Castle of Black Iron

With a sound of ’Zhi...’, a military SUV painted dark green parked in front of Zhang Tie’s home. The parking sound was very harsh and loud, and the solid rubber tires left a 2 m long black mark. Hearing that screeching sound, all the passers-by who were walking on the sidewalks with parasol trees were startled.

When they turned their heads and caught sight of the two Norman Empire’s military officers in the car, they did not dare to have another look at them; instead, lowering their heads, they hurriedly turned and left. Several gentlemen in tall hats even took off their hats and gave a salute to the two military officers.

In a wholly new pair of military boots, Zhang Tie opened the door of the vehicle and with agility jumped off the car.

Although it was only a day since he had returned home last, he felt like having a dream: when he left yesterday, he was a suspect; now, he came back as a Norman Empire’s military officer.

”Remember, you have five days of holidays left. You have to greet battalion commander Reinhardt in Iron-Blood Camp in five days. The commander is not kind man, he alone in the entire No. 39 Division dares to butt heads with Colonel Leibniz. If you commit a crime and get caught by him, even Colonel Leibniz won’t help you out!” Adviser Vessie warned Zhang Tie.

”Thanks for the warning!” Zhang Tie expressed his appreciation to adviser Vessie.

He was about to leave, when he suddenly thought of something. He then asked adviser Vessie straightforwardly, ”You should know about my affair. I want to seek for an opportunity to deal with Samira these days as there’s discontent between us; if I want to get back at him, what should I do?”

After hearing Zhang Tie’s words, adviser Vessie was a bit stunned. However, realizing that Zhang Tie dared to ask him something like this in such a straightforward manner, he suddenly felt very happy inside as Zhang Tie hadn’t treated him as an outsider. At least he hadn’t set a mental defense against him nor was afraid of him reporting this thing to Colonel Leibniz.

After accompanying Zhang Tie for an entire afternoon, especially taking him back to Colonel Leibniz with the new uniform, from the surprised expression of Colonel Leibniz, he immediately understood that Zhang Tie will have a very bright future. Perhaps Colonel Leibniz was already thinking about promoting Zhang Tie to a higher position just now, although he hadn’t opened his mouth.

In army, where friendship between comrades in arms was very important, nobody would be unhappy with having one more brother.

”Do you know the only principle that is followed in the military management system of the Norman Empire in the newly occupied zones?” Adviser Vessie inquired.

This question made the fresh second lieutenant of Norman Empire shake his head.

”In the occupied zone, the soldiers of the Norman Empire are always right. The truth is always in the hands of the Norman Empire’s soldiers. This is the only principle that is followed in the military management system of the Norman Empire! If a bright and brave youth, a potential elite military officer who had been looked upon by the Battle God was framed as the enemy and potential insurrectionist, it would be regarded as the greatest insult to the entire empire, all the soldiers across the empire, and even the Battle God himself,” Adviser Vessie told Zhang Tie in a very serious way.

Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie smiled. ’Who was the motherf*cker that said Norman Empire’s soldiers are all barbarians and butchers, who was the motherf*cker that said Norman Empire’s hierarchy system is inhumane. Norman Empire is so cute, and so are its troops. I look so handsome in this military uniforms of the Norman Empire, heh... heh... heh...’

After bidding farewell to adviser Vessie, Zhang Tie checked himself over from head to toe. Finished, he arranged his military hat and the walking sword over his waist before knocking on the door in a passionate way.

Beside the door of his house, Zhang Tie found that the rice brew store had not been opened for a few days as some dust had fallen onto its door. If it was opened everyday, mom would have certainly cleaned it up.

Today, after circling a small half of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt that the atmosphere in Blackhot City was much more tense compared to before. The market also looked depressed.

According to Vessie, the army of Iron-Horn Army of 300,000-odd soldiers was in a stalemate with the Brilliant Feathers of Sun Dynasty which contained roughly the same amount of soldiers in City of Machine Kalur. After gaining eight cities of the Andaman Alliance each, the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty ended their temporary ’honeymoon’. They were not fighting against the City of Machine, the real fat, one that owned above 30% of the overall manufacturing capability of the entire Andaman Alliance.

The Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty both felt confident about occupying it. Compared to the lightning war before, the two armies’ ferocious confrontation now became the true reason for why Blackhot City was tensed.

As for the lightning war against the Andaman Alliance, adviser Vessie described it as a rapid march and armed travel since the Norman Empire’s army had met almost no resistance. The Andaman Alliance was simply not in the same level as the Norman Empire. So as long as the Norman Empire’s army came close to a city’s walls, everybody inside would make the wisest decision.

By contrast, the confrontation with the Sun Dynasty’s Brilliant Feathers was a true battle.

However, all these things had nothing to do with Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie then knocked on the door of his house, awaiting, both tensed and excited. His parents would certainly be very happy to see him come back home safe. But he was not sure of what they would think when they saw him wearing a set of the Norman Empire’s military uniforms.

In this age, soldiers died early in all lands. After Zhang Tie’s eldest brother Zhang Yong had turned himself into a crate of bone ash, he knew that his parents could not stand another event like this. In their eyes, if he could serve in the army while staying safe for several years before returning to Blackhot City, and then sought out a stable job, marrying a woman to deliver his kids, that would be perfect.

So Zhang Tie didn’t know whether they could accept his current status.

The moment he knocked, he could hear footsteps hurriedly moving towards him from inside—the door was soon opened.

His elder brother Zhang Yang stood behind it.

As Zhang Tie has guessed, at the sight of him standing in a military uniform of the Norman Empire, Zhang Yang’s eyes and mouth opened wide, and he froze on the spot for some time.

Seemingly realizing what Zhang Tie was doing, Zhang Yang made a move that was really outside Zhang Tie expectations.

He forcefully grabbed Zhang Tie inside before stretching out his head to look around outside the door. After that, he hurriedly closed the door.

”Do you want to die? Don’t you know that you’ll be killed if you pretend to be a soldier of the Norman Empire? Several days ago, it was a bit chaotic in Blackhot City. Some bastards got their hands on several sets of the Norman Empire’s uniforms from a makeup room of a theater.

”They then put them on and plundered the city. In the end, they were caught and hung to death!” Zhang Yang’s face paled, and he lowered his voice to urge Zhang Tie, ”Hurry up, take it off in case someone notices. Ah... you’ve taken a whole set of a second lieutenant, including the boots and the walking sword. You’re too audacious! Hope you didn’t cause any trouble... Hurry up, take it off and hide everything! It’s not funny at all!”

After glancing over Zhang Tie’s clothes for a while, Zhang Yang’s face turned even more white. He even wanted to peel them off his brother’s body by himself.

Moved, Zhang Tie hurriedly stopped his elder brother, looking at him with an unexpectedly serious expression. ”Elder brother, there’s nothing wrong with my clothes, I’m now a second lieutenant of the No. 39 Division of the Norman Empire’s Iron-Horn Army. I came back in the car of the No. 39 Division’s headquarters.

”What? You’ve become a second lieutenant of the Norman Empire?”

Zhang Yang was stunned. Based on their mutual understanding of over ten years, and judging from the tone and expression, he realized that Zhang Tie was not cheating him. His mind then became a mess. His little brother was just taken away by the soldiers of the Norman Empire on charges of treason, so how could he return as a military officer of that same empire a day later? What a joke!

”I will explain it to you after a while, where are dad and mom?”

”Inside!”

There were voices coming from further in house, so Zhang Tie patted his elder brother’s hand and walked inside. Before entering the room, he heard a familiar voice shouting loudly.

”... Who knows why Zhang Tie was caught by the red-hide dogs of the Norman Empire this time! I heard he has committed a great crime. If it’s really like what you’ve said, it would be good for him to come back today. If he doesn’t, I’ll take my daughter back tonight, in case she’ll get involved with whatever might happen to your family.

”My daughter has not enjoyed anything since she married your son. If she would have to suffer bitterness together with your family also, we could never allow it as her parents. It’s so chaotic outside, the ruling power changes so rapidly, even the Andaman Alliance was over in such a short period of time. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?

”So I’ll tell your the truth, even if Zhang Tie returns, as you have only one house in Blackhot City, the rights to it should be clarified at this moment. Zhang Tie and his wife in the future should not live here too. This house cannot accommodate two families. I heard that the Norman Empire also follows the eldest son succession system. So we have to clarify this thing...”

”Dad..!” elder sister-in-law shouted out with embarrassment inside the room.

”Shut up, you’re forbidden to interrupt your seniors, us. We should clarify this thing as early as possible. As your belly is growing larger, Zhang Tie has also grown up. We have to clarify this thing now. Otherwise, we might even quarrel with each other more fiercely because of this thing in the future. Additionally, the engagement between you and Zhang Yang should be fixed at this time. No more wait...”

The familiar voice belonged to elder sister-in-law’s father. Hearing all this, Zhang Yang looked pretty embarrassed, face becoming all red. The moment he wanted to rush in, he was held back by his brother.

Zhang Tie gave a smile, expressing that he didn’t mind what he was hearing. After that, he coughed while opening the curtain and walked inside the room.