Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 562 Siege (XIV)

Late at night, outside the Castle of the Kings, the attackers’ positions.

Captain Charka Matt, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Thunder County Infantry Regiment, led a small team of light infantry to quietly climb out of the frontline trenches, following the marks left by the scouts, and groping towards the bastion located in front of the main gate of the new city of the Castle of the Kings.

Since the Federals would send riflemen out of the city every night, in order to avoid encountering surprises along the way, the route that Captain Matt would take tonight had been cleared in advance by scouts.

Through the mouth of a man who claimed to be an insider, the besiegers obtained a lot of intelligence about the Southern Army.

For example, they knew that the so-called Southern Front Army was basically a donkey in a horse's clothing, with a total of four battalions of infantry, plus some artillery and engineers, no more than three thousand people at most.

For example, they also learned that because Jason Cornelius himself loved chess, all the new forts built by the Federalists were named after chess pieces.

  The artillery battery on the banks of the Ember Stream River, codenamed "Knight";

The fortress on Margit Island, codenamed "The Bishop".

The target of the light infantry who infiltrated the death zone between the attacking and defending positions was code-named "Queen".

Just by looking at the code name chosen by the federalists, one can understand how dangerous this large fortress standing in the center of the front line and protecting the entire new city is to the enemy and how important it is to the defenders.

At the same time, in the upper reaches of the Ten Arrow River, on the opposite side of Margit Island, diagonally opposite the Bishop's Fort.

Captain Woods Frank led more than 20 men and carried four rafts down the river bank in the darkness.

They pushed the raft into the river as quietly as possible and walked into the water themselves.

But they did not sit on the raft. Instead, they stayed in the water, in groups of six, pushing the raft against the current and sliding towards Margit Island under the night.

Standing on the shore, the surface of the slowly flowing Shijian River is as smooth as velvet.

However, once you step into the water, you can immediately feel the tremendous power hidden beneath the river's calm appearance.

There is no sky and no earth. The river carries you from all directions, pressing you, gently but irresistibly taking you to where it wants you to go.

This is the force that Woods Frank is fighting against.

The river pushes the raft downstream relentlessly, and anyone who tries to challenge her will find themselves in a losing battle.

Fortunately, after a few days of trying, Woods also figured out some tricks.

He held onto the edge of the raft with both hands, trying to distribute his body weight onto the raft as much as possible. At the same time, he tightened his abdomen, raised his waist, and pushed his legs backward and downward.

The most important thing is not to fight the river. No matter where the river wants to take you, just push towards the other side.

Having understood this trick, Woods was no longer as embarrassed as he was on the first night. The men he selected were also good swimmers.

Everyone cooperated well and the raft quickly crossed the center line of the river.

Margit Island was getting closer, the water of the Ten Arrow River was getting slower, and the destination was within reach, but Woods Frank's nerves were getting more and more tense, and the White Mountain County soldiers escorting the raft were moving less and less.

There was dead silence on both sides of the river, only the chirping insects tirelessly responded to the flowing water, stirring the heartstrings of the listeners.

Woods opened his eyes wide and stared at the other side of the river.

Suddenly, a shrill whistle covered all the noise.

A blood-red meteor shot up into the sky with a whistle, illuminating the water near the shore of Margit Island.

"Go!" Woods shouted without hesitation. He skillfully turned around in the water, kicked the raft away, and swam in the direction he came from.

Woods's men had even abandoned their rafts and turned back before the Federals' illuminating rockets were launched and the captain gave the order. Many soldiers went directly into the water and disappeared on the river.

Their early action was correct, because the next moment, a series of muzzle flashes burst out on Margit Island.

The musketeers of the defenders opened fire fiercely at the river from their trenches behind the "horse stakes" - the name the Plato people gave to the sharp wooden stakes that the Federals had driven into the riverbed.

But since Woods and his men retreated immediately, all the bullets hit empty space.

Some of the bullets hit the raft and embedded themselves into the wood; the rest hit the water surface, and with a "splash" sound, they glided in the water only a short distance before running out of power and falling to the bottom of the river.

At the same time, there was a burst of gunfire on the riverbank on the west bank - the Baishan County musketeers began shooting at Margit Island to cover the evacuation of their comrades.

Not wanting to be outdone, the Federal Provincial Musketeers also turned their guns and fired at the "rebel" positions on the other side of the river.

The two sides fought across the river, ping-pong, and the battle was difficult to determine.

It was not until the cannons from the federal artillery battery in front of the Bishop's Fort joined the battle that the momentum of the "rebels" was completely suppressed.

Two rounds of shotgun shells hit the breastwork of the "rebels", and the gunfire on the west bank suddenly became much less frequent.

Cheers of venting immediately broke out on Margit Island.

On the turret in front of the Bishop's Fort, Lieutenant Colonel Raymontecuccoli, who personally operated the cannon and fired the two rounds of accurate shots, casually put the iron rod back into the brazier without any pride on his face.

In the eyes of the artillery lieutenant colonel, firing at the "rebels" across the river was a pure waste of ammunition.

Even if cannons are used, it is difficult to cause effective damage to the "rebels" hiding behind bunkers.

However, the number of casualties is not the only criterion for evaluating a battle. Shooting across the river is a waste of ammunition, but it is necessary to maintain morale.

"At least the rebels are wasting powder just as well," thought Montecuccoli.

As expected, the shelling only silenced the "rebels" for a short time. Not long after, red lights flashed again and gunshots were heard on the breastwork of the "rebels" on the other side of the river.

Seeing this, the Federal musketeers in the trenches also resumed their blind shooting, wasting gunpowder.

The same thing has been happening every night lately, except for the night before last, when it happened twice.

The "rebels" never stopped trying to get supplies to Fort Bishop using small rafts.

But in the eyes of Raymond Montacucchio, the rebels were simply doing nothing.

Not to mention that the "rebels"' overly regular action patterns have completely destroyed the important advantage of "surprise" in offensive operations.

  Even if the "rebels" could approach Margit Island without being noticed, how could they break through the defenses set up by the defenders on the shore with only a few small rafts transporting troops?

Over the past few days, Montecuccoli has been strengthening the defenses of Margit Island.

Today, the shallows on the side of Magit Island facing the west bank of the Ten Arrow River are filled with sharp wooden stakes.

The pointed wooden stakes were half underwater and half above water, with an arm's length apart from each other, forming a long, impenetrable line, like a water fence.

Iron rings were installed on the wooden piles, and an iron rope passed through each iron ring, turning the scattered wooden piles into a whole.

Any ship that wants to reach the island from the west side must first break through this "water fence".

After the water fence was completed, Montecuccoli led his men to dig a trench along the river bank.

Through this circular trench, even in the dark night, the musketeers under Lieutenant Colonel Lodewijk could quickly reach any river beach. Anyone who tried to destroy the water fence would have to endure the deadly fire from the trench.

At the same time, fire from across the river had difficulty suppressing the shooters in the trenches.

If Raymond Montecuccoli gives it some more time, a rammed earth road will appear around Margit Island.

By then, even the artillery could be relocated at any time to quickly support any possible landing site of the "rebels".

Rammed earth roads can be upgraded to gravel roads, and gravel roads can be upgraded to paved roads.

As long as the director of the artillery department is given enough manpower and time, the entire Margit Island can be turned into a fortress.

Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Montecuccoli was not very worried about the safety of Margit Island.

Sometimes, he even reflected on whether he had lost his composure due to the easy loss of Bishop's Fort and had gone too far, causing the rebels to completely lose the desire to attack Margit Island, thus destroying the original battle plan of "luring the rebels to the island and then killing them."

Nowadays, Raymond Montecuccoli is more concerned about the situation in the new city of Kings Castle.

The angled trenches growing out of the "fence stakes" gave him a very serious sense of crisis.

If the rebels were determined to fight head-on, the only way out for the Southern Army would be to burn down the new city, retreat to the old city, and defend along the river.

Because Cornelius had too few troops on hand, and he had to assign personnel to monitor the movements in the city. If the rebels dragged him into a tug-of-war, the Southern Army would be the first to collapse.

However, if they retreated to the old city, what awaited the Southern Army would be only a delayed death sentence.

The Platonists would never forgive a group of United Provinces who burned down their capital.

Grove Magnus's rule would completely collapse - no, maybe Grove Magnus would even stand up and oppose the burning of the new city.

By then, the Southern Front would be just a small group of foreigners surrounded by hostile Platonists.

They might be able to hold out for a while, and if they're lucky, maybe a long time.

But the possibility of winning will completely disappear.

That’s right, win.

Perhaps he was infected by Jason Cornelius's annoying self-confidence. Even though the situation in the Castle of Kings was already precarious, Montecuccoli never gave up hope of winning - although most of the time, he himself felt ridiculous.

After all, there are only a small number of people in this world who can keep going even though they know the end is failure.

And [the fall of a fortress begins with the loss of hope].

Montecuccoli did not dare to guarantee that he could "die for victory", but he knew very well that he could not "sacrifice himself knowing that he could not win."

From this point of view, Montecuccoli admires Jason Cornelius.

He had no desire to explore the inner world of his old colleague, nor did he bother to do so, but as long as Cornelius was still fighting, he would continue to fight.

So, Raymond Montecuccoli wants to win this battle.

So, although he is now on Margit Island, his mind is all on the new city on the other side of the river.

As the illumination rockets ran out of alchemical fuel and disappeared into the night sky, the musketeers on both sides quickly grew tired of "shooting randomly at any light."

The sound of insects chirped again, and the banks of the Shijian River returned to peace.

The "rebel" raft lost control and, although it deviated from its original trajectory, it still drifted towards Margit Island and got hung on a sharp wooden stake in the water.

Montecuccoli sent a lieutenant to deal with it.

A moment later, the lieutenant returned to report, "The rafts have been fished out."

"Where did it drift to this time?" asked Montecuccoli.

"A little downstream from Bishop's Castle."

"Got it," Montecuccoli nodded calmly, "Leave the sentinels on duty and let the others go to rest."

Although the artillery lieutenant colonel thought that the "rebels"' idea of ​​crossing the river on a small raft was stupid, he had to admit that the "rebels"' swimming skills were improving day by day.

When the "rebels" first tried to deliver supplies to the island using small rafts, they failed to calculate the drift distance. Their rafts, made of large wooden barrels filled with flour and waterproofed with asphalt, missed Margit Island and were washed directly downstream, almost destroying the floating bridge connecting the new city and the old city.

When the "rebels" tried for the second time, although the raft drifted ashore, it was still a long way from Fort Bishop because it drifted directly to the east coast.

And tonight, the "rebels" were able to deliver the raft accurately to the front of the Bishop's Castle.

Unfortunately, as long as the defenders were on high alert every night, even if the "rebels" could deliver the supply rafts to the location, they would not be able to move them ashore, let alone deliver them to the "rebels" in the Bishop's Fort.

Compared to the "rebels" crossing the river on small rafts to the shore, Montecuccoli was actually more worried about the "rebels" in the bishop's castle rushing out.

So after digging the trenches around Margit Island, Montecuccoli immediately started digging trenches around the Bishop's Castle.

The rebels dug trenches outside the new city, and Montecuccoli dug trenches outside the bishop's castle, which complemented each other.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Montecuccoli was not interested in these small fish and shrimps in the Bishop's Castle.

Contrary to Jason Cornelius's opinion, Montecuccoli always believed that the rebels would abandon the remnants in the Bishop's Castle and even give up the attack on Margit Island - for this, the artillery lieutenant colonel believed that he had some responsibility - and instead launch a frontal offensive against the new city.

Therefore, although Raymond Montecuccoli returned to Margit Island to take charge as soon as possible after attending the combat meeting in the Castle of Kings, his mind was all on the Castle of Kings.

So although he ordered the soldiers to disband, he himself did not intend to rest and wanted to wait for news from the new city.

The wind was blowing from the northwest tonight, and the direction was just right, so Montecuccoli hoped to hear good news from the new town.

On the other hand, the musketeers in the trenches were extremely happy when they received the order to disband.

The "rebels" harassed the island once a night, and sometimes several times a night. Although they were defeated every time, they still made the island defense troops very tired. Even though they took turns to be on duty, the fatigue was gradually accumulating.

Moreover, the island garrison had to stand guard at night and work during the day, which made the soldiers physically and mentally exhausted.

So when they learned that they could rest, the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and immediately lined up to return to the camp in the monastery, hoping to rest as soon as possible.

Those unlucky guys who got the night duty sign could only yawn and guard the trenches alone.

While the defenders on the island were resting, further upstream on the Ten Arrow River, several pitch-black rafts were pushed down the river and drifted silently towards Margit Island.

  [Looking back at the previous article, I failed to explain some key information, such as the strength of the new army, and I am very sorry]

[So I added the relevant description at the beginning of Chapter 40, and added an explanation here for the book friends who are following me]

[The new army currently has seven battalions outside the Zhuwang Fort, two battalions each in Tiefeng, Leiqun, and Baishan, and one battalion in Bianjiang. Theoretically, the total force should be 3,500, but in reality it is less than 3,000, because the battalions are generally understaffed and Gesa is anxious to launch an offensive, so many battalions can only go to the front line first and then slowly replenish their forces]

[In addition to seven battalions of infantry, the new army also has six squadrons and more than a thousand light and heavy cavalry]

[These cavalrymen were the key to blocking the Kings' Castles, and were also the reason why the Southern Front Army had completely given up the desire to engage in a field battle with the New Army]

[Gesa was eager to launch an offensive, which resulted in many of his troops not being able to fill their positions. On the other hand, it also reduced the time for the Southern Front to build fortifications, leaving many loopholes in the defense lines of the Old City and Margit Island. There are pros and cons.]

[As for the subsequent reinforcement of the new army, it depends on Skull's ability]

[I haven’t been able to write at my best lately, I’m very sorry]