The Steam Age: Gears and Bones

Chapter 45

The soldiers sent out by the flag captain spent about an hour and a half searching the entire outpost, inside and out.

The first useful supplies discovered were winter clothes in the warehouse.

The warehouse was located in a semi-underground stone building behind the main building. A corner of the roof had collapsed, but most of the supplies stored inside were undamaged.

The Ross soldiers carried out dozens of sets of winter uniforms—thick woolen overcoats, wool-lined gloves, canvas leggings, and fur hats. Although some were damp and moldy, they could still be worn after being dried on the frozen ground and the mold spots were shaken off.

For this troop that had marched all the way from the fortress, many of whom were still wearing only autumn clothes, the discovery of these winter garments brought the soldiers more reassurance than anything else.

In addition to winter clothing, the warehouse also contained some military bedding—thick blankets, canvas sleeping bags, and several rolls of spare tent fabric.

The flag captain had his men load all the items onto the wagon and redistribute them according to the number of people in each squad.

When several Ross soldiers received their newly issued woolen overcoats, they immediately changed out of their old uniforms with worn-out cuffs, wrapped the overcoats tightly around their waists, and tightened their belts with a kind of efficiency they hadn't felt in a long time.

The real harvest is hidden in the basement.

The entrance to the basement is located behind the main building, below a stone staircase partially obscured by collapsed wooden beams. It was originally an armory where the outpost stored ammunition.

While clearing the rubble, a Ross soldier discovered a stone staircase leading underground. The squad leader sent men down to investigate and found that although the roof of the underground vault was cracked by a shell, the overall structure was still intact. The interior was dry and cool, and most of the stored ammunition was in good condition.

There were more than a dozen boxes of fixed flintlock ammunition, several barrels of black powder, several boxes of fuses and detonators, and two boxes of six-pound shells neatly stacked.

What concerned Chertzov most was the six-pound field infantry gun covered by a canvas at the very back of the basement.

The gun barrel is intact, there are no cracks in the cast iron barrel, the breech mechanism is still flexible, and the sights are undamaged.

But the left axle of the artillery vehicle was broken—not by a shell, but more like it had been hit by something heavy.

Chertsov squatted beside the cannon, ran his palm over the cracked surface, and stood up to say to Perficott, "The axle is broken, but everything else is still usable. As long as the cannon can be repaired, this cannon can be towed away."

"The axle is easy to handle." Before Perfit could speak, Allen, who was standing behind her, had already taken over the conversation.

The young alchemist took out specially made chalk from his toolbox and squatted down in front of the broken axle to draw a basic material repair transmutation circle.

Morris watched for a while, then reached out and tapped an auxiliary rune on the edge of the array pattern, indicating to Allen to widen the node spacing by half a point.

Allen erased the rune and redrawn it, then took a small piece of iron ore from his bag and placed it at the core of the array. He then pressed his hands on the edge of the array pattern and activated the transmutation array.

The pale blue light flowed along the array pattern for a moment, and the broken axle rejoined in the light. The cracks disappeared layer by layer from the break, and the rust on the surface of the iron bushing was also restored to smooth metal under the effect of the transmutation array.

The whole process took less than 15 minutes.

Allen stood up, wiped the chalk marks off the floor with the sole of his boot, dusted off the rust on his hands, and nodded to Perfico.

Morris had already inspected the other parts of the gun carriage, added lubricant to the wheel hubs, and wiped the gun barrel clean with a cloth soaked in hydrogen peroxide.

Chertzov looked at the repaired artillery vehicle, remained silent for a few seconds, and then turned to walk towards the Ross soldiers who were distributing winter clothing at the warehouse entrance.

He picked out a few soldiers from the crowd who had performed well during the fortress reorganization and asked them a few simple arithmetic questions one by one—basic operations such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication tables, mainly to see if they could do mental calculations quickly.

Then he called over the veteran who claimed to have been an artilleryman in the fortress and had him demonstrate loading and aiming adjustment in front of the gun carriage. The veteran did as instructed, and although his movements weren't particularly standard, Chertzov thought he still had the basics.

"These men are yours. You will be the gunner. The gun crew will initially consist of five people: two loaders, two responsible for towing the gun carriage and transporting ammunition, plus you in command. I will gradually add the remaining men during the march."

The selected soldiers exchanged glances, then followed the temporary gunner to the gun carriage and began to be assigned their positions.

Perfit stood there watching them, then gave Alan and Morris some instructions, saying that from now on, the two of them would be responsible for the maintenance of this cannon, that the gunpowder and shells should be stored separately, and that the cannon carriage should follow behind the wagons during marches, maintaining a fixed distance.

After agreeing, the two quickly rearranged the spare fuses and detonators when setting up camp that night, and wrapped the ammunition boxes tightly with tarpaulins they had brought from the basement.

Perfitt stood at the entrance of the main command building, watching everything being moved, inventoried, and redistributed—winter clothing, ammunition, infantry guns, and a team that was slowly rebuilding its skeleton with the support of these supplies.

She recalled the first time she saw these soldiers in the fortress a few days ago—they were squatting against the wall in tattered uniforms, their eyes vacant, and they couldn't even remember their own unit numbers.

Now, the soldiers who received their new overcoats began to take turns counting as they carried ammunition boxes. The artillery crew members spontaneously gathered around the gun carriage to review the loading procedure while waiting to depart. The sergeants, without Chertsov's prompting, began to check their subordinates' leggings and boot soles.

This team is still not a regular army, but it is no longer a defeated army.

Perfit turned her gaze away from the crooked but still orderly flow of people in the yard and towards Belfast standing beside her.

The exhaust grille of the steam knight's armor continued to steadily spew out fine white mist, and the frost on the armor plates melted into extremely fine water streaks in the brief midday temperature rise.

Perfit reached out and wiped the water droplets that had condensed on his breastplate with his glove, an action that seemed almost habitual.

Belfast turned to look at her, the mechanical logic instruction set behind the differential engine lens running silently in her doll brain for a moment, before turning her face back to the front.

"Let's go." Perfit nodded to the flag captain.

The team regrouped.

The carriage was in the middle, with the artillery vehicle following behind, pulled by the military horse brought from the fortress. The artillery crew members walked on both sides of the artillery vehicle, and each of them carried a handwritten manual of basic artillery operation instructions by Chertzov in their uniform pocket.

The knights remained divided into two groups, with the flag captain leading a few scout knights at the front, and Ludwig's grey-armored knights bringing up the rear.

Belfast, dressed in steam knight armor, walked beside Perfitt's carriage, each step leaving a shallow indentation in the frozen ground. The exhaust sound was steady and deep, like a giant beast slowly walking.

With the future uncertain, Perfit did not put the Steam Rider away again, but instead made a batch of compressed anthracite briquettes to keep the Steam Rider running.

They crossed the passage on the south side of the pass and embarked on the post road leading to the border of Holy Romulus.

Perfit sat on the edge of the carriage, the map, which had been folded over and over again, on his lap, occasionally glancing up at the hills outlined by the dim winter sunlight.

On her map, the valley that Ludwig marked was just a blank area enclosed by contour lines.