#647 - All Quiet on the Northern Front (VII)

How long does it take for a new soldier to become a veteran?

Answer: One month and one day

After one month of standard infantry training, he was thrown into the front-line trenches in one day.

Get ready and stand at attention.

"arrive!"

He, Hal, was a 21st class Union Army conscript infantryman who had completed 30 days of infantry training.

Organize training, weapon operation, and coordinated attack.

One month for the barracks to teach them, and one month for the battlefield to teach them.

Maybe it is not so reasonable, but it can quickly select the soldiers who are most adaptable to the battlefield, and then send the unsuitable soldiers to the corresponding production positions to start production training.

Hal sat in the carriage, holding his rifle and wearing the rank of sergeant on his shoulder, which represented the deputy captain.

The carriage was very quiet, with a few strands of cloudy sunlight filtering through the semi-open carriage. Everyone had already talked about everything they could when the carriage set off, and the rest was silence instead of communication.

His training results were good. As a former adventurer, he was indeed more experienced than most of the infantry recruited by the lords from their territories, but he became the deputy captain mainly because of his spellcasting ability... The coalition required that each team must have at least one spellcaster who had reached the 'training level: beginner'.

The coalition forces would occasionally distribute some technical equipment that required spell triggering, such as rune flints, water purification pipes, and reusable cooling patches, which were simple and practical equipment.

This spellcaster is either the captain or the vice-captain.

He suddenly began to miss the days when he was still an adventurer. When he was in a new team, he always missed his previous days.

The people here call a small team a "squad", and a squad is composed of twelve human members. Some special mixed squads will be equipped with orcs and ratmen to let them deal with things that are difficult for human soldiers to handle.

He heard that there were technical sergeants among the more elite troops.

There was no such person in the light infantry squad that Hal belonged to. Their squad only had riflemen and a spellcaster.

In terms of weapons, a squad is equipped with twelve bolt-action rifles and four shotguns, two grenades and smoke bombs per person, and possible explosive packs, 120mm rocket launchers and blasting tubes.

The requirement is to carry out a 72-96 hour hold-the-position mission without subsequent supplies.

The young soldier suddenly heard a heavy impact sound coming from the distance, as if it was thunder in the sky. He stuck his head out to look for the source of the sound, but found no trace of the artillery group outside.

In order to avoid being discovered by aerial reconnaissance troops, the launch positions are hidden with dirt and bushes. From a long distance, they look no different from small dirt hills with trees growing on them... It would be even better if you ignore the large-caliber bombardment mortars hidden under the bushes.

The coalition forces have the largest number of siege firepower, heavy mortars.

A heavy steel mortar with low production cost and capable of firing with packaged propellant projectiles. It does not require high metal processing capabilities... but the barrel still needs to be produced with the help of standard mining casting molds. The ground lord who obtains the barrel can produce the gun mount and buffer rack by himself.

He had seen that kind of bombardment mortar in the training ground. It was larger than the cauldron used by the kitchen squad to cook for the entire company. One shot could destroy any semi-permanent bunker within fifteen meters nearby, and shock the soldiers hiding in the bunkers so much that they bled from all seven orifices.

However, according to the military manual, once a mortar appears, it means that the convoy is very close to the front line.

The mortar has a very short range of about 3km and can only be deployed close to the front line.

"Hey, deputy captain, look outside."

The pockmarked man shouted. Hal couldn't remember his name, but he knew that everyone liked to call him Pockmarked.

Hal also gave himself a name to adapt to the local customs, called Wang Hai. Wang seemed to be a common surname among them.

He turned around twice but didn't find what Ma Zi was pointing at. The sound of cannons, which had no source, was still echoing outside.

"In the sky!"

The shadow hovering in the air was about to get close to the marching team on the ground, but was blocked by the low-speed airship that was providing air cover for the convoy. This floating bunker had almost no mobility, just like a bunker equipped with thrusters and released into the air. The garrisoned soldiers attacked the enemy with omnidirectional shooting windows in the bunker.

Floating 50-200 meters above the ground, these towed bunkers are powered entirely by horses on the ground... and can float ten times faster than they could on their own.

The seemingly bulky floating bunker does not require regular floating stones to propel its engines. It only consumes one-half to one-third of the floating stones of ordinary airships. It can also serve as an artillery observation balloon, a floating balloon with heavy armor.

They made a bet that which side would win would be determined by who suffered less losses.

This aroused the enthusiasm of the soldiers. They had little money and could only use military rations to bet... For example, the 200 ml of beer distributed every day. When they were nervous, they would take a sip of cold sparkling beer and the accumulated pressure would disappear immediately.

But unfortunately, there was no winner between the airships floating in the air and the Holy Army, and the two sides separated after a brief encounter.

The figures with the light streams threw a few bombs that were so crooked that they couldn't be crooked any more into the convoy, then turned around and rose into the safer air. The airship, which had no maneuverability, could only watch the figures with the light streams disappear into the clouds in the distance.

Hal failed to win the 200 ml of beer rationed today from his comrades.

"Those things were looking for our artillery positions. Once the artillery opened fire, they flew over like flies. They had no interest in us."

The captain who led them was not in the mood. He had lit the tobacco without knowing when and exhaled a puff of white smoke out of the trunk of the car.

People like him who were often sent to the front line soon became indifferent to such things. He was a veteran who had just retired from the front line and was assigned to be the captain of their team of new recruits.

However, the young recruits were not quite used to it, and he saw uneasiness on the faces of his team members.

The instinct of life is to fear death, which is understandable. Appropriate training is to enable soldiers to overcome their fear of death and the unknown.

"Our artillery fire, 305mm bombardment mortars, you may find them near the small undulations near the front line... Don't worry, they usually won't fall on your heads."

Hal felt that his tongue could taste the bitter cigarette ash in the air. The drifting smoke gave the air a light gray color, as if this lingering bitter smoke had been lingering on the front line.

However, as the deputy captain, he still needs to comfort the members of his team.

(There will be another update tomorrow to make up for the previous one.)

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