Amidst the sharp sound of the electronic whistle, a freight train carrying dozens of carriages slowly left the platform, letting the workers in the station who were responsible for transporting materials to the freight carriages breathe a sigh of relief.
Because every departure of a freight train means thousands of tons more supplies for the Kingdom's frontline troops, and Duke Hughes once clearly told them in a radio speech that as long as there are sufficient supplies, the heroic Hughes will be able to The Guards will not lose to any enemy.
Raising his arms and wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves, porter Hotson looked at the train that disappeared on the tracks in the blink of an eye, feeling a sigh of relief in his heart.
In other words, when the Duke had not succeeded to the throne, doing heavy work in these days when the ground had not yet thawed was no different from courting death. Exhausting too much physical energy will increase the appetite of the men, resulting in insufficient food reserves that have been collected over and over again by officials, and they will not have enough strength to fight back when wild wolves attack the village.
But now, His Excellency the Duke has proven to them through actions that these situations will never happen again.
Since the seeds of high-yielding crops were distributed to each village and intensively cultivated by experienced professional farmers, these men, who usually need to take root in the farmland, were recruited into various towns and became "workers".
Just when they were worried about whether they would be like the forcibly recruited peasants in the past, who not only received pitiful wages but also had no food and accommodation, the Duke's envoy came to them with documents and announced loudly that as workers at Xiusnia Station, Not only can they live in warm dormitories, but their daily meals and drinks will also be provided for free by the station canteen.
When the workers who were satisfied enough thought that such conditions were reasonable even if they did not pay wages, the envoy said that although Duke Hughes, who was extremely kind, would not reward them with gold and silver coins that had been strictly controlled, he would give them a kind of Something called a "work ticket."
With work tickets, workers can exchange for daily necessities such as cloth, meat, seasonings, etc. from any exchange point in the Hughes Territory. Some good things that are not available in ordinary stores are also clearly marked in the exchange point, and the price Not too expensive.
If you want to buy new furniture for your home or some gadgets as gifts for your wife and children, you only need to work for a few days to half a month, and these things will be delivered to your home by a dedicated person. This was simply unimaginable in the past. .
"Grek, isn't your son a soldier in the Guards? Has he written to you recently to tell you where they have advanced?"
Hotson suddenly remembered that one of his colleagues had a son serving in the Guards, and he suddenly became interested. Before the next train arrived, he quickly took off his dirty gloves, put his hands on the other person's shoulders and said, "Whether we can change the way we call the Duke His Majesty the Emperor depends on your son and the sons of other old guys. How are you doing?"
Glancing at Hotson's rough hand on his shoulder, Greco raised his head proudly, recalling what his son said in the letter, and was deeply convinced of Hotson's question.
"Do you know how many Guards the Duke sent this time?"
Because his son is in the military, Greg will inevitably know more about the army than ordinary people. This is not his son leaking secrets to him, it is just some of the most commonplace content. For example, what is the total strength of the Guards and what parts it is divided into?
Seeing his old friend shaking his head in confusion, Greco grinned and made a three sign to him.
"Thirty thousand people? That's really a big battle! I heard an old man in my family say that when the royal capital of Baishi City was attacked by coalition forces from several neighboring countries, there were only twenty to thirty thousand people."
"Haha, you old guy is too courageous!"
Seeing that there was no one around, Greco whispered in the opponent's ear: "Three hundred thousand people! Half of them are Guards and half are auxiliary troops engaged in logistics."
"My dear, three hundred thousand!?"
Gu imagined the scene of 300,000 people marching in his mind. Hotson, who felt that his imagination was completely insufficient, put on his gloves and sighed: "Well, if I could be twenty years younger, I would definitely be the same." Went on an expedition with the army."
"That can't be said. Didn't you listen to what the Duke said on the radio? Whether it is the soldiers fighting desperately on the front line or us workers in the rear, they are all contributing to the country. If they are the real battlefield, Then our place is a battlefield where no blood can be seen!"
Hotson nodded when he heard this, and looked towards the end of the railway track. There was another empty train on the way, preparing to clear away the thousands of tons of supplies stored in the station and embark on the journey. On the way to the front.
"Old man, you are right, we are also a battlefield here, a battlefield where no blood can be seen!"
...
In a military camp thousands of kilometers away from Xiusnia, a Guards soldier wearing a gray-white winter uniform leaned half of his body on the table under the bright light of the kerosene lamp in the camp, and wrote: Letters sent home.
Because the weather was too cold, the soldier put down his pencil, rubbed his cold hands and then picked up the pen again. After thinking for a moment, he wrote on the white paper: "Father, mother, how have you been recently? I must have the Duke here. , life must be better than when I set out. You don’t have to worry too much about me, maybe the weather is a bigger enemy than the army of the North Kingdom. "
"The troops I belong to just crossed a frozen river the day before yesterday. If I have the chance, I will definitely take you to see the ice and snow here. It is much colder than the western border of the kingdom, and the ice is also very thick. Sir We were ordered to make a lot of thin wooden boards and tie them to the soles of our boots to prevent any of us fools from sinking our legs in the snow.”
"The people of the Northland Kingdom are more resistant to the cold than the commander thought, but after the thunderous artillery bombardment, they have lost the courage to fight with us. I believe you also know this, the Guards are invincible."
The soldier raised his head and moved his neck. After seeing the fox fur hanging on the tent pole, he lowered his head again and continued writing.
"Yesterday I shot several snowshoe rabbits and foxes with my comrades in a forest, but the power of the rifle was too great. The snowshoe rabbits that were shot were shot into two pieces. Even the best master could not kill them. A decent fur. But a fox is much better, so I will send you a white fox fur along with my allowance for this month."
"To be honest, in a foreign country, the only function of these allowances is to allow me to have more fun when playing cards with my comrades, but Roger, who sleeps on the bunk above me, lost all his allowances for the past two months while playing cards last night. Well, I lost last month too, so I decided not to play anymore until I went home."
The young soldier who wrote this looked up and thought for a moment, seeming to be thinking of something else to write. Soon, after he smelled the fragrance of lunch coming from outside the camp, he who had always been among the best in the village school's cultural scores continued to write on the paper.
"The food in the army is also very good, even richer than before. As I write this letter, I seem to have smelled the aroma of broth and bread. I owe this to you, father, and your colleagues, The commander has already said that if it weren’t for your hard work, we would have to march hungry in the ice and snow.”
"Although I don't know how the friendly forces in other directions are doing, I think they are similar to us. So if nothing else happens, I will be able to go home and reunite with you in a few months at most."
"I can only think of so many things to share with you at the moment. If there are more things, I will write to you in time."
"Always love you Erwin Greco."
After putting the written letter into an envelope and stuffing it into his arms, Erwin put on soft and comfortable sheepskin gloves and a steel helmet, picked up the bolt-action rifle that was placed on the table, pulled the bolt, and checked the magazine. After checking whether there were any bullets left, he left the camp carrying the rifle with more than ten marks carved on the butt.
