Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The patrol boat on the River Styx was the first to warn.

The things rolling in the river were sinking and floating at great speed, passing the boat and approaching the bridge.

The bridge is not afraid of barbarian fire ships - this is the unanimous opinion reached through discussions at the bridge construction headquarters.

"You want to use the fire ship trick?" Colonel Haugwitz said disdainfully at the meeting: "Barbarians have to have a ship first!"

Shipbuilding generally requires wood, nails, glue and sealants. The composition of the sealants varies according to the local products.

The Veneta people mostly use asphalt, while the people from the United Provinces like to use straw ash and tung oil.

The material conditions are relatively easy to solve, but craftsmen who are proficient in shipbuilding skills will not fall from the sky.

Even the most seemingly unskilled "canoe", requiring no glue or nails, requires an astonishing amount of craftsmanship and labor hours.

Who doesn’t know how to hit someone with a knife?

But the Plato army could build furnaces to smelt iron, use water power to saw wood, and build bridges across rivers right under the nose of the enemy.

As for the Herds... Colonel Haugwitz said: "It would be good if we could get two rafts."

This is the gap in engineering capabilities.

Winters is also optimistic about threats from the water.

Building a ship is indeed not easy. If it were easy to build ships, the Platuan people would have crossed the river by boat.

Despite all the manpower and material resources of the army, they could only produce twelve ten-man oar boats that were barely watertight. He was also nicknamed [The Twelve Apostles] by the soldiers.

Even if he wanted to make a raft, White Lion had to get ropes and nails first. Most importantly, he couldn't find the wood.

Within a radius of fifty miles, there is no second forest outside the bridge forest.

In order to prevent the white lion from taking advantage of it, Arpad and his men even burned down several unproductive groves.

This is why the Platuan people must build a bridge here.

Moreover, Sackler also deployed three lines of defense on the water.

Even if the White Lion could get a raft out, he would have to break through three lines of defense before he could reach the bridge piles.

The black shadow in the water quickly passed by the Plato ship, and the first line of defense was easily broken through.

The speed of that thing was so fast that the musketeers from the main camp had not yet arrived, and only the sentries along the coast fired a few shots at it.

So the second line of defense didn't work either.

The black shadow was like a giant snake shuttled through the water, rushing towards the bridge.

Winters' palms were sweating. Now it all depends on whether the third line of defense can be effective.

The moonlight was hazy, and dark shadows were rising and falling in the water.

Winters couldn't see clearly at all. He could only barely see that the distance between the black shadow and the bridge pile was getting closer and closer.

"Boom!"

A dull bang.

The black shadow in the water hit the [Dragon-Slaying Sword] in front of the bridge pile.

Dragon-Slaying Sword—this is what Brother Red calls it.

The Selika people often compare rivers to dragons, and the name of the dragon-slaying sword is poetic and majestic. Winters thought it sounded good and learned to call it that way.

The Plato engineers called it [water diversion pile].

That is, another wooden pile is driven two or three meters upstream of the bridge pile, and an inverted V-shaped water divider is installed on the wooden pile.

The turbulent water flow will be split into two by the Dragon-Zhanbing Sword, and the impact on the bridge piles will be weakened.

Normally, the Dragon-Zhanbing Sword is responsible for weakening the erosion of bridge piles by water flow.

Once attacked, the Dragon-Slaying Sword becomes a water wall.

If we attack from the water, we must first destroy the Dragon-Slaying Sword before we can approach the bridge body without hindrance.

But if you want to set up a boat and pull out the Dragon-Slaying Sword, you have to withstand the hail of bullets fired from the bridge and the shore.

This is the third line of defense.

[Note: There are no ropes or chains connecting the water diversion piles. Otherwise, if one water diversion pile is pulled out, other water diversion piles will also be taken away]

I saw the black shadow colliding with the Dragon-Slaying Sword. The latter suddenly tilted, but like a boxer who was hit head-on, he stubbornly refused to fall.

The black shadow was bounced away and swam downstream.

The Platoans on the shore, including Winters, regardless of officers or soldiers, all breathed a sigh of relief.

The third line of defense still plays its due role.

But soon, Winters' smile froze at the corner of his mouth.

He saw that the knocked-out Dragon-Slaying Sword seemed to be receiving some huge force and was slowly falling in the direction of the water flow.

Accompanied by the exclamations of the soldiers on the bridge, the Dragon-Slaying Sword was uprooted and hit the bridge pier violently, and then went downstream.

Lieutenant Varga, who has outstanding eyesight, pointed upstream and exclaimed: "Look! Here they come! More!"

It turns out that the black shadow just now was just an outpost, and countless black shadows were rushing towards the bridge in groups.

"Did the barbarians raise monsters in the river?!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert was shocked and angry.

His subordinates didn't know how to respond. There was dead silence on the shore, only the roar of the rapids could be heard.

"I know!" Winters slapped his thigh hard. It was so powerful that even Qiang Luck was shocked.

Winters was unaware of the pain, gritting his teeth and staring at the water: "The raft! The White Lion is going to release the raft to destroy the bridge! No wonder! No wonder General Arpad went north!"

"A raft? How could that thing be a raft!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert frowned.

"If it were really a wooden raft, it would be easier to handle. Two small boats could kill all the people who set it off! I don't know what to call it." Winters grabbed the reins and gestured to his colleagues: "That thing in the river is Trees! The white lion must have connected two or more trees with ropes or chains, and then lowered them from upstream."

"[Angry expletive]!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert's mind was sharp and clear. He rarely cursed: "You're looking down on this barbarian! [Vicious adjective]!"

The other officers were still confused and didn't understand what it meant.

Winters held the reins with both hands, using the horse's neck as a bridge stake, and continued to explain: "If a single piece of wood is put down, it is likely to float directly between the bridge piles. Two trees are connected by a rope and rush down from the upstream. , even if the force is not strong enough to knock down the water diversion piles and bridge piles, it can still drag down the wooden piles. It is like pulling a net in the river! This trick is of no use for floating bridges, it is specially designed to deal with bridge piles!"

Speaking of this, other officers also suddenly realized.

But it was useless to see through the white lion. A group of them stood on the shore and could only worry.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert sent Varga to report everything that Lieutenant Montagne said to the headquarters.

Winters also thought of two countermeasures: first, use a small boat to pull a net on the river and drag away the driftwood; second, send soldiers who know water skills into the river and cut off the ropes hanging on the bridge piles - the white lion should not be there. The capital is made of iron rope.

In a hurry, he could only think of these two methods. Winters said without confidence: "There may be someone capable at the headquarters who has thought of what I said."

"Don't worry about this." Lieutenant Colonel Robert simply said: "Let me know."

The rapidly changing battle situation gave Winters a severe headache.

When he was a trainee in the Revenge Fleet, everything on the ship and at sea was arranged properly. If he didn't vomit in the cabin, he would be considered qualified.

All of Venetta's many naval officers are better at surface warfare than him. He is a landlubber who has never even learned how to swim.

At this moment, Winters misses the Veneta Army's loyal enemy, the Veneta Navy.

If Captain Speyer and Adjutant Cage were here, they should be able to come up with better countermeasures?

It was useless to think too much. Winters shook his head and tried to clear his mind.

"Let's go!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert pulled the reins and turned the horse around: "Our responsibility is to guard the camp and not let the Hurds take advantage of the chaos. Others are responsible for the things on the water."

All the officers followed suit.

A centurion muttered dissatisfiedly: "If they can't save the bridge, our hard work will be in vain..."

"One person cannot do everything. You must trust your colleagues." Lieutenant Colonel Robert said without looking back: "I trust them, just like I trust you."

Winters chewed on these words, and he remembered what General Nareshaw said during the Battle of Lighthouse Harbor, "Veneta expects everyone to fulfill their duties."

An army does not fight with one man, one centurion. In any case, he can still rely on his seniors, seniors and even generals.

Thinking of this, Winters calmed down.

After finding out the situation, everyone rushed back to the Qiaolin camp.

Each centurion team has been assembled. It is dark around the camp, and there is no sign of the Hurds.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert suddenly sighed heavily: "Now...it depends on Arpad's ability."

The centurions didn't know why.

"The river Styx is winding, and the Hedians will not place their rows too far upstream. Otherwise, all the 'things' will be washed ashore."

A centurion asked: "General Arpad led troops from the camp just now to deal with the Heds upriver?"

"I guess so." Lieutenant Colonel Robert frowned.

"Where did the barbarian get the wood?" Winters couldn't figure it out: "Didn't we clear out the woods near here?"

"I don't know either." The lieutenant colonel clutched the whip stick tightly, and said angrily, helplessly and unwillingly: "White Lion is not an ordinary barbarian, we... still underestimate him!"

…

The Palatuan people are fighting desperately to protect the bridge.

The cold wind howled, and the brave soldier took off his clothes and jumped into the cold river with only a hemp rope tied around his waist.

They don't have much time, and the river water takes away a lot of heat from their bodies every second.

The water diversion piles were dragged down one after another, and those that had not yet been dragged down were just struggling to hold on.

Because of its arched structure, the bridge piles can barely withstand one or two impacts.

The Hed's ropes became tangled in the bridge pilings, and the submersing Platons had to cut them before they lost their heat.

A brazier was lit on the bridge to warm the diving soldiers.

But when many soldiers were pulled up, they were so cold that they couldn't even speak, and their bodies were shaking uncontrollably.

The surface of some people's skin has turned blue-purple, and their limbs are swollen like carrots.

Szekely felt miserable because these soldiers who jumped into the River Styx were all his best sons.

But he couldn't show any emotion and just kept sending more men into the water.

The current of the Styx River was so fast that the river water carried the giant wood and crashed into the bridge.

What the Platuan people have to fight against is the power of nature. Swords and muskets are all useless at this moment. The only human weapons left are courage and will.

Twelve small boats were all sent out, but no fishing nets could be found in a hurry. The soldiers on the boats could only use their spears to intercept the floating wood in the water.

A tree trunk half an arm thick was half submerged in the water, and it did not surface until it was close to the bridge pile.

The soldier who was cutting the rope next to the bridge pillar was unable to dodge and was hit by a tree trunk. He vomited blood immediately.

By the time he was pulled out of the water, he had expired.

This was a very young and handsome young man, but he was lying naked on the bridge at this moment, his eyes were wide open in confusion, there was blood on the corners of his mouth, and a large piece of his chest was collapsed.

Someone was crying quietly.

Szekely took off his cloak, covered the young man's body, and gently closed his eyes.

"What's his name?" Sackler asked.

"I don't know, General." Colonel Laszlo replied expressionlessly: "I don't know."

The Heds on the other side also discovered something unusual about Plato's army. No matter whether the White Lion communicated with them in advance or not, they would not miss this opportunity.

Arrows and stones were hitting the Palatuan people on the bridge, and the brazier was the best guide.

Hunters carrying rifled guns rushed over, the sound of gunshots and arrows piercing the air. Some people fell into the river, while others fell on the bank.

"Ship!" exclaimed the Platts on the boat. "Ship!"

On the river, a huge object was emerging from the night, approaching the bridge step by step.

"Where did the boat come from?"

"It's not a boat." Colonel Laszlo only glanced at it and replied calmly as if it was nothing to do with him: "It's a raft, a sheepskin raft."

The Plato soldiers on the boat rowed hard towards the huge sheepskin raft.

There were also Huds on the sheepskin raft, shooting bows and arrows at the oarsmen of the boat.

"Such a big sheepskin raft." Sackler sneered: "I don't know how long it took to prepare... I thought I had underestimated him. In the end, I still underestimated him."

The Plattons were eager to return home, and the Hittites were equally eager to exterminate them. Therefore, it is impossible for the barbarians to miss any opportunity to pursue and intercept them, and the same is true for the Platoans.

The raft prepared by White Lion was used to cross the river. Before that, he had never thought that the Platuan people could actually build a bridge across the river. Like his venerable enemies, he adapts his tactics to make the most of the limited resources at hand.

There are some diagrams in this chapter. If you don’t see them, please refresh them later.

[Dragon-Zlaying Sword] not only divides water, but also breaks ice. There is one on Lugou Bridge.

When I read this story myself, I felt that Winters was having a hard time. I vowed to treat him well in the next volume...

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