Two weeks had passed since the Month of the Evil Spirits, and the accumulated snow had turned into streams flowing into the Redwater River.

After the white veil faded away, the trees on both banks sprouted again, now lush and green.

The land outside the east end of the town, baked by Anna, had been temporarily designated by His Highness as the training ground for the First Army of Border Town.

In the field, Carter Lannis gripped the pommel of his knife, twisted it twice, and checked if the bayonet was securely attached.

This was another new invention of His Highness, but compared to the black clunker machines that could operate automatically and the improved snow powder that exploded when ignited, this thing was far too crude. The moment Carter held it, he knew it wasn't a qualified weapon.

Essentially, it was just a sharp triangular piece of iron, slightly folded in half based on the midline. Although it had been sharpened, it was impossible to use it to slash at a target—the blades on both sides after the fold were extremely short, almost nonexistent at the front end, and only the width of a thumbnail at the back end. Even against an unarmored enemy, a horizontal slash might not even cut through their clothes.

This weapon had only one purpose, which was stabbing, and it had to be attached to a musket to be used. Held alone, it was even inferior to a bishou.

Wasting a large amount of pig iron to create a weapon with only a single attack method was naturally an unqualified product in the eyes of the Chief Knight. If any blacksmith in his territory dared to do this, he would tie the person up and give them a severe beating.

But even with such a low-quality weapon, he could see His Highness's unique attention to detail, such as the design of the slot in the sleeve. A tenon had two right angles. As long as it was aligned with the small iron strip on the barrel and rotated half a circle, the bayonet could be fixed on the barrel. This special-shaped tenon meant that the sleeve and barrel did not need to fit perfectly. An overly loose sleeve could be filled with some paper before rotating, and if there was none, leaves could also work.

"Fix bayonets!"

Upon hearing the command, the musket team members who had been assigned bayonets drew their blades from the bayonet pouches on their waists and attached them to the barrels—only forty or so of the new weapons and matching knife bags had been produced so far, and those who had not received them had to temporarily use short wooden poles as long as the muskets instead.

They had practiced this set of movements for almost a morning, and now most people only needed two to three breaths to fix the bayonet. According to His Highness, this was the final struggle, and he did not want to see his subordinates engage in melee combat unless absolutely necessary. Carter did not agree with this statement. Without personally stabbing enemies with swords, they were still just rookies. Only after seeing blood could they transform from miners and hunters into warriors.

Iron Axe was also in the team. Although he claimed to be a hunter, Carter could tell from his skills that this person had definitely received specialized combat training and was not much worse than a knight.

When His Highness initially asked Carter to teach the soldiers how to practice bayonet fighting, he was a little apprehensive. He had never heard of bayonets before, and he wondered what he would do if he didn't know how to use them. But after seeing the prototype, he immediately became confident. Wasn't it just a short spear? And because of the special nature of the blade, it was even easier to use than a spear.

The only advantage of the bayonet's single attack method was that it was easy to train. There was no chopping, parrying, blocking, or sweeping, only one movement: stabbing. The Chief Knight had all the team members line up in several rows and taught them the stabbing movement that was most suitable for exerting force—standing with one leg in front of the other, bending at the waist and knees, and extending both arms forward with maximum force.

This repetitive training was extremely boring, and what amazed Carter was that everyone was completing the stabbing movements meticulously. Before winter, they were a group of weak and lazy civilians, but now they were performing with remarkable skill. They would execute commands immediately when given, and training them was even easier than training squires. Of course, if they were given swords, or what His Highness called "cold weapons," these people still wouldn't last three moves against him. But in terms of willpower, their progress was worthy of his respect.

After practicing for half an hour, Carter had the musket team sit down and rest for a while. At this time, Prince Roland happened to appear on the training ground, accompanied by a hooded woman. The knight was not surprised by this. His Highness had told him in advance that a witch would cooperate with the training today.

However, that witch was really tall, almost as tall as His Highness at a glance. Girls are better off being petite, Carter thought. Then he had everyone stand up and salute the Fourth Prince.

"Greetings, Your Highness!" the soldiers shouted loudly, raising their hands to their foreheads.

"Well done," Roland nodded and walked to the knight's side. Just as he was about to speak, a large man suddenly rushed out of the team. Carter Lannis frowned, stepped forward to block the prince, and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Nightingale also appeared immediately and grabbed Roland's arm. As long as the situation was slightly wrong, she could pull the prince into the mist.

The large man who rushed out was Iron Axe.

He didn't run towards the prince, but knelt directly in front of the woman, not with the one-knee salute of the mainland kingdoms, but with his entire body prostrate on the ground, his head buried deeply between his arms, "Chieftain!"

The musket team training was forcibly terminated.

*******************

"Tell me, what's going on?"

Inside the castle hall, Carter, Echo, and Iron Axe stood in a row. Roland sat in the main seat and asked with slight displeasure.

Discipline, discipline! How many times had he emphasized that the army should have iron discipline! Not to mention seeing the chieftain, they shouldn't be moved even when seeing the king. If they really had requests, they could submit a report. He had thought highly of Iron Axe, and he couldn't help but sigh at this. In the end, their cultural level was not high enough, and they couldn't thoroughly understand the meaning of discipline.

"Your Highness," Iron Axe couldn't help but want to kneel down as soon as he opened his mouth, but Roland stopped him halfway.

"Speak standing up!"

"...Yes," the latter swallowed and said, "Silvermoon is the chieftain of the clan I served in Iron Sand City."

"No, Karabago, I'm not the chieftain..." Echo hurriedly waved her hand.

"No, you are," Iron Axe retorted, "After your father and brother died, according to Mojin customs, from that moment on, you are the chieftain of the Aosha clan. I heard that you were sold to Azurewater Port, but I didn't find you there. I thought you were... dead."

"But I—"

Roland interrupted Echo, "One at a time, Iron Axe, you speak first."

"As you command, Your Highness."

……

The story wasn't complicated, and Roland quickly understood the general situation.

Echo was originally a member of the Aosha clan in Iron Sand City, and her original name was Zhuo'er Silvermoon. Her father was the chieftain of the Aosha clan.

The Sand People were not a unified whole, and the population that Iron Sand City could accommodate was limited, so every three years, the various clans had to conduct a sacred duel in the Scorching Lands. Only the six winning clans could obtain the right to live in the city, while the other clans either lived outside the city or clustered in the Green Sea. Although these residences also had water sources, wild beasts and sandstorms posed a great threat to the Sand People, so each time there was a sacred duel, the warriors of each clan spared no effort.