It was a beautiful day with blue skies, white clouds and golden sunlight.
The mountains were lush green and the breeze brought with it the fragrance of flowers and the chirping of birds.
However, the soldiers who received the orders from the joint investigation team formed by the staff officers of the frontline command center and the officers of the Military Discipline Department felt their hair stand on end, and they felt a chill run down their spines.
It was simple. They were ordered to dig up the pits used to bury the enemy corpses and the higher-ups were to verify the number of enemies killed. They had to check to see if there were enough corpses to go around.
Liedefonk stood out with a cold expression and ordered the soldiers to follow his orders. It couldn't be helped. The results of the battle between Claude and the nobles of the two duchies were hard to believe. His report was doubted by many.
After all, the disparity in military strength was too great. Even the most arrogant officer wouldn't dare to admit that he could win under the same circumstances.
It was said that the staff officers of the frontline command had made countless deductions on the map based on the battle reports, but the best outcome was to resist the enemy's attack for half a month, and in the end, all the soldiers on guard died on the battlefield.
That was why Prince Hansbach had left the report untouched. Many of the officers at the frontline who knew about it were secretly discussing it. They had even suggested to the prince that such a false report should be severely punished.
Otherwise, the consequences would be dire if the other troops started to follow suit.
Hansbach, however, ignored the suggestions of his subordinates. It wasn't until the temporary passage through Pikleit Mountains was complete and the reinforcements were on their way to the three southern prefectures that he called for a meeting and sent a joint investigation team to 1st Ranger Tribe to verify the authenticity of the report.
It was worth noting that most of the officers who participated in this joint investigation team were the ones who believed that the report was fake and recommended severe punishment. The eldest prince only sent his aide, Captain Skri, to supervise them in order to prevent some of the members of the joint investigation team from falsifying information in order to achieve their goals.
The human heart was hard to fathom. It wasn't impossible for prideful people to twist the truth to frame others after realizing they were wrong.
Because the temporary passage to the Piklete Mountains was still under construction, Major Ledefonk could not directly contact the rear, so he could only use the messenger hawk to send the report of his success to the frontline command.
To be precise, the four Ranger Battalions were temporary units formed with the support of the First Prince. They were directly under the command of the frontline command.
Even though they had entered the three southern counties and were temporarily under the command of Bluefeather Legion, the authority to reward and punish remained with the frontline command center.
Like carrier pigeons, a messenger hawk's message was not long and the report had to be concise.
Therefore, Major Ledefonk only briefly reported the results of the battle. All the supporting documents and battle reports were still left at the battalion headquarters.
He knew very well that it would be hard for people to believe the report of this achievement, but he did not expect it to cause such a huge storm in the frontline command center and attract the disgust and doubt of so many staff officers.
As soon as the joint investigation team arrived at 1st Ranger Tribe headquarters, they flipped through all the documents and battle reports, hoping to find some fake evidence.
But it was a pity that Major Ledefonk was very steady and thoughtful in his work. He didn't give the staff officers of the joint investigation team any chance to pick a bone out of an egg.
Unable to find any evidence, the joint investigation team tossed all the documents aside and decided to go through the process again.
First, they interrogated the six unlucky nobles who had been captured. Next, they found the nearly 100 fully recovered captives and checked their spoils of war.
Finally, they went to Squirrel Village, where Claude was stationed, to inspect the scene of the battle.
After arriving at Squirrel Village, Claude spent three days with the officers of the joint investigation team to investigate the battle scene and recall how he commanded the entire battle in detail.
Even though Squirrel Village was in the midst of reconstruction, there were still traces of fire everywhere.
Claude had no choice but to write a new battle report and draw out the original map of Squirrel Village and mark out how he set up the trap to lure the enemy.
After torturing Claude for three days, it was the turn of Mazik, Moriad and the others. Every soldier who participated in the battle was inevitably questioned by the joint investigation team. They were basically asked to recall the entire battle and verify whether any of them were lying.
Even Dyavid, who went out to suppress the local riots, couldn't help but bring his platoon back to Squirrel Village to be interrogated by the joint investigation team.
After the soldiers, it was the turn of the 130 captives who Claude used as laborers. They were also interrogated.
Claude took the opportunity to ask Ledefonk for the dozens of fully recovered captives. Since they had nothing to do at the camp, they might as well contribute to the reconstruction of Squirrel Village.
Due to the construction of Squirrel Village, some villagers from Blackrock and Caymen who were related to Squirrel Village wanted to move there. There were more than 20 families in total.
However, that also led to a problem. There wasn't enough farmland around Squirrel Village.
The village elder and Mazik plotted to find Claude, hoping to rent the 130 captives to help Squirrel Village develop some new farmland.
During that period, the village elder's tavern was doing quite well. With some money on hand, the village elder was able to straighten his back and was willing to hire people to work for him.
Claude, on the other hand, was more than happy to see that happen. With more farmland in Squirrel Village, the soldiers stationed there would be able to grow both crops and vegetables. At the very least, they wouldn't have to ride a horse for a day and a night to buy fresh fruits and vegetables from the town outside the mountain path.
Coupled with the livestock and poultry raised by the villagers, Squirrel Village would be able to be self-sufficient in terms of food.
Perhaps it wouldn't take long for Squirrel Village to become a small town.
The village elder was also preparing to open a brewery, mainly to brew wild fruit wine and rye wine from the mountains.
This was because the wine that he was currently serving in the tavern was all mixed wine brewed by the mountain people themselves. If he were to purchase the goods, the long journey would make the wine much more expensive. To him, it was not very cost-effective. It was better to open up a few acres of land and hire people to grow more rye to brew wine.
Claude agreed to the village elder's request. It just so happened that the gunpowder he got from the nobles' camp wasn't of much use, so he decided to use it to blow up a few hills around Squirrel Village and fill in some ravines to create a new field for Squirrel Village.
The ones doing the labor were the captives anyway. The money he got from the village elder could be given to the soldiers to make up for their expenses at the tavern. It wasn't a bad business at all.
Ledefonk felt that Claude's idea was right. Helping the villagers to open up new farmland in Squirrel Village and encouraging them to grow crops and livestock would be a good way to compensate for burning down Squirrel Village and gain the loyalty of the villagers.
With Squirrel Village as a model, it would be easy for the other villagers to side with the kingdom. That way, they would be able to stand on the kingdom's side when war broke out again. That way, it wouldn't be easy for the Askilinian spies to incite them to rebel.
So, Ledefonk decided to have all the captives brought over to work.
Apart from the ones he brought over to recover, the ones he captured during the suppression of the local riots were also to be handed over to Claude to work hard.
However, he also reminded Claude not to just focus on bringing benefits to Squirrel Village. It would be best if he could get some men to fix up the mountain path. That way, it would be easier for the battalion to transport supplies.
The joint investigators spent another three days interrogating all the captives and it was proven that the victory was real.
The few investigators who weren't willing to admit defeat made their last resort, which was to check all the enemy corpses and confirm that there were as many buried corpses as stated in the documents.
Claude couldn't help but admire Ledefonk's meticulousness and meticulousness in his work. It was truly flawless.
He had expected something like that to happen the first time he came to check on the results of the battle. So, when he buried the enemy corpses, not only did he make detailed markings on the map, he even ordered the captives to arrange the corpses according to his instructions.
After two months, the weather gradually warmed up and became a little hot.
The moment the holes were dug, a putrid stench wafted out, causing everyone to vomit.
Claude had no choice but to find some clean linen cloths in the warehouse and cut them into strips for the captives and soldiers to cover their faces with.
At the same time, he ordered Myjack to prepare disinfectant for the captives and soldiers to bathe with to prevent them from getting infected.
When Ledefonk was burying the enemy corpses, he ordered the captives to stack them layer by layer so that their heads and feet were aligned. There was even a straw mat in between the two layers of corpses.
The number of corpses in each pit was recorded and the two pits were separated by a distance of around two meters.
So, there was no need to move the corpses out one by one in order to count the number of corpses. That would be evidence that the joint investigators were deliberately making things difficult for them.
Nobody was willing to move the rotting, smelly, maggot-infested corpses.
So, all they had to do to count the number of corpses was to remove the soil on top of the pit and dig out the soil between the two pits to see and count the rows of corpses.
The number of enemy corpses in each pit was recorded clearly on the documents.
There was no difference in the data of the corpses in the first dozen or so pits. Even Captain Skri, who was in charge of supervision, could not stand it any longer. He felt that Major Ledefonk's report was credible and there was no need to dig the rest of the pits.
Counting the corpses had already left all the members of the joint investigators with little appetite.
However, Ledefonk adamantly disagreed. He insisted on digging up all the pits and counting the enemy corpses to prevent anyone from doubting the victory in the future. His reputation and that of 1st Ranger Tribe was at stake.
Under his insistence, the joint investigation team could only pinch their noses and vomit as much as they could. In the end, they still completed the inventory of all the corpses and signed the documents that confirmed the results of the battle to prove this miraculous victory.
The joint investigators came with a ferocious aura, but after half a month of trouble in Squirrel Village, they left with their heads hung low like quails that had contracted the plague.
The main reason wasn't because they couldn't find any evidence that the battle was faked, nor was it because they lost their appetite from counting the rotting corpses.
Rather, it was because the arrogant staff officers couldn't stand the disdain of the soldiers who took part in the battle.
Just like how a soldier who was asked to participate in the war would tell them that even if they couldn't do it, it didn't mean that others couldn't. At first, we didn't believe that Sir Claude could defend Squirrel Village against so many enemies. But in the end, we personally witnessed how Sir Claude came up with a plan to defeat the enemy.
We respected him because he put our safety first and didn't use us as cannon fodder for the sake of glory.
From then on, the staff officers of the joint investigators noticed that the soldiers looked at them with disdain and disdain, especially when they saluted them and addressed them as Claude. Behind their greetings, it was as if they were mocking their incompetence and jealousy. It was quite embarrassing.
So, the moment the investigation was over, everyone wanted to leave the place.
Skri went to report the results of the joint investigation to Prince Hansbach.
"So this great victory is a real and credible fact?" the eldest prince asked.
"Yes, Your Highness." Captain Skri replied: "This is indeed a miraculous victory, an unquestionable victory.
This is the report of the entire battle. Claude explained his battle plan in great detail. "
Hansbach picked up the report eagerly. "I see. First, he used the terrain to defend against the Canasian army. The plan to burn Squirrel Village was to deal with the Askilinian nobles.
However, I didn't think that the Canasian nobles would join forces with the Askilinian nobles to attack Squirrel Village.
That forced Claude to modify his plan and set up a defensive position in the mountain behind Squirrel Village to reduce the enemy's forces before retreating to the camp to lure the enemy into Squirrel Village. Then, he used the red-hot cannonballs to start a fire. "
"Not bad, not bad. This Claude is a genius.
I didn't think the nobles would be so cooperative. Building wooden carriages in the village to be used as shields … That's suicide. "Hansbach turned to Skri and asked," By the way, Skri, how does the military plan to reward Claude? "
"Your Highness, according to the laws of the kingdom, a lieutenant leading a thousand men to kill a thousand enemies will be rewarded with rank-one merit.
Based on that, Claude will be awarded five rank-one merits. Coupled with the fact that he managed to hold his position and wipe out the enemy's main force with a small number of men, he'll be awarded two more rank-one merits.
That way, Claude will be promoted to major immediately. "
Skri paused for a moment before he continued, "However, the promotion and reward attracted a lot of objections from the officers in command. They felt that Claude was too young. He's only 21 this year and it wasn't appropriate for him to be promoted to major.
Also, the enemies he wiped out were the private soldiers of the nobles and conscripts. While they were numerous, their fighting power was low.
So, they asked for a discount on the merit and for Claude to be promoted to first lieutenant.
He's still young, after all. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. "