landbeastnovel #326 - Ping Ping Wait
#326 - Ping Ping Wait
On the vast, boundless plains, cartwheels rumbled.
Nearly a thousand Black Hats soldiers, arranged in four columns, marched forward in orderly steps.
Leather boots trampled the ground, stirring up dust and gravel.
The long spears on their shoulders clanged together, producing crisp, metallic sounds.
Behind them, nearly a thousand sturdy laborers followed.
Sandwiched between the laborers and the Protectorate soldiers were nearly a hundred covered wagons loaded with grain and mortar.
These auxiliary units followed closely behind the Black Hats, making the originally fluid and orderly formation appear strange and bloated.
This was unavoidable; supplies must come before the troops move.
Despite Horn's streamlining efforts, the ratio of military to non-military personnel remained at 5:2.
That is, a 500-man army required at least 200 people to ensure logistical support.
Horn added a large number of laborers, resulting in nearly 800 people following the two legions of 1,000 soldiers.
The massive convoy advanced along the road like a flowing river. Fortunately, they had not yet been attacked by knights so far.
"Only five more miles left," Jourdan shouted to the rear.
The war priest of the Fourth Legion complained routinely, "You said there were only five miles left when we just left this morning."
But Jourdan wasn't lying this time; it really was only five miles to the Moncrus estate.
The distance from Black Pottery Town to the Moncrus estate was about twenty miles, a distance that could be covered in a day, even with civilians.
They could already see the farmers belonging to the estate working in the fields.
As for their master, he had disappeared like a puff of smoke about three days ago, leaving behind the steward and a few servant foremen.
The stream flowed gently, and in the golden wheat fields, farmers occasionally looked up to gaze in this direction.
However, most of them only glanced briefly before fearfully lowering their heads and continuing their work.
Even though the lord had already fled, they were still doing their farm work as usual.
Despite the fighting between the Ibay Knights and the Salvation Army, for the farmers of Golden River Township, it was all "the lords' war."
What did it matter to them if the lords were beating each other's brains out when they still had to harvest three thousand pounds of grain a year?
This kind of thinking was slightly better in the Pious Special Zone, but particularly obvious in the Holy War Special Zone and Golden River Township.
With a tense expression, Laurent quickly walked to the side of the road and kicked a lazy laborer, causing him to yelp.
"Rishan..."
"Which team are you in? Did I tell you to rest?"
The beaten laborer glared at him resentfully and fearfully. Seeing Laurent pull out his rattan cane, he fled in panic and returned to the ranks.
Annoyed, Laurent fanned himself with a grass fan and complained to Jourdan, "These laborers are untrained civilians. I don't understand what use there is in transporting them to the front lines."
"Weren't we civilians before?" Jourdan didn't complain, and continued cheerfully, "Those recruits weren't much stronger than them when they were first trained."
"How can that be the same?" Laurent reached out to drive away a few horseflies, "They are untrained; it will be difficult to protect them on the battlefield."
"It's not like you're not a recruit," Jourdan reached out and punched him in the chest.
Laurent's face immediately turned red.
After enlisting in the Black Hats, Laurent quickly received the Holy Favor and became a Holy Gunner.
Since most of the Holy Gunners were veterans, he naturally regarded himself as a veteran.
After the Battle of Pavia, a large number of wounded soldiers, including disabled veterans, developed varying degrees of Holy Favor syndrome after their wounds became infected.
These veterans joined the ranks of the Holy Gunners, and most of the new recruits who filled the ranks were pikemen.
This resulted in the number of veterans in the Holy Gunners being several times higher than that of the pikemen.
Noticing Laurent's embarrassment and suppressed anger, Jourdan couldn't help but shake his head.
Laurent was a tailor's apprentice, and Jourdan was a cloth merchant peddler. They had known each other for a long time, but Jourdan felt that Laurent's personality was a little hard to describe.
Compared to the optimistic and easy-going Jourdan, perhaps because of his father's long-term scolding and beatings, Laurent's personality was relatively gloomy and sensitive, and he easily clashed with others.
Laurent still didn't have much popularity in the legion.
But undeniably, Laurent himself was indeed smart and capable, and scored first in every subject.
In the Saint Danji War College, he consistently ranked in the top five with excellent training results.
But the army is a place that worships the strong. As long as you can bring victory, even if you doze off and shit in public every day, everyone is willing to hold their noses and follow you.
"You're almost like a veteran," Jourdan hooked his arm around Laurent's neck, "After this battle, you'll be a veteran too."
The deep red color on Laurent's face gradually faded. He was about to speak when he suddenly turned his head.
"What's wrong?"
"There's the sound of horses' hooves." Without explanation, Laurent climbed onto a wagon and looked around. He pointed sharply in one direction, "There!"
Jourdan immediately blew his whistle, and several hussars accompanying him immediately galloped in that direction.
The previously peaceful convoy quieted down, and everyone nervously gripped anything they could hold.
After all, they were marching in enemy territory; who knew what kind of trouble would arise.
But soon, an Orc hussar returned to report: "Legion Commander, it's a representative of the people coming to greet us."
Hearing this, the surrounding people breathed a sigh of relief.
Although called representatives of the people, they were actually the original estate foremen and stewards.
Most of these people were knights' second sons or armed peasants. Among the armed peasants, some were poor and some were rich, and the wealthy class among the armed peasants were these foremen and stewards.
A knight's estate was about 2,000-3,000 acres of land, distributed among six or seven villages. He couldn't directly manage every village.
So most of the time, it was assigned to the foremen and stewards to be responsible for it. Knights rarely participated in the production and life of the estate.
They had to spend most of their time on touring, arenas, and pleasing noble lords.
After Horn issued the order for the Great Judgment, on May 24, 1445 of the Imperial Calendar, Saint Jeanne led four Black Hats legions to occupy Black Pottery Town.
After occupying Black Pottery Town, Jeanne's first order was to have the Black Hats Fifth Legion advance another twelve miles to occupy the Moncrus estate.
The Black Hats Fifth Legion did not encounter any decent resistance, and the estate simply surrendered.
Those stewards and foremen even repented and converted in time, happily welcoming the new dynasty's elegant policies, and everyone hung a wooden gear on their bodies, invariably calling for "freedom and equality."
"Freedom and equality! Esteemed sirs, this lowly one is called Declama," this man named Declama led a nag, smiling flatteringly at the Black Hats war priests, "Master Coleman asked me to greet you and guide you into the camp."
Obviously, those wearing chemise white shirts, black and red double-breasted jackets, gray breeches, and red sashes around their waists must be the masters.
Declama recognized that aura of coldness and energy at a glance.
Regardless of which master it was, they had the ability to take their lives easily, so Declama naturally dared not neglect them.
Most of the Black Hats were from poor backgrounds and had never been fond of small local gentry like these stewards and foremen.
Laurent wrote his disgust all over his face and just hummed faintly.
Jourdan felt disgusted in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged: "Then we'll have to trouble you."
Declama turned around with a fawning smile and began to guide the convoy forward.
"If you ask me, we should arrest them all," Laurent said, watching Declama walk towards the laborers.
"We still need them; otherwise, these villages will be in chaos."
"I wanted to ask, why did we suddenly have to advance to this Moncrus estate?"
Jourdan was about to answer when he heard a scream.
Looking at the end of the convoy, Declama was displaying a completely different ferocity than he had in front of Jourdan, kicking a laborer hard in the chest with a flying kick.
The laborer was kicked backwards on the spot.
Landing nimbly, Declama pointed at him and cursed with extreme fluency: "I've been watching you for a long time. You're just dawdling. Am I blind? Hurry up and don't delay the master's freedom and equality!"