Chapter 176

"I initially wanted them to allocate a little more to me, but they only gave me five hundred."

"Didn't you tell them that the number of enemies is at least 10,000?"

"I told you! But they didn't listen." Wirtz also complained.

Just as the two people were complaining to each other about the military system, a man came over from the other side.

"What happened? Why did you come back so fast?" Garibaldi's adjutant looked at the returning peasant soldiers and frowned.

"Why did we come back so fast!?" When Martin saw the other party, he suddenly became angry and his tone became stern.

"Let me ask you, are you satisfied that we have to fight to the last man on the front line and not consume your food and grass?"

"What are you talking about?" The adjutant came up. Of course he knew Martin, a rookie in the army.

After all, Martin has killed more than a hundred enemies from the beginning of the war to now.

Such a brave warrior could not survive without promotion, so Garibaldi gave him the position of commander of an army of a thousand men.

Logically speaking, the other party is now

We should be fighting on the front line, but the opponent actually came back.

Forget it when you come back, what's going on when you see yourself so angry? This made the adjutant very puzzled.

Just as Wirtz was about to act as peacemaker and pull the two of them away, he was stopped by Martin.

"Wilz, please don't interrupt. I have something to ask him personally."

With that said, Martin looked at the adjutant. This lion-like aura made the adjutant a little scared.

"No... officer, is there anything we can't talk about? Do you have to talk to me like this?"

"Then let me ask you, when the front line was in danger and I sent people to ask for help, why did you keep delaying and finally only sent 500 people to support?"

"This is what the general meant." The adjutant said so and quickly pushed the ball to the supreme commander.

Anyway, no matter how powerful this Martin was and was born into a noble family, he could not disobey Garibaldi's wishes.

Because Garibaldi represents Giovanni's will.

"You always blame your boss when something happens, aren't you ashamed?!" Wirtz next to him couldn't bear it anymore.

"At that time, General Garibaldi wanted you to take me to select people, instead of giving you a quota of 500 people in advance. After all, these 500 people were selected by you yourself. What does it have to do with the general?! "

"This..." When the adjutant heard what Wirtz said, he panicked for a while, and then immediately came to his senses.

"No, that's not the problem now. The problem now is, shouldn't you be fighting on the front line, right? I told you at the time that I would allocate 500 people to you and let you guard for a while, but now you are What does it mean to be back?”

"What do you mean? We can't hold the front line at all. The number of enemies is far more than 10,000, and their equipment is better than ours. If we are trapped there, we won't be able to hold out for even half an hour and we will be wiped out."

"But that is an order! It is an order for you to stick to it! Even if you all die in battle, you must carry out the order. This is the bounden duty of a soldier!"

At this time, the adjutant looked past the two men and saw the troops behind them. After measuring the approximate number of people with his eyes, the adjutant was so angry that his fingers trembled while pointing at the two men.

"You... seem to have withdrawn without any resistance? Just wait, I will report it to the general."

After saying this, the adjutant turned his head and left angrily.

Martin and Wirtz looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Anyway, at least we won't be idle now, right?"

"Well..." Martin nodded and took his men to find a place to camp.

…

At night, the adjutant who had been angry and ran away during the day came here with a few soldiers.

He changed his previous arrogant attitude and instead came to Martin with a smile.

"Well, Master Chief Martin, the general invites you."

"Also, what happened during the day was my fault. I am here to help you." After saying this, the adjutant lowered his attitude to the lowest level.

"Hmph." Martin didn't give the other party a good look, but after all, it was the general's invitation, so Martin still had to go with him.

Arriving at the general's military tent, the stove was already lit and fine wine and meat were laid out, forming a sharp contrast with the residences of ordinary soldiers outside.

As soon as he walked in here, Martin felt a sense of discomfort.

It is really puzzling that these soldiers, who are covered in cold weather, are enjoying a life that is no different from peace and even more luxurious than usual.

At this moment, in the Chinese military tent, in addition to Martin and Garibaldi, there were several senior officers. They were sitting here without touching their meals, which seemed to give Martin enough face.

As soon as Martin entered the military tent, General Garibaldi, who was sitting in the center, immediately smiled.

"Master Chief Martin, long time no see. How are you?"

"...Thanks to the general, it's acceptable."

"Come on, come on, take a seat." Garibaldi said, pointing to the last seat and motioning for Martin to take a seat.

Martin didn't refuse and sat directly in his seat.

Afterwards, a lot of meals and drinks were placed in front of him.

"I don't need it." Martin said, shaking his head. "These things are expensive. If you have the money to buy these things, it would be better to buy more clothes for the soldiers to keep out the cold and prepare more rations."

"Hey, our Master Chief Martin still loves his soldiers as much as his own son." At this time, a senior officer sitting aside smiled and teased

road.

"This is not about loving soldiers like children. I think this should be the most basic way to manage soldiers. If the gap between commanders and soldiers is too big, it will only alienate the soldiers."

"Okay, today's meal is using my personal money. Are you satisfied with this?" Garibaldi said, forking a piece of meat and putting it into his mouth.

"Come on, let's all eat."

As Garibaldi finished speaking, others began to eat and drink.

Only Martin was still sitting there, looking at the table of delicious food and wine in front of him, motionless.

"Master Chief Martin, why don't you eat?" Garibaldi had already eaten half of the food. Only then did he see Martin sitting there motionless, and asked curiously.

"Sorry, I don't know why the General came to me today."

"Oh, you said this." Garibaldi smiled after hearing this.

"Today, because of a mistake of mine, I put you, Master Chief Martin, in danger. Fortunately, Master Chief, you were resourceful, stayed calm in times of danger, and withdrew all the troops in time. This ensured the effectiveness of our army. Is this a good reason?" "

"If that's the reason, let's forget it." Martin said, shaking his head. "After all, it's not because of me that the army was able to retreat unscathed."

"Oh? How do you say this?" Garibaldi said, narrowing his eyes.

The reason why he dragged Martin into this place that was not meant for a low-level officer like him was not only because he felt a little guilty about what happened this afternoon and wanted to ease the relationship, but more importantly, he valued Martin's background.

Martin's family is a noble in Florence. It would be fine if he died on the battlefield, but if the affairs in the army were revealed and the family used it to put pressure, it would still disgust Garibaldi.

But now Martin is challenging Garibaldi's bottom line again and again. Even if Garibaldi knows that Martin's family is noble, it is impossible for him to talk harmoniously.

I respect you as a general, but you have to give me enough respect.

Martin clearly didn't want to show any more respect to Garibaldi.

Martin looked at Garibaldi and remembered that he told Wirtz this afternoon that the one-on-one incident could not be told, so he shook his head.

"It's nothing, it's just that I don't think the credit is that big. As a commander, at least half of the credit on the battlefield belongs to his soldiers. When they retreated, they executed well and did not collapse, which prevented the enemy from pursuing them. opportunity.”

"That's right." Seeing that the atmosphere had calmed down, Garibaldi revealed his other purpose.

"By the way, Master Chief Martin, there is another reason for calling you here this time. You might as well guess?"

"I'm sorry that I don't know..."

"Okay, if you don't want to guess, I'll just tell you." Garibaldi called his adjutant, took out a letter of appointment from behind, and then asked the adjutant to hand it to Martin.

"This is a tribute to you. From today on, you are no longer the commander of that army. Your talents deserve to bloom on a higher stage."

Martin looked at the promotion letter, which had his promoted position written on it.

From a sergeant major to a sergeant major, the troops under his command also changed from 1,000 to 5,000.

It can be said that this is a promotion for myself.

Martin looked at Garibaldi in confusion.

I suffered a defeat today, and I had a big fight with Garibaldi's confidant adjutant when I came back. I thought today's dinner would be a Hongmen Banquet, but instead it turned into a celebration banquet?

What the hell is Garibaldi doing?

"Master Sergeant Martin... No, I should call you Sergeant Major Martin now. Don't look at us with such strange eyes. Although the military values ​​qualifications very much, it values ​​abilities even more. We have seen your abilities. Today, you will be called Sergeant Martin." It is absolutely impossible for this army to escape intact, so I chose to promote you from so many reserve lists." Garibaldi wiped his mouth at this moment, stood up, and came to Martin's side.

He patted Martin on the shoulder with his broad and strong palm, and then said: "From now on, I hope that we can work together regardless of each other."

"I understand, thank you sir for your cultivation."

"However, there is a condition for your promotion this time." Garibaldi whispered.

"Conditions?" Martin looked at Garibaldi doubtfully.

This promotion should be a unilateral reward behavior, so why does it sound like it has become a negotiation this time?

Moreover, the status of the two of them is not equal. Is there anything that Garibaldi needs?

"The conditions are very simple. I am going to reorganize the troops you are currently commanding under someone else's command. The troops you will command next will be better equipped and better trained."

"For you, this may be a challenge out of your comfort zone. What do you think? If you feel that your own unit is better, of course I can not let you be promoted."

"This..." Martin was stunned for a moment when he heard this.

I didn't expect Garibaldi's condition to be this, but generally speaking, there is a precedent that commanders do not command their original troops after being promoted.

Because it is considered that the commander may protect his shortcomings and give special treatment to his former old troops among several troops.

"If General Garibaldi is worried that I will give special treatment to the new troops, you can rest assured that I swear I will never do so..."

"No, no, no, I'm not worried about this. The main thing is that you need a stronger force. That force is composed of farmers and citizens and has not been trained much..."

"In that case...Okay." Martin nodded after hearing this. "Then I will obey your order. Thank you for your promotion and cultivation. I will definitely work harder next time."

"Okay, that's right." Garibaldi said this and pulled his adjutant from the side.

"I heard that you two had a quarrel during the day today? Come on, we are all colleagues in the future. In this critical moment, we should work together to eliminate the grudges."

"Sergeant Martin, I'm sorry. I almost hurt you because of my mistake this afternoon. I apologize. No matter how much you ask me to compensate, it will not be too much." The adjutant said this, lowered his head, and humbly stretched out his hand to Martin, as if to beg for his forgiveness.

"Yeah." Martin nodded after hearing this, and then stretched out his hand and shook hands with the adjutant.

"In this way, the two of you will reconcile, and our army will be more cohesive." Garibaldi said this and laughed loudly.

Martin also smiled, and the food on the table in front of him became less unpleasant.

"Okay, let's drink together!" Garibaldi returned to his table, took out his wine glass and raised it.

"Cheers!" Everyone filled their glasses with wine, then raised them and collided with each other.

After eating and drinking, Martin walked out of the military tent.

He was still a little drunk, and he sobered up a little in the snow and wind, but he was still dazed.

On the other side, in the military tent, Garibaldi spat softly after seeing Martin finally walk out.

"Bah, if it weren't for the fact that his father was a noble, he wouldn't have been promoted." Then, he looked at the adjutant beside him.

"Adjutant, you've suffered a lot. You played such a play with me, and you were wronged. You had to be humble to such a fool."

"It doesn't matter, as long as I can help the general."

"Yeah." Garibaldi nodded with satisfaction. "Next, we'll try that group of people, right?"

"Yes, there must be a reason why they were able to withdraw from the front line unscathed. Maybe they have colluded with the enemy, or there are enemy spies mixed in. In short, we must investigate them strictly."

"Then, adjutant, who do you suggest we investigate first?"

"That, the one called Wirtz, I think he is very suspicious. This afternoon, he not only scolded me, but also brought you, the general, so he was so disrespectful to us. He must be a spy sent by the enemy."

"What!? You dare to scold me?" Garibaldi got angry when he heard the adjutant say that.

"Catch him first and put him in a cell. At this moment, we must not allow enemy spies to mix into the army. That unit should also set up a separate barracks to prevent them from mixing into other units. If necessary, we can kill them all. Anyway, there is no point in keeping a thousand mouths to eat."

"Yes!"