Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 446 Rewards and Arms

“General, the local administrator of Rodex Bay City and the commander of the local guard battalion visited early in the morning and they have been waiting for almost an hour.” Lieutenant Colonel Anders reported that he had just gotten out of his marching bed and was still beating Claude.

“Hmm?” Claude stunned: “What are they doing here? ”

Last night Claude closed his eyes at more than 4: 00, searching for an unmanned tent in the camp, and falling asleep with a seemingly clean single march bed. This will look at the sky. It's almost 9: 00. Ask Lieutenant Colonel Anders, and the answer is 9: 23. So the guys from Rodex Bay are here at 8: 00. What's the rush?

Claude rubbed his face casually, picked up Colonel Anders' warm milk and drank it up. When you're finished, ask where the milk came from. Lieutenant Colonel Anders replied that three Hobik cows were kept in the General Logistics Base camp of the Hicks and were said to have been used exclusively by the captives for those high-ranking officers. They drink alcohol at night, get up in the morning with a bad stomach and need some milk to nourish them...

Claude was speechless, saying whether these high-ranking Hicks officers had come to fight or to travel, and the camp was dedicated to feeding them cows. As Lieutenant General of the first kingdom in the direct territorial war zone, Claude has eaten dry march food for more than half a month, like the soldiers, from the northern coastal mountains with the Legion of Thunder. The only privilege is unlimited black tea, as long as the troops have cooked their own drinks during the break...

Perhaps that's the difference between standing in their General Logistics Base camp right now, and those high-ranking Hicks officers hiding in Rodex Bay City, and Claude no longer thinks about it, sweeping away the bread and meat jerky that came in three or two bites. Then he rinsed his mouth, packed his uniform, and greeted Lieutenant Colonel Anders to take himself to see the local administrator from Rodex Bay City and the guard battalion commander who had wisely failed to find a reason to attack the city last night.

“By the way, did Colonel Muriel's second regiment leave with Colonel Diaved's third regiment?” Claude asked.

Lieutenant Colonel Anders replied, "We left at 6: 00 in the morning, not to alarm the people in Rodex Bay City. ”

Three battalions of the 1302 Thunder Regiment and the 1303 Thunder Regiment equipped with new rifles left without a proper rest at the General Logistics Base, mainly to ambush enemies likely to arrive for rescue. It was only after the capture of the battalion last night that it was discovered that all the communications hawks in the battalion had been released by the remaining comms.

Though it was not known whether the dead communicators had heard from them, Claude was still afraid to let Muried's second regiment and the three regiments from Diaved set out early to set up an ambush at the scheduled location. Because hawks fly in the air, they can reach camps along the northern and eastern borders in the middle of the day, and the enemy is likely to send reinforcements overnight.

The colony of the Gulf of Rhodes is a land of plenty of water and soil, and ambushing the enemy requires a good ambush site and disguise, otherwise it will be easy for the enemy to detect the loss. So Claude had to make Muriel and Diaved work a little harder to get there early and get ready for an ambush so he could wipe out another Hicks reinforcement.

Instead of being anxious to wait for nearly an hour, several visitors to the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands in the Big Book tasted black tea while carefully gauging the far Thunder Corps soldiers and secretly assessing the battle power gap between the soldiers of these Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Ovilas and those of the Hicks Standing Regiment...

“... their behavior is very normative. Look over there, two soldiers walking side by side, arms swinging at the same magnitude and pace. The five over there are single-person queues, and the gap between each soldier is almost the same distance. Gentlemen, this is their own camp, and if it's the Hicks, we'll see them fighting, having fun, and this is the most common scene in almost every national camp on the continent.

But there's no such thing as our usual scenario. Although this is the enemy camp they captured last night, their faces are relaxed and they don't feel nervous. Obviously, this camp is already under their control. So they can also maintain the military's code of conduct in such situations, clearly because long-term training incorporates discipline and restraint into their bodies. I have to admit, this is the most disciplined force I've ever seen, and no wonder those Hicks veterans we think are tough are not their opponents... "

A local administrator in Rodex Bay City was somewhat dissatisfied with Lieutenant Colonel Lemando's praise for the soldiers of the Legion of Thunder, who rebutted: "They are only the army, and their discipline and soldier qualities are not worth mentioning compared to those of the naval generals in our kingdom. ”

In the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, the Navy is always above the Army, and the so-called United Kingdom Army is actually the local guard force. Lieutenant Colonel Lemando shook his head: "Unlike us, the naval might of the United Kingdom is the strongest in all the countries of the Farea continent, half thanks to our blood, and we are descendants of the sea. The other half is the legacy of our ancestors.

Thousands of years ago, our ancestors drove small sea-going vessels across the ocean, and they left us with all their knowledge of sea-going vessels, which is why we built an invincible sea-going fleet. Discipline and ordinance on board our United Kingdom naval fleet are the most cumbersome, with clear regulations on board, whether it be clothing and accommodation.

But there is no way, the risks at sea are constantly changing and unpredictable to anyone, and we, both trainee sailors and captains, must come together to deal fully with those disasters and dangers. The knowledge of our ancestors has given us enough experience and lessons to allow us to cope with all the dangers at sea.

The ocean is endless, and a sea ship is so big, so many people, that we have to adapt to and comply with those cumbersome rules and regulations. Because we all know in our hearts that these rules and regulations are meant for us to be able to safely return home to our families, and that's why our Navy sergeant is the best in discipline and quality. ”

Everyone present knew the origin of Lieutenant Colonel Lemando and why he held the position of Commander of the local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City, so that no one could refute what he had said, which would have been true.

Lieutenant Colonel Lemando shook his head and went on to say: "Compared to our navy, our army is a dispersion of sand, whether discipline or troop training, almost unmanageable and unimportant. The head of the United Kingdom Department of the Army was a retirement post, and he had not even been as valued by the United Kingdom as a warship captain.

Our army, in the eyes of other countries on the continent, is a place to guard against thieves, alcoholics and criminals. When we saw those Hicks veterans, we thought it was the most elite army, but the night raid I saw last night really upset my impression of elitism.

I never thought that the Hicks Royal Army, which we consider to have the most robust veterans, would be seized by the entire UNLB battalion less than an hour before such an army resisted. This is the real example of war that we have witnessed, a real night attack before me, which made me understand what a real army elite is.

Now that I'm here, I find out the real reason. We in the United Kingdom, the most respected Navy Marshal, the Duke of Shobertaff, have just said that strict military discipline means strong fighting power. I think that phrase, in both the Navy and the Army, should be generic. Compared to these soldiers in the Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Ovieras, the seemingly tough Hicks veterans do act like a bunch of people. ”

“But Lieutenant Colonel Lemando, didn't you notice that the soldiers in this battalion in the Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Orvilas appear to be small...” another local administrator warned.

Colonel Lemando laughed bitterly: “I've long discovered that they have only about two regiments here, I don't know if there are any troops elsewhere. We all know that the Hicks remain in this battalion with a division of the guard force. If the Overseas Territories of the Kingdom of Orvillas really wiped out the Hicks in just two regiments at night, I would only double their strength..."

Claude soon arrived at a large account, and the local administrators and camp commanders of the Fox Islands United Kingdom in Rodex Bay City stopped whispering and welcomed Claude with enthusiasm and respect. And a loud compliment to Claude on an extraordinary victory to remember in the history of war in the French world.

Claude waved: “Gentlemen, I understand your United Kingdom neutrality, so I restrain the soldiers from offending the dignity of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands. Let me get this straight. I want to know why you're here. I'm busy. I'm sure you'll understand. After all, we just took over this Hicks logistics base camp and there are a lot of things I need to deal with..."

These local officials from Rodex Bay City came to visit mainly on three occasions: the desire to deregulate roads outside the city of Rodex Bay, where many of the city's inhabitants lived outside the city. Even though we live in the city at night, we still have to take care of the farm orchards during the day and go fishing for seafood on the bay beach. The Legion of Thunder set up a checkpoint a few hundred metres from the city gate, thus confining the city's inhabitants to the city.

The second thing is that some of the city's residents have been hired by the Hicks, like cook servants and stuff, and they're usually busy in the camp. These local administrators wondered if they had been harmed in the night raid last night and asked Claude to release the city residents who were only working for the Hicks.

The last thing was that the former General Logistics Base of the Hicks was here, and some of the inhabitants of the city would put up small stalls in the open space at the entrance of the barracks, so that those Hicks soldiers who could not get into the city could buy and sell at the entrance of the barracks, and even some people would set up wind and moon tents and do business well. For the inhabitants of those towns, no matter who occupies the camp, there is a need to buy and sell. So these local administrators hope the new occupiers don't have to deal with the little businessmen in the city who set up stalls in front of the camp...

For Claude, the first thing was easy to solve, and he responded to the demands of those local administrators by releasing control of the roads and allowing the inhabitants of those towns to leave town for their own livelihoods. As for the second thing, Claude explained that the soldiers of the Thunder Corps were well-trained and qualified soldiers and would never kill innocents indiscriminately. Even during the night raids, they targeted enemies in Hicks uniforms and shot without meeting anyone.

As for the last thing, Claude smiled, saying that the soldiers of the Thunder Legion were not soldiers of the Hicks Kingdom, and he advised the city's small traders and residents not to set up stalls outside the camp, assuring them that there was no business. Of course, it is their own business to set up stalls, but the soldiers of the Legion of Thunder are disciplined and cannot be traded outside the battalion...

Though these local administrators in Rodex Bay City don't believe much in Claude's words, they are still very disciplined and exemplary. So they gave us a gift list, and they said they had a hard time fighting all the way, and they sent us some beer to condole us. In addition to bovine and goat fruits and fine flour, fruits and wine, there is also a gold coin worth more than 20,000 gold kroner. It's the Labor Army, and it's actually paying for public relations that everyone knows about.

Claude hit on Rodex Bay City last night for two reasons: the Hicks' senior officers were all in town, and the Kingdom of Hicks had a joint bank of two million gold shields stored in the city. This was yesterday, when the battalion was occupied and the search and inspection of the Treasury, it was discovered that only more than 400,000 kilogram shields of cash were stored in it.

Colonel Berklin grabbed a deputy on duty for questioning, and as a result the deputy treasurer immediately confessed that the Kingdom of Hicks had stored a sum of KP 2 million in a joint bank account in the city to pay for the transfer of purchases and salaries of troops, which was safer than placing it in a military barracks warehouse, at least not in a warehouse or somehow minus 10% of the storage depletion, one million to the end when only 900,000 was spent...

So Colonel Berklin immediately came up with the idea of deliberately letting hundreds of captured Hicks soldiers escape in the hope that Rodex Bay City would receive them and let them into the city. Then the Legion of Thunder could launch a full-fledged offensive to occupy Rodex Bay City and, in addition to hunting down high-ranking Hicks officers in the city, take the Hicks Kingdom's military spending from the Union Bank into its own hands...

Unfortunately, Lieutenant Colonel Lemando of Rodex Bay City was wise and forcefully refused to open the door, avoiding the fate of the city. Now this 20,000 Golden Kroner public relations bill is clearly meant to mean that Claude would prefer not to take any more ideas from Rodex Bay City, and there are some things that you can do with one eye open.

Claude laughed and took the pen and changed the number on the gift slip to 100,000: “At least one soldier in our Thunder Corps should get a Golden Krone reward. Officers have to double it according to rank, so I think that's a reasonable reward. And, of course, I didn't force you to come out of Rodex Bay City with this bounty, and I know that all the senior Hicks officers are in town, and there's a huge amount of military money in the bank.

Maybe you can go back and talk to them, and if they don't want to spend this reward, you can tell them that there can be no military personnel on either side in Rodex Bay City, as long as you declare the neutrality of the United Kingdom. So if they don't want to pay, you can send them out of town, and we'll wait for them outside. I don't care how much they pay to keep them in town, I just want that number! ”

All the local administrators in Rodex Bay City looked a little stubborn, staring at Claude, saying that you had captured the Hicks' camp, wiped out the Hicks' troops, and now the Hicks were paying you to reward your own soldiers?

Soon, however, local administrators understood what Claude meant, and it was indeed a good opportunity for blackmail, and those high-ranking Hicks officers who stayed in the city had become fat sheep, perfect for everyone to bite. After a brief interview, the local administrators present unanimously stated that they would do their utmost to persuade senior Hicks officers to take a reward from the Union Bank to reward the soldiers of the Thunder Legion and never let them go for nothing.

Now that a covert deal has been negotiated and Lieutenant Colonel Anders has come in to report it, Colonel Berklin's side will also remove those city residents who work in the camp from captivity. The list also matches. Only two bad luck guys got stray bullets in last night's night's attack. After initial treatment, their lives are not in danger. They just have to suffer two or three months of sin. They also have to pay to go to the pharmacy to buy therapeutic drugs...

So the local administrators in Rodex Bay City were ready to say goodbye, but Claude called Colonel Lemando and asked the question in front of the people on the premises, that he occupied the battalion and seized many of the Hicks' weapons and ammunition, wondering whether the United Kingdom Army in the Fox Islands was interested in buying a shipment of Hicks arms and equipment from its own hands to replace the backward weapons in their hands.

This is what Claude saw last night from a single-barrel telescope, and the fact that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands did not pay much attention to the Army, Claude found that the local guard battalion soldiers on the walls of the city were carrying very backward fireline guns, the equivalent of the Obash type 1 fireline guns that the Kingdom of Oberas had equipped twenty or thirty years ago, very obsolete weapons.

Although less equipped than the Obash III, the Hicks Kingdom is nevertheless an advanced precision firing weapon, one or two generations ahead of the one held by soldiers at the local guard battalion in Rodex Bay City. Anyway, the weapons of the Kingdom of Hicks are of little use to the theatre, and Claude cannot take them away, and he can only set them on fire.

In the spirit of having dates and not having dates, Claude hit the guard camp in Rodex Bay City with an idea...