Volume 9: Home Chapter 297 Suspected Spy
The grassland in summer is the most pleasant season, with refreshing breezes, appropriate humidity, and just the right heat. If the world could also enter the era of globalization, the grassland in this season would undoubtedly be the most suitable summer resort.
Of course, even sleeping outdoors on a summer night is not a good idea. Even if you are not afraid of reptiles such as poisonous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, etc., you should pay attention to the night wind that blows from nightfall to dawn, as well as the relatively heavy humidity. If you want to spend the night on the grassland, you still need a relatively dry ground with the grass removed, and a tent that can block the wind - sleeping all night in the night wind will make people weak, have a headache and fever for a while, which will be very troublesome for people who need to travel the next day.
White bear Hal is in such trouble now. He was kicked out of the felt tent by his companion who had a bad sleeping posture the night before and slept in the grass. When he was kicked awake in the morning, he first saw the grass leaves wet with dew in front of his nose, and then he sneezed loudly.
The white bear tribe is not afraid of the cold, but that doesn't mean they can lie in the wet grass and be blown by the wind all night without catching a cold.
"If our tent hadn't been stolen, how could I be so unlucky to be kicked out!" Hal, who sneezed twice every once in a while, thought indignantly when he was ordered by the domineering Moon Bear auxiliary soldiers to fold up the heavy, smelly, tattered and drafty felt tent and move it to the carriage.
Hal just turned 40, which is a young man in his early twenties in human age. As a brave and skilled white bear warrior, he was favored by many females in the tribe when he just turned 30. Now he not only has a wife, but also two chubby cubs.
The polar regions where the white bears lived meant that they didn't have much supplies. Hal was once fascinated by the abundant supplies in Fire City, just like everyone else. But... when he sat on a warm kang on a snowy day and ate the fruit tea made with condensed milk, a reward for his excellent performance, he thought of his wife and children who were worried about him and sad about his lack of news. He instantly lost the motivation to work for benefits, and became discouraged and uninterested in anything.
Finally free and able to return home, Hal was so happy that he woke up laughing in his dreams for several nights in a row. Every day when he marched with General Wood, he couldn't help imagining which of his two little cubs he would touch on the head first when he saw them, or whether he would hug his wife first.
Then, they ran into the army of Admiral Andrew the Moonbear...
Before Hal's joy of meeting his tribesmen in enemy territory had faded from his face, he was rushed upon and pinned down and tied up by the ferocious Moon Bear soldiers like the others. Hundreds of people were gathered together to be guarded, and their bags, packages, and even the biscuits in their trouser pockets were searched and taken away.
The Moon Bear warriors who had the same experience as Hal tried hard to explain to the soldiers of their own tribe who were guarding them, but it was of no use... Admiral Andrew was extremely wary of these people who had left the enemy-controlled area unscathed. As long as the guarded Moon Bear warriors showed the slightest sympathy for their own tribe, or got to know the Moon Bear who was regarded as a traitor or a spy of the grassland people, they would be transferred immediately.
Afterwards, Hal, who was full of longing to return home, was led back by General Andrew's army with others, and walked back the way they came.
Hal, with his arms tied with ropes, connected to other soldiers who had experienced the same thing, and dragged by a six-legged lizard, could not react at all on the first day to what happened to him - he was finally released and could go home, why did his own army treat him as an enemy? !
This embarrassing situation of being on high alert did not last long, and Hal and his companions' situation soon improved a little... Not because Admiral Andrew had let down his guard against them, but because the cunning grassland people set an ambush and attacked, causing a large number of casualties. The overwhelmed officers of the auxiliary battalion were unable to spare the manpower to closely guard Hal and his 600+ suspected spies, and they used Hal and his companions as battlefield laborers.
Of course, Hal and his men were not allowed to come into contact with the wounded. They were thrown into the auxiliary barracks and did odd jobs like setting up tents and collecting firewood.
Under the supervision of the auxiliary battalion officer wearing bright leather armor, Hal and others were busy collecting firewood and water, setting up stoves and making fires, and moving bags of vermicelli from the still intact baggage carts to the logistics camp after they folded up the felt tents and loaded them onto carts.
The auxiliary soldiers of the logistics battalion would put these vermicelli into a large iron pot together with hard gray bread cubes that could be stored for a long time, dried meat, and game caught by the patrolling scouts, and add salt and a little ginger slices, which would become the army's breakfast.
This is the military rations for the combat soldiers, the auxiliary soldiers cannot eat vermicelli...
Hal and a fellow tribesman lifted the big iron pot together, and lined up with others to deliver pots of stew to the soldiers' camp. Only after returning to the auxiliary camp under the full supervision of the auxiliary camp officer could they receive their food: pieces of gray bread cooked in broth and not too hard, a little dried meat, and wheat grains that were fried with salt and stored in boxes.
To be fair, this was already quite good military rations - both the Beast King himself and Moon Bear City had invested a lot of money in this expedition. There wasn't much bran in the gray bread made from wheat flour, and there weren't any stones, twigs, grass leaves or other debris in the dried meat. Although the wheat grains fried with salt were a little hard to chew, at least they were salty enough, filled the stomach quickly, and didn't taste too bad - the young and strong auxiliary soldiers from the Moon Bear tribe were quite satisfied with this food, and when breakfast was distributed, the entire auxiliary camp was filled with the sound of slurping soup and crunching the cooked wheat grains.
However, for the former captives who had eaten in the canteen of Fire City for half a year, such meals were simply torture...
Hal held a bowl of cooked wheat grains and a bowl of gray bread and dried meat soup, looked at the Moon Bear auxiliary soldier who was eating happily across from him, then looked down at his own bowl, hardened his heart, closed his eyes, swallowed a big mouthful of wheat grains, drank a mouthful of soup, straightened his neck and chewed with difficulty with the soup...
The baked gray bread had been stored for more than thirty days. No matter how carefully it was preserved, it was bound to go bad and grow mold. There were no strong seasonings to cover it up, only light salt and broth to embellish it. You could imagine the taste - Hal was somewhat glad that his nose was not well-ventilated and he could not smell that complex and indescribable smell.
As for the salt-roasted wheat grains...really, when Hal ate this stuff for the first time, he began to doubt how he had been able to eat this kind of thing with such enthusiasm for almost forty years!
Not to mention the dryness, hardness and roughness, if the bran is not removed cleanly, your throat will feel like it is being tortured when you swallow!
The other auxiliary soldiers finished their meals very quickly, but Hal and the others were not so fast. However, they finished their portions and there was nothing left. If they were not full, they would not have the strength to march with the team. Their situation was already awkward, and they did not dare to expect the team officers to allow them to climb onto the backs of the six-legged lizards, whose number had been reduced a lot.
When the army set out again, Hal, who was pulling the baggage cart with his companions to replace the dead six-legged lizard, heard the black bear muttering beside him.
Hal didn't need to listen carefully to know what the black bear was complaining about...
Hal did not regret leaving Fire City. Now the faces of his wife and cubs still appeared in his mind from time to time, and he still missed them deeply.
What Hal regretted was that he didn't hide the seasoning that the snow werewolves packed for everyone better... The powdered seasoning was made from fennel, star anise, cumin, MSG, ground pepper, and chili powder. If a little bit of it could be sprinkled into the soup, the gray bread with a faint moldy smell would not be so unpalatable.
The army advanced very slowly, much slower than the day before. Hal, an elite Moon Bear warrior, knew that it was an attack from Fire City that made Admiral Andrew prepared and more cautious on the march. This was reflected in the fact that their baggage battalion was moved from the rear to the center, leaving an entire regiment of soldiers to hold the line.
Pulling a heavy carriage on the bumpy road was very tiring. Even though there were ten people in a group, taking turns every hour, Hal still felt that his strength was declining rapidly. The breakfast he swallowed with difficulty seemed not enough to maintain his consumed strength.
"I get tired so easily. It must be because I'm not feeling well." Hal sneezed again, moved the traction rope from one shoulder to the other shoulder, and wiped his nose with his sweaty palm. "The original tent was sealed on three sides, and it couldn't be broken even if you kicked hard. The current tent is just a piece of felt put together at random, with no stitches at all. If you sleep close to the edge, you may get wet by the dew..."
"I'm starting to feel hungry... That little breakfast is no use at all." Hal sighed slightly and felt the urge to complain - the snow werewolves would at least let them eat enough when they were asked to work, and when they were doing light work, such as making mud masks, shearing sheep, and washing wool, there would be no extra dishes; if they were doing more strenuous work such as digging mud and sand, making bricks, cutting wood, picking humus soil from the forest, and chopping grass with a guillotine, then in addition to extra dishes, there would be more snacks after the meal than usual!
In addition to feeding them, the snow wolves also paid them... Hal subconsciously touched his belt, and his fingers touched the coins hidden in the interlayer. He felt more complicated and his mentality became more unbalanced. Although he had not worked hard since the first two months, the snow wolves still calculated his salary for him, and considerately prepared double-layer belts for everyone that could hold money and were not easy to fall off... Hal's belt contained a gold coin and twenty-six silver coins.
On that day, the army only marched a few dozen kilometers, which was an extremely slow marching efficiency for the Orc army. Fortunately, it never hurts to be cautious. Those grassland people who didn't know where to ambush could not find the army's flaws at all, and they did not appear all day.
Admiral Andrew sent out scouts to search again and again, and carefully selected a safe plain as a place to spend the night. The combat soldiers spread out to guard the surroundings, and the auxiliary soldiers surrounded in the middle also moved and busy themselves with the preparations for setting up camp.
The baggage wagons and six-legged lizards should be concentrated in the safest place, and a temporary earth wall should be built around them for protection. The tents in each camp should leave space for detours and should not be too dense, otherwise if the enemy is determined to set fire, it will cause heavy losses...
Hal felt a little uncomfortable in the morning, and after a day of hard work, he felt even weaker and dizzy at night. However, as a suspected spy, he was under surveillance and had no right to rest. Although he was blue in the face and out of breath, he was still driven to work.
While driving stakes to set up camp, Hal could no longer hold on and his knees went weak and he fell to the ground. He struggled for a while but was unable to stand up.
"What's going on?!" The auxiliary battalion officer who was monitoring them immediately strode over.
The black bear holding the hammer squatted down and pulled Hal. Seeing that his face was not right, he hurriedly said, "He seems to be sick."
"Huh?" The officer seemed to have heard a joke. Not to mention the bears, the ordinary orcs are not prone to illness. They are not fragile humans. "What a joke! Get up! Stop playing dead! We are in the middle of a large army. Don't try to play tricks!"
This successfully angered the former captives around Hal, and all of them, whether they were white bears, black bears or moon bears, glared at him.
The black bear who was working with Hal as a pile driver had a bad temper. He immediately threw the hammer to the ground and walked towards the team officer angrily: "What do you mean by playing tricks? How long are you going to treat us as spies? If we really betrayed the empire, would we leave Fire City and think about going home?!"
The officer drew out his saber and rushed towards the angry black bear, saying sternly, "Retreat! If you take another step forward, it will be considered as rebellion. You know the consequences!"
The moon bear and white bear nearby quickly ran over to grab the black bear, whispering persuasion while dragging him back... The three bears were not so close to each other, but under the same circumstances, these unfortunate bears who were regarded as traitors by their own army also developed a mentality of sympathy.
The officers looked at them with increasingly cold eyes, and their behavior made them seem more like "accomplices" with the same unspeakable secret. The eyes did not warm up until the black bear who intended to "rebel" was dragged back.
"Pull this guy who is as fragile as a human to the back!" The team officer shouted to the Moon Bear auxiliary soldier standing next to him, and then looked at the other suspected spies and said coldly, "As for you, as a warning, the dinner portion will be reduced by half!"
The suspected spies were silent for a while, and a few more black bears tried to rush over... but were stopped by their companions.
The bear tribe was in pretty good health. Although Hal, who had caught a cold, received no care and no adequate food, he was thrown into a separate tent and slept soundly all night. He woke up refreshed the next morning.
After returning to his companions, Hal still did odd jobs and heavy work like everyone else, ate the inedible auxiliary soldiers' meals, and pulled the baggage wagon on the road.
On this day, the scouts wandering around the army were harassed by the grassland people, and several teams were sent out and never returned.
The baggage camp where Hal and other suspected spies were located was attacked again. With soldiers protecting them in front and behind, the ambushed snakes did not dare to charge. They fired a few rounds of arrows from a distance and then retreated.
Hal, hiding behind the carriage, saw about a thousand soldiers chasing after him.
Hal, an active soldier with good eyesight, saw the ambush snakes dropping some odds and ends as they ran. He couldn't see clearly what they were because of the distance, but some of the objects reflected the sunlight as they rolled, and they were sparkling.
Some of the pursuing soldiers couldn't help but bend down to pick up those shiny little things.
And then... Hal and his companions who were hiding behind the carriage and peeking out, watched helplessly as the Moon Bear Soldiers, who had been separated from the main force while picking up things, were caught in a large net thrown out from the trees and grass, and were dragged into extremely secret caves hidden under tree roots, in thorn bushes, and behind rocks.
Hal's mouth dropped open.
Hal clamped his mouth tightly shut.
When the large group of soldiers who had chased far away found that there were fewer people, they turned back to search and happened to face the suspected spies in this direction, but no one spoke up to warn them...
Those auxiliary soldiers had never experienced the battlefield, so they screamed and hid far away when the rain of arrows fell. Only the former captives realized that the rain of arrows was not a big threat and stayed at the front line. Hal was not the only one who wanted to make the people who wronged them suffer the loss of the grassland people.
