the Hed people will be severely weakened.

This is why, seeing the Hud people building and holding their city, the Parat people, who had gone on a long expedition, were not in a hurry, but instead slowly besieged them and waged a war of attrition—no matter how long the Parat people's supply lines were, it was bound to be the Hud people who couldn't hold out first.

But now, thousands of Hard raiders have crossed the River Styx to the east, and the situation has suddenly reversed.

……

After news of Hart's army crossing the river reached the besieging camp, the leadership of Plato's army immediately fell into a state of division.

Officers who supported the withdrawal surrounded Brigadier General Sackler.

The withdrawal faction believed that the most urgent task was to reinforce Palatú. Both standing legions were mobilized, and at this moment, Palatú had no field troops capable of confronting thousands of Hed's cavalry.

The officers felt as if their hearts were being torn apart by the thought that the brutal Hed's army was currently burning, killing, and looting in Palatine.

Brigadier General Seckler's voice boomed: "Are you going to let the barbarians plunder Palatul?! Can any amount of land make up for Palatul's losses? If you don't come to its aid soon, the barbarians will storm into the Fortress of Kings!"

The other faction, led by Major General Alpad, advocated continuing the siege and even launching an immediate attack on Bianli City.

"Withdrawing now would mean all our efforts were in vain!" Major General Alpad gritted his teeth. "The barbarians are about to collapse! They stabbed us in the back, and we'll stab them back hard! How can we retreat now? It's too late! Attack the city! For every Paratul barbarian the Hed barbarian kills, we'll kill ten Hed barbarians!"

Most senior officers believed that the siege should continue.

Those who supported the withdrawal were mainly officers of the rank of major and below; they were lower in rank but had broader support.

From the moment the communications soldier delivered the bad news, the two factions were locked in a bitter dispute.

General János, who commanded the entire army, also hesitated to make a decision.

Until the arrival of the Jesca supply train, the Paratites were still locked in a stalemate with the Heds across the wall, and the army grew increasingly restless.

Winters didn't really feel the sparks flying between the bigwigs. He was just a lowly lieutenant, not yet qualified to participate in the debate over the course of events.

However, he was promoted.

……

……

The sky was a deep blue in the early morning.

Frost had formed on the ground, and the fields stretched out in a vast expanse of white.

As the wilderness enters the depths of winter, this period is the coldest time of the year.

So among the wagons escorted by the Jessica's brigade were several carrying down comforters and wool coats reserved for high-ranking officers. Winters finally understood why those wooden crates were nailed shut and sealed with layers upon layers of "Do Not Open" seals.

There were also "military supplies" such as jam, tobacco, white flour, and wine, which, like food and gunpowder, took up precious transport capacity and were sent thousands of miles from Palatine to this wasteland.

Upon learning that these were the very things he had risked his life to save, Winters deeply regretted not having allowed the barbarian Herd to burn all the carriages down.

At this moment, in front of Lieutenant Montagne, militiamen dressed in a motley array stood in a loose formation, waiting for the new commander to inspect them.

Many militiamen were wrapped in fur robes stripped from the corpses of the Hed people, making them unrecognizable as Paratists at first glance.

The weather was too cold, and the militiamen, lacking warm clothes, had to wear whatever they had.

They set out from their homes on a pleasant autumn day, and no one imagined the battle would drag on until today.

After the headcount was completed, the officer, as usual, said a few words.

Winters looked at the shivering militiamen and said, "Your former centurion, Lieutenant Marcello, was my friend."

When the name of the fallen Marcello was mentioned, the small playground fell silent, and everyone's eyes grew even dimmer.

Some militia units that were short-handed in previous battles were given to the JASKA Brigade to replenish their ranks, and the merchants who accompanied the army were also forcibly conscripted and incorporated into the militia.

Now, the JASK team has not only been restored to full strength, but has even been strengthened.

Because the militia lacked officers, Winters was promoted to "two-hundred-man captain" and also took command of two reorganized hundred-man squads.

Winters sees it as the same old problem: the command structure has no redundancy, and once a centurion is killed, there is no one to replace him.

After a moment of silence, Winters spoke again: "Trust me, and I will never abandon you."

They looked at each other blankly, and the response was lukewarm.

“I’m done speaking.” Winters knew that empty talk was useless: “Also, we’re having braised pork for lunch today.”

……

Large areas of forest are rare on the wasteland; there are only scattered patches of trees and shrubs, and most of the land is meadow.

The trees near Bianli City had long been cut down by the Hede people.

This led to a severe shortage of firewood for the Parat people, who even had to dig up tree roots that the Hed people had cut down.

The militiamen received very little fuel for heating, and since arriving at the camp they have been eating dry bread and drinking cold water.

Just hearing the words "stewed pork" makes many people's mouths water.

When they saw the military police carrying an iron pot around noon, they finally believed that Centurion Montagne's words were true.

Smelling the aroma of stewed meat, some militiamen began to silently shed tears.

A bowl of hot soup, a piece of pork, and a piece of bread—on this cold winter day, one could ask for nothing more.

After taking their share, Ish, a militiaman from Ganshui Town, found a sheltered spot nearby and began to enjoy his precious meal.

He first took a small sip of the broth, and the warm soup flowed down his esophagus into his stomach, making his whole body feel warm and cozy.

Only then did Ish truly realize that he wasn't dreaming.

He stopped drinking and instead began carefully breaking the bread into pieces and soaking them in the soup.

The fellow villager beside him said with some regret, "It's a pity the meat isn't very fatty, otherwise it would be really delicious."

Upon hearing this, a stranger from Wolf Town militia turned around with a sneer: "You should be grateful to have anything to eat. Do you know how many miles this pig traveled? Without Blood Wolves, you wouldn't even be able to get any pig hair. What are you complaining about?"

Who is Blood Wolf?

"Blood Wolf is Lord Montagne. Let me tell you, back in our Wolf Village..." The Wolf Town militiamen got excited and started telling their story, embellishing everything they had seen and heard.

The Wolf Town militia had seen the corpses of the two ferocious beasts. He recounted the story based on others' accounts, mixing it with his own imagination, making it sound as if he had been there when the Blood Wolf tore the giant lion apart. This caused his fellow villagers to gasp in astonishment.

“I never imagined that Commander Montagne would be like this…” Ish’s fellow countryman thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with a suitable adjective. He looked at the Wolf Town militia with awe: “Brother, it’s quite impressive that you can serve under Commander Montagne.”

"Hey, where?" The Wolf Town militiaman's face was slightly flushed, whether from the cold or something else, it was hard to tell.

He suddenly leaned close to Ish's fellow countryman and said mysteriously, "I'll tell you something, but you mustn't tell anyone else. I heard that when Lord Montagne was on an island across the sea..."

This time, the story went from being half-true and half-false to being pure hearsay.

Ish sipped his broth and listened quietly.

……

Winters was unaware that his reputation had been damaged. He was personally distributing meat to his militiamen, and watching them eat with gusto filled him with pride.

The pigs were obtained from Lieutenant Mason, who led over four hundred pigs from the ranch, dying and eating them along the way.

In the end, less than half of the pigs made it to the front camp alive, but they still exceeded their mission target.

It's a pity that these pigs, having walked hundreds of kilometers and developed a muscular physique, are as strong as wild boars, but are not actually very fat.

While Winters' 100 men were feasting, another group was deciding their fate.

Brigadier General Seckler could no longer tolerate the endless arguments and led his men into Admiral János's tent.

He was determined to get an explanation. He would fight or retreat; he couldn't let things drag on any longer.

But when Sackler burst into the tent, he found General János on the verge of death.

In terms of the story's meaning, the next form of Bloody Montagne should be Wolf-Blood Montagne, Wolf-Blood Montagne, which is similar to the form of "Wolf-Kisser".

However, for the sake of fluency, "Blood Wolf" sounds better XD. Anyway, it's just a nickname.

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(End of this chapter)