Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 426 The Banquet (Part 1)

[Tiefeng County]
[Thervordan]
A week after news of the "New Reclamation Legion" and the New Reclamation Expeditionary Army jointly sending troops to Mirror Lake County reached Revordan, the Red Rose's messenger was finally able to meet with the "Iron Peak County Protector" again.

Winters Montagne, in his private capacity, invited Majors Mel and Nevets to his private residence for dinner, much to the delight of the two majors.

Majors Mel and Nevets have been visiting for some time, but have received lukewarm treatment.

Although the authorities in Tiefeng County did their best to meet their living needs, they strictly prohibited them from leaving their residences at will and from contacting anyone other than their designated hosts. This was ostensibly protection, but in reality, it was house arrest.

Winters Montagne had only one formal meeting with the two majors, and did not give any substantive response.

Major Mel and Major Nevets demonstrated full understanding, magnanimity, and confidence in all of the above.

After Major Mel informed Winters Montagne of the price offered by Red Rose, he stopped pressuring Captain Montagne to meet with him.

He spent his days leisurely playing cards, reading, and sunbathing, occasionally going hunting with his staff, as if his real purpose in coming to Iron Peak County was to relax and unwind, and he didn't care at all which side Winters Montagne would side with.

Days passed by, and when the fighting reignited in the newly reclaimed lands, Revodan remained remarkably calm, like an isolated island in a stormy sea: shops continued to operate as usual, markets were held on schedule, construction sites on the south bank were still noisy from morning till night, and construction workers could still buy cheap flour after work and also buy a small piece of candy for their daughters.

A week after news of the troop deployment from Maplestone reached Iron Peak County, Major Mel and Major Nevets were invited to a dinner at Winters Montagne's house.

The Tiefeng County Garrison consists of eight officers' residences, neatly arranged on both sides of a stone-paved road that can accommodate two carriages side by side, facing each other across the street, and protected by a wall as tall as a person and a squad of guards.

Winters’ residence is located on the southeast corner of this small neighborhood; it’s not the biggest or best house.

The largest and best house, located in the center of the block, originally belonged to Major Ronald's family.

After the Battle of Bloodsludge ended and Major Ronald's family moved out, the house became vacant. Winters had intended to move in, but Major Cyber ​​beat him to it.

After arriving in Ghevodan, Major Seber brazenly moved into the residence that originally belonged to Major Ronald, and ordered the other "ransom" officers to occupy all the remaining vacant residences as well.

As a result, Winters had to continue living in the small house, so his dining room could only fit one table, and for this reason he did not invite anyone else to join him—at least that's what he told Major Mel and Major Nevets when he told the story of why he didn't invite other guests.

"Captain Montagne lives a truly frugal and simple life." Major Mel looked around the restaurant's furnishings—there was nothing there except a few paintings of unknown origin.

He politely offered his compliments: "However, given your current status, it is truly a bit shabby and unfair for you to live here."

"It might be a little shabby, but it's not that I feel wronged." Winters, sitting at the head of the table, leaned forward and laboriously carried back a clay pot containing stewed beef from the other end of the table, serving himself the food: "The house is small, but cozy."

Anna, carrying another main course into the restaurant, saw this scene, smiled, and subtly kicked Winters' chair, silently warning him—be mindful of table manners!
Winters immediately and obediently put the earthenware pot back in its original place and arranged it properly.

Anna glanced apologetically at the three guests and went back to the kitchen.

As soon as Anna left, Winters brought the clay pot back to himself.

"Sorry, it's a habit." Winters apologized, but his hands showed no sign of stopping. He gestured with his chin toward the third guest and said half-jokingly, "This pot of beef is too close to him. If I don't hurry, I probably won't get a single piece."

The third guest at the other end of the long table, Axel of Orange, chuckled: "Shouldn't I be the one saying that? Back at the academy, I was starving every night. You should at least share the same responsibility as the Provost."

The old-fashioned but timeless Army Academy joke brought a knowing smile to the four people sitting around the table.

"Back when you were in school," Major Mel asked with a wistful look in his eyes, smiling, "was it the Chief of General Affairs or Lieutenant Colonel Morton?"

“No, it’s been changed to Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey.” Winterston paused for a moment. “But the food is still just as bad.”

Major Nevets, who had been mostly silent, cleared his throat and began, "I remember that story. A guy who had just enrolled from outside the school was eating in the cafeteria for the first time. He pulled a rat's tail out of his soup and screamed in terror, 'A rat! There's rat meat!' Then the students next to him said to him..."

Winters, Axel, and Major Mel all said in unison, "Then why don't you hurry up and eat it?"

After saying that, the four of them burst into laughter, slapping the table as they laughed, causing cups and plates to bounce around.

Anna carried a soup bowl from the kitchen into the dining room. Seeing the four people at the table laughing heartily, she smiled slightly and asked, "What are you talking about? Why are you so happy?"

“We’re talking about things only we understand.” Winters smiled as he took the soup bowl and placed it on the table.

The main dishes were all served. Winters glanced at Major Mel and Major Nevets and nodded slightly: "Seniors, please forgive me for the limited resources and poor hospitality."

"Only foxes and wolves complain that the food their host provides is not plentiful," Major Nevets said, quoting a Platonic proverb. "It is we who should apologize to you for not bringing gifts."

Major Mel smiled and nodded his thanks.

In fact, Major Mel and Major Nevets didn't care at all how many plates were on the table, or even whether there were any plates on the table at all.

Winters Montagne hosted the two for a home-cooked meal—a gesture that conveyed a friendliness that pleased them more than any delicious food.

Not to mention that Winters Montagne also invited a special guest—Mr. Alpha of Shovel Harbor, Second Lieutenant Axel Orange of the United Provinces Army.

As one of the "rebel" leaders, being formally invited to the "tribune's" home was clearly uncomfortable for Axel. Although he maintained his composure, his eyes and tone betrayed a hint of embarrassment and confusion. Major Mel, on the other hand, remained composed and chatted amiably. He knew everything from the Empire's royal secrets to the most popular plays in the provinces; from the history of Venetia's rise from a city to a nation to which Palatine's horse farm had the best chance of winning the championship this year, he could talk about anything.

Even the bawdy jokes that he couldn't avoid at the dinner table were handled with finesse, ensuring that the only lady didn't feel embarrassed while still making Anna laugh along.

It was as if he had no idea why Axel was there; as if the regime he served was not the one that made the decision to "send envoys to Iron Peak County for peace talks while simultaneously planting spies in Shovel Harbor".

……

Major Mel's composure was certainly not without reason.

Since mid-May, when Maplestone City launched its attack and publicly announced in the name of the "New Reclamation Army Headquarters" that it would expel the "Alpad rebels" and recapture Mirror Lake County, the power struggle within the New Reclamation Province has taken on a one-sided momentum.

The punitive forces of the [Newly Reclaimed Land Corps] and the [Newly Reclaimed Land Expeditionary Army] launched an offensive along the provincial highway, advancing triumphantly and unstoppably.

The Blue Rose army's defenses were easily breached, and the towns of Mirrorlake County, which had previously declared their allegiance together, were now pledging allegiance to the Grand Council of Kingsburg once again.

Every time a village or town is recaptured, the Legion Headquarters in Maplestone City sends out hordes of messengers to report the victory to Vone County, Leiqun County, Bianjiang County, Baishan County—and of course, Tiefeng County as well.

Because of the grand victory announcement from Maplestone City, even hunters living alone in remote mountains and forests in the newly reclaimed province vaguely heard from traveling merchants exchanging goods that "Mirror Lake County is at war".
Even illiterate old women in the countryside knew to some extent that "the government's army" was winning victory after victory.
As for those who closely follow the war situation because of their own interests, there is even less to say.

The same was true in Tiefeng County—it is no exaggeration to say that the civilians of Tiefeng County were far more concerned about the war than the civilians of the other four counties.

On the ridges of the refugee farms, in the workshops of the forge village, and by the fireplace of the Gévordan mansion, well-informed people were talking animatedly.

The audience reacted with varying attitudes, some worried, some visibly fearful, some applauding, and some secretly delighted, due to differences in interests or emotions.

Currently, apart from Maplestone City's directly administered area and Mirror Lake County, which is currently at war, the other five counties that have not yet been affected by the war have all tightened their borders.

Additional patrols were deployed and double the number of checkpoints were set up, making the counties, which were already sealed off from the inside, even more impenetrable.

However, the latest news about the war continued to spread, through the air, in the wind, and with the rain, to the newly reclaimed lands, Plato, and even the allied nations.

Compared to the strict defenses of other counties, Tiefeng County chose a compromise approach to deal with the propaganda offensive of the "Legion Headquarters".

The Iron Peak Garrison does not allow messengers sent by the Legion Headquarters to report victories in various towns, but the Iron Peak Garrison will truthfully relay the contents of the Legion Headquarters' victory announcements—using the same channels used to issue the "Communication Announcement" during the Battle of Bloodstains.

Moreover, the whimsical Winters even included his own commentary on the "Legion's Victory" in the communications bulletin.

Captain Montagne, using the pseudonym "Elec, the engineer officer," helped listeners and readers with no military knowledge to sift through the hype in the victory reports, analyze the actual battle situation, make future predictions, and occasionally add some maps to aid his explanations.

Winters's article was well-received, but after two issues, he felt deeply exhausted. He instinctively went to find Mason, only to leave dejectedly.

Although he couldn't get help from senior student Mason, Winters eventually managed to hand over this "glorious yet arduous" task to someone else.

Starting from the third issue, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica took over the battle report commentary section of the "Communications Report".

At first, the lieutenant colonel scolded Winters with a dark expression, but after taking the pen, he wrote in great detail and with great care.

To be precise, the lieutenant colonel did not "take over the pen" nor "write articles".

Winters hired two scribes for the lieutenant colonel and even provided him with a comfortable rocking chair. Therefore, most battle report reviews were completed by having the lieutenant colonel recline in the chair and the scribes take notes.

In his commentary on the battle report, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica bluntly pointed out:
First of all, the so-called "recaptured towns" listed in the Legion's victory report are mostly small villages and small fortified villages. Even considering that his map has not been updated for more than ten years, it is impossible for all those villages and fortified villages to suddenly become "towns".
Secondly, Jinghu County only has two small mountains, "Yinque" and "Qingmeng," with the rest being hills and plains. Therefore, apart from the narrow passage between the two mountains, Jinghu County has almost no natural defenses. However, the "victory report" never mentioned any fighting at the mountain pass, which can only mean one thing—the "Alpad rebels" deliberately abandoned the outer, dangerous areas and chose to clench their fist. The lieutenant colonel boldly speculated that this fist wouldn't be placed anywhere else, but only in Bazenaul;

Finally, the lieutenant colonel gave a very, very, very restrained assessment of the two armies' deployments and strategies, as well as the commanders of the "punitive expedition," Colonel Sanel and Colonel Chloe—of course, this was "restraint" in Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's eyes, and he still used the pseudonym "engineering officer Elek."

Besides finding new content for Communications Report, Winters' other contribution to Communications Report was giving it a new name.

With a stroke of his pen, he crossed out the latter half of the "Communication Report" and changed it to "Communication"—both concise and ink-saving.

After the "Legion's Victory Report" and its accompanying commentary articles began to be relayed, within a few days, the special official gazette "Communications," issued to the general public, became the most fashionable item in Iron Peak County.

From morning till night, people would stand in front of bulletin boards throughout the county, either reading the newsletter themselves or asking others to read it for them. Some towns even had to assign people to guard the bulletin boards to prevent anyone from tearing the newsletter down in the middle of the night.

As for the small-sized issue of the "Communications" printed on inferior paper, it was in even greater demand than supply. Literate commoners eagerly circulated and copied it, and some copies even appeared on the desks of people in neighboring counties.

"Elec, the engineer officer," became the most mysterious figure in Iron Peak County, and everyone wanted to see his face.

……

Since war is the most pressing topic in the newly reclaimed lands, it is naturally a staple at the Montagne family's table, especially when someone deliberately steers the conversation toward it.

“According to the report of victory issued by the legion, it doesn’t seem like a major battle has been fought, and the advance of the Maplestone City troops wasn’t particularly fast.” Winters basically agreed with Lieutenant Colonel Jessica’s point of view. He fiddled with his spoon, a faint smile on his face, and looked at Major Mel: “What do you think, Major?”

[Although... that's all for today... ≡(▔﹏▔)≡]
[91, 124/100000]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments. Thank you everyone!]


(End of this chapter)