Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The gate fell, the drawbridge rose, and the Teldon soldiers who broke into the city gate were trapped to death.

The crisp sound of the collision of steel blades penetrated the sound of horse hooves and spread far away; from time to time, there were flashes of fire in the city, thought to be the red flames of the muzzles of guns.

"There should be a wall inside the city." The fire-warmer said with a sullen look on his face: "Where are the followers? Catch him!"

The big quiver man said nothing and immediately led people to look for the red dog.

The old interpreter was not too surprised. He sat firmly in the saddle and watched the battle, and said firmly: "It seems that there are not many people defending the city, otherwise they would not use such dangerous moves."

The First Centurions were ambushed, and it looked like the odds were stacked against the Tertons.

However, [a bag of water can quench thirst, and a pool of water can drown a person], the Teltun people who broke into the city were the most fierce and brave armored guards. They are in a desperate situation and must risk their lives to fight.

If you want to eat the first-place guard in one bite, the defender will have to break a few of his front teeth. When the inside and outside are combined, it is a good opportunity to break the city.

Luring the enemy into the urn is a dangerous move, and it can be self-defeating if you are not careful.

In the memory of the old interpreter, almost no defenders would take the initiative to let the enemy into the city.

Even if it is a large fortress with multiple layers of walls, a rational commander will not take such a risk, not to mention that the small town in front of him only has a simple, low earthen wall.

"Rebellion officer named Stonemason, are you so bold?" the old interpreter thought to himself, "Or are you just desperate?"

If Mason himself heard the old interpreter's question, he would probably just smile helplessly and not answer.

The ensuing changes in the battle situation made the fire-warmers even more furious - the city walls were low and the trenches were not deep, but the Tellun tribe stopped at the edge of the trenches and could not enter.

Observing from the position of the fire-warmers, red light flashed on the inside of the south gate, and the sound of fighting often came from there. There were almost no muzzle flashes along the city wall.

This means that the guards who broke into the city are still fighting with the defenders, and have attracted a large number of defenders.

The other hundred cavalry troops outside the city should take this opportunity to go straight to the city, and attack with Xiandensuwei inside and outside, and seize the city in one fell swoop.

But each hundred cavalry team stopped at the edge of the trench and refused to go any further.

In the view of the fire-warmer, the walls of Gévaudan were only as high as one person, and it was not difficult to climb over them even if they were wearing armor.

However, the Teltun people who actually stood at the edge of the trench saw a different scene:

In front, the earth wall and the trench are integrated into one. The wall and the trench wall are a continuous plane, with no "corner" as a dividing line.

Viewed from the flat ground, this city wall is only as tall as a person and is very inconspicuous.

But once you get down into the trench, the depth of the trench and the height of the wall are superimposed on everything. The wall that was originally only one person tall suddenly increased to half the height of two people - that is not something that humans can easily climb over.

The Gevaudan fortifications designed by Richard Mason: the wall is 2 meters high, the trench is 2.5 meters deep and 4 meters wide. The bottom of the trench was lined with a series of sharp wooden stakes, making it impossible to get back up again.

The Tertun people on the outside of the trench listened to the gunshots and screams in the city. They did not carry any siege equipment and could only fire arrows at the location where the sound came from.

The armored guards who broke into the city climbed out over the wall and fell to the bottom of the trench. They either fell to death on the spot or were driven alive by sharp wooden stakes.

The Tertun people circled the city wall, eagerly looking for a place to stay and climb.

In desperation, a young and reckless Terton man whipped his horse hard and rushed to the ditch.

The war horse was in pain and jumped high on the edge of the trench.

The rider stepped on his horse in mid-air and jumped into the city wall in a thrilling way. After all, the poor war horse could not break free from the falling pattern, fell heavily to the bottom of the ditch, and was stabbed to death by wooden stakes on the spot.

The other Telduans were surprised and admired, but no one followed suit.

Soon, the reckless young man who jumped into the city wall climbed up to the top of the wall again, covered in blood. As soon as he stretched out his upper body, he was dragged back by invisible hands. After a few cries, there was no movement soon.

A city wall is like a gate between two worlds. The Telduans outside have no idea what is happening inside the wall.

They fired arrows, cursed, and shouted, and the city walls closed in completely, only to respond with silence.

Not long after, the sound of fighting inside the city wall gradually fell silent, and the hearts of the red feathers at the edge of the trench sank.

Soon, the black muzzle of the gun poked out from the wall - Mason, who had dealt with the enemies who had fallen into the city, finally had his hands free to deal with the barbarians outside the city.

The city walls in the old days were built tall not only to make it more difficult for attackers, but also because the height itself was a weapon.

The reason is simple, even children understand: the higher the weight, the more lethal it is.

But as gunpowder weapons were slowly used in siege warfare, military engineers soon realized that tall city walls were not only fragile, but also detrimental to the effectiveness of firearms.

Projectiles propelled by gunpowder are much faster and more powerful than arrows, and can even penetrate the human body continuously.

In addition to the fall of the artillery shell during flight, the more parallel the flight trajectory of the artillery shell is to the ground, the higher the killing efficiency of the artillery.

From the perspective of exerting firepower, it may be better for the city wall to be shorter.

Ever since, the low wall integrated into the trench gradually moved to the center of the stage.

This design is not a new thing. The peripheral fortifications of the city defense system in the old era - sub-walls, small outer walls, and sheep and horse walls all have similar structures.

However, applying the integrated structure of the wall and trench to the main body of the city wall is a breakthrough that completely belongs to the new era.

This wall was a "gift" prepared by Richard Mason for the Teltown people who were stuck in the old era using new era designs.

The unwilling Teltun people continued to use bows and arrows to kill the defenders behind the wall, but two thunder blasts extinguished all their fighting spirit.

Outside the South City Gate, the focal point of both the offensive and defensive sides, two waves of air carried gravel and iron slag and swept across the ground.

The injured horse neighed in terror and ran away; the rider who was shot was thrown off the saddle, and the charred holes in his clothes were gradually soaked with blood.

The musketeers standing on the wooden platform with only half of their heads exposed on the wall also opened fire.

"[Hudian] Big thunder!" Smoke filled the air and screams continued. Someone exclaimed: "[Hudian] Two-legged people have big thunder!"

[Note: The Hud people call gunpowder weapons 'thunder', muskets are generally called small thunders, artillery is called big thunders, so throwing grenades is called black thunders]

The distance was so close that the Telduans who stayed near the trench were almost shot twice in the head by the defenders.

No one understands the destructive power of artillery better than the Teltown people. They have personally tasted the blood of attacking fortresses in the Great Wilderness Battle.

Artillery, city walls and staunch defenders - although this city is not impregnable, it is definitely not something that the Telduans can take away.

The other Hong Lingyu saw that there was nothing he could do, gritted his teeth and ordered the withdrawal of troops.

The horn sounded, and the Teltun people who attacked the south gate dragged their corpses and wounded back one after another. The other Teltun people who were pretending to attack heard the horn sound and quickly left.

The new city of Gevaudan fell into silence for a long time, until the sound of barbarian hooves gradually moved away.

"Did you win?" a militiaman asked timidly.

"Win!" Mason patted his third-generation wooden cannon lovingly.

In an instant, the new city burst into cheers, and the people who had survived the disaster were crying and shouting.

For the vast majority of the militiamen who had been laborers the day before, they had done almost nothing, but this did not dilute their joy and happiness.

Enthusiasm spread across the St. George River, and the citizens of the old city who were anxiously awaiting news were also infected.

Every household in the old city on the north bank knocked on their doors and windows, and the cheers floated across the river bank back to the south city.

Believers waiting at Gevaudan Cathedral prayed in unison and praised the Savior.

And Gévaudin's real savior was still carefully examining his cannon.

The structure of the first-generation wooden cannon was logs wrapped in iron pipes, which would be scrapped after only a few uses;

The second-generation wooden cannon goes a step further and is a hollow wooden stake that can be used once;

The third generation wooden cannon is a true artillery, and it should no longer even be called a "wooden cannon".

With the full support of the Forge Township, the third-generation wooden cannon is made of wrought iron wrapped in a cannon body, a process similar to that of forging a barrel.

The prototype barrel is then pre-tightened with iron hoops and belts, and finally hammered into the core of fresh and tough logs to further reduce the possibility of exploding the barrel.

Although the three-layer structure of wrought iron, leather, and wood makes the artillery cumbersome, its use in city defense battles is not a big problem.

"Not bad." After careful inspection, Mason saw no cracks or air leaks.

So he ordered his subordinates to soak the barrel of the gun with grease to cool down the gun - the three-layer wrapping structure caused poor heat dissipation of the gun body.

Mr. Artillery Captain looked at his "beautiful daughters" and thought to himself with some pride: "I am really a genius."

At the same time, on the north bank of the St. Georges River, Anna, Catherine, and Mrs. Mitchell came to the Cathedral of Gevaudan.

Catherine held Anna's hand tightly, as if afraid that if she let go, her sister would disappear.

The same was true for Anna. A little bit of body temperature passed from Catherine's palm to her, reminding her that at least she still had a sister.

This was not the first time the Navarre sisters had experienced war, but never had they been so close.

Just looking across the river bank, the hearts of the two ladies were tightly clenched. Occasionally, some bad possibilities may even pop into your mind.

But they did not, and could not, show any concern.

Because in the eyes of others, one of them is Mrs. Montagne and the other is Mrs. Montagne's sister, any negative emotions they have will be interpreted, amplified, and then spread in this small city.

At this point, Catherine did better than Scarlett and even better than Anna.

Scarlett seldom concealed her emotions, and her worry for her father, brother, and Winters was almost evident on her face. In her view, expressing emotions openly does not mean weakness.

Catherine quickly adapted to the burden. While Anna was busy assisting Mason in managing the women's and children's camp, it was Catherine who accompanied Mrs. Mitchell to contact the women of Gevaudan, smiling and instilling confidence in the latter, and then spreading this confidence to a wider area.

Because Anna disliked such occasions, the elder Madame Navarre easily tired of salons, tea parties, compliments and polite smiles - the opposite was true of the younger Madame Navarre.

To a certain extent, they each inherited half of their mother.

Mrs. Mitchell took Anna and Catherine to follow the flow of people until they reached the altar of the church.

Anna accompanied Mrs. Mitchell as she carefully placed the candles on the altar and prayed silently.

In this small city on the edge of the world, Mrs. Mitchell was like a mother, taking Anna and Catherine under her wing.

"What are you praying for?" Catherine asked.

Mrs. Mitchell looked at the two children with pity: "I pray... you never need to be strong."

…

When the Teltown people's first round of siege was frustrated, Winters' first round of counterattack had also begun.

He watched Samkin's fleet sail out of Niuho Valley and drift downstream.

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