Iron Powder and Spellcasters Chapter 308

   Chapter 308 Defending the City

  The gun emplacements of the Terden people.

The firing interval of the    artillery is getting longer and longer, and the accuracy of the head is getting worse and worse. Hong Lingyu, who is supervising the battle, is very dissatisfied and uses the whip without hesitation.

   "Why the **** don't you understand!" The small-eyed slave wearing a glossy leather robe repeatedly explained to no avail, and scolded Hong Lingyu in exasperation: "If you blow up the chamber, it will be over!"

   A slave who dared to be so rude to a samurai must have taken the wrong medicine.

   But the identity of the little eye is special, he is the [family servant] of the fire roaster. In other words, he is the private property of the fire roaster, and no one dares to kill him.

   Hong Lingyu's expression became more gloomy, and he turned to look at the interpreter.

   The small-eyed slave glared and yelled at the interpreter, "Translate to him!"

  The gunners wrapped in tattered military uniforms silently watched the farce.

Except for three of the gunners who belonged to the congregation, the rest were all captured Plato soldiers.

The more obedient captives who never escaped were selected by the fire roasters and grouped into a separate battalion. The small-eyed slaves who had become [honorary Teltowners] were taught artillery skills, and finally the current Teltown artillery team was formed. .

  The little-eyed slave used to be an ordinary artilleryman of the Fifth Legion, but now he is the favored servant of the fire-boiler.

   However, the fire roaster obviously did not fully trust his new slave, and he sent an extra person to supervise the artillery battle.

   Standing in front of [Honorary Slave], Hong Feiyu is the second son of the previous war supervisor.

   The left leg of the previous war inspector was broken by a cannonball below the knee, the bleeding could not be stopped, and he died soon after.

  The interpreter shivered and relayed the words of the little-eyed slave to Hong Lingyu, and deliberately translated the swear words in it.

   Hong Feather jumped like thunder, and he didn't care about anything else, just slammed the whip into the face of the small-eyed slave and kicked the opponent down.

   The small-eyed slave stared at gold stars, struggling to get up, and a boot was slammed on his chest again.

  Hong Lingyu pulled out his machete, put it against the neck of the small-eyed slave, and said a few words fiercely.

   The interpreter quickly translated: "The sweat told you to fire a cannon, you just fire a cannon, and if you dare to find an excuse to get rid of it, you will chop off your head."

   The despairing little-eyed slave seemed to grab a life-saving straw: "Great Khan! I want to see Great Khan! [Hede] King Khan!"

  Hong Lingyu understood the last words, and patted the other person's cheek with a machete: "[Hede] You can't see the sweat! The sweat is not here at all."

   At the same time, Mason behind the city walls is also checking the situation of the third-generation artillery.

   "It's scrapped." Although Mason was very reluctant, he decided to make a decision: "Send it back to the workshop."

   "It can be used a few more times." Demon Anse said calmly: "Other wooden cannons can't hit solid bullets far."

  Mason's attitude is firm: "No, the seam has cracked, and it will be sent back to the workshop for re-forging."

  The demon Anse stopped speaking, and led his subordinates to push away the wooden cannon.

The   Telldon artillery was far from enough to destroy the entire city wall, so they aimed at Fort Arrowhead to the west of the wall.

  The Arrow Fort of Gervodin is a triangular fort protruding from the city wall into the trench, a primitive bastion structure that can flank the enemy entering the trench.

  The new triangular fort is generally independent of the main fortress. Even if the triangular fort falls, it can continue to rely on the main fortress to defend.

   But because of the tight construction schedule, the Arrow Fort and the city walls of Gervodan are a whole.

  Arrow Castle falls, and the city walls will be breached.

  The shelling that lasted from early morning to afternoon has battered Arrow Fort all over, and the steep walls have collapsed into gentle slopes.

  Telden people are dispatching in the trenches, and the swaying feathers can be faintly seen. They quietly watched the artillery explode, but did not take the initiative to attack the city wall.

  Mason didn't mind that the other party kept shelling like this.

The   Telltown people seem to be counting on the artillery to completely destroy Fort Arrowhead, but as soon as it gets dark, Mason will immediately send out manpower to repair the city walls.

   Through continuous [ricochet shelling], Mason succeeded in forcing the Teltown artillery back to two hundred meters away. As the distance increased, the hit rate of the Turdun artillery also decreased.

   Even the most unconfident militiamen have to admit that this is skill, not luck.

   Ricochet shelling, that is, solid shells bounce continuously after hitting the ground, just like using stones to hit the water in a pond.

  Although it looks a bit funny, most of the cannonballs can eventually fly into the barbarian's gun position "by accident".

   Directly aim at the target and shoot, even if there is only a slight difference in the shooting angle, the amount of gunpowder loading, and the weight of the shell, the trajectory of the shell will be seriously deformed.

   Cannonballs flying over the enemy's head do no damage, and cannonballs that land in front of the enemy may get stuck in the mud.

   But when Mason aimed a distance in front of the enemy and increased the charge to suppress the trajectory of the shell, things changed subtly:

  The soil in winter is firm, allowing shells that hit the ground at a small angle to be "deflected";

   In this case, as long as the projectile falls into a certain area in front of the enemy, the bouncing projectile can also cause damage;

   And [hitting a certain area in front of the enemy] is much simpler than [hitting the enemy directly].

  Mason opened a new door...just the threshold stumbles a bit.

  Because if you want the iron ball to bounce, the trajectory of the cannonball needs to be as straight as possible, that is, the speed of the cannonball must be fast.

   At present, the only way Mason has mastered to increase the speed of the bullet is to charge more gunpowder.

   As a result, after less than 20 uses, the third-generation wooden guns with the best quality were scrapped at a rate far exceeding Mason's expectations.

  The demon Anse led the wooden cannons to a row of simple wooden shacks by the river.

   This is the weapon workshop of Revodan. Although it is winter now, there is no chill inside the workshop.

  The blacksmiths, who were only wearing single clothes, were sweating like rain, and the dull sound of forging hammers could be heard endlessly.

  Dagoncha was wearing a leather coat full of small holes made by iron filings, and he was forging a large yellow iron ingot on a hydraulic forging hammer.

   Seeing that the elder brother had made the iron ingot into a flat cylinder, the two younger brothers of Dagangcha immediately lifted up the chisel-like tool and fixed it directly above the iron pillar.

   With the continuous smashing of the forging hammer, the iron pillars penetrated up and down. Then the chisel was removed and replaced with an iron rod to poke in.

  The hot wrought iron ingots are "strung" on iron rods, and then continue to be forged into iron pipes.

  The three Goncharov brothers didn't say a word the whole time, but the tacit understanding was like a giant with six arms doing work.

   After the whole process was completed, Dagangcha sent an iron pipe about a foot long and an inch thick back to the furnace for reheating.

  This iron pipe needs to be [welded] with the other three iron pipes of the same size, in order to finally get a long and multi-diameter gun barrel.

   Seeing the demon Anse, Da Gangcha asked directly, "What's the matter?"

   "Cracked." Demon Anse replied simply: "Scrapped."

   The front is bombing, the rear is hammering, and neither side has the energy to greet each other.

   "There's no way." Dagangcha gulped down a large pot of salt water and gasped for breath: "The barrel of the gun will go wrong sooner or later."

   "What did the Tribune ask you to prepare?" The demon Anse frowned and asked.

  Ogangcha's face turned pale: "It's ready...but who would dare to use it?"

   "Don't worry about it." Demon Anse replied coldly.

   On the other side, the gun emplacements of the Teltown people, the little-eyed slaves were forced to reload their guns.

   The small-eyed slave laboriously pushed the cannonball into the cannon, while the other prisoners watched indifferently as the slave worked for the new master, and no one took the initiative to help.

  The prisoners just pretended to be busy under the scolding and whipping, and avoided as far as possible.

  The four long cannons of the Teltown Department were purchased from the Chihe Department, and they were the same four that Mason used in the past. They were all nailed to the river and then sunk in the river—a second-hand daughter indeed.

   Nailing the gun can not only block the fire door, but also cause the gun barrel to produce cracks and deformations that are difficult to detect, so it has to be reinforced with iron hoops for a second time.

  The shells are hard to bore, which is a danger signal.

   The little-eyed slave checked the gun body again, and found that the high temperature caused the black paint to be a little sticky, and the iron ring around the gun body also had small silver cracks.

   "This cannon won't work." The little-eyed slave was completely panicked, and he no longer had the air he had before. He looked at Hong Lingyu and begged, "This cannon really can't be used anymore!"

  Although he couldn't understand what the little-eyed slave was saying, Hong Lingyu could understand what the little-eyed slave meant.

   Hong Lingyu was furious, she slapped the little-eyed slave with her hand, took the ignition rod, and pressed it against the fire door.

   Mason, who was behind the city wall, saw two clouds of white smoke rising from the enemy's artillery positions in the distance. The artillery shells flew a short distance before falling weakly to the ground, and he could vaguely hear screams.

   "Your Excellency, what happened to the barbarian?" a militiaman asked in confusion.

   "Maybe it was a blast." Mason frowned slightly.

  The gun emplacements of the Terdun people were filled with smoke, and both the gunners and the Terdun armored soldiers who were supervising the battle were shocked and dizzy.

   A huge gap appeared in the barrel of the blasting gun, and the shattered fragments shot out like lead bullets.

   The largest fragment made contact with Hong Lingyu's forehead at a negative distance, and smashed the latter's skull into a recess and disappeared.

The    bombing accident was like a horn, and the light cavalry sent news in all directions, and the Teltown army moved.

   The drums rumbled, and the four chariots removed their camouflage, each pushed by six or seven people, advancing side by side toward the triangular fort whose outer wall had collapsed.

   There were a number of small carts full of dirt behind the big chariot, and the Terdun archers in the trench also stuck out their bodies and shot arrows at the city wall.

   "Drum!" Mason ordered: "All members of the city!"

   The snare drums sounded, and the militiamen hurried out of their shelters and climbed to the wooden frame behind the city wall.

   Seeing the barbarian suddenly showing his fangs, and the stench of blood dripping from the sharp teeth, the militiamen, who had just gotten used to low-intensity shelling battles with hippie smiles, were suddenly overwhelmed.

  The city walls were silent, and the militias stared at the approaching Terdun.

  The captains of the militia who had listened to Mason's explanation of tactics realized that in the end, the barbarians still used their housekeeping skills.

  Terdun used the resources at hand and adopted a "hybrid" siege method: approaching with trenches, using limited artillery to focus on destroying the walls, and then using their usual tactics-carrying, filling trenches, and climbing the city.

"Mute? What are you afraid of? Do you think fighting is fun?" Mason patrolled along Fort Arrowhead, scolding the silent militiamen: "Even if you stand on a 100-meter-high wall, you can't escape fighting for your life! From now on, all of you! All of you are dead! If you win, you are eligible to live!"

   The chariots of the Teltown people entered 30 meters, and the two wooden cannons on Fort Arrowhead roared furiously.

  The small iron pellets wrapped in parchment left the gun barrel and scattered in the air.

  Most of the shells were blocked by the chariot, and a small part passed through the gap between the two chariots.

   Someone from Teltown cried out in pain to let go of the cart's hands, and immediately another hand took over.

   "[Hede] God is on top!" Hong Feather [Tahei], who commanded the chariot, roared: "[Hede] The two-legged man's thunder is gone! Hurry up!"

  The militiamen behind the city wall heard the barbarians make a roar of "wookaha", and the chariot's pace suddenly accelerated, rushing towards the city wall.

  Suddenly, a militiaman covered his eyes and screamed. He stepped back a few steps and fell off the wooden frame, with an arrow shaft stuck between his fingers.

The    stretcher team hurried over to take away the militiamen who had been hit by the arrow, but he was dead.

   There were a few more clangs of bowstrings, and the armored soldiers on the chariot shot without any futile arrows, and mercilessly shot down the Gervoudan militiamen who were staring blankly.

"Damn it! Idiot!" The tall, thin, silent Captain Ivan burst out suddenly, he yelled, and slapped the militia standing next to him with a slap in the face: "What the **** are you doing? Waiting to be slaughtered? Beat it! "

   There was no time for the recruits to adapt to the **** scene, and those who recovered began to fight back one after another.

   A quarter of an hour ago, the militiamen were still watching the jokes of Mason Tribunal, hiding in the bunker and listening to the sound of cannons. Many people thought that "the war is just like that";

  The next quarter of an hour, when the militiamen felt that they were used to fighting, they saw the real violence of war, and many people were already dead.

   Arrows and lead fluttered in the air, gunshots and mourning came and went, but the siege battle was far from the most brutal time.

   "What are you doing here?!" Mason rushed to Fort Arrowhead and ordered the gunner who was loading: "Take the gun! Go to the side and shoot!"

  The two groups of gunners carried the wooden guns and moved to the sides of Arrow Fort, and the chariots had reached the edge of the trench.

   The distance between the two sides was less than six meters, only separated by a trench, and they could even see each other's quivering beard tips.

  The hard bows and heavy arrows of the Terdun armorers were surprisingly accurate at this distance, and some Gervodan militiamen even only showed half of their bow-holding hands at the crenels, and the next moment they would be pierced by an arrow.

  Seeing that the militiamen on Arrow Fort were suppressed, Mason pushed and kicked the militiamen who were hiding behind the city walls and dared not raise their heads: "Stand up! Go to the gunner's position! Go to the sides! Go!"

   Relying on the cover of chariots and archers, the Terdun people used small carts to continuously dump dirt and firewood into the trenches.

   And the Terdon men with pickaxes descended silently to the bottom of the trench with ropes.

   "The barbarians are pulling the stakes!" The sentry on the side of the triangular fort warned hoarsely: "They are digging the wall!"

   "Liquid fire!" Mason yelled: "Angs!"

   Hearing the sound of the small snare drum in the city, the demon Anse, who hurried back to Arrowhead from the workshop, immediately led people to carry boxes of clay pots from the bunker.

   The first hundred cavalry commander of Teltown [Ta Hei] saw a series of black things thrown from behind the city wall, and the black things shattered when they landed, like pottery.

  A soldier with amazing archery skills shot a clay pot in the air, and liquid spilled from the pot.

  Ta Hei, who realized what the other party was going to do, was so frightened that he rushed out of the carriage and shouted in despair, "[Hede] come up!"

  It was too late, a few torches were thrown into the trench, and a layer of blue flames spread across the bottom of the trench.

  Bales of hay were thrown into the trench again, and these hay burned even more violently than ordinary hay, and the moat instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

  Richard Mason picked up the hay wrapped in gunpowder and threw bundle after bundle out of the city until the smoke billowed and the scorched stench filled the air.

   The screams of the dying, which did not sound like human voices, quickly disappeared, and the pace of the Terdun attack was temporarily interrupted by the fire, but they did not withdraw as the defenders expected.

The   Terdun people were nailed to the edge of the ditch, and the militiamen on the city wall were pressed down with heavy armored archers so that they did not dare to raise their heads, so they did not retreat.

  Dense smoke blocked his vision, Mason turned to the side of the arrow, and finally saw what the Teltown people were doing—with the cover of the thick smoke and chariots, they turned out to be digging a trench on the edge of the moat.

   At the same time, a beacon rose into the sky—the old town on the north bank.

   [This chapter is Tuesday's update]

   [Sorry, I still cut it in half... I wanted to finish writing (this part of the plot) in one go and create a chapter with more than 10,000 words, but I failed...]

   [So the chapter is postponed to today (Thursday)]

   [Sorry again] [Also, I haven't had time to transcribe my thanks recently, I'll make it up when I find time]

   [A very interesting record about wall-digging siege tactics, from the "Zhan Shou Quan Shu" in the late Ming Dynasty]

   [Shen Hongzhi said. Apocalypse six years. Jian Yi Nuer Hachi attacked the far city of Ning in Liao. Ning Qiandao Yuan Chonghuan used Western cannons. And from the moon city and the corner platform to attack it. The prisoners did not dare to approach the city and attacked the corner platform. Leaning against the wall with cards. The man chiseled the wall from under the card. Cannon can't reach. In an instant, the hole in the city was as big as the city gate. Non-pass sentence Jin Qiqi. Use ten thousand enemies to burn them. Then the city collapses. It is known that the corner platform should be oblique and long. Long can take care of the city. If the city body is inclined, the corner guard can be used]

   [Jiaotai refers to the fortresses at the four corners of the city, Yuecheng refers to the small city outside the city that protects the gates of the city, and there is also "horse face", which refers to the protruding part of the city wall. The three are either square or round, but they all have dead ends.]

   [The evolution of the siege tactics of the post-Jin Dynasty is also very interesting. The Jurchen tribes themselves will build stockades, so they are not unfamiliar with siege tactics. Houjin went from "the chariot and the cloud ladder approaching" (the melee of the Jurchen tribes), to "the spies earning the city gate" (Fushun), and then to "digging the city" (the battle of Qinghe city, after digging the wall, the corpses climbed to the city), and finally Began to focus on relying on "artillery" (Dalinghe, Songjin), which is simply a typical case of military technology diffusion and its impact]

   (end of this chapter)

Chapter end