Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 95 City Defenses in the Old Era
“According to the locals we interviewed, the city walls of Tacheng are quite old. The exact construction time is unknown, but it is at least fifty years old – this was originally the seat of the Duke of Chiliu Island. After the Federation seized power, it was gradually abandoned until it was renovated again two years ago, but the overall structure was not significantly altered.”

The atmosphere inside the temporary camp's military council tent was extremely oppressive. Most of the senior officers were smoking silently, listening to the intelligence chief's report without uttering a word.

The officer who was speaking turned a page in his notebook, licked his lips, and continued, "The main body of the city wall is not made of lime mortar, but volcanic ash concrete, the same material used for the dome of St. Mark's Basilica. It's artificial stone made by mixing volcanic ash with lime and seawater. The outer wall is made of volcanic rock quarried from a nearby quarry. Simply put, the main body of the city wall is a single large stone, covered with another layer of stone."

One of the officers muttered a curse, and the others looked rather grim. The officers who could hold a meeting here had at least fourteen years of military service, and the stronger the city walls, the greater the cost the attacking side would have to pay.

Seeing that everyone was in a bad mood, the head of the intelligence department quickly continued to explain the disadvantages of the city wall: "However, the biggest problem with the city defense system of Tacheng is that it is too old and belongs to the outdated city defense system. It still relies on high defense, and there are earthen slopes under the high walls to deal with the siege ladders."

Because stone walls were expensive to build, the main body of the city wall was relatively thin, with a width of only about two meters, making it difficult to mount artillery. During the renovations two years ago, Tanilao recognized this problem, but didn't make any major changes; he simply added a protruding crescent-shaped fort on each of the east and west walls to mount flanking artillery.

The head of intelligence took a breath and turned another page in his notebook: "Because of the difficulty of excavation, Tacheng has no moat. After the Allied forces fled into Tacheng, they did consider trying to dig one temporarily, but they gave up after digging less than 1.5 meters. However, they used the excavated soil and stones to build a breastwork under the city wall and covered the city gate with a temporary rammed earth triangular fort..."

“There’s some strategy involved. William Kidd is just a mere pirate; he probably doesn’t have that kind of ability. Who’s really guarding the city?” Antonio interrupted the head of the Third Legion’s intelligence department.

The head of the intelligence department immediately broke out in a sweat. He didn't dare to refute and could only say, "...We don't know about that for now."

“We won’t go into the city defenses; everyone understands that. Let’s talk about some other, more important information.” Antonio continued, “Does the city have a water source? How many civilians are there? What’s the food supply?”

The officers were momentarily shaken by António's questions. Clearly, the fact that Major General Serbiati was asking these questions indicated that he was beginning to consider a long-term siege rather than a direct assault.

The head of the intelligence department quickly flipped through his notebook again: "The civilians in Tacheng are mainly sulfur miners and their families, numbering less than three hundred households. The Federation has not set up granaries in Tacheng, so there should only be the sulfur miners' stored grain and the grain they have collected from nearby villages in the past few days. There are no wells in the city; the main source of water is streams flowing down from the mountains, and there are two or three reservoirs. According to the locals, if you climb up the mountain behind Tacheng, there is a crater lake. However, the water there is bitter because it is too close to the sulfur mines."

Antonio rubbed his forehead and ordered, "Send a few men into the mountains to find out exactly how many streams there are, and whether we can find a way to cut them off."

The head of the intelligence department quickly agreed.

The atmosphere in the military council chamber became heavy again.

Layton couldn't contain himself any longer and slapped his thigh, cursing, "[Military swear word]! [Military swear word]! These tannins have stolen all our stuff! [Military swear word]!"

Although Layton's words sounded absurd, they were exactly what the officers were thinking.

Since breaking away from the Empire, the republics have been on the defensive strategically. Although the Empire was defeated, it still retains strength far superior to the Cynas Alliance.

Although no further warfare occurred between the Empire and the republics after the War for Autonomy ended, bilateral relations grew increasingly closer after Henry III ascended the throne.

However, strategic pressure is strategic pressure. On the other side of the Shaded Mountains lies the most powerful empire on the continent, which is still a huge threat no matter how friendly it may be.

Therefore, the strategic thinking of the armies of the various republics is mainly based on defense and counterattack, which is also a successful experience in sovereign wars. They use fortified towns to wear down the invaders' strength and morale, and then field troops seek opportunities to fight a decisive battle.

In the alliance's strategic thinking, there is no fortress that cannot be breached. As long as enough damage is inflicted before it falls and enough time is gained, the fortress has already achieved its strategic objective.

The Tani people in Tacheng clearly had this goal in mind. This was an isolated city destined to fall—two legions, each with ten thousand troops, were besieging a small city defended by less than three thousand men, and the defenders had not yet received any reinforcements.

Normally, faced with a battle destined to fail, the defending troops would have surrendered long ago. At most, they would have offered some conditions during negotiations, such as allowing the defenders to leave with their weapons. However, the Federation's defenders refused to surrender and showed no intention of negotiating whatsoever.

The Tani people behind the city walls had figured out the weakness of the military system of the republics: the political system meant that Venetta could not mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops at any cost like a feudal monarch.

When there is no war, the Venetians only have 6,000 regular troops. In order to save money, they are stationed in various cities, as the cities where they are stationed can provide supplies.

Therefore, António and Leyton could not afford to waste Veneta's elite troops under the walls of the city, but they also could not leave a Federation army behind them to wait for an opportunity to attack.

This is why Layton angrily denounced Tanny for stealing his technology. This is an era where "tactics favor offense over defense, and strategy favors defense over offense." Anyone would be furious to have their winning formula used against them by someone else.

However, this is unavoidable, because humans learn very slowly, except when it comes to warfare.

The barbarians on the empire's frontiers may not be able to learn poetry and songs, but they can immediately absorb and digest things like iron tools, catapults, gunpowder, and cannons.

This is why "savagery" was able to conquer "civilization" time and time again, because in this era, the military technology of "savage tribes" was no less advanced than that of "civilized nations," and their mobilization capabilities were even superior.

That's a bit of a tangent; let's get back to the battle for Tacheng.

The officers racked their brains but couldn't come up with a good solution.

The best approach, as everyone knows, is to not attack but to besiege the city. The garrison at Tacheng numbers less than three thousand, and they are terrified; they would never dare to venture out for a decisive battle.

Therefore, as long as one legion from either the Legion of Vinetta the Great or the Legion of St. Mark remains to besiege the area, they can wait for the defenders to run out of food and surrender on their own.

If the defenders don't come out, then we'll just sit back and fight. Anyway, the Venetians have the entire Chiliu Island as a supply base, so they can stand their ground with the Tani people until the end of the world.

It would be even better if the defending troops dared to venture out of the city for open battle. A full-strength army of over five thousand men fighting against your three thousand ragtag troops would surely splatter the brains of the Tani people.

The other legion could be freed from the siege and continue attacking the other main islands of the Tanilla archipelago. Everyone knew the plan was good, but the problem was… who would stay? Who would leave?
Who would be willing to stay and besiege the city? Who knows how much food the Tani people in the city have? Richard IV besieged Guido for two years and still couldn't break through. If luck is on their side, the legions left behind might still be staring at the Tani people in the city when the war ends.

The soldiers might be happy to agree, but none of the officers present were.

Without war, officers can only get promoted by accumulating seniority. However, the military system of the Cynas Alliance meant that officers not only had to accumulate seniority, but also had to wait for vacancies to open.

Unless they came from wealthy families or had wealthy fathers-in-law, the officers who could sit in the military council tent had all worked their way up from "begging second lieutenant, impoverished first lieutenant, squeezing out money captain, and finally major".

Having finally gotten a chance to fight, which officer would be willing to waste time here? Who wouldn't want to advance further?
Outside of this small but formidable city of Vineta, the problems with the military command system became apparent.

From a rational point of view, the reserve corps should be responsible for besieging the island, while the elite standing corps should leave Chiliu Island to continue their conquests.

The problem is that both Serbiati and Layton are major generals. Moreover, even if the former's rank is higher than the latter's, he still cannot command the latter.

The military structure of the Republic of Veneta dictates that each legion operates independently, as each legion reports directly to the Military Council, and the legion commander is accountable only to the Council of Thirteen. Even a second lieutenant placed in the position of commander of the San Marco Legion can disregard António's orders.

This structure prevented internal factions within the military from becoming too powerful, ensuring that the government commanded the military rather than the military hijacking the government, thus preventing the Venetta government from going down the wrong path of becoming a federal republic.

Moreover, if it were a war on home soil, there would be no problem with each legion being independently commanded by the Council of Thirteen. However, the problem now is that the two legions are separated from the city of Aquamarine by a vast ocean. To communicate with the Council of Thirteen, ships must first be sent across the ocean back to Aquamarine, and then across the ocean back to Red Sulfur Island.

Even with favorable winds, a round trip would take at least three weeks. If luck is against them and they consistently encounter headwinds, it's not impossible that they wouldn't receive news from Aquamarine City for a month. If luck gets really bad and the dispatched communication ships sink, then the two legions would likely be stuck waiting for a reply, while Aquamarine remains completely unaware of the situation on Crimson Sulfur Island.

Moreover, even if everything goes smoothly, it will still take three weeks to get news from the Council of Thirteen. So it's better to just launch a direct attack. If the siege goes smoothly, we might be able to take Tower City in a week.

The senior officers in the military tent were fully aware of the current situation, but questions such as whether to retreat or attack, and who should leave and who should stay, were not matters for them to discuss.

Decisions can only be made by the two legion commanders; no one else is qualified to participate—of course, theoretically there is one more person who is qualified, namely the other thirteen council members sent by Aquamarine City.

The officer who came to Chiliu Island aboard the supply fleet was originally there at the request of Rear Admiral Antonia and Admiral Naresha, as the third member of the Provisional Military Committee of the Revenge Fleet.

Unfortunately, another naval officer arrived... No matter how high the rank of a naval officer is, they have no say in army affairs.

António had previously proposed establishing a joint command to avoid such internal friction between the army and navy. However, while the Third Army Corps and the navy cooperated smoothly, problems arose within the army first.

So in the end, the two corps commanders had to reach a consensus, and the officers were all waiting for the two major generals' final decision.

Major General Layton was clearly unwilling to stay and hold out. After sitting on the sidelines for many years, he had finally regained command of troops and was determined to make a big splash. How could he possibly waste his time on the small island of Chiliu?

Even if António agrees to stay and besiege Taur, the officers of Vienneta's army will not be convinced.

Winters contacted the Legion of Grand Vinetta through Kalman's smuggling channels; in other words, the credit for capturing Red Sulfur should have originally belonged to the Third Legion.

However, in order to ensure victory, António decided that the Third Legion would continue to feign an attack on the north coast to draw away the enemy's main force, while entrusting the task of attacking Red Sulfur Port to the newly arrived San Marco Legion.

In other words, this credit was bestowed upon the San Marco Legion by Antonio. The officers of Vicente del Mar were filled with resentment, and only Antonio's prestige kept them in check. Phrases like "enduring for the country, compromising for the sake of the nation" held little weight with officers who dreamed of advancement and merit.

Besides, they had already tolerated it once, so why couldn't the San Marcos Legion tolerate it once more? The officers of the Grand Vinetta privately firmly believed that, both morally and logically, the "reserve" should stay behind, and they would rather climb the city walls than be responsible for besieging the city.

"How about we draw lots? Or maybe each family can keep half..." Just as one of the officers was lost in thought, Antonio abruptly adjourned the meeting.

At noon that day, Antonio, Layton, Nareshaw, and Vice Admiral Compton, who had just arrived from Oceania, held a closed-door meeting with the four highest-ranking officers of the Army and Navy.

The clerk was not allowed to enter the tent, so no one knows what kind of conversation the four had.

That afternoon, Andrei excitedly burst into Winters' tent and vigorously shook Winters awake from his afternoon nap.

Winters, who was always grumpy in the morning, struggled to suppress the urge to swear: "What?"

"We've got work!" Andrei shouted excitedly. "The section chief wants the two of us to go with the engineering officer to oversee road repairs! Finally, we don't have to do paperwork anymore! Copying! Copying! Copying! I've been writing so much these past few days that I've almost forgotten how to read letters..."

"Huh!? Road construction?"

Demolition and reconstruction were more expensive than starting from scratch. With cannons now in use, the existing city defenses required extensive renovations. However, to save money, most city defense renovations in the 15th and 16th centuries were simply patching up existing structures. For example, the renovations of Rhodes and Famagusta involved altering the existing medieval walls repeatedly. In 1472, the northern Italian city of Imola even encased its original medieval square towers in a massive circular tower, creating a comical nesting doll-like structure. After all, in an era of gold and silver standards, public spending budgets were always tight.

In addition, volcanic ash concrete is also a real technology.

Thank you to all the readers who voted for this book before, especially Crafoo Lawrence, writersblock, Yu Shi Tong Zhou, reader 20181013204343295, Yuan Hongjian, Ami, and Justice and Purity is Koala. Thank you everyone.

(End of this chapter)