Chapter 1198: Chapter 25 The Great Alliance Moves Forward (10)

Shouts and curses rose and fell, the army drums echoed with a monotonous rhythm, and one squad after another of soldiers descended from the high ground where River Valley Village was located, along the paths farmers took at dawn to the fields and returned from at dusk, heading to battlefields not of their choosing.

As the allied forces withdrew in an orderly manner, this once tranquil and isolated village returned to its former emptiness–yet it could not reclaim its past peace.

Because at the junction of the river and the village, next to the low walls villagers used for boundaries, the two infantry battalions left to guard River Valley Village were racing against time to fortify the fragile walls built from rubble.

Colonel Gaisa led men into the villagers’ houses and shacks, seizing all the tools that could be of use, and then ordered the dismantling of anything unnecessary to obtain building materials.

Colonel Gaisa himself tossed his gold-trimmed officer’s jacket to a service soldier, unfastened the sleeve buttons, picked up a shovel, and crossed over the wall to join the sweat-soaked soldiers.

He stood on the muddy ground so deep it could swallow one’s boots, tirelessly loading heavy mud into baskets;

He effortlessly shouldered wooden beams thicker than platters, single-handedly transporting them from one end of the village to the other;

A soldier accidentally fell into the swift current, gulping down water in panic and struggling to be swept downstream;

Gaisa grabbed the man’s collar and pulled him onto the mudflat;

Another soldier, not paying attention, recklessly lashed out, causing the carriage to be stuck in a ditch unable to move.

Gaisa jumped into the mud pit, struggling to lift the wheels with all his might while cursing fiercely.

It must be admitted that Gaisa Adonis had a certain ferocity. When he plunged into the fiery battleground, the weariness of a veteran, the shrewdness of a merchant, and the cunningness akin to Paratu, usually present in him, vanished without a trace.

The pain of old wounds, the comfort of his mansion, and the vault beneath it that would make any miser envious, were all left behind.

Leaving only pure, unyielding, relentless ferocity.

It was exactly this infectious intense emotion that inspired everyone around Gaisa.

Witnessing Colonel Gaisa Adonis leading by example, working like ten men, the officers left at River Valley Village picked up tools, joining the soldiers, regardless of whether they were under his command.

Even the cavalrymen waiting outside the village dismounted voluntarily to share in the filthy work of digging trenches and building walls with the infantry.

In River Valley Village, only two officers remained with clean gloves: Colonel Bod Gates and the unknown Lieutenant Woods Frank.

Colonel Bod oversaw the battlefield from the church bell tower, issuing orders via messenger cavalry;

Lieutenant Woods Frank was not lazy either; in fact, for the defense of River Valley Village, Lieutenant Woods was even more crucial than Colonel Bod.

Because Colonel Bod looked from above, always focusing on the deployment of the whole army.

Lieutenant Woods, on the other hand, shuttled between the mud pit and courtyard walls–he was the only engineer officer in River Valley Village, and quite possibly the best defense expert in the three-county forces.

“Remove the thatch from the roofs immediately! Which house? All the houses! Once combat starts, those dry grasses will set the whole village on fire! Can’t find a ladder? Then tear the rooftops off without ladders!”

“Who told you to pull these fences? Colonel Gaisa wants to use them? Colonel Gaisa’s orders were ‘remove unnecessary things’! A row of wooden stakes between these fences is a ready-made obstacle, isn’t it?! Insert the fences back immediately!”

“All stone walls must be covered with soil! If there’s no time to cover both sides, then just cover the front! Without soil cover on stone walls, when hit by lead bullets, the debris can blind you! Grab a shovel and start right now! What? No shovel? Use planks! Use spoons! Use nails!”

“Stop! Stop! Those dry grasses are still useful, who gave you the guts to burn them? Did I say so? Nonsense! When did I let you set fires? Take all the dry grass stripped from roofs to the riverbank!”

Lieutenant Woods, like the harshest overseer, glared with eyes like cowbells, patrolling inside and outside the village.

As every second passed, the lieutenant grew increasingly anxious and irritable. He ruthlessly “whipped” all his colleagues and subordinates, trying to squeeze the last ounce of value from River Valley Village, leaving his roars and curses in every yard and hay shed of this small village.

It was precisely this complete trust in Woods Frank that allowed Gaisa Adonis to fully commit to the simple yet arduous physical labor before the great battle.

The colonel swung a pickaxe, personally digging trenches between the river and the high ground and making the slope leading to the village steeper.

When Lieutenant Woods returned to the riverbank again, the originally loosely stacked stone walls were already covered with a thick mixture of mud and dry grass.

Colonel Gaisa, leaning on a shovel, asked the lieutenant with considerable pride, “How is it?”

Lieutenant Woods dismounted and answered honestly, “An astounding result.”

“If they could dry in the sun for a few more days, it would be even stronger,” Colonel Gaisa looked at the fields to the east with a smile: “Unfortunately, we don’t have the time.”

Lieutenant Woods also looked eastward, but he did not cast his gaze afar. Instead, he scanned the mud-covered stone walls and ditches below the high ground:

Colonel Gaisa focused on strengthening the defense at the “vertex” of the river’s sharp bend, digging the deepest trenches and building the sturdiest parapets there; even adapting two existing livestock pens to reinforce them as projecting bastions extending into the river.