There were two wooden houses in the yard, one for people to live in and the other for use as a warehouse. After walking a few steps, Lieutenant Colonel Elek took a look inside and outside the two wooden houses.

Except for the simple tables, chairs and chests, there was no furniture in the room. It was obviously indoors, but it was as empty as a wilderness.

The oil lamp covered with cobwebs was thrown in the corner. The lamp had dried up long ago. The sun was setting in the west, and there was no light source in the wooden house. It was as dark as a cave.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek couldn't help frowning and asked, "Why do you live here?"

John Jessica held on to the wall, moved little by little, and finally sat back on the square stool beside the dining table and asked: "This is my home. If I don't live here, where would I live?"

"Is this the kind of place where school officials live?"

"You can only receive half salary after being injured." John Jessica replied without emotion: "Besides, I haven't received half salary for three quarters."

Winters looked sideways at Lieutenant Colonel Elek, whose face turned a little dark.

"How is it possible?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek asked impatiently, half surprised and half suspicious: "How is it possible that you have not been paid for three quarters?"

John Jessica snorted coldly and did not answer, but his contemptuous expression was the most straightforward answer - believe it or not.

To be honest, before he stepped into this small courtyard, Winters didn't know what it would be like to see Lieutenant Colonel Jessica again.

In order not to make the situation awkward, Winters envisioned a lot of dialogue. But when he actually saw Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's dark eye sockets, he couldn't say anything.

John Jessica "looked" at Winters and asked stiffly: "What do you want to drink?"

"Just water."

"Nothing else." John Jessica tilted his head: "There is a well in the yard. If you want to drink, go dig it yourself."

Winters picked up the water jug, walked straight out of the cabin, filled a fresh can of well water, and washed the cup. When dealing with Lieutenant Colonel Jessica, he habitually omitted those hypocritical remarks.

Courtesy and etiquette.

Back at the cabin, Winters poured a glass of water each for Lieutenant Colonel Jessica and Lieutenant Colonel Elek.

"He was your subordinate before?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek regretted it as soon as he said it. He shook his head mockingly: "What kind of stupid question is this? Otherwise, why would he take a detour to visit you... Oh, yes

In this way, since he is your subordinate, it makes sense that he can paint wherever he goes."

"Oh?" John Jessica became slightly more interested.

Surveying and mapping is a difficult subject, and Winters admits that he has not even touched the threshold and does not want to talk more about it.

Winters pretended to be relaxed and asked: "The well in the yard doesn't even have a fence. Do you usually fetch water by yourself?"

"There is a farmer couple on the other side of town. They come to me once a day to get me some food and drink." John Jessica explained succinctly.

The former army lieutenant colonel was obviously more concerned about other things than his daily life: "There is not a lot of information here. Until just now, I thought you died fighting on the west bank of the River Styx. Tell me, tell me something I don't know."

"

"It's a long story."

"Then say it slowly." John Jessica disagreed: "The most important thing I lack is time."

"Lieutenant Colonel, let's wait until the appropriate time to talk about it."

"When is the right time?" John Jessica frowned. Although the former Army Lieutenant Colonel was known for his uprightness, it did not mean that he was mentally slow.

"It's not convenient for you to talk about it when there are outsiders watching?" John Jessica laughed a few times and directly issued an expulsion order to Lieutenant Colonel Elek: "My eyesight is bad, so I won't send you off."

Even though Lieutenant Colonel Elek had long heard of [One-Eyed Jessica]'s reputation as being difficult to get along with, and even though Lieutenant Colonel Elek was born with a good temper, he was still choked and couldn't get off the stage, and his face turned blue and white.

Winters had to defend his former superior: "Lieutenant Colonel Elek is not an outsider. If Lieutenant Colonel Elek hadn't helped me, I wouldn't have found you here."

"Oh, that's right." John Jessica responded indifferently.

According to Winters’ understanding of his former superiors: Even if John Jessica makes objective comments without emotion, others will sound like they are mocking; this is John Jessica’s talent and instinct, and he does not target anyone or anyone individually.

thing.

Winters nodded apologetically to Lieutenant Colonel Elek, apologizing on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Jessica.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek took a deep breath, sighed helplessly, and said half sarcastically, half admiringly: "It seems that overseas dispatch has not changed you one bit."

John Jessica snorted lightly and remained unmoved. He picked up the semi-finished wooden mold on the table and fumbled around to continue cutting.

"What are you doing?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek asked curiously.

"Earn bread," John Jessica replied coolly.

The sky was dark, and Lieutenant Colonel Elek observed for a long time before he saw that the opponent was carving chess pieces: "It's too dark in the room, so you don't get a lamp..."

Lieutenant Colonel Elek's voice stopped abruptly. Although John Jessica's sword was slow, it was extremely accurate, so precise that Elek forgot that the opponent could no longer see him.

"Why don't you get a lamp?" John Jessica's mood was so calm that it was almost cruel: "It's better to be blind and save money on lamp oil."

The wooden house became quiet, and only the sound of wood chips and wood tires being separated could be heard.

"I still can't figure it out." Lieutenant Colonel Elek slapped his knee and couldn't help but ask: "How can it be possible that you are not paid a salary? General Arpad issued a special order: For officers who retired due to injuries and those who died in battle in the expeditionary force,

The officer's family members gave him generous support. Something must have gone wrong, it shouldn't have been like this... I'll find out when I go back."

John Jessica seemed to have heard nothing and was concentrating on carving the chess pieces.

Winters fiddled with the water glass without saying a word.

In the silence, Lieutenant Colonel Elek gradually came back to his senses. He stood up slowly, narrowed his eyes and looked down at the same person, and asked hesitantly, "Could it be that you... didn't sign the affidavit?"

John Jessica sneered disdainfully.

The truth is out! Signing an oath to draw a clear line with the Zhuwangbao puppet government is a process that all officers serving in the new military government must go through.

Under the military government, the consequences of refusing to take the oath of allegiance are not just as simple as "suspension of pay".

John Jessica was not imprisoned, tried, or executed, perhaps because he was given preferential treatment because of his blindness.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek simply didn't know what to say: "It's just a piece of paper. Do you need to be more serious about your crime? Why bother? Alas, even if you don't get executed, you are lucky..."

John Jessica put down the carving knife and wooden tire in his hand, stood up as well, "looked levelly" at Lieutenant Colonel Elek, and expressed his attitude word by word: "First of all, I am loyal to the Republic of Plato, and only to the Republic.

"Secondly, I do not believe that Arpad Duyomu and his leading political faction can represent the Republic of Plato."

"Can those fat-headed MPs in the Great Council of the Kings' Castle represent this?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek retorted: "Believe it or not, right now - at this very moment, those fat pigs are busy discussing how to take down Plato.

Package it up and sell it to the federal provinces!”

"If you don't split Plato from within, how can you give the United Provinces an opportunity?" John Jessica's voice was cold and steady: "No matter what the reason, Arpad's behavior is rebellion."

"Obviously it was the King's Castle who betrayed us!"

This kind of dispute is meaningless because no one can convince the other party.

John Jessica picked up the carving knife again and continued to carve the chess pieces. Lieutenant Colonel Elek sat down angrily and drank the entire glass of cold well water in one breath, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

There was another moment of silence.

Lieutenant Colonel Elek slapped his thigh and stared at the same man angrily: "Forget it! It's up to you. But you have to come back to Oak Forest Castle with me. I'll find a place for you to live."

Lieutenant Colonel Elek took out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead, looked around the empty room, and said bitterly: "Since you believe that the military government is a rebel party, why not let's see who can have the last laugh! But it can't be here - living here

If you destroy the place, you won’t be able to survive this winter!”

John Jessica did not appreciate the kindness of his contemporaries and comrades-in-arms. He asked tit-for-tat: "Then can you survive until next winter?"

"What do you mean?" Lieutenant Colonel Elek had a cold face.

John Jessica cleared the table with a wave of his arm, and drew on the table with his finger dipped in the water in the cup.

The sun was about to sink below the horizon, and the glow was high in the sky, but inside the wooden house it was almost impossible to see any fingers.

John Jessica was painting one stroke after another in the dark. He was not painting for others, but for himself. Each stroke was extremely serious, as if he wanted to project the mountains and rivers onto this small square.

wooden table.

Although he couldn't see the specific lines clearly, Winters judged from the general outline that Colonel Jessica should be drawing a map of Plato.

"New Reclamation Province, Xilin Province, Jiangbei Province..." John Jessica picked it up at random and marked the map in the dark: "Going north is the Monta Republic, and going east along the Jinliu River is the United Provinces.

and Venetta.”

John Jessica's map is very large, including not only the Republic of Plato, but also the other four countries of the Alliance.

Maps that outline thousands of miles of territory within a small area and maintain a considerable degree of accuracy have probably only appeared on the emperor's desk before.

With this intangible and tangible map, Winters also took a macroscopic and intuitive look at the internal and external situations of Plato for the first time.

"The Ember River, the Ember River is the key to everything." The traces of water have dried up, but John Jessica still accurately pointed out the Ember River that runs through the land between the two mountains, the rushing river: "No breakthrough.

Jinliu River, no matter how sharp General Arpad's saber is, he can only be trapped and die in the northwest corner of Jiangbei Province. Am I wrong?"

"That's right." Lieutenant Colonel Elek readily admitted.

"Then have you broken through the Jinliu River?"

"No."

"If you can't break through the Jinliu River, you can only attack eastward along the north bank of the Jinliu River." John Jessica took out the chess pieces and placed them one by one on the invisible map. His eyes could not see the light.

, his body was trapped in the small room, but his mind had never been so free.

John Jessica stated sternly: "From ancient times to the present, the country of galloping horses has been [poor on the north bank and rich on the south bank]. Even if you fight all the way to the border with the United Provinces, the land you can control will never exceed Para.

One-third of the map. And the essence of Plato - the towns on both sides of the Jinliu River, you also can't get involved in. Am I wrong?"
To be continued...