Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 309 Saw

"[Hede] What's going on?" The red-feathered armored soldier with the lion's nose was stationed on the edge of the Gervoudan valley, and asked the blue-feather in front of him dissatisfiedly: "[Hede] did not say that the fire roaster said Has he captured the city? Brother?"

   The Blue Feather Armor, who is similar in appearance to Hong Feather and also has a lion's nose, frowned: "[Hede] How do I know? Pick a few good players and ask them across the river."

   The position of the two of them is condescending, and the white gunpowder smoke gushing out from the city wall on the south bank can be seen at a glance.

   is just between them and the battlefield, in addition to the earth, there is a wide river.

  Little Lion Nose answered in a low voice, and then asked in confusion: "[Herde] What should you and I do now?"

"[Hede] The fire roaster seems to be fighting hard, and it's his responsibility." The big lion nose narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a deep voice: "[Hede] But if he loses, neither you nor I will be good. You bring My son, go and scare the two-legged man on the North Shore."

   The little lion-nosed whistle, turned the horse around, and released a whistle into the sky.

   The hundreds of cronies who accompanied him dismounted one after another, and reluctantly took off the saddlebags.

  The saddlebags of each horse, whether riding or slave, are bulging - their "trophy" and only part of their carry-on.

   Along the road northward, out of sight, more Heards are moving towards Gervodin, escorting slaves and captives.

   The Left Army of the Tertown Division is here.

  …

   In the old city of Gervodin, Anna found the old Mayor Priskin in the chaotic city hall.

   "I saw a beacon." Anna tried her best to remain calm and composed: "Mr. Mayor."

"Yes, beacon fire, Madame Montagne." Old Priskin's wrinkles became even finer, and he struggled to stand up against the table: "The post that stayed behind in the Hammer Fort found that there were barbarians attacking, and lit the beacon fire... fortunately The lads were all evacuated, and the residents of Hammer were evacuated early in the morning..."

   "Hammer? Is it to the north?"

   "That's right." Old Priskin's eyes were full of weariness: "It's a barbarian from Vigne, alas."

  The city hall has become like a military camp, and the panicked city councilors carried out bundles of weapons and distributed them to the equally panicked citizens.

   However, most of the young and middle-aged men were brought to the south bank to defend the city. Except for half of the city guards who maintained law and order and the residents who had recently entered the castle, the men who stayed on the north bank were either too old or too young.

   Even an old man like Priskin who had to walk with a cane had a short sword in front of him.

   "Grandpa!" A young man in a leather jacket rashly pushed open the door: "I brought all my friends here!"

   Seeing a young and beautiful lady in the mayor's office, little Priskin couldn't help being stunned.

   "This is it." Old Priskin coughed lightly: "Madame of the tribune of Montagne."

  Little Priskin's knees trembled subconsciously, he hurriedly saluted and left quickly, carefully closing the door as he left.

  Anna didn't understand why the other party saw her like a mouse seeing a cat, but she was very thoughtful and quickly guessed it.

   But those things are obviously not important right now, Anna looked at the old Mayor Priskin: "Is there anything I can do?"

Old Priskin wanted to say "no," but he still replied, "I've sent someone to the Mason Tribunal for help, but I'm afraid it won't make it any time soon. All the city councilors, including me, are going to the city wall, if you It would be great to help stabilize the civilians in the city."

   "Don't worry." Anna nodded lightly.

   "Or..." Old Priskin thought, "Could you please find me another two to three hundred strong women?"

  …

   The new town of Gervodin.

   Every musket in the whole city was transferred to Fort Arrowhead on the west wall, and the wooden cannons arranged on the south and east walls were also concentrated on the west wall.

After   Arrow Fort, the militiamen are racing against time to build the urn.

  Arrow Fortress, Mason personally commanded two wooden cannons and used solid bullets to blast the chariots of the Teltown people.

The   musketeers were deployed on the two wings of Arrow Fort, pulling away from the enemy to flank the enemy. Lead bullets and arrows come and go, constantly harvesting fresh life.

   "Ah!!" A burly militiaman shouted for a run, struggling to throw a grenade at the chariot.

The moment the    grenade was released, he seemed to have been drained of all his strength and gasped violently.

   However, the next scene made the air solidify: the grenade that flew out of the city wall flew back to the city wall, and the unburned gunpowder was still hissing.

  Leads are left too long! The barbarian picked up the grenade and threw it back!

   Mason next to the gun carriage was thrown down by the demon Anse. The other militiamen screamed in despair, rolling and crawling away.

The    grenadier militiamen also wanted to flee, but their lower limbs were too stiff to move.

   The old sergeant behind him yelled, pushed him away, grabbed the grenade and threw it out of the wall.

   Before he left his hand, the grenade exploded.

The    veteran sergeant and the grenadier militia were killed on the spot, and three people were seriously injured by the flying fragments. The old sergeant's right arm was blown off, and shredded meat splattered everywhere.

  The choking gun smoke dissipated, and someone was vomiting.

  Mason got up and shouted an order: "What are you doing? Take it away!"

The    stretcher team hurried over and carried away the dead and the seriously wounded. A member of a stretcher team was picking up minced meat on the ground, and he couldn't finish picking it up.

   "Drum!" Mason ignited the propellant of the wooden cannon himself: "Fire!"

   The snare drums and guns sounded again, and the battle continued.

   "Your Excellency!" After repeated psychological struggles, the middle-aged Dussack in charge of the cavalry team made up his mind to come to Mason: "Let me lead the cavalry team out for a round."

  The captain of the cavalry team had volunteered, but his knees were trembling slightly.

  Mason's face was blackened by the gunpowder gas, he looked at the other party with scrutiny: "No one can answer you, you will die if you leave the city."

  Dussac gritted his teeth and replied, "I know."

   "You're not afraid of death, so I can't let you die in vain." Mason wiped the soot from his face, and was unusually calm: "You don't have to go out of the city to fight back, it's useless to go out."

   With the input of more troops, the Gervoudan defenders gradually suppressed the Terdun people in turn.

  Mason summoned his militia captains to redeploy the defense.

   Many militia captains were in a trance, apparently unaccustomed to bloodshed and death.

"Listen, don't be afraid of the Teltown people digging trenches." Mason slammed the ground with his saber: "No matter how fast they dig, they can't be as fast as us! The big deal is to build another city wall! Earthwork, the barbarians are still tender. Some."

   Many militia captains swallowed subconsciously.

  Mason pointed to the east and south: "Telltown people will not kill one place, the troops on the south and east walls keep your own positions, don't crane your necks to watch the west wall!"

   The militia captains defending the south and east walls nodded desperately.

   "Your Excellency, the beacon smoke in the old city?" Someone hesitated.

"You don't need to worry about the safety of the old city. The tribune of Montagne and I have long been prepared." Mason replied flatly, with a flash of fire in his eyes: "As long as we can stick to the city wall, the situation will be in our favor, not the Terdun people. !"

   Mason suddenly drew his sword, and the militia captains were taken aback and took a half step back unconsciously.

   "Did you see it?" Mason shouted sharply: "In hand-to-hand combat, the barbarians can kill you all with one charge! What's so difficult about holding a musket, standing twenty meters away, and slamming the launcher at the enemy?"

   At this moment, the demon Ances walked quickly to Mason's side: "Your Excellency, the hand cannon is ready."

   "Go!" Mason suddenly came alive.

  …

   Gervodin, North City.

  Little Lion-nosed led his group to gallop around the city wall, not only did he not find a gap that could be used, but found that there were at least a thousand defenders on the city wall.

   He planned to get closer to check the situation, but just as soon as he entered the city wall, Xiaolei, the defender, opened fire immediately.

   Little lion nose didn't want to take risks, so he retreated.

   Beicheng's defenders were extremely nervous. All men who could take up arms were on the city walls, and all the flags that could be found were planted on the city walls.

   At this moment in Beicheng, only half of the defenders were men, and the other half were women with black faces and men's clothes.

   Seeing that the barbarian cavalry left after just a little test, there was a big gasp from the city head.

  The little lion nose returned to the edge of the valley and told his brother what he saw.

   The Lion-nosed Brothers had only a hundred troops beside them, so attacking a city where thousands of garrisoned troops were garrisoned would be tantamount to suicide.

   "[Herde] You and I wait for the rest of the tribe to come and meet." The big lion-nosed thought about it and decided to be safe. Their brothers have gained a lot from this robbery, and they don't want to lose their lives at this time.

  The big lion-nosed asked his brother again: "Can [Herde] send someone to the other side of the river?"

   "[Hede] sent it, but it hasn't come back." The little lion-nosed asked sullenly: "Brother [Hede], if the fire roaster wants to share your loot with me, what should you do with me?"

The big lion nose sneered: "[Herde] the fire roaster wanted to eat meat, but he gnawed on the bone. Who is to blame? Horses have four legs, and people have two legs. If he treats him unfairly, you and I don't have to stay in Tel Dunbu."

   "[Hede] Wow!" The little lion nose was dissatisfied with the way the fire roaster divided the two wings this time: "[Hede] Jinren's bullying is not a day or two! You and I have long been..."

   "[Hede] don't need to say this for now!" The big lion nose stopped his younger brother and instructed: "[Hede] will camp here, and let the children go out to find some food and drink and come back."

   The big and small lion noses grabbed a lot of goods, but there were not many food and drink, and they all depended on the search and replenishment.

   Hundreds of Hurd cavalry found a sheltered place to put down their loot, and then split up to loot nearby populated places.

   That night, a detachment of mounted infantry sent by Winters to the North Shore raided the camp.

   The head of the big and small lion's nose was cut off.

  …

  The new city of Gervodin, outside the Arrow Fortress on the west side of the city wall, the moat of the Terdun people.

  As the defenders mobilized more musketeers, the Teltowns gradually fell behind in the counter fire.

   Musketeers only need ammo and courage, archers need physical strength in addition to ammunition and courage.

   And in the face of close-range fire from heavy arquebuses, wearing armor or not is only the difference between a quicker death and a slower death.

   Hong Lingyu [Ta Hei]'s companion and guards died one after another, making him grief-stricken.

   But the Hundred Horsemen who were supervising the battle were at the back, and Tahei did not dare to retreat. He could only keep telling himself: The fire roaster's future reward will be as rich as promised.

  Tahei's subjects and slaves are struggling to dig trenches. They all make a living from herding and are not used to the work of digging soil.

   Logically speaking, this kind of work did not need them to do in the first place.

  Because enslaving captives to work, driving women and children to fill trenches is the usual means of all ministries,

   But if a two-legged person outside the city can't be caught, then the subordinates can only do it.

  The thunder on the city wall rumbled one after another, and the chariots nailed with iron pieces and cowhide were as fragile as straw mats. After the solid iron ball penetrates the carriage, it can still smash the flesh.

  Ta Hei ordered his troops to pile dirt into the chariot, and the chariot gradually turned into a dirt truck, temporarily blocking the deadly thunder.

  There is no one who dares to hold a bow and shoot at two-legged people, even if the Kotas offer a high reward.

   Fortunately, the two-legged man did not dare to take the initiative to attack. The two sides faced each other at close range, and neither could do anything to the other.

   As the trenches got deeper and deeper, it seemed that the two-legged man also found that there was no point in continuing to shoot. The gunshots became more and more sparse, and the thunder no longer roared.

  Ta Hei hid behind the gradually thickening and heightened earth wall, and this small space actually began to make him feel safe.

   After the eerie silence, there was another dull thunder.

   But what followed was not the tremor of a solid iron ball hitting the chariot—nothing happened.

   "[Herde] missed?" Tahei thought to himself.

  No, a dark iron ball with the sound of the wind, like a huge hailstone, smashed into the back of the carriage from mid-air, sinking deep into the ground.

  Ta Hei's eyes widened, because of his position, Dalei couldn't hit him no matter what.

   "[Hedde] threw it in?" Tahei was shocked: "[Hedde] is there such a strong man among the two-legged people?"

   followed by the second one, this iron ball has one more hemp rope than the previous one.

  Tahei's chest almost burst, he howled and leaped to the trench: "[Hedde] Black Thunder!"

  It was too late, the grenade exploded with a "boom" and took Tahei away.

  …

   The new town of Gervodin.

   A large open space was cleared behind the west city wall, and twelve oddly shaped short and thick iron pipes pointed obliquely towards the sky.

   They looked like mortars, but the caliber was too small and the walls were too thin.

  Mason carefully took out a modified grenade. Compared with ordinary grenades, the grenade in Mason's hand had an extra layer of protection.

After    ignited the twist, Mason immediately put the cannonball into the short-barreled cannon.

  The demon Anse also lit the fuse of the short-barreled cannon, and the two immediately retreated far away.

   The short-barreled cannon roared, and the grenade was fired into the sky, missing its whereabouts.

   "Just use it like this!" Mason looked around at his subordinates: "Do you understand?"

  The gunners nodded in understanding.

   They learned how to use the first, second and third generation wooden cannons from the Mason tribunal, but this kind of grenade launcher was unseen and unheard of.

  The gunner who was in charge of observing the impact point ran over and reported: "Missed!"

   "Far nearer?" Mason asked.

   "It's getting close! It's still to the right!"

   "Get him two small flags." Mason pointed to the gunner who was in charge of the observation: "Speak with the flags, so you don't have to run back and forth."

   Demon Anse nodded.

   The blacksmith workshop in Gervodin was unable to forge the entire barrel, let alone directly forge the entire barrel.

   So they can only forge short iron pipes first, and then splice the long barrels, which is laborious and time-consuming.

   And what Mason lacks the most is time. That being the case, the artillery captain decided to simply omit the welding process and directly transform the one-foot-long, one-inch-thick short iron pipe into a grenade-launching mortar.

   The renovation work started as early as the first day of the siege battle, but it just came in handy today.

   "The Teltown people dug trenches, pushed carts, and built earth walls to block direct fire." Mason said to his subordinates with a trace of cruel pleasure: "Okay! Please let them taste the taste of mortars!"

  …

  The grenade-launching mortar can easily hit a four-pound grenade to a distance of twenty meters, and the ballistic trajectory is curved so that the shell can fly over the chariot and then fall into the trench.

  They became the last straw that broke the people of Teltown.

  Although the Teldun people who attacked the new city showed a tenacity far beyond the ordinary Hed tribe, they could not be bombarded and dug trenches at the same time.

  Mason thought to himself, if he was commanding the siege, he should be able to take some countermeasures. Mortars are not without their drawbacks, they are just as dangerous to the user as to the enemy.

   However, what happened today has exhausted both the offensive and defensive sides.

The   Telden people left the dead and wounded and their chariots behind, and let the cavalry overseeing the battle wield butcher knives, recklessly defeated.

The    defenders were also powerless to pursue, not even the cheers of celebration.

  As the sky darkened and the battlefield became quiet, all that could be heard was the groaning in incomprehensible language of the abandoned and dying Teldons.

  The daring and greedy militiamen quietly climbed out of the city wall, wanting to cut off the head of the barbarian, and accidentally encountered the Terdun people who were planning to loot the property of the dead. Both sides were startled and ran away shouting indiscriminately.

  Mason sent men to burn down the chariots of the Teltowners and to backfill the enemy trenches as much as possible.

   The next day, the siege battle started again.

The   Telltown Department used more troops, and while digging trenches in front of them, they split up and tried to bypass the city wall.

   The Teltowns who attacked from the river were intercepted by the fleet.

  Mason mounts the second-generation wooden cannon on a small boat and pours deadly stones and iron blocks at the enemy in the water.

  Telltown men who forcibly swam to the shore found that the shallow riverbed was littered with sharp wooden sticks—how could Richard Mason have left a hole? They were soon killed on the beach.

   On the third day, the Terdun people finally got through the trenches and the city trenches.

   Mason also uses last resort.

   With an explosion that shook the earth, a huge gap was blasted on the bank of the Saint-Georges River in the northeast of the new city of Gervoudan.

   The turbulent river poured into the moat, and the Terdun slaves who had dug the wall had no time to escape. They were either drowned or shot.

  The moat became a moat—or rather, it was a moat from the very beginning, but it was deliberately not watered.

   On the fourth day, it was quiet outside the city.

  Mason sent someone out of the city to check and found that there were already people going to camp outside the city.

   "The barbarians have been defeated?" Old Priskin was amnesty.

   "No." There was no joy in Mason's eyes: "I'm afraid their goal has been achieved."

   "I don't understand what you mean, Your Excellency."

   "The real purpose of the Teltown people has always been to force Winters to attack. They want Winters most, and us second."

   "What do you mean?" Old Priskin was half terrified and half joyful: "Your Excellency Montagne has launched an attack?"

   "The Teltown people took the initiative to withdraw." Mason said calmly: "It means that the real battle has begun."

   At the same time, at the dammed fortress on the banks of the Big Horn, Tamas and Samukin also found that the Teldens who besieged them had vanished without a trace.

   "Let the water go now!" Tamas immediately made the decision.

   "The water is not full yet!" Samukin disagreed: "Now that the water is released, no one can guarantee that the pontoon will be destroyed."

   "Can't wait!" Tamas shouted: "The withdrawal of the Teltown people means that the centurion is already fighting! The water is going to be released now!"

   "Tear down the dam." The silent Captain Morrow suddenly said.

   Samukin looked at the two and agreed with difficulty.

   Mason and Tamas' speculation was correct, the final battle had already begun a day earlier.

   [Tonight—or maybe tomorrow morning, there’s another chapter, so there’s no debt left]

   [The last time, I will never set up a flag again (O_O;)]

   [I really want to apologize for standing up flags (T_T)]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   [Thanks to book friends for their support during this difficult time of updating, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)