Originally, Claude thought that he could have some rest after capturing Black Maple Castle, because the order from above, in addition to having the 1st Battalion of Rangers take over the town of Billy and capture Black Maple Castle, was to eliminate the resistance in the Picklet Mountains. strength. The Picklet Mountains, which flank the army, are remote and there are no acts of resistance worth mentioning. Both the townspeople and the villagers of the seven mountain villages in the mountains have calmly accepted the fact that they are ruled by foreign occupying forces.
What the officers of the 1st Ranger Battalion didn't expect was that after the defenders who made an emergency landing at Black Maple Castle completed their occupation mission, they just sent the battle report, and within three days they received another order from above. This order is not to give a reward for completing the task, but to require the first ranger battalion to immediately send people to find out the situation of the smuggling trail leading to the Eskiline Principality in the Picklet Mountains, and at the same time seal the mountainous areas tightly to prevent the information from leaking.
Looking at the map, one can understand what the plan is, but the military orders are like mountains. In the cold weather and heavy snowfall of this winter, the officers and soldiers of the 1st Ranger Battalion still have to wear cold-proof leather jackets and go up the mountain to search for the smuggling passages hidden in the mountains. Half a month later, the Blue Feather Army marched to the small town of Billy and took over the tasks of the 1st Ranger Battalion. At the same time, they walked lightly into the mountains through the ice and snow, and advanced eastward along the well-traveled smuggling trails.
The 1st Ranger Battalion became the pioneer and scout battalion of the Blue Feather Legion, and even spent the orientation night in the mountains and forests. Major Leedfunk took out a bottle of good wine he carried with him and asked each officer of the first ranger battalion to take a sip and everyone celebrated the arrival of the new year.
On January 7, the 579th year of the Holy Light Calendar, the Blue Feather Legion's surprise troops descended from the sky. In the cold winter, they climbed over the Piklet Mountains, which was regarded as a natural chasm, and appeared in the three southern counties of the Eskiline Principality. They easily captured the three counties. A large county town. The 1st Ranger Battalion was ordered to garrison various major traffic crossings to prevent the enemy's spies and small local garrison troops from escaping and resisting attacks.
"Second Lieutenant Claude, you'd better lead a squadron to guard this place. I don't worry about letting others go." Major Lieutenant Lieutenant frowned and stared at the map.
Claude nodded, he knew the place that Major Leedfunk was talking about. It was a hilly area, which was also considered the edge of the Picklet Mountains. There is a mountain road leading to the Karnas Prairie, and another leading to the eastern part of the Eskiline Principality. This is a three-way intersection. Although the mountain road is narrow and cannot pass large four-wheel transport carriages, a small number of pack teams and people can still pass there. Considering that the Blue Feather Legion can cross the Picklet Mountains via the smuggling trail, it is not surprising that Major Leedfunk attaches great importance to this three-way intersection.
"I will equip you with two more light infantry artillery pieces and two artillery batteries, and also equip you with a group of carrier pigeons and a signal corpsman. You can take Markchi's squadron from the third group there. From now on, I will deliver supplies to you once a week. "Major Leedfunk also strengthened the squadron's firepower and strength.
"Okay, then I'll set off in the afternoon." Claude accepted the order without hesitation.
Markchi is a veteran who joined the Ranger Battalion because he was greedy for the huge reward offered by Lieutenant Colonel Rosler, the first commander in charge of the Ranger Battalion. I had good luck at the beginning. Together with my comrades, I ambushed four enemy reconnaissance cavalry and received my first bonus. But then he never took any advantage. Instead, he was chased by the enemy's reconnaissance team. The three soldiers who were teaming with him were all dead and their heads were chopped off. He was also stabbed, and when he thought he was about to die, he was saved by soldiers from the Ranger Battalion who came later.
After three months of recovery in the treatment center, he was inexplicably promoted one level and became a master sergeant. After inquiring, I learned that the Ranger Battalion performed outstandingly in the battle to retake Wilf Hill and was rewarded by the Great Prince. He ordered all the officers and soldiers of the Ranger Battalion to be promoted to the first level, including the wounded soldiers of the Ranger Battalion who were recuperating in the treatment center. Big bargain.
After Markey recovered, he came out of the treatment center and reported back to the ranger camp, just in time for the new recruits to enter the camp. Because he had been promoted to sergeant major, he was also appointed to the position of acting squadron leader. He was diligent in training the new recruits, and finally took it off. Agency hat. But after all, he is a veteran, and it is inevitable to be lazy and cheat when accepting a mission. Every time his squadron goes out to perform a mission, there will always be some mistakes. This is why Major Leedfunk decided to let Claude lead the team. Mark Qi, a veteran, really doesn't have much confidence.
But in front of Claude, Marki was still relatively honest. Although he was seven years older than Claude and had longer military experience than Claude, his military rank was lower than Claude's. At the same time, Claude's plan to capture Black Maple Castle made him admire him very much. For a veteran like Mark Qi, few deaths are the most important thing, and whether the date is too long is not a consideration for him. Because he is an officer at the lowest level, he is a little better than a soldier, but he still cannot avoid the fate of going to the battlefield and charging into battle.
Originally entering the three southern counties of the Eskiline Principality, the First Ranger Battalion and the Blue Feather Legion would gain a lot of military merit if they attacked the city and plundered the territory together. But the Blue Feather Legion did not want to share their military merits with the First Ranger Battalion. Everyone knew that the Eskiline Principality was defenseless, exposing its soft hinterland to the Blue Feather Legion's troops. Next, the Blue Feather Army can sweep across the entire Eskiline Principality, outflank the Anti-Austrian Alliance forces in the Principality of Rimodra from the rear, and achieve a feat that will be remembered in history for the defeat of the Anti-Austrian Alliance.
In order to wash away the shame of being trapped in the Emilia Plains of the Principality of Sidings, and also want to monopolize the merits of siege and occupying the land, the Blue Feather Army gave the Ranger Battalion an order to guard the traffic arteries. The first ranger battalion is used as those local security battalions, separated and used. Although Major Leedfunk protested very strongly, the officer level crushed people to death. Moreover, when the 1st Ranger Battalion crossed the Picklet Mountains, the order they received from the Grand Prince was to cooperate with the actions of the Blue Feather Army and obey their commands.
Compared with the unwilling officers such as Major Leedfunk, the soldiers of the 1st Ranger Battalion were very satisfied with the mission they had received. Because this means they have the opportunity to earn extra money without risking their lives on the battlefield.
Claude got a lot of tips on making extra money from Mark Qi, a veteran. The simplest one is to charge for passing checkpoints. Of course, part of these incomes also need to be turned over. These unspoken rules that are not recorded in military regulations are that 30% of the total income is paid. Claude as the leading officer can receive 20%, and the remaining officers can receive 20%. The final Thirty percent is shared among all soldiers.
This is an unspoken rule for sharing the spoils implemented by the Overas Kingdom army in the occupied areas. Whether it is setting up checkpoints or robbing wealth from the people, all harvests are carried out in accordance with this unspoken rule. This is not just a country's army that has such unspoken rules. In this era, almost all countries' armies have such unwritten rules. The only difference is that the proportions are different.
It took a day and a half for Claude to arrive at his destination with the Macchi squadron, two five-man artillery crews and two light infantry artillery pieces. Information obtained from the county shows that there is a mountain village with nearly a hundred households at the three-way intersection here, called Squirrel Village, which is the territory of Baron Novilik Wei Flinsland in the Principality of Eskilin. Of course, this Baron Flinsland is currently in the capital of the Duchy of Eskilen, Swan Castle, Catwinter, and is not in his territory. His territory, Squirrel Village, has naturally become a trophy of the kingdom.
After entering Squirrel Village, Markchi immediately became active. He sent someone to arrest the frowning village chief and asked him to provide the young and strong labor force in the village to build the camp. At the same time, he handed over the food and property accumulated in the village's public treasury, and Pay the war taxes and fees of each villager's household, and the final request is to provide him with a list of widows in the village for him to choose from
But the answer of the village elder made Markchi disappointed and furious, because the village elder said that there was no young and strong labor force in the village, and they had all been forcibly recruited, saying that they were going to fight in the Principality of Limodra. As for the food and property in the village's public treasury, it is simply impossible. You must know that this is the territory of the Baron, and all food and property are the property of the Baron. The villagers now don't even have enough food for the winter, and they hope that Claude and the others can support them so that they can survive this winter.
So forget about war taxes and fees. There is nothing valuable in the villagers' homes. You can understand how poor their living standards are by looking at the dilapidated wooden shack houses. As for the widows in the village, there are only two widows now, one is over fifty years old, the other is nearly forty, and there is no younger one.
Claude was very surprised as to why Marki wanted to find a widow in the village. Seeing that he couldn't get any profit from the village elder, he pulled Marki outside the door and asked what was going on.
Markchi replied that this was also an unspoken rule of the occupying army. When troops were stationed in other countries, nearby villages had to provide widows to the military camp. One is to find a job in the military camp, helping with laundry, cooking and other chores. The second is to solve the lower body problems of soldiers and maintain military discipline to prevent them from ruining big girls and good women in the local area.
There are maids in taverns in towns and cities who can help the hot-blooded soldiers vent their desires, but in local villages, those villages without taverns must provide widows in the village. This is also an impossible solution. Of course, every time the soldiers look for those Widows also need to pay a certain amount of remuneration. For widows in some places, they welcome the presence of troops. This may give them a way to earn extra money, and it may also allow them to have a child of their own so that they can rely on them when they grow old.
But the village chief of this squirrel village said that one of the two widows provided by the village was over fifty and the other was close to forty. Why didn't this make Mark Qi, a veteran oil man, furious and cursed the village elder for being really cunning. But the village elder explained how the young people could stay in this broken mountain village. They had already gone to the city to find a way to survive.
It was an eye-opener for Claude. This was the first time he learned about the inside story of the kingdom's army. No officer would teach him these things, and no one would say it openly. Only when he comes into contact with it will he understand that there are so many unknown activities underneath.
Markchi wanted to station his squadron in Squirrel Village and then send people to set up checkpoints on the mountain roads. But Claude looked at the terrain of Squirrel Village, shook his head and rejected the proposal. He rode a horse around Squirrel Village, and finally Claude fell in love with a place.
It was a gentle slope that jutted out of the cliff. A stone warehouse five or six meters high was built on it. There was a row of four double-storey log cabins next to it. There was also a log fence surrounding the side facing Squirrel Village. There is a cliff on one side, and there is a drop of more than ten to twenty meters facing the three-way intersection. There is a high mountain on one side, and a steaming stream flows down from it, solving the water source problem. On one side is a turning road going up the mountain. When I went up the mountain to Squirrel Village, I really didn't notice the road that turned into it and could pass a carriage. The last side is Squirrel Village, with a fence in the middle. The terrain is good, high up, easy to defend but difficult to attack.
"What place is this and whose house is it?" Claude called the village elder over and asked.
"This is the Baron's holiday cabin. The stone warehouse is where he stores the mountain goods and grain he collects from us. Every autumn when the things are full, he will send people to transport them to the city. The row of double-storey wooden houses is where the Baron Sometimes he brings guests and friends here to stay when he goes hunting. There is always a certain period of time every year when he comes to hunt and then transports everything back." The village elder replied.
Claude laughed: "That's no problem. We have requisitioned this place. Markchi, take someone over to tidy it up. We will be stationed here in the future."