Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 286: Battle of Jackdaw Town

When the coalition of nobles from Grizzly Castle was still more than ten miles away from Jackdaw Town, Pierce, who was in charge of commanding the army, had already received early warnings from two high-level spellcasters.

Standing on a high slope outside the town and observing with the monocular telescope issued to officers, the hybrid's talent for ultra-long-range vision allowed him to clearly see the enemies appearing on the main road. There were about three hundred fully armed regular knights, and a group of militia and mercenaries that looked like a mob. A rough estimate of their number was no more than a thousand.

Pierce put down the telescope, his lips curled up slightly in a subtle sneer. He turned to the Northern Army commander, Vaughn, who had been unable to contain himself for a long time, and ordered, "Pass the order down. Have the soldiers enter combat mode and be ready to engage the enemy at any time."

"Commander, the special operations team has sent the signal to take up position and is waiting for your order to launch a flanking assault..."

Pierce waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "Tell them not to rush. Follow the agreed battle plan and wait for my orders after the bombardment begins."

Originally, according to Lord Harvey's expectation, this coalition of nobles that set out from Grizzly Castle should have set up camp halfway to rest for the night and enter the field battlefield of their first combat plan that they had pre-set in advance. However, who would have thought that Earl Feigen was such an impatient man that he would rather march through the night to reach Jackdaw Town before nightfall, as if he did not want to delay for a moment and rushed here to die.

This forced Pierce to temporarily activate the second combat plan and use the second line of defense set up outside the town to complete the frontal blocking of the enemy.

But it doesn't matter. Compared to a piece of "fat meat" that they need to take the initiative to get back, and the "fat meat" suddenly growing legs and coming to them, he definitely prefers the latter.

……

This was the first time that Mountain Cat had seen human knights from the southern border. To be honest, compared to the evil orc knights who were riding on the backs of camels and wild boars in the wasteland and roaring and charging around, these guys wearing shiny armor and riding tall horses were obviously much more pleasing to the eye.

The battalion commander said that each of these knights from the southern border was similar to an officer of the territorial army, and there were quite a few followers and vassals following behind them to assist them in the charge. This seemed a bit new to the Lynx and the others. In a combat team of less than two thousand people, there were actually three or four hundred knight officers. The average number of soldiers commanded by each of them was too small, and it did not reflect any command ability at all.

"It seems that these knight officers are not worth any military achievements... It is definitely not as worthwhile as killing an evil orc leader wearing a golden crown." The mountain cat curled his lips and made a simple comment.

Although he felt a faint disdain in his heart, when this group of hundreds of elite knights began to slowly form a neat square formation, Lynx still felt a slight sweat on his vest, just like the first time he was sent to the valley outpost to face those hideous and ugly evil orcs, but the difference was that this time he was facing his own fellow tribesmen in the southern border.

It was the first time that he pointed his weapon at his own kind. Thinking that after the bombardment, these living people would be blown to pieces by the terrifyingly powerful magic shells, just like the targets they aimed at during live-fire training, Lynx felt a little uneasy.

The other artillery group closest to the Mountain Cat was led by a fellow desert refugee with the rather amusing name of Maidou. While the commander was observing the enemy not far away, he quietly approached the pale-faced Mountain Cat, pointed at the enemy knights gathering in the distance, spat on the ground, and said viciously, "Don't have the slightest mercy on these guys. You know, my family and I fled all the way from the desert to the southern border to escape the slaughter of the evil orcs. We didn't steal or rob just to stay alive... Humph, and what happened in the end? These damn nobles blocked us at the border. My poor brother had his heel chopped off by a knight on a huge horse, just for the fun of watching him limp away... And my mother was trampled to death by their horses as they chased us..."

Bobcat looked at the twisted scar on Maidou's face that ran through his entire face, and realized that it was left by a sharp blade like a long sword. He felt a surge of anger in his heart, and it seemed that a burning breath was rushing straight up to his throat from his chest and abdomen.

Before the army set out, the lord made it very clear in his pre-war speech that these shameless and greedy southern nobles wanted to invade and plunder the paradise and home we had worked so hard to build in the wilderness. If we couldn't defeat them in Jackdaw Town, these nobles and knights who didn't regard them as human beings would plunder them wantonly, then cross the towering Jackdaw Ridge Mountains and head straight for the frontier territory, turning all the people who lived and worked in peace and freedom into lowly slaves.

Shanmao couldn't help but think of his soon-to-be-wed sister. He remembered his superior, who always valued him, smiling as he signed the contract guaranteeing his mortgage loan. He remembered the sweet and refreshing taste of light beer in the officers' club, and the bustling scene of the convenience market at night... No! I will never allow it! I will never allow these abominable nobles to lay hands on our home! We must fight for our lord, for our territory and home, and for ourselves and our families!

Suddenly, a bird whistle sounded in the sky. Bobcat subconsciously raised his head and found that a figure in a gorgeous robe had floated in the air on the left side of his head. It was the spellcaster who served the lord and was directing the firing direction for the artillery battalion's gun crew!

Once the bird-like whistle sound was heard from his mouth, it meant that the enemy had entered the artillery hit range of one thousand meters. The six artillery groups behind the infantry positions immediately moved, skillfully and quickly repeating the prescribed actions countless times during the previous joint training exercises.

Aim the gun towards the target, clean the barrel, load the shells, release the safety catch, confirm the target with the shooting scale, and prepare to fire...

"The shells are loaded!"

"Aim and hold!"

"The safety is on!"

"Fire in position!"

The artillery soldiers, who had already cooperated with each other tacitly, kept shouting the operating commands in a low voice.

It took Bobcat less than five seconds to quickly shake the muzzle lever and put the group of enemies in the distance into the holes specified by the shooting scale.

He licked his dry lips and began to count down silently in his mind, waiting for the commander to give the final order to shoot.

A short whistle means the target is within the artillery range, and a long whistle means the gun crew needs to prepare to fire...

Three short and one long whistle sounds represent the command for the entire artillery crew to fire a salvo!

Just as he thought of this, the long-awaited attack order from Bobcat came from above his head. He took a deep breath and pulled the firing lever of the cannon without any hesitation.

"fire!!!"

(End of this chapter)