Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 109 Grenadier

The sentry scrambled down from the top of the fort, shouting in panic, "Signal flare! Red! East wall!"

Everyone's heart skipped a beat.

As agreed beforehand, a red signal flare signifies that the frontline commander has determined that their team has encountered enemy magical forces.

"Let's go!" Major Moritz grabbed his helmet, stood up, and walked away, with the momentarily bewildered lieutenants quickly following behind.

Everyone quickly led their warhorses out of the triangular fortress and galloped towards the eastern city wall.

The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was already growing brighter, revealing a deep blue hue.

Sea fog began to rise in the air, and the smoke from the battlefield combined with the sea fog, causing visibility to drop sharply.

The drummers beat their war drums with all their might, each beat seeming to pound on the hearts of the men. Archers on and outside the city walls fired wildly toward the enemy, while wounded soldiers who could still walk stumbled out.

The scene was extremely chaotic. Major Moritz roared "Get out of the way!" to drive away the soldiers blocking his way, and his horse charged wildly through his own lines without slowing down. The others followed behind, following the path cleared by the major.

However, the group that rushed to the east side of the battlefield suddenly discovered that they had no idea where the signal flare had been fired from.

There were at least three breaches in the eastern city wall, and fighting broke out everywhere, with the battle beginning to spiral out of control. Many hundred-man squads had collapsed, and officers were leading their soldiers wherever there were shouts of battle.

After three trips back and forth without finding the location, the spellcasters grew increasingly anxious.

Fortunately, another red signal flare exploded in mid-air, and the riders sped off in the indicated direction.

[The original signal flares used by the Venetians' army would explode mid-air and would not remain airborne for long.]
When Moritz's squad arrived below the signal flare, the Venetians who had stormed the city had already been pushed back by the defenders.

The vanguard troops had lost their organization and were running out through the breach. But the soldiers following behind had not yet engaged the enemy and were using all their strength to squeeze into the breach.

One group tried to run out, while the other group tried to squeeze in. The gap became completely blocked, and neither group could move.

The Venetians who had fallen were trampled by the crowd, screaming in agony. The city's defenders pursued them relentlessly, hacking and slashing, and before the fleeing soldiers could even escape, they were all wiped out by the pursuers.

The walls on both sides of the breach were recaptured by the Tanirians, and the number of defenders on the city walls increased. The Tanirians occupied excellent positions and were killing the Venetians at the breach from above.

Arrows flew everywhere, smoke filled the air, and shouts of battle and cries of agony filled the air.

Amidst the chaos of battle, because all the officers had changed into soldiers' armor, the spellcasters were unable to locate the on-site commander for a time.

Until they heard an enraged voice roaring: "[Angry profanities]! Stop standing still here! Spread out to the left and right! Let them out first! The 700th squad! Spread out to the left and right! Spread out to the left and right!"

Even without the aid of magic, the roars still drowned out the noise of the battlefield.

The soldiers who were desperately trying to squeeze in were stunned at first, and then they actually began to scatter to the left and right sides of the gap. Obviously, these soldiers were very familiar with the voice of their centurion.

"Scythe ladders! Get on the walls!" the centurion roared again.

The soldiers were ordered to pick up the siege ladders that had been knocked down from the ground, and the Venetians re-erected the siege ladders on the city wall. Swordsmen and shieldmen, with their shields on their heads, climbed up the walls on both sides of the breach and fought with the defenders. The guns and cannons on the wall immediately fell silent.

Moritz immediately spotted the centurion among the soldiers, following the sound. He led his squad of spellcasters through the chaotic crowd, grabbed the centurion's arm, and shouted, "Juan! Was that the signal flare you fired?"

The battle situation was critical. Lieutenant Juan, who was in command, was grabbed by the arm and called out his surname by a soldier, which made him furious.

A curse was about to escape Juan's lips when he finally recognized the man in the soldier's uniform as Major Moritz.

The vulgar words were forcibly swallowed back. Don Juan shook off the major's hand and asked impatiently, "What did you say?"

"A signal flare!" Moritz pointed to the sky. "Did you fire it?"

"What signal flare? I didn't fire it!" Lieutenant Juan quickly denied, turning to head towards the breach in the city wall.

Moritz grabbed Juan's arm again and continued to press, "Where is your battalion commander?"

"I f***ing don't know! How the f***ing should know where it is?" Don Juan was truly enraged, and disregarding the fact that the major in front of him was three ranks higher than him, he forcefully broke free from Moritz's control.

From behind the smoke came the deafening shouts of the Tanirians, as the defenders cheered for the recapture of the breach. The Venetians were driven off the walls, scrambling and stumbling as they fled through the path cleared by Juan's hundred men.

Hearing Tanilao's cheers, Don Juan realized that the breakthrough had changed hands.

He thrust his sword into the ground with a backhand motion and roared angrily, "Grenade!"

Upon hearing the order, a dozen tall and strong soldiers quickly gathered around Don Juan.

Lieutenant Juan took an iron ball from one of the soldiers, which was encased in a rope, and the other soldiers took out the same thing from their backpacks.

Winters recognized what Juan was holding. It didn't have an official name yet, but it had many names: bomb, grenade, blast... the user could call it whatever they wanted. But no matter what it was called, it was an extremely dangerous weapon. Not only for the enemy, but even more so for the user.

"preparation!"

A soldier nearby lit the fuse of the iron bomb in Lieutenant Juan's hand. Don Juan took a deep breath, grabbed the rope, and swung the iron bomb above his head.

The hissing, burning iron bomb was pulled in a loop by ropes, emitting gusts of wind, which was extremely frightening.

"Throw!" Lieutenant Juan roared and released his grip. The bomb flew tangentially, along with the rope, toward the breach in the city wall.

The other grenadiers followed the centurion's lead, and more than a dozen iron-cased explosive shells flew into the smoke.

Limited by the level of casting technology, even the lightest grenade issued to the Venetta Army weighs four pounds and cannot be used by anyone but those with strong physique. Therefore, grenadiers are all carefully selected strong men.

Even these elite warriors had to use a sling-like noose to throw the heavy iron bombs far away.

Carrying such a bomb that could explode at any time is terrifying enough [Note: People in this era do not yet understand static electricity].

The "throwing" method is even more dangerous. Not only can no one stand nearby, but if it misses, the bomb may fall into one's own ranks.

Therefore, very few people could use this weapon, and even fewer dared to use it, as it was far too dangerous. However, in siege warfare where soldiers were shoulder to shoulder and face to face, its destructive power was also astonishing.

The continuous explosions echoed from behind the smoke, and the cheers of the Tanirians could no longer be heard, only inhuman screams and groans.

"Keep going! Don't stop! Use up all the grenades!" Juan's shout snapped the soldiers out of their daze. The grenadiers took out new iron bombs from their backpacks and threw them toward the breach in the city wall.

Moritz's squad was stuck in place. The loud noise forced Captain Lelo to lean close to Major Moritz's ear and shout, "Sir! What do we do?"

"Wait!"

In front of Winters, a grenadier was frantically striking flints together with trembling hands, but he couldn't light the fuse no matter what he did.

This grenadier failed to follow Don Juan's lead in the first round of throwing, and now the other soldiers have thrown at least three times, but he still hasn't lit the fuse of the first bomb.

"Give it to me!" Winters felt a pang of pity and didn't want to see the panicked grenadier throw the bomb at his own men.

The panicked grenadier looked half bewildered and half grateful as Winters took the iron bomb from his hand.

Winters lit the fuse with a fire spell and then tossed the bomb behind the breach in the city wall like a shot put. Having no prior experience, Winters didn't dare use a slingshot to throw the bomb, opting instead for a shot put. Fortunately, he had a good foundation, and the throwing distance wasn't bad even using this method.

Seeing the person in front of him light the fuse with a single gesture, the panicked grenadier froze on the spot.

Winters, who had just thrown the bomb, yelled at him, "What are you standing there for? Give me another one!"

The grenadier quickly retrieved another bomb, and Winters repeated the operation from before.

Juan gave each of his grenadiers six spare rounds, and they continued in this manner. Winters, who was three rounds behind, used up all his bombs before the other grenadiers.

"If only this thing weighed a pound," Winters thought, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Even if it weighed two pounds, it wouldn't be so troublesome to use."

He suddenly noticed that Lieutenant Juan, after dropping six rounds of bombs, gave him a deep look. Their eyes met, and Don Juan nodded to his junior, then turned and shouted, "The flag!"

The standard bearer quickly took the battle flag from his bosom, hung it on a spear, and handed it to the centurion.

Lieutenant Juan, holding the golden lion flag high, roared, "Follow the flag! Attack! Follow the flag! Attack!" He led his hundred-man squad into the breach in the city wall.

Seeing this, even the most terrified soldiers felt a pang of guilt. Many of the Venetians who had fled through the breach picked up their weapons and joined Juan's hundred men as they charged into the city walls.

The purpose of issuing officers conspicuous armor was not for aesthetics, but to ensure that timid soldiers could clearly see their commander nearby.

While dressing officers in soldiers' armor reduced the magicians' destructive power, it also weakened the morale of the Venetian army.
Lieutenant Juan raised the military flag to let all the soldiers present know that he had not retreated a single step, but at the same time, he also made himself a target.

"Major, what do we do?" Lelo couldn't help but ask again.

"Follow Don Juan!" Moritz drew his sword and strode after him. "If there are magicians among the Tanilians, Don Juan is the most obvious target!"

The earliest recorded use of signal flares is by the Mongol army in the 13th century, grenadiers first emerged as an independent branch of the military in the 17th century, and iron bombs appeared even earlier. However, those mentioned in the text can all be considered early models, not yet fully developed.

The rest isn't finished yet, but it's better to end it here.

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(End of this chapter)