I Am Louis XIV

The high platform that Captain Vauban built for the king was not that high. He was not crazy enough to erect the king as a conspicuous target, but it was enough for Louis to overlook the three wide ditches and the flat ground in front of the ditches from top to bottom. , and further ahead is the shimmering moat. The suspension bridge on the moat has been suspended high, showing Lille's hostility resolutely and clearly.

Although the city of Lille is not as old as Brussels or Paris, it is not as old as people imagine. At least its defense system should have undergone a major adjustment in the fifteenth or sixteenth. The reason for saying this is because Before the 14th century, artillery was not popular enough, and its power was not strong enough, so the city walls at that time were mainly to defend against the enemy from attacking the city, and they were always built as high as possible. Of course, we all know that the higher the city wall, the higher the The more difficult it is to make it thicker, because its own weight will cause the foundation to collapse or the city wall to topple over. Therefore, the city walls at that time were generally 30 to 50 feet thick, and the thickness was about 10 to 15 feet. Cannons are used more and more powerful, and the towering city walls will always yield weakly in the rumble and smoke of the cannons, so people quickly made relative feedback, that is, the height of the city walls Lower it down, and then thicken the city wall. At this time, the city wall is usually made of gravel and earth inside, and bricks or stones outside. The thickness can reach 25 feet or more, and it has an inclined angle. Let the kinetic energy of the shells not all act on the city wall.

But this thickness also caused a problem, that is, when the soldiers stood firm on the city wall, it was difficult to see what the enemies under the city wall were doing, and they could not defend those enemies who shook the base of the city wall—so it was either a square or a circle. Some changes have taken place in the shape of the city wall, that is, the addition of half-moon forts, bastions and convex-pointed forts. The fort is like a short finger protruding from the city wall. There are more than one such fortress, which is as high as the city wall. Sometimes a small high platform is added in the middle of the fortress to increase firepower or serve as a watchtower. So if you can look down from the sky, you can often see that these cities are like flowers blooming on the sky, or a five-pointed or six-pointed star.

Lille is such a star. These edges and corners protruding in all directions are like the fangs of the city. If an enemy comes to attack, then every line of the edges and corners can be fully attacked by soldiers—— Captain Vauban raised his binoculars and looked at them for a while, then put them down confidently. Although the battle had not yet started, based on the information he had obtained before and what he saw, Lille's bastion defense line was not complete enough, and the attack range was limited. In the dead corner, although there are some obviously newly built salient forts, they are too low to pose a great threat. .

However, neither he nor the Viscount Turenne would be so stupid as to waste the lives of soldiers in vain. The wars of the seventeenth century, whether on an open battlefield or a difficult siege, were all based on artillery fire. However, it started with a loud noise—the metal beasts that had been caressed by the king were pushed up, the bases of the artillery were already prepared, and the brackets were quickly installed—this refers to medium and large artillery, small The cannon had only to remove the axles from the cart, and it was ready—the king sat on his throne, and watched the soldiers in the three ditches move like water in the ditches.

It was not without reason that Vauban dug the three trenches; the third, the one closest to the king and farthest from the enemy, contained bullets, stone and iron balls for muskets and cannon, and boxes of The gunpowder exists as an open-air armament warehouse. This distance can guarantee that even if the enemy's artillery has the blessing of God or the curse of the devil, it will not be able to hit it. And between it and the second trench, the first The two trenches are connected by a Z-shaped passage, and the second trench is used to house the fort. Here it is mentioned that Louis has been persistently recruiting bachelors, spreading his opinions, and generously rewarding them, which is commensurate with the king's artillery. It is its extraordinary range and safety-Vauban doesn't have to worry about those round shells failing to fall on the walls of Lille; Gunners, when the king looked over, they were checking their guns. Although these rifled guns improved the speed and accuracy of bullets, they were not as good as gunpowder and bullets when loading gunpowder and bullets. It was convenient, so Louis had to make concessions. There were only 4 riflings in each barrel, which could not be compared with the smoothbore guns with more than 100 riflings in later generations.

But for the soldiers, such a change is just right. In addition, Condé, Viscount Turenne and other generals also changed their original tactics under the feedback of themselves and the soldiers. The biggest ones are the musketeers of the musketeers, because the barrels of the muskets are short enough that neither the gunpowder nor the bullets will get stuck in the middle, so their rifling can reach eight or ten, which is almost the limit. Because the barrel rifling at this time can only be made with iron bars with hooks, which is very slow and inefficient, and the scrap rate is also high.

The king was able to equip enough muskets for this battle, thanks to the wizards of Gajola Island, although they were able to work day and night like a resurrected corpse because of the king's gold.

Vauban only placed ten guns in the second ditch, and when they roared like a dragon, the ground under the king's feet shook, and the guns on the walls of Lille roared, but they heard nothing. It looked so weak, and the shells fell to the ground even before the first trench, causing no harm to the French army. The soldiers burst into laughter, and some brave men jumped out of the trench and ran out to pick up a shell Iron shells, and then returned to their positions, received a burst of warm applause and cheers.

This kind of behavior is unimaginable in the army of later generations, but in this era, it is undoubtedly a proof of courage. At least the soldiers who saw this scene were greatly encouraged, and the round shell was quickly sent In the hands of the king, it was still hot when Louis took it, "This may be the best gift." He thought for a while, took off his hat and handed it to Vauban, "Give this to that soldier ’ said he, ‘as my reward. ’ Vauban bowed to him, and ran off swiftly.

Louis's hat today is bright red. Even with the pigments made by wizards, there is no need to use expensive cochineal, but because the king has repeatedly reiterated that these dyes have not yet appeared on the market in large quantities, the price is still high. , In addition, in the king's clothing, jewelry is always indispensable, such as this hat, the button used to fasten the snow-white ostrich feather is a silver sapphire brooch, but the ostrich feather may be more than the brooch. more expensive.

This is indeed a generous reward. During the period of Louis XIII, the French king issued a series of bans on luxury. It will not be a large number of outflows - after all, at this time, France has not yet become the capital of fashion, Italian gold and silver jewelry, British lace, Dutch woolen fabrics, etc., are the objects that the French flock to - of course, nobles and kings always is exceptional.

The brave soldier immediately took off his hat and put on the king's hat. Although he couldn't see it, the king could imagine how proud he was from the swaying ostrich feather.

For the French, this can almost be said to be an innocuous and interesting episode, but for the Lille, it can be said to be a humiliation, or—although their artillery could not reach the French positions However, the French artillery can continue to shake their walls and confidence. If the ten artillery placed in the trench can still give them a chance, then the fifteen small artillery that was pushed deeper by Vauban The cannon is another matter—it’s just that this small cannon Louis has not made any special improvements for the time being. In addition to adding rifling, it has prepared a more accurate iron ruler for the gunners, which is the current measuring stick. The rangefinder, although the current gunners will definitely curse when they see this kind of rangefinder-especially the previous one...

That is a wooden stick engraved with horizontal bars. The gunner erects the wooden stick on the cannon, perpendicular to the cannon ring (the round iron bar on the cannon body), and then sets the target into the intersection of two virtual lines—— Well, one can imagine how crude this aiming method is. Anyway, within three hundred feet, this kind of small gun cannot easily hit the target, even with rifling, but what Vauban needs is not accuracy, but It was to clean up the outer salient forts, perhaps because of the tight time, these salient forts only had a parapet about six feet high, and the shells of the small cannons could directly hit the soldiers and artillery inside.

But in the same way, these gunners will inevitably be shrouded in enemy fire. At this time, the newly built ladder is pushed up. The grenadiers and their earthen pots and gunpowder are all on it. The ladder was originally used as a siege tool. Played a new role here, the grenadier not only condescended, but also threw the ammunition farther, even threatening the soldiers on the city wall - but the French were not without losses, some small cannons were overturned, and the gunners fell. The wooden frame was burning, and the ladder was also hit. The grenadier fell from above, and the smoke and dust produced by the explosion immediately completely submerged him.

Louis couldn't help holding the armrest of the chair. Although he couldn't see the blood dripping or hear the wailing shenyin, he knew very well that there must be chaos everywhere on the battlefield.

People who have never witnessed death or experienced fighting, even if they can compose the most passionate music and write the most tragic poems, they will never be able to understand and comprehend Louis's current emotions, even if he was chased by a werewolf and murdered by a wizard. Even if I was cursed by my own uncle, I also experienced the pain of losing my family and freedom... But war is different and will never be the same. This is the greatest malice bestowed on mankind by God, and it is also a feast held by the devil in the world. On the battlefield, anyone can fall, be injured and die, no matter whether he was a kind person or a vicious person before, cowardly or brave, whether he was carrying sins or not... the same, no difference, Under the artillery fire, the fallen soldiers were as silent as the grass and trees destroyed by the hurricane, without any warning.

But this is only the prelude, only the beginning, Captain Vauban is already in the trench, and the Vicomte Turenne has entered the field - soldiers coming out of the first trench, the artillery in the second trench is firing on the first. The trenches moved, and then the most powerful artillery would fire three more salvos—after three times, the city walls of Lille were crumbling, and the defenders of Lille seemed to have realized that they could no longer rely on the protection of the city walls. The earthbags and stones were removed, and the Spaniards and the Lille militiamen filed out and lined up in front of the city.

This army also has musketeers, but there are also traditional spearmen and halberdiers in it. They line up in familiar formations, which is the thirty-man formation commonly used by the Dutch, with thirty men in a formation and three columns. There are ten people in each row. There is a distance of about six feet between the teams, and about eight feet between people. The Frenchmen are presented with five teams, surrounded by some free musketeers. A very long battle line.

The Viscount Turenne adopted a new formation, two companies, eighty musketeers, eight musketeers in each row, the distance between them was about nine feet, because they used line shooting when fighting frontally That is to say, after the first person shoots, he must immediately run to the last row to clean the gun chamber, load gunpowder and bullets, so be sure to leave enough space. Because it is the first time to fight the enemy head-on, the veterans standing at the front are all calm. It only takes fifteen to twenty seconds for them to shoot one shot, while the newcomers at the rear need twenty-five to thirty seconds. Even so, The French army can still guarantee that forty bullets are fired every minute.

Louis also once slandered that the musket tactics of this era were like queuing up to shoot, but when he saw all this, he couldn't help but feel a sharp pain. Those who fell one after another in the smoke may be meek He may be a loyal husband, and more likely a loving father, but the thread of their life was cut by fate at this point, and everything in the world has nothing to do with them. Bishop El was muttering prayers—Louis also read the scriptures, although he didn't quite believe that this would make the dead go to heaven—but at this time he did understand that those who pinned their hopes on monks and monks man on the holy relic.

The two neatly lined up teams just moved straight towards each other, and when they were only two hundred feet away from each other, more people fell down. Vauban saw that the halberdiers And the spearmen were also ready-and suddenly, with the sudden loud and rapid drumbeat, and the shouts of officers, the French musketeers in the first column were suddenly half shorter, and they were half Kneeling down, resting his knees on the ground, with the end of the spear resting on his shoulders, the musketeers in the second row immediately took a big step to the right, and the musketeers in the third row immediately faced Lille's soldiers—— The three men lit the arquebus at the same time, and the gunfire was loud, and the three times the bullets were like a torrential rain on the soldiers of Lille, the gunners who had not had time to raise their muskets, and the halberdiers and spearmen who were preparing to charge the enemy. Hands, their eyes widened, and they fell down in disbelief. With such a short distance and such intensive firing, almost none of the people in the first few rows were spared!