Chapter 022: New recruits strike

The confidants of the highest commander of the barracks, Wanfu Chang, were able to more or less side-step and probe some insider information. The cooks in charge of purchasing food in the barracks, under the bribery of some of the lower level officers, also told these officers what they had heard from the outside.

Time passed day by day, and among the soldiers at large the news had spread that they were about to be sent to the front.

The news did not receive a confirmed reply from the highest officer of the barracks, but all the soldiers knew that it was a ninety-nine percent certainty.

Finally, three months after the training of the new recruits, one month after they were assigned to each 100-man team for intensive training, in the evening of this day, all the officers and soldiers in the barracks were lined up on the school field, and on the stage, the Wanwufu chief gave them a speech: "Officers and soldiers under the holy light of the King of Angels, we enlisted in the army in order to protect our family and our country, and to defend our holy sacred holy country. A month ago, those sinful demonic believers from the southern demonic land crossed the border line and robbed the ripe grain that our holy soil subjects had worked so hard to grow, the demonic army massacred our people, and their army also attacked our barracks, robbed our military granaries, damaged our roads, and destroyed our bridges, so we can't retreat, if we retreat any further, the holy soil subjects behind us. Your parents and siblings will be slaughtered by the Demons. Therefore, by order of the army chief, I now announce that all of you, except for the soldiers who are over fifty years old who will stay behind, will organize your equipment tonight, wake up at six tomorrow, have breakfast at six-thirty, and set out at seven to head for the front line!" ...

A veteran in the front led the way, and behind the veteran, there was also a veteran on the left, and on the right was Ye Xia. The team of ten that Ye Xia was in, the decapod divided them into three groups;each group of three, consisting of two veterans and one new recruit.

The 10,000-man unit that Ye Xia was in was called the Third Column of the Luperburg. The highest commander of the column was the 10,000-man Joe Antip.

Forty-five-year-old Antip was a Centurion who survived the Holy Demon War twenty years ago. After twenty years, Antip was gradually promoted to ten thousand captain. Now to re-command the troops to the front line, in order for these lads to be able to save their little lives on the battlefield, An Jip made strict requirements for their marching, as soon as they left the barracks and marched, they had to be vigilant, it was to remain vigilant that a battle could happen at any time.

Two veterans with a new recruit, at the moment, Ye Xia was being led by the veterans Vasily and Victor, at the very front of the column as the pointman leading the way. Behind the three sharp soldiers, a hundred meters away was their hundred-man squad.

Round shield temporarily behind his back, leather wrapped broadsword on his waist, Ye Xia while walking, while listening to Vasily and Victor took turns to explain to him how to be a pointman, how to check the situation in front of him and on both sides of the hillside, trees, weeds; what circumstances, there may be an ambush, if you find a suspicious situation, how to gesture, how to report to the officer. This knowledge, in the barracks, ten captains have taught everyone, now is marching to the front, the two veterans are giving new recruits Ye Xia "learn from the past".

The three sharpshooters, the hundreds, the thousands, the seven thousand, the two thousand, and the large and small detachments in order between them, kept their distance to the south.

If one looks down from the sky, the troops that set out from Lupusburg, in addition to the West Road column of 10,000 men in which Ye Xia was, to their left, unseen by the naked eye, there was also the Middle Road column advancing to the south; and further to the east, there was also the East Road column advancing. The east, center, and west columns, the first, second, and third columns, were collectively known as the Lupusburg Legion.

Out of the province of Bisnia and through the province of Fabro, the third column began to enter the territory of the province of Canino Frontier.

Crossing the yellow dirt road between the hilly terrain, with two larger hills ahead, the yellow dirt road passes through the foothills between the hills.

Ye Xia looked ahead at the hills on the right, bare, no trees, only shallow grass. Ye Xia then looked at the hills on the left, the head of Vasili with a leather helmet blocked Ye Xia's view, Ye Xia stretched his neck to the right and saw a few buffaloes and yellow cattle grazing as they walked halfway up the hill.

Ye Xia looked twice toward the top of the mound and the foot of the mound, then looked back and forth.

Next to him, Victor saw Ye Xia like this and asked, "Ye Xia, what are you looking at?"

Yeesha, while wondering and looking around, replied, "Victor, are you from the towns, or are you from the countryside? Do ye ever pasture cattle?"

Victor replied as he walked, "Vasily and I are both from town and didn't see a cow until we were teenagers, and hey, of course we never spared one."

Ye Xia understood, and while walking, still looking around, he said, "I just find it strange, three buffaloes, two yellow cows, no family in the countryside is rich enough to raise five cows, how come I can't even see a cowherd?"

Vasily stopped in his tracks when he heard Yeesha's words, his eyes fixed on a few clumps of bushes at the top of the mound to his left as he cleared his throat and whispered, "Victor, report to the Centurion."

Victor willed it and immediately turned and ran backwards.

Vasily held his shield in his left hand and drew his broadsword in his right. Ye Xia followed and did as he was told.

A short while later, the footsteps of several people came from behind them.

The decapod ordered, "Our ten-man team searched up the hills to the left, and two other ten-man teams searched behind the hills on either side. Let's go!"

With his left shield and right sword, the decapod took the lead and ran up the hill to the left. Ye Xia and the nine of them also followed with their left shields and right swords.

By the time Ye Xia's ten men rushed to the top of the mound and reached the back of those bushes, there were indeed traces of people lying down. Looking toward the foot of the hill on the other side, columns of a team of ten men ran forward, weapons in hand, yelling, "Get them!"

Ye Xia and his party looked to the left front, three brown horses rushed out of the grove on the mountainside, and on the horses were three brown-skinned cavalrymen taking the road and fleeing.

Ye Xia and the others also raised their swords to chase down, but the infantry couldn't catch up with the cavalry, and after ten minutes of chasing, the three people of unknown origin ran far away.

Victor went back to report to the centurion, and the decapod led Ye Xia and the others to start searching the grove.

Ye Xia and a few recruits threw up as they saw three bodies in the grove, the dead were an old man, a teenager, and a child, all three had their necks slit, blood flowing black and red on the ground.

The centurion arrived, and after seeing the dead man, listened to the report of the two decurions. While listening, the centurion looked around, at the bushes, in the direction of the trail at the foot of the hill, and in the direction where the unknowns had fled. Then the centurion called over a soldier and ordered, "You, run back and report to the chief of the thousand, saying, three unknown cavalrymen have been found, suspected to be scouts of the Devil Race, and have killed three cattle herders."

The centurion instructed the two ten-man teams to check if there were any villages nearby, so that they could come and recognize the people and lead the bodies back. Ye Xia's team of ten, on the other hand, continued to scout ahead, no longer a three-man pointman, but a ten-man pointman.

The party moved on, and the centurion ordered a party of ten men on each side of the road, on each of the hills, to scout the way forward.

The captain of the thousand, in his turn, ordered that he, the vanguard, should send a squad of a hundred men on each side of the hills to protect the advance.

The Wannfuhrer watched the villagers carry away the bodies of the three cattle herders, listened to his subordinate's report, and then ordered, "Order, three heralds ride to the east road column, and the other three heralds ride to the middle road column, on the way, pay attention not to be hunted down by the enemy's scouts, and when we arrive at the place, notify their Wannfuhrer, saying that suspected Demon scouts have been found on our side killing the cattle herders near the route of marching people, most likely spying on our marching troops and supply wagons and waiting for an opportunity to sabotage them, so please be careful."

The six messengers immediately set off with orders.

The 10,000-man commander ordered a thousand-man commander next to him, "You send all your hundred men up on the hills and march forward, half of them to escort the supply wagons on either side of the route of advance, and half of them to protect both sides of our large force." ...

Ye Xia took the aluminum kettle and drank a large amount of water. Ten minutes before and after, it was the third mouthful, Ye Xia always felt that the yellow water that he had just spit out, that sour and bitter flavor still remained in his mouth.

When they saw the bodies of the three cattle herders, Ye Xia and a few of their recruits threw up and were scolded by the centurion. The centurion also ordered Ye Xia and his men to cover up what they threw up with dirt, which, on the march, is called not giving the enemy any traces.

The centurion also scolded them, "You may gargle with the water in each of your aluminum jugs, but you are only allowed to spit once after gargling! You may gargle a second or third time, but you are not allowed to spit, you are allowed to swallow it in your stomachs.

No, Ye Xia spat, marched, gargled twice, and swallowed it all.

Victor gloated, "Ye Xia, don't drink so often, it's only 4:30 now, it's still a long time before camping at 6:00 p.m., don't drink it all now, and then you'll be as thirsty as a camel later on, huh ..."

At six o'clock in the evening the column chose a gently sloping area with a mountain backdrop to pitch its tents and build a fire for cooking.

When it was time to eat, Yeesha took big bites, to hurry up and fill her vomit-empty stomach. Viktor carried his lunch box, sat down next to Ye Xia and Vasily, and whispered, ''You know what? Luckily today, Ye Xia, you realized it early, otherwise, we would have had casualties just like the other two columns!"