The Rise of the Grassroots Rider

Chapter 4. The Tavern's Deliberations

Uncle Joshak entered and casually removed his civilian clothes, placed them on a hanger, and sat down on one side of the couch. Locke did as he was told, putting his civilian clothes away and sitting on the other side. The two men in army leather shirts did not rush to talk, Locke first opened the bottle of wine, first filled a glass for Uncle Yorchak, then filled a glass for himself, "touch" after the sound of clinking wine, the two men dried a glass, and only then began to talk about the business.

"Good, more and more calm, it seems that you kid these years has grown a lot." Uncle Joshak spoke first. It was truly unbelievable, in the eyes of outsiders, the brash and heartless, rugged and incomparable Yorchak was actually educating a person on composure. It seemed that this bearded big man wasn't as simple as it looked from the outside.

"Uncle Joshak you're joking, what is this point of mine, it's all learned from you." Locke coyly said.

"Haha, you kid don't bullshit! Where did I teach you this, am I that kind of person?" Uncle Joshak laughed and scolded. After saying that, the two of them laughed out in unison again.

"Uncle, is there any hope for my promotion this time?" Locke filled another cup for the two and finally couldn't help but ask after opening first.

"Locke, you have been under my belt since you were a soldier, and now I have been bringing you for four years, I am treating you as my own son, I will definitely give you a hand with your promotion this time." Uncle Joshak assured Locke that he really liked this witty and powerful lad.

"Uncle, I believe you!" Locke did believe Uncle Yorchak, he also looked at Yorchak as an elder, "However, besides your help it shouldn't be enough, what do I need to order Uncle you talk to me." Locke asked.

"My support alone is not enough, but I will call on Old Carl to support you as well, the rest you need to hit the ground running." Old Carl was the deputy squadron commander of their squadron, I heard that he had a lifelong friendship with Uncle Joshak, from an outsider's point of view this was an old soldier who was strict and serious and couldn't tolerate sand in his eyes, but he was very good to his own soldiers. Locke had a good impression of him.

"En, Uncle Joshak what else you directly say, I listen." Uncle Joshak obviously had something else to say.

"This election to vacate those two seats, those who are qualified to propose are the six first and second lieutenant captains of our four squads, the captain of the cavalry, and our first captain Baron Kedozzi, and another one is his eldest son, the current vice-captain of the cavalry, Young Master Solon." Their battalion was a brigade size, with four squadrons of infantry, and one squadron of cavalry. Locke had seen their battalion's cavalry in combat many times, and honestly, Locke felt that this group of cavalry had a challenge against three times their number of infantry in open terrain. With their sturdy armor and straight knight lances combined with the impact of their warhorses, the vast majority of the infantry were no match for the cavalry. "This election, Baron Kedozi won't participate, neither will the cavalry captain, the only people proposing it should be us 6 guys and Young Master Sauron, I've already pulled two votes for you, and you'll need to pull at least two more votes for the rest." Uncle Joshak said to Locke.

"The first squadron I only have a little friendship with their vice squadron leader, I don't have any friendship with the vice squadron leader of the third squadron or the captain of the fourth squadron, and aren't they both supposedly still recuperating from their injuries?" Locke answered honestly and asked.

"Hmph, the hard battles are over, now is the time to scrape the oil, those two guys only recuperated two weeks of injuries can't help it, long ago with their team's remaining pups and just added in the new recruits to 'roam'." Uncle Joshak said with disdain.

'Wandering' was a term used in the army, it meant to go and capture villages that were still under the rule of the Kingdom of Charlotte, rather than capturing it, it was more like sweeping it, the resistance forces like the village scale were not climatic, there were no regular soldiers, most of them only had some militia members and reckless village men, the big villages had a couple of hundred people, and the small ones only had a few dozen people, a squadron could take care of it. A squadron could take care of it. In fact, their squadron, under the leadership of Uncle Joshak, had also been going 'wandering' for the past two months whenever they had time.

Their battalion's main mission was to capture towns that still had some resistance, and only merchants, rich peasants, and even nobles existed in cities above the size of a town. Baron Kedozi and his cavalry had little interest in villages with little oil, and only the four infantry squadrons would go for extra money. However, the Baron's caravan does buy up the soldiers' captured goods: silver bracelets passed down from countryfolk ancestors, hides and skins collected by village hunters, and even livestock such as horses, oxen, and donkeys. There were also some nice clothes and shoes that the soldiers 'swept up' and kept for themselves.

Soldiers have their own bottom line, at least food is not robbed, the barracks senior also strictly prohibited, but if you catch a couple of chickens and ducks to improve the food, this is often done. Locke is also a rural person, originally he was not ashamed of doing these things to bully the ordinary people, but after experiencing the sacrifice and death of war, he does not know what attitude he holds towards these Charlos. There was hatred as well as guilt for the ordinary civilians they had beaten and displaced. However that didn't stop Locke from getting rich, he needed to survive too, he needed to make things better for his family and his men. Locke got rich some time ago when his pockets were so deep that he used to send money to his family and buy his men drinks.

"Uncle, it's been almost a week since we've gone 'wandering', are we about to start?" Returning to the topic, Locke asked.

"En, it's already been decided, the Baron Lord is going to join forces with Baron Kashir of our Corps' 7th Brigade to attack the city of Phalanx here, which is why the two squadron commanders are going to be elected in the near future. Also, there aren't any villages with any oil around here." General cities had walls and moats, it was difficult to take them down with just their one brigade of over 500 men, so the senior leaders often chose to cooperate with friendly forces, it had been two months since they attacked the hinterland of the Kingdom of Shiloh, and they had fought three battles at the city level, all of them with other brigades, and Locke had experience in siege warfare. Although the casualties of siege battles were not low, the generous rewards after the city was broken, as well as the army's acquiescence in allowing the soldiers to make their own fortunes on the day of the city's breakthrough, made everyone's desire for siege battles greater than their fear of death. In fact, the fortune made on the day the city was broken was the soldiers' main focus. This Baron Kashir's troops had already cooperated with their battalion twice.

The two men talked as they drank, and in a moment a bottle of ale bottomed out. Locke opened a second bottle and filled it for Uncle Yorchak and himself. Uncle Joshak raised his glass and took a sip, then said, "The deputy commander of the first squadron is also from our mining town, and I have some friendship with him, so send him some gifts, and I'll talk to him again to try to get this vote. As for the rest of the three people I don't know them well, and even do not deal with them, this will require your own efforts." In the barracks, there is still a lot of nastiness between the big-headed soldiers not to mention the class of lieutenant captains, even the well-liked Locke doesn't dare to guarantee that he's on good terms with half of the battalion's junior captains. It's the truth to know what you know and what you don't, that's the truth.

"I suggest you think of something from Young Master Sauron." Uncle Joshak finished as if he remembered something and added. "You and Young Master Sauron are both 18 or 9 years old and have a common language, so if you look for him to show your loyalty or send him some gifts, it might work out. But then you'd be the young master's man from now on." Baron Kedozi had more than one son, and although the eldest son inheritance system was prevalent in the Kingdom of Faustian, it wasn't as if the baron's other sons didn't have a chance to inherit the title. As far as he knew, the one who was currently in the country temporarily helping the Baron manage his territory was his second son.

"Someone else is a nobleman, what gift can I give that will look good?" Locke said helplessly, "En, I'll think of something."

"I knew you kid had a way, that's all I can help, the rest depends on you." Uncle Joshak patted Locke next to his shoulder and said.

"Okay, Uncle, I'll try my best. Come on, drink up." Locke raised his glass and clinked it with Uncle Yorshak once again.