Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 504 89 Tit for Tat

After the fire swept through the bridge forest, Winters found logging to be much easier.

The once lush woodland was now scorched black as far as the eye could see.

Only some bald tree trunks stood lonely on the peat, resembling remnants of broken walls.

Winters led his men to fell the charred trees on the surface and hauled them away, and the unusable burnt wood was taken back for firewood.

In the following days, the Herders repeated their old tricks, attempting to set the remaining woodlands ablaze multiple times.

There's a saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me thrice, shame on us both." The Herders obviously didn't know this.

The Paratu People, having suffered a great loss, were now wiser.

The logging team no longer chopped recklessly, but first created numerous crisscrossing firebreaks within the woods.

In this way, the remaining parts of the bridge forest were divided by the firebreaks into smaller areas.

Even if the Herders set fires, the amount of forest they could destroy at one time was limited.

The firebreaks also served as roads, allowing the Cavalry to provide rapid support through them within the forest.

Meanwhile, as only a third of the bridge forest remained—with it shrinking day by day—the area needed to be defended shrank accordingly.

Not only did the Herders fail to start another major fire, but they were also ambushed by Lieutenant Colonel Robert outside the forest, suffering heavy casualties among those light riders carrying kindling and fire accelerants.

All in all, these past few days had been a rare relaxing time for Winters.

He didn't need to participate in combat; he just had to lead people out to chop trees every day.

Xial picked up his blanket for him. The blanket was so badly burnt that it made Winters a bit sad.

It was a fine thick woolen blanket given to him by Mrs. Mitchell when he left Wolf Town.

To avoid freezing to death, Winters applied for a new blanket from the logistics department.

As a result, the logistics department issued him a duck down comforter, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

As the bridge forest was divided into smaller sections, the range of movement for the animals therein increasingly became limited.

During breaks from logging, Winters led his militiamen to give the rabbits, pheasants, roe deer, and such in the forest a "grand reunion" of sorts.

In simple terms, it involved some people forming a circle to drive the animals outwards, while others set up a pocket formation to wait like in a hunt.

Although the meat distributed to everyone wasn't much, Winters was quite fond of the activity.

Furthermore, as a reward for being the first to signal the alert, the legion specially granted Tess four eggs a day.

The eggs, laid by hens carried with the army, were extremely precious, and even Winters didn't enjoy such treatment.

Old Ralo, who proposed the "fight fire with fire" strategy, received a splendid warhorse.

The Dusack lads were green with envy, but Old Ralo wasn't too happy.

Winters noticed Ralo was feigning happiness and approached to ask him why.

After much probing, Ralo finally revealed his true feelings, "Sir, it's not that I'm ungrateful. I'm a farmer; what use do I have for a warhorse? It requires feed and care, both of which I can't afford."

Winters was at a loss for words, realizing that he had indeed not considered the situation properly in the heat of the moment.

Ralo hesitantly asked, "Then... could you exchange it for a mule for me?"

"Your warhorse is worth far more than five mules!" Winters laughed heartily. "I was going to exchange it for two draught horses that could pull a plow. But then I thought, draught horses also need feed. So let's exchange for two mules and convert the excess value into Ducats."

Anglu went to the wagon train to pick out a sturdy, beautiful iron-gray mule for Ralo.

Anglu's choice was a mule with a strong build, great stamina, and a sleek coat as smooth as silk. Its thighs and hindquarters felt firm to the touch.

Ralo's fellow villagers couldn't stop admiring the magnificent beast, and Ralo himself treasured it immensely.

But there was only one, for the transportation capacity of the wagon train was also scarce, with few spare draft animals available.

The remaining money was converted into Ducat Gold Coins by Winters and given privately to Old Ralo.

This time he thought it through: one mule was still within the range of "envy," but if he added money, that would venture into the realm of "jealousy."

"The gold coins are sewn inside the belt." Only the two of them were in the military tent when Winters handed the belt to Ralo. "Apart from the weight, you can't tell from the outside."

Ralo thanked him repeatedly and carefully stored the belt.

Old Ralo was at least twice Winters' age with hands full of calluses, a very seasoned and steady person.

Winters shouldn't have said more, but recalling those who squandered their hard-earned money on pleasures in Revodan, Wolf Town, he couldn't help but admonish, "Don't go gambling... and don't waste it on women. Take it home, to your family, even buying some new clothes would be better."

A young man in his early twenties advising a man nearly fifty made for a rather comical and absurd scene.

But Winters spoke earnestly and from the heart, and Old Ralo nodded profoundly, "Rest assured, Centurion."

...

While these days were easy for Winters, Sekler and Alpad were having a not so tranquil time.

The Herders had given up on using fire, but their harassment of the Paratu army didn't cease, only intensified.

Scattered Herder Cavalry, deep in the night, would come near the Paratu camp firing shots, blowing bugles, and shooting cold arrows, causing much vexation.

The sentries would ring the alarm bell and the Herders would turn tail and run. If the sentries didn't ring the bell, the Herders would be relentless.

Sekler set up ambushes outside the camp and arranged for the Piaoqi to stand watch at night, however, the effect was less than ideal.