Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 579 Siege (Thirty-one)

Under the cover of night, a small boat drifted down silently from upstream, without any lights or oars, and quietly anchored on the shore.

In the darkness Winters crossed the embankment and headed for the boat, followed by Mason and Bart Shiring.

In the distance, there were faint lights flickering in the north and northeast.

That was the Bishop's Fort on Margit Island, and the "Castle" fort at the southernmost end of the new town, transmitting messages.

Both fortresses are currently in the hands of the enemy, and they support each other.

On the river beach below the castle turret, the wreckage of a barge can be vaguely seen.

The part of the hull above the waterline had been almost completely burned, leaving only a charred bottom, lying lifeless on the mudflat like a collapsed tombstone.

Among the seven warships of the new army, three more suffered the same fate.

However, thanks to the crew's strenuous efforts to save them, they did not drift into the enemy's defense zone, but were stranded on the river beach controlled by their own side. They were then recovered by friendly forces on the shore and turned into part of the fortifications.

The warship converted from a cargo ship is still too weak compared to a real warship.

The new army's muskets hit the hull of the Federalists' ship, leaving only minor flesh wounds.

However, the cannons equipped on the federal warships had devastating power against the new army's ships.

Even dragging the Federals into hand-to-hand combat was very difficult - the sides of the New Army's warships were too low, only slightly higher than the lower decks of the Federal warships, and ladders were needed to board them.

Not to mention that the federal warships also have poop and forecastle.

At the critical moment, Samukin, who was in charge of commanding the new army's navy, made a surprising decision.

He ordered the command ship he was on to beat the war drums and charge straight towards the enemy ships.

Things happened so quickly that there was no time to communicate using flag signals. When the other six new army warships saw the command ship rushing towards the enemy ship, they stopped retreating and turned around to fight.

This, in turn, threw the federal navy into disarray. They fired several broadside volleys, which were about to shatter the "rebel" boats, but they were unable to slow down the enemy at all.

Finally, the captain of the federal warship decided to retreat and put some distance between himself and the "rebel" boat.

It’s not that the federal captain was afraid of boarding, but because of the crazy momentum of the small boat rushing towards him, he thought it was a fire ship.

The decision of the federal captain gave the new army a glimmer of hope on the surface.

Because it's not just firepower and tonnage, in terms of speed, the new army's inland barges are also no match for the United Provincial Navy's galleys, and the wind direction is also unfavorable to the new army.

If they simply ran away, they would be caught up by the Federalist warships, who would clean their decks with artillery fire one by one.

Instead, the small boats of the New Army took the initiative to engage in battle, catching the Federals off guard and forcing the latter's large ships to retreat.

Taking advantage of the temporary retreat of the federal warships, Samukin ordered the abandonment of four severely damaged warships and instructed the other three less damaged warships to retreat upstream.

With the strenuous rescue efforts of the new army sailors, the three severely damaged warships successfully rushed to the beach on the west bank of the Shijian River and ran aground in their own controlled area. Most importantly, the crew was evacuated safely, and even the wounded were carried ashore.

But one ship was on fire so badly that it had to be abandoned.

The abandoned ship drifted all the way to the "Castle" turret at the southernmost end of the new city of Kingsburg.

Perhaps to mock the "rebels", the federalists did not recycle it and left it on the beach.

And all this is just the beginning.

As the federal "navy" made its debut, with just one warship, it severely damaged the inland fleet that the Palatine people had put together with great difficulty.

Therefore, the confidence of the people of the Federation seemed to swell as well.

During the day the next day, they once again dispatched warships to intercept the new army boats that were carrying supplies to the island, and tried to completely destroy the "rebel" ships stranded on the river beach.

However, this time, Richard Mason, who was prepared, taught the Federal Navy a good lesson.

Although the new army's artillery had suffered considerable losses in the artillery battle the night before, all the gunners who were still able to fight were still wounded;

But earth walls against wooden walls, long-barreled cannons against short-barreled cannons, fixed positions against floating positions, in the end the wooden walls, short-barreled cannons, and mobile turrets could not hold on first.

After several large holes were dug into the hull, the [Marco Good Luck] withdrew from the battle in a panic and fled to the Castle of the Kings dock.

If it weren't for the fact that the warship named "Good Luck" was really lucky and was not hit below the waterline, this federal warship that was so powerful the night before might have to go to the river beach to accompany her enemies the next day.

From then on, the federal side no longer dared to expose its warships to the range of the new army's cannons - at least during the day.

At night, the Southern Front would still send surface troops to go upstream from the channel on the east side of Margit Island.

  Sometimes they sent large ships loaded with artillery to harass the new army positions on the west bank;

Sometimes they would send small boats filled with flammable materials to destroy the pontoon bridges that the new army was building.

Obviously, the Southern Front Army was well aware that if they sat back and watched the new army build a pontoon bridge, it would only be a matter of time before Margit Island was completely lost.

Therefore, even though it came at a considerable risk, the Southern Front Army insisted on sending out ships to disrupt the actions of the new army, especially to slow down the construction of the pontoon bridge.

As a result, the new army’s floating bridge has not yet been completed.

Mason was also very troubled by this.

The new army’s artillery position is located on the west bank of the Shijian River, which can block the river channel on the west side of Magit Island to a certain extent.

However, Majit Island is an island in the middle of the river, and both sides are navigable. As for the river on the other side, the cannons set up on the west bank of the Ten Arrow River are powerless.

Mason did consider moving the cannons to the island so that he could block the water in two directions at the same time.

But eventually, he gave up the idea.

Firstly, it was too difficult to move the cannon to the island, and secondly, once the cannon was moved up, it would be even more difficult to move it down than to move it up.

Considering the risks involved, Mason did not act rashly.

So when Winters arrived at the front, Mason was preparing the second plan - iron chain across the river.

That is, use an iron chain across the river to completely block the waterway.

If this plan could be implemented, the new army would be able to carry out construction between Margit Island and the west coast without interference.

The problem is that the iron needed to make the chains can only be transported from the rear.

However, the food and supplies for the siege troops had already placed a huge burden on the supply line, and it was simply too much to transport iron materials.

In fact, Mason also tried to make ropes using materials that were easily obtained on the front lines, such as linen, leather, and bark.

However, after the Southern Army's fireboat was overturned by the hemp rope the night before, it immediately responded the next night by sending a small manned boat to cut the rope first, and then sending out the fireboat to burn the pontoon bridge.

So after going around in circles, Mason finally realized that he still had to use an iron chain.

But the iron materials could not be transported up.

The only solution Mason could think of was to solve the problem of food and fodder on the front line and free up the transportation capacity of the baggage troops.

At the same time, iron materials were collected locally on the front line as much as possible.

However, the new army marched quickly all the way to the Kings' Castle and then attacked the city, spending almost no energy on "receiving".

Many towns in Xilin Province simply changed their flags and everything went back to normal.

There are still many towns that have not even changed their flags and are still sitting on the fence.

So Mason had to try to communicate with local towns, collect and purchase supplies, and coordinate and arrange routes.

On his way to the Castle of Kings, Winters met Andre.

Andre complained to Winters for a long time, complaining that during this period he had returned to his old job of escorting baggage.

  In Winters' view, Mason has actually fallen into a vicious circle of "which came first, the chicken or the egg":

In order to rule Palatus, it is necessary to conquer the castles of the kings;

In order to capture the Kings' Castles, it is necessary to draw resources from the Xilin Province;

In order to extract resources, it is necessary to establish effective rule in Xilin Province...

For Winters, a more serious problem than the vicious circle of "attack the castles of kings first, or rule Palatus first" is the issue of "establishing effective rule", which is not only completely beyond the capabilities of a front-line command, but also exceeds the authority that a front-line command should have.

In other words, in order to solve the endless new problems, Senior Mason has turned the "Siege Command" into the de facto government of the New Republic in Xilin Province.

The National Assembly in the rear had not yet decided how to take over the towns and cities, but the messengers from the siege front were already issuing orders to the autonomous cities in Xilin Province.

And all of this was just for an "iron chain", which made Winters at a loss for words.

But Winters had no intention of blaming the senior, because just by looking at Mason's haggard face, he knew that the senior was trying to solve problems, one after another.

In fact, he thought, Geza Adonis should be the one keeping watch for Mason.

But the problem is that Geisa Adonis doesn't think this is a problem at all - and this may be a bigger problem.

However, no matter how big the problem is, it has nothing to do with Richard Mason, because in Mason's view, his mission is to solve the problem at hand.

  In fact, in addition to "moving the cannon to the island" and "crossing the river with iron chains", Mason also has a third plan:

The artillery position moved forward until it reached the point where the Ten Arrow River, which was divided into two by Margit Island, merged into one again, directly blocking the route between Margit Island and the Castle of the Kings.

Just by taking a quick look, Winters understood why this seemingly simplest and most reasonable plan was ranked third.

Because it was the ideal location for "blocking the route between Margit Island and the Castle of the Kings", there was already a fort on it - the "Fortress" Fort, a fortress built by the Federal Provinces at the southernmost end of the new city.

In other words, this becomes a question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

  To block the waterway, we must first attack the "fortress" batteries;

If we attack the fortress battery, we will be flanked by the Bishop’s Fort on Margit Island;

If you want to capture Margit Island, you must first block the waterway.

For a moment, Winters even began to feel sorry for Senior Mason.

On the other hand, he became increasingly convinced that the people of the Federation did not just randomly choose a few locations and build a few artillery batteries.

It is very likely that the current predicament faced by the new army was designed by the enemy.

This again brings us to the battle situation on Margit Island.

If we regard Majit Island and Ten Arrow River as two independent battlefields, then the intensity of the battle on Ten Arrow River is nothing compared to that on Majit Island.

In Andre's words - and when he said this, Andre's expression was disgusted and serious - it was "beaten into a mess."

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