When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 533: Life in the Delawan Military Camp (Part )

Leaden clouds were creeping in the sky, and the gloomy light fell on the tips of guns and sabers, without even reflecting any light.

Delawan was wearing a tight-fitting orderly's coarse cloth coat. The cold wind blew across his forehead, turning the hot sweat that had just seeped out into cold sweat, which slid down his cheeks.

With every step I took on the frozen muddy road, I could hear the clatter of four mattocks and bottles and cans behind me.

Whenever he looked up, he could see the backs of soldiers marching in rows in front of him, but when he turned around, he could see the long, stinky face of the donkey beside him.

"Can you carry more? I can hardly walk anymore." Delawan asked the donkey almost in a flattering tone, while the donkey turned his head away pretending not to hear.

As the weather turns colder in winter, most of the roads that were originally muddy and difficult to walk on become extremely hard after the snow stops.

But when the sun comes out one day, with just one shine, the snow will melt into the grass, making the road even more muddy.

In the snow-covered grass on both sides, a team of about 600 people in black were speeding past in neat formation.

According to Horn's military policy, there was one orderly and one donkey for every ten men.

Each soldier carried weapons such as a breastplate, a helmet, a spear, and a holy gun, as well as about 15 kilograms of food such as dry food and clean water.

Small public items such as daggers, tinder, cooking utensils, blankets, bandages, etc. weigh about 10 kilograms and are carried by unarmored orderly soldiers.

As for the donkeys, they were responsible for carrying tents, fodder, spare rations, lead, hammers, mattocks, axes, trophies and even wounded soldiers, with a load of about 80-100 kilograms.

Normally, orderlies are mainly responsible for assisting and caring for the donkeys, and they themselves will not carry too much weight because they are also tasked with receiving orders from the legion commander and delivering messages.

But in fact, because the donkey was carrying too much, it was unwilling to continue walking, and Delawan had to help it carry part of the baggage so that it could keep up with the speed of travel.

"I'll castrate you when I get back." Seeing that the donkey ignored him, Delawan gritted his teeth and said hatefully.

As a young man from a Kush noble family, Delavan was not as resentful as McGowan.

McGowan and Delavan were friends, but McGowan's father was a Frank Knight, so he lived in a more favorable environment.

But Delawan was a pure-blooded Kushite, and as a member of the Kushite Knight group, he also did a lot of dirty farm work when he was on his own estate.

What's wrong with serving tea and water? What's wrong with taking care of livestock? His father, as a pure-blooded Kush knight, still had to work in the fields during the busy harvest season.

In the small estate of the Delavan family, serving tea and water was considered an easy job. He always thought that people like McGowan would be obedient after being sent to the fields to harvest wheat for two days.

"Hold on a little longer." An old orderly who was about fifty years old was leading his donkey effortlessly. "The supply point is just ahead. Feed your donkey some eggs and carrots, and it will be obedient."

In the Fifth Guards Corps where Delawan was located, most of the orderlies were teenagers, with only seven or eight old orderlies.

These old servicemen are actually the instructors and teachers of the young servicemen.

"It eats better than me." Dravan gasped, spewing out clouds of white mist from his mouth. "How long do I have to hold on? I feel like I've been gone for almost a year."

"Hahahaha." The old orderly laughed. "You're almost as tall as me, and stronger than me. You also know breathing techniques. How can you be tired?"

"But I'm still so tired." Delawan even felt a little aggrieved.

"It's not that you're tired physically, but that you're tired mentally." The old orderly continued to march effortlessly. "Marching is always boring. Doing the same thing over and over again will stretch the time infinitely, making it seem like you've been doing it for a long time, but in reality you're still far from tired."

Delawan's breathing became quieter: "How many times have you been to the battlefield?"

The old orderly looked thin, but he carried those sundries effortlessly: "Three or four times, I can't remember clearly, it was during the Battle of Changqiao."

"What will we be like when we go to the battlefield?" Although Delawan envied the glory of the battlefield enjoyed by other soldiers, he was also worried about the war.

The old orderly scratched his head and said, "If it is a planned field battle or blocking battle, they will set up camp five miles away first, and then the Skitarii will stay in the camp, allowing the war monks to attack lightly.

If it is an encounter, we will put ten carts in a circle and put the wounded and baggage inside, but so far, I have not encountered anyone who broke into the cart camp."

"Why?" "War monks have a basic salary, and charging the camp can at most make them share a common hatred of the enemy. Unlike mercenaries or labor soldiers, if they lose the spoils, it is a wasted trip.

In the Battle of Rapid City, the knights of the church attacked the camp, but our warrior monks fought back, and later the knights learned their lesson and stopped attacking the camp. "

"Will we encounter a war this time?"

"Of course." The old orderly was also bored. Anyway, orderlys did not need to be as strict in discipline as regular war monks, so he began to explain to Delawan.

On January 1, the church knights reacted and began to advance towards the Nannaoan River, trying to push back the Salvation Army, which had not yet established a firm foothold.

They launched attacks on the northern line of the Nauan River near Xiaochi City on January 1, 22 and 23 respectively.

As the enemy outnumbered us, the two corps on the northern front blocked the enemy while retreating about 20 kilometers and set up camp on a mound.

According to the rangers' reconnaissance results, as these church knights advanced deeper, their supplies were indeed insufficient, and they had to forcibly requisition supplies along the way.

If they wanted to attack Xiaochi City, they would face the same dilemma that Count Musak encountered when he conquered Xiaochi City.

One route can supply at most more than a thousand people. This attack was planned by Lacunio and led by the titled knight Count Lionna of Marley.

Including the armed monks from Kasha County who had come to seek refuge, there were about four thousand people in total, so they had to split into three or even five groups.

Because there are fewer villages on the branch trails and less supplies can be collected, the other two routes must continue to split up.

The knights' army will set up camp tonight and have to get up tomorrow morning. The scope and time for recruiting supplies are limited, so they can only rob as they go.

Finally, when the news got out, even the villages along the road ran into the forest with their supplies to hide. They couldn't continue to chase into the forest to ask the villagers for supplies.

It's not that they don't know that looting villages will make it increasingly difficult to collect supplies, but if they don't loot the villages, the knights will starve. It's not that they deliberately want to rob.

There are three ways to collect supplies:

The first was to make full preparations before the war, which was definitely too late for the church army. The second was to take the densely populated road, but they had already been taken away by the main force of the land mercenaries. The third was to continue to advance in small teams of one or two hundred people, and then set up camp together at night.

This was the method they used when they first pursued the Savior Army, but they were repeatedly attacked by the Holy Gun Cavalry, and in the end they could only form a team of at least four to five hundred people, which must include knights.

The Salvation Army can have thousands of people on one path without having to rob people because they have supply points.

After the supply point is established, the Crusaders have ample time to purchase and transport supplies from more distant places.

“According to the rangers’ reconnaissance, there is a tributary river behind this supply point. Once we cross the river and walk along a stretch of grassland, the rangers will come to pick us up.

Then we just need to wait for the rangers to find the enemy, then ambush them on the marching route of the church army, and then return immediately after the battle.

Don't worry about whether we can defeat them. They have about 100 knights and 400 infantrymen, and we have more than 600 people including the Crusaders.

Unless they are imperial knights, otherwise even if they are 200 knights and 800 infantry, we will have a fight."

Delawan nodded, not quite understanding, and then asked in relief or disappointment, "Then we are fighting an ambush, so we won't be able to see the battlefield, right?"

The old orderly looked at him in surprise: "People are hiding and can't even get to the battlefield, why are you still looking forward to going to the battlefield? Besides, who said that you can't see the battlefield if you are ambushed?

The drill manual stipulates that in small-scale combat, service soldiers must stay within a range of 100-200 meters. If they see a wounded soldier, they must immediately pull him back, bandage him, or send him to a surgeon for treatment. "

"My service as an orderly is only temporary. This is called early adaptation to the battlefield." Delawan felt that the pain and fatigue had dissipated a little. "Let's go, let's go faster."

Delawan perked up, but didn't notice the amusement on the old orderly's face.

“Hopefully you can really get used to it.”

(End of this chapter)