As the night wore on, the servants in the castle of the prince of Blomburg cleaned up the plates, tables and chairs in the banquet hall. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info It's impossible to say how many years it hasn't had a dinner for two or three hundred people, but it's certain that its large space and elegant décor are big enough for a larger, more high-end banquet.

This is one of the treasures left by the predecessors to the younger generations.

In the castle's side hall, a place for gentlemen to chat and smoke and drink after dinner, Natsuki sat comfortably on the sofa with a large glass of cold dark beer in hand. Although the officers present were not so casual and comfortable, they all put aside their solemnity in front of them, and sat or stood with the Prussian prince as the center, drinking and chatting.

There were seven of them, including three from the naval garrison who arrived in the afternoon, two cavalry officers and two infantry officers who arrived after dark. Now, in addition to the 200 naval men, the prince's domain was guarded by a group of Prussian cavalry and a regiment of soldiers of the Royal Guards Infantry Regiment, both of which had been hastily transferred by Crown Prince Wilhelm after receiving a telegram from Natsuki. The Prussian cavalry was small in number, but it was the ideal guard patrol force of this era; The Royal Guards Infantry Regiment came with an infantry platoon, and they were a serious land force, the elite of the Prussian army.

The three units belong to different branches of the military, and the officers are unfamiliar with each other, so Natsuki naturally becomes their sole coordinator. Because it was the first night here, the officers and soldiers did not know much about the surrounding environment, and after consulting with everyone, Natsuki decided to concentrate the main force around the castle, and set up a tight circular cordon, with only a small number of patrols on the perimeter. Officers are accountable to their respective subordinate soldiers and ensure the integrity of the vigilance defense in the form of joint command.

"Speaking of which, Your Excellency, in your understanding, what are the conditions for a qualified Marine Corps?"

Continuing his previous discussion with the naval officers, Natsuki consulted with Lieutenant von Seyss, an officer of the Royal Guards Infantry Regiment and a baron.

In this relaxed atmosphere, the young Guards officer showed a free and easy temperament, holding up a draft beer and saying: "As a general rule, a qualified Marine Corps should be composed of a sufficient proportion of professional officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers who have received regular training, be issued with modern weapons and equipment, and conduct regular combat drills. If such an answer is too broad, then the simplest criterion is to be able to defeat an equal number of enemies in any situation. ”

Natsuki smiled slightly: "This is a very practical standard. By this measure, can the Marine Corps of the Navy fleet be classified as 'qualified'? ”

Lieutenant von Seth opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly remembered something, only to smile silently and raise his glass to drink.

Natsuki looked at him, there were naval colleagues present, if he was rash in his evaluation, it was likely to cause contradictions, silence was a rational move, and at the same time, he also gave a sideways answer to Natsuki's question.

Although Seth did not speak, it could be seen that the naval officers led by Chilman were already dissatisfied, and at this time, the only middle-aged officer present, Cavalry Captain Joseph Bernagan, said appropriately: "Your Royal Highness, in fact, each branch of the army has its own characteristics and missions, and it is impossible to measure their strength or weakness by a certain standard. A very simple example, the greatest advantage of our cavalry is speed, and if we attack the infantry or the garrison of the fortified fortress, the result will be terrible. In the same way, the Marine Corps of the Navy fleet is used to board ships or shore operations, and land operations are only part of their usual training and drills. What do you say, Your Highness the Prince? ”

Sometimes, being young is an advantage; Sometimes, age is also an advantage, because the accumulation of time and experience makes people mature and connotative. Bernagan's objective stance won the approval of every officer present, and also brought a little valuable inspiration to Natsuki.

After the men's "night club", Natsuki came to Charlotte's room. After bathing, the English girl wore a fluffy gauze nightdress and stood on the open-air balcony to enjoy the night view. The breeze is blowing, the long hair is fluttering, the skirt is rippling, and the pretty and handsome face is reflected in the silver-white moonlight......

"This is the life I like, quiet, down-to-earth, and comfortable." She leaned on his shoulder and whispered.

Natsuki responded to the situation: "With you, this is heaven." ”

"Then we will stay here together, never separated. All right? Charlotte's question was extraordinarily affectionate.

"Okay." Natsuki replied, "Never separate." ”

"But...... You will eventually leave here to fight for your career and achieve your dreams. She hung her head slightly, listening intently to the sound of his heartbeat.

He stroked her hair and felt her breath: "Then I am just a kite, no matter how far I go, I will be attached to it." Like a tired bird, **** is eager to return home. ”

"I'm afraid of being alone." She said, "Jochen, promise me that no matter what happens, even war and destruction, you will come back here." ”

"This will be our home forever." Natsuki said affectionately, "No matter what, I will come back here and accompany you to watch the sunrise and sunset." ”

The two are closely attached to each other, and their hearts are no longer lonely.

……

The sun shone on the verdant meadows, the air was filled with the scent of earth, and the men took off their military hats, took off their coats, unbuttoned their shirts, and rode their horses in a chic manner, but no matter how handsome and capable they were, they were not as bright as the white-clad rider on the maroon Trekner horse, with a small face, thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, and a delicate nose, a simple rider short outfit that showed a sassy and heroic posture, and tight breeches that flattered the slender and moving leg curves.

"Hey, Yochen, come after me and see if your 'Black Wind' can catch up with my 'Tulip'!"

Hearing Charlotte's call from afar, Natsuki had a happy smile on his face. Blomburg, no matter how beautiful it was, was still a foreign land to this brave Englishwoman. Even with Natsuki's company, she needs time to get used to it slowly, and the "tulips" that Natsuki brought back from Hill Manor are undoubtedly another important spiritual sustenance for her.

The "Black Wind" under Natsuki's crotch is also a tall and sturdy Trekna horse, with a light gait, elegant and gorgeous, with an innate noble temperament, and calm and gentle and kind to people. In their native land, they enjoy running to their heart's content, their smooth manes shining in the sun......

Belch?

Suddenly seeing the shining point in the mountains and forests in the distance, Xia Lima stopped, shaded the sun with his hands, and raised his eyes into the distance. Mountain streams, puddles and shards of glass could reflect the light, but he was familiar with the forest, which was so dense and leafy that people rarely set foot in it except during the hunting season.

"Hey, guys!" Natsuki called the officers to his side and asked them to quietly observe the mountains and forests in the distance. It wasn't long before Admiral Chilman was the first to catch the strange flash.

"Probably a telescope." He said with a wary face, "Someone is watching us. ”

Xia Shu roughly judged that the location of the reflective point was more than 2,000 meters away, far beyond the range of the rifle, and before the First World War entered the white-hot stage, the military sniper technology had not really been developed, so the peep itself was not a direct threat, but the opponent's reconnaissance was obviously paving the way for the next move.

"Do you usually hold offensive combat training on land?" Natsuki asked Chilman.

"Nope." The captain replied truthfully, "I don't think our duty is to attack on land. ”

"How about trying it?"

"You mean ......"

"Assuming that's the enemy, take one of your platoons to attack, and after capturing the enemy's position, you need to start clearing the battlefield."

Chilman thought for a moment, turned to Eckerle and said, "Lieutenant, this task is entrusted to your platoon, and it will be carried out according to the requirements that His Highness just said!" ”

"Yes." Eckerle replied without hesitation, but before leaving, he looked at Natsuki and seemed to realize that this was not an easy task.

When Eckerle gathered his troops and ordered the soldiers to go to the forest in three trucks, Charlotte rode up to Natsuki and asked curiously, "What happened?" ”

"Oh, we made a bet to see if the Navy soldiers were up to the Army's mission, right, gentlemen?"

Because Natsuki spoke English, the German officers didn't have to worry about white lies, which Charlotte didn't notice. She took out her handkerchief and carefully wiped the stains off Natsuki's face, and the officers grinned one by one.

After more than four hours, Natsuki took Charlotte to have afternoon tea with the officers, and Ekelle returned to the castle in a sweat.

"Hey, Carl." Natsuki preceded Eckerle to speak, "Your offensive maneuvers don't seem to be going well?" ”

Ekelle was a smart man, he immediately understood what Natsuki meant, and in front of Charlotte, he did not mention the peepers, but said cryptically: "I think our attack is not fast enough, and the soldiers lack the experience of clearing the battlefield, if it is a real battle, the enemy will definitely slip away." Next time, we can do better next time. ”

Natsuki motioned for him to sit down and rest, and then asked Lieutenant von Seth, "Your Excellency, your troops should have other weapons besides pistols and rifles!" ”

"If you mean our infantry regiment, there is an artillery company equipped with field guns and a machine gun company equipped with Maxim machine guns, if you say the troops under my command, there is a Madsen machine rifle as support fire, and long-handled grenades, but they are all sealed in warehouses and cannot be used without an order from the corps headquarters."

Chilman said enviously: "Once we left the garrison, we only had pistols and rifles. ”

From the perspective of future generations, Natsuki is certainly well aware of the difference. The Madsen machine rifle, also known as the light machine gun in the future, can effectively fill the gap between the rifle and the heavy machine gun, if each platoon is assigned one, the battlefield firepower will obviously exceed the infantry units that simply use traditional rifles, but its high cost restricts its promotion and popularization. Historically, more than a dozen countries had purchased or licensed copies of such weapons from Denmark before the outbreak of World War I, but the number of troops actually equipped was not large. In Germany, the Madsen machine guns, which used 8 mm Mauser rounds, were mainly issued to mountain troops and a small number of elite regiments, including the Royal Guards Infantry Regiment, which had difficulty using heavy machine guns.

The issue of the staffing and armament of the Marine Corps had been considered by Natsuki for a long time, and later put it aside for various reasons. With the German Navy's fleet marines and the new recruits recruited every year, it does not take a long time to form a number of brigade or division-sized marine units, but it is also true that as Lieutenant Seth and Captain Bernagan said, a qualified marine unit is not only a matter of personnel and equipment, but also a matter of sufficient training and running-in to form tactical literacy, which is then reflected in actual combat.

"Then, Your Excellency, let's see how the best of the army performs!" Natsuki Road.

Lieutenant Seth looked around at the crowd and replied confidently, "I will live up to your Highness's expectations." ”

(End of chapter)