Iron Powder and Spellcaster

As the saying goes: Don't disturb the sleeping lion, and nothing will cause trouble.

There is another proverb: a tiger's butt cannot be touched.

What the Jessica Brigade did last night can no longer be described as simply "touching the butt".

They set a fire on the tiger's butt, cut off a large piece of meat, and kicked it hard in the balls before leaving.

On the sentry tower, Winters calmly stuffed steel nails into the leather holster on his arm armor and casually said to Bud: "The Hurds are so angry."

"Isn't this nonsense?" Bud replied angrily: "Why are you robbing other people's statues?"

"It's not that I wanted to grab it, you weren't there." Winters said with a deep tone: "When these guys saw such a big pile of gold, their eyes glowed green. I said, 'Don't move, let someone put it there'. They didn't Promise!"

The two of them saw tens of thousands of Herd cavalry—who knew from their knees that they were the main force of the Terton tribe—surrounding the bridgehead on three levels inside and three levels outside, and they were ready to attack the city immediately.

The golden man offering sacrifices to the sky was taken away, and the Hed people's eyes were torn apart and their hearts were burning with anger. They wanted to take it back immediately. This is understandable, but they chose the wrong place to start the war.

Although the bridgehead of the Jashka Ministry is small, it is by no means an easy bone to chew.

This civil building is backed by the river bank and occupies a commanding position.

It is surrounded by open spaces, and the only small patch of woods has been cleared by Winters and his men. The ground was bare, not even a place for shelter.

The fort wall is connected with the wooden bridge across the confluence river, so the defenders can advance or retreat.

Moreover, the bridgehead is very narrow on all sides and cannot be deployed no matter how many enemies there are.

There were originally two centurions stationed here. After the arrival of the Jessica Brigade, they continued to renovate and strengthen the original fortifications.

They had far more time than the Szekeli tribe, so what stood in front of the Hed people was not the simple defense of low walls and shallow trenches like the Szekeli camp.

Instead, there are trenches that are more than two meters deep and wide, continuous Juma piles, four large and five small bastions, and a double-layer wall with high and low configurations.

Although it is not as good as those sophisticated, expensive and daunting star-shaped fortresses. But if they want to break through this defense system, the Hud people will have to sacrifice hundreds or even thousands of lives.

The horn sounded, and the Hurd cavalry in the distance made a noise and began to advance towards the fort wall.

"You really dare to come?" Winters took a breath: "Aren't you afraid of death?"

Bud glared at Winters, jumped off the guard tower, and walked towards the southwest corner bastion he was responsible for.

When Alaric, who spoke fluent Common Tongue, led his men to attack the Styx camp, he pushed out at least dozens of carriages as cover.

The Terdun cavalry in front of him, not to mention the chariots - they didn't even have a few shields, but they dared to attack with such a big fanfare, it was really hard for Winters to understand.

An idea came to him out of nowhere: "Could it be that the Hud people... don't understand who is the egg? Who is the stone?"

On the bastion in the northeast corner, Mason stared intently at several stacked red stones 750 meters away.

Seeing the stones drowning behind the Hurd wall, Mason shouted: "Fire!"

Five six-pound cannons fired one after another, and the solid iron balls accurately flew into the crowd, pierced through the body one after another, and plowed five deep bloody trenches.

The Hurds apparently did not expect the defenders to have artillery. In order to build momentum, they advanced slowly in dense formation.

However, the surrounding open space has been marked by Mason, and facing such a dense formation, there is absolutely no possibility of missing.

It was only five shellings with limited damage, but Hurd's army was already shaken. Not because of the casualties, but because they couldn't bear the psychological pressure of being beaten.

Finally, someone couldn't stand it anymore. As soon as the horse made a dash, all the Heds ran wildly with it.

The formation of Terdun's army was thus broken up.

When the Hurds charged five hundred meters, the two twelve-pounder cannons that had been waiting for so long let out a thunderous roar.

The shells crashed through the crowd, hitting the ground and bouncing back, mercilessly taking away lives.

"Well done!" Mason's depression disappeared, and he was very satisfied with the effect of the bombardment.

Leading the way or something like that... How can a cannon be any more interesting? The lieutenant ordered his men with high spirits: "Change the shotgun!"

Upon hearing the order, a group of "gunners" hurriedly began loading grape bullets wrapped in rope nets and paper bags.

The cannons that Lieutenant Colonel Robert wanted but didn't have, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica not only had...but seven of them.

Lieutenant Mason, who had never dreamed of returning to his old career, wanted to give the artillery of Border City a piece of cake. Jessica nodded, and he immediately took the five best-quality light long cannons and two cannons under his command.

The former only weighs half a ton, but has a diameter of more than 30 and an excellent range. The latter weighed about one ton, had a smaller diameter, and was better at firing twelve-pound shells.

Mason had weighed and packaged the gunpowder for shooting in advance; the shooting angle was also determined by Mason himself.

The other so-called "gunners" are complete tool men, just firing, resetting, cleaning the barrel, loading, and firing again.

As early as the defensive battle of the Styx Camp, Mason had already trained several tool gunners. Now with the old tools as the backbone and new tools added in, the artillery team has been greatly expanded.

In this way, an academic artillery officer who had raised pigs for several years, along with dozens of wild tool men, used Hud cannons to kill the Huds - even the shells were picked up Hud cannonballs.

The cruel battlefield scroll is inexplicably tinged with a touch of magical realism.

But Winters had no time to ponder the comical absurdity of it all; he was waiting for the Hurd to get to fifty paces.

If they only have muskets, the Heds can slowly advance to a hundred meters and form a calm formation before attacking the city.

But once the defenders had artillery, the Hurds had to attack from five hundred meters away.

Even five hundred meters away is not considered safe. The maximum range of the six-pounder is more than three thousand meters - but at this distance, accurate shooting is not as good as good catching.

In less than a minute, Hurd's cavalry had already rushed within fifty meters. The artillery only had time to fire one round, and it was still reloading intensively.

Behind the wall, there was silence.

The Jashka Brigade is no longer a ragtag group that shoots guns randomly and is emboldened. All the musketeers are waiting for orders.

The defense of the bridgehead is composed of four layers from the outside to the inside: the horse, the trench, the parapet, and the stockade wall.

The Hed people stopped in front of the horse. Some of them dismounted and drew their bows and arrows, while others started to pull out the horse stakes.

"Now! Fire!" Winters yelled through a loudspeaker.

He pulled the trigger continuously, "click, click" the spring wheel ignited, and two lead bullets flew out of the muzzle one after another. The leader of the Red Feathered Hed next to the horse fell to the ground.

After Balian's repairs, this double-barrel rifled gun can now be used to hit wherever it is pointed.

The musketeers on the bastion pressed the firing lever as Winters did, and a series of gunshots rang out, and lead bullets flew everywhere.

The nearest Hud was killed on the spot, and the surviving Hud lay on the ground to hide, trying to use a horse-repelling stake that was only as thick as an arm as a shield.

After the volley, the battlefield returned to silence.

"[Hud] Stand up!" After the smoke, a Hud leader sternly scolded: "[Hud] Their muskets can only be used once! Pull out the stakes quickly!"

The Huds got up from the ground amid the beatings and scoldings. The shooting seemed to have really stopped, and they began to pull back the horses again.

They were greeted by a second salvo, and the scolding leader Hurd was killed by two lead bullets.

"Second team! Reload!" Winters waved the military flag and shouted: "Third team! Prepare!"

The drummer next to the centurion played an urgent presto, urging the musketeers to take action.

The musketeers who finished shooting retreated to reload, while another group of musketeers hurriedly walked to the wall and took aim.

Before that, militia musketeers could fire freely after firing a single volley.

However, Winters discovered that many musketeers did not dare to fire their guns. Once they started firing freely, they could not shoot a few lead in the entire battle.

So Winters divided all the musketeers into ten teams, took turns, and fired alternately.

It is clear at a glance whose gun fired and whose gun did not fire.

"Team 3! Fire!" Winters yelled.

The drums stopped suddenly, and Charles picked up the mallet and hit the gong hard.

"Boom!" The sound of the gong penetrated the noise of the battlefield, which was the signal to open fire.

The third team of musketeers pressed the firing rod and fired a volley.

A captain of ten stood beside each shooting position to take notes. The military law has been read out in advance. Whoever's gun does not fire will be severely punished after the war.

"Team 3! Reload!" Winters immediately ordered: "Team 4! Prepare!"

The drummer struck the fast drum again. Amidst the high-frequency drumbeats, one group of musketeers retreated, and the next group of musketeers took over.

This tactic is not simple. Each musketeer must complete the reloading within nine rounds of shooting, and must also beware of friendly fire and accidents.

With drums, gongs and voices, ten teams of musketeers stumbled and took turns.

Seeing his subordinates in a hurry, Winters was not satisfied.

In his opinion, the militiamen are still too clumsy now. If more training is carried out, this rotational shooting tactic will definitely become more smooth.

"Team 4! Fire!" Winters' voice became a little hoarse, and he thought to himself: "I have to find someone to shout the command for me."

Centurion Montagne was still dissatisfied, but the feelings of the Hedians were completely different.

In the past, it would take a long time to reload the Two-legged man's musket once.

But the Herds of the Terdun tribe were surprised to find that the two-legged men in the bunker in front of them had never stopped firing their muskets.

The sound of gunfire was continuous, and the lead bullets were like raindrops, one after another, making the Hud people unable to raise their heads.

Finally, a large number of Hurd archers arrived on the front line.

These archers were all wearing double or even triple layers of heavy armor. They stepped over the horses and got close to the trench, firing arrows at the Palatians on the wall.

Immediately, several musketeers leaned too far over the parapet and were killed by arrows.

The Hed's hard bows and heavy arrows lose their power at a slight distance. But the advantage in exchange is that it is "unstoppable" at close range.

Especially the crescent arrowhead, which can even slice the wrist off the arm.

Winters was not surprised to see Hurd's heavily armored archers approaching.

It was a life-and-death attack and defense game for more than a dozen games. Winters knew all the tactics the Herds had.

It is no exaggeration to say that among the living Veneta officers, probably no one knows the Hed's housekeeping skills better than Winters Montagne.

These archers must be carefully selected brave warriors who can wear double-layered heavy armor, shoot hard bows, have superb archery skills, and are specially responsible for sniping and suppressing the Plato Musketeers.

Winters smiled.

Elite? What I am fighting is the elite.

"Running horse!" Winters shouted loudly, and the magic-enhanced shout instantly overwhelmed all sounds.

Upon hearing the signal, a large number of musketeers suddenly stood up on the parapet behind the trench and shouted in unison: "Uukhai!"

They had been hiding behind the wall for a long time, waiting for this moment.

"Fire!"

The musketeers behind the parapet, almost face to face, fired a round of extremely brutal volleys at the head of the Hurd elite.

From the heavily armored archers to the parapet, there is only a trench in between, and the distance is no more than four meters.

If none of these hits, the shooter has every reason to commit suicide by swallowing the gun.

As agreed, the artillery that had been holding back opened fire at the same time.

Countless lead pieces were flying around the ditch, and the Hud people had as much lead as they could eat.

Winters felt that his cheeks suddenly felt a little moist. He touched it and found that it was blood splattered from the city below.

When the gunpowder smoke dissipated, there were not even a single Herd heavy-armored archer left beside the trench. Someone is still alive simply because no one is targeting him.

The sound of drums and gongs still continued unabated, and one volley after another was fired at the enemies below the city.

It's just a small improvement, but the killing efficiency is greatly improved.

The Hedians lost all their energy and fled away.

The first round of attacks was repelled with almost no casualties.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica, who was in charge of the central army, ordered someone to recruit Winters.

After the meeting, Jessica handed the second lieutenant a glass of strong wine without saying a word. There was no trace of joy or sorrow on his face: "Send some reliable men to join the horses and drag away all the corpses. Don't let the Hud people play anymore." The trick of stacking corpses and attacking the city."

"Already sent." Winters did not refuse the alcohol and poured it down his throat.

The two were silent for a while.

Jessica suddenly praised: "Well done."

It was rare for the lieutenant colonel to praise anyone. He tried hard to show some kind expression, but instead he looked very strange.

"Um."

Jessica gave up trying and returned to her usual lukewarm tone: "The alternating shooting tactic you came up with is a bit interesting."

Winters wiped his cheek and said: "I am not original. Rotary shooting has been around since ancient times. The harpooneers of the ancients took turns throwing like this, and the archers would also shoot in formation."

"Is there anything original in this world?" Jessica sneered and shook her head, pouring another glass of wine for the second lieutenant: "They are all improvements on other people's things. Since you are the one who improved this tactic, it belongs to you. Montagne tactics? Montagne system?"

"Let's just call it rotation shooting. I don't want to name it."

"Why?"

"Isn't the phalanx improved by the old marshal just called the grand phalanx?" Winters said quietly: "Although it sounds arrogant to say it, I seem to have a little understanding of the old marshal's state of mind... I am very happy, But I’m also afraid. I’m afraid that one day in the future, someone will use this set of things on us.”

Jessica patted the ensign's arm and said nothing.

There is a map in this chapter and I am drawing it. If you see this but don't see the map, please come back to this chapter later to find it.

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