The west wind howled, people shouted and horses neighed, and stiff-footed militiamen and horse-drawn carriages poured into the small town of Shenk from all directions from the west.

It is as if there is a huge whirlpool invisibly, gathering all the manpower and material resources of Tiefeng County here.

There is no doubt that the church of St. Croix's Abbey is located in the center of the whirlpool.

A statue of the Virgin with lowered eyes stood above the church door, silently watching the people wearing sharp knives walking in and out.

"Lieutenant Bader, the village chief of Bainiu Village in Xiaoshi Town said that the amount of dry food distributed to them was not enough."

"The ration in Bainiu Village was increased yesterday."

"He said it was still not enough..."

"Sergeant Roland!"

"exist!"

"Take the roster and the military police to the Bainiu Village station and count the number of people."

"yes!"

"Report!" The guard hurriedly walked into the church: "Another convoy has arrived from Wangqiao Town!"

"Mr. Mersin!"

"Your Mightiness?"

"Please and Brother Theodore are responsible for counting and registering the new convoy coming from Wangqiao Town."

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency."

Baggage needs to be stored, processed, and distributed, militiamen need to be sent to various locations along the front, and food, drink, and shelter need to be provided.

If it weren't for Bard's support, the Tiefeng County army would have been overwhelmed by logistics.

The headquarters is no longer the configuration of "Winters Montañe plus a few messengers". It will inevitably become large because Bard has mobilized all civilians and soldiers who can read, write, and count.

Bard was in charge of the scribe's room of the monastery. Intelligence and information were continuously fed into the scribe's room, and then instructions and orders would be issued everywhere.

The clerks were surprised to find that no matter how small the matter was, as long as it was reported to the Bard tribune, the latter could recall it when needed.

Therefore, Bard will never issue vague instructions. Each of his orders will be given to the specific executor, and he will clearly tell the other party what must be done, leaving no room for evasion for the executor.

The clerks were both awed and exhausted by this.

Bud seemed to have endless energy. He waved his invisible whip and drove his clerks at all levels forward like horses.

The headquarters was functioning like this. The personnel and materials gathered in Shengke Town were registered in an orderly manner, and then uniformly deployed to the places where they were most urgently needed.

There is also an episode: centralized office work and a lot of writing work indirectly led to the acceptance of graphite strips by everyone.

Originally, there were still some old-school people who insisted on using quill pens because the graphite strips could not write very clearly and were easily scratched.

But soon, even the monastery clergy quietly replaced the graphite strips wrapped with ropes.

There is no other reason than the graphite strip is too convenient. When using a quill pen, you have to use sand to absorb the ink. After writing on the graphite strip, you can send it out directly.

With Bard ensuring logistics, Winters could devote all his energy to the war effort.

Winters was away from Sankt Town most of the time.

He patrolled around the battlefield, talked with the frontline militiamen, and even personally entered the areas controlled by the Tertun people to conduct reconnaissance.

He hardly used his knees and spurs to spur his horse, but kept waving his whip.

For this reason, Charles specially prepared many slave horses and replaced them immediately if any horse was about to be exhausted.

After learning that the dam had been raided, Winters rushed to Cow Hoof Valley immediately.

At this moment, he was on the bank of the Big Horn River, with the dam in front of him extending towards the other bank.

The night before, the Terton cavalry raided the construction site on the south bank, killed some peasants and burned some wood, but was repulsed by Tamas's troops.

"Exposed is exposed. It can't be hidden. The key is speed and time." Winters leaned on his cane and asked Samkin and Tamas seriously: "How much time do you need?"

Samu Jin bit his lip and answered with determination: "Three days! If I still can't finish the repair after three days, you'll kill me!"

"Three days are not enough." Winters calmly rejected Samkin's guarantee: "Based on your current progress, it will take at least five days. Taking into account the water storage process, it may take a week or even ten days."

Samkin lowered his head.

"Reset camp at the construction site on the south bank." Winters gave the order directly to First Company Commander Tamas: "Bring your people down."

"Yes!" Tamas replied without hesitation.

Tamas's camp is located in the pass between Oxhoof Valley and Forge Township, with Iron Peak to the east and Bighorn River to the west. The terrain is difficult and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The reason why Winters deployed the most elite First Company and auxiliary militia troops there was to prevent the Teltons from entering the Oxhoof Valley via the western foot of Iron Peak.

Although re-establishing a stronghold at the location of the dam can protect the dam construction site, the terrain here is too low and is not conducive to defense.

Winters touched the arm of the first company commander, nodded slightly, and said without any more nonsense: "The third and fourth companies will be reinforced for you."

"yes."

"I'll give you some more civilian husbands."

Samkin raised his head suddenly.

"It can be repaired slowly." Winters tapped his cane gently: "But the dam must remain in existence."

Seeing that Samkin was a little confused, Winters did not give up on the riddle: "As long as the dam exists, the Teltun people's retreat will be threatened. The progress of the dam is slow, and at best it will not be able to cut off the enemy's retreat.

If the Teltun people retreat, the siege of Gévaudan will be relieved. But if the dam is lost, the Teltun people will be able to come and go freely, and they will always have the initiative."

"So the dam must not be lost." Winters' eyes were stern: "Do you understand?"

Tamas nodded heavily, and Samukin gritted his teeth and replied: "Yes!"

"Since the dam is exposed, the fight here will definitely be cruel." Winters drew a rough map on the beach with his cane and carefully explained to his two most respected subordinates: "I will launch a feint attack in the direction of Shengke Town and divide the points.

The pressure is on you here.”

Right now, the situation between the two sides is like a matryoshka doll:

In the inner circle, the fire-warmers are besieging Gévaudan;

In the outer circle, Winters' troops were gradually taking control of the roads around Gevaudan.

The initiative is temporarily in the hands of the fire-warmer. He can choose to fight, he can choose to leave, and he can also choose to attack Rewodan.

Winters fell into a passive position, because his troops had almost no field capabilities, and their mobility was far inferior to the Turton cavalry that came and went like the wind.

But it has never been Winters' style to sit back and wait. "Strive for the initiative if you don't have the initiative" is Winters' motto.

Winters has two strategies for seizing the initiative:

First, it threatens the retreat of the Terdun people. Once the pontoon bridge is destroyed, the Terdun people will have to fight desperately even if they don't want to;

Second, guard the traffic arteries around Jevaudan, advance step by step, and continuously reduce the activity space of the Telton people.

As long as Winters' siege took shape, the Telltowners would be trapped in a narrow area on the south bank of the St. George River.

At that time, the situation will become a replica of the Battle of Pangtuo River, and Winters can slowly strangle the fire-warmer to death.

But at present, the dam has not been completed and there are still gaps in the encirclement network. The Teltown people still have the initiative.

The fire-warmers also seemed to smell danger.

The Terton cavalry took small roads, passed through the old forest, tried every means to bypass the blockade, and frantically dug into the rear of the defense line.

Their intention is obvious--to cut off Winters' supply line and strangle the army in Shenk Town.

In response, Winters set up garrison stations to protect supply lines, and also used cavalry against cavalry.

The Teltowns broke up the attack, and Winters counterattacked. The Teltowns robbed and killed the militia convoy, while Winters' cavalry intercepted and killed the Teltown light cavalry.

The war had a tendency to evolve into a war of attrition. Winters looked at the summary casualty reports and became increasingly depressed, but he never wavered.

Watching the Bighorn River bypassing the unfinished dam and slowly flowing downstream, Winters sighed softly: "Please thank Senior Morrow for me."

"Yes." Samujin nodded seriously.

Winters and Captain Moreau met several times when they were building the Styx Bridge. He vaguely remembered that the other person was a personable and witty senior who was always surrounded by a circle of colleagues.

However, the two did not have a close friendship because Moreau was born in the artillery department and was many years older than Winters.

Moreau refused to meet with Winters, and Winters did not force him.

A green-helmeted rider flew down the hillside and delivered a letter with red diagonal stripes.

Red diagonal stripes mean that the content is urgent.

Winters opened the lacquer seal, scanned the contents, and calmly handed the letter to his two subordinates.

Samutin hesitated for a moment and did not extend his hand, letting Tamas take it first. Tamas also did not extend his hand because he was illiterate.

"We will learn slowly after the battle." Winters smiled and put away the envelope: "The Teltown people are attacking the city."

…

The Siege of Gévaudan kicked off with an artillery bombardment.

In winter, when the weather is cold and freezing, soil work becomes more difficult and requires a lot of manpower.
To be continued...