Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 573 Siege (Twenty-Five)

  [trench]

The smoke filled the trench, making it impossible to open one's eyes.

Tamas covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth, but every time he breathed, there was still a burning sensation.

The enemy launched attacks from multiple directions at the same time, with gunshots and harsh metal sounds coming from the front and back at the same time.

The demonic fire cut the long snake-like trench into several sections. A battle was taking place in each "trunk" of the snake, and they killed each other for a foot or an inch of distance.

Tamas led Peter Bunnier and his men to advance southward.

The trenches dug by the federalists were very narrow, as if they were deliberately designed to prevent people from stretching their arms. Two people had to squeeze sideways to pass each other, so Tamas blocked the passage tightly himself.

In his left hand he held a shield made of local materials, wooden boards and a breastplate. The wooden boards were removed from ammunition barrels, and the breastplate was stripped from the corpses of the federal soldiers.

That's right, the federalists are in armor.

When the soldiers of the company swam across the river, most of them only carried their personal weapons.

In the trenches where it is difficult to turn around, the advantage of "iron-clad flesh" is self-evident.

The thought of this made Tamas feel as if a knife was stabbing his heart.

This mental pain tormented him more intensely than the physical pain.

When rushing to the beach, his left foot stepped on something and cut a big gash, but he was completely unaware of it.

He didn't notice until Peter Buniel exclaimed.

  But his subordinates, those companions who entrusted their lives to him and trusted him unreservedly, were bleeding and sacrificing, so what was this little injury?

So he scolded Peter Bunnier who wanted him to stay behind, but when he saw the aggrieved expression of the company captain, he couldn't help feeling guilty.

Fortunately, these unnecessary emotions only occupied his heart for a short time. Once he entered the battle, he immediately put all distractions behind him and concentrated on leading his subordinates to clear the trenches.

Tamas walked at the front of the team, holding a simple shield and a dagger.

Peter Bunnier followed at a pace behind him, carrying a bag full of grenades.

Further back are the other warriors.

No one dared to look up and bent down as much as possible, almost to the point of squatting while walking.

Because they were being fired at from both sides, there was no safe "reverse slope" in the trench. Lead bullets whizzed past their heads, and some fell directly into the trench, hitting the wall and splashing up balls of earth.

To the north, the Federals' artillery was also firing, but no one knew where they were hitting.

All people can do is lower their heads and leave everything to luck.

The trenches dug by the Federals had a corner every twenty steps or so.

Depending on the terrain, an additional space will be expanded on the inside or outside of the corner to store supplies or station troops for defense.

Tamas was familiar with the arrangements of the Provincials because the Centurion had taught him these things.

Therefore, as he advanced, he would be extremely careful every time he approached the corner at the end of the passage.

When he was only one step away from the corner, Tamas thrust his dagger into the wall of the passage and asked in a deep voice, "[Platonic dialect] Is anyone there?"

No one answered from the corner alcove.

Without turning his head, Tamas extended his hand to the captain of the first company behind him.

Peter Bunnier behind him immediately placed a heavy, cold iron lump like a goose egg in his hand.

Then Tamas heard the sound of the flint striking the steel.

Then, Peter Buniel behind him patted him on the back hurriedly.

Without hesitation, Tamas stuffed the iron lump in his hand into the alcove in the corner.

The two of them worked in perfect harmony, with no need for any extra words.

Almost at the same time that Tamas withdrew his hand, the iron lump exploded in the alcove.

The air surged out of the alcove, hit the corner of the passage, and then poured out in both directions.

The alchemical smoke deposited in the trenches was briefly pushed away, and even more suffocating smoke and dust instantly filled the trenches again.

Tamas drew his dagger from the wall and rushed into the alcove, only to find the mangled body of a United Provinces soldier inside.

Tamas didn't know whether the enemy was dead before being blown up, or was blown up before dying. None of this mattered. What mattered was that the enemy had been ready to kill him and his men, and now that he was dead, he could no longer cause any harm to his men.

Tamas left a few warriors to guard the alcove and continued to advance.

In the next alcove, as he asked in the Platonic dialect, a faint, trance-like voice came from the alcove:

"battalion commander?"

Tamas rushed into the alcove and saw a soldier leaning against the mud wall of the trench, holding his stomach, sitting on the ground.

"Gosha!" Tamas called out the soldier's name directly, and then squatted down beside the soldier.

Gosha was only fifteen years old, and he had fought in Tamas's squad before the Battle of Blood Mud. His real name was Igor, but everyone loved this little boy, so they all called him by his nickname.

However, there was no life on Gosha's face at this moment. He tilted his head back and stared at Tamas with his eyes wide open. His lips, which were covered with a little hair, moved weakly and were bloodless.

In Tamas's eyes, Gosha looked much thinner all of a sudden, and his already thin face became even more pointed.

When he got closer, he found that there was a huge hole in Gosha's stomach, and his intestines slipped out from between Gosha's palms and fell to the ground.

Peter Bunnier, who had followed Tamas into the alcove, sobbed softly.

"I thought... I... heard it wrong..." Gosha didn't shed a tear. He was still trying to explain to Tamas, "I... I want to put it back... but... but I can't put it in..."

“It’s okay,” Tamas said, as if a thousand arrows had pierced his heart. “I’m coming.”

"It's... it's great... I... I thought... I was going to die here alone..." Gosha wheezed in his throat, "The Federation... the Federation guys... went south... a lot of people... a lot of people..."

Tamas held Gosha's hand. He could not deceive Gosha with gentle lies, nor could he face the death of the child.

“I’m sorry,” Tamas whispered, “Gosa.”

Gosha was no longer able to speak, and he shook his head with his last bit of strength.

Tamas handed Gosha over to his other men, picked up his shield, and walked out of the alcove without looking back.

Endless rage surged in his heart, tearing at his chest and burning his internal organs.

All other thoughts disappeared. He only wanted to hurt the people of the Federation in the most cruel way, to kill them, to tear them into pieces... No, even if he cut all the people of the Federation on the island into pieces, it would not be able to quell his hatred.

There was no one in the next trench.

In the next section of the trench, there were only three bodies, two of them were from the Federation and one was one of Tamas's men.

In the next trench, two Federalists stayed in the alcove. When they heard the sound of flint, they wanted to rush out, but Peter Bunnier left the fuse very short, so the horsetail grenade exploded halfway and blew off the legs of the two Federalists.

Tamas killed two federal soldiers and continued to clear southwards.

The further we went, the clearer the sounds of shouting and killing became, but it was always quiet at the back.

Tamas gradually realized that the real main attack direction of the United Provinces was not the landing site, but the fortifications at the southern end of Margit Island.

After realizing this, Tamas led his men to advance quickly southward.

After entering the open space at the southern end of Margit Island, the trench is no longer a straight line, but is divided into three passages.

Not far away, on the flat river beach, corresponding to the Bishop's Fort at the northernmost end of Jiangxin Island, there is a small fortification. It is the core fortification of the Federal Provinces' position at the southernmost end of the island.

At the small fortification, the two sides were fighting.

Although there was thick smoke, Tamas couldn't see who was attacking and who was defending.

But after discovering the true intentions of the Federals, he was confident in making a judgment - the Federals were attacking and the soldiers who landed on the island were defending. The Federals had just walked the same route he had taken, so he only found dying or dead subordinates along the way, because the soldiers who could still move had retreated to the small fortress at the southernmost end.

There was a roar of gunfire on the high slopes, as the muskets of the Federalists were pouring fire on Tamas's men in the fortifications.

Fires were burning on the riverbank as the Federalist commandos were throwing alchemical liquid into the small fortress.

Tamas had a strong urge to rush forward regardless of his own safety and die together with the people of the Federation.

But he still had more than twenty soldiers around him, and he couldn't bring these people to death.

After weighing the pros and cons, Tamas did not immediately order an assault.

"Take out all the horsetail grenades," Tamas pursed his lips, looked at the two warring parties on the river beach, and ordered the captain of the first company, "This time, the fuse must be long."

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