Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 554 Siege (VI)

  [Margit Island]

[Baishan County Infantry's Temporary Ferry]

Gunfire broke out in the darkness of dawn, and a soldier who was unloading cargo from a ferry raft fell knee-deep in the river.

The soldiers guarding the ferry immediately extinguished their torches and called on their men to fight.

However, the shouting and killing sounds he expected did not come. The noise of his own people running in the water and picking up weapons drowned out everything.

Soon, the Baishan County soldiers were in position behind the bunkers, but the only sound they could hear around the temporary ferry was the sharp chirping of insects, which was very disturbing.

Above, the already dim stars also disappeared into the night sky. Before dawn, Margit Island was darker than at any other time that night.

"Did the sentry fire accidentally?" A soldier squatting behind the raft couldn't help but complain.

"boom!"

Immediately, another gunshot rang out.

But the shot hit the water, and there was no follow-up with a splash.

This time, the sergeant looked carefully - the cold gunshot came from the bushes upstream, and the muzzle flash briefly illuminated the figures of two people hiding in the bushes.

"There are only two Mud Bums!" The sergeant jumped out of the shelter and ran towards the enemy with a saber in hand.

The other soldiers followed suit.

But they did not catch the enemy's tail, only found the body of the sentry.

The young sentry was lying face down in the bushes with a hole in his back and a small pool of still warm blood under his body.

The veterans of Baishan County silently surrounded the sentry, and no one had the heart to wake him up.

The sentry was chosen to stand guard because he was young, had good eyesight and his ears had not been deafened by the sound of gunfire.

But the good eyes and ears could not save the sentinel. No one knew how he died. Perhaps he was just distracted or made a mistake.

Making mistakes on the battlefield is actually no big deal. Everyone makes mistakes, but sometimes people don't get the chance to make mistakes a second time.

"Why are you all following me out here?" The sergeant realized something was wrong, "Go back now!"

The soldiers hurried back to the temporary ferry.

Fortunately, the federalists also made a mistake and missed the opportunity to attack the ferry.

Half a mile away on the west bank, the lights were flickering rapidly as if in a life-threatening situation - Captain Woods Frank was eager to know what was happening on the island.

  "Send a message to the captain," the sergeant waved his hand, suddenly feeling a little tired, "It's okay... Double the sentries before dawn."
-

[Margit Island]

[Bishop's Castle]

Lieutenant Alany Arthur is leading his men, racing against time to consolidate their position on the island.

He had already learned from the captives what the people of the Federation called this fort - Bishop's Fort.

He also learned from the captives that the United Provincials had a fortified camp on the island - the Domonkos Monastery.

And he was sure that the reinforcements sent by the United Provinces from the Castle of the Kings had already landed on Margit Island.

The rhythmic sound of paddling oars was no longer audible, now only the white noise of the river flowing was heard.

The annoying signal light on the south tower stopped blinking, and the Domonk Monastery was plunged into darkness.

Alani guessed that the federal reinforcements would most likely land in the middle of the island in the middle of the river, and then join up with the enemy troops stationed in the monastery - because in addition to the signal lights in the monastery, someone had lit a fire on the east bank of the Ten Arrow River, and the defenders in the city should be guiding the direction of the reinforcements on the water.

This rendered all of Alani's preparations for dealing with the enemy's beaching ineffective.

Clearly, the battle on Margit Island is far from over.

So Alani had to take over the work of the Federation people and continue to strengthen the defense of the Bishop's Castle.

Fortunately, the tools and manpower are available.

In addition to Lieutenant Alani's men, there were nearly a hundred laborers stranded on the island in the Bishop's Fort.

Most of these laborers come from the slums of the Kings' Castles and surrounding towns. They are the biggest victims of the current precious metal shortage crisis in the Kingdom of Galloping Horses.

Due to the massive reduction in the amount of gold and silver circulating in the market, commercial activities in Palatus have almost stagnated. The amount of food that can be exchanged for a unit weight of gold and silver is increasing, but the urban poor who cannot work or eat can only watch their children starve to death.

Therefore, the people of the Federation recruited a large number of workers from the Kings' Castles and surrounding towns at a very cheap price.

Because they were worried about the riots of the hungry poor, many municipal governments of autonomous cities even took the initiative to help the federal government recruit young and strong people from the unemployed poor and advance their salaries, just to get rid of these "unstable factors" as soon as possible. This is also the main reason why the federal government was able to advance the project so quickly.

After "rescuing" the militiamen conscripted by the federal province, Alani immediately gathered everyone to speak.

He explained the righteousness of the cause and tried hard to make the workers understand that the Federalists were a group of invaders, and the Maplestone City government was the legitimate successor to the First Republic.

However, workers' response was lukewarm.

Many of them were not even "Platonists", but Protestants who had fled from the empire. In terms of faith, they actually resonated more with the people of the United Provinces.

As for the remaining Palatians who had lost their land and were forced to live in the city, they thought that the Blue Rose had fought back. They had no good feelings towards either the Blue Rose or the Red Rose.

However, this problem is not difficult to solve.

Lieutenant Alani Arthur immediately changed his rhetoric and began to offer inducements.

After receiving the guarantee that they would not be forced to fight and the promise of triple pay, the laborers recruited by the federal soldiers turned to work night shifts for the Palatine soldiers without any psychological burden.

It was too late to work on the trench. Even if everyone present grew four arms, it would be impossible to dig the trench to an uncrossable depth before dawn.

Therefore, the only way to strengthen the defense of the Bishop's Fortress is to focus on the walls.

Whether it was sheepskin bags or sacks, any container that could be found in the bishop's castle was filled with soil and piled on the existing castle walls to make them higher.

  Even the tables, chairs, beds, and straw mats for the laborers were brought to the fort walls:

The tables, chairs and beds were disassembled into wooden piles and boards, which were hammered into the walls to serve as frames;

Then, like nailing a fence, the straw mat is fixed to the frame, thus constructing a crude fence;

Repeat the previous steps, then fill the space between the two fences with soil, and you will eventually get a simple breast wall.

In order to avoid attracting enemy artillery shells, Alani did not allow any lights to be lit in the fort, and the operation to reinforce the fort wall had to be carried out in the dark.

Alani's men obeyed the order silently, but the laborers complained.

Inside the fortress wall, the sounds of shovels and workers' curses could be heard one after another.

But the lieutenant still kept strict control of lighting.

"Sir, how about this?" The chief sergeant could no longer hold back. He felt his way along the wall to find the lieutenant who was carrying a bag of earth on the fort and advised, "Light a few fires. It's too dark and it's really inconvenient to work."

"Do you see that place?" Alani wiped the sweat off his forehead and pointed casually in the dark.

"Uh... I didn't see anything."

"Yes, I can't see anything either, because they didn't have a fire. They can't see us either, because we didn't have a fire either," Alani walked down the fort wall, picked up another mound of earth, and explained breathlessly, "That's the Federalist's artillery battery, right next to the water gate. The artillery from that battery can easily hit here. As long as there is a little light here, the Federalist's shells will fly over immediately."

The chief sergeant hesitated to speak.

"I know what you want to say," Alani carried the dirt bag and walked towards the fort wall again. "You want to say that we have walls on all sides, so it's not easy for the cannonballs from the Federation to hit us."

"You are indeed a learned man," the chief sergeant, whose temples already had a little gray, complimented the lieutenant, who was younger than his son.

Alani smiled in the darkness. "But the Federalists don't even need to hit anyone. As long as the shells land in the Bishop's Castle, the people working there will scatter... So, now is our last chance to strengthen the city's defenses. As soon as the sun rises, the Federalists' cannons will start to fire."

"Besides, the shells are coming from behind, and the federalists are attacking from the front," he pointed to the north and south respectively, and said quietly, "This battle will be difficult to fight."

The chief sergeant snorted, "If they come, we kill them. How difficult is that?"

After saying this, the chief sergeant saluted in the darkness and walked away again, holding on to the wall.

Alani suddenly felt that giving up thinking was an open-minded way of life. He spat and continued to carry the mud bags.

A moment later, Lieutenant Alani Arthur received some bad news that made him think.

"Sir," the sergeant in charge of counting the supplies in the fort reported breathlessly, "something is wrong. The food in the fort is only enough for us to eat for one day..."

"How is that possible?" Alani frowned. "Don't the people of the Federation want to defend the Bishop's Castle? Did they bury the warehouse?"

"That's what I thought, too," the sergeant said, sweating anxiously. "I searched everywhere, but there was nothing! The laborers also said they had never seen a secret passage. They said the bread they ate was baked in the convent and sent to them."

Alany suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. He grabbed the sergeant's shoulder and said with a grim face: "Go to the ferry! Tell Captain Woods... don't send any more reinforcements..."

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