I will be crowned king

"The fort is destroyed and the target is confirmed to be hit!"

As the herald's slightly excited words rang out, an atmosphere of joy began to envelope the fort position; many soldiers couldn't help but stand up and looked at the towering towers on the fortress wall with unconcealed expressions of excitement. Firelight.

Ludwig, who was always tense with his heartstrings, could not resist the urge to raise the corners of his mouth at this moment, and the joints of his right hand holding the saber turned slightly white.

Even he didn't expect that he just inadvertently raised the muzzle position slightly, and actually hit the main battery of Thunder Castle with one shot.

Even if tonight's siege ends in failure, Thunder Castle, as a fortress, has lost its biggest threat and will no longer be able to organize an artillery bombardment of the same scale as before;

All the fortifications will be burned to the ground in tonight's melee. The positions built in a hurry will not be able to withstand the siege of several times the army;

The only ones that still pose a threat to themselves are their elite cavalry and knightly officer corps; but these galloping warriors can only delay the siege battles, which are mainly melees and line confrontations. How much power can it exert?

At this moment, the outcome is decided!

"quiet!"

Suppressing his inner joy, the stern-faced Ludwig interrupted the cheers of the soldiers: "I just happened to knock out one of the enemy's forts. The battle is still going on, and it is far from the time to decide the outcome."

"We must maintain the current momentum and continue to bombard the walls of Thunder Castle to suppress it and provide cover for the attacking army; increase the firing angle of the mortars and try to bombard the main castle!"

"yes--!!!!"

the soldiers replied in unison.

Ludwig nodded slightly and glanced sideways at the herald behind him, whose cheeks turned red with excitement:

"Any news from the Grenadier Corps?"

"not yet."

The herald, who immediately came to his senses, looked at the brigadier nervously: "I have sent out all the cavalry. Once the Grenadier Regiment returns the same way, someone will immediately go to respond and notify the nearby cavalry."

Ludwig didn't say anything, but looked down at the pocket watch in his right hand. The time on the dial was two-thirty.

In another forty minutes, regardless of whether the Grenadier Regiment can arrive, he must order a general attack.

Without the help of the most trusted Grenadier Regiment, could he really win the victory relying on recruits with very low quality and experience?

The next moment, Ludwig, who no longer hesitated, raised his eyes and said sternly:

"Send the order and leave a small group of cavalry to take charge of the response. The rest will all withdraw to their positions and do the last steps before the general attack..."

"boom----!!!!"

A violent explosion sounded without warning.

Ludwig, who was interrupted, didn't have time to be surprised. He almost instinctively turned his sight to the direction where the explosion came from - the fortress fort covered in smoke and dust in the heavy rain. The sky-high flames once again lit up the night.

"This, what exactly is this..."

The stunned Ludwig turned his gaze to the side, but the soldiers in the artillery position also had dumbfounded expressions; the ammo man who was stunned in place even had his mouth wide open, and even the shells dropped from the soles of his feet. He didn't even notice it was hit.

Before everyone could recover from the shock, the city wall covered in blazing flames heard a thunderous explosion again!

"boom--!!!!"

Another flash of fire shot into the sky amid the smoke.

Anson, whose scalp was numb, lay on the ground with his eyes closed tightly, and the surrounding images kept flashing in his mind.

Karl, who was leaning on the edge of the city wall, desperately supported his body with the broken flagpole, shouting something to the surroundings at the top of his lungs;

The horrified Lisa hugged her rifle and hid under a corpse that had been scorched by the explosion, her curled up petite body shivering constantly;

Amidst the violent vibrations and roars, one soldier after another fell to the ground, and then screamed in the air wave stirred up by the explosion and fell from the city wall, hitting the ruins everywhere and the trench full of wooden thorns. among.

But the explosion in the fort on the opposite side has not stopped yet, one shock after another, one fire after another, one after another, flickering in the smoke-filled rainstorm.

The rubble that rushed to the sky, as well as the broken body parts that were burnt black by the bombing, the military baggage... scattered from the sky like raindrops, falling scatteredly on the city wall that was still shaking violently.

Anson gritted his teeth, feeling extremely unlucky.

Ludwig would use suppressive fire on the fortress wall, which was slightly beyond Anson's expectations; according to the two men's pre-war deployment, the artillery position should have ceased fire half an hour ago.

However, considering that the archbishop's own son was an artilleryman, it is not particularly surprising that he would rely too much on artillery support without seeing any hope of victory.

But one thing is certain, that is, any artillery piece and any explosive shell on the siege position absolutely do not have this level of power.

So the question arises - what did Ludwig hit with that shot just now? !

"Uh... big, probably the shells and propellants piled on the fort, right?"

In the fort position, the shocked herald looked at the billowing smoke on the distant city wall and couldn't help but swallowed: "After all, Thunder Fort is only an internal military station and not a border fortress. The design did not consider the possibility of being attacked. It was a large-scale siege, so the passages on the city wall were designed to be very narrow in order to save space."

"Perhaps the imperial defenders also discovered this. In order to allow the artillery to counterattack quickly without worrying about the lack of shells when attacked, they stored a large number of shells and propellants in the fort, so..."

So, the shot just hit the Thunder Castle's ammunition depot, right?

Looking at the city wall that was still flickering with fire, Ludwig's expression turned extremely ugly.

As if fate was joking with himself, he allowed himself to kill the biggest threat and obstacle with one shot, and also blocked all possibilities of reinforcements and turning the tide of the war.

At least until the explosion is over, any military operations against Thunder Castle can only be temporarily suspended. Even if the Grenadier Regiment arrives immediately, it is impossible to rush into the battlefield despite the sea of ​​​​fire.

"However, this may not be such a bad thing." Noticing the brigadier general's increasingly worse expression, the herald quickly said:

"Because the fort of Thunder Fort is very strong, the explosion was almost confined to the city wall, causing minimal casualties to the levied troops who were besieging the fortress. It can be said to be a blessing among misfortunes."

"And lo and behold, the explosions have stopped."

……………………

A heavy feeling in the chest... This was the only feeling Anson felt as he just got up.

Pushing away the unrecognizable charred corpse that was pressing down on him, Anson struggled to stand up. A strong sense of vomiting kept rolling in his body, but he was quickly suppressed.

"Anson! Anson?!"

"I'm fine!"

Anson responded and looked at Lisa behind him. The thin and small figure ran to Karl at some point and pulled the adjutant out from under a pile of rubble with some difficulty.

The three people who saw each other let out a long sigh of relief, supported each other and leaned against the broken wall, and began to assemble the troops and count the casualties.

There were nearly 300 people who followed the flag and rushed up the city wall. After counting, there were still over 200 people left. The casualties reached one-third, which was very close to the critical value of morale collapse.

But compared to the Imperial defenders on the opposite side, Anson found that he was quite lucky - the entire fort had turned into a sea of ​​flames, all the fortifications and chests were crushed by the blast of air, and there were burnt and burned parts everywhere. Bodies buried under rubble.

Looking at all this, he turned his head silently, looked at Karl, who had already stood up, and nodded.

The next second, Anson picked up the rifle from the ground and raised the shining bayonet above his head:

"The First Infantry Regiment—Charge Formation, Assemble!"

"Target main fort, for victory, move forward——!"