Sleeping under shelling is a veteran's specialty, and unlike recruits who are scared to pee their pants by the sound of rumbling cannons, their already thick nerves are sharpened even more after a bloody battle. Now, by listening, they can judge the location and caliber of the shells, and roughly judge the time when the enemy will charge, and then turn over and continue to sleep.

Today, the greetings of the people of Albion were still so warm and intense, and the chorus of 12-pounder field guns, small cannons of other calibers, and Congreve rockets began early in the morning. While washing the forward positions, from time to time one or two detonated mines joined the chorus.

The greeting is warm, but the effect is too flattering. Apart from blowing up part of the iron horses, mines and trenches, Albiang's gunners did not achieve much more.

Because the first and second trenches were almost empty, only a few soldiers who were responsible for monitoring the movements of the enemy troops remained there. The other soldiers were busy repairing the minefields and bunkers that had been blown up yesterday, and now they are either yawning and nibbling on black leba and pickled cucumbers, or sleeping with their heads covered, and no one is interested in enjoying the fireworks show opposite.

This does not mean that the soldiers of the principality are lax, this is a new tactic, which was proposed by the advisers, and then ordered by the officers. During the enemy's artillery bombardment, most of the troops were withdrawn to a safe place, and when the enemy infantry attacked, the troops entered the position to block the attack.

This is a very good tactic that reduces the number of casualties and gives the troops some time to rest or enjoy vodka, which is welcomed by everyone.

Private Zaitsev, who is also a beneficiary of the new tactics, is wrapped in a blanket. The comrades-in-arms who were in the stinky coaxing fell asleep, and the snoring in the foxhole even drowned out the sound of the cannons.

"Vasily, Vasily!"

A voice echoed in his ears, but Zaitsev did not respond, and after several attempts failed, the other man simply kicked him in the thigh.

The superior soldier grabbed his rifle and jumped up—an instinctive reflex, but the movement woke up the rest of the foxhole, and dozens of thorns were revealed at once.

"Put away all the bayonets. ”

Disdainfully brushing aside the thorns, the disturbing dreamer said:

"You stinky men, are you trying to poke holes in me?"

"Lyudmila?"

After seeing the tomboy-like female soldiers in front of them, the GIs embarrassedly put away their rifles. Scratching his scalp and smirking.

Traditionally, the Principality didn't believe much in nonsense like "war makes women go away". After Marshal Kutuzov led 300 aunts to fight against mankind, the Principality Army opened its doors to women who did not like red clothes and loved arms.

This is a good thing, the female soldiers are no worse than the male soldiers in some jobs, and even better than the male soldiers. In the barracks, which was full of the smell of sweat. The existence of female soldiers is even more eye-catching.

However, the female soldiers of the bear clan are not only embroidered pillows for nurses, clerical work and other work. They are the same as the male soldiers. He is proficient in the art of killing, and Private Lyudmila is the best of them.

She, like Zaitsev, was a member of the special unit subordinate to the regimental staff officer, Captain Danilov. He had the same good marksmanship as Zaitsev and was only one point behind in the shooting record, but he had a feat that was the envy of male sharpshooters: Lyudmila killed an Albiang colonel.

Zaitsev remembered the situation at that time, the Albians must have thought that it was very safe to hide behind the "barrier" technique and a large number of soldiers, so they wore a crisp red military uniform, with shiny medals on their bodies, gold and silver rings on their fingers, and brandished a command knife to urge the soldiers forward. Then Lyudmila fell in love with the golden target, and the first shot smashed the barrier with a special celestial crystal bullet, and then grabbed the comrade's rifle and sent the bullet into the head of the "Golden Flash".

A lot of people saw it, soldiers, officers, and an advisor. Enraged, the Albians then threw two regiments into a charge, and because they were not prepared, the first line of defense was almost opened by the attacking lobster soldiers, but fortunately the reserves fell in time and drove the enemy back with bayonets.

Zaitsev hadn't forgotten about it, and no one would forget that in the chaos, he was able to rush to the front and bring back Colonel Albiang's scalp, medals, and ring-ridden hands.

"What's wrong?"

Zaitsev shook his head and drove the drowsiness out of his head.

"The enemy is attacking?"

"Not yet. ”

Lyudmila shrugged and replied:

"The captain has given me a new assignment, it's time to get to work. ”

The two snipers bent their waists and cautiously moved along the traffic trench, with obvious caution.

This is not superfluous, under the city of Riga, caution is essential if you want to survive, this is the same for both sides. At the slightest mistake, bullets and artillery fire will come from nowhere.

It's not like war anymore.

Zaitsev tensed his expression and sighed inwardly.

In fact, he was on the battlefield, carrying out the orders of his commander and completing combat missions. This qiē shows that this is a real war in its entirety, but Zaitsev does not think it is like war.

War is a cruel hell that ends only when one of them wins, and killing is the only way to achieve victory and ensure one's own survival. Therefore, it is extremely normal to kill, to be killed, not to want to be killed, and the same is true of cruelty and gore.

As a descendant of Ural hunters, Zaitsev learned early on to hunt animals for survival, and when he went to battle, he also killed for survival, which is not a contradiction, killing is a part of life in the first place.

But turning killing into a game, like a hunting game for the sake of amusement by the aristocracy, instinctively resisted Zaitsev.

Unfortunately, he's already a part of the game, and it's the more central one.

It all started when Captain Danilov inspected the position and ran into the Albians to launch an attack, and when the captain noticed that Zaitsev had shot out an officer 250 meters away, his eyes immediately lit up.

As Albion's reinforcements arrived, the assault on the fortress became more and more fierce day by day. Time and time again, the Principality Army repelled the enemy. Although it did not fall behind, as the war prolonged, it was inevitable that morale would inevitably suffer setbacks due to the passive defense, but due to the chaotic situation at home and the national strength of the principality, the Grand Duke was not prepared to waste his precious troops to make a gamble, so the defenders would continue to adhere to the defensive posture, and under such conditions, how to boost morale became an important topic for the generals and senior staff.

Zaitsev's excellent marksmanship inspired the captain, and he decided to make a hero, a ...... Wish.

"We select soldiers who have good marksmanship. Organize them into separate forces. Let them go it alone, freely looking for firing positions throughout the position, or deep into the rear of the enemy, and hunt the hairless monkey officers. Keep track of the results of the sharpshooters, updated once a day. Printed as flyers. Distributed to every class. Let our soldiers know what the snipers did. What can be done, inspire the soldiers with an example. ”

This is how the captain reported to General Brusilov, and then the general in turn to Grand Duke Nikolai. The Grand Duke convened a military council, and after some deliberations, agreed to the captain's idea.

Why not?

The Principality's army is not a human army that has been made rigid by chivalry, and any rules of engagement and chivalry are not as good as paper to wipe their butts for woolly bears. While it was a little uncomfortable for the old men to let the inferior shoot the superior ones, and it would allow Albion to build the same hunting force and expose the officers, including themselves, to the same risks, it would not be worse if the situation was to get worse, and second, every officer of the Duchy Army knew one truth: only victory was real, the process was insignificant, and the world would not condemn the victor.

So, the task of forming a hunting unit was entrusted to Captain Danilov, and the first person that came to the captain's mind was Zaitsev.

"Soldier, you will soon become a hero of the principality. ”

The captain patted Zaitsev on the shoulder and said in a tone that was more threatening than encouraging:

"As long as you do what I say. ”

And then war began to feel less like war.

The sharpshooters had a good run, and it wasn't difficult to find a well-dressed officer wielding a command knife from a pile of bright red lobster soldiers in the black soil of the principality, especially when the guy also put himself in a prominent position where everyone could see him. As soon as they walked into the effective range of the rifle, they were destined to become sharpshooters' records.

Soon, the leaflets spread among the soldiers, and everyone discussed enthusiastically, their faces full of joy, as if they had seen victory. The sharpshooters became the object of the soldiers' courtesy, and every day when they returned to their positions, everyone cheered for them, shouted their names, saluted them, congratulated and honored them - this is the treatment that only a general has, and they enjoy it and are proud of it.

Zaitsev was also one of them, and at first, he felt really good.

After all, even if you don't deliberately think about it in order to get rid of the subtle feeling of disgust and enjoyment, there is every reason to be happy just for the sake of sausage and vodka, which can only be enjoyed by fighting heroes.

With the encouragement of both spirit and material, everyone is more enthusiastic about their work.

The bears were enthusiastic, and the people of Albion fell with blood mold. It didn't take long for the sharpshooters to find a way to quickly brush up their battle - targeting wounded humans and humans trying to rescue them. This method soon became popular, and Zaitsev himself shot enemy soldiers who tried to rescue his comrades. But Captain Danilov felt that this was not enough, and he told the sharpshooters to adopt more efficient and deterrent tactics. As a result, the sharpshooters began to use the wounded human soldiers as bait, and even deliberately wounded their targets, luring the Albiang soldiers to save their compatriots, and then killing the rescuers one by one.

There are no tactics with no morals to speak of, but the captains like it, and so do the generals, so it is correct. And in the beginning, this tactic was really good at winning the battle, until the Albians stopped organizing the rescue of wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

The Albians were furious, determined to take revenge, and the first to suffer were the captives—about a few dozens—and the Albians brought them to the front of their positions and slit their throats with bayonets in front of the entire garrison of the fortress.

So the general and the grand duke in the fortress were angry, and the hairless monkey dared to treat the soldiers of the principality with such barbaric and brutal methods, and the uncle could bear it, and the aunt couldn't bear it either. In retaliation for the Albiong revenge, the woolly bears launched a massive outpost raid, bringing back dozens of human captives, stripped naked and pulled to the front of the position, and stabbed in front of the Albians - in order to prolong the suffering of the tortured as much as possible, the executioners were ordered not to pierce the vital points.

The Albians soon retaliated on a larger scale, sending light cavalry to destroy orc villages far from the fortresses, tying captured old men and children to stakes for recruits to practice stabbing. Not to be outdone, the principalities captured more human porters and slaves, dissected the bellies of "bipedal animals", and released domesticated dangerous species to bite the guts that flowed out. In order to repay the enemy, the Albians tried to attack more villages, but the principality was already prepared and they could not succeed, so the lobster soldiers had no choice but to take aim at the carcass of the woolly bear, shoot at the carcass, dismantle the corpse in pieces, and even demonstrate the fortress with bayonets on the heads of old men and children—what a brutal method! Zaitsev and his comrades had seen that sight more than once, and knew with their toes what the reaction would be.

The soldiers of the Principality were thoroughly enraged, and they did the same.

In this way, the retaliation of the warring parties escalated and grew, and by the end almost all the soldiers were swept up in it. Humans regard orcs as bed bugs that must be exterminated, and the principality does not intend to stay alive, the situation is completely out of control, and war has become less like war.

This is not an abstract description, but an irreversible fact. Although war is not a good thing in the first place, things are even worse at hand. There is no honor, no humanity, not to mention morality, just simple mass vendettas - principalities and Albion, orcs and humans, orthodox and pagan.

In fact, there has been no shortage of similar things between the two camps for hundreds of years, but this time, both in scale and brutality, far beyond the past, made a level-headed participant like Zaitsev uncomfortable. Captain Danilov, having learned about this, personally ran to enlighten him. The captain gave him a glass of wine and told Zaitsev the hero of the battle in a serious way: "The war is meaningless until it ends with victory." ”

It may sound like some kind of truth, more likely some kind of sophistry, but Zaitsev had to agree with it. This is not the time to comment on despicability or cruelty, and just thinking about how not to be killed is exhausting. In this battlefield, where both living and corpses are attacked indiscriminately, it is necessary to do whatever it takes to survive. If you want to talk about those nice things, you have to win first, so that this damn war is over, and you have a lot of time to think about these issues after the war.

Putting away his thoughts, taking a deep breath, and letting the air with the smell of gunpowder fill his lungs, Zaitsev could already see the captain's gloomy face. (To be continued......)