Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 648 Greece is far superior to Persia!

The next morning, Captain Lucas got up early and patrolled the camp.

Most people were tired after a day's work and hadn't gotten up yet, but the soldiers on night watch were still energetic. Captain Lucas chatted with them for a while and found that everyone was making coffee. They probably learned it from Master Hans.

It has to be said that although this thing tastes bad, it is indeed cheaper than tea and refreshing. Moreover, the soldiers also told him that when they were in Cyprus, Princess Theodora gave everyone a lot of sugar. Adding some sugar to coffee can improve the taste a lot.

Although it was a bit wasteful to use up precious sugar like this, it was still a military requirement after all, and the higher cost was acceptable.

Captain Lucas didn't expect this thing to spread so quickly, and there are even upgraded versions. However, the battlefield is sometimes the place where various ideas develop the fastest, and he is not surprised by this. After talking with the soldiers, he went to Guo Kang's tent to see the situation.

In front of the tent, several people were busy preparing weapons. The two apprentices of Master Hans were guarding the door. When they saw him coming, they both stood up and extended their hands to greet him.

"Nothing going on tonight, right?" Captain Lucas asked after the greetings.

"Nothing will happen in the camp," a young apprentice assured with a smile.

"It's not about what's happening outside, it's—" Captain Lucas pointed to the tent.

"No, it's very quiet today." Another middle-aged apprentice replied.

"It looks like he has no energy left." Captain Lucas also joked, "After all, we have been fighting day and night these days, which is really tiring."

Several people laughed.

"By the way, where is your teacher?" Captain Lucas asked again.

"The teacher is resting today, Martin will be in charge of patrolling." said the young apprentice.

"He knows how to be tired. He used to come to me in the middle of the night every day and show me the poems he wrote..." Captain Lucas complained.

“Maybe he can’t write anymore.” The middle-aged apprentice said, “This kind of thing is really too tiring for him. I don’t know why the teacher is so persistent.”

"He just blindly read the Seris's stuff." The young apprentice laughed, "He heard storytellers tell stories about Eastern martial arts. They were not written down and spread directly. They were written into various incomprehensible poems or scriptures, recorded in books, and then hidden in strange places. Only people with good luck can pick them up and understand their meaning."

"Ah? Why do we have to take such a roundabout way?" Captain Lucas asked puzzled.

"I don't know either." The apprentice scratched his head. "Anyway, the more valuable and profound something is, the harder it is to understand. That's how it's designed."

"I think the storyteller just doesn't understand and is making it up." The middle-aged apprentice said bluntly: "I was a soldier in Italy before and met martial arts masters in Italy and Spain. They simply said that martial arts is the control of distance, time and position."

"Using different weapons, different ways of exerting force, and different routes of moves are all to achieve this effect. Therefore, swordsmanship does not have so much mysticism, but is closer to mathematics. Those particularly magical parts are probably made up for dramatic effect."

"I think so too. Besides, all the schools are working hard to write books and hold lectures to promote their own martial arts. Why are we still dealing with martial arts secrets?" The young apprentice also shook his head and said, "If we deliberately increase the difficulty of learning, we will definitely not be able to compete with them."

After discussing it, they agreed that if they continued like this, their sect would be doomed sooner or later. When Old Hans finished editing his poem, everyone secretly translated it for him. It happened that the printing industry was very developed in Rome, and this thing was really useful for spreading knowledge. After the war, when they returned to Dadu, they would find a bookseller to print and publish it.

Captain Lucas suggested that they discuss it again, but the apprentices felt that this was all for the sake of the school and the teacher's reputation. Even if the teacher was unhappy, he could explain that it was all for your own good, and he couldn't say anything. So, it was decided.

Captain Lucas couldn't say anything about this, after all, it was their own business.

As they were talking, Meltrum came back from outside carrying two jars. Everyone greeted her, and she opened the tent curtain and walked in.

"What a nice smell." Captain Lucas sniffed the scent and whispered, "Where did you get this from?"

"I guess it's the food she prepared specially for the captain." The middle-aged apprentice said, "I feel like it smells like spices. We definitely don't have that in our dry food."

"Hey, I want to be a captain sooner or later." The young apprentice licked his lips. "I've been eating hard biscuits these days, and now I'm greedy. I heard that in the Roman side, if you are good at fighting, you can directly become a noble. I have to try my best."

"Look at how greedy you are. These days, the captain has been eating hard biscuits with us." The middle-aged apprentice disagreed: "I think he is just a little bit of a germaphobe - the ladies over there don't like to wash so much all the time. Other than that, he lives a very simple life."

"Yeah, to be honest, after meeting him for some time, I've begun to doubt whether he has any special material needs." Captain Lucas also teased, "If you want to be a captain, you have to control yourself. Just don't get reported for embezzling food..."

"Uh……"

"Besides, this is a gift from the girl, and he didn't ask for it." The middle-aged apprentice continued to lecture: "If you want someone to send you food, you might as well find a lover and ask her to send you food too."

"This Persian girl is not an ordinary person. She can report directly to the camp." The young apprentice spread his hands and said, "The one I can find must be an ordinary person. She can't enter the military camp."

"It doesn't have to be the Persians." Captain Lucas interrupted, "When I was in the training camp, I saw the Greek lovers next door also send each other food from time to time. It's more convenient than the Persians."

"Well, forget it..."

Several people laughed, and Captain Lucas said, "Don't be greedy. The situation was special before. After we get ashore, the food will be much better. I asked the logistics officer, and starting today, we will have hot dishes again. In the evening, we may even have mutton." "Hey, I like the food here." The middle-aged apprentice said happily, "Let alone other things, just look at the food, it's much better than when I was a mercenary in the west."

"Of course. If we have the conditions, we have to eat well." Captain Lucas nodded. "When I first applied to be a logistics officer, I just wanted to do more business and didn't think about how much future I would have in the army. But my superior told me that even though we don't kill the enemy directly, 80% of the strength on the battlefield lies with us. I didn't quite understand it at the time, but later I understood it after seeing more."

"Is that so?" the young apprentice was very curious.

"Of course. After all, war is not only about commanding soldiers to maximize their strength. It also requires logistical support so that soldiers can go to the battlefield with as much strength as possible." Captain Lucas replied.

"The war environment can be very harsh. In many cases, you can't fight wherever you want. Marching is definitely not enjoyable, but a process that continuously tires the army and even bleeds it. Even with good logistical supplies and reasonable marching plans, it can only slow down the fatigue rate of the soldiers, and it is almost impossible to make them in better condition than before departure."

"Moreover, logistics supply is a huge and complex project, involving many regions and a large number of personnel, so there will definitely be various problems. The enemy will not let you transport with peace of mind. Nowadays, even the stupid nobles of Shinra have learned to harass the supply lines, so there will often be a shortage of supplies. Soldiers cannot always march in a peaceful environment. Building fortifications every day and marching on foot will inevitably lead to fatigue. In such a huge consumption environment, if you don't eat well, you will be doomed."

"So, it's only right to eat well. If we don't have enough to eat during a war, we'll be doomed," he said finally.

"Indeed." The middle-aged apprentice agreed deeply: "After eating well, I feel stronger when fighting."

"I'm wondering how to cook lamb to make it delicious." The young apprentice is already looking forward to it.

"Don't even think about it. Leave this matter to the chef." The middle-aged apprentice couldn't help but stop him and said, "I have no appetite for the food from your hometown."

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"We don't have any spices over there." The young apprentice tried to explain, "And if you want to make these, you have to prepare for a long time. Look at that girl just now... Hey? Senior brother, do you remember her? When did she leave?"

"Uh..." The middle-aged apprentice thought about it and was stunned.

The two looked at each other.

******
In the morning, when Guo Kang woke up, he found himself lying in the middle of the tent, covered with a blanket. Meltem greeted him and said that he had prepared food for him. However, Guo Kang explained that he seemed to have woken up late again and had to go to inspect the camp and come back to talk about other things. So he said goodbye for the time being and went out to work.

There were several people standing guard at the door, all of them were old Hans' students. Guo Kang remembered that he had only arranged two of them, and asked the others to rest, but he didn't know why they all came over. Moreover, several of them looked suspicious, and while greeting him, they stared at him from behind, and he didn't know what was going on.

Outside the tent, some soldiers were busy preparing for battle. Although they had repelled the Mamluk army yesterday and the enemy did not dare to attack at night, the pressure of fighting in the past few days was definitely not small, so everyone was very serious. Even the new Russian soldiers, under the leadership of the veterans, carefully checked their equipment and maintained their weapons and armor, and did not do anything weird.

He also saw the centurion Dmitriy, whom he had known before, and a group of other non-commissioned officers holding papers and counting a large pile of supplies.

Although most Russian non-commissioned officers were illiterate and only had some emergency lessons before going out, they were still very responsible and checked the inventory of various consumables such as arrows and dry food with some difficulty, and discussed how to distribute them. After all, even the Russians would not be able to hold back if they ran out of ammunition during the battle...

Outside the camp, there were trenches that had been dug before, and an open space. Someone had driven a flock of sheep over, and the team's head cook was talking to him, checking the number.

They told Guo Kang that last night, after the Mamluk army retreated, Alexandria was also relieved, and the city was able to send representatives to contact them. According to the representatives, they were almost scared to death these days, and they were very grateful for the arrival of the Roman army. Therefore, they sent a lot of money to the camp and brought a large amount of supplies to reward the army. These sheep were distributed.

Guo Kang thought it was good, so he asked them to prepare it well and give the soldiers who had been traveling all the way a good meal. The chef asked if he wanted to keep some for himself, but Guo Kang said no and left.

Across the open space, some people were lined up. Guo Kang walked over and found that they were the night watchmen who were on duty last night. They all looked dejected.

Chief Captain Lu Yougong was holding a booklet, questioning each officer and taking notes. Wang Hongru, the person in charge on duty, followed Captain Lu with a confused look on his face, as if he had not yet reacted. Captain Lucas was beside Wang Hongru, explaining something in a low voice. Other officers were also watching from the side.

"What's going on?" Guo Kang suspected that something had happened and hurried forward to ask.

"Captain, you're here." The person closest to him was Li Zhu, the deputy captain of the 600-man team. He hurried over and explained, "Well, there was a problem with the sentry on duty last night..."

"Ah?" Guo Kang was shocked: "Why didn't you quickly raise the alarm or call me?"

"No consequences were caused at the time, so no one knew about it and no one raised the alarm. It wasn't until this morning that Captain Lu accidentally discovered the situation." The acting captain explained: "We also knew about it not long ago and just arrived."

"I slept too soundly yesterday." Guo Kang shook his head: "It's good that the enemy didn't catch the opportunity..."

"We have just checked. The sentries and patrol teams have not violated the regulations." The acting captain told him: "I heard that a single person bypassed the sentries and was not discovered. There may be a problem with the sentry arrangement."

"But Captain Lu also said that we have to find the loopholes and make improvements no matter what. If the military regulations can't solve the problem, then he will have to make suggestions to the higher-ups and tell everyone that the military regulations need to be improved. So, he's still asking about this."

"That's right." Guo Kang nodded: "Ask carefully first, and then tell me later."

Everyone agreed.

"Hey, I don't know who is so bored that he passes the sentry post to play around, not caring about his life." Guo Kang muttered as he walked, "So many people have suffered because of him. When I catch him, I will teach him a lesson."

As he muttered to himself, he went to inspect other places.

(End of this chapter)