Iron Powder and Spellcaster

After the fixed end of the suspension bridge on the triangular fort was cut off, everyone on the bridge fell into the open space between the triangular fort and the city gate.

For fear of being attacked by the Veneta people, the defenders did not dare to open the city gate to save people.

This temporary triangular fortress is actually a mound, with no door to enter or exit, only a suspension bridge between it and the city wall.

After destroying the drawbridge, the Venetas temporarily cut off the support of the defenders, turned around and began to strangle the remaining Union soldiers inside the Triangle Fort.

A dozen Federation soldiers fled into the storage room deep in the Triangular Fort. The space was so small that the Veneta people could not do anything to them for a while.

Seeing that his soldiers were standing at the door and no one dared to go in, Juan couldn't help but get angry and cursed: "Trash! What are you doing standing still? Take off your armor and give it to me!"

A sergeant immediately took off his armor, and everyone hurriedly tied it on to the centurion.

Don Juan was wearing his own officer's armor with two layers of breastplate underneath, which made him look particularly bulky and clumsy.

He pulled out a short knife from his boot and kicked the wooden door open without saying a single unnecessary word.

The Tanirians inside the door were also surprised and subconsciously pressed the snake rod. There were two consecutive "dong" and "dong" sounds, one was the sound of a gunshot, and the other was the sound of lead bullets hitting Juan.

The lead bullet penetrated the outer breastplate, but it changed its flight path, bounced off the inner breastplate, and flew out from under the ribs.

Juan felt as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer, his internal organs were surging, and he was almost suffocated, but he still stabbed the nearby enemy with his willpower.

Seeing what the centurion was doing, the soldiers behind him also rushed in. The Tanirians were quickly killed in close combat.

The defenders on the city wall also came to their senses. They clamped their heavy matchlock guns on the breastworks and began to fire at the enemies on the triangular fort.

The height of the city wall was three to four meters higher than that of the triangular fort. The Tanirians were condescending, and the stormy lead bullets hit the Venetians on the triangular fort unable to stand at all.

[The height of the triangular fortress in front of the city gate is 5-6 meters, while the height of the tower city wall is 8-9 meters depending on the terrain. ]

But the next scene stunned the Union officers and soldiers on the city wall. A group of strange soldiers rushed up from the front of the triangular fort.

Said they were soldiers because they were all wearing gray military uniforms. It's strange, because they are not holding weapons, but various tools.

The second group of troops sent by Antonio and Leighton were the engineering brigades of the two legions.

The engineers shouted slogans and used shovels, pickaxes and explosives to demolish the sharp corner of the triangular fortress pointing directly at the Veneta position amidst the enemy's hail of bullets, turning the original five- to six-meter-high earth wall into a gentle slope.

Then the Veneta engineers carried buckets of soil and bundles of firewood to the triangular fort through the gentle slope. Just like the djinn who moved a city in one night in the novel, the Veneta engineers used sacks, soil and firewood to build a triangle fortress. A temporary fortress was built on top of the fort. Unlike the original structure, the new building faced the city wall.

The position of the Veneta people on the triangular fort was quickly consolidated, and the long-range weapons of the defenders on the city wall could no longer kill the Veneta soldiers in the triangular fort.

And all this was done at the gunpoint of the Tanirians.

That night, the officers and soldiers of the Taniriya Federation understood for the first time what military technology meant.

Military technology is not only better guns and cannons, but also better concepts, training, and techniques and tactics.

The Tanirians could muster up the courage to fight the Veneta people to the bitter end, but they would never be able to complete the Veneta army's tactics tonight - a determined and swift attack and efficient civil work.

The siege lasted for nearly half a month, and William Kidd began to feel a hint of despair for the first time.

…

…

The first day after the brief but fierce battle for the Triangle Fort.

For the first time, the Veneta Army began a truly large-scale artillery bombardment of Tacheng.

The heavy artillery has not yet been transported, and the ones roaring on the front line are all light artillery pieces under six pounds. It is difficult for these artillery pieces to cause substantial damage to the city wall. The shells hitting the hard granite outer wall only leave white marks.

But the shelling continued from early morning and has not stopped until now.

There are two reasons. First, although light artillery and mortars are difficult to destroy the city wall, they are extremely effective against the breastworks above the city wall. The Venetians focused their shelling on the two half-moon forts and the city gate, in order to knock down the parapets and make the defenders unable to hide and escape on the city walls.

Secondly, it is also necessary to put pressure on the Tacheng defenders so that they are unable to launch a counterattack against the Triangular Fort.

Because the location of the Triangular Fort is too critical and it is too close to the city wall. Until now, Veneta soldiers who want to go to the Triangular Fort have to pass through an empty area that can be covered by Tanilao's guns.

The engineering brigade is working hard to extend the corridor to the triangular fort, but until now it is still less than a hundred meters away.

The triangular fort is only seven or eight meters away from the city wall. If Tanilao wants to counterattack the triangular fort, he can cross it by setting up a longer ladder.

If the Venetians wanted to support the Triangular Fort, they had to cross a "killing zone" - the officer's name for the open space covered by guns.

If Tanilao is determined to recapture the Triangular Fort, he will never be able to hold it with just two large infantry groups inside.

Therefore, artillery fire must be used to suppress the defenders at the city gate. The defenders did not dare to stand here, making it impossible for them to organize a counterattack.

At the same time, the two brigades in the triangular fort were frantically raising the height of the triangular fort, using sheepskin bags and sacks filled with soil to continue to build a high wall on top of the triangular fort.

The logistics director of the Grand Veneta Legion and the San Marco Legion was bleeding. You must know that for some ordinary people who are not wealthy, sheepskin and linen are both items that can be worn as clothes, but now they take them without hesitation. Come and build the wall.

Time was running out, and cost was no longer a consideration for Antonio and Layton.

While the front was working hard, in the field camp where the two legions were stationed, Winters was hesitating whether to knock on the door.

"Pah!" The clear and loud slap was heard clearly even by Winters outside the door.

Major General Leighton's roar came from the corps headquarters located in the center of the field camp: "Asshole! Why did you cut off the suspension bridge?! Who gave you the courage to make your own decisions?!"

"Bang!" followed by another louder slap.

"Yes! Sir!" Second Lieutenant Don Juan, who was staggered, said in a rather unconvincing tone, "At that time, a group of armored soldiers was about to pass the suspension bridge! If it is not destroyed in time..."

"Pah!" Before he could finish his words, Second Lieutenant Huan was slapped down again.

"Did I let you speak!? Did I allow you to speak!?" Layton became even more furious: "What was the order given to you before the attack?! Tell me! What was the order given to you!?"

Don Juan tried his best to regain his feet quickly and replied loudly: "Yes! Sir! The first goal is to drive the enemy out of the triangular fort! Secondly, if conditions permit, control the drawbridge, sweep the city wall and control the city gate!"

"Which order allows you to cut down the suspension bridge? Who allows you to order it without authorization!" Layton yelled: "[Veneta national curse]! You have ruined a big thing!"

"But..." After being slapped three times, Juan was still unconvinced.

"Okay! I didn't call you here to make you defend!" Antonio interrupted Second Lieutenant Juan.

In Antonio's opinion, the young second lieutenant in front of him actually did the right thing. The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and the rear did not know the danger on the front line. But Juan is Leighton's subordinate, and Antonio cannot destroy Leighton's prestige in front of everyone.

He frowned and said to Juan: "No matter what you saw, you are not qualified to make such a decision. Your captain is on the front line, and it is his responsibility to judge whether the suspension bridge needs to be cut off, not yours! Got it? You like to defend yourself, don’t you? Go back and submit a self-defense report... General Layton and I have a meeting later, so go away!"

After listening to the words of the serbian army commander, Juan looked at Layton again.

"Get out!" Leighton, whose anger was still lingering, his chest heaving violently, uttered one word impatiently.

Second Lieutenant Juan put his boots together, saluted with a military salute, turned around and left the army commander's office.

But when he walked out of the headquarters, he happened to bump into Winters waiting outside.

Looking at Senior Juan's swollen cheeks, Winters hurriedly saluted the senior. But Don Juan just nodded, wiped the nosebleed with his sleeve nonchalantly, and left with his neck raised.

When Winters sent the report from the Road Construction Headquarters to the corps commander's office, the two major generals were still talking about Juan.

"...This little beast, this stubborn donkey, still refuses to accept it! He just [expletive] deserves a beating!" Leighton said bitterly.

"Come on. Didn't you have the same moral character when you were twenty?" There were only two people in the office, and Antonio mercilessly exposed his classmates.

Layton snorted coldly, but didn't say anything else.

There was a knock on the door, and Winters brought in the report.

The two senior leaders of the legion were very concerned about the progress of Guzhi Dao and requested daily progress reports.

In the known world, there may be armies that are more valiant in combat than the standing armies of the republics, but there is absolutely no army that is better at civil construction than the standing armies of the republics.

The road construction plan formulated by the Road Construction Headquarters is very clever. It is not a completely new plan, nor is it a straight line drawn on the map between Red Sulfur Port and Tacheng.

The hair of the engineer officers was thinning day by day, but the project plan was excellent: the original rammed earth roads on the island were used as much as possible, while hills and streams were avoided, and the amount of work was minimized.

The 33-kilometer-long consolidated road uses boulders and clay as the base at the bottom, gravel and mortar as the second layer, sand, lime and clay as the third layer, and flat stones as the hard road surface on the top layer.

However, this road did not use better quality pozzolanic concrete, and there was not even time to wait for the mortar to completely solidify before using it.

The road ahead is still under construction, but artillery has already begun to be transported behind. If the road is built a little further forward, the artillery can be moved a little further.

According to the engineering officers, there may be a problem with the road's lifespan, but they pat their chests and promise that it will be fine for three to five years for the time being.

While Lieutenant Colonel Vauban and the Tacheng garrison were fighting against each other and fighting wits and courage, the progress of the road connecting the two places was increasing rapidly.

But until the day of the raid on the Triangle Fort, the front line of construction was still four kilometers away from the Veneta military camp. But the sky waits for no one. After these few days when the moonlight is at its bleakest, if you want to wait for this time, it will be next month.

Therefore, Antonio and Leighton made a decisive decision. They did not wait for the heavy artillery to arrive, and used animals to carry light artillery to the front line for emergency response. That is why they had four mortars to suppress the Half-Moon Fort on the east side - the Half-Moon Fort on the west side was equipped with four mortars. The two-pounder cannon was not effective at attacking the city wall. Instead, it was the clumsy mortar that did the trick.

Antonio looked through the report without saying a word to his nephew. Winters also stood at attention and waited for orders. There are only regimental commanders and trainee warrant officers in the military camp, with no personal status.

However, Layton, who was sitting aside, didn't know the relationship between the two people. After staring at Winters for a few seconds, he suddenly stood up and walked to Winters and said curiously: "Huh? You're not the broken one." Warrant officer of the Red Sulfur Bay Iron Chain? Is it you? Am I right? Is it you? "

Winters' face felt a little hot, and he stood at attention and replied: "It's me who is reporting to the general!"

"Boy, why are you running to build roads?" Layton asked with a strange expression. He narrowed his eyes and thought for a while and said, "Winters...your name is Winters, right?"

Winters couldn't answer this question. He couldn't say that he didn't want to go to the front line, right? He had to answer: "Report to the general, because I received the transfer order!"

Layton was obviously very satisfied with the answer. He laughed and turned around and said to Antonio: "I say General Serbetti, you are too incompetent as the commander of the army. All the good steel is wasted in your hands. So You're a great front-line officer and you want him to build roads?"

After criticizing his old classmate, Layton looked at Winters again, patted Winters on the shoulder and said boldly: "Do you want to lead troops under me? Let me tell you, with Tani After this battle is over, I don’t know how long it will take for the next one. I don’t know how to do more meritorious service now. From now on, you will be a colonel. You are still on probation, right? When you are officially awarded the title, you will join my army and I will give you a chief Centurion of the Brigade! How are you? Are you coming? Your name is Winters...er, Winters Mont...Montagne, right?"

Antonio behind the desk said without raising his head: "Warrant Officer Montagne, feel honored. General Leighton remembered your name after seeing you twice. When he was in the military academy, he was Didn’t remember my full name.”

"Montagne...Montagne..." Layton chewed on this surname, frowned and thought for a while, then said with a smile: "This surname is good, Montagne is a good surname! I also had a Montagne at the same time. Tagne, but he is a cavalryman... You, you are an infantryman, right? It doesn't matter... This shows that we are destined! You kid, come and lead the troops under me!"

Winters recalled Senior Don Juan's red and swollen cheeks and thought to himself, I don't want to be slapped every now and then. He played a word game: "Report to the general! I will go wherever you are ordered to go?"

"Okay! Okay!" Leighton thought the little warrant officer in front of him agreed. He patted Winters's shoulder hard twice and said happily: "Okay! Work hard under me! One day you will also be able to sit in my position."

Although Layton was nearly forty years old, he was still very strong, and his two slaps severely hurt Winters.

Winters saluted, and Layton said nothing more.

After reading the report, Antonio wrote an order to be sent to the Road Construction Headquarters on a piece of paper, sealed it with fire paint and gave it to Winters.

"The road is almost completed, and the remaining cannons can be deployed on the front line the day after tomorrow."

"Really? Wow!" Leighton was overjoyed when he heard that the heavy artillery was finally in place.

Antonio looked out the window and sighed softly: "The order for massacre has been issued, and the dogs of war will ravage the Tanirians and us."

Thank you to the book friends who voted for recommendations before. Thank you to the book friends who voted for Justice and Purity Is Koala, Black Computer Accessories (sorry for my slow brain yesterday), There is a Beauty in Tianshui, Ami, and Xiaohong Low Sing. Thank you all.