Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The southern highland fortress that once belonged to the Palatuan people is now silent.

The barbarians behaved well and did not light lamps or raise fire, so that the attackers could not see clearly the arrangement on the fortress wall. However, fires were arranged in the open space outside the trench, leaving no one to hide.

The Platuan people must retake the southern highlands, and the Hedians also know this.

Under the night, an undercurrent surges.

A meteor dragged a long trail across the sky and disappeared in an instant.

"Kill!" A man screamed desperately from nowhere.

The military drums rumbled and the horns stung everyone's eardrums.

A group of humans jumped out of the darkness, carrying crude wooden ladders, and roared towards the fortress: "Uukhai!"

The red light of the North Highland Fortress flashed, and sporadic gunshots were heard.

However, the range of the muskets was not enough to hit the northern highlands to the southern highlands, and the troops there could only give the friendly forces a boost.

Amidst the deafening shouts of death and the sound of drums and trumpets, the fortress remained silent like a beast dormant in the shadows.

The moment the Palatine crossed the fire, the beast stretched out its fangs.

A series of bow strings vibrated from the fortress wall, and the Platoans who rushed at the front were shot down one after another.

The fire was quickly extinguished, and everyone turned into blurry shadows in the darkness.

Plato soldiers with shaved heads and red ribbons on their left arms jumped over the corpses of their comrades and rushed towards the trench with shouts.

The battle had begun, but Winters stood still.

He lay on the slope, tilting his head and listening to the sounds of fighting in another place.

The gendarmes and standard-bearers Charles and Heinrich stood behind Winters, followed by other soldiers from the two Centuries, and behind them were the troops of Andre and Mason.

The Jashka brigade is ambushing the fortress two hundred meters away from the southeast corner, and will be exposed if it goes any further.

According to the original plan, the death row camp took the lead in feinting to attack the northeast corner of the fortress.

After the barbarian's attention was drawn away, it was the turn of the Jessica brigade to launch.

The shouts of death died down - that's normal.

Because once a face-to-face fight begins, everyone grits their teeth and purses their lips, unable to utter even the shortest curse.

Instead of the screams of killing, there was the muffled sound of blunt objects hitting human bodies and screams.

Winters rubs the hilt of the sword gently with his thumb. He still gets nervous, excited, and scared, but he has learned to be patient.

Except for the musketeers, everyone under his command had changed into one-handed swords and shields, and wore all the armor they could find.

Super long guns are useless in night battles, and the same goes for halberds.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica came up from behind, bending over.

Winters turned and gave a small salute.

The lieutenant colonel gently patted Winters on the shoulder and asked in a low voice: "Do you see where the cannon is?"

"No...it doesn't matter, it's right there anyway."

The raid on the Southern Highland fortress was nominally commanded by Colonel Laszlo.

However, Colonel Laszlo is basically a zombie at the moment, so the combat plan was actually drawn up by Lieutenant Colonel Jasika and Lieutenant Colonel Robert.

The two lieutenant colonels agreed that capturing the Southern Highland fortress was an impossible task.

Take it tonight, and tomorrow the Hittites can take it away again. The troops at hand alone cannot afford a war of attrition.

But think about it another way: the threat to the Southern Highlands fortress lies not in the fort, but in the artillery on the high ground.

After capturing the fortress, the White Lion immediately pushed the cannon to the high ground, crossed the Plato Camp and bombarded the "Floating Bridge".

In just one test launch before dusk, two pontoons were sunk. This was an intolerable threat to the Platuan people.

But on the other hand, as long as the cannons can be destroyed, it doesn't matter if the highland fortress is given to the barbarians.

What the Palatuan people need most now is time. As long as they can buy two more days, the bridge can be built across the river.

The frontmost bridge pile is less than fifty meters away from the east bank, really just a little bit closer.

Someone waved a torch at the foot of the hillside, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

This was the promised signal. Winters and Lieutenant Colonel Jessica looked at each other for the last time.

"Go!" Winters ordered softly.

He took off his shield, lowered his body as low as possible, and approached the trench.

Charles carried five spare weapons, Heinrich rolled up the military flag, and the two followed Winters closely.

Winters' action was a silent signal, and his warriors filed out of hiding.

Unlike the death row camp, the Montagne team did not blow trumpets, beat drums, or shout to kill, but just walked quickly with their bodies lowered.

More than a hundred infantrymen formed two loose straight lines on the hillside, their footsteps rustling.

The ramparts remained silent.

The quieter it gets, the more nervous Winters becomes.

He was already less than ten meters away from the fire, and now he couldn't even hide his figure.

"Wet blanket!" Winters ordered in a low voice, reaching out his hand without looking back.

Ciel unfolded the wet blanket, ignored Winters' request, and stepped forward to smother the fire.

There was a heartbreaking sound of bowing from the fortress wall.

"Raise your shield!" Winters rushed over, pulled Ciel behind him, and immediately used amplification to yell: "Be careful with bows and arrows!"

Before he finished speaking, arrows came like rain.

Winters raised his shield to protect his faceplate. There were three crisp sounds, and three arrows were bounced off his shield and breastplate one after another.

He felt like he had been hit with a rock three times, nothing serious.

Other nearby fires had been smothered.

Winters shouted loudly: "Attack!"

No longer needing to cover up, Heinrich unfurled the military flag and the shrill charge horn sounded.

"Uukhai!" The Montagne team let go and shouted, rushing towards the wall.

The Plattans considered the possibility of losing the fortress, so the walls on the side of the fortress facing the main camp were shorter and the trenches shallower.

But it was still a formidable fortification that cost lives to fill.

Twenty steps forward, there was another round of arrows.

This time Winters only heard a crisp sound. He was not afraid of the bow and arrow, he was waiting for the gunshot.

All members of the Montagne team wore armor, and some even wore a piece of armor in addition to the plate armor. Unless the shot is misshapen or accurately aimed, the bow and arrow cannot cause damage.

Less than ten meters away from the trench, Winters saw a flash of red light on the rampart in front of him.

"Raise your shield!" he yelled, subconsciously raising his shield.

The sound of gunshots like exploding beans rang out from the fortress wall.

"Bang!"

Winters only felt that his left arm was numb from the shock. The lead bullet penetrated the outer iron sheet and the inner wood of the shield, and finally smashed into pieces on his left chest plate.

Even though the breastplate was not penetrated, Winters still felt tightness in his chest.

What he was most worried about came. Among the coalition forces, only the Red River Department of White Lion was equipped with muskets in large numbers, and only the Red River Department had sufficient gunpowder reserves.

There are musketeers on the fortress wall, which means that tonight they will have a head-on confrontation with the Akagawa tribe.

The Montagne team, which had no casualties in the face of bows and arrows, was knocked down by muskets in an instant.

"Ladder!" Winters' eyesight was splitting, but at this moment he could only move forward bravely: "Grenade!"

"Uukhai!" Soldiers carried ladders across the trench.

There is an iron hook at the top of the ladder, so if it gets stuck, you can't push it off.

The Montagne team soldiers started climbing up with their shields on their backs.

"Uukhai!" Eighteen grenadiers threw their arms and threw the hissing iron bombs into the wall.

A series of dull explosions sounded inside the fortress.

The grenadiers were physically strong men selected from the entire brigade, and the order Winters gave them was simple: throw all four grenades within one minute.

The two-kilogram iron-cased bombs all flew in an arc behind the fortress wall, but they failed to effectively kill the enemies on the wall as Winters expected.

Meanwhile, the musketeers and archers on the wall were returning fire.

Buckshot and arrows were flying everywhere. Even though Winters' deflection technique had become somewhat successful, he was still unable to deal with so many stray arrows and bullets.

He simply stopped maintaining the deflection technique, waved his arms and shouted: "Climb the wall! Climb..."

"Be careful!" Ciel exclaimed from behind.

The next second, with a loud noise, Winters was overturned by the air wave.

Not far from where he was standing just now, a grenadier was blown apart at the waist. Mud, minced meat and blood flew everywhere.

"Are you okay?" Ciel frantically searched for wounds on Winters' body: "Blood!"

"It's okay! It's not my blood." Winters felt like he was being slapped hard on the chest by a lead-filled steel pipe. His breathing was stuffy, and his tinnitus even covered Ciel's voice.

what happened?

Winters didn't need to ask, anyone could figure it out just by looking at it.

The grenadier was hit in the neck by a lead bullet just as he lit the gun. The moment before he fell to the ground, he used his last strength to press the grenade under his body.

That blood-stained face once belonged to a man named Mihaly from Wolf Town. Protestant, sharecropper, nineteen years old, very tidy, not yet married.

Pain, anger, and powerlessness were all the emotions Winters could feel.

He strode toward the ramparts.

"Lieutenant Colonel, you are not allowed to enter the city!" Charles tried desperately to hold Winters back, but he couldn't: "You can't go!"

Heinrich followed the centurion silently, holding a military flag.

The fortress wall was less than three meters high. The barbarians on the wall knew that they could not kill anyone at this height, and they had no other defensive equipment, so they desperately used muskets and hard bows to kill the attackers.

Picking up a shield from the corpse, Winters climbed up without saying a word.

The two soldiers holding the ladder were stunned for a moment, and then held the ladder harder to prevent it from shaking.

The ladder was slippery because it was covered in blood.

The archers and musketeers on the other wall noticed the centurion with conspicuous armor, and turned their guns on Winters.

Winters tried his best to maintain the deflection technique, carrying the shield on his back, gritting his teeth and climbing up.

"Why did he go up again!" Seeing this scene, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica was furious: "Didn't I strictly prohibit him from entering the city?!"

No one dared to answer.

The lieutenant colonel ordered the second group of Cellini troops who arrived on the battlefield: "Second Lieutenant Cellini! Go capture the other wall!"

Although the Southern Highland Fort was crude, it was still a star-shaped fort. Attacking any wall alone will expose the sides and even the back to the other wall.

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica asked Andre to put pressure on the other wall to reduce the pressure on the Montagne team.

Mason's team arrived belatedly, and the musketeers spread out their formation amidst Lieutenant Mason's shouts and curses, and began to suppress the barbarians on the wall.

About to climb to the top of the ladder, Winters raised his head and saw only the black muzzle of the gun pressing against his head.

A ferocious barbarian was holding a musket with a ferocious expression and was about to pull the firing rod.

Winters was maintaining the deflection spell and it was too late to switch to another spell.

In desperation, he grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it as high as possible.

Manzi pressed the launch rod, and the lead flew past his helmet. His palms were sore from the shock through the gloves.

Winters grasped the barrel of the gun and pulled it out with all his strength. Barbarian also became fierce, gritting his teeth and refusing to let go.

The stalemate lasted less than a second. Winters shouted loudly, and the barbarian was "pulled" out of the wall by him.

The barbarian musketeer fell heavily under the city and was stabbed to death by the Platuan swords in an instant.

But until the last moment of his life, he held on to his musket tightly and did not let go.

"[Hidden] White Lion!" The barbarian squeezed out a tuneless voice from his throat, and then he died.

"Long live!" shouted the Platoans under the wall.

Centurion Montagne's "feat" was witnessed by everyone under the wall.

"Long live!" The Musketeers also shouted desperately.

Winters didn't realize it. He didn't even know that everyone was cheering for him.

He leaped onto the wall and drew his sword.

There was no joy of success in his heart, only endless anger: the small space inside the fortress was full of barbarians.

The white lion knew they were coming, and the white lion was waiting for them to come.

His warriors were still climbing up the ramparts, and Winters had no way to make them retreat.

Their mission has not been completed, and it is impossible to retreat.

"Come on!" Winters roared and rushed towards the enemy on the wall: "Come and kill me!"

There is no longer any reason to argue, only one side can survive.

A barbarian musketeer saw the Plato centurion rushing toward him and hurriedly drew his gun to shoot.

After pulling down the firing rod, I realized that there was no match rope hanging on it, and I touched the handle of the knife again. Before he could draw his scimitar, Winters' caged sword had already penetrated his chest.

The sword blade penetrated into the lung between the ribs, leaving a horrific wound. The alveoli were pushed into the trachea by atmospheric pressure. The barbarian musketeer vomited the bloody bubbles and slowly fell to the ground.

And the person who killed him had already drawn his sword to kill the next person.

As more and more Platoans boarded the city, the barbarian archers and musketeers suffered heavy casualties, and the pressure on others outside the wall suddenly decreased.

The barbarian archers and musketeers were unarmored, and none of them was a single enemy of Winters.

Winters didn't even dodge those non-fatal attacks, relying solely on the strength of his armor to resist them.

Barbarian's knife struck him on his shoulder armor, arm armor and chest armor, which only caused him great pain.

In exchange, his sword will kill the barbarian.

After knocking down more than a dozen enemies in a row, a vacuum zone had formed around Winters, and the archers and musketeers on the fortress wall tried their best to escape from him.

The leader of the barbarians shouted at the top of his lungs: "[Hidden] These two-legged people are awesome! Hit him with a musket! Hit him with a musket!"

The sound came from under the wall, and Winters on the wall couldn't see where the barbarian leader was.

He fired three steel nails in a row in the general direction, and that annoying sound never appeared again.

The Platians had occupied an area on the rampart, and Andre climbed up.

Seeing the large number of barbarians inside the fortress, Andre couldn't help but cursed.

The barbarian archers and musketeers have retreated to other areas of the fortress wall, while barbarian soldiers wearing armor and holding knives are continuously coming up from the stairs.

Winters looked around. There were only gun mounts on the ramparts, but no cannons.

However, the scouts only saw the White Lion moving the cannon into the fort, but not the White Lion moving the cannon away.

"There is no movement in the death row camp! We are the only ones left!" Andre grabbed Winters: "Where is the cannon?"

"Moved!"

Andre was anxious: "What should we do?"

"Right in this fortress!" Winters' face was hidden under his helmet, and Andre couldn't see his expression clearly: "Fight in!"

During the conversation, the barbarian soldiers stormed the fortress wall again shouting: "Wu Kaha!"

The strong barbarian soldier who rushed at the front held his war hammer high and smashed his head and face into Taomash in front of Winters.

Poor Taomash raised his shield to block, but only blocked the first blow. He stabbed back with his side sword, but was blocked by his breastplate.

The strong barbarian stabbed him hard, then swung his arm and hit Taomash with a hammer, causing his brain to burst.

Winters, who saw all this, threw Andre away, raised his sword and pounced on the hammer-wielding soldier, and struck the opponent's neck with all his strength.

His sword was already curled, and the barbarian soldiers had neck armor. There were only sparks flying, but no blood.

The barbarian soldier wanted to repeat his old tricks, but the power of Winters' sword was so great that he staggered.

Before the barbarian could regain his center of gravity, Winters grabbed the barbarian's helmet and launched an unreserved cleavage technique.

The Hammer Barbarian's head was instantly torn apart in his helmet, and red and white stuff flowed out from the gaps in the armor.

The other barbarian soldiers around were so frightened that their legs weakened. Not only did they not dare to move forward, they even took a few steps back.

Winters reached for the barbarian's warhammer, his caged sword no longer fit for use.

"Please use this." Someone behind him handed over a page hammer.

Ciel didn't know when he climbed up the wall.

Heinrich also came with the military flag, as well as Ish, Samkin... everyone who was still alive came.

Winters took the hammer and burst into laughter.

He tore off the red and white helmets of the barbarians and threw them at the barbarians inside the fortress.

"White Lion!" Winters Montagne's roar pierced the clouds and cracked the stone: "So what if you knew I was coming?! I will still punch you through!"

"Kill!" Winters pounced on the barbarian in the stairs.

"Long live!" the soldiers of the Montagne team roared in unison.

The outnumbered attackers not only failed to defend the city wall, but pushed the defenders off the wall - partially.

The stairs and corridors inside the fortress are so narrow that no matter how many people there are, they can't move through them.

Those at the front who were in contact with the enemy had almost no room to turn. Being hit by a blunt weapon, he could only raise his shield or even use his arms to resist.

There are only two lines of attack, one is smashing from top to bottom, and the other is stabbing forward, leaving no room for slashing left and right.

In less than three minutes, Winters, who was rushing at the front, had been hit countless times.

His swordsmanship instinct made him subconsciously avoid vital points, but he still inevitably became dull and numb.

He uses magic without reservation, harvesting lives like the legendary court mage.

He no longer uses disintegration or other terrifyingly powerful spells. All his "magic" is used on the most efficient spell that he has practiced the most - the flying arrow spell.

He launched the flying arrow technique almost directly against the target's head. It was impossible to miss and there was no chance to dodge.

The Platuan people were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, but with their aura of life and death, they were able to faintly overwhelm the barbarians.

People were close to each other, and the barbarian musketeers were afraid of accidental injury and did not dare to shoot.

Barbarian also realized this, and a voice shouted desperately: "[Herd] Don't be afraid! Shoot! Kill them all! Hit the leader!"

The barbarian musketeers were hesitating, and the voice shouted: "[Hud] Get out of here! I'll do it!"

There was a "bang" of gunfire in the corridor inside the fortress, and the wooden ceiling was shaken.

The Hurd man on the right front of Winters was killed on the spot, and the voice shouted again: "[Hurd language] Continue! Beat him! Beat the two leaders!"

At the urging of the voice, a Hurd musketeer gritted his teeth and opened fire. The lead hit the wooden wall and sawdust flew everywhere.

The other musketeers gritted their teeth and raised their muskets.

Winters and Andre looked at each other and rushed forward in unison.

Behind us are our own people, and there is no way to escape. Only by pressing forward desperately can there be a glimmer of hope.

Several more gunshots were fired one after another.

Andre was tall and powerful, and he rushed forward without hesitation. The enemy in front of him was forcefully knocked around by him.

Winters followed closely behind Andre, making sure he didn't get hit in the back or the back of the head.

Winters saw the barbarian shouting. When he was ten steps away from the opponent, he held the steel nail and raised his hand.

There was a flash of cold light, and the eyes of the barbarian who shouted turned into blood holes. He leaned against the wall, sat down slowly, and hung his head feebly.

The barbarians in the corridor dispersed and fled.

"Haha." Andre leaned against the wall, his laughter coming from the helmet, sounding muffled: "Are we buddies okay?"

"Always the best." Winters fist bumped with Andre.

"Tick tock, tick tock."

It was the sound of blood dripping onto the ground.

Andre raised his arm to bump his fist, then tilted his head as if smiling bitterly: "I said...why are you feeling numb?"

His right arm had turned into rotten flesh. A thirty-gram lead bullet penetrated his arm armor and exploded in his muscles, leaving a horrific wound.

Blood flowed into Andre's gloves and dripped to the ground.

Winters hurriedly unhooked Andre's arm armor, took out his belt and stopped Andre's bleeding.

"Brother, I can't help." Andre sat on the ground and said nonchalantly: "The rest is all up to you."

"Stop talking... stop talking..." Winters seemed to be crying, but his face was hidden under the helmet and no one could see it.

The blood loss made Andre very tired, and he whispered: "I want to rest for a while..."

…

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica also climbed onto the rampart.

The lieutenant colonel scanned the fortress with his single eye and already understood the general situation.

"Sure enough." The lieutenant colonel asked, "Where's the cannon?"

"Not on the wall." The wounded soldier next to him replied.

"Where are Centurion Montagne and Centurion Cellini?" the lieutenant colonel asked again.

"Fighting into the fort."

"It is impossible to recapture the Southern Highlands!" Lieutenant Colonel Jessica said to the messenger: "Send the signal!"

The ordering soldier listened to the order and carefully took out a wooden box. In the box were three signal bombs.

The ordering soldiers found fire and set it off in their hands.

Three green signal bombs screamed into the air and exploded loudly.

After a while, another red signal bomb screamed into the sky and exploded.

Not from the east of the fort, but from the west of the fort!

"Uukhai!"

"Uukhai!"

"Uukhai!"

The thunderous battle cry of Plato sounded, not from the east of the fortress, but from the west of the fortress.

The sound of horse hooves like a landslide and tsunami is approaching the southern highland fortress.

"Uukhai!" A black-armored cavalryman holding a short blunderbuss jumped into the fortress, not from other places, but from the place where the barbarians attacked during the day.

The gap that was collapsed by the barbarian explosion was only patched up with a scrawled wooden palisade. Because the gap in the west is closer to their main camp, it can just be used to transport troops and artillery.

The Hittites attacked from the west and the Platoans attacked from the east. This is a thinking trap.

Today, the Platuan people had to attack through the gap in the west.

The black-armored cavalry who jumped into the fort held a short blunderbuss in each hand. After firing two shots with "bang, bang", he immediately drew his saber and killed him.

After him, more black-armored cavalry jumped into the fortress, and after firing two shots, they drew their swords and killed them.

The barbarian defenders of the fortress also noticed something strange, and the musketeers and archers ran towards the west wall.

After the forty-odd black-armored cavalry, there were thirty-odd Dussac light cavalry, including Pierre, Angelou, Bell, and Wasika.

Afterwards, hundreds of Platoon sword-bearers, shield-bearers and halberdiers poured into the fortress.

Laszlo's team is here.

The death row camp was a feint attack, and the Jessica Battalion was also a feint attack.

Colonel Laszlo's standing army group and Lieutenant Colonel Custer's pistol cavalry were the main attacking forces.

Robert's brigade was responsible for the rear.

This was originally the plan for "the death row camp and the Jessica Brigade to attract the enemy's attention, and the main force to sneak attack from the side and rear and retake the fortress in one fell swoop."

But this plan has now gone bankrupt, because there are so many barbarians in the fortress that the Platoans cannot clear them out in a short time.

The White Lion's reinforcements will arrive at any time.

The plan can only turn into the main force to attract the enemy's attention and create opportunities for the Jessica Brigade to destroy the artillery.

Hundreds of cavalry rushed into the narrow fortress, and it suddenly became extremely crowded.

The cavalry had difficulty moving and were dragged off their horses by the barbarians who were fighting on foot.

Lieutenant Colonel Custer also realized that something was wrong. He originally planned to charge and defeat the defenders, but the result was that the defenders were so numerous that it was unimaginable.

At this point, it is impossible to evacuate further. The battle has completely turned into a melee. It depends on who can't hold back first.

…

The barbarians defending the fortress were attacked from two sides, and the pressure on Winters dropped sharply.

He led those still alive on a rampage inside the fortress.

"Cannon!" Suddenly someone behind him shouted in surprise.

In a large warehouse inside the fort, four golden twelve-pound bronze cannons lay quietly on the ground.

"Nail! Hammer!"

Charles searched desperately and found six large steel nails used to destroy artillery.

Each nail is thicker than a thumb, which is ideal for dealing with bronze cannons with better toughness.

"Crucify them all!"

If there was no hammer, knife handles and stones were used, and the fire doors of the four bronze cannons were quickly nailed shut.

Winters took out the casting materials and refilled each cannon with a round of Iron Melting to ensure that the cannonballs could not be inserted into the barrels.

After doing all this, he seemed to have been drained of all his strength in an instant, "Retreat, our mission is over."

I originally wanted to finish writing one chapter, but I found that I still couldn't finish one chapter. The emotions were too long...

Thanks to book friends for reading, subscribing, recommending tickets, monthly tickets, tips and comments.

[Drawed a map of the Battle of Styx, which can be found in this chapter and in book circles.

There is also a schematic diagram for the battle in this chapter, but it can be drawn a little later. ]