When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 529 Orderly McGowan
Although the water level and flow rate of the canal dropped significantly after entering winter, the fleet departing from Jeanne d'Arc was still moving at a fast speed and entered a tributary of the South Nauan River in the evening.

Amid the curling smoke from the small fishing village on the river bank, the fleet slowly sailed into the designated stop.

It's not that they can't travel at night, but there is a bridge across the river built by the local lords for collecting taxes.

These bridges are important land routes and cannot be demolished, so we had to change trains and take a break at the same time.

The local townspeople had already built a temporary camp in advance. Under the golden red light of the setting sun, rows of small houses with fir-roofed roofs stood by the river.

Surrounded by small houses is a small square that can accommodate two to three hundred people. The black and red flag in the center flutters in the evening breeze.

The middle school students of Frick Middle School, who served as orderlies, were walking under the two-color flag, carrying wooden boxes the size of washbasins.

The setting sun shone on their shoulders, as if embroidering a layer of golden edges on their silhouettes, swaying and flowing along the edges of their bodies as they moved.

Gritting his teeth and flushing his face, McGowan placed the wooden box under the eaves. Only then was he able to pull his hand free and wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Not only him, but also the heads of several young men around him had misty hot steam coming out of them.

The box was half filled with straw, but inside it were several heavy balls. The weight of the wooden box itself was quite heavy.

Several young men sat down on the steps nearby, and discovered with sadness that they had become familiar with this prickly jacket.

A qiaoken is a kind of knee-length tights made of coarse cloth, a bit like a vest, fastened in the middle with buttons and a belt tied around the waist to prevent the wind from entering the hem.

This relatively tight-fitting clothing is usually exclusive to ordinary people, who have never worn it since childhood.

As soon as the teenagers sat down, they saw a skinny boy walking towards the plank road again.

"What are you going for?"

"There's one last thing. I'll go move it."

"Take a break. There's no need to be so anxious."

"I'll rest after I finish moving."

"Flatterer." Looking at the back of the civilian boy, McGowan snorted disdainfully.

After snorting coldly, these young knights from Jinhe Township couldn't help feeling a little resentful as they smelled the aroma of sauerkraut pork soup wafting from afar and touched their rumbling stomachs.

They could never understand why His Majesty the Saint Sun would let them serve as orderly soldiers?

Even if I can't become an officer, at least I can go to the battlefield as a soldier. What's the point of being a servant?
It would be fine if they were servants of the commander-in-chief, but they were just menial servants who could be ordered around by anyone in the entire legion.

Is this intended to humiliate them?

But they could never ask this question. The pious infusion of the veteran instructors in the military class at Frick Middle School had taught them to keep their mouths shut.

The soreness in my muscles gradually disappeared, and the aroma of meat in the distance became stronger and stronger.

Seeing the civilian student struggling to carry the wooden box, several Kush teenagers decided not to stand idly by.

"McGowan, let's continue moving. The sooner we finish moving, the sooner we can eat."

"I'm not moving." McGowan unbuttoned his collar and stretched his neck. "I had leftovers for breakfast, so what's the difference... Never mind, I'm going to take a piss and come back to continue."

After saying something to the other boys, he walked around the wooden boxes, hid behind the wooden house, and released his gun indiscriminately.

He had just fastened his belt when he turned around and saw a fat middle-aged man unbuttoning his trouser belt.

The two men looked at each other, and tacitly agreed not to expose the other's violation of military laws and regulations.

"Can I have a drink?"

Sechinger was startled by the young man's words, and then he realized that the other party was actually pointing at the wine bag on his waist.

"This liquor is strong, can you drink it?" Sechinger shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, wiped his hands casually on his pants, and handed the wine bag to McGowan.

Frick Middle School has a prohibition order, and drinking is strictly prohibited in the army during wartime. He has long been craving for alcohol: "I have been drinking since I was five years old. How strong can it be... cough cough cough!"

"Hahahaha." Sechinger couldn't help laughing. After he finished laughing, when he was about to return the wine bag, he suddenly froze.

"I think I've seen you at a banquet before. Are you related to Knight Lalufa?" "Knight Lalufa is my father. My name is McGowan Tracivar. Who are you?"

"Hahaha, so you're Lalufa's son." Sechinger pounded his chest. "I was hunting with your father two years ago. I'm Sechinger, the lord of Eagle Falls. How is your father?"

"He died in Black Mountain Castle, and now my mother is running the family business." McGowan's mother is from the Alcor family, but his father is a Fran knight.

After his father's death, he suddenly became a Kushite and was sent to Frick High School.

Sechinger opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment, and just sighed: "May his soul rest in peace in heaven. What are you going to do now? If you have time, we can have dinner together."

"I'm afraid there won't be that chance." McGowan shook his head. "I have to go stand guard next."

As a serviceman, the first lesson is to learn how to stand guard.

Of course, it is impossible to let them stand guard independently right from the start. Instead, a sentry post is composed of one veteran, two recruits and one orderly.

At any one time, two people are guaranteed to be awake, and the four people take turns sleeping.

"You are drinking while standing guard? Aren't you afraid of being caught by those damn gendarmes?" This morning, Sechinger was fined twenty dinars for urinating and defecating on the boat.

"I'm on guard duty in the middle of the night," McGowan complained. "Those who do well in swordsmanship have to stand guard, while those who don't do well have to do odd jobs. How can this be justified?"

In addition to general subjects such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and law, Frick School also offers physical education courses such as fencing and horse riding.

Since the Kush boys come from knight families, most of them have innate advantages and often beat civilians in physical education classes.

This time, it was the civilians who were better in cultural subjects who were asked to count the military achievements and write documents, while the sons of knights were asked to serve tea and water and stand guard.

Sechinger looked at McGowan, whose face was gradually turning red, and carefully reminded him, "I have a say in your Holy Sun Pope. He is a generous and kind person and will not discriminate."

"He just looked generous and kind." As the acorn wine took effect, McGowan began to talk nonsense. "Without his permission, do you think the Cheka could have hanged nobles and thrown people into prison at will?

The Cheka and the gendarmerie took all the blame, but he stood on the high dry bank, and no dirty water could splash on him. "

Sechinger shook his head: "You seem to be a little extreme."

"Extreme? Do you know why he did that?
The empire had brave popes, wise popes, cruel popes and even greedy and lustful popes, but it lacked the most common type - a kind pope.

Everybody wants a kind pope, a loving father, so he plays it like this.”

"Why do you think this is acting?" Sechinger had a good impression of Horn, and was even a little amused by McGowan's remarks.

Sensing Sechinger’s distrust, McGowan blushed and said, “Don’t disbelieve me, you haven’t seen how he treats the soldiers.

He stayed in the barracks three days a week, personally serving soldiers meals, bandaging their wounds, asking about their health, and carrying sick soldiers to find doctors... He was more disgusting than a knight pursuing a noble lady.

He eats the same food, wears the same clothes, and walks the same route as the soldiers every day. Is he a normal person? Isn't this obviously bribery?
Those soldiers were obviously older than him, but they treated him like their own father and called him 'our little pope'.

"Isn't that good?" Seeing McGowan's stubbornness, Sechinger began to get angry. "I actually wish there was such a little pope!"

"But their little pope abandoned them on the battlefield in the blink of an eye to lure the enemy, and they still wanted to die with honor.

In the Battle of Rapid City, half of the Black Hat 7th and 8th Legions were killed or wounded by the knights, and blood flowed like a river, but their little pope was still slowly circling behind.

What mercy, what compassion, what love for his soldiers, he just wants victory."

"If he is as bad as you say, why do the Kushites still follow him?" Sechinger glared at the cynical little fat man.

"Because he always wins...hiccups...it's that simple..."

A cold wind blew, and the alley became quiet for a moment.

Blown by the cold wind, McGowan's drunkenness turned into fine cold sweat on his forehead: "Your wine is really strong, ahem, I still have to move some things, can I leave now?"

"You go ahead...Also, I'm on ship number 3, come find me if you need anything."

With a red face, McGowan walked away with a shaky step.

In the cold winter wind, Sechinger's anger gradually dissipated. He stood there, not knowing whether he was in deep thought or in shock.

(End of this chapter)