Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 176 Shouldering the Blame

While Winters was busy moving the Heds, the fighting in the Sackler tribe was reaching its climax.

Hart's army, with a small number of light cavalry, made noise and feigned an attack on the north wall by setting fire to it.

However, they secretly dispatched elite armored soldiers, without lighting lamps or making a sound, each armed with bows and swords, to dismount and fight on foot, heading straight for the pontoon bridge behind the camp.

But the barbarians underestimated Sackler's sense of smell.

The brigadier general saw through the true nature of the Heds and quickly adjusted his deployment accordingly.

He first deployed Robert's battalion to hold the bridgehead, and then concentrated the musketeers of the camp on the south wall.

The area between Robert's Square and the south wall of the camp was completely under fire, and any enemy passing through this area would encounter crossfire from multiple directions.

The figures of the Hed were illuminated by the fires that Sackler had set up beforehand, and the Paratul musketeers fired volleys of gunfire.

This narrow open space, only a dozen meters wide, was littered with lead bullets and had been completely transformed into a killing zone.

Hart's armored soldiers charged forward under the volley of gunfire, and before they even got close to the pontoon bridge, one of the four units had already been wiped out.

When they engaged in close combat with the Platonic phalanx, they were continuously bled dry by the muskets from behind. They quickly could not hold on and began to retreat.

As Robert's battalion watched the barbarians retreat, before they could even lick their wounds, another group of armored barbarians charged at them, brandishing scimitars.

There was no time to catch one's breath; the gunfire, shouts, and fighting continued, making tonight destined to be unbearable.

The Heds thought that the three thousand Paratul infantrymen wanted to use the pontoon bridge to retreat, so they selected their elite troops and launched repeated attacks on the pontoon bridge.

In reality, Sackler had no intention of retreating to the south bank; the JSKA squadron's delivery of the pontoon bridge was purely a last resort.

The pontoon bridge even brought forward the time of the Hed's attack, completely disrupting Sackler's battle plan.

But the accident has already happened, and there's no use being angry anymore.

General Sackler then turned the situation around, using the pontoon bridge as bait to lure the Heds into attacking, and used muskets to continuously kill and wound the enemy's elite warriors.

After advancing and retreating four times, the Hed people realized something was wrong—the two-legged man was bleeding people out with a knife.

The Hud people decisively changed their strategy, turning a feint attack into a full-scale assault, which greatly increased the pressure on the camp's defenders.

Sackler was forced to redeploy some of his musketeers to provide support elsewhere.

After dispersing Plattu's forces, the Heds began to use a variety of random tactics in an attempt to achieve a surprise victory.

The barbarians first led dozens of warhorses to the front of the formation, with dry grass tied to their tails and smeared with grease.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert was initially confused, but when he saw flames rising from the horse's rump, he realized what the barbarians were up to.

The "fire horses" neighed as they charged toward the square formation, followed by Hed's swordsmen and archers.

The Hed's ingenious strategy surprised the Plato, but Robert's phalanx was very narrow—less than ten meters wide—making it difficult for the fire horses to accurately crash into the phalanx.

Lieutenant Roy leaped out of the formation and unleashed a sonic boom at the Fire Horse formation, and the Paratul musketeers opened fire as well.

Although the horse was startled, it didn't foolishly charge into the spears and flames. Instead, it veered slightly, skimmed the edge of the formation, and fled along the riverbank.

Without the cover of their fire-horse formation, the Hed were once again exposed to the Parat people. After several rounds of fire from muskets and bows, the Hed, clearly at a disadvantage, retreated in disarray once more.

The plan to break through the phalanx with fire horses failed, and the Hed people who were attacking the camp walls also retreated.

Aside from the cries of the dying, nothing could be heard on the battlefield for a time.

Robert's squadron had no time to rest; they immediately began digging trenches around the square formation.

During a lull in the fighting, half a battalion of soldiers quietly left the camp to reinforce Robert's battalion.

They carried the gunpowder and lead bullets that Robert's battalion desperately needed, as well as Sackler's instructions.

"Sir, the general ordered me to relay a message: the barbarian commander is clearly losing his composure and is likely about to launch a full-scale attack. If you can withstand this final offensive, you will be credited with the greatest achievement tonight," Captain William carefully relayed.

"What first merit?" Robert sneered repeatedly, slamming the shovel into the ground with his hand, and said disdainfully, "The old man loves to use such cheap words to fool people! Let's see if we can get through this!"

Captain William didn't know how to respond, and the atmosphere became awkward for a moment.

"What are you standing there for?" Robert glared at the captain. "Take your men and get to digging the trench!"

After a brief silence, the Hed people began to shout in unison again to bolster their morale.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert spat and continued digging the trench.

In the darkness, the faint sound of the Hed's footsteps approaching could be heard.

"Ignite!" the lieutenant colonel ordered.

Several soldiers ran out, lit a fire, and fled back to their formation as if escaping.

The firelight revealed the enemy's silhouette; this wave of barbarians outnumbered the previous waves combined.

However, their equipment was poor, consisting of a mix of leather robes, iron helmets, and lamellar armor, far inferior to the elite armored warriors of the past.

It seems the barbarians are really going all out, intending to overwhelm Robert's battalion with sheer numbers.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert set up the defenses and waited for the enemy to come within range, deeply regretting that he hadn't brought a few cannons with him.

Cannons equipped with shotgun shells could rout such a densely advancing rabble, leaving them completely disoriented.

"If only I had two cannons right now? Even just a two-pounder. No, even one would do," Robert thought to himself, criticizing the rigid way his superiors were using artillery.

With each step the Hed people took forward, they would shout in unison to bolster their courage.

Lieutenant Roy saw the furthest fire being trampled out and shouted, "Musketeers, prepare!"

The musketeers moved to the outermost edge of the square formation, set up their muskets, and braced their shoulders tightly against the wooden stock.

Immediately afterwards, the second fire was extinguished by trampling.

"Open the gunpowder pool!" Roy amplified his voice with magic.

The musketeers pried open the covers of the gunpowder baths.

The fires represent distance; when the third fire is extinguished, it means the enemy has entered within fifty meters.

All the Parat people held their breath and gritted their teeth, waiting for the battle to begin.

But the musketeers didn't receive the lieutenant's order; instead, they heard a series of piercing gong sounds coming from behind the Harts.

Upon hearing the gong, the menacing Herd men turned and fled. Robert's battalion, from the lieutenant colonel down, was completely bewildered, not understanding what the barbarians were up to.

Sackler, who was guarding the camp wall, watched helplessly as the Heds lit torches and retreated like a tide, and almost vomited blood.

He held back his strength, deliberately feigning weakness to the enemy, and even intentionally allowed the feinting attacks of the Hed people to break into the camp walls several times, all in preparation for the barbarians to launch a general offensive.

Shortly after, the scouts reported: there were red clouds on the northwest horizon, suspected to be a fire.

Sackler, quick-witted as ever, instantly guessed the gist of it.

"Jisca!!!"

……

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica sneezed.

Winters, who was riding alongside the lieutenant colonel, handed him a handkerchief.

Jessica glanced at the lieutenant with a hint of surprise, then took the handkerchief and wiped her nose.

The lieutenant colonel suddenly frowned and asked, "Why does it smell strange?"

"Really?" Winters took the handkerchief, then suddenly remembered what this handkerchief had been used for.

He sniffed a few times without changing his expression, and calmly said, "It smells a bit strange to me too, like sweat?"

Beside them, militiamen were speeding back to their post, each one beaming with satisfaction.

Everyone's mind is filled with only three things right now: gold, gold, and more gold.

The Jin people were so heavy that two carriages had to be nailed together to form one, requiring eight horses to pull them to move.

Uncle Giovanni is a goldsmith, and Winters knows the general algorithm.

Based on the density of gold, he roughly estimated that the gold figure weighed at least two tons.

If divided equally among everyone, that's about four kilograms. Forget two gold cups; if your taste is low enough, you could even make a gold toilet.

The militiamen had no concept of four kilograms of gold. When they first heard it, their reaction was lukewarm, and they just thought: Hmm, that seems like a lot of money.

Winters then changed his calculation method to 1123 Ducats.

1123... gold coins?
Some people fainted on the spot.

"What are you daydreaming about?" the lieutenant colonel shouted at the group. "Until we move them back, they don't belong to us."

The militiamen, as if waking from a dream, began loading the Jurchens onto carts with red eyes.

Everyone else saw the golden statue with only greed, but Lieutenant Colonel Jessica alone showed fear.

What worried him was not the gold, but the owner of the golden statue used for sacrificial rites—the Teldun tribe.

The presence of the golden statue used for sacrificial rites here signifies that the Teldun tribe has already joined the war.

The scale of the war... is gradually getting out of control.

Upon learning that the raid might target the Teldun tribe's main camp, Winters' first reaction was to abandon the golden statue and immediately retreat.

But gold is alluring, and judging from the current state of the crowd, they would probably rather die than let the golden statue be moved.

The JASKA squadron is out of control; the lieutenant colonel and Winters are probably the only two people who still have some sense.

Eight horses dragged the golden man across the wasteland at breakneck speed, and the coachman hardened his heart and whipped the animals mercilessly.

Horses would occasionally collapse, foaming at the mouth, but the Palatine men would ignore them and immediately replace them with the next horse.

Because a large number of Hademas were captured, they could be used in this unrestrained manner.

As they run, the vehicles break down, and the Palatine people don't have time to repair them; they simply push up a new vehicle.

The carriage and the horses are now replaceable parts.

Even so, the speed of travel was still too slow.

The further Winters went, the more anxious he became.

Teldun's forces would not give up easily, and the pursuers would arrive at any moment.

What the cart was carrying was likely not gold, but a deadly curse.

The golden man's face, which was originally expressionless, now seemed to Winters to be mocking him.

Hesitation leads to chaos. Winters has made his decision, but he doesn't know the true weight of his authority.

"No! Stop the car!" Winters ordered the caravan to stop and commanded everyone, "Take the golden statue down."

He thought for a moment and added, "Bury it."

……

Before dawn, the Jieshika Brigade returned safely to Beiqiao Village with their spoils.

Whether they can ride a horse or not, everyone is on horseback.

About an hour later, in the early morning.

The sentries at Beiqiao Village were surprised to find that the small bridgehead had been completely surrounded by the Hede people.

A red-faced Hed man, holding a helmet on a spear, demanded negotiations; he even brought an interpreter with him.

Winters led the little hunter out of the camp.

"[Herd] Hand over the golden statue used for sacrificial rites, and I'll spare your life today." The red-faced Herd man went straight to the point: "[Herd] An egg hitting a rock will only shatter into pieces."

Winters had gotten the answer he wanted, and he laughed loudly: "Want it? Come and get it yourself."

Having said that, he turned his horse and left, not saying another word to the Harts.

Adding some oil paintings as illustrations to this chapter might be interesting, although it doesn't really make sense, but it feels similar. I'll find some and give it a try.
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(End of this chapter)