On the last night of the 577th year of the Holy Light Calendar, Claude and his security team members spent time at the entrance of the mountain pass in the Odin Mountains. If it hadn't been for the Garrison Battalion Logistics Department sending a carriage to Claude, the garrison squadron, to deliver a special supply gift for the welcome night, perhaps Claude would have really forgotten that this was the last day of the year.
Although Captain Wardloff, the acting battalion commander of the Amis City Guard Battalion, had a fiery temper, he was still a very considerate commander. He told Major Gibson, the battalion commander of the 10th Field Battalion, that this guard team composed of unqualified soldiers I have always resented the fact that the squadron gave him two bottles of good wine in exchange for him, but I still took the time to come and inspect it. Claude took the opportunity to get an extra supply of gunpowder guns. Here to guard the entrance to the mountain road, he felt that he should also let the members of the security squadron continue to practice live ammunition shooting. After all, these team members were only good at precision shooting.
As a guard at the entrance of the mountain road, they not only guard the road to check passing vehicles and pedestrians, but also send out a small team to conduct irregular patrols in the nearby large mountains and woods. It snowed heavily during this period and the weather was very cold. Fortunately, the winter cold-proof clothing prepared by the logistics department was sufficient and delivered in time. Although Claude and the others were on duty in the field, they did not suffer from the cold and suffered a loss of personnel. It was just that the wind at the entrance of the mountain road was a bit strong, and no one could bear it while standing guard. Claude simply asked the people below to build several snow walls with snow to solve the problem.
The special gift sent by the Logistics Department as a supply for the welcome night was nothing more than a bottle of fruit wine, two slices of dried meat and two fruits for each soldier. Claude felt that this gift seemed a little too thin, but considering that there are nearly 300,000 troops stationed in Amys City, the logistics department has fulfilled its responsibilities and efforts by preparing these gifts for the soldiers on the New Year's Eve. , can't be too demanding. So he simply spent his own money and asked Belklin to take people to the city to buy two sheep and two large barrels of rye wine, so that his security team members could eat and drink happily at night.
On January 13, the 578th year of the Holy Light Calendar, the logistics transportation that had been suspended for nearly half a month began to be busy again. Countless transport carriages on the mountain roads, fully loaded with logistics and military equipment, continued to transport supplies to Amys City day and night. . In addition to checking whether these passing convoys have complete access credentials, Claude's security squadron also has an additional task, which is to clear the snow on the mountain roads in the responsible area to avoid causing traffic jams on the mountain roads.
On February 14, the Imperial Guards who rushed to the front line from the royal capital finally arrived, and their security soldiers even took over the defense of the entrance to the mountain road. Claude originally wanted to stand by the road and see if he could encounter Vericro, but there were four to five thousand people in a regiment, and it would take half a day to pass through the entrance of the mountain road. He quickly got tired of watching and saw his team members standing idle by the road watching the fun, so he simply gathered them together and continued shooting training in the wilderness nearby.
Because soldiers were passing on the mountain road, Claude couldn't let the soldiers fire live ammunition. He just asked them to train to load the ammunition and then aim. After training for a long time, a group of officers on horseback suddenly appeared on the mountain road. They stood beside the road and watched the soldiers of the security squadron perform horizontal and kneeling charging and ammunition training.
When Claude ordered the guards to rest for half an hour, a captain of the Guards rode over and asked Claude to follow him. His Royal Highness wanted to question him.
The eldest prince, Claude, thought to himself that it was Mrs. Maria who asked this eldest prince to take care of her again. However, after Claude passed by, he realized that he had thought too much. This eldest prince did not know who he was at all. What interested me was the training method Claude gave the soldiers.
Prince Hansback is a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing the uniform of an ordinary Guards soldier without any epaulettes on his shoulders. However, the epaulettes of the officers surrounding him almost dazzled Claude's eyes. From lieutenant to lieutenant general, they all had honorary and formal military ranks. Most of the more than 20 people had the rank of major or above. Claude simply decided He raised his hands and saluted in a circle before putting them down and standing at attention.
"What is the name of the squadron leader of this security squadron you are?" Prince Hansback asked in a gentle tone.
"Yes, Your Highness, I am temporarily acting in this position. My name is Claude Field." Claude replied.
Prince Hansback pointed to the guns in the hands of the soldiers in the security squadron: "Claude, right? I want to ask, all the guns in your squadron are Obash Type III standard matchlock guns, which were issued to you by force from above. , are you the ones who have to use it?”
"No, we specially requested it."
"Oh, is that so? I heard many people say that this is a failed gun. It has no merit except for accurate aiming and shooting. Especially for soldiers who are used to the Obash II standard matchlock gun, it is difficult to master and become familiar with this kind of gun. Gun, what do you think?"
"Your Highness, whether a weapon is used well or not depends on who is in the hands and where it is used. The veterans are used to using the Obash Type II standard matchlock gun, so they are not used to this Type III shooting method. It's normal. They also nicknamed this gun the crooked-neck musket. When marching in line and firing in unison, large shooting deviations often occur, so they don't like to use this Obas type III standard matchlock gun.
The team members under my command are all new recruits. They don't know how to line up and fire in unison, so they have no prejudice against using this kind of musket. After getting familiar with it, they don't think there is anything wrong with it. In addition, our security squadron is responsible for guarding the entrance to the mountain road and is responsible for daily patrols and warnings. The precise aiming and shooting of this kind of musket is more practical for us, because we only have to deal with a very small number of enemies." Claude thought for a moment and replied .
"Haha, the crooked-neck musket." Prince Hansback laughed: "The soldiers of the Red Dragon Legion and the Griffin Legion gave this gun a crooked nickname, which doesn't sound right to the neck. What you said There is still some truth to it. Once the recruits get used to it, they won't have these problems. But how about the shooting accuracy of your soldiers?"
"Your Highness, the soldiers in our security squadron have relatively high shooting accuracy at a distance of about a hundred meters, but beyond this distance, they only have a 50% hit rate. This is not our problem, but a problem with the gun itself. .”
"The accuracy of shooting at a distance of one hundred meters is relatively high." Prince Hansback became interested and dismounted: "Let them shoot with live ammunition and show it to me."
"Your Highness, no, your safety is important." A lieutenant colonel next to him exclaimed.
"It's okay, they are soldiers of our kingdom, not assassins. And aren't you with me?" Prince Hansback waved his hand and said nonchalantly.
Claude was a little embarrassed: "Your Highness, there are soldiers passing by on the mountain road. I was afraid that the sound of live ammunition firing would cause misunderstandings, so I just asked the soldiers to conduct a loading and ammunition drill."
Prince Hansback burst into laughter: "It's okay, that's the Guards Corps. If they would be frightened by your training gunfire, that would be ridiculous. I would just take off their uniforms and tell them to get out." Go back to your mother's bed"
The officers nearby also burst into laughter.
Prince Hansback, on the other hand, remembered the training he had just seen: "By the way, so and so, please tell me why the soldiers in your guard squadron have to lie down and kneel on the ground for the training of loading ammunition."
"Your Highness, my name is Claude Field." Claude's face was covered with black lines, thinking that I had just announced my name a few minutes ago.
"Okay, Claude, I'm sorry, your name is a bit ordinary, I didn't remember it." From this point of view, the first prince Hansback is still very approachable, not as domineering as the second prince Wedelek. , and the attitude is more sincere when saying sorry.
Claude could only smile, and he had to answer: "That's right, because it is a precise shooting, so there is no need for the soldiers to stand up and load the ammunition after the shooting is completed, as that will easily lead to enemy fire counterattack. Cause unnecessary damage. So I asked them to practice and familiarize themselves with the lying and kneeling charging methods, so that although the speed is a bit slow, they can hide themselves and make it difficult for the enemy to find us."
Prince Hansback thought thoughtfully: "You are very thoughtful. This is indeed a good method. On the Western Front, many soldiers of the Red Dragon Legion and Griffin Legion who used this gun got up to load the gun after the shooting was completed. I was hit by a stray bullet from the enemy's counterattack while firing. Now take me to see the accuracy of your soldiers' live ammunition shooting."
Since Prince Hansback insisted on seeing the shooting accuracy of the soldiers in the guard squadron, Claude had no choice but to comply. However, the accompanying officer recruited a squadron of guardsmen to stand behind the soldiers of the guard squadron and protect the eldest prince closely.
The shooting distance was 100 meters. Claude asked the soldiers of the security team to take turns to fire live ammunition in a small group. Each round fired ten rounds. After completion, they took the target paper and watched it. Basically, there were most shots with seven or eight rings, and there were also some with nine and ten rings. This shooting result surprised the onlookers and the Grand Prince Hansback. According to them, although the target and the target paper are different, in the Red Dragon Legion and the Griffin Legion, only the veterans with the best shooting results can do this.
Prince Hansback was very satisfied with the live-fire shooting training results of the entire garrison squadron, but Claude was a little embarrassed. The lack of live-fire shooting training in the past two months caused the shooting performance of the garrison soldiers to drop a lot. . On the other hand, Prince Hansbach forgot Claude's name again, which made Claude feel a little embarrassed. However, fortunately, His Royal Highness the Prince asked Claude's name again before leaving, and then he got on his horse and drove away.
"I thought His Highness the Grand Prince would reward us with something because of our good shooting performance, but I didn't expect that they would just praise us without giving us anything practical. It's too stingy." Belklin was a little dissatisfied. complained.
"You have a beautiful idea," Aboyev said next to him: "He is His Highness the Prince. Do you think he will take out a lot of gold coins from his pocket to reward us on the spot? That is something only businessmen and nouveau riche do. . If you want to reward us, someone will send it to us tomorrow. It will be an unexpected surprise for us. It is already very good to praise us just now."
Claude had always thought that it was Prince Hansback who came over to see what was going on when he saw that his training of soldiers to load ammunition in lying and kneeling positions was strange. He did not take this encounter to heart. But unexpectedly, Captain Wardlov, the acting battalion commander of the security battalion, rode over early the next morning.
"What mistake did you make yesterday?" Captain Wardloff asked Claude.
"I didn't make any mistakes. I didn't do anything." Claude was confused by his question and was confused.
Captain Wardloff was a little angry: "I didn't do anything. Then why did Prince Hansback send someone to pick me up from the bed in the middle of last night and ask me to go to the office to transfer all the files of your security squadron? If it weren't for the night city The door was closed and I came over to find you."
Why did Prince Hansback find someone to transfer all the files of my security squadron? Claude didn't understand what was going on. He had no choice but to tell the story of how Prince Hansback took people to watch the guard's live-fire drill yesterday.
"You are a fool, but you are blessed." Captain Wardloff looked at Claude with envy: "Obviously, His Highness the Prince has taken a fancy to you, and your boy will be very successful soon. If I hadn't used two bottles of good wine If it were you in this security squadron, you wouldn't have had such an opportunity. Don't forget me when you get rich in the future."
"Okay, don't mention your two bottles of good wine. Really, if you want good wine, tell me, I have it here." Claude was thinking in his mind, what did Prince Hansback want to do when he transferred the files of the security squadron? The guards around him are impossible. He has plenty of manpower.
Two days later, Claude received a formal transfer order, allowing him to take the security squadron to report to the Ranger Camp.