Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 548 Receiving

[Xilin Province]

[Stone Lake City]

Little Bartz was getting impatient waiting.

But it can't be entirely his fault - he got up before dawn to prepare, started waiting early in the morning, and as it was almost noon, the "guest" still didn't show up. Anyone would have some complaints.

What's more, little Baltz is only fifteen years old, an age when he lacks patience.

In comparison, John Baltz, the biological father of little Baltz, is very calm.

The other citizen representatives who attended the welcoming ceremony had already hidden in the awning, only John Baltz was still standing by the roadside, like a stone sculpture, staring into the distance motionlessly.

Every time the representatives under the awning glanced at John Baltz's back, they couldn't help but wonder if the mayor had been sunburned to death.

But it was clear that John Baltz could tolerate more heat than the citizens of Stone Lake City imagined.

So it is no wonder that little Baltz is just the mayor's son, while John Baltz can become the mayor of Stone Lake City.

……

The sun was scorching and even though we had set up a canopy, it still couldn't block the heat wave.

The citizen representatives, who had dressed in formal attire for today's welcome ceremony, were all sweating profusely and their clothes were soaked.

In particular, the two young ladies who were chosen to "offer bread and salt" and were dressed in full "traditional costumes" were on the verge of heat stroke.

If the people you want to welcome don't come, then the people who come to welcome them won't dare to leave.

Caught in a dilemma, many citizen representatives no longer cared about their decency. They took off their hats and coats, wearing only underwear, and lay under the shade of the awning, staring at the tarpaulin with lifeless eyes.

Many representatives were accompanied by one or even several servants waving fans and sweating profusely.

Finally, there was movement on the horizon.

John Baltz, who was looking forward to the bright moon after the clouds had cleared, burst into tears.

Like a haunted stone statue in a cemetery, Mayor Baltz suddenly came to life. He turned and ran to the awning, gesticulating and shouting:

"Here it comes! Here it comes! Get up! Get up!"

The dying citizen representatives struggled to get up and put on their dresses in a hurry with admirable perseverance.

The band, which had been put together after searching brothels, taverns and churches throughout the city, finally had the opportunity to show their talents.

The scattered "Ave Maria" echoed inside and outside the city gate, and everyone who heard it was reminded of sad memories and wept sadly.

It’s a pity that the musicians had been hungry for the whole morning, and the sound they played was weak and not loud enough to reach the ears of Heaven, otherwise it would have made the Virgin Mary shed tears.

The reason why "Ave Maria" was chosen to be played at the welcome ceremony is also very particular.

The Red Rose's music certainly couldn't be performed, and there was no guarantee that the Blue Rose's minor key would work, so Mayor John Baltz thought about it and decided that church music was the safest.

Moreover, even if not all the musicians can play the hymns, at least they are familiar with them, which makes rehearsal easier.

So, I chose "Ave Maria".

At this moment, listening to the noise coming from the direction of the band, the mayor was extremely glad that he had chosen the simplest "Ave Maria".

But the most important thing at the moment is obviously not to train the band.

But the flag.

Mayor Baltz held up his hat and belt, ran to the city gate in two steps, and shouted at the top of the wall, "Flag! Get the flag ready!"

Just now, when the "Ave Maria" sounded, the flag bearer who was secretly dozing off was woken up.

Hearing the mayor's voice, the flag bearer quickly poked his head out from the battlement and said, "Don't worry! Everything is ready! As soon as the people over there arrive, I will raise the flag!"

"Good, good, good," John Bartz praised repeatedly, and could not help reminding, "Don't make a mistake with the flag! Look carefully before you raise it!"

……

There is one particularly good thing about the flag of the Republic of Palatine. No matter which republic it is - the Castle of Kings, Hongchuan or Maplestone City - they all still use the four-quadrant flag of the old republic.

  The only difference is the color:

Hongchuan still uses a white cross on a blue background;

  The Kings' Castles changed to a red background with a white cross to distinguish themselves from the former.

As for the new settlers, they are said to use cyan as their base color.

Thankfully, this saved the tailors in Stone Lake City a lot of trouble.

The mayor was in a hurry, so the tailors dug out the blue flag of the old republic from the bottom of the box, repaired the parts damaged by rats, and then rinsed it repeatedly with lime and vinegar, turning the "blue" flag into a "green" flag.

However, the tailors had never seen the military flag of the new settlers with their own eyes, so naturally they did not understand how “blue” the “blue” flag of the new settlers was.

To be on the safe side, the tailors in Shihu City made several "cyan" flags of different shades.

However, whether the most "accurate" flag can be raised depends on the ability of the flag bearer.

……

On the city gate, the flag bearer rubbed his sleepy eyes and assured the mayor: "Don't worry about our pair of eyes!"

John Baltz said "yes" three times again.

Just after giving instructions to the flag bearer, another troublesome matter immediately came to Mayor Baltz.

"Dad, this is bad!" Little Bartz ran over in a hurry, "Miss Danny fainted! Miss Margit can't stand up either!"

Old Bartz was stunned for a moment before he remembered that "Danni" and "Margit" were the two girls responsible for offering bread and salt.

He hurriedly took his son to the pergola, and from a distance, he saw a group of representatives gathered around the pergola.

Seeing the mayor coming, the representatives silently made way for him.

As they walked through the crowd, the Bartz father and son felt like they were being stabbed in the back. They could sense the resentment of the delegates without even asking.

In the middle of the crowd, two pale girls were lying on the ground, and several elderly women were looking after them.

"Heatstroke!" John Baltz came to the conclusion at a glance, and he took the opportunity to drive the representatives away, "Disperse! Disperse! Don't block the wind! Do you want to suffocate people?"

The human wall reluctantly stepped back, making some space.

"Take that thing off and let the two children breathe," John Bartz pointed at the corsets of the two girls and urged them, "and find them some salt water."

An older woman gave the mayor a reproachful look: "How can you let a lady take off her clothes here?"

"Hey! I was confused!" John Bartz slapped his forehead and changed his words, "Then take it away, take it home quickly!"

Several older women called their personal maids and helped lift the two girls onto the carriage.

Watching the carriage rumbling towards the city, John Bartz suddenly felt something was wrong.

"It's bad!" The mayor slapped his thigh again, "Who will offer salt and bread now?"

……

"Don't bother with this useless stuff," the bearded man in the lead had a heavy accent, rude manners, and a look of impatience on his face.

As soon as they met, he told the mayor straight out of the gate: "We are not going into the city."

Judging from the other party's style, John Baltz guessed that the bearded man was the real leader.

Because the Hooked Nose who had come to negotiate the acceptance process earlier would follow the Bearded Man, half a horse length behind. The Bearded Man and the Hooked Nose only brought a dozen riders, and their clothes were not in good order.

In comparison, the welcome ceremony held by the citizens of Shihu City seemed too grand and formal.

The bearded man and the hook-nosed man had no intention of "having fun with the people". They reined in their horses from a distance and asked the mayor to come forward and talk to them alone.

In the smoke and dust in the distance, you can still vaguely see some human figures.

However, the latter neither stopped nor showed any intention of approaching Shihu City. It seemed that he wanted to go directly around the city.

Baltz was very happy to hear that the other party had no intention of entering the city.

But verbally, he still had to pretend: "The gentlemen of this city have prepared a banquet for you, please..."

"[Vulgar curse words]! Why are you talking so much? Didn't I tell you to stop doing this useless stuff?" The bearded man rudely interrupted the mayor and threw down a folded piece of toilet paper. "Follow this list and prepare everything for us before tonight."

John Baltz cursed in his heart but had to put on a smile. He bent down, picked up the list and glanced at it quickly.

He was shocked by the huge amount of money the other party demanded.

However, although the quantity of each item in the list is large, it is just within the capabilities of Shihu City, which is very tricky.

Baltz decided to bargain with the other party. He put on a humble smile like a petty bourgeois, hoping that the other party would feel pity.

"Your Excellency," said Mayor Baltz pathetically, "we are truly ..."

"Stop talking nonsense," the bearded man whipped the mayor, "If you can't hand it over, we'll go into the city."

The citizen representatives suddenly became agitated, but no one dared to act rashly.

John Baltz felt a burning pain on his neck where he was whipped. He waved his hands at the crowd behind him and continued to plead despite the pain: "We really are..."

"Snapped!"

Another whip hit the mayor so hard that he staggered.

Little Bartz couldn't stand it any longer, so he rushed to his father from the crowd and asked with red eyes, "Why did you hit me?"

"Little thing," the bearded man grinned and drew his saber, "I think you don't want to live anymore."

"Okay, okay, don't use the knife," the hook-nosed man came up to smooth things over. He glanced at the boy, then looked at the mayor and asked with a smile, "Your son?"

John Baltz said nothing.

"We didn't ask you for the things on the list. Our superiors asked us for them," the hook-nosed man spoke slowly, sounding more terrifying than the bearded man. He persuaded the mayor like a devil, "We don't ask you for the things on the list alone. The things belong to everyone, but the son is yours."

"Okay," John Bartz gritted his teeth, "Give us some time to prepare."

"Before tonight," the bearded man sheathed his knife and said sinisterly.

John Bartz was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Before tonight."

"That's it," the hook-nosed man clapped his hands and said with a smile, "give us some bread and salt to try."

John Baltz winked at his son.

Little Baltz clenched his fists and walked towards the city wall, looking back every few steps.

A moment later, he walked out of the crowd carrying a huge silver tray covered with exquisitely embroidered silk. On the silk was a round loaf of bread that was so beautiful that it was hard to touch it, with silvery-white salt in the middle.

Little John Bartz humiliated himself by raising the silver tray above his head and offering a welcome to the bearded man and the hooked nose.

The bearded man frowned, not intending to touch it at all, "Why is it a boy offering himself? Where is the woman?"

"Boys are fine too," the hook-nosed man grinned lewdly, broke off a small piece of bread, poked it in the salt dish a few times, and put it into his mouth with reluctance.

On the city wall, the flag bearer who had just made the promise was dumbfounded. Faced with a whole pile of green flags, he didn't know what to do.

  Because the visitors didn't bring any flag of any color.
-

As Lieutenant Colonel William Lodewick had warned, without the deterrence of the federal troops, the local towns that had been loyal to the Kings Castle on the surface were too lazy to even put on an act.

As soon as the flag of the "Xinkendi Rebels" appeared on the horizon, they quickly opened the door and surrendered.

From Maplestone City to the Castle of Kings, no town along the way chose to continue fighting for the Red Rose.

Indeed, most citizens viewed the "New Republic" mentioned by the New Reclamation Army as just another military government.

After all, if we have to talk about the degree of control and influence by the army, the Xinkendi Province is even more weird than the Jiangbei Province - Jiangbei Province at least does not have a "monster" like the Xinkendi Legion.

Not to mention that the colors of the flags of the New Cultivators and Blue Rose are similar.

Therefore, the urban middle class has some resistance to "another Hongchuan military government".

But this did not prevent the autonomous towns across Xilin Province from lowering the red rose flag overnight and raising the old style four-quadrant flag with a blue background and a white cross again.

The urban residents of Xilin Province, who claimed to live in the heart of the Land of Galloping Horses, cleverly hid their contempt for the new country bumpkins, put on hypocritical smiles on their faces, and took the initiative to open their doors to welcome the "new rulers."

In their attitude towards the newly reclaimed land army, the peasants were much more honest than the citizens.

As soon as the smoke appeared on the horizon, the farmers immediately drove their livestock into the fields and skillfully hid in the forest with their valuables.

It can be said that peasant families who did not master this process by heart have either gone bankrupt or been "screened out" during the turmoil of the past two years.

In general, the Xilin people were both fearful and wary of the newly reclaimed land army.

So, what is the attitude of the Xinkendi Army towards the Xilin people?

Answer: The Xinkendi army had no time to express its stance to the Xilin people.

Geisa Adonis, who finally realized what he had missed, developed a distorted compensatory psychology, just like all normal people.

If people didn't have to sleep, Geisa would have wanted the troops heading towards the Castle of the Kings to travel twenty-four hours a day.

The battalion of the Baishan County Regiment, which served as the vanguard, had no time to formally take over the towns along the way.

Even when passing by human settlements, they tried to avoid them as much as possible - because they didn't want their unkempt appearance to affect the image of the new army in the minds of the Xilin people.

In most cases of so-called "reception", the battalion commander would take a few company commanders to express his intention, leaving the bewildered citizen representatives to the friendly forces that would follow up.

The newly reclaimed land army had no time to take over the towns along the road from Fengshi City to Zhuwangbao, let alone those towns in the hinterland of Xilin Province.

Such a chaotic situation provides some people with ulterior motives with opportunities to take advantage of it.

Some people set up checkpoints on the highway in the name of the New Reclamation Corps, and some people intimidated and extorted people in the name of the New Reclamation Corps.

There was even a group of lawless bandits who pretended to be passing new troops and demanded money and food from Shihu City.

What’s even more incredible is that the gang of bandits actually managed to get the things from the citizens of Shihu City.

When Geisa Adonis heard about this, he was so angry that his nose was crooked.

But he couldn't deal with these messy things now.

All of Geisa Adonis's attention was focused on the heart of Plato's galloping horse - the Castle of Kings.

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