Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 549 Siege (I)

  [Fort of Kings]

[Western Suburbs]

"We are late." Woods Frank held his chin and muttered to himself.

……

Looking at the semi-detached polygonal fortress rising from the western suburbs of the Kings' Castle, which was the second favorite of the people of the Federation, he began to chew his nails unconsciously.

Due to his outstanding performance in the Battle of River Valley Village, Lieutenant Woods Frank received special commendation, was promoted one level, and is now a glorious captain.

In fact, Geisa Adonis originally planned to take advantage of this good opportunity of "everyone will be rewarded" to promote Woods two levels and directly step into the door of colonel.

But because of a guy who made greater contributions, he was only promoted one level.

Therefore, not only the commanders and fighters of Tiefeng County, but also the officers of Baishan, Leiqun and Bianjiang counties were innocently implicated. Except for those who died in the battle, no living person jumped multiple levels.

No wonder there are rumors that someone only took one step this time, which was actually a painful tactic used by the four-man group to avoid the expansion of military ranks.

……

"Yes," Major Losong Gyula agreed. He wiped his tears and sighed, "If only we could have arrived a month earlier."

……

Although the eyeball of Losong's blind left eye had been removed, the wound had not yet healed completely.

After examining the patient, Father Carman said there was nothing he could do and that he could only wait for time to take effect.

Later, during the preparations for the New Land Freemen's Conference, Losong rested peacefully and his eye injury improved.

But after he mounted his warhorse again these days, colorless liquid began to flow out of his eye sockets frequently.

So Luo Song had to carry several handkerchiefs with him to wipe himself anytime and anywhere.

  Some Xilin citizens who did not know the truth thought that the major was a sentimental person, otherwise why would he cry so easily?

……

"A month? I'm afraid it's more than that." Woods shook his head seriously. "If you ask me, we are at least 30 years late."

Luo Song was stunned for a moment, and his hands stopped wiping his tears. After a while, he realized that Woods was telling a joke, and he couldn't help shuddering.

"I was worried that you would get too anxious after seeing the craftsmanship of the federal man," Luo Song's eyes were a little complicated. "Since you still have the mood to joke, I feel relieved."

"You're right. I was really anxious before today. I couldn't sleep or eat well every day. I was afraid that we would arrive too late and give the enemy too much time to prepare, so that we would miss the opportunity to attack the city," sighed Woods Frank, who looked tired.

The next second, he said with relief: "But now, my heart is hanging and my hope of entering the city easily is completely shattered, so I am not anxious at all."

Hearing this, Luo Song couldn't help but frowned: "You mean, there is no other way except to besiege? The federal guys are doing a good job of digging the soil, but they are few in number after all. Is this the only way to rely on siege?"

Woods laughed and asked, "Do we have that many people?"

"It's better than the federals, right?"

It is impossible to explain the intellectuals in the artillery department and the muscular men in the cavalry department.

But even if the explanation was not clear, it had to be explained, so Woods Frank explained it as briefly as possible: "You are right, if we fight a battle on flat ground, we will definitely have the advantage in numbers.

“But siege warfare is not calculated in this way. In theory, a siege requires more troops than a field battle.

"Because the besieging party must win a siege while also winning a field battle against the enemy reinforcements that come to relieve the siege.

"There are countless examples of battles where the besiegers were able to win the siege but not the battle to relieve it, and ultimately failed."

When talking about the siege, Woods' eyes sparkled, and he counted the sieges on his fingers: "Porta, Vienna, and Beldegrad - all these glorious victories that the Oathbreakers won against the Saracens were won in this way!"

Hearing his junior use the Pseudo-Emperor's battle record as an example, Luo Song was very displeased, but he did not argue with the nerd from the artillery department. He just snorted and said, "That's great. We don't have to worry about the enemy's reinforcements."

Even if Woods was slow, he understood that his senior was a little unhappy.

So he stopped talking immediately and tried to end the conversation: "Anyway...anyway, it's impossible to just attack now. It seems that the other side has no intention of surrendering. What should we do? Let's wait for General Geisa to come and let him decide."

"Wait," Luo Song raised his eyebrows, unaware of his own bullying behavior, "You haven't told me why you think the only way is to siege?"

"This..." Woods Frank just wanted to end the conversation quickly. He turned his head to look in the direction of the city wall, avoiding Loson's sight, and pointed at the various artillery positions on the city wall with his hands, and said hesitantly:

"Oh, don't think too much. I just think... even without the fortifications built by Minister Cornelius, the Castle of the Kings is still a hard nut to crack... and the Minister has put a lot of nails in this hard nut... If we attack it forcefully, the losses will be huge... So, I think, since we are not in a hurry, it would be better to slowly besiege it and reduce the number of casualties..."

Woods spoke slower and slower, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter, his neck stretched higher and higher, his gaze became more and more focused, until finally he simply stopped talking and stared intently at the island in the middle of the river upstream of the Castle of Kings.

From where Woods and Losong were, the island in the middle of the river in the distance was just a small, blurry spot with some almost invisible human figures moving on it.

"Huh?" Woods turned his head and looked at Luo Song, "Senior, that is Margit Island, right?"

"Where else could it be?" Luo Song asked in confusion.

Woods asked in surprise: "I remember there was only one convent on Margit Island?"

"Oh, you mean the fort?" Luo Song pointed at the newly appeared fortress on the island in the middle of the river with his whip. "It was newly built by the federals. It is said that they demolished the old summer palace to find stones..."

"I think there's still some movement on the island." Woods cupped his hands together and put them in front of his eyes, trying to see more clearly. "Is it not finished yet?"

"It's not finished yet, it's still under repair," Luo Song nodded casually in the astonished look of his junior.

Of course he understood what Woods was thinking, so he sneered and said, "I lost an eye, but I'm not completely blind. I also thought about sneaking up and taking the fort away while it's not finished..."

"But it's impossible," Luo Song sighed, "There is no boat, not even a piece of wood. Even the reeds by the river were burned by the federal province guys, not even a hard straw was left for us."

Luo Song pointed his whip behind him and said, "Not only on both sides of the Ten Arrow River, but also within 20 kilometers around the Castle of the Kings, there are few trees left. All the small woods in my memory have been burned or cut down by the federal government..."

Luo Song sighed again, "Wait, I have sent people to find wood."

However, Woods Frank did not wait there. He waved his whip and rushed straight to the island in the middle of the river in the distance.

  　[Note: Andre and Woods are now both captains. I lost my composure when writing the last chapter of the negotiations and wrote it as major. This has been corrected.]

　　[Sorry today is short, I feel guilty, every day off I have high aspirations, I want to

　　I update a lot every weekend, but I have more things to do than on weekdays, and my attention is not as focused as on weekdays, Orz]

　　(End of this chapter)