Iron Powder and Spellcaster

It was a moonless night, and for Union soldier Tsekras Delbruck, who was on night duty at the Triangle Fort, it was just another ordinary night during the siege.

Tsikras-Delbruck was the youngest son in the family. His father loved this little son so much that he begged the priest to give him a saint's name as his Christian name.

However, this name is too long and difficult to pronounce, and few people can call it Lisuo. Because his face was covered with freckles, other Union soldiers simply called him "Pockmarked."

As the son of a yeoman farmer, Mazi chose to become a soldier for a simple reason—his father had very little land, but his father had many children.

Mazi has four brothers and three sisters. His parents only died of two children. This is unusually lucky and unusually unfortunate.

So until Mazi reached the age of sixteen, his eldest sister Zoya still failed to get married.

Zoya was not only good at work, but also beautiful in life and had a gentle personality. There were countless young men who were chased away by her father with a stick.

However, several marriages discussed for her ended up falling through because Mazi and Zoya's father had no money to buy dowries for their daughters.

Mazi’s father only had more than a dozen acres of land, which were all in the corners and not connected to each other.

For this reason, Mazi's parents work from dawn to dusk every day, and even work as handymen to earn money to support the family when they are not working. Even with such hard work, he could barely raise eight children. His father really had no money left to save a dowry for his daughter.

The eldest sister Zoya has become an old girl, always secretly wiping her tears in the yard; her parents are frowning, sighing and complaining to each other all day long.

All these things were seen by Ceclas Delbruck.

So on the day when he was two weeks shy of his sixteenth birthday, Tseklas-Delbruck gave his sister the settlement money to buy a dowry, and left his hometown with the Union's recruiting officer, becoming a "pockmarked man."

Although the direct purpose of signing up to join the army was to buy a dowry for his sister, it was also because Mazi didn’t want to spend his whole life digging in the soil like his father did. His father’s land was not enough to share with Mazi and his brothers. Mazi also wanted to see the outside world. world.

But right now, on the triangular fortress outside the tower city wall, under siege by the Veneta army, Mazi felt particularly homesick.

"What are your parents doing now? They must be sleeping, right?" Mazi thought drowsily while trying not to doze off: "I don't know who Zoya married into. My eldest brother will marry soon..."

While Mazi was trying to recall the houses and roads in his hometown, a few "whoosh" and "whoosh" sounds suddenly came from the front. He woke up suddenly, but before he could react, three short and thick crossbow arrows had already flown to his side.

The two crossbow arrows hit Mazi's breastplate with two "ding" and "ding" sounds. The arrows penetrated the breastplate but failed to penetrate completely.

The third crossbow arrow hit Mazi right in the face, penetrating the eyes and bones, and the arrowhead stayed in the soft brain, causing fatal injuries.

Mazi fell limply to the ground, his consciousness quickly annihilated, and his memory disappeared along with everything in his memory.

"Good shot!" Field, who was lurking not far in front of the Triangle Fort, punched his knee excitedly, but before he could order an attack, the night was pierced by shrill whistles and alarm bells.

Another secret whistle on the Triangular Fort first heard a strange noise, and then saw Mazi lying upright and falling backwards, and immediately sounded the alarm.

"[Angry expletive]!" Seeing that his success was in vain, Field cursed fiercely and said angrily: "I didn't expect a sneak attack anyway! Whistle! Attack!"

In the triangular fort, the Union soldiers woke up from their sleep, groping for weapons in a panic in the darkness, and immediately ran towards the fort after getting the weapons.

The defenders in the tower city also heard the alarm bell, and the braziers on the city wall were lit one after another. The defenders resting in various places in the city ran towards the city wall.

As the low-intensity siege and confrontation lasted longer, the defenders in the city became more or less lazy and contemptuous of the Venetians outside the city.

The initial panic and fear when they were surrounded by the army gradually dissipated, and many Union soldiers began to think, "What? Veneta guys are nothing more than building walls."

When the Veneta people outside the city built the corridor to about two hundred meters away from the city wall, they stopped building it forward and began to extend parallel to the city wall. It seemed that they just wanted to build a closer siege wall.

Some Tanirian veterans who had been in the army for many years pretended to be profound and said to the new recruits: "It is a good thing for us soldiers that the Veneta guys are working so hard to build the wall."

The recruit asked stupidly: "What's the good thing?"

The veteran will reply proudly, "The harder they work on building the wall, the less they want to attack by force, they just want to trap us. In this situation, when the food is gone, even those who don't want to surrender have to surrender. Isn't it a good thing not to have to fight?"

However, the Union defenders who thought they were safe did not expect that the Veneta people would suddenly attack tonight, and once they made any move, they would be like thunder.

In the dark night in front of the city wall, first a sharp whistle sounded, and then hundreds of whistles blew simultaneously.

After hearing the whistle that signaled the attack, Veneta officers in the corridors and ramparts blew whistles and ordered people to light torches.

In an instant, hundreds of torches were lit in front of the city wall, as if thousands of troops were moving in the dark. Along with the shaking of the torches, the shouts of killing one after another from the Veneta soldiers were like waves, beating the spirit of the defenders.

The panicked defenders hurriedly loaded their muskets and cannons, cocked their crossbows, and searched for arrows.

The officers of the Union no longer paid attention to the order to save gunpowder, desperately urging the gunners, and ordered to fire as soon as the loading was completed.

For a moment, I didn’t know how many bullets the defenders fired at the torches and figures in the distance. They just kept repeating the process of loading and shooting.

Fear is contagious, and the Venetians' overwhelming momentum plunged the defenders into fear. Only by firing at the enemy could they feel a little safer.

Under the cover of shouts, firelight and gunfire, a large number of Veneta soldiers were pouring out of the corridor facing the city gate and the triangular fortress. These soldiers did not shout or light torches, but carried the torch in groups of three. Ladder, led by officers without night blindness, quickly rushed to the Triangle Fort.

Lieutenant Colonel Field and several other crossbowmen who quietly approached the Triangle Fort were waiting for them.

The defenders on the triangular fort immediately noticed the anomaly. The brazier beside them prevented them from seeing the open space in front of them, but the footsteps in front of them could be clearly heard, getting closer and closer.

Although there is a huge momentum in the east-west direction, it can be seen clearly from the perspective of the triangular fort: the torches are not close to the city wall, but are just moving left and right repeatedly.

Captain Sanogueira, who was responsible for defending the Triangular Fort, realized that the east and west sides were just feinting. He shouted desperately to warn the city wall. However, the defenders on the city wall had fallen into a kind of fanaticism. It was useless even if a few people noticed him. .

Sanogueira had no choice but to send people to run back to the city from the suspension bridge between the triangular fort and the city wall to ask for help.

However, it was already too late. A large number of Venetans rushed out of the misty night, causing Sanogueira to take a breath of cold air.

The defenders fired bullets and killed the front row of Venetians, but for every person who fell, more people rushed out of the night.

This temporary triangular fortress in front of the city gate, like the city wall, lacks the protection of trenches. At the same time, in order to resist artillery attacks, the main material is earth, and the height is only about five meters.

The triangular structure means that there is no blind spot for firepower, and the city wall at the rear can provide full coverage of firepower support. The low and thick main structure can not only absorb the force of artillery shells, but also allow the wall behind the triangular fort to be shot beyond.

This is a fortress of the new era, and Antonio will use the tactics of the old era to break it tonight.

Since there was no trench protection, the Veneta soldiers carrying the ladder rushed to the base of the triangular fort wall, set up the ladder and began to climb.

Sanogueira was frightened by Veneta's sacrifice of life and death. He shouted loudly and ordered the defenders to counterattack.

The defenders of the Triangle dropped their muskets and hurled boulders at the Venetas. All Veneta people who were hit were killed on the spot.

Before the asphalt had time to burn, it was poured down the wall. The Veneta people who had hot asphalt poured on their heads let out ghostly wails, and then a few more torches were dropped from the city wall, turning them into pyromen.

Four-pounders and eight-pounders loaded with a dozen walnut-sized iron bullets fired at the Venetas, each shot setting off a storm of flesh and blood.

Cannons and matchlocks roared continuously, dying people made blood-curdling screams, thick smoke billowed, and fires roared, as if the whole world was about to be destroyed.

But even if the defenders resisted tenaciously, they still could not stop the Veneta people's attack.

Tonight, Antonio and Layton used two brigades to attack both sides of the Triangle Fort at the same time.

The two brigades responsible for the main attack were elites selected from the two legions. The colonel and captain were now standing under the fort wall to command, while the centurions were the first to climb up with their sabers in their teeth.

After suffering a large number of casualties, a small number of Veneta soldiers soon climbed onto the Triangular Fort and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Triangular Fort defenders.

Lieutenant Colonel Field saw this and was anxious in his heart. Tonight, he was not given the main attack task. The task given to him was to command the musketeers to cover the main attack group.

However, the pace of troops dispatching along the corridor was limited, and the two centurions' musketeers lagged behind. It was not until the Veneta soldiers in front had climbed up the triangular fort that the musketeers arrived.

"[Expletive]! What are you doing! It's so slow! [Expletive]!" Field glared and cursed the centurion of the Musketeers.

Lieutenant Lehmann and Captain Philip, two centurions of the musketeers, did not dare to defend themselves and could not care less.

The two centurions commanded their musketeer centurions to quickly deploy in front of the triangular fort and began to use matchlocks to suppress the defenders on the triangular fort.

The long-range weapons suppressed the defenders on the wall immediately. A dozen Tanirian soldiers who leaned out of the wall to throw stones, splash asphalt and boiling oil were shot to death and fell from the wall screaming.

The remaining Tanirian soldiers were too frightened to show their heads again, so they could only reach out from behind the parapet. The momentum of the defenders of the Triangular Fort was exhausted, their killing efficiency also began to decline, and the pressure on the climbing Veneta soldiers dropped sharply.

However, at this time, the Union defenders on the city wall finally woke up. William Kidd, who received the request for help from the defenders of Triangle Fort, sent a large number of signal troops to the city wall to convey orders.

After receiving the order, the defenders at various places on the city wall immediately rushed to the city gate to support the Triangular Fort.

The cannons on the two half-moon forts also adjusted their shooting angles and began to fire at the Veneta people under the triangular fort wall.

The fortress design of the new era finally showed its fangs. The shape of the triangular fort caused the projectiles fired from the walls on both sides of the rear to have no obstruction and no blind spots. Each shell was a terrifying side fire.

A cannonball fired from the Half-Moon Fort on the east side killed all the Veneta soldiers in a straight line, and finally bounced on the hard volcanic rock, smashed two ladders, and sank into the wall of the Triangular Fort.

Upon seeing this, Lieutenant Colonel Field sent two teams of musketeers to suppress the enemy shooters on the wall behind the Triangle Fort. However, he understood that the musketeers who suppressed the enemy were of little use. The enemy's real killer weapon was the side-firing artillery deployed on the Half-Moon Fort.

Field roared loudly in his heart: "Fire! Fire!"

The god of artillery heard his call, "Boom", "Boom", "Boom", "Boom", the dull roar of artillery resounded throughout the battlefield.

But this time it was not the cannons on the city wall that roared, but the Venetian artillery finally began to show its power.

Several stone bullets flew out from behind the newly built fortress wall of the Veneta people. Most of the shells were deflected. Only one shell hit the target and hit the Half-Moon Fort heavily on the east side.

The stone bullets collided with the wall, debris flew away, and smoke and dust flew everywhere. All the Tanilia gunners on the Half Moon Fort were killed and injured by the rubble. The main shooter's chest was dented by the rubble and he died on the spot.

The artillery on the east side of Half-Moon Fort suddenly misfired.

"Cannon? Where did the cannon come from?" On the top of the city, William Kidd grabbed the officer next to him with a ferocious expression, and asked angrily: "When did the Veneta people bring the cannon up? See the Veneta people Why didn't you tell me where the cannon was placed? [Pirate expletive] I'll kill you!"

As he spoke, he reached out and drew his knife.

"Sir...no...didn't see it..." The officer caught by William Kidd was so frightened that he almost cried. He tremblingly replied: "We didn't see anything...at all. No one saw the Venetas carrying the cannon.”

"Ah!!!" The furious William Kidd slashed his knife on the parapet, sparks flying everywhere.

About two hundred meters away from the city wall, behind the Venetian ramparts parallel to the city wall - these ramparts were built when the corridor was built and extended laterally two hundred meters away from the city wall - Engineer Lieutenant Colonel, no, now Artillery Lieutenant Colonel Wo While observing the impact point of the artillery shells, Bang ordered: "The No. 1 artillery group and the No. 2 artillery group, adjust to the right moment. The No. 3 artillery group, the No. 4 artillery group, reset."

Beside him, the gunners were busy loading four short and stubby cannons.

There was a wall between the artillery and the tower city defenders. The defenders on the wall could not see the movements of the Veneta gunners behind the wall.

These four artillery pieces were Vauban's secret weapon, a secret weapon that would not be discovered even if deployed under the eyes of the defenders. They are not ordinary barrel artillery, but - mortars, mortars removed from warships.

Ordinary artillery requires gun emplacements and firing ports.

The artillery on the city wall is condescending. Once the defenders discover that the Venetians are deploying artillery, the Venetians' artillery positions will be bombarded immediately.

The mortar cannon's ballistic trajectory is high, which is a deflection fire instead of a direct fire, so it can be deployed behind the fortification wall to kill enemies on the wall through the fortification wall.

Although the accuracy is a little lower, it is the only way to take things by surprise. Moreover, the solid road connecting Tacheng and Red Sulfur Port has not been completely repaired, and heavy artillery cannot be sent up. The Veneta people can only temporarily move a few light mortars as an emergency.

When the four mortars commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Vauban suppressed the artillery of Fort Half Moon on the east side, Winters, who was holding his horse on standby at the other exit of the corridor, finally waited to attack.

There were very few people around Winters. Including Winters, there were only sixteen riders in this small group.

The person responsible for leading this small group of cavalry was Winters' old acquaintance, Major Moritz.

Yes, these sixteen riders are all caster officers. And except for Major Moritz, all of them were lieutenants.

Major Moritz changed his usual lazy look, looked at the lieutenants casting spells, and gave a stern order: "Don't stay, don't dawdle, go in and out quickly, and withdraw immediately after completing the mission!"

"Yes!" The fifteen caster lieutenants replied in unison.

Moritz glanced at Winters, nodded, and shouted: "Mount!"

Sixteen riders galloped out from the east side of the battlefield. Winters did not care about the horses and urged the horses with all his strength, approaching the Triangular Fort at full speed.

As they rushed to the side of the Triangle, Moritz yelled: "Throw!"

The fifteen lieutenant spell casters took off the smoke bombs hanging on their chests, used the fire spell to activate them, and then threw them with all their strength between the triangular fort and the city wall.

Some highly skilled spellcasters also used flying arrows to throw smoke bombs farther.

The "Excited Portable Activated Alchemy Substance Smoke Generator" exploded in the air. The thick smoke obscured the sight of the defenders on the east wall, preventing them from seeing the Veneta soldiers climbing the triangular fort behind the smoke.

After the smoke work on the east side was completed, the casters turned to the west side and threw all the remaining smoke bombs.

Winters had never used spellcasting materials so liberally in his life, and both legions had half the smoke grenades in their arsenal handed to them. Antonio and Leighton are determined to win this small triangular castle.

The wall of smoke completely blocked the view of the Tanirians on the city wall. There was no wind tonight, and the wall of smoke did not dissipate for a long time.

William Kidd yelled angrily, but there was nothing he could do.

Although the artillery on the Half-Moon Fort has been calibrated for shooting angles, without visual aiming correction, the accuracy of these artillery is still greatly weakened. The gunners have no idea whether they hit or miss, and there is no way to correct them.

Not to mention the musketeers on the walls, who now could only shoot blindly into the smoke.

After completing the mission, the caster rider quickly retreated to the attack position.

In front of the triangular fort, Lieutenant Colonel Field, who was commanding the musketeers, saw what he was praying for - a Veneta military flag planted on the triangular fort.

"Urrahhhh!!!!!!" Field yelled feverishly.

The Musketeers who realized what had happened also shouted excitedly: "Urrahhhh!!!!!!"

"Hahaha! We've got it!" Leighton, who was watching the battle from behind, laughed wildly and punched the parapet: "Well done!"

"According to the original plan, the engineer brigade and reserve team are leaving now." Antonio calmly gave the order to other officers.

There were more and more Veneta soldiers on the triangular fortress. After the Tanirians killed one, two more climbed up. The defenders could no longer stop retreating, and it was useless no matter how Sanogueira tried to stop them.

When the thunderous war cry resounded through the Triangular Fort, the morale of the Tanirians completely collapsed and they began to escape into the city along the suspension bridge between the Triangular Fort and the city wall.

The armored elites of the Federation who were sent to support the Triangle Fort were blocked at the bridgehead by the fleeing soldiers and could not move forward.

During the pre-war briefing, Layton and some senior officers believed that if the enemy did not cut off the drawbridge, they would directly attack the city wall through the drawbridge and break the city in one fell swoop.

However, Lieutenant Juan, who climbed up the triangle fort, suddenly realized that because the Venetians could never keep up with the Tanilians in delivering troops, not only could we not use this suspension bridge, but the enemy could continuously send reinforcements through this suspension bridge. Push the Veneta people off the triangular fort.

Second Lieutenant Juan, who was alarmed by this incident, shouted to his centurions: "Suspension bridge! Suspension bridge! Cut the suspension bridge!"

Juan's centurions, who were chasing the broken troops and killing them, heard the order and began to attack the drawbridge.

William Kidd, who rushed to the top of the city, saw the deserters on the bridge running towards the city and the reinforcements heading towards the Triangular Fort. After the two sides were squeezed and unable to move, he became furious. He cursed: "Trash! Give me all the deserters." Push it down! Go to Triangle Castle quickly!"

After receiving the order, the armored Union soldiers began to push the fleeing Triangle Fort defenders under the bridge.

On the bridge, Sanogueira, the commander of the Triangle Fort who was crowded by the crowd, shouted angrily: "Why? Why?!"

No one paid attention to him. One after another, the Triangular Fort defenders were pushed off the bridge and fell to the ground screaming. Some people did not fall to death on the spot and continued to make horrifying wailing sounds.

Second Lieutenant Juan had already rushed to the edge of the suspension bridge, raised his saber high and began to chop the cables of the suspension bridge.

Several soldiers also rushed over to help.

Finally, the suspension bridge was cut down.

Losing the fixation at one end, the deserters, reinforcements, and Sanogueira fell from the bridge to the ground.

After taking heavy casualties, the Triangle is now Veneta's...for now.

Of the six thousand words, I wrote half of it yesterday and half of it today. Some of it was so sluggish that my hair was scratched.

In fact, this battle to capture the Triangular Fort also has a prototype. Some readers may have figured out that the prototype is actually the battle for the Triangular Fort of St. Elmore during the siege of Malta. "The cannons and matchlocks roared continuously, the dying people made blood-curdling screams, the smoke billowed, and the fires were raging, as if the whole world was about to be destroyed." These are the original words to describe that battle. Of course, because the geographical environment is different, the process is also different.

Thank you to the book friends who have voted for recommendations before. Thank you to the book friends who voted for Helpless Dream Man, Yuan Hongjian, This Mountain, Black Computer Accessories, Social Justice Lao Wang, Please Call Me Pleasant Goat, I don’t know what to call it. Thank you all. .