Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 361: Sancha Town Raid (Part )

After the sailors on the first sailing ship of Archduke Ralph's fleet suffered heavy casualties, they immediately lost more than half of their forward momentum. The speed of other ships behind them also slowed down, and they all turned their bows to try to bypass the first ship that was paralyzed in the middle of the river.

However, the roar of the exploding shells did not stop at all, and it would sound again every half a minute, accompanied by a huge ball of fire suddenly rising from the enemy ship. Not long after, the tall mast of a ship that was lying across the middle of the river broke with a snap, and it fell to the side and directly crushed another ship that was very close to it.

Several horses tied to the deck broke free and, frightened, knocked over several knights. Finally, they plunged into the icy river water.

The severely damaged ship was completely paralyzed in the middle of the river. The other ships at the rear were crowded with people, many of whom gathered at the bow with confused looks on their faces, as if they had no idea what kind of attack they had suffered.

At the same time, artillery fire from the river bank also followed.

The crowded deck was immediately flooded with blood. Almost every shell that hit the target would explode a cloud of blood mist among the enemy. Thick blood, blood and flesh covered the entire deck. Although some people were not at the first point of impact of the shells, they were immediately cut into several pieces by the high-speed flying metal shrapnel and deck debris. They cried and wailed while covering their broken limbs and flowing intestines.

Those who had managed to avoid the bombardment completely ignored everything else and jumped into the water, dropping their heavy weapons and armor. They would rather freeze to death in the icy river water than stay a moment longer on the hell ship filled with blood and fire.

"I was worried the enemy would rush through the fork in the river and head straight for the Sancha Town dock..." Wayne lowered the telescope and muttered softly, "I didn't expect that three ironclad ships with only six magical cannons could stop the enemy fleet directly at the fork in the river."

……

Compared with the ground troops who were watching from afar on the river bank, Commander Pierce on the icebreaker had a more direct observation of the battle situation.

Three ironclad ships were guarding the fork in the north and south sections of the river respectively. The ships were moored horizontally in the middle of the river. The two fixed magic cannons at the bow and stern were turned by the turning of the capstan, facing the enemy fleet coming from the west.

The combat targets were no more than 500 meters away. The artillery crew on the ship methodically repeated the prescribed actions of aiming and firing. Groups of four continuously fed pointed shells into the magazine at the rear end of the barrel, then released the safety and pulled the firing mechanism, firing the shells mixed with dragon flame powder and iron shrapnel with thunderous force.

Although commanding the battle from the cockpit at the rear of the ship, Pierce's exceptionally keen hearing was still tormented by the rumbling of artillery fire. He subconsciously raised his hand to tighten the cotton plugs in his ears, muttering to himself in confusion, "These artillerymen seem to prefer the rumbling of magical naval guns to the magical cannons on the riverbank... Don't they hate this terrifying noise?"

There was also a strong and pungent smell that permeated the entire ship after the shells mixed with dragon rock powder were fired from the muzzle, like a strange fishy smell of sulfur mixed with rust, which really made a vampire like Pierce, who had sensitive five senses, feel nauseous.

As another cannon shot rang out, the heavy ironclad ship trembled slightly. In the blink of an eye, the cannonball turned into a black shadow that was difficult to capture with the naked eye, and flew straight towards the enemy ship hundreds of meters away, directly blasting a huge hole in the side of the opponent's hull that was spliced and glued with wooden boards, and then poured into the cabin and exploded.

The extremely powerful Pierce immediately saw a stream of debris mixed with blood, flesh and limbs spurting out from the hole in the side of the hull. It seemed that the enemy hiding in the cabin was not spared from the artillery fire.

The river breeze blew gently, and an extremely strong bloody smell wafted over, making Pierce feel as if he was in a luxurious banquet, with a sweet taste in his mouth and nose.

His throat rolled slightly, and he ordered in a cold tone: "Activate the magic energy device and approach the enemy fleet!"

...After seeing three strange sailless ships coming towards them in the distance, Archduke Ralph's fleet began to move slowly towards the two banks. Apparently, they finally realized that the brutal attack they were facing came from those three strange ships. Seeing the enemy approaching actively, they naturally hurried to go ashore to avoid it.

The ironclad ship was sailing at a very fast speed. It was obviously impossible to drive the broken sailboat around and escape from the river. The only hope of survival was to gather the remaining soldiers and climb onto the river bank.

Unfortunately, until their ships ran aground on the riverbank and they abandoned their ships and went ashore, the Northern Army soldiers who had been lying in ambush on both sides of the river immediately opened fire without mercy.

Long magic gun barrels were placed on the trench bunkers, aiming at a target who was crawling ashore wet from the icy river. With an easy pull of the trigger, magic bullets poured towards the enemy like rain.

On the bare river beach with no cover at all, the enemies who had just thought they had escaped fell down in unison like wheat ears hit by rain. Then the entire fleet of enemies collapsed. Those who jumped off the boat and landed on the shore cried and wanted to get back on board, while those who crowded to escape and get off the boat crowded on the side of the boat and cursed loudly. More people turned around in panic and jumped into the river, struggling to swim towards the other side of the river.

The riverbank was covered in blood and blood, with people and horses falling to the ground. The scene was in chaos.

The three armored icebreakers were just sailing to the middle of the river. The soldiers on board raised their magic guns and leaned against the side of the ship, lowering the muzzles and shooting at the enemies struggling in the river. Blood flowers swirled on the water surface.

Wayne emptied his third magazine and ordered expressionlessly, "Almost done. Coordinate with the three icebreakers to clear the battlefield... Capture any enemies who are lucky enough to survive. Discard those lying on the ground gasping for air. Don't waste their medicine."

The soldiers loaded new, full magazines, installed sharp bayonets on their magic rifles, then lined up in an orderly manner and jumped out of the trenches, pressing towards the few remaining surviving enemies on the riverbank.

Next to Pierce on the boat stood a young man who was obviously dressed as an alchemy apprentice. He was holding a booklet and recording quickly, while chattering to himself.

"Both the Exploding Shells and the Mana Shells can penetrate wooden hulls...causing area-of-effect penetrating damage, which is quite effective."

"But these two types of shells can't directly sink a medium-sized sailing ship. The hull is riddled with holes like a sieve, and it didn't sink directly due to the massive amount of water entering... Tsk tsk, the effect is poor in this regard."

Pierce asked speechlessly, "What are you recording all this for? Isn't the point of a battle just to focus on the outcome, casualties, and ammunition consumption?"

The young alchemist smiled, closed the booklet, and bowed politely, saying, "Commander, this is a request from the Lord. Every time a new weapon is deployed in combat, its effectiveness must be strictly and accurately recorded to facilitate subsequent upgrades and improvements to the weapon and ammunition."

Weapons and ammunition have been upgraded and improved... Could it be that the Lord could create new weapons that are more powerful than the continuous-fire magic guns and magic naval cannons?

Pierce felt his scalp tingling slightly. If things continued like this, would there be a day when he would not even have the chance to fight the enemy face to face when commanding his army? He would only need to rigidly and repetitively manipulate these magic weapons to annihilate the enemy from thousands of miles away?

(End of this chapter)