industrial lord

Chapter 523 It’s Too Early

"Come here quickly, there's chicken soup!"

As soon as the 32nd Regiment arrived at the shipyard's train station, Metzger invited everyone to eat.

Gauss walked to the large pots and saw chicken and chicken offal in them. He added some ginger and the aroma was very fragrant. He was very satisfied and said, "Not bad. You are amazing to get so many chickens."

Metzger called to the side, and a burly young man came over and introduced him to Gauss: "Chief of Staff, his name is Spike, he was my former soldier, and after he retired, he opened a chicken farm, and he has more chickens than the people in our entire regiment."

"When I came here in the morning, I happened to see him delivering goods. When he found out, he organized a fleet to deliver a lot of chickens, and the shipyard helped to kill the chickens and make soup."

Gauss looked at Spike, who was a head taller than him, patted his sturdy arm and said, "Good boy, thank you. I'll ask someone to issue you a certificate later."

The army and education are huge money-eating beasts, so Frederick came up with an idea that people and groups who participate in military support activities and donate to education can offset part of their taxes based on the amount.

Although the procedures and certifications are somewhat cumbersome, it is still affordable and many people are happy to do so.

Spike smiled and said to Gauss, "Sir, if the regiment needs to buy chicken in the future, just come to me. I just built a new chicken coop."

Gauss smiled and said to Metzger: "As expected of the soldiers you brought up, they know how to do business."

All the members of the 32nd Regiment had rushed here after lunch and had only eaten compressed biscuits on the way. Now they were extremely happy to have chicken soup and chicken, not to mention the extra large steamed bread made by the shipyard canteen.

Zikel asked Zopel in surprise: "Are the steamed breads here so big?"

Zopel replied: "Yes, working in the shipyard is no easier than training, so you have to eat more."

"This steam bread has lard in it, it tastes much better than the ones sold outside."

At this time, several trucks of happy water were delivered from the shipyard, one bottle for each person.

Zopel said thoughtfully, "It seems that the shipyard's business is good this year. The tax offset prepared in previous years is not enough."

The lights in the shipyard not far away were bright, illuminating the entire sky, and the business at work could be heard over here as well.

At this time, Krom said: "My son discovered that he could play with fire a few months ago. The teacher said that he was not very talented and suggested that he learn welding. He can go to a construction company or a car factory in the future."

"It's a pity that this place is all wood, otherwise I would let him come here in the future."

He had always heard from Zopel that the wages at the shipyard were high, and he became interested.

Zopel said to him, "Captain, future ships will be made of steel. When he grows up, it will probably be the same."

Someone nearby asked in surprise: "Can steel be used to make ships? Won't it sink?"

Without waiting for Zopel's answer, Krom looked down on the man and said, "I will ask the captain to let you go to the kitchen to help wash the pots and see if the iron pots can float on the water."

Not long after they had eaten and drunk their fill, a train carrying timber arrived along with the heavy snow.

Gauss immediately organized people to help.

There are many manual cranes on the station platform, facing each carriage. In the past, the shipyard's porters unloaded one car and then went to the next one. Tonight they can be dispersed to guide the soldiers to unload the cars at the same time.

The unloading of timber and loading of materials were completed quickly. Some people passed through in trucks, while the other part stayed overnight at the train station. Tomorrow morning, a civilian train would come here in advance to pick them up, and then they would depart normally at the train station in the nearby city.

The snow stopped when the sun rose, and the division's communications staff delivered the latest reports from the 32nd and 33rd Regiments to the canteen.

Eugene took a look at it, handed it to the division chief of staff with a smile, and continued eating breakfast.

Erich read it carefully and his face turned dark.

"The 33rd Regiment is doing great." He nodded in satisfaction. "Last night, we sent out an advance team to clear the snow on the road to ensure the rapid passage of the follow-up convoys."

"The logistics support along the way was also good. Hot soup was prepared in the villages along the way, and the campsites were also communicated in advance."

"Well, a place to rest has been arranged, and a doctor from a nearby hospital has been contacted, which is great."

"It snowed heavily last night, so the schedule allowed us to avoid marching in the snow, which was good."

It was obvious that the divisional chief of staff was very satisfied with the abilities of the officers of the 33rd Regiment. Everything was arranged in an orderly manner, even taking into account the treatment during the day of rest.

As for the report of the 32nd Regiment, Erich was too lazy to read it a second time. There was only one sentence on it: Our regiment has unimpeded progress, unimpeded progress.

He said to Erwin, "What the hell is Gauss doing? It's been a whole night and the action plan hasn't been reported yet."

Erwin quickly thought of an excuse: "The new recruits in our regiment have not received many night march trainings. Gauss and I have discussed the training plan in this regard before. He should take this opportunity to implement this training."

"Night marches are very busy, so it's normal that he can't spare the time for a while."

Erich just made a sound in his throat, as if accepting this statement.

He turned to Eugene and said, "Division Commander, I suggest that the Heijiabao troops pay more attention to the 32nd Regiment." Erich felt that the 32nd Regiment was too lax, and asked the Heijiabao troops to help them tighten their minds.

Eugene just ate his breakfast slowly and didn't answer immediately.

After a full five minutes, he said, "Forget it. Let's assign Heijiabao to the 33rd Regiment for the next two days."

Walter was a little surprised, wondering how our group had offended the leader, and why those guys from Heijiabao came to trouble him.

Erich didn't understand either, and looked at Eugene, waiting for an explanation.

Eugene just said calmly: "Gauss's reaction seems abnormal, but it seems normal to me."

"I think they must have judged that the Heijiabao team would come to harass them. Heijiabao can only get intelligence from the division headquarters, so they hid their route of action."

"According to my judgment, they will report their location to the division headquarters after they are far enough away from the barracks. However, their next destination may not be the right one. They may find an excuse to go somewhere else."

Others felt that there was some truth in this. Everyone present had been tortured to death by the Heijiabao troops.

Erich said, "I will go to the 32nd Regiment in the morning and follow their movements to see what Gauss is up to."

Eugene nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take Erwin to the 33rd Regiment, and you take Walter to the 32nd Regiment. We can learn from each other."

The division headquarters is not far from the barracks of each regiment, but there are many large trees in the area that supply the shipyard, blocking the view. Otherwise, the lights on the road would have been seen when the 32nd Regiment left the barracks and headed for the shipyard in the south last night.

Erich walked around the roads and paths north of the 32nd Regiment's camp, but he didn't see a single person until noon, only some rabbits, pheasants and foxes.

During the lunch break, Erich said with some surprise, "That's right. It seems that they hide during the day and come out at night. They hide and rest during the day."

Walter also sighed: "They hid really well. Although it snowed heavily last night, it is not easy for so many people to hide tightly in the artificial forest."

Walter frowned suddenly, and said thoughtfully: "No, we may have fallen into a blind spot in thinking."

"Erwin is a very cunning guy. The chief of staff and the battalion commanders he found are all the same as him, very cunning."

"I suspect they first walked south to the Danube River. The embankment road is easy to walk on. After walking eastward on the embankment and entering Putz Province, they can go upstream along a tributary of the Danube to the vicinity of the training ground. There is no shortage of water along the way."

Walter also agreed with his judgment that water is indispensable for marching at any time, so there is no need to worry if walking along the river.

As long as the 32nd Regiment could delay for a while and use the river embankment road to create distance between them, it would take time for the Heijiabao troops to catch up. In the end, they were almost at their destination.

So Erich drove his men south, intending to catch up with the 32nd Regiment on the river embankment road.

When they were passing a railway junction, the driver asked Erich, "Chief of Staff, do you think the people from the 32nd Regiment will take the train over there?"

Erich was shocked. This was indeed a possibility, but after thinking about it, he denied it: "They need to coordinate with the Military Affairs Department and the Railway Department to take the train. It is impossible for them to bypass the division headquarters and contact the Military Affairs Department."

The driver thought what the chief of staff said made sense.

As the sky gradually darkened, Erich stood on the river bank. Everything around him was white and there was no sign of anyone walking. The floating ice on the Danube had frozen. On the opposite bank of the Duchy of Bavaria, a train was heading towards the Osmaga Empire.

"Where did they go?"

Erich and Walter were puzzled.

At the same time, Gao Si asked the person in charge of the training ground in surprise: "Is there no food in the cafeteria?"

"Yes." The person in charge was also helpless. "Your 3rd Division didn't tell me you would come so soon. I just signed the procurement plan and you are here."

Gauss could only smile bitterly. After getting off the train, the two groups rushed over just to have a good meal in the cafeteria, but they hadn't started preparing the food yet.

"Ah..." He could only shake his head, "Let's eat the canned food first. Please prepare some hot soup. It's okay to take a hot bath."

The person in charge said: "No problem, I will prepare it right away."

At this time, Eugene was inspecting the camping site of the 33rd Regiment. They had put a lot of effort into preventing night attacks and keeping warm in winter. There would be something exciting to watch tonight.

Erwin also watched it seriously and felt that there were many things worth learning from the brother troops.

The accompanying communications staff brought a telegram. After reading it, Eugene twitched his mouth and handed it to Alvin next to him.

"Your 32nd Regiment..." Eugene didn't know what to say for a moment.

After reading the telegram, Alvin's face trembled. The 33rd Regiment had not even walked one tenth of the distance and was camping in the snow, while his 32nd Regiment had already moved into the warm dormitory of the training ground and could even take a hot shower.

By the time the 33rd Regiment arrives at the training ground, the 32nd Regiment will probably have gone through all the assessment subjects, and may even be able to play a single round-robin football match between the battalions.

(End of this chapter)