Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

The soldiers of Ironstone Fortress froze completely, their mockery and smiles turning into boundless terror.

They watched as their companions suddenly turned into scattered pieces of flesh, saw the terrifying giant arrow deeply embedded in the ground, and gazed at the strange, enormous crossbow on the wall, exuding an aura of death...

Fear spread like a plague. The advancing formation came to an abrupt halt and even began to retreat.

"What...what kind of monster is that?!"

"Ouch! My arm!"

"Back off! Back off!!"

Viscount Gavin, who was watching from behind, saw it all clearly. The sneer on his face froze instantly, turning into unbelievable horror.

What kind of weapon is that? A crossbow?!

He had never seen or heard of any crossbow with such power and range!

Morale receded like the tide, and the initial ease had long been shattered by that one arrow.

"No retreating! No retreating!" Gavin roared in exasperation.

"Archers! Hold back the wall! Infantry, keep charging! Don't let that thing hit us too far! Charge! Anyone who dares to retreat! I'll chop them up!"

Under Gavin's threats and intimidation, the army barely mustered the will to continue their advance, but at a much slower pace. The soldiers huddled together, raising their shields even higher, but they could not hide the fear in their eyes.

On the wall, Leon, witnessing the power of the triple-bow ballista, exclaimed excitedly, "Archers, fire freely! Ballistae! Load! Quick!"

On the north wall, the few members of the hunting party and the militia archers left behind by Bray raised their weapons and aimed.

"Target: the gaps in the shields of the enemy officers and troops." Leon ordered, "Eighty paces, volley fire!"

"Boom boom boom boom—!"

Arrows rained down, and the long-term training brought about a qualitative change in their movements and mental qualities.

The muffled thud of a hunting party's compound bows firing in unison was much softer than that of a ballista, yet it was more frequent and deadly.

The carbon arrows, like the Grim Reaper calling out names, landed precisely in the enemy ranks.

A squad leader, brandishing a longsword and urging his soldiers on, was struck in the throat by an arrow and fell backward. The standard-bearer was shot through the arm by an arrow, and the flag tilted precariously. Several shield bearers, attempting to observe from the top of their shields, were struck in the face by arrows and fell to the ground with screams.

The rate of fire and accuracy of the repeating compound bow are far superior to those of a regular short bow. Even if a direct hit is missed, the impact of several arrows on the wooden shield will still immobilize the enemy.

This is the charm of modern technology, far surpassing the crude wooden bows of ordinary farmers.

"Archers, maintain your firing rate! Ballistae, aim! Fire!"

The second giant arrow once again swept across the battlefield with the force of thunder.

The shield formation that had been painstakingly formed was torn open again, and now the morale of the noble army was completely thrown into chaos!

The soldiers began to retreat in panic, and no matter how much Gavin roared, apart from his own few elite knights, no one heeded his orders anymore.

At the same time, the roars of the monsters on the other side of the east wall quickly subsided.

Clearly, Bray and his team had the situation under control.

Viscount Gavin watched as his army was caught in a dilemma beneath the north wall, suffering continuous casualties, while the monster activity to the east had disappeared again, and his heart sank completely.

He realized that his carefully planned two-pronged attack had not only failed, but had also allowed the enemy to calmly display their hidden and terrifying defensive capabilities.

That gray-white wall was more difficult to breach than he had imagined.

Those strange bows, Count Karl had clearly said there was only one... and that terrifying giant crossbow...

Damn it! This is not the kind of defense a newly established refugee settlement should have!

Gavin glanced at the figures constantly firing arrows atop the wall, then at the ever-increasing number of his own soldiers' corpses on the ground, and finally gritted his teeth and ordered, "Retreat! Retreat!"

As the bugle call to retreat sounded, the soldiers, whose morale had already collapsed, were relieved and abandoned their armor and weapons, fleeing desperately northward.

On the wall, they watched the enemy flee in panic. A deafening cheer erupted!

"We won! We won!"

"Both sides! We've defended both sides!"

The militiamen cheered and jumped for joy, many of them excitedly pounding on the hard cement wall, jumping and leaping.

Neither monsters nor human armies could break through the defenses, which allowed a strong sense of confidence and belonging to take root in everyone's heart.

They guarded an invincible fortress! They wielded divine weapons! Their lord was undefeated!

Lynn looked at the fleeing enemy army and the cheering people, and a smile appeared on his face.

The noble army was weaker than expected, but Lynn knew that without these exchanged weapons, a concrete wall and a gate alone would not be enough to stop them.

Gavin suffered a crushing defeat and fled back; this time he should finally face reality. But the people behind him, and the mastermind controlling the monsters, will probably not give up easily.

Now that the enemy knows about Grayrock Town's defenses, they probably won't attack again anytime soon. However, if they are determined to eliminate us, the next army that comes might not be so easy to deal with.

Lynn had not forgotten that extraordinary powers existed in this world!

The triple-bow ballista is very powerful, but it is slow to reload and cumbersome. If there is a mage on this battlefield, he might be used as a target and destroyed!

"It's only Song Dynasty technology! It's still a bit lacking." Lynn couldn't help but plan ahead. He had to prepare better equipment before the enemy attacked again.

[Detected that the morale of the entire garrison is at its peak, with their sense of belonging and loyalty exceeding the threshold, resulting in a public opinion score of +845.]

[Herbert, Thorin, Hal... Rhodes is full of confidence in the future of the territory, Popularity +2138]

[Lia's gratitude was detected; public opinion score +41]

[Current public opinion score: 7120]

The total number of public opinion votes has exceeded 7000!

Lynn couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. Sure enough, winning the battle was what everyone expected!

He ordered his men to clean up the battlefield and salvage any usable items. Lynn then returned to his territory alone.

Lynn walked back to the stone house, closed the door, and looked at the generous public opinion score on the system screen. He then found paper and pen and began to seriously consider his next plan.

Now that Gavin has retreated, his army has suffered heavy casualties, and the enemy's troops are clearly not just his own men.

That would confirm that there is another force behind him, and this force may be the real culprit who wants him dead.

However, the enemy's troop losses in the short term cannot be quickly replenished, which allows Lynn to focus on developing his territory.

However, we must be wary of the possibility that the other party might resort to desperate measures and do whatever it takes to destroy us. The probability is not too high, after all, we really hurt them this time, and they will definitely be more cautious.

Lynn concentrated and began scribbling on the paper.

First, the weapons are sufficient to deal with conventional armies. If that fails, add a few ballistae or build higher walls.

But the key issue was the threat of supernatural power, and Lynn's gaze lingered on the flintlock pistol he had just unlocked.

Should we equip the militia with guns?

Lynn immediately shook her head.

No, no, not to mention that arming everyone is an astronomical cost of public opinion points, exchanging resources in this way is only a temporary solution, and the expenses will only increase in the future.

After a brief moment of thought, Lynn suddenly remembered the idea that had been on his mind before!

drawing!

Yes, as for equipment, weapons, and tools, modern blueprints can be used to replace them in the future. As long as the corresponding materials can be found here, it shouldn't be difficult to replicate them one-to-one.

However, Lynn wasn't really sure if the materials for making gunpowder existed in this world; he only knew that fireworks did exist in this world.

We can arrange for someone to purchase some from elsewhere and analyze the composition. If it really is something similar to gunpowder from our previous life, then the flintlock musket blueprints can be replaced!