Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 571 Siege (Twenty-three)

  [Margit Island]

[Defending position]

Lt. Col. Raymond Montecuccoli counts the fire of rebel artillery.

All four six-pound guns on the island were in place. The artillerymen pushed and lifted them with great effort and finally moved the cannons that were originally deployed in the temporary artillery position in the north to the new position selected by the lieutenant colonel.

But Montecuccoli held back and even delayed giving the order to reload.

The appearance of rebel artillery has completely changed the rules of the game.

The new position chosen by Montecuccoli was located northeast of the rebel landing point, diagonally opposite the battlefield, with a certain height and a good view.

From his position he could see the pontoon bridge, the destroyed water fence, the rebel landing point, and the positions of Lodwijk's troops.

Beside him, his men were racing against time to build a cover for the cannon.

In the distance, illuminating rockets screamed into the sky from behind Lodwijk's defense line. The blood-red light dispelled the darkness, leaving the rebels on the shallows with nowhere to hide.

The musketeers of Lodwijk's unit, who were in a dominant position, shot the exposed rebel soldiers to death one by one like targets.

The artillery on the other side of the river then opened fire, fiercely bombarding the defenders' breastwork.

The rebels in the trenches also released smoke to cover the landing of friendly forces.

However, due to the wind direction, the thick smoke overflowing from the trenches was pushed toward the defenders, which gave Lodwijk's troops the opportunity to attack the beach.

In the previous battle, Lieutenant Colonel Lodewijk successfully divided the rebels defending the trenches by forcing their way close and throwing "liquid fire".

As the smoke between the trenches and the breastworks grew thicker, obscuring the vision of the defenders' musketeers and hampering the aiming of the rebel artillery, Lodwijk's soldiers once again climbed over the breastworks and, in a loose formation, launched a counterattack simultaneously towards the landing site and the rebel-controlled positions on the southern end of Margit Island.

If Montecuccoli could stay out of the matter, he would certainly applaud Colonel Lodewijk's decisiveness.

Unfortunately, he was in the middle of it, so all Montecuccoli could think about was his cannon... and the rebels' cannon.

A row of hourglasses was placed beside him, and every time a roar came from the other side of the river, he would turn over an hourglass.

To the ears of laymen, gunshots and cannonballs are just a kind of noise. The difference between the two is that gunshots are smaller and cannonballs are louder.

As for judging the specific model of guns based on the sound of firing, it is even more a fantasy.

But for Montecuccoli, an artillery expert, different types of cannons are like the same type of musical instrument with different ranges of sound.

A musician would not confuse a tuba, a trumpet, and a trombone, and Montecuccoli would not mistake the artillery pieces equipped by the armies of the Republics.

The roar that sounded first was rough and majestic, and the tail tone was thick and powerful, lingering for a long time, causing the listener's chest to vibrate unconsciously.

There is no doubt that only heavy artillery with a large charge can make such a sound.

As before, the roar of heavy artillery was heard seven times with short intervals between each shot, indicating that the "rebels" had deployed at least seven heavy artillery pieces on the other side of the river.

Combining the information accumulated in his mind, Montecuccoli judged that the seven heavy artillery currently exposed by the rebels should all be a type of siege cannon cast during the War of Sovereignty.

Because the Country of Galloping Horses has no record of mass-producing artillery in the past, and does not have the ability to mass-produce artillery at present.

The artillery held by the Palatine Army was either the "legacy" obtained when the Allied Army split up thirty years ago, or purchased from the United Provinces and Veneta after the founding of the country. The Palatine Army has never attached importance to artillery construction. After the victory of the War of Sovereignty, the Palatine people only imported a small amount of light artillery from the Allies to decorate the facade and maintain the theoretically existing artillery establishment. There has never been a record of ordering heavy artillery.

Moreover, the firing sounds of the seven heavy artillery pieces on the other side of the river were unified and coordinated, as if the same drum had been struck seven times in a row, indicating that although they were old, they were not real "antiques".

Because each real antique cannon is cast individually and has no specifications, it is naturally impossible for them to have a consistent "tone".

Well, the answer has actually been revealed: the only heavy artillery that meets the above conditions is the batch of 528-pound bronze cannons cast by the Victory Arsenal in . That was also the first time that the Victory Arsenal mass-produced heavy artillery.

Due to insufficient manufacturing experience, this type of heavy artillery has many unreasonable designs. For example, due to too many invalid structures, this type of artillery is extremely heavy and incredibly difficult to transport.

In the United Provinces, the 32-pound cannons produced in the same batch were either sealed, placed outside an important gate as a ceremonial object, or in a gun battery in a port overlooking the sea.

Montecuccoli could imagine how much effort the rebels had spent and how many draft animals had died to "invite" these old veterans to the front line.

However, precisely because he had seen through their true identities, Montecuccoli was not too worried about them.

Because although these old predecessors are incredibly powerful, they are extremely troublesome to use.

They were forged with the express purpose of being used not in field battles but to smash down castles and high walls of old times.

These old-style siege guns continued the design concept of stone-throwing cannons, pursuing extreme destructive power, trying to cause irreparable structural damage to the city wall with a single shot, even at the expense of firing rate, accuracy and transportability.

Therefore, the two sides of the Shijian River are not a suitable battlefield for them at this moment.

Even the "pursuit of single-shot damage" has been confirmed by the Artillery Teaching and Research Department to be a wrong concept.

Moreover, in the 528 years when they were produced, the cannon-casting technology of the Victory Arsenal was not yet mature, so when using them, one had to always be on guard against barrel explosion.

Therefore, Montecuccoli is not afraid of these "old-timers".

What really set off the alarm bells in Montecuccoli's heart were the few light artillery pieces on the rebel position that opened fire following the heavy artillery group.

Although the sound of the firing of those light artillery pieces was not as deafening as the sound of the heavy artillery firing, it was clearer, more transparent, and had a crisp feeling.

The reason why Raymond Montecuccoli felt dangerous, even surprised, angry, and felt a chill down his spine was not because the sound of shooting was unfamiliar, but because he was extremely familiar with it.

Because he had heard this unique "crisp" shooting sound countless times at the shooting range.

He was even so familiar with the sound that he could directly tell which model the sound came from - the six-pound field gun produced by the Victory Arsenal in 553.

Although it looks ordinary, it has achieved a balance in terms of weight, ballistics, productivity, etc., and is worthy of being called the crystallization of Victory Arsenal's 30 years of cannon casting technology.

The artillery he is using at the moment.

It was a cannon he designed himself.

Montecuccoli was certain that there was no export record for this type of artillery.

  [Orz, I'm so sorry]

[Still ask for leave until next Monday]