Chapter 533 Derawan’s military camp life (Part 1)
Lead clouds crawled in the sky, and the gloomy light fell on the tip of the gun and the saber, not even reflecting any light.
Drawan was wearing a tight-fitting rough uniform of an orderly, and the cold wind blew across his forehead, turning the hot sweat that had just oozed out into cold sweat, sliding down his cheeks.
On the frozen dirt road, you can hear the clanging of four pickaxes and bottles and cans behind you with every step you take.
Whenever he looked up, he could see the backs of the rows of soldiers marching in front of him, and when he turned his head again, he could see the elongated, stinky face of the donkey next to him.
"Can you carry more? I can't walk anymore." Delawan asked the donkey almost flatteringly, while Brother Donkey turned his head away pretending not to hear.
As the weather turns colder in winter, most roads that were originally muddy and difficult to walk have become extremely hard after the snow stops.
But when the sun comes out one day and shines simply, the snow will melt into the grass and make the road even more muddy.
Amidst the snowy grass on both sides, a team of about 600 people in black were speeding through in neat formation.
According to Horn's army policy, one orderly and one donkey were assigned to every ten men.
Each soldier carries breastplates, helmets, spears, guns and other weapons, as well as about 15 kilograms of dry food, water and other food.
Small public utensils such as daggers, tinder, cooking utensils, blankets, and bandages weigh about 10 kilograms, and are carried on the backs of unarmored orderlies.
As for the donkeys, they are responsible for carrying tents, fodder, spare rations, lead, hammers, pickaxes, logging axes, trophies and even wounded soldiers, with a load of about 80-100 kilograms.
Normally, orderlies are mainly responsible for assisting and taking care of donkeys, and they will not carry too much weight themselves, because they are also responsible for accepting orders from the regiment commander and delivering orders.
But in fact, the donkey was unwilling to continue walking because it was carrying too much, and Dravan had to help it carry part of the baggage in order to keep up with the speed.
"I'll castrate you when I get back." Seeing that the donkey ignored him, Delavan said bitterly through gritted teeth.
As a young man from a Kush noble family, Dravan was not as resentful as McGowan.
McGowan and Dravan are friends, but McGowan's father is a French knight, so his living environment is more favorable.
But Delawan is a purebred Kushite. As a member of the Kushite knight group, he did a lot of farm work when he was in his own manor.
What happened to serving tea and water? What happened to caring for livestock? As a pure-blood Kush knight, his father still had to work in the fields during the busy harvest season.
In the small manor of the Delavan family, serving tea and water was an easy job. He had always believed that being assigned to a field like McGowan and harvesting wheat for two days would be an honest job.
"Hold on a little longer." An old orderly who was fifty years younger than him next to him led his donkey effortlessly, "There is a supply point just ahead. Feed your donkey some eggs and carrots, and it will be obedient. ”
In Delavan's Fifth Guards Corps, most of the orderlies are teenagers, and there are only seven or eight old orderlies.
These old orderlies are actually the instructors and teachers of the young orderlies.
"It eats better than me." Delavan breathed heavily as he spat out clouds of white mist from his mouth. "How much longer do I have to hold on? I feel like I've been gone for almost a year."
"Hahahaha." The old orderly laughed, "You are almost as tall as me, you are stronger than me, and you know how to breathe. How can you be tired?"
"But I'm still so tired." Delavan even felt a little aggrieved.
"It's not that you're tired, it's that you're mentally tired." The old orderly continued walking effortlessly, "March has always been boring. Doing the same thing over and over will extend the time infinitely, as if you've been doing it for a long time. It looks like the actual distance is still far away.”
Dravan's breathing became softer: "How many times have you been on the battlefield?"
The old orderly looked thin, but he carried the sundries effortlessly: "Maybe three or four times, I can't remember clearly. I was there at the Battle of Long Bridge."
"What were we like when we went to the battlefield?" Although Delawan was envious of the glory that other soldiers enjoyed on the battlefield, he was also uneasy about the war.
The old orderly scratched his scalp: "If it is a planned field battle or blocking battle, they will camp five miles away first, and then the Skitarii will stay in the camp and let the war monks attack lightly.
If it is an encounter, we will form a circle around ten carts and put the wounded soldiers and baggage inside. But so far, I have not met anyone who entered the cart camp. ”
"Why?" "The war monks have a basic salary. If they rush to the car camp, they can at most share the same hatred of the enemy. Unlike mercenaries or labor soldiers, the loss of the spoils means that the trip was in vain.
During the Battle of Rapid City, the knights of the church rushed to the car camp, but our war monks continued to fight when they should. Later, the knights learned their lesson and stopped rushing to the camp. ”
"Then can we encounter a war this time?"
"Of course." The old orderly was also idle and bored. Anyway, orderlies did not have to be as disciplined as regular war monks, so he started to explain to Delavan.
The Church Knights who reacted on January 20 began to march towards the South Nauan River, trying to push back the Salvation Army, which had not yet established a stable foothold.
They launched attacks on the north line of the Nauan River near Xiaochi City on January 22, 23 and 25 respectively.
Since the enemy was outnumbered, the two armies on the northern front retreated about 20 kilometers back while blocking the attack, and camped on a mound.
According to the reconnaissance results of the rangers, as these church knights went deeper, their supplies were indeed insufficient, and they had to forcibly collect supplies along the way.
And if they want to attack Xiaochi City, they will face the same dilemma that Count Musak encountered when he conquered Xiaochi City——
One line can supply more than a thousand people at most. This attack was planned by Lacunio and led by the titled knight Lienna, Count of Marais.
Taking refuge with the armed monks from Kasha County, there were about 4,000 people in total, and they had to be divided into three or even five groups.
Because there are fewer villages on the branch trails and fewer supplies can be collected, the other two roads must continue to separate routes.
The knights' army will camp tonight and have to get up tomorrow morning. The scope and time to recruit supplies are limited, so they can only grab them as they go.
Finally, the news spread, and even the villages on the roadside took supplies and ran into the forest to hide. They couldn't continue to chase the villagers into the forest and ask for them.
It's not that they don't know that looting villages will make it more and more difficult to procure supplies. It's just that if they don't loot villages, the knights will be hungry. It's not that they deliberately insist on looting.
There are three ways to collect supplies conveniently:
The first is to make full preparations before the war, which is definitely too late for the church army. The second is to take a densely populated road, but has been taken away by the main force of national servants. The third is to continue to divide into small groups of one or two hundred people to advance. , and then camp together in the evening.
They used this method when chasing the Salvation Army at the beginning, but were repeatedly attacked by the Holy Gun Cavalry. In the end, they could only form a team of at least four to five hundred people to advance, and it must include knights.
The Salvation Army is able to carry thousands of people on a single trail without robbing because there are supply points.
After the supply point is established, the Skitarii have ample time to purchase and transport supplies further afield.
"According to the ranger's reconnaissance, there is a small tributary river behind this supply point. When we cross the river and walk through a grassland, a ranger will come to pick us up.
Then we only need to wait for the rangers to find the enemy, then ambush the church army on the march route, and immediately return to the original route after the attack.
Don't worry about whether we can defeat them. They have about 100 knights and 400 infantry. We have more than 600 people with the Skitarii.
Unless it is a knight of the order, it will be 200 knights and 800 infantry. We can fight them all. ”
Drawan nodded as if he understood, and then he asked in relief or disappointment: "Then we are fighting an ambush battle, so we can't see the battlefield?"
The old orderly looked at him in surprise: "It's too late to go to the battlefield if you hide. Why are you still looking forward to going to the battlefield? Besides, who said you can't see the battlefield when you ambush.
The training code stipulates that in small-scale battles, orderlies must stay within 100-200 meters. If a wounded soldier is seen, he must be pulled back as soon as possible and bandaged or sent to a surgeon for treatment. ”
"My service as an orderly is only temporary. This is called adapting to the battlefield in advance." Delavan felt that the pain and fatigue had dissipated a little, "Let's go faster."
Delavan cheered up, but he didn't see the playful expression on the old orderly's face.
"Hope you can really get used to it."
(End of chapter)