Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 97 The air blaster was finally air blasted
Morin's heart skipped a beat. Weren't there friendly forces from the 32nd Regiment blocking the enemy from other directions? Where did the enemy come from?

He immediately opened the system map.

On the map, the blue troop markers representing the Saxon troops were indeed blocking the other units of the enemy's 32nd Regiment from returning to reinforce the town on the left and right flanks.

But in the only direction that wasn't surrounded—directly west towards Madrid—two red battalion-level unit markers were rapidly approaching the town.

"Warwick County Regiment?"

Morin recognized the unit's designation.

If the naming of the infantry regiments in this world's Britannia is not much different from that of the 'Dai Ying' regiments before the transmigration, then this is a local standing army.

Meanwhile, the [Intelligence] tab has also been updated with some related intelligence—this is the troop that the Britannians recently sent across the sea to reinforce their troops.

"Order the entire company! Immediately move into defensive positions! Prepare for battle!" Morin gave the order immediately.

"Yes!" The messenger took the order and left.

"Notify the battalion headquarters and other friendly forces in the town that enemy reinforcements have arrived in the northwest!" Morin shouted to another messenger who had just run from the castle.

After giving the order, Morin turned his head and looked at the captured members of the magic crystal cannon team.

"Can this thing also fire 'airbursts'?"

The gunners looked bewildered, clearly not understanding the new words coming out of the Saxon officer's mouth.

“It’s like that,” Morin gestured, “the kind that explodes in the sky and then a lot of metal pieces fall down!”

"Ah!" a gunner exclaimed in realization. "You mean magic crystal fragmentation shells! Yes! There are still some in stock in the warehouse!"

“good good”

A smile appeared on Morin's face.

He pointed to the six enormous magic crystal cannons, and then to the direction from which the enemy was approaching outside the town.

"Very good. Now, let them move."

The members of the Magic Crystal Cannon Team looked at each other, their expressions even more unpleasant than those of soldiers who had eaten military rations that had been sitting out for who knows how long.

Let them operate their own magic crystal cannons to bombard friendly forces?
this.
"What? Don't want to?"

Morin's voice turned cold.

"We're fighting Britannians, not your Aragonese troops."

Several veterans from the 1st Company beside him understood immediately and pulled the bolts of their rifles in unison.

The crisp metallic clang of the Gew.98 rifles rang out loudly on the quiet artillery position.

The cold muzzles of the guns were pointed at the gunners' heads.

Faced with the undisguised threat of guns from Saxon soldiers, the instinct for survival ultimately triumphed over so-called loyalty.

Major Garcia, the captured commander of the magic crystal cannon battalion, finally sighed and waved his hand dejectedly.

"Do as he says."

The gunners reluctantly got to work, starting by inspecting the gun barrels, opening the ammunition boxes, and preparing for the firing procedure.

Morin watched their slow movements without urging them. He was now more curious about how to operate the "guided attack" that the system had prompted.

"Hello~"

He walked over to Major Garcia and continued speaking in Aragon:

"How do I guide this thing?"

Major Garcia paused for a moment, seemingly not expecting him to ask that question.

"guide?"

He looked at Morin with a strange gaze: "The previous mages all flew directly into the sky to observe and guide with their naked eyes."

Fly up to the sky?
Morin frowned; he didn't have that ability right now.

There are artillery observation balloons, but with battle imminent, by the time the balloon units from the rear arrive at a leisurely pace, it will be too late.

"Without a mage, how did you fight?" Morin asked again.

"It requires very complex ballistic calculations."

Major Garcia explained with a troubled expression:
"Moreover, it takes several rounds of test firings and corrections to barely hit the approximate area commander. We were just sent here, and the cannons were only assembled in the last few days. We haven't had time to fire the firing tables yet."

"Alright, I know," Morin interrupted him impatiently.

We can't count on these prisoners.

He glanced up at Garsimuros Castle not far away and had an idea in mind.

The castle is the highest point in the area, offering a wide view, making it perfect for use as an observation post.

Fisher!

Morin looked at a messenger who seemed a bit clever.

"Take a few men to the 32nd Regiment headquarters in the castle immediately and use their equipment to temporarily install a landline telephone for me here! Quickly!"

"Yes!"

In the absence of magical communication equipment, the old-fashioned wired telephone is actually the most reliable way to command.

After arranging the communications, Morin said to Major Garcia, "Activate the magic crystal cannons and get them ready to fire, then wait for my orders."

Despite his doubts, Major Garcia did as instructed.

As the gunners inserted the glowing magic crystal energy cores into the ports at the breech of the cannons, the magical runes on the six giant cannons lit up one by one, emitting a series of deep humming sounds.

Morin then ran all the way to the top of the castle.

The top of the castle is a wide platform with excellent views.

Looking northwest, the Britannian reinforcements had appeared about three or four kilometers from the outskirts of the town.

A dark mass, advancing up the gentle slope in a standard, dense formation.

Soon, several messengers, panting, dragged up a field telephone and a long telephone line.

"Hello? Is this the artillery position?" Morin picked up the receiver.

"The artillery position is now connected, sir!" A soldier's somewhat noisy voice came through the receiver.

"Okay, tell Cannon One and Cannon Two to get ready!" Morin put down the phone and took a deep breath.

Now, everything is ready; all that's left is to see what this 'guided attack' provided by my cheat code is all about.

Following the simple tutorial on the system interface, he extended his right hand, spread his thumb and forefinger, and used the web of his hand as a sight.

Then, he aimed his tiger's mouth at the advancing enemy troops in the distance.

The next second, a miraculous scene unfolded.

In his field of vision, looking ahead through the 'tiger's mouth', a circular phantom formed by pale green dotted lines suddenly appeared on the ground in the distance.

The shadowy figure was quite large, with an estimated diameter of over fifty meters.

[Target area has been generated]

Please lock the target location.

Two text prompts flashed across the field of vision.

A thought struck Morin, and he tried to move his wrist slightly.

He noticed that as he moved his wrist, the pale green circular phantom also moved on the ground.

Hey, isn't this just a shell impact point indicator?!

Maureen understood instantly.

The system skipped all the complex ballistic calculations and manual firing corrections, presenting the final impact area directly to him in a 'foolproof' way.

All he had to do was, like playing a game, put the aiming frame over the enemy's head!
"That's so unfair!"

"Is this how the Britannians are controlled?"

The thought flashed through Morin's mind, but he suppressed it for the time being.

He picked up the phone receiver with his other hand and excitedly ordered, "Cannon number one, cannon number two! Guidance complete, fire!"

"Wait a minute, sir!"

Major Garcia's voice came through the receiver.

"The gun crew is still adjusting the heading and elevation angles based on your guidance."

He glanced at the two nearby gun crews, who were adjusting the orientation of the magic crystal cannons according to an indicator mark lit up on the mechanical dial.

"How much longer?"

"30 seconds, sir!"

"I understand. I will readjust the guidance position. Once you are ready, fire!"

After speaking, Morin roughly estimated the enemy's advancing speed, and then moved the aiming point a little further towards the town.

On the other side, Colonel Lionel, the commander of the Brittany reinforcements, was riding a tall thoroughbred and observing the distant town of San Lorenzo de la Parilla through binoculars.

As one of the first local troops to be reinforced on the Iberian Peninsula, the Warwick County Regiment was eager to make a name for themselves for the Empire on this foreign land.

In order to maintain troop morale, the Brittany leadership did everything possible to minimize the spread of news of the defeat in Seville.

So when Lionel received the urgent order to lead two battalions of his troops to counterattack the town occupied by the Saxons, he was even somewhat disdainful.

"It is only because the Kingdom's army was composed of peasants that it was able to be conquered by the Saxon barbarians so quickly."

Colonel Lionel lowered his binoculars and spoke to his adjutant.

"They might manage to capture the town by chance, but to hold it? That's wishful thinking."

He knew very well that the terrain surrounding the town was a series of rolling, gentle slopes.

This terrain was not ideal for Saxon field artillery—especially in defensive operations.

They had difficulty finding suitable artillery positions to attack the enemy on the gentle slopes unless they mounted their cannons directly on the outermost positions for direct fire.
Without artillery superiority, it was clearly wishful thinking for infantry to hold an isolated stronghold, especially against an attack from the Warwickshire Regiment.

"Order each battalion to maintain a close formation at the company level, provide alternating cover, and advance steadily."

Colonel Lionel gave the order, his tone full of confidence.

"I want to have a Saxon coffee in the town's castle before lunch."

"Yes, Colonel!"

Three battalions of Britannian soldiers, in neat ranks, began their attack up the gentle slope.

But they obviously didn't expect that what they were about to face was a 'warm greeting' from their own weapons.

On the castle rooftop, Morin calmly watched the Brittany's left wing troops slowly walk into the aiming circle.

Just then, on the distant magic crystal cannon position, two giant cannons let out a muffled roar.

"Boom! Boom!"

Two dazzling blue beams of light shot from the cannon muzzle, and two enormous magic crystal fragmentation bullets, trailing faint contrails, hurtled into the sky in an eerie parabolic arc.

Immediately afterwards, these magic crystal fragments began to fine-tune their trajectories under some kind of guidance.

The Britannian soldiers who were advancing upwards also heard this sharp sound of something cutting through the air.

They instinctively looked up, only to see two faint trails flying above their heads.

Before they could react, two rapidly falling black dots exploded with a bang about ten meters above their heads!

"boom!"

The explosion wasn't particularly loud; it was more like a muffled cracking sound.

But then, thousands upon thousands of fragments amplified by magic rained down on the ground like two rounds of iron rain.

The dense hail of bullets, like two invisible giant hands, slammed down on the Bretons' equally proud dense formation.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Countless dull thuds of flesh being pierced rang out.

In the area covered by bullets, Brittany soldiers fell in droves, like wheat being cut down.

Blood and severed limbs splattered everywhere, and screams and wails instantly echoed throughout the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)