"...Everyone respects Dalia, worships Kleheris."
"Alexander Cruise, is a hero's fa like this?"
"Looking at the world today, who can compare with him?"
"Only we, rank after rank, Holy Alliance Salvation Army..."
Unlike the chaotic and noisy march of the Noble Alliance Army, on the other side of the reeds, behind the most forward Divine Punishnt Army, two infantry battalions of the Divine Punishnt Army continued advancing while singing orderly chants.
This "Salvation Army March" was jointly composed by Grampwen and Horn, and after being modified by the church musicians, it beca this simple lody with a strong rhythm march.
Walking in the middle of the four-column formation, Beimang Lai and others sang this march tune together, stepping neatly according to the beat and lody.
Although only each rank is orderly, after all, it's marching, not like the battlefield where stricter demands are imposed.
Initially, Beimang Lai and a group of new recruits in the Divine Punishnt Army found it stupid to sing while walking.
But as they marched all the way from Long Embanknt City to here, without singing, they nearly couldn't walk anymore.
Though they, like the noble rcenaries, had to wear long sleeves and pants in the hot weather, their spirits were much higher than those of the rcenaries or even the knights.
Not only their spirits, but unlike the soldiers of the Noble Alliance Army, although these monks had dust on their faces, it was far from dirty.
Their uniforms were also sared with mud, but not as caked as the imperial soldiers, just a thin layer of grayish dust.
When donned with the unified and imposing black-gray military attire, the notoriously filthy Black Snake Bay recruits suddenly beca fond of cleanliness.
After all, everyone has a love for beauty, and they know to change into new clothes for the Secret Faction banquet. Naturally, such handso attire needs more care.
This is why Horn insists on giving them uniform and beautiful uniforms; this self-satisfaction and group identity greatly influence morale.
Of course, this is based on Horn ensuring the War Monks are well-fed; if they were hungry all the ti, there wouldn't be any mood to tidy up clothing.
Precisely because they eat well, sleep well, and have Military Chaplains to console them when they're upset, they have this lively spirit.
With this lively spirit, those harsh stick educations and discipline training didn't cause psychological distortion among the soldiers.
So when the command for a local rest ca, these recruits could even joke and play before having lunch.
Beimang Lai is introverted; he doesn't dare venture far from the main force, just finding a sand dune to climb with a few teammates to start their midday al.
According to Horn's dietary standards, each War Monk could obtain 1.5 pounds of compacted hard bread and 2 ounces of sugared cereal per day.
This hard bread was personally developed by Horn, adding potato root powder, vegetable juice, pea puree, and herbs, making it healthy and delicious.
War monks who participated in the mountain march comnted after eating that it was exactly the taste, just like the cuisine under His Grace during those marches.
After eating this hard bread, the green color would transfer from the bread to the faces of the War Monks.
That's why Beimang Lai hesitated whether to eat this cereal bar.
If he ate it now, he'd have nothing to cleanse his palate after dinner's hard bread, which would be quite painful.
The sugared cereal was personally developed by Madlan. Although called cereal, it's actually pressed and baked solid blocks of sugar, nuts, dried berries, and oatal.
It could be cooked into porridge in a pot or eaten as is.
If encamped, monks usually preferred cooking it into porridge, as the cereal bar is quite small but very hard, making it difficult to eat.
Eating one would make the cheek muscles redden.
But soldiers could hardly resist the sugar in the cereal bar and the oil in the nuts.
Now they were marching; the hard bread was kept by the service soldiers at the rear, so this smaller cereal bar beca the monks' lunch and snack for energy.
After thinking it over, Beimang Lai made a decision not to eat it but to take out a sausage cooked before setting out in the morning to gnaw on.
He secretly left the camp last night, caught a river fish, and enjoyed sashimi, which he hadn't tasted in ages, and since his stomach was still full in the morning, he had a leftover sausage.
Besides the staples, each monk could receive 3-4 ounces of pickled fish and sausage daily, roughly two sausages or one salted fish.
As North County's mortar roads gradually completed, many from North County mimicked the processing of materials from South Mangde County, using wild boar to produce salted at.
Especially with the ergence of peat, they could establish drying rooms, significantly quickening and improving the efficiency of salted at production.
The current market price for salted at was about 1 to 4 Dinars per pound, with top-quality ham selling for 5 Dinars per pound, while regular pig neck at was just over 1 Dinar.
With the opening of Black Snake Bay's market, a lot of cheap spices flooded in. So Horn hired so people in North County to grind spices, starch, scrap at, pig blood, and entrails into stuffing to make dried pork sausages.
Since it's bought wholesale, a pound costs less than 1 Dinar, providing about 8 to 10 sausages, allowing a War Monk five days of indulgent eating.
"Purple eggs are here, everyone co for purple eggs, only one pot, first co first served!"
Just as Beimang Lai was gnawing on his sausage, he heard the familiar call of the service soldiers.
Upon hearing about purple eggs, Beimang Lai jumped up from the rock and dashed to the sound source, sausage in mouth.
Pushing aside shrubs, he stepped half-footed into the water to see two service soldiers coming with a large pot of purple egg cauliflower soup.
They placed the pot on a flat stone and began ladling soup into the wooden tubs of the War Monks: "No rushing, no rushing, those who didn't get one, there're brown oranges and fat peaches later."
Holding the red viscous soup, the monks burst into cheer.
Though the army should provide an average of 2 ounces of vegetables and fruits to each person daily, often it's just sprouts or pickles. Having purple eggs is a treat.
"Long Face hit the jackpot, why so generous today?" A monk asked.
"Long Face is the Quartermaster's nickna because he always wears a long face and is ticulous, leaving a bad impression among the monks."
"Looks like the Noble Alliance Army in Clove Corridor will have a frontal battle soon." Beimang Lai's Chief Steward said while holding purple egg soup, "His Grace talked with the Quartermaster; they finally relented, so the stockpiled vegetables and fruits can be supplied."
"His Grace Wanpiao!"
"Wanpiao!"
Around the monks, there were imdiate bursts of echo.
The Chief Steward then knocked on the soup bowl: "Don't get too excited, once we finish eating, we must imdiately hit the road; the scouts ahead have spotted enemy traces, His Grace ordered to take the Hawk Falcons and bypass the forest for a double-sided attack."
The side forest is the sa marshland, so the Divine Punishnt Army equipped with many accompanying Mages is sent around the side.
They can continuously use frost spells and convert mud to stone to support troop passage.
Upon hearing this, the soldiers were sowhat surprised; since when did the knights move so fast?
But regardless, the previously leisurely atmosphere rapidly dissipated.
"But we don't have Hawk Falcons, right?" Beimang Lai asked.
"His Grace has assigned eight to us, the artillery team has been equipped, just waiting to be delivered to the front, at which ti, whether finished eating or not, we must depart."
"Yes." A circle of War Monks fiercely pounded their chests and waved their hands.
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