Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 164 Breaking Defense
Centurion Alaric sat on the ground, silently gazing at the bridgehead not far away.

One after another, the Hed warriors scaled the camp walls and disappeared from sight.

No one knew what was happening on the other side of that low earthen wall; all they could see were plumes of smoke rising, and all they could hear were shrill roars and screams.

Several blood-covered Hed men crawled out from inside the wall, while the others on the edge of the trench began to run back, and one Turu was defeated.

Alaric waved his hand, and another Turu shouted as he ran toward the River Styx.

Behind Haugkota, more than a hundred heavily armored Herd warriors also sat on the ground.

They are conserving their strength, waiting to launch the final attack.

……

The Palat people in the Hexi camp were becoming increasingly desperate.

The fierce Hed barbarians piled corpses on the wall, with eight hundred-man squads taking turns to attack, giving the defenders no chance to catch their breath.

The southwest wall of the camp had been breached by the Huds, with a gap more than ten meters wide. Only with the help of Bader building an inner wall with wagons and the support of Montagne's troops was the attack temporarily halted.

The Paratites sat slumped in the corner, clutching their weapons. Winters walked past them, and the survivors silently nodded in salute to the lieutenant.

As his gaze swept over the faces of the young men he had brought from Wolf Town, Winters suddenly had a thought: this place can't be held.

The fall of a city always begins with the shattering of hope.

Despair permeated the camp, and the morale of the Parat people was rapidly crumbling.

But Winters couldn't blame anyone; in his view, it was a miracle that the militia had held out this long.

A month ago, they were just a group of honest farmers who were temporarily conscripted, doing the same hard labor as the laborers every day, but receiving less than half the wages of the laborers.

Now, however, they are trapped in a lonely fortress at the bridgehead, fighting in turn with thousands of ferocious barbarians from the Hed.

Winters gritted his teeth, one sentence echoing in his mind: "This won't do."

The death knell tolled once again.

"Barbarians!" the soldier on the watchtower shouted hoarsely, "They're coming towards the breach!"

Winters climbed the earthen platform and looked out over the wall.

Finally, the Herdsmen lost their patience, and Alaric's main team finally set out.

Only a hundred or so armored cavalrymen arrived, yet their charge was like a monstrous wave. Their hooves kicked up clouds of dust that blotted out the sky, and even the earth trembled.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica's cavalry and the remnants of Lieutenant Colin's troops also rapidly approached the breach in the camp wall.

However, the militiamen at the breach could no longer bear it. One of them threw down his weapon and turned around, and the rest of them fled in disarray.

Winters shouted and tried to stop them, but he couldn't stop the people whose will had already collapsed.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica, who had arrived at the scene, was furious. Winters could hear his roar from afar: "Montagne! Purge the deserters!"

Winters made no move.

"Eliminate the deserters!"

Winters drew his saber and caught up with the deserter who was running in the lead.

He recognized the deserter; he knew the deserter's father, and had met the deserter's mother and sister. He had once sat at the deserter's dining table and had even warmed himself with the deserter by a campfire.

When the deserter turned to look at him, he saw Vahika's terrified face.

Winters trembled the moment the saber swung down. He twisted the blade, and the flat of the blade struck Vahika on the back of the head.

Vahika collapsed to the ground, his fate unknown.

The ruthless methods immediately intimidated the fleeing crowd.

"If we run now, everyone will die!" Wintersleigh roared, "Back to the front!"

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica arrived with Dusac, and the cavalry ruthlessly drove the routed soldiers back to the breach in the camp wall.

……

……

The Herd cavalry's attack was eventually repelled, leaving dozens of corpses between the wagons and the camp walls.

The battle raged from dawn till dusk, and witnessing even the most elite Turu forces retreat, the Hed people slowly withdrew.

But everyone knew that the barbarians of Hed were only temporarily retreating; they were licking their wounds and regrouping.

When tomorrow comes, nothing will be able to stop them from capturing the Hexi camp.

After the Heds retreated, the merchants who had accompanied the supply train requested that their wagons be moved to the other side of the river, but Lieutenant Colonel Jessica refused.

"It's not like we have no chance!" Lieutenant Colin muttered to himself, holding his head during the meeting. "The barbarians Hart are just a thousand-man squad. We have over six hundred men, holding our position firmly. How could we possibly lose when we're fighting two against one?"

Winters, unable to contain himself any longer, angrily interrupted, "Those aren't six hundred regular soldiers, they're peasants! Coachmen! Merchants! Face reality, Lieutenant! If you can't hold it, you can't hold it!"

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked her subordinate.

Winters stood up, and after a great deal of internal struggle, said, "I will withdraw my men to the other side of the river."

Colin looked up in surprise. He heard the lieutenant's tone was firm and calm, but he saw the other person's shadow on the wall dancing wildly like a beast.

Jessica curled her lip, leaned back in her chair, and squinted as she asked the other two lieutenants, "Where are you two?"

Winters immediately spoke up: "It has nothing to do with them."

“They have mouths,” Jessica said coldly.

Bader placed his sword on his lap and spoke at a measured pace: "Lieutenant Montagne's meaning is my meaning."

“Me too,” Andrei replied in a muffled voice.

Colin stood up awkwardly, the poor honest man wanting to say something but unable to open his mouth.

“Want to stage a coup? Fine.” Lieutenant Colonel Jessica sneered, placing his boots on the table. “Kill me.”

The room temperature suddenly dropped to freezing.

Colin tugged at Winters' sleeve, almost pleading, "No...don't do this..."

"Shh!" Winters gestured for his senior to be quiet: "Don't say anything, don't ask anything. If there's any accountability later, just say I kidnapped you."

The second lieutenant stared intently at the lieutenant: "Or, do you want to die?"

Colin shivered and groped his way back to his chair.

“Whatever the obligations, my men have exceeded them.” Winters seemed to be speaking to the lieutenant colonel, but it was more like he was convincing himself: “They are civilians on half pay, not standing soldiers who volunteer for rations. I will not let them die for a camp that cannot be held.”

Jessica shook her head slightly and said, "I've told you before, don't get involved with the soldiers' personal feelings. For Palatul, this pontoon bridge is more important than the lives of ten thousand militiamen, don't you understand?"

"Fuck you! You think I care about that damn Parato?" Winters suddenly exploded. "I care about this bridge? I care about winning or losing? I've wanted to do this for ages! You think I care about you bunch of shit?"

He clutched his collar, asking hysterically, "You think I want to fight for you? You think I care about this uniform?"

In a fit of rage, Montagne slammed his fist against the wall, causing the prefab house to tremble and the wooden planks on the wall to break in two.

Jessica was also stunned by this sudden outburst. He sighed and said, "Kill me, it's up to you."

“I was saving your lives.” Winters unsheathed the swords of the lieutenant colonel and the lieutenant and tossed them to Bard: “Afterwards, you can put the blame on me as you see fit, and I won’t argue.”

Bard was left to guard the two men, while Winters and Andrei left the prefab house.

After leaving the house, Andrei grabbed Winters.

“If you ask me, we should just…” Andrei made a throat-slitting gesture: “throw it into the river, and we can explain it however we want.”

Winters shook his head: "No need. I'll go back to Veneta after I cross the river. I miss home too."

"Really not going to kill?"

"do not kill."

"Sigh." Andrei said helplessly, "Alright, let's see what small business we can do when we get home."

"Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?" Andrei grinned, revealing a row of teeth: "For going to great lengths to help me."

……

That evening, Lieutenant Montagne took command of the JSKA battalion.

The Hexi military camp immediately began an orderly evacuation. The wounded were evacuated first, followed by supplies, and the bodies of the fallen were also taken by Winters.

To avoid being detected by Hart's scouts, no lights or fires were lit throughout the entire process. The men and horses were gagged, and any reflective weapons were carefully wrapped in linen.

Lieutenant Mason seemed to have noticed something, but he said nothing.

There wasn't enough time to dismantle the pontoon bridge, so they decided to use explosives to destroy it. The supply corps had no shortage of explosives, and there were several detonation points on the pontoon bridge that could be detonated at any time.

Winters led the remnants of the Collin Hundred to cover the rear, and he set up the final wagon fort at the bridgehead.

He did not rashly destroy the pontoon bridge; this supply line spanning the River Styx was of paramount importance, and destroying it could very well be a death sentence for the Paratians ahead. Winters awaited the final attack of the Heds.

……

As dawn broke, the sky was cloudless and a deep blue-green hue.

This is a good day for killing.

Alaric, who was arranging his troops, gradually noticed something was amiss.

Looking down from the western hillside, the Palatine camp appeared lifeless, with no one in sight behind the earthen walls.

Is this just a charade? Or did the two-legged man escape?

But the pontoon bridge in the distance is still perfectly intact, spanning the River Styx. If they were escaping, why didn't they burn the pontoon bridge?

The centurion summoned scouts, but the watchtower knew nothing about the cause of the unusual activity in the enemy camp.

"Whatever those two-legged bastards' plans," Alaric declared resolutely, "we will break through their camp today!"

……

From the bridgehead, Winters saw the Heds on the hillside begin to move.

Instead of attacking separately and taking turns, all of Hart's cavalry launched a simultaneous attack.

It seems the Heds are no longer willing to wear down the defenders; they want to finish the job.

“You guys go first,” Winters ordered the others.

The soldiers saluted, then turned and ran to the other side of the river.

Winters wanted to wait until the very last moment.

The Hed cavalry drew ever closer, and in the blink of an eye, they had charged down the hillside.

Winters jumped off the base and rode the Power Rider toward the first bomb site.

The remaining fuse was a bit long, so Winters estimated the time and then swung his knife to cut it in half.

The closer it got to this point, the calmer he became.

Hart's cavalry had now broken through the camp walls.

"That barbarian Hed who speaks Continental is probably furious," Winters thought to himself as he lit the fuse.

The wick wrapped in the hemp rope began to hiss and burn.

Winters stepped into the stirrups, leaped onto the saddle, and was about to head to the next demolition point when he saw Andrei galloping towards him.

"What are you trying to do?" Winters asked, puzzled.

He waved for Andrei to leave, but Andrei ignored the gesture and continued to approach.

Winters saw Andrei's mouth wide open, as if he were shouting.

But the west wind was howling, and he couldn't hear what the other person was saying at all.

Only when the distance closed did the shouts coming from against the wind reach his ears in fragmented bursts.

"Don't……"

"fry……"

Winters looked back, his expression changed drastically, he scrambled off his horse, and swung his sword to cut the hissing fuse.

After cutting it, he seemed still not satisfied and kicked the still-burnt fuse into the river.

Behind him, the Hart cavalry, who had just broken through the camp walls, withdrew and regrouped with their backs to the main camp.

The silhouettes of cavalrymen appeared one after another along the ridgeline of the hillside.

The newcomer suddenly leaped up the ridge from the reverse slope, as if dragon tooth soldiers were emerging from the soil.

Winters didn't know whether they were friend or foe, but judging from the Hud people's alarmed demeanor, they were definitely Hud people's enemies.

After the Hart cavalry assembled in front of the camp wall, they charged at full speed towards the unfamiliar cavalry.

The unfamiliar cavalry on the mountain ridge began to move, but they controlled their horses' speed, starting to trot slowly.

When Winters returned to the camp, he could see clearly that the unfamiliar cavalrymen were all wearing tall, hard boots, black breastplates, and Morion helmets.

The cavalrymen charged forward, with soldiers following the corps commanders, corps commanders following the centurions, and centurions following the chiliarchs, with almost no formation to speak of.

Meanwhile, the unfamiliar black-armored cavalry gradually took shape as they trotted.

They faced the enemy in nine rows, with five cavalrymen leading the way at the front.

Winters had never seen any cavalry that could control their pace so precisely.

The distance between the black-armored cavalrymen was always three times the distance between them.

Thus, the overall formation of more than 500 cavalrymen was twice as wide as it was wide.

Although the black-armored cavalry suppressed the horses' speed, the intimidation they brought far exceeded that of the galloping Herdsmen.

Alaric raised his spear high, shouted loudly, and charged to the front.

Even the most cowardly Hedman would feel courage surge within him upon seeing Haugkota's current state.

Alaric never expected that such enemy reinforcements would arrive at this moment.

In any case, these reinforcements shouldn't have been here, yet they still came.

Fortunately, the black-armored cavalry were not numerous. By dealing with the reinforcements first and then turning back to attack the camp, he could still achieve a glorious victory.

"Come! Come! Sons of the gods!" Alaric roared, "How could we possibly lose a cavalry battle?"

The black-armored cavalry on the opposite side also began to accelerate.

Amidst the deafening roar of hooves, two civilizations and two types of cavalry are about to collide.

Alaric lay prone on his horse, his lance thrusting forward with all his might. In a cavalry charge, the closer the weapon was to the enemy, the greater the advantage.

The same applies to the other Hart cavalry.

The Huds, who had no lances, deliberately slowed their horses down and stayed at the rear, preparing for hand-to-hand combat after the charge.

When the two sides were only a few horse lengths apart, Alaric was surprised to find that the black-armored cavalrymen were holding neither spears nor swords.

They all wielded two strangely shaped short guns.

"How can you fire a gun with one hand?" Alaric asked, puzzled.

But there was no time to think.

"Click!"

A spark flashed, followed by red light, smoke, and gunfire.

A series of gunshots rang out.

It's a spring-loaded gun!

When they were within striking distance, the first two ranks of black-armored cavalry pulled the triggers.

Alaric felt a heat in his groin and chest as scalding blood gushed from the two wounds.

More than half of the front-row Hart cavalrymen fell from their horses.

The black-armored cavalrymen either pulled another short gun from their boots or simply abandoned the short guns altogether, opting instead for melee combat with hammers and sabers.

Amidst the smoke, gunfire, and screams, the two cavalry forces clashed.

Alaric first fell from his horse, and was then trampled repeatedly by the cavalrymen behind him, leaving him on the verge of death.

Even without being trampled, the two wounds on his groin and chest would have been enough to take his life.

His strength and spirit were rapidly fading away, and in his final moments before death, he felt only resentment and doubt.

"I was already a centurion before I was thirty, how could I die so young?"

Tal Alaric, the one among the Hed tribes who knew everything beyond the steppes best—Eagle Storm—passed away in endless sorrow at the age of twenty-nine.

The description of the pistol cavalry: "...they will not fire their pistols until close range, but in close-quarters combat, they can easily aim for the opponent's face or groin. The second rank can also fire simultaneously..."

The German Pistol Cavalry Recruitment Agreement describes a pistol cavalryman as: "...an outstanding and brave cavalryman, skilled in combat and service, a true German, possessing a good horse, equipped with a cuirass, chainmail gloves, iron gauntlets, a Morion helmet, and two pistols, a saber, and a mace."

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(End of this chapter)