When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 672 Seven-Day Siege Plan
In the land of Black Snake Bay, many towns were built based on the temples of the old gods.

These temples are both the ruins of the old Norn tribes and the holy places of the snake people who migrated south. Since they are ready-made, the people of Black Snake Bay have the habit of building acropolises around the temples.

Those who live in the Acropolis are the so-called Black Snake Bay warriors and secret party wizards, and those who live outside the Acropolis are basically the local uncivilized savage villages and tribes.

Among these uncivilized savage tribes, there are both Norn tribes that have retained Flanization and Flan villages that have degenerated into tribes.

So many times, the temple is the name of the settlement in Black Snake Bay.

The walls of the Temple of Avis, which served as an important transportation channel to Sora Fort, were repaired repeatedly. The thickness of the walls is roughly enough for four people to walk side by side, and is estimated to be about three meters thick.

The height of the city wall is about twelve meters, and it becomes thicker as it goes down.

However, the church army used catapults when attacking the Temple of Avis, so the city wall had suffered minor damage.

Lulos frowned. "Since the city wall was only slightly damaged, how was the temple taken?"

"Well, the witchers attacked the city gates under the cover of night and we were unprepared." The secret party wizard who escaped from the Temple of Avis said awkwardly.

There is nothing much to say about the terrain near the Temple of Avis. To the west is the Moen River, a tributary of the Ibe River, and to the east is a large impassable forest swamp.

There were more than a dozen barges docked at the port of the Moone River in the west, and at the confluence of the Ibe River and the Moone River, the church had sunk several ships and cage stones in advance to prevent Horn's fleet from entering.

In the village to the east near the forest, there were stationed the snakemen servants they hired from the Green Dragon Forest, probably about 1000 in number.

Judging from the smoke from cooking fires and the number of tents, the number of defenders stationed in the city was probably between 3000 and 5000.

"There were more than 2000 Black Snake Bay warriors and their family members in the temple, right? Where are they?" Das, the captain of the Guards, stared at the map on the table.

"They were captured as slaves, and some were transported to the rear through the port."

"How did they get to the Avis Temple when Sora Fort was still intact?" Das asked, staring at the map.

"They sailed upstream along the river, bypassed Fort Sora, and after taking the port, they transported food and supplies from the rear through the port." Pettier picked up a stone and placed it on the small port west of the Temple of Avis. "There should be several hundred troops stationed here."

Das immediately perked up: "If we occupy the port, won't the church defenders in the city be cut off from food?"

The secret party that escaped from the Temple of Avis immediately coughed and said, "Well, there are still food and weapons in the Temple of Avis that we didn't have time to transport away before."

"The church army's attack was so fast? They didn't even have time to set fire to the food supplies?"

"We had time, but the city guards at the time thought it was a pity to burn so much food and grass. If the city wasn't breached, wouldn't it be a waste?" The secret party lowered their heads nervously, "So we didn't start to burn the food and grass until the church army rushed in, but we only burned a small half of it before the fire was put out."

The officers at the long table looked at each other and saw confusion and surprise on each other's faces, but they were reluctant to say it out of friendship.

"If we use artillery fire, how long will it take to break through the city wall?" Horn turned his head and asked Mormont beside him.

"Your Majesty, according to the calculation results, it will take thousands of bombardments to penetrate the three-meter-thick stone wall." Mormont said as he calculated on the spot, "If the bombardment lasts 3 hours a day, with the griffin cannon and the sand sculpture cannon attacking the city at the same time, it will take about eight days to break through the city."

The penetration mentioned by Mormont has a clear definition in the Artillery Manual, which is "the successful opening of a gap in the target wall by siege artillery, large enough to allow infantry or siege engines to break through the wall defenses and enter the castle."

Generally speaking, a gap of 2-3 meters is required horizontally, and it runs through the entire wall vertically.

"If we use the red dragon's breath, can we shorten this time?" Lulos suggested.

Horn frowned. "Red Dragon Breath is a powerful weapon for field battles. It is not cost-effective to use it for sieges. If you have a choice, don't use Red Dragon Breath. Does anyone have any other ideas?"

The officers fell into deep thought. Horn swept his eyes across the faces of the participants, but saw a wizard who had escaped from the Temple of Avis who seemed to be hesitant to speak. "What's your name? Do you have anything to say?"

The secret party wizard stood up quickly and said, "My name is Orion, sir. I do know some information about the siege. I wonder if it will be of any use..."

"It's okay. Things that happened at the pre-war military meeting will not be left behind. Even if you are wrong, it's my fault for accepting your opinion. You can speak freely."

"The walls of the Temple of Avis are not all made of sandstone. A section of it collapsed due to an earthquake. The reconstruction used rammed earth covered with sandstone bricks." The Black Snake Bay secret party member Orion became excited. "Rammed earth is definitely not as strong as the sandstone wall."

Rammed earth walls are different from sandbags used to block artillery shells. Although they are essentially made of earth, the former is compacted earth while the latter is relatively loose earth.

When impacted by a shell, the energy is concentrated at the point of impact, and the rammed earth structure is prone to cracks or partial collapse.

"Which section is the rammed earth wall?" Mormont immediately perked up.

"On the east side of the wall of the Temple of Avis, about a third of the way around the corner."

The regimental commanders and officers present stood up and gathered around the map.

"If we want to attack the city from this section, we must first occupy the waterwheel on the east side of the temple in order to keep the bombardment going." Horn pointed to the waterwheel-shaped icon on the map. "In one day, is it possible to transform this place into a temporary hydraulic winding point for the clockwork warehouse?"

Leonardo was full of confidence: "It's entirely possible."

Normally, the renovation of this water-pipe truck should take three days, and one day is not possible.

Because the first thing is to build a temporary spillway to increase the water flow rate, and the second is to make a suitable gear set on site and reconstruct the mechanical design.

However, these two problems were not a problem for the Salvation Army.

The first point can be handled by these secret party wizards. Even if they can't attack the Temple of Avis, they can at least build a low dam in the river, right?

As for temporarily making a suitable gear set, it was originally a big hassle, but for Novia who could manipulate metal shapes, it was not a big problem.

As for the final reconstruction of the mechanical design, Leonardo didn't want to be too rude, but he could design a perfectly suitable temporary winding device with a small head instead of a big head.

Once the main attack direction is determined, the next step is to develop a plan to break into the city based on the main attack direction.

The first thing to be dealt with is the snake-man vassal army stationed in the village on the east side. They can adapt to the forest swamp environment. If they are not annihilated before the artillery is deployed, there is a high probability that they will be harassed continuously in the future.

At the same time, the two regiments took control of important traffic locations and began construction in the direction of the water-piloting truck.

The day after the construction was completed, the Griffin cannon was transported to the appropriate location and the siege began.

As for the port on the west bank of the river, send cavalry to monitor it first, and then bombard its reinforcement ships after the subsequent 6-pound cannons arrive.

"The garrison at the port is estimated to be only a few hundred people. Why don't we just occupy it?" A new commander of the Divine Punishment Army couldn't help but raise his hand and ask.

"Because a siege will inevitably lead to a lack of troops. The Church and the Secret Party are mortal enemies. This is different from the noble war. If the city is surrounded, the knights in the city will never surrender." Horn pointed his index finger at Sola Castle on the map. "Don't waste time here. Sola Castle is our strategic focus."

"These knights are lucky and have saved their lives for nothing." Knowing that this was inevitable, several legion commanders of the God's Punishment Army could only sigh.

Horn couldn't help but laugh and said, "I only said to leave a gap for them. Who said to let them go?"

"what?"

(End of this chapter)