Looking at the two supply crates full of field rations, the little fat Dior couldn't close his mouth in surprise.

When he saw the "enemy" battleship descending, he was ready to lose the entire first squad, and carefully considered the countermeasures of sacrificing some people to block and contain the pursuers, and most of them quickly withdrew.

The reversal of the plot not only subverted his habitual thinking, but also made him look at the enigmatic man differently.

And what to do next is a new choice.

Dio summoned the squad leaders again, and this time, the discussion was simple and straightforward—after a brief period of deliberation, Dio took Weiss's suggestion and distributed the field rations directly to the cadets.

This unit that landed behind enemy lines to carry out the task of harassment had landed for less than 10 hours, and the supplies it carried were almost not consumed, and the field rations of "40 people for six days" could extend the self-sustaining time of this unit by two days.

This is a small material victory, but also a great spiritual encouragement.

Therefore, Weiss suggested that with the morale blessing brought by this victory and the "gap" in enemy aerial reconnaissance, the cadets should hurry up.

The direction, of course, is to continue north.

After more than five hours of armed marching, people finally appeared in sight.

In the open meadow stood a small wooden house, with stables, warehouses and sheepfolds next to it.

It is clear that this is the settlement of the ranchers.

After some careful reconnaissance and exploration, Dio personally led a group of cadets to surround the wooden house.

A sturdy blonde woman chops firewood next to a wooden house. Seeing these soldiers wearing blue armbands, she did not panic in the slightest, but smiled and asked if they belonged to the defending camp. After receiving an affirmative reply, she calmly told the visitor that she lived here with her husband and son. The husband went with his son to shepherd the sheep, usually leaving early and returning late, and if he went far, he might also stay outside for the night.

According to the exercise, this area originally belonged to the "blue army", that is, the defending side, and although the residents did not directly intervene in the "war", they had a tendency to take a position on the warring parties. To put it simply, they are more willing to provide help to "their own people", including selling horses and food at reasonable prices, providing military information about the enemy that they know, deliberately concealing the whereabouts of their own troops, and so on.

After obtaining permission from the hostess, Dio had the cadets rest in the forage warehouse for half a day, and personally deployed the open and dark sentinels.

It can be seen that this third-year student has a very solid military foundation, and all kinds of detailed arrangements and handling can be said to be easy.

During this time, Weiss's work was to have a friendly and relaxed language exchange with the ranch hostess.

Afterwards, at the invitation of the hostess of the ranch, several members of the battalion, together with Major Brooks and the intelligence officers he had brought with them, enjoyed a delicious meal of bread with fried meat, and not a delicate but comforting after-dinner refreshment.

After eating and drinking, Dio the little fat said to Weiss, "The only thing I can't figure out...... How can you be sure that the other side will not annihilate you outright, but accept your terms? ”

Weiss tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop: "Actually, I'm not sure. In a way, it's a low-risk gamble. lose, end the exercise itinerary early; Win and move on. ”

"If this is actual combat, do you dare to do it?" Dio asked again.

Weiss thought for a moment and replied in the affirmative.

Probably feeling that Weiss's words were not confident enough, he asked, "Convinced?" ”

Without waiting for Weiss to reply, Nikolai interjected: "I am sure he has the courage and courage to do so. ”

Dio looked at Nikolai and then at Weiss, his eyes a little complicated.

"Okay, so let's talk about it, two 'right gentlemen,' and tell me what we're going to do next?"

Nikolai glanced at Weiss and silently drank tea.

Weiss said unhurriedly: "With the current situation, if you want to hold out until the end of the conference exercise, of course, you can't hope that the 'enemy' will fulfill the three-day covenant, but you must stay away from this area as soon as possible. So, next, we have to think of a way to solve the problem of transportation. ”

Dio whispered, "There are still three horses in the pasture, and even if they are all lent to us, it will not solve the problem. ”

"It would be nice to borrow two horses to assist in reconnaissance." "In accordance with the rules of the exercise, when borrowing the property of the residents, it is necessary to give them sufficient cash or equivalent as a pledge with their consent." ”

In this remote place, borrowing two horses and giving a kilogram of Lang as a pledge is more than enough, but the problem is ...... During the exercise, the headquarters did not issue special funds to the participating troops, and if they wanted residents to borrow or buy goods, they had to pay for them themselves, and if losses occurred during the exercise, they had to be counted on their own heads......

"It shouldn't be that hard, right?" Dio Dao.

Weiss looked at Nikolai, and saw that he had no intention of picking up, so he did not say anything.

Dio had no choice but to take out his wallet, take out all the banknotes and coins, count them carefully, and whispered, "339 crowns...... Hey, do you have any money with you? Lend me a little first. ”

Several other third-graders in the battalion turned their wallets upside down, barely scraping together less than 700 crowns.

Although the cadets of the Barston Military Academy receive a monthly stipend, and the top students receive a bonus from the school from time to time, up to a maximum of 1,000 crowns, this does not mean that they are all generous spenders, and few of them carry hundreds or thousands of bills with them at every turn.

Dio frowned and glanced at Major Brooks, who and his informant were completely indifferent to the topic just now.

Nikolai is even more consistently cold.

He finally set his sights on Weiss.

Weiss clasped his hands on his chest: "Don't always think of us sophomores when you're in trouble, compared to you, we only lack some experience, and we're not bad at all else." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Dio glared at Weiss.

Weiss was not polite to the other party: "In the Bathton Student Corps, in the battalion under your command, we sophomores should be treated more fairly and equally. Only in this way will we be able to unite and bring into full play our combat effectiveness. Otherwise, we won't get far. ”

Dio's face darkened: "What exactly do you mean?" ”

Weiss never mentioned the "pot" that Kunison was going to deduct from him, and as for the reason why the smoke in the forest attracted the enemy ships, Kunison only made an understatement in front of Dior, and did not point the sharp finger at the hapless sophomore. There was a tacit agreement between the two sides on this matter, but this did not justify Weiss continuing to put up with the incompetent as squad commander, and he fired:

"It's understandable that you have the final say in the battalion headquarters, but the captains of the three squads are all directly appointed by you, and they are all third-year students, which is very unfair to us. Why can we sophomores only be vice-captains? In my opinion, our Lune-Schmidt is more qualified than most third-graders for the position of squad commander. Of course, if you're willing to assign me or Nikolai as commanders, we'll be happy to do it, and we're confident we'll do it better than them! ”

With the presence of students of the same level, Dio certainly couldn't pull his face to admit that among the three captains he had assigned, there was a problem with his ability. He stared at Weiss angrily, but he couldn't get a seizure, so he could only stare dryly and not speak.

At this time, Weiss did not back down, he said with a straight look: "From a philosophical point of view, you are the current us next year, and by the time of next year, many of us will be able to reach or even surpass your current level; From a logical point of view, a person's resourcefulness, character, courage, and vision are formed over the years, and some are even innate, and there will not be much change in a year's time, and what kind of height we can reach next year has no absolute relationship with what we learn and hear in the coming year. For these reasons, on behalf of the sophomores, I propose to you that the squad commanders be re-identified in a fair and equitable manner. ”

Dio's eyes rolled, and he changed his face to a good face: "You sophomores, I am relatively familiar with the two of you, especially you, Long Clumber Haythen, have already put on a convincing enough performance before. I can appoint you as the captain of any squad if you want, how about that? That's a good suggestion, isn't it? ”

"Okay!" Weiss said briskly, "Then the first team!" ”

The little fat Dior was stunned again: Why doesn't this guy play cards according to the routine?

After speaking, Weiss took out four hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and slapped them on the table proudly.

In terms of hardware and software strength, the leaders in the second year obviously exceed the mediocre in the third year, but among the three squads under Dio, except for Lune Schmidt, who is comprehensive and outstanding, and can calm the scene when he takes office, no one is convincing enough. The foreshadowing in front of Weiss is nothing more than to make Dio realize that second-year students are not their third-year subordinates, vassals, and cannon fodder, but companions who fight side by side with them. As long as one of the three squads is under the command of the sophomore, it is enough to break the old thinking pattern psychologically and make the sophomore get enough respect in this unit.

Looking at the newly branded large-denomination banknotes on the table, Dio's face turned blue and red for a while, but the words had already been spoken, how could he regret it in public?

After thinking for a while, Dio grabbed the money with his chubby hand, got up and walked up to the hostess of the ranch, and made a request to rent two horses, and negotiated with him to pledge 1,000 crowns in cash, and return the horses with one hand and the money with the other at the end of the exercise.

The hostess agreed without healing.

When the deal was settled, Theo turned to her to find out if there were any enemy troops stationed nearby, and the answer was the same as Weiss's earlier question: she had rarely gone out, and had not left the ranch even after being notified of the military exercises—if they had waited until the evening, when her husband and son returned, they might have learned from them what they wanted to know.

"We can send two people dressed in civilian clothes and go out on horseback to reconnoitre. There was an afternoon where horseback riding was able to cover a large area, I think...... We should focus on the north-west direction, and from the map, there is a town 80 miles away, with a road and some bridges nearby, and there may be a small number of enemy alert troops here. If there is, we will set out after dark, arrive and attack tomorrow morning, and it would be great if we could capture horses or vehicles from them! ”