Chapter 199 Cutting Down Trees

People are not afraid of being in a difficult situation, but they are afraid of having no direction.

So the Platuan people needed a bridge, even though Szekely had sent a messenger across the river to ask for help.

Building bridges is not only to "cross the river", but also to inject hope into the entire army.

Nothing in the world is more despairing than being at the end of your rope.

With the cold River Styx lying in front of them, the Platons had nowhere to go and no way to go.

He wanted to turn around and fight for his life, but found that there were no enemies at all - the Hud people did not want to fight them head-on.

The white lion is like a hunter who has cornered the beast on a cliff, patiently waiting for the enemy to be crushed by hunger and despair.

The morale of the army was shattered, and before reinforcements arrived to relieve the siege, the Platuan people had already surrendered.

Centurion Montagne's bridge-building project was difficult, but that's okay.

Because what the Plato army urgently needs is not a bridge, but hope.

Like a drowning man grasping a plank of wood, the Plattians now only see three things: bridge, bridge, and fucking bridge.

The carpenter led the engineer officer through the woods to find suitable materials for the bridge construction project.

The straightest and longest pieces of good material are circled with red paint; they will serve as bridge piles.

Second-grade timber is marked with black paint and can be sawn into planks for laying bridge decks.

As for the small trees and shrubs that have not yet become useful, they are all used to burn charcoal.

Anyone who had used a hammer or anvil was taken away, and senior blacksmiths like Balian were no exception.

The Jessica brigade lost its famous chef - Winters had to live a life of eating swill again, but the Plato army got a master craftsman who could take care of a dozen workers.

Captured weapons were reheated, folded, and forged; excess armor was melted into molten iron and poured into sand molds.

The only charcoal burner in the army became a treasure. Fortunately, this craft is not difficult to learn.

In addition to initiating the bridge plan, Winters also made one small contribution.

Adopting Winters' suggestion, the Fifth and Sixth Legions modeled the structure of the Third [Grand Veneta] Legion when they built the solid road on Red Sulfur Island, and also established a [Bridge Building Command].

General Sackler is personally responsible for the headquarters. All the resources that can be concentrated in the army are concentrated on this temporary department, which is then coordinated, distributed and directed by it.

As for Winters, he only had a name at the headquarters and continued to work with his militia as usual.

There were many engineers and artillery officers in the army who were more professional than him, so Winters did not continue to dictate.

Inspiration is like a layer of gauze paper. He pokes a small hole in the paper, and others can fill in the rest.

…

A clearing has been cut out of the not-so-dense forest, and the militiamen are expanding the scope of the clearing with sharp axes.

"Boom."

"Boom."

This is the sound of the ax blade striking the tree trunk, which never stops.

"Be careful! It's falling!" Someone shouted at the top of his lungs: "It's falling!"

"It's down!" The militiamen who heard the shout also shouted: "It's down!"

This not only reminds each other, but also encourages each other.

A cedar tree with a crown of more than ten meters high looked like a drunkard walking at night, slowly falling towards the open space.

Accompanied by a tooth-crushing "crunching" sound, the fir tree fell faster and faster until it fell heavily to the ground, throwing up dust.

Three militiamen came over with axes and began to clear the branches of the fir tree.

In the end, only the clean trunk of the cedar tree will be left, and it will be dragged to the camp by a special carriage.

A dozen meters high is not a towering tree, but it is a rare piece of wood in the wilderness.

After the fir tree fell to the ground, the "dong-dong" sound of logging sounded again.

Cutting down trees is an extremely difficult job and cannot be done by those who are not physically strong.

If the militiamen work for a day, their shoulders will be swollen the next day.

It would be easier if you had a saw, but the army is short of saws, so the main tool for cutting wood is an axe.

The rapid sound of hooves getting closer and closer, and a green-helmeted cavalry galloped into the logging forest.

The militiamen in the forest were all busy working, and no one paid any attention to the messenger cavalry.

The messenger cavalry searched around but could not find the officer, so they had to shout and ask: "Centurion Montagne? Is Centurion Montagne there?"

"Are you hiding somewhere and being lazy?" The cavalryman was greatly disappointed and could not help but feel a trace of contempt: "What kind of blood wolf? It's nothing more than that."

As the Platoans devoted all their efforts to the bridge construction project, the fame of the [Blood Wolf] who proposed the plan also spread to the entire army.

The soldiers of Plato have all heard about the "glorious deeds" of this champion centurion whose authenticity is difficult to distinguish, and everyone rushes to see the true appearance of the blood wolf.

The messenger only got the opportunity to give the order to the blood wolf after a lot of fighting.

The shouts of the messenger were muffled by the sound of chopping trees, and no one paid him any attention.

So he rode to the edge of the lumberyard, hoping to find someone to question.

The messenger saw a tall militiaman at a glance.

The man was half a head taller than the others. He was wearing a coarse cloth and was dealing with an oak tree.

He raised the ax high and swung it down again.

Every time the ax blade hits the tree trunk, the thick oak tree will tremble violently.

It was obviously a freezing winter day, but billowing white steam came out of the man's sleeves and collar like a boiling pot.

The messenger walked up to the tall militiaman and asked impatiently: "Hey! Where is your Centurion Blood Wolf?"

The tall militiaman put down his ax and asked, "What do you want from him?"

The messenger scolded: "Are you qualified to ask about military information? Take me to him."

"I've never seen a blood wolf." The tall militiaman took out the towel stuffed in his belt and wiped his face, and said slowly: "I am Winters Montagne."

"Boom."

"Boom."

"Boom."

The sound of trees being chopped down was constant.

The ordering soldier rolled off his saddle and dismounted, hurriedly took out a roll of lacquered letter, and presented it with both hands: "This is an order from the Bridge Construction Headquarters to you, sir."

"Thank you." The centurion took the letter, opened the lacquer seal, and glanced at it casually.

The messenger calmed down and looked around quietly. He finally had the opportunity to see the true appearance of the legendary blood wolf.

He doesn't seem to be anything special, not particularly strong or thin, just a little taller.

Apart from a thin gold chain hanging around her neck, she was not wearing any ornaments.

But it's very special, the kind that the messenger can't describe. He stood with great respect.

"Want a receipt?" asked the centurion.

The messenger waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no."

"Well, I have received the order." The centurion raised the letter in his hand: "Thank you for your hard work, go back."

The messenger got on the saddle. He saw Xue Lang put the letter into his pocket and picked up the ax again.

A shout came from a distance: "Be careful! It's falling!"

The militiamen at the lumberyard responded: "It's fallen!"

"It's fallen!" The blood wolf swung the ax and chopped at the tree trunk.

Just as the messenger left, two more riders rushed into the lumberyard like a strong wind.

"No!" one of the riders shouted, "the Hurds are coming!"

…

Winters used disintegration to blow up more than a dozen trees in the morning, and the phantom pain did not subside until the afternoon.

As soon as the messenger cavalry left, he heard Angelou's panicked cry: "The Hurds are coming."

The militiamen dropped what they were doing and ran to the tents where weapons and armor were stored.

Red Mane galloped all the way to Winters. Angelou jumped out of the saddle and said breathlessly: "Sir, the Hurds are coming!"

"Don't worry, please speak slowly." Winters' head hurt even more: "Where are they? How many are here? How is the battle going?"

"The carriage carrying lumber was hijacked!"

"How many Hurds are there?"

"More than twenty!"

"Here it comes!" Winters yelled in his heart: "I knew this day would come!"

He struck the tree with an ax as if to vent his anger. The oak finally couldn't hold on anymore and fell to the ground tremblingly.

"Look out!" Winters yelled. "The tree is falling!"

The surrounding militiamen hurriedly fled, but fortunately no accident occurred.

Winters ran towards Qiang Luck and shouted an order: "Anyone with a war horse! Come with me! Others stay here and wait! Send out sentries!"

Qiang Yun could sense the owner's anxiety. Usually he would act coquettishly and beg for favors when getting saddled, but this time he didn't take any unnecessary action and obediently let his owner put on the saddle.

Picking up his saber and leaping into the saddle, Winters was about to set off.

"Wear armor!" Ciel hurried over holding three-quarters of Winters' armor: "You haven't put on armor yet!"

Reluctantly, Winters dismounted and put on his armor again.

He was wearing rough work clothes, and they all needed to be changed.

Charles and Heinrich helped Winters put on silk shirts, cotton armors, chain mail, plate armor, and riding boots.

If the messenger comes again, he will never admit his mistake.

After preparations were completed, Winters led more than two dozen Dussac to the location where the convoy was attacked.

On the one hand, the Palatine army was logging nearby the forest land, and on the other hand, it was sending logging teams deep into the forest land to harvest big trees.

The location where the convoy was attacked was between the lumberyard and the camp. The troops from the camp arrived before Winters, and the hussars had already set off to hunt down the Hurds.

The scene was a tragic scene, the unarmed transport convoy was unable to resist, and all the drivers were hacked to death.

The carriages remained, but the axles were smashed, and the draft horses were taken away by the Hurds.

Arpad had already sent sentries around, but this small group of Hurds still got in.

"Forcing us to divide our forces again." Winters thought to himself: "Is this your plan? White Lion?"

…

Before the attack on the transport convoy, the bridge-building plan was progressing extremely smoothly.

Winters was originally most worried that the [floating pile driver] would not work because their center of gravity was too high and they would easily capsize in the slightest wave.

The flow of the River Styx in winter is gentle - but that is only compared to the turbulent spring and summer. The farther you go toward the center of the river, the more rapid the flow becomes.

Fortunately, the Plato engineers built the raft to be large enough and equipped with a floating tank for balance, so the pile driver could operate without any problems.

The floating pile driver is the core machinery for bridge construction. It has no problems and other problems are minor problems.

The Plato army built two floating pile drivers, one on the left and one on the right, to advance simultaneously.

The Heds on the other side tried to harass them with arrows, but the heavy arrows they used could not reach two hundred meters away.

By the way, their arrows were directed against the wind.

Even if you use a light arrow, it will lose its accuracy and power when it flies two hundred meters away.

The range of bows and arrows was not enough, so the Heds on the other side brought out several boats and wanted to have a water battle.

As a result, he was beaten all over the head and face by the Plato Musketeers, leaving several floating corpses on the shore in embarrassment.

Winters estimated that by the time the Hed's bows and arrows could cause effective damage to their own side, the bridge would be less than fifty meters away from them.

Even then, the musketeers could shoot at each other across the river with the Hurds, and it was hard to say who was afraid of who.

This time, it was the Hed's turn on the other side of the river to experience powerlessness.

No matter what they did, the bridge continued to extend toward the east bank at a rate of more than ten meters per day.

The biggest factor limiting the speed of the Palatine army's bridge construction was no longer the Hurds, but the wood.

In the wilderness, forests are rare, and aniseed materials that can be used as bridge piles are even rarer.

The Plato army could have continued to go north and built a bridge where the river was narrower.

But in the end I chose the current location because it is next to a coniferous forest.

After measurement, the deepest water level of the Styx is about six or seven meters, and at least ten meters of wood must be used there.

A ten-meter-long piece of wood requires a twenty-meter-tall tree.

The Platoans were searching like crazy, but they couldn't find any qualified materials.

It was an old carpenter who came up with a solution: if the long pieces of wood were not enough, he would use shorter pieces of wood to splice them together, and then fix them with iron nails and hoops. Although the iron will rust and rot, there is no problem in persisting until the bridge is completed.

So the bridge-building headquarters dispatched twenty logging teams at once, including the Montagne Centurion.

…

The attack on the convoy transporting timber meant that the White Lion had seen the Achilles' heel of the Platoans.

Yesterday, Winters applied to the Bridge Construction Headquarters to build an additional garrison camp in the forest.

The wood harvested by each logging team is first concentrated in the camp and then transported back to the main camp under armed escort.

Today, the messenger sent him a reply.

The bridge-building headquarters rejected his application because of "dispersion of forces" and "delay in secondary transfer."

But now, even if the legion doesn't want to disperse its forces, it has to disperse.

The schedule is broken, this chapter is an update from yesterday [Saturday]. Thank you book friends for reading, subscribing, recommending tickets, monthly tickets, tips and comments, thank you all. There is also a book club group, 924430243.