When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1230 First Contact (Part 2)
"No number?" Cataloni beckoned, and an invisible force propelled the human knight who had delivered the message to his side. "Are you playing me?"

"No, no, no." The knight quickly shook his head. "That's how the Holy Alliance is; new chapters don't have designations."

“You’re telling me this is a new chapter?” Cataloni glanced sideways at the battlefield. “A new chapter that wasn’t even formed three months ago?”

On the battlefield, classic line infantry tactics have been deployed.

Long, broken lines stretched across the battlefield, where cuirassiers and blood knights, hunters and skirmishers, were locked in fierce combat.

The clockwork cannon fired iron balls in succession, smashing up mud, sand, trees, and water columns, and occasionally a series of vampires fell to the ground with groans.

Above the sky and in the shadows on the ground, high-ranking vampires, shrouded in blood mist, flew or moved, leaving afterimages in their wake.

Each time the half-meter-long blood claws struck, three or five Holy Alliance infantrymen fell to the ground with cries of agony.

Of course, there were also high-ranking vampires who were caught off guard and shot dead by the hunters.

Given the brutality of the battle, it's one thing for the Royal Guard, led by Cataloni, not to collapse, but can these new recruits withstand the pressure?
Don't think that vampires aren't afraid of death; fear of death and cowardice are inherent in all intelligent life.

At this moment, there are sporadic escapes in both sides' ranks, which is almost impossible to prevent.

“Your Excellency…” Cataloni casually broke the human knight’s limbs and tossed them aside, then stood with his hands behind his back, his feet dangling more than two meters above the hill.

This isn't flying with wings, but rather using the unique telekinetic power of the Manba clan.

At this moment, Cataloni essentially lifted himself up.

However, most Manba clans are very weak; their telekinetic magic is so weak that they could barely lift an egg, let alone themselves.

The reason Catalane can do this is simply because he is a vampire of pseudo-prince level.

They came from another river (not the Nauan River), and after landing, they found themselves stuck between Piana Castle and Fishing Town.

He was supposed to continue by land westward to Piana Castle, but he encountered the Holy Alliance army halfway there.

Since we've run into each other, let's give it a shot.

Cataloni was very confident in his royal guards.

But even if we lose, it's really not a big deal.

Upon encountering the Holy Alliance army, he immediately ordered the troops of Piana Castle to come to his aid.

It was not the weak army of the imperial humans, but the royal court's own army of three thousand vampires.

Cataloni gazed at the battlefield, stroking his chin.

It must be said that the Holy Alliance army was much faster than he had imagined.

Not only in marching, but also in the speed of attacks on the battlefield, it was much faster.

"Hmm?" After having this thought, Cataloni suddenly broke his own rules and rose another two meters.

This terrified the blood servant beside him: "Your Excellency, get down quickly, be careful of the spiral gun!"

Despite being advised against it, Kecatelli watched for a long time before slowly landing: "I feel something's wrong; their firing rate is off."

Looking down from mid-air, you'll see that during their march, the originally level army formations become jagged and intertwined due to various unforeseen circumstances.

For example, the Fourth Army Corps, which is currently at the forefront, is almost within 100 meters.

The thick black lines writhed across the green grass, almost never stopping.

It's important to understand that movement on the battlefield is always bidirectional.

That is, sometimes you move, sometimes I move, sometimes we move together, and sometimes neither of us moves.

Both sides need to determine their own local optimal solution based on the current situation before making a decision—to shoot or to advance.

This can sometimes even create a strange sense of rhythm, like drumbeats.

But they must abide by one rule: the more they fire, the less they move and the slower they go.

What Cataloni is seeing now is that, compared to where the two sides were before, the black lines have mostly moved further away.

In other words, they fired their guns less frequently.

This is not right!
They had tested the Holy Alliance's clockwork guns, especially the breech-loading ones, which had an extremely high rate of fire and very high accuracy.

The only drawback is that it only has fifteen to twenty rounds of ammunition.

Vampires can usually handle 20 to 30 rounds, or even 40 to 50 rounds of ammunition.

A large quantity of ammunition only indicates a high ceiling; it does not determine the key to victory or defeat in war.

If the Holy Alliance infantry were trying to save ammunition, that's a bit too stingy, isn't it?
What exactly are they doing, and what is the meaning of placing only one row of halberdiers at the back?
“This is very strange, you know?” Cataloni frowned. “Send the reserves forward ahead of time and prepare to provide support.”

"what?"

Do you need me to repeat it a second time?

"……Yes!"

The blood servant immediately mounted his horse and galloped towards the direction of the reserve team's flag.

As for Cataloni, he continued to use his binoculars to observe the situation on the battlefield.

The main focus is on observing the corps closest to our own front line.

The Fourth Army Corps marched forward in unison, following the beat of the drums.

Lead bullets whizzed past them, knocking down teammates every now and then, but they kept moving forward.

Why aren't you firing? You're already within firing range, go and fire like those Franz infantry! What are you doing?
Two hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters, one hundred meters.

Once they reached the 100-meter mark, the Fourth Army Corps finally stopped.

Suddenly, the soldiers in the first row took two steps forward and then knelt down, while the soldiers in the second row stepped forward in a lunge.

The soldiers in the third row remained standing, but suddenly shifted half a step to one side.

"Where is this?" Cataloni couldn't help but ask.

Just as the vampires were all wondering the same thing, the Holy Alliance infantrymen on the other side finally put down their wind-up muskets.

The first row was low, the second row was middle, the third row was high, and the fourth and fifth rows had their gun barrels resting on the shoulders of the soldiers in front.

Ok?
wrong!

"Three rounds of fire, prepare!"

"Praise be to the holy wind!"

"Praise be to the holy wind!!"

"Praise be to the holy wind!!!"

Within twenty seconds, praises for the Holy Wind rang out almost every six seconds.

The soldiers mechanically opened the loading gate, pulled the latch, wound up the spring, and pulled the trigger the instant the Holy Wind exited.

The continuous thuds seemed to suppress all other sounds on the battlefield, leaving only the creaking of the springs turning and the whooshing sound of lead bullets being fired.

With each praise, lead bullets are fired simultaneously from the five rows of gun muzzles at different heights.

It wasn't so much a downpour as it was a waterfall that submerged the vampires' front line.

Six seconds is a clever timing; it's just enough to allow a person or vampire to collapse and convulse, revealing their teammates behind them.

Twenty seconds ago, the Fourth Army Corps was facing a six-row thick line of spearmen on the left and right with muskets on the left and right and long spearmen in the middle.

Twenty seconds later, the formation of the six rows looked as if it had been chewed by a dog, falling into disarray.

Looking around, only three or five lucky ones remained in the first row of the vampires, completely terrified.

The second row was mostly occupied by people lying down, with less than half remaining.

Vampires were scattered and falling in the third and fourth rows as well, while only the fifth and sixth rows were relatively unharmed.

It wiped out more than a third of our friendly forces in one go, resulting in nearly 40% instantaneous damage!
Even though these vampires were royal guards, they couldn't help but tremble with fear.

Is that human being?
Even Cataloni was momentarily stunned, staring blankly at the scene.

Even Michel was slightly taken aback, because it was the first time he had used this tactic on the battlefield.

As expected of the tactics personally prescribed by the Holy Grandson—close-range shooting combined with bayonet charges.

Despite being equipped with clockwork guns, most soldiers, except for a few elite sergeants, normally only fired five or even three shots per minute.

Aside from a few new recruits who are indeed limited by their magical power, the majority of the limitation is due to considerations of the total amount of magical power available.

Fifteen to twenty rounds is basically the maximum ammunition for a clockwork musketeer. What happens after that if you run out in a minute?
There was no such problem when we were fighting the Empire before, because the enemy was really bad.

The infantry could easily wipe them out in one go, since the enemy had no way to retaliate from a distance anyway.

But things are different now. Vampires have the ability to fight back, so ammunition must be used sparingly.

The densest barrage of bullets must be reserved for the most critical and powerful moment.

Furthermore, when the clockwork gun is fired, it essentially depletes the soldiers' mana.

Therefore, excessively frequent and continuous firing can easily cause psychological trauma to the infantry.

In mild cases, it can lead to fainting; in severe cases, it can result in shock or even a vegetative state.

Because the terracotta gold-refining casket doesn't draw mana as violently as the original casket, it's easy for people to lose control.

In the past two years, every year there have been new recruits who have become vegetative due to shooting too fast.

Not everyone has the capacity of a saint's grandson to launch continuously.

Of course, I'm referring to magical power.

Thus, the tactic becomes clear: approach the enemy through various means such as shooting, providing cover, moving, and flanking maneuvers.

While maintaining morale, minimize firing.

Then, within the kill zone, launch an extremely dense barrage of fire in a short period of time, such as half a minute.

Thanks to the superior performance of the Canned 1453, the Holy Alliance infantry were able to fire five volleys in thirty seconds at their best.

Based on 100 spring-loaded guns per row, that means 2500 lead bullets can be fired in 30 seconds.

In this way, we can overwhelm the enemy in an instant and disrupt their formation.

Then, the next task is quite simple.

"Go on the bayonet!"

"Turn from walking to running!"

"charge!"

(End of this chapter)