Chapter 528 Marching towards the dawn in the New Year
It is clear that the New Year is approaching, but the haze of war is floating over the land of Langsander County.
Starting from mid-December, more and more messenger cavalry began to appear on the originally peaceful streets.
The military police even announced that starting from the 27th, Fort Joan of Arc will be under a curfew for two months.
When the residents of Fort Joan of Arc get up every day and open the stained glass windows or oilcloth windows, they can see soldiers in black marching in neat queues.
These soldiers wore identical black jackets, a short cloak that only reached the elbows, and leather short boots.
Sometimes, they could see Kush knights from the south, groups of Holy Gun Cavalry, and even some students from Frick Middle School who came from the Holy Arms Court.
In the original regiment of the Salvation Army, most of the children served as orderlies. They would grow up on the battlefield, learn and fight at the same time, and in the future they would be an independent force outside the Horn government.
However, there are currently sixteen regiments of the Salvation Army, and the children's army is a bit insufficient, so Horn thought of the students at Frick Middle School.
So the social practice activity at the end of Frick Middle School became fighting on the battlefield.
Of course, Horn would not let them actually go to the front line. They would only be responsible for cleaning the battlefield after the war, transporting wounded soldiers, counting battle losses and trophies, and other chores.
Since the 25th, every morning at the pier, black-clad war monks can be seen lining up to climb onto the troop transport ship. Some are crying, while others are indifferent.
Amidst the sound of the horn that woke up the city, the troop barge loaded with black monks moved forward slowly, and there were either cries or cheers on both sides of the river.
The cries came from the families and relatives of those soldiers, while the cheers came from the citizens who bought jihad bonds.
Wearing black, blue and brown knee-length coarse cloth tights, they stood on the stone road beside the river, constantly waving their jihad bonds to passing soldiers.
With the mobilization of the army, all the first batch of troops were mobilized on December 30.
The two legions of 1,125 people and 600 cavalry led by Jeanne have all arrived in Rapid City on time.
The three black hat regiments in Lower River County successfully mobilized to Xiaochi City on the same day.
It has to be said that having a river is convenient, and a small army of two thousand people can be transported from Fort Joan to Rapid City and back in five days.
By the time the barges transporting the Black Hats to the South Nauan River return, the remaining four regiments will have less time to reach Rapid City and the South Nauan River defense line.
On New Year's Day, the second batch of reinforcements, consisting of two leading regiments of 1,200 members of the Salvation Army, should set off.
Since the night before was the night of the New Year Festival, the number of family members of the war monks who came to see him off the next day was several times greater than before.
Unlike the Black Hats, who are all refugees, there is no one at home to see them off, and many people only have one page of household registration.
Most of the war monks of these Guards Corps are locals, and they need tall and strong young people with a clean family background.
Even if they don't have parents, their popularity will not be bad, and naturally there will be more people coming to see them off.
The steam was billowing above the pier, and colorful triangular flags were hung all over the eaves and trees.
Those selling bread and hot soup, those seeing off people, watching the excitement, and those hurriedly returning to the team, turned the entire pier into a pot of black stew.
There were shouts of "You stepped on my feet" and "You pressed my hair" everywhere, mixed with the sound of whistles and horns in the distance, piercing the ears.
Under the suppression of the military police and night watchmen, they finally made way for the war monks who lined up neatly to board the ship.
Standing in the crowded crowd, Sechinger looked at the young people in front of him who were crying but still walking neatly onto the boat.
Even though he had watched this scene several times, he still felt a little shocked.
Exactly the same clothes, exactly the same actions, and even the same pace.
Although there were tears in their eyes, they still tried their best to hold up their chests and hold up their Salvation Army uniforms.
When the soldiers stood neatly in a row on the ship's deck, the black shadow of Wuyang Wuyang had an inexplicable majesty just looking at it.
"Mr. Sechinger, when will you get on the ship?" Laurent, the regiment commander on the side, walked over and raised his hat to Sechinger.
Sechinger looked at the commander of the regiment, who was younger than his daughter, with complicated eyes: "I'm a little seasick. Please let me know when the ship is about to leave." "Okay." Laurent nodded businesslikely and turned around. He immediately began to count the soldiers in black who were present.
Taking out a wine bag from his pocket, Seitzinger poured a sip of acorn wine into his mouth.
This is a liquor unique to Northshire, but it is almost impossible to drink without distillation.
The alcohol content is definitely high in the empire, and it is a strong drink that only those dwarves living in alpine regions would like.
As the nutty wine went down, Sechinger's body gradually warmed up.
According to the original plan, he should have already set off for Lujiao Township to meet up with the gray horse knight Wayne.
Unfortunately, the church army in Mound County showed signs of mobilization, so the Salvation Army blocked the access to Daze Township.
So Sechinger had no choice but to go to Rapids City first, and then find a way to connect if Wien's offensive went smoothly.
Sechinger had no choice but to follow Horne, since he couldn't help much by returning to North County anyway, so he just followed him to the battlefield to see what these so-called Salvation Army were like.
As the horn sounded three times, Seizinger plugged the wine bag and stepped onto the barge on the plank without waiting for Laurent to ask.
With flags waving and the sound of horns blowing loudly, the twenty-eight barges untied their anchors and ropes one by one and moved slowly forward along the current.
The war monks standing on both sides of the ship finally saw the familiar scenes moving on both sides, and low sobs would sound from time to time.
But there is nothing that can be done about it. The monks in this group of Guards are mainly new soldiers.
They were all on the battlefield for the first time, and fear was inevitable, but there had to be a first time.
"Eighty acres of good land, and a gentle and good in-laws..."
Seisinger raised his head blankly. On the boat in front, someone suddenly sang the most familiar song of the Salvation Army.
"Heavenly Dream".
At this moment, Horn, who was standing on the bow of the first ship, raised his head, with a look of nostalgia in his eyes. He hadn't sang this ditty for a long time.
Without accompaniment or harmony, the hoarse and young voice sang the first verse alone.
When he sang the second verse, people began to join in. Initially it was just one or two, but later all the war monks on the ship started singing.
"Grow your own food, and the more you work, the more you will harvest..."
When it was sung for the third time, not only the war monks, but also the civilians on the shore started singing in unison.
The original cries and noisy cries and cries have disappeared. Amidst the trumpet sounds over and over again, only this song still stands.
Between the rivers and the houses, the whole city sang this ditty that means so much to the Salvation Army.
People stood in a row by the river, and there were even people standing on the roofs. They stood quietly and sang this simple and cheerful song over and over again.
It was not until the soldiers could no longer see the flag of Joan of Arc Castle that they gradually stopped singing.
The winter morning light floats on the river. At first glance, one might think that the water is covered with tens of thousands of golden threads.
It's just that the golden thread was cut open by the black hull in an instant and scattered into groups of cold water splashes.
Nearly thirty troop transport barges lined up in a straight line, and the soldiers on board also lined up in a straight line along the sides of the boats.
The cold wind blew the black and red swords and cross flags, and the ship's hull floated in the icy water, silently moving in the direction of the setting sun.
In the song of "Heavenly Dream", Horn and the Guards regiment sailed towards Rapids City on January 1, 1446.
(End of chapter)