Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 19 The City Burns Amidst Flames (Part 2)

"What do you need us to do?" the minister suddenly asked.

"Huh?" The fire brigade captain was a little taken aback by the sudden change in the official's attitude, but he quickly regained his composure: "Tear down the houses! The houses here are definitely beyond saving. We need to move back two blocks and remove the firebreak."

"Attention! About-turn! Move!" The chaotic noise outside the fire was drowned out by the amplified command, as the commander-in-chief issued the order directly to all trainees through magic.

He was decisive and efficient, and once he said he would do something, he would say: "Which houses do you want to demolish? Tell me!"

"I'll take you there!" The fire brigade captain nodded hurriedly and led the way. "I'm really short-handed, it's so kind of you to lend a hand. God will bless you."

"Hmph." The department head snorted again, clearly unimpressed by such flattery.

Residents whose homes were located within the firebreak designated by the fire brigade leader realized what the soldiers were up to. The fire was still two blocks away! Of course, they wouldn't let the soldiers demolish their houses.

What are you trying to do?

"What right do you have to demolish our house?!"

"If you want to demolish my house, step over my dead body."

"Why are we being scrutinized when others aren't?"

"The soldiers are killing people!"

Residents living in the designated isolation zone blocked the street, grabbing door bars, kitchen knives, and similar items, waving them to prevent the military academy students from getting close.

The fire brigade captain went back and forth, trying to persuade him with all his heart, but no one would listen to what he was saying.

Residents living inside the isolation zone also realized that once the isolation zone was removed, it would mean that their houses would be abandoned.

So they also joined the ranks of those preventing the demolition, determined not to let the officers and students get near the houses.

Residents living outside the isolation zone were very supportive of the plan to demolish their houses, but they just stood by and watched.

"Get out of the way!" The department head's roar, imbued with magical power, stunned the previously imposing residents. He could no longer tolerate this farce: "Third year! Infantry Department! Step forward!"

Upon hearing the order, Winters reflexively stepped forward and stood outside the queue.

"Anyone who dares to stop us! Kill them without mercy!" The deafening voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, shouted, "Want compensation? Go to the city government!"

Winters hadn't expected the chief of staff to issue a "kill without mercy" order; in his view, the matter hadn't reached the point of needing to be killed.

The residents of the port area clearly did not expect this official to be so ruthless. They were trembling with fear, and if they hadn't supported each other, they probably wouldn't have been able to stand up. They had completely lost their previous unreasonable and domineering attitude.

Winters stood face to face with the residents who were protecting their houses, and he saw fear and dread in their eyes.

"Should I really do it?" Winters wondered, gripping the shovel tightly and swallowing hard.

"Make your move!" the department head roared again.

Winters steeled his resolve; his sense of duty to obey orders overcame all other thoughts. Ignoring his injured arm, he swung the shovel with both hands and smashed it down on the person opposite him.

However, Winters deliberately used the wooden end of the handle instead of the iron end, thinking to himself, "A wooden handle shouldn't kill anyone."

A group of ordinary citizens were no match for these well-trained cadets, and were quickly beaten until they cried for their parents and fled in disarray.

"Killing!"

"The soldiers are killing people!"

"It was set by people from the military academy!"

"Demolish!" the chief ordered, completely ignoring the shouts of the dispersed residents and simply carrying out the original plan.

This time, no one dared to stop them. The residents turned around and ran home to move their belongings, trying to salvage as much property as possible before their houses were demolished.

The houses in the port area of ​​Gui Tu City can be described as a typical example of a naturally developed urban area without artificial planning.

Starting from the dock, the city grew naturally without any order, with houses layered like onions.

There are houses for all sorts of purposes: residences, warehouses, workshops, and shops; houses made of all sorts of materials: wood, adobe, brick, and stone; and houses from all eras. It's practically a hodgepodge.

The military cadets secured ropes to a wooden house facing the street and together they pulled down one wall of the house.

The fire brigade captain's choice of location for the firebreak was very deliberate; it was marked out along a stinking ditch. After the military cadets demolished the buildings, the resulting construction waste could be directly pushed into the ditch, greatly improving efficiency.

"Don't all gather here, it's not a good place to work! Third-year students stay here! First-year students, go to the east block! Second-year students, go to the west block! Anyone who dares to obstruct us, kill them without mercy!" The department head commanded the situation methodically.

“Montecoli!” The minister called out another name.

"Here!" the director of the Artillery Department of Teaching and Research responded immediately.

"Go back to the armory and get gunpowder. Blow up all the brick and stone houses!"

"Yes, sir!" The director of the artillery department's teaching and research office left without saying a word, leading a subordinate away. While all the soldiers on site were enthusiastically demolishing the houses, a hoarse chanting sound suddenly came from afar.

"Be in awe! Feel the fire of God's wrath! His glorious day of judgment has come!" A mendicant monk dressed in coarse linen robes strode forward, holding a prayer flag high. The residents who had been watching just moments before knelt at his feet, many trying to kiss the hem of his robes and shoes.

The mendicant monk, holding prayer flags high, proclaimed in a stern voice: "The angel of fire has descended upon Sodom! This is the holy fire that punishes you for your past sins! Repent..."

"Go to hell!" The department head lashed the charlatan with a horsewhip, knocking him over.

"Anyone who comes to help will receive twenty large silver shields! Regardless of gender or age!" Having dealt with the clergy who openly promoted defeatism, the minister immediately began recruiting from the residents who had gathered to watch: "If you don't help, the fire will spread, and your houses won't be safe either!"

[Large Silver Shield: Refers to the large silver coin first minted by the United Provinces Republic starting in Imperial Calendar 537. There is also a smaller silver shield, with a silver content ratio of 12:1.]
Who will pay for it? It certainly won't be the military academy.

The minister's line of thinking was: "Go to the city government and ask for it yourself."

The minister didn't care how much trouble his words would cause the ruling committee of Gui Tu City; what he was thinking about now was how to dismantle the median strip as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Through coercion, bribery, and intimidation, the demolition team added a large number of personnel.

The sheriff arrived with the assembled Guitu City Guard, who were tasked with maintaining order at the scene.

Two infantry battalions (960 soldiers and 14 officers) stationed outside the city also arrived at the scene, and the army soldiers quickly joined the work of removing the isolation zone.

The muffled sounds of explosions and collapsing houses rose and fell. Warhorses were harnessed to makeshift yokes to drag the houses down. The demolition work was proceeding in an orderly, tense, and race-against-time manner.

But plans never keep up with changes. From nightfall until now, the wind speed of the sea breeze blowing from the ocean to the land has been gradually increasing.

Fueled by the sea breeze, the flames spread faster than anyone anticipated. The fire line was rapidly approaching the firebreak, and a large section of the firebreak remained to be dismantled.

"Sir, I'm afraid we're too late... We should have set up the firebreak two blocks further back." The fire brigade captain grabbed his hat in his hand, crumpling it into a tattered ball, extremely frustrated.

"I know." The minister's attitude remained cold, but he seemed thoughtful, as if he had come up with an idea.

“Christian!” the minister called out a name loudly.

"Here!" The head of the spellcaster research department heard the department head's summons and ran over from afar.

"If all spellcasters were to concentrate on using wind manipulation, could the wind direction in a region be temporarily altered?" the minister proposed his ingenious idea.

“It’s difficult for a spellcaster to contend with the power of nature.” Instructor Christian thought the minister’s idea was too far-fetched: “Spellcasters should use the forces of nature to cast spells, not go against them…”

"I'm asking you if you can or you can't?" The department head didn't want to hear any nonsense.

“Theoretically, it should be possible,” Instructor Christian continued, “but in reality, I think it would be very difficult to do with our current spellcasting capabilities. We don’t have enough spellcasters, and they aren’t strong enough…”

"That's good enough." The minister only heard what he wanted to hear.

“I’m saying it’s theoretically possible, but in reality…” Christian quickly tried to explain that there is a gap between theory and practice.

“Doing something is better than doing nothing.” The commander concluded, “Gather all the spellcasters on site. I’ll tell you where to go in a bit.”

Winters, who was engrossed in demolishing the house, was suddenly called out by name. He noticed that those called out with him were all spellcaster students.

All the spellcasters present were gathered in one place, and Instructor Christian loudly repeated the command: "When you hear the command, use the Wind Manipulation spell with all your might straight ahead. Do not hold back. Remember! Straight ahead."

Winters immediately understood the leadership's plan. He thought to himself that even with his terrible acceleration magic skills, he was being used as a tool, which showed that the minister was really desperate.

The spellcasters were then taken to an area that had not yet been demolished. To ensure even distribution, some of the spellcaster trainees were even placed on the rooftops.

Winters didn't go up to the roof; he stood on the street, where he could already see the burning houses about twenty meters away through the smoke.

"Wind Control Technique, activate at full power!" The command came from not far behind.

Upon hearing the command, Winters maintained the gesture of pressing his left thumb against his middle finger, recalling the feeling of using acceleration magic, and entered a full casting state.

Scorching heat and extreme cold tormented his "third hand" in turn, and it seemed as if thousands of knives were cutting into his "fifth limb."

He could feel the wind direction around him changing; the wind blowing from the front gradually weakened, stopped, and then turned into a wind blowing from behind him.

Winters knew the minister's plan was working, but he couldn't hold on any longer, so he tried to relax and exit the spellcasting state.

But something terrifying happened: he couldn't leave the spellcasting state. The spellcasting state that he could easily lose control of without focusing his attention in the past was now impossible to break free from.

He even suffered complete paralysis and lost control of his body.

To onlookers, Winters appeared to be simply standing at attention in the street, but in reality, he was being forced to endure endless torture. Finally, he could no longer bear it. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

In the last moment before he collapsed, he saw a giant flaming serpent soar into the sky.

Credible records of using gunpowder for blasting in mining date back to 1627, but the true origin of blasting technology remains unknown. Clearly, people were aware of the potential for explosives long before. For example, Urban was killed by his own cannon in 1453; the English gunpowder plot of 1603; and during the siege of Antwerp in 1585, the Dutch attempted to destroy a pontoon bridge using two large ships loaded with gunpowder. Therefore, it's not surprising that artillerymen in military academies knew how to use gunpowder for blasting.

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(End of this chapter)