Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 246 Iris
Leaving Zhevodan, travel 200 kilometers east along the main road to reach [Kite Castle].

Iris Castle is the capital of Baishan County, located on the plains in the central part of Baishan County. It is named after the irises that cover the mountains and fields.

Just as Winters was pointing out the enemy to the soldiers, one of the enemies—Captain Hudson, who was in charge of intelligence at the Fort Iris garrison—went into a mysterious room deep inside the fortress.

The room felt like two different worlds; outside, the autumn air was crisp and clear, while inside, it was filled with mist and warm and comfortable.

This is a single bathroom, with a bathtub about two meters wide and three meters long, where a man is comfortably soaking in the tub.

However, from Captain Hudson's perspective, all he could see was a head as smooth as an egg...

People generally consider long hair beautiful, and the thicker and shinier it is, the more beautiful it is. In pursuit of beauty, many people even spend a lot of money to buy wigs.

Therefore, there is only one situation that can cause a man to become bald.

That is, he tragically went bald, and in despair, shaved off the rest of his hair completely.

Judging from this small incident, his heart must be as cold and ruthless as iron.

"Colonel," Captain Hudson reported, "the pontoon bridge is ready."

The bald man, referred to as "Colonel," nodded without saying a word.

"Lieutenant Woods has selected a few locations for building the bridge. Would you like to take a look?"

"You guys go ahead and do your research." The bald colonel slowly stretched his shoulders. "By the way, what's that kid from Tiefeng County been up to lately?"

Captain Hudson's expression was complicated: "According to our informant, the rebel leader Montagne has recently been... accumulating wealth."

"Making money? Tell me about it." The bald colonel suddenly became interested.

He turned to look at Lieutenant Hudson, and a face with half of it destroyed appeared in Hudson's eyes.

A huge, dark red scar covered his left cheek, as if someone had blown his left face apart and then pieced it back together.

No matter how many times Captain Hudson saw that scar, it still filled him with genuine fear.

How the colonel survived such severe injuries is even more intriguing.

Unfortunately, the bald man never talked about it, and no one dared to ask.

"It's said he coerced donations from the merchants of Gévordan. He also created a lot of registered bonds, forcing the merchants of Gévordan to subscribe to them. Anyway, it caused quite a stir in the city." Captain Hudson sighed helplessly, "He really brought shame to the Army."

The bald colonel laughed loudly, and the water trembled in response.

Instead, he defended the rebel leader: "There's nothing he can do. Tiefeng County is too poor. He needs to support his troops but has no money, so he can only squeeze money from the merchants."

“Veneta people,” Captain Hudson chuckled.

"Is there any other intelligence? He can't just be busy making money, can he?"

"The rebel leader Montagne is still repairing the city walls and digging deep trenches. It seems he intends to fight us head-on in Gevadan."

“He has few soldiers, so holding the city and defending it is the most reasonable strategy.” The bald colonel clicked his tongue and said, “However, his determination to retreat into his shell is somewhat troublesome.”

Captain Hudson scoffed: "I don't think he's any good. I heard that the first thing he did after capturing Zhevodan was to bring his wife into the city. The commander is a complete pleasure-seeker; how could the troops possibly be any fighting force?"

"So how did Ronald lose?" the bald colonel asked with a sneer.

Captain Hudson was speechless, carefully choosing his words: "Reckless, underestimating the enemy, bad luck..."

The bald colonel laughed again: "Why don't you just say Ronald is a piece of trash?"

Captain Hudson looked embarrassed.

“But Ronald isn’t a good-for-nothing, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to become the military commander of a county with the rank of major.” The bald colonel scratched his head and pondered, “Besides, judging from that kid’s tax resistance declaration, he doesn’t seem like someone who craves material pleasures.”

"To be honest, I don't think it's right either. He comes from Hailan, how could he start indulging in pleasure as soon as he entered Revodan? But judging from his behavior, he has indeed become corrupt."

The bald colonel smiled slightly: "Perhaps they're deliberately trying to mislead us."

"That is indeed a possibility."

"But it doesn't matter." The bald colonel comfortably lay back in the water. "He only has a little over a thousand soldiers, and they're all prisoners. Eight battalions attacking from both sides, no matter how much he wants to do something, it's all in vain."

Captain Hudson nodded.

Then he added, "Moreover, intelligence indicates that there is severe power struggle within the rebel army. It seems that the rebel army's fighting strength has further weakened."

"Infighting?" The bald colonel raised an eyebrow. "This is nothing! And they're already playing power games?"

"Yes, it was infighting. The rebel leader Montagne sidelined the rebel commanders [Bard of Gerard] and [Richard Mason]. He stripped them of their military command and sent them to relocate displaced people."

Another rebel commander, Andrea Cellini, has been out of the public eye for a long time, presumably killed in internal fighting. The rebels are now entirely under the dictatorship of Winters Montagne, whose youthful arrogance and inability to share power is understandable.

The bald colonel paid no attention to anything else; his brow furrowed, he pressed, "Relocating refugees? What's going on?"

“The informant reports that Montagne is driving the refugees around Gevodan to the southwest of Iron Peak County. He has sidelined Bard and Mason from the command structure to do this.”

The bald colonel suddenly stood up from the water, ignoring that he was naked: "Information, show it to me."

Captain Hudson, used to this, had already looked away. He took out a copied letter and handed it to the colonel.

The bald colonel opened the window, ignoring the chill of the autumn wind, and squinted as he carefully read the intelligence report by the light from outside.

After a while, he closed the window and handed the letter back to Captain Hudson.

"No wonder they're sending troops to fight him even in the fall and winter." The bald colonel sighed deeply. "If we don't act now, he'll become a force to be reckoned with."

"what do you mean?"

"Draft a letter to Colonel Ziber Zoltan." The bald colonel stepped out of the bathhouse: "Expedite the deployment."

"Ahead of schedule? In advance of when?"

"The sooner the better." The bald colonel's eyes widened, his left cheek muscles stiffening uncontrollably, making his expression somewhat ferocious. "That kid sent countless scouts over. He knows better than we do when we're ready. If we're going to fight, we need to be quick, while the weather's still warm, and catch him off guard!"

……

……

Zhevodan, officers' quarters.

Because Winters allowed Major Ronald's family to continue living in the garrison officer's residence, Anna and Catherine had to temporarily stay in the unmarried officer's quarters.

Anna had an account book in front of her, and she was resting her chin on her hand, writing and calculating.

Winters is desperately short of manpower. He has plenty of people who can do physical labor, but he can count the number of people who can do intellectual work on two hands.

He didn't even have subordinates who could accurately measure the land and calculate the area. The allocation of land to soldiers was still a crude model of "distributing land, livestock, and grain to military families, and letting them plant as much as they could."

Therefore, Anna is currently in charge of Winters' private accounts, the accounts of the new garrison, and all public accounts.

No one but her can control her.

Catherine paced back and forth in the room, sighing, which made Anna uneasy as well.

The newly established province is located on the frontier, and its people are conservative. Urban customs are even more restrictive of unmarried women than those in rural areas.

Catherine's time in Ghevorden wasn't as easy as it had been in Wolf Town. "If you're free, Kate, come help me with the accounts," Anna couldn't help but say.

“Alright, Madame Montagne,” Catherine leaned against her sister, “you fake madam are more concerned than the real one.”

Anna's cheeks flushed instantly.

Her current public identity is Captain Montagne's wife.

Cohabitation before marriage is too shocking, but if it's a wife, then no one will find it strange.

Although, procedurally speaking, the two were not only not engaged, but had not even formally met each other's parents.

"It's not that I care," Anna said, blushing. "It's just that there are too many accounts, and I'm finding it hard to manage them all."

"Then let's ignore it." Catherine said coquettishly, "It's one thing for you to manage his private accounts, but to let you manage his public accounts too? That's too stingy. Can't you just hire a few accountants?"

Anna sighed softly, "He can't hire anyone."

“Yes, what decent company would work for him?” Catherine said, getting angrier as she spoke. “He only has you as a backup.”

The wind gently pattered against the windowpane. Anna put down her quill, hugged her sister, and said, "You should go back to Wolf Town. It's safe there."

"Didn't he urge you to go back to Wolf Town? Why aren't you leaving?"

“If I leave, things will become even more chaotic here.” Anna shook her head. “If everyone treats me as Madame Montaigne, then I really will become Madame Montaigne. If I leave now, everyone will think that his will has collapsed.”

Catherine gave a soft snort, a hint of jealousy in her voice as she complained, "Why haven't you ever been this nice to me?"

"Who said that?" Anna flicked her sister's forehead hard and said with a smile, "Haven't I been putting up with you all this time?"

Catherine jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and asked angrily, "Put up with me?"

"Fine, fine, that's because you've been patient with me."

"If you don't leave, I won't leave either!" Catherine said defiantly. "Haven't you been putting up with me all this time? Then you can keep putting up with me!"

“You can stay, but you need to find something to do.” Anna offered a positive example: “You should learn from Ms. Michal; she lives such a fulfilling life every day.”

“You want me to learn from that wild girl?” Catherine always felt particularly aggrieved whenever her sister mentioned Scarlett: “She spends all day in the stables, she doesn’t look like a proper daughter of a respectable family.”

Since that fierce conflict, Catherine stopped using the term "little slut" and instead used "wild girl" to refer to her enemy.

"No, she's doing very well, and I envy her."

Catherine was furious: "You...you...you make her your sister! Then you sisters can fight over a man, that would be great!"

Anna remained unmoved. She pondered for a moment, then suddenly took out a piece of paper, hastily wrote a few lines, folded it, sealed it, and gently rang the bell, calling, "Mrs. Medellin?"

Not long after, Mrs. Medellin, her hair tied back with a black veil, pushed open the door: "Miss Navarre?"

Mrs. Mitchell stayed at the estate, but she was worried about Anna, Catherine, and Scarlett, so she asked Mrs. Medellin and another nanny to take care of the three of them.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” Anna handed the sealed letter to Mrs. Medellin: “Please deliver this letter to Mr. Charles, Mr. Winters’s bodyguard. Also, please call a carriage.”

Mrs. Medellin was a widow, and according to custom, she could appear in public and do things more easily.

She took the letter, nodded, and then closed the door and left.

Anna stood up, took off her sleeves, and said to her sister, "Alright, we should get dressed up too, we're going out to visit some people."

"Who are you going to see?" Catherine asked in surprise.

They had no relatives or friends in Gevadan, and the nearest branch of the Navarre Trading Company was in Maplestone.

Anna preferred quiet, which meant that Catherine rarely had the opportunity to participate in Gévord's social activities.

“The sheer number of these accounts is indeed gradually exceeding my capacity. And it will only increase in the future.” Anna made up her mind: “Since I can’t hire an accountant, I’ll start my own training courses.”

"What's wrong with you?" Catherine was terrified by her sister's idea. "We're both women. How can we have casual contact with men outside? Not even Mr. M's subordinates."

“Of course I didn’t teach her myself,” Anna reassured her sister with a smile.

Catherine let out a long sigh of relief, then raised an eyebrow: "Then who will teach?"

“Just hire a senior accountant,” Anna patted her sister on the back. “Let’s go visit Mrs. Priskin. It’s a good opportunity for me to make an appearance.”

……

Meanwhile, in the stables, Pierre was saying goodbye to his sister.

Scarlett is helping Changsheng drink milk. Bottayun doesn't bring his foal, and when he sees Changsheng, he even kicks him with his hooves.

Xiao Changsheng only drank breast milk for seven days before Botayun completely weaned him.

Left with no other choice, Winters found several "nannies" for Little Long Life: a mare with a foal and two sheep.

The mare with the foal was extremely irritable and wouldn't let the foal nurse.

Currently, Xiao Changsheng survives entirely on goat milk, and the milk-producing ewes are not even as tall as him.

Therefore, the ewe had to be lifted up first before the baby sheep could drink, and someone had to assist with the whole process.

Winters had previously helped with this task, but now that Winters is tied up with military duties, it has all fallen on Scarlett's shoulders.

"A foal raised on goat's milk, can you still ride it?" Pierre joked.

Scarlett frowned and glared at her brother. "Why can't we ride? Changsheng is perfectly fine."

"I'm leaving."

"Go."

Pierre's lips parted, and he finally managed to say with difficulty, "The centurion told me to go find the blacksmith. My father is over there too; maybe I can find him."

Scarlett didn't turn around, tears streaming down her chin. She tried to sound calm as she said, "Go. Don't be sad if you can't find him. If Dad is alive, he will come back."

“Yes, Dad is much better than me,” Pierre said with a smile. “I brought Vasya along too; maybe we can find Uncle Sergei as well.”

Scarlett wiped away her tears with the back of her hand: "You all need to be careful."

“I’m most worried about you.” Pierre spoke in an older brother’s tone for the first time: “You should not quarrel with young Navarre again.”

Scarlett turned around angrily and threw the goat milk in her hand at her brother.

“If that fox-eyed girl hadn’t bothered me!” Scarlett said, feeling wronged. “Why would I have gone out of my way to provoke her? You’re on her side, why don’t you go find her and be her sister!”

With that, Scarlett angrily grabbed a pitchfork.

Pierre was thus driven out of the stable.

As he walked into the courtyard, he ran into Mrs. Medellin, who was out delivering a letter.

The two walked one after the other to a secluded spot and embraced tightly.

[This chapter contains a map; if you don't see it, it means the author is still drawing it.]
The popularity of wigs is indeed inextricably linked to baldness.
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments.]
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(End of this chapter)