The sky was overcast and gloomy.

That kind of darkness seems to not only suppress the sky, but also press on people's hearts, and weigh down people's hearts.

The earth is snow-white, and the ruts pressed out by the heavy car seem to be a twisted ink line on white paper.

A few bare old trees are the only embellishment on the snowfield, the old trees whose leaves have fallen have fallen out, the trunks are dark ink, and the bare trees seem to stretch out countless pairs of protesting hands to the sky, could it be that they are also protesting against the ruthlessness of God and the cold of winter?

A village road can be seen in the distance. An unusually deserted village.

The half-human-high earthen wall encloses the entire village, with only two entrances and exits at the front and back. This is an earthen wall to defend against wild beasts, and there should have been two wooden doors at the opening, but now it should have been removed.

Behind the earthen wall was a row of slightly higher thatched houses with mud bricks and straw roofs, and the windows were so high that the poor could not afford to use parchment to paste the windows, so they had to open the windows high and small, and barely use some linen cloth to paste the windows. After a long time, the sackcloth was also terribly gray.

It was already evening, and the village was as silent as death, without a trace of fireworks, no trace of poultry and livestock, and no sign of birds or beasts. Obviously, under such a snowstorm, the village is already empty.

Outside such a lonely village, a group of people came in the distance in front of the village, and only a group of black shadows were seen flickering in the distance. When I got closer, I could see that it was a group of people wrapped in stainless steel armor, with blue tassels on their heads, and only the head of the leader was a crimson top tassel. One by one, with a heavy sword in his right hand and a steel shield in his left hand, he marched here in unison. There was a thick and dull sound of "squatting, squatting" as they went.

This is the hundred-man team led by Charles, and this is the village they are going to garrison tonight. A village that has been forcibly evicted.

The village was already in sight, and Charles waved his hand to signal the phalanx to rest in place. "Genbo, I have to ask you to lead the first Shi into the village to take a look!"

"Honor," Genber replied loudly. Led his first ten people out of the phalanx, with the big sword in his right hand flat on his shoulder, and the shield in his left hand to protect the vital point on his chest, he bowed down and took small steps, keeping the queue neat, and maintaining the posture of attacking and advancing towards the village.

Charles motioned for the group to follow in small steps, keeping a certain distance to prevent the whole army from being ambushed, but he was also ready to meet the first one at any time.

After a while, news came from Genber, who was exploring the road in front, that the village was empty, that the road behind the village was smooth and snowy, and that there was no sign of human activity, and that the whole army could be stationed.

Only then did Charles relax and signal to lift the guard, and the whole army entered the village in order.

Arrange the high lookout posts that cross without dead ends, and arrange for the accompanying mages to place the hedr-driven magic map array in a hidden place. The magic array disk driven by the hedron can communicate with the magic array of the military headquarters, and the scene of the station can be projected on the magic array of the military headquarters in a timely manner. This is also the wonder of magic, but the consumption of this magic map array disk spar is a bit large, and a spar can support about two days. That is, only the three standing legions are eligible to use it. And it can only be one-way, the military department can see them, and they can't get orders from the military department.

Everything was arranged, and this time it was the turn of the sixth to provide food for the whole team. Charles motioned for the other soldiers to clean up and relax, but it was forbidden to make loud noises. I rushed to the settlement area of the sixth Shi and gave on-the-spot guidance. Because according to military regulations, it is strictly forbidden to use fire in the field, and fireworks will expose their position and cause danger. But if the soldiers cannot be provided with hot water and soup, I am afraid that the non-combat attrition will rise sharply.

The military department was forced to agree to the request of the troops stationed in the field to light fires, and specially mobilized a batch of smokeless charcoal to distribute it. At the same time, it is strictly forbidden that smokeless charcoal can only be used for indoor boiling water and cooking, and it is strictly forbidden to use oil and barbecue, and it is strictly forbidden to produce smoke. At nightfall, the fire must be turned off to prevent the production of light.

This is not a simple job, it is easy to do without producing smoke, but it does not produce water vapor, and the difficulty is not ordinary. Especially in winter, even the exhaled gas is white mist, let alone make a fire to boil water!

Charles instructed Sixth Shi to dig out a few one-man high underground stoves in a spacious thatched hut, make a fire in the ground to boil water and cook food, and cover the underground stove with a layer of loose soil, and cover the loose soil with a layer of ice and snow. The loose soil is used to filter the water vapor once, and then the remaining water vapor and heat are condensed with ice and snow. That's what solves the problem. What's more, there is a thick layer of snow on the thatched roof.

Charles urged every soldier to eat the hot field rations, and there was no food or vegetables, but only a paste made by boiling the grain with meat foam and salt. Then each person was filled with a cylinder of hot water, which is the hot water for drinking and the utensils for heating when sleeping. Everyone soaked their feet in hot water again and changed them into dry foot cloths.

Then the whole armor rests, the helmet can not be worn, but the armor cannot be removed, and the sword and shield are placed within reach.

It's an ordeal! Winter is already cold, and the steel armor of the whole body has to absorb the heat from the body, so it becomes colder and colder. Although there is an interlining cloth inside, it is like a person wrapped in an ice shell, how much warmth can the interlining play a role? And you can't shake and make a sound. The only way is to exercise martial arts, which comes from the cold fight!

Fortunately, those who can join the sword and shield soldiers are at least middle-level samurai, and the force value is slightly worse, so if you stay overnight, you are afraid that people will freeze.

Charles, who was already a mid-level martial artist, naturally didn't care about the cold, and the natural flow of martial qi was enough to isolate the influence of the outside temperature, but he also cleaned up according to the regulations he announced, which was called taking the lead.