Chapter 668 657. Departure

Tents set up in winter are not only triangular huts propped up with thick thatch, but also need to be covered with a thick layer of felt on top of the thick thatch. Inside the tent, a layer of pine and cypress branches or logs should be laid first, and then a thick layer of felt should be covered. Fur dog skin mattresses, and sleeping bags with excellent insulation and well-made workmanship.

  The reserve knights that Karl brought over were almost all from wealthy families, so they were well-prepared for cold protection.

   It’s just that they have some excellent equipment, and they lack the ability to live in the wild and their hands-on ability. Standing outside the security station, they are in a hurry just to set up a tent in the wild.

  Basically there were few trees on the barren land, and they couldn't find pine and cypress branches. Some reserve knights simply ran to the village below, and directly brought back the straw from the haystacks in the village, and spread them in the tent happily.

  The villagers of Wall Village knew that they were reserve knights, and they were destined to become master knights in the future. They also hid in their houses for a while, watching these bandit-like young people take away the straw.

  The reserve knights set up their tents in the open space next to the security station.

  The police station here was originally a piece of limestone. After the craftsmen of Wall Village flattened such a large piece of limestone, they built a two-story building with this limestone as the cornerstone, thus becoming the current public security station.

  The reserve knights chose the place to set up their tent, which happened to be a specially leveled flower bed for planting flowers.

  The soil layer here is relatively shallow, and there is a whole piece of limestone underneath. The fixed tent is wedged into the frozen soil layer with iron drills, and then pierced down, it cannot be penetrated at all.

  Worried that the tents would be blown away, they moved some stones from the reservoir and pressed them around the tents. They were busy until it was completely dark before building ten tents.

Originally, dinner was prepared in Wall Village, but Suldak wanted to see the survival ability of the reserve knights, so he did not ask the old village chief to bring over broth and wheat cakes, but asked them to cook the marching food by themselves. rations.

   The way to eat marching rations is also quite simple. You only need to find a shelter from the wind or directly in the tent, unfold the magic scroll and spread it on the ground, then set up an iron pot and pour some water, and bring the water to a boil. Then pour the powdered marching rations into another iron pot, add a small amount of water and stir to form a batter, then pour it into the iron pot where the water was boiled, and the thick batter will be cooked.

   Obviously these reserve knights have not eaten marching rations.

The marching rations on them have always been placed in the luggage. Therefore, although the cooking method of the marching rations is very simple, there are frequent occurrences during the cooking process. There was a pungent paste smell.

  This dinner, the young reserve knights ate very embarrassingly. Some young reserve knights vomited after taking two bites, and some didn't eat at all.

  They are used to being pampered at home and in college, but now that the conditions are a little more difficult, they feel very uncomfortable.

  In the academy, they learned how to quickly increase their combat level, but once they leave the academy, it seems that everything needs to start from scratch, everything outside is brand new...

  By the time the reserve knights went to bed, they were already sleepy and tired, and they didn’t prepare hot water to wash. Their young faces were burnt black from the smoke, and they couldn’t wait to get into their sleeping bags and sleep soundly.

No one even cared that the horses were still tied with saddles, and no one specially prepared shelter for the horses. Suldak acquiesced to the people from the militia battalion to help them take care of these precious war horses. It can be regarded as forage that can be swallowed.

  …

  The militiamen washed all the iron pans in their camp that hadn't had time to wash before they froze into ice lumps, and the burnt marching rations went into the stomachs of the militiamen without any waste.

It's not that the militiamen didn't eat dinner, but that they lived in a barren land and were used to hard times. When they saw people wasting food like this, they thought that they couldn't waste the food no matter what. A member of the militia battalion The militiamen poured the charred marching rations into clay pots, added some water and boiled them again, greeted the other militiamen who hadn't slept, and gathered together in front of the fire, drinking the charred gruel.

  Suldak walked in front of them, squatted down and looked at the brown porridge in the clay pot, and asked, "Can this thing be eaten?"

The militiaman smiled and said frankly: "It's a bit bitter, but the taste of this porridge is not bad. If these are left in the iron pan to freeze all night, each one will be frozen into lumps of ice, and tomorrow morning These knights may not be able to find a usable iron pot. We want to help them wash the iron pot. It would be a pity to throw away the porridge. Look, my lord, there is meat and salt in it, and it tastes like It's oatmeal porridge with salt, but it's not bad at all!"

  Another militiaman smiled at Suldak and said: "When the dry season came, we gnawed on tree bark, grass roots, sawdust, and moss. The taste of those things is not as good as these meat porridge."

   "My lord baron, what we eat is approved by them. We help them clean up the iron pots and bonfires..." A militiaman worried that Suldak felt that they were stealing the food, so he quickly explained.

  Suldak stood by the bonfire, looking at the lean militiamen. Under the firelight, they looked at Suldak nervously.

"Now that you have joined the militia battalion, my promise to you is that you will not experience the great famine in the past again. Remember the days of starvation, and it will be the most precious treasure in your memory in the future!" Su Erdak said to these militiamen.

  …

The strong north wind blew all night, and the reserve knights built ten tents, but four of them were blown away by the strong wind in one night, and these young people hid in the tents of other knights until dawn. Get out and look for the tents that have been blown away by the wind.

  If the militiamen from the militia battalion hadn't come out to help clean up the mess, this group of reserve knights might not be able to pack their bags all morning.

  Breakfast is provided by Wall Village, a large pot of vegetable porridge and a bag of whole wheat bread. These reserve knights were also hungry all day, and they didn’t eat much last night. Naturally, they wolfed down these breakfasts.

  Karl stayed at Suldak's house last night. After breakfast, he rushed to the security station early.

When he rushed over, these reserve knights had already finished their breakfast. Looking at the empty porridge bucket and the few whole wheat breads left, Karl said with emotion: "Their adaptability is not bad. Can eat it..."

  Suldak didn't think it was a big deal, he stood behind Karl and said, "Of course I'll eat anything if I'm hungry!"

  After breakfast, these reserve knights thought the water was too cold when they washed the iron pot, so they just poured water into the iron pot, rinsed it casually, and put the iron pot into the canvas pocket regardless of whether it was clean or not.

   A group of reserve knights sat around in the yard of the security station, and no one spoke. They were all dirty, and their morale was extremely low.

  Suldak stood up and said to these young reserve knights:

   "Everyone! Our operation has just begun from today."

"For a long time in the future, we will march in a desert without people. We will live in marching tents every day. The cold wind in the desert night is stronger than here, and we will eat these unpalatable marching rations every day. Occasionally You will also encounter desert robbers, face the threat of severe cold and death."

"If anyone wants to retreat now, it's still too late. Don't wait until you enter the desert to regret it. It will be useless to regret it then, but you will not be given more choices at that time. Either you continue to follow us deep into the desert, or you are alone. Turn around and leave, I don't think it's a wise move either way."

  The young reserve knights looked at each other, not knowing how to make a decision for a while.

  Seeing the group of young reserve knights in the yard looking at each other blankly, hesitating about his choice, Suldak patted Karl on the shoulder beside him, and continued:

"If someone wants to return to Hailansa City with Captain Carl, I will never stop them, but if you choose to stay now, then you will be my subordinates for a period of time in the future. I will tell you how to become a qualified knight!"

  Seeing that all the reserve knights chose to remain silent, Suldak looked at the rising sun among the mountains on the east side and said, "You still have two quarters of an hour to think!"

  …

  Just when the 50 young reserve knights in the security battalion were having a hard time making a choice, the cavalry battalion in Suldak also had frequent situations.

These veterans were recruited by Suldak and the old village chief from various villages. Everyone has rich experience in war, but they have struggled and lived in the barren land for several years. These years of hard life seem to have disappeared Sharpen all the edges and corners of their bodies. Many veterans were not cavalry in the barracks before, and they were not familiar with horses, and their riding skills were average.

Suldak didn't even know how to ride a horse when he was in the heavy armored infantry regiment, and he asked the experienced veterans how to get along with their horses. Most of the veterans chose to spend the night in the stables. Sleeping horses can eliminate their vigilance, but the effect is obviously not as good as imagined.

  In the morning, the veterans of the cavalry battalion wanted to take their horses out of the stables and go for a drive outside the village, but they didn’t expect to turn people upside down in the village square...

  If it weren't for the appearance of the ogre Gullitum, the riots would probably continue.

Regardless of horses or camels, they can only crawl in front of the ogre. The ogre Gullitum knew the plight of these veterans, laughed and said to the veterans: "You shouldn't treat these horses." I have been used to it, carrots and sticks can make them obedient and honest, blindly pleasing them will only make them feel that you are a bully, you must use your behavior to tell them your bottom line...'

Suldak rushed to the square in the village, just in time to hear Gulitum say such a sentence, he was a little speechless, the ogre Gulitum has been in the human world for a long time, and it seems that he has begun to learn to use his brain to think about problems , also began to be less upright!

  …

What Suldak didn't expect was that those young reserve knights didn't know what they were thinking. Just when the large army was about to assemble, these young reserve knights approached Suldak, one after another Said that he would stay in Wall Village to accept the next rigorous training.

  Although Suldak is not willing to accept these knight academy students, there is no better reason to drive them away at this time.

   We can only ask them to pack their bags and prepare to set off with the main force later.

  Going into the desert this time to destroy the bandits there, Suldak intends to let Samira stay.

In any case, the current Wall Village needs someone to stay behind. This time Suldak also summoned the militiamen in the militia battalion. She can still stay in the village to train these militiamen, at least let them improve their bow skills, This time, Suldak brought back a batch of alloy bows from the Hailansa Military Supply and Logistics Department, and this time the preparations were distributed to these militiamen.

  As the commander of the cavalry battalion, Andrew needs to get in touch with the 200 veterans of the cavalry battalion. Everyone is not familiar with each other...

Gulitum naturally wanted to follow Suldak into the desert. Recently, the ogre might be eating too much camels and gazelles. He heard from the hunters in the village that the wind wolf meat in the wasteland was sour, and suddenly On a whim, he wanted to use Fenglang meat to make soup, so he followed Suldak early on, and never left!

   It made it impossible for Suldak to say goodbye to Selena in private.

The embarrassment of these militiamen, reserve knights, and veterans of the cavalry battalion in Wall Village fell into Viru's eyes. These days, Suldak couldn't stop. Viru has never found and Suldak It's a chance to talk alone, but he is very patient. He has traveled almost all over Wall Village in the past three days, standing at the highest point of the reservoir, and overlooking the entire mountain depression.

  I also went to the river bend downstream and saw the artificial canals built by kobold slaves and the large tracts of land reclaimed.

  See the neat townhouses and straight cement roads in Wall Village.

Almost every word about what Suldak has done over the past year has reached Viru's ears. The Suldak in front of him makes him feel a strong sense of alienation. The familiar person in front of him, the one who once On the battlefield, he could completely leave his back to his best friend, but now he was so strange.

  When did he suddenly have such vision and ability...

But when he saw Suldak's face, those frank, upright, brave and fearless eyes, and saw the scar protruding from his neckline, these told him that the person in front of him was the Jambach he knew, no matter what. ...just live!

  Viru shook the scorching bow hanging on his shoulder. At this moment, he was a little eager to fight. Perhaps only fighting can awaken their past memories...

  The mercenaries in the row house at the front of the village were already ready to go. They tied their horses to the big tree at the entrance of the village and were doing morning exercises in the snow outside the village.

  The brand-new cavalry battalion on the square in the village also lined up and walked out of Wall Village slowly...

Gone

  

  

  (end of this chapter)