Bud is one of only three externally admitted cadets in Winters' current class of military cadets, and he should be the most powerful among the three.
Because most of the external admissions to the Army Officer Academy are from the artillery department, which admits some talents with mathematical talents. But Bard was studying in the cavalry department, and the cavalry department had not had externally enrolled students for six years before Bard.
When the Republic of the United Provinces was still the Duke of Piedmont, starting from Bard's grandfather, their family made a living by raising horses for Count Mennai's family, from when the old count was still alive until the old count's grandson inherited the title.
As long as he has time, Bud's grandfather will take his two sons to cultivate more than ten acres of land at home. Although life is hard, there is no need to worry about not having enough food and clothing.
But the Bard family never dreamed of the outbreak of a sovereignty war. Bud's grandfather and father didn't understand why the people in the city suddenly wanted to rebel against the emperor. From their perspective, the emperor was clearly far away. In the eyes of Bader's family, their life was peaceful and subsistence, and they never thought that this living state would be broken.
When the Calevenists were destroying churches everywhere, the Bard family had already vaguely felt that a storm was coming. But three generations of their family have been dedicated grooms who have made a living by raising horses for the earl. They can do nothing but feed the earl's horses.
When the first Guitu City riot occurred, the militiamen captured the city.
The Bards were feeding the Count's horses, but the Count stood still because he was not a royalist;
When the first Kuitu City uprising was suppressed, the army of the governor appointed by the emperor entered the city.
The Bards were feeding the Count's horses, but the Count stood still because he did not support the militia either;
When the second uprising occurred in Guitucheng, the militiamen cooperated internally and externally to attack Guitucheng and trapped the governor in the castle tower.
The Bard family was feeding the count's horses, but the count continued to stand still. He chose to wait and see;
When the second suppression of Guitu City failed, the Battle of the Golden Saddle ended, and the royalist nobles in the Piedmont Dukedom were completely wiped out.
The Bader family was feeding the count's horses, but the count still stood still. He planned to continue to wait and see;
Finally, the emperor released his vicious dog, the Duke of Arléans. The Duke of Arléans declared that all the nobles who did not die in the Battle of the Golden Saddle were traitors, and led his mountain militia to kill the duchy in front of the mountain until rivers of blood flowed;
The Bard family is feeding the Earl...oh, there's no need to feed the horses this time. Because all the horses were taken to the war by Count Mennai. The fence-sitting nobles of the Dukedom of the Mountain can no longer sit back and watch the fight between tigers and tigers.
The Bader family switched to feeding the count's cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks.
After the Duke of Arlean was defeated and committed suicide, the Bard family thought that they could finally continue to feed the count horses.
But the Bader family did not expect that the militiamen and the anti-imperial noble army who were fighting side by side a second ago would start fighting again.
Knights in helmets and swords patrolled the Royal Road, killing all suspicious pedestrians without trial, just to intercept the messengers who were linking up with the militias in various cities;
Lone swordsmen wandered the forest paths, carrying their long swords and matchlocks wrapped in oil cloth, waiting for opportunities to assassinate any nobles they could find.
The civil war in the Piedmont Duchy ended with the victory of the militia, and no more duke was elected. The land was renamed the Piedmont Republic (also known as the United Provinces Republic).
Bard's family no longer has to worry about when they can go back to feed the count's horses. Because the militiamen's knives are faster than the Duke of Orleans's, and their attacks are more ruthless than that of the Duke of Orleans.
There was no longer Count Mennai, and all Count Mennai's family, old and young, had been slaughtered. The United Provinces Republic will no longer fall into the hands of the nobles, because there are no living nobles in the United Provinces Republic who dare to claim the title.
The Bard family thought that this was the end of the matter: although they could no longer feed the count's horses, they could at least go back to manage their own land.
The Bard family did not expect that they were waiting for Richard IV to march in person with the charioteers of all the lords of the empire. And this is no longer the United Provinces Republic, the Sea Blue Royal Territory, the Plateau Duchy... the entire Greater Bay Area is involved.
The original Count of Mennai - now the Province of Mennai - was again reduced to ashes. The unripe crops were trampled and burned, and the defeated soldiers were more terrifying than the robbers. Bud's father lost his father, brother, sister and all his children during the war.
The Bader family was completely bankrupt. They had a small piece of land but no food. In desperation, Bud's father mortgaged his small piece of land to the Green Heart Monastery near the village. The couple took refuge in the protection of the monastery and became tenant farmers of the monastery.
After the sovereignty war was completely over, the emperor withdrew his troops, and the Great Gulf Alliance gained full sovereignty, the couple gave birth to Bard.
For Bud's parents, there was no way out for the life of a tenant farmer. The tenant farmer could only barely make ends meet and was destined to be unable to save enough money to redeem his land. So the only thing Bud's parents could hope for was for Bud to become a monk in the monastery.
But monks are serious registered clergy. Bud’s parents want Bud to become a monk? Of course you can think about it, but it's impossible.
Because the monastery will not accept a young man with nothing, if he wants to become a monk, he must bring a property to the monastery. The monastery welcomes "brothers" who bring land deeds and precious metals to join them.
Bud has been working as a servant in the monastery as long as he can remember, first responsible for low-level chores such as cleaning toilets. He is diligent, careful and has a tight mouth.
So he soon got out of the most menial chores and took charge of cleaning the manuscript rooms and library of Green Heart Abbey. A kind monk taught him literacy and Old Tongue, and Bard taught himself Old Tongue through the Old Tongue/Elder Tongue dictionary.
Since he was able to read, Bard spent all his free time in the library of Green Heart Abbey. He read a large number of ancient books and materials preserved in monasteries, and taught himself "Arithmetic" and "Principles of Geometry" by ancient imperial scholars and the "Medical Classics" of the Fremen.
At the same time, his status in the monastery was also constantly improving: from cleaning the library to being responsible for cleaning valuable sacred vessels and saints' relics, and then becoming the personal servant of the abbot, responsible for helping the abbot with accounting. .
But the more Bard learned about the monastery, the more he realized that there was no way he could become a monk and that he never wanted to spend his life as a tenant farmer and a servant. By chance, Bud learned about the Army Academy from a visitor to the monastery and learned that there were no restrictions on applying for the Army Academy.
So when Bud was 16 years old, he decided to give it a try. He set out from his hometown of Gerald Village with the six small pieces of silver and three pieces of black bread he had saved, and walked one hundred kilometers to Guitu City.
Relying on his ancestral horse-raising skills and outstanding cultural test scores, Bud was miraculously admitted to the cavalry department of the Army Officer Academy. He also became the only off-campus student in the cavalry department in six years.
Bud and Winters met in equine classes (horse studies and dressage are two classes). Bud is not as good as Winters in equestrian skills, but in terms of his ability to take care of horses, Winters can't keep up with Bud in horse racing.
When they first met, Winters simply admired Bud's horse-raising skills. But as they got to know each other over time, Winters discovered more and more that Bud had advantages that he did not have, such as being gentle and not losing his temper.
Because Winters himself lacks these qualities, he unconsciously draws closer to people who have them. And Winters' non-charity friendship also made Bud feel comfortable. Over time, the two became very good friends.
