Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The west wind howled, people shouted and horses neighed, and stiff-stepping militiamen and horse-drawn carriages poured into the small town of Shengke from all directions from the west.

It is as if there is a huge whirlpool invisibly, gathering all the manpower and material resources of Tiefeng County here.

There is no doubt that the church of the Abbey of St. Croix is ​​located in the center of the whirlpool.

A statue of the Virgin with lowered eyes stood above the church door, silently watching people wearing sharp knives walking in and out.

"Lieutenant Bader, the village chief of Bainiu Village in Xiaoshi Town said that the amount of dry food distributed to them was not enough."

"The ration in Bainiu Village was increased yesterday."

"He said it was still not enough..."

"Sergeant Roland!"

"exist!"

"Take the roster and the military police to the Bainiu Village station and count the number of people."

"yes!"

"Report!" The guard hurriedly walked into the church: "Another convoy has arrived from Wangqiao Town!"

"Mr. Mersin!"

"Your Mightiness?"

"Please and Brother Theodore are responsible for counting and registering the new convoy coming from Wangqiao Town."

"Don't worry, Your Excellency."

Baggage needs to be stored, processed, and distributed, militiamen need to be sent to various locations along the front, and food, drink, and shelter need to be provided.

If it weren't for Bard's support, the Tiefeng County army would have been overwhelmed by logistics.

The headquarters was no longer the configuration of "Winters Montañe plus a few messengers". It inevitably became large because Bard mobilized all civilians and soldiers who could read, write, and arithmetic.

Bard was sitting in the monastery's copying room. Intelligence and information were continuously fed into the copying room, and instructions and orders would be issued everywhere.

The clerks were surprised to find that no matter how small the matter was, as long as it was reported to the Bard tribune, the latter could recall it when needed.

Therefore, Bard will never issue vague instructions. Each of his orders will be given to the specific executor, and he will clearly tell the other party what must be done, leaving no room for evasion for the executor.

Clerks were awed and exhausted by this.

Bud seemed to have endless energy. He waved his invisible whip and drove his clerks at all levels forward like horses.

The headquarters was functioning like this, and the personnel and materials gathered in Shengke Town were registered in an orderly manner, and then uniformly deployed to the places where they were most urgently needed.

There is also an episode: centralized office work and a lot of writing work indirectly led to the acceptance of graphite strips by everyone.

Originally, there were still some old-school people who insisted on using quill pens because the graphite strips made the writing unclear and were easily scratched.

But soon, even the monastery clergy quietly replaced the graphite strips wrapped with ropes.

There’s no other reason than graphite strips being too convenient. With a quill pen, you have to use sand to absorb the ink, and the graphite strip can be sent directly after writing.

With Bard ensuring logistics, Winters could devote all his energy to the war effort.

Winters was away from Saint-Germain most of the time.

He patrolled the battlefield, talked with the militiamen on the front line, and even personally entered the areas controlled by the Tertun people to conduct reconnaissance.

He hardly used his knees and spurs to spur his horse, but kept cracking his whip.

For this reason, Charles specially prepared many slave horses and replaced them immediately if any horse was about to be exhausted.

After learning that the dam had been raided, Winters rushed to Oxhoof Valley as soon as possible.

At this moment, he was on the bank of the Bighorn River, with the dam in front of him extending towards the other bank.

The night before, the Terton cavalry raided the construction site on the south bank, killing some civilians and burning some of the wood. They were later repelled by Tamas's troops.

"Exposed is exposed. It can't be hidden. The key is speed and time." Winters leaned on his cane and asked Samkin and Tamas seriously: "How much time do you need?"

Samu Jin bit his lip and answered with determination: "Three days! If I still can't finish the repair in three days, you'll kill me!"

"Three days are not enough." Winters calmly rejected Samkin's guarantee: "Based on your current progress, it will take at least five days. Considering the water storage process, it may take a week or even ten days."

Samkin lowered his head.

"Reset camp at the construction site on the south bank." Winters gave an order directly to First Company Commander Tamas: "Bring your people down."

"Yes!" Tamas replied without hesitation.

Tamas's camp is located in the pass between Oxhoof Valley and Forge Township, with Iron Peak to the east and the Bighorn River to the west. The terrain is difficult and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The reason why Winters deployed the most elite First Company and auxiliary militia troops there was to prevent the Teltons from entering the Oxhoof Valley via the western foot of Iron Peak.

Although re-establishing a stronghold at the location of the dam can protect the dam construction site, the terrain here is too low and is not conducive to defense.

Winters touched the arm of the first company commander, nodded slightly, and said without saying any more nonsense: "The third and fourth companies will be reinforced for you."

"yes."

"I'll give you some more civilian husbands."

Samkin raised his head sharply.

"It can be repaired slowly." Winters tapped his cane gently: "But the dam must maintain its existence."

Seeing that Samutin was a little confused, Winters didn't make any charades: "As long as the dam exists, the Teltun people's retreat will be threatened. The progress of the dam is slow, and at best it cannot cut off the enemy's retreat.

If the Tertons retreated, the siege of Gévaudan would be relieved. But if the dam is lost, the Tertons can come and go freely, always in control. "

"So the dam must not be lost." Winters said with stern eyes, "Do you understand?"

Tamas nodded heavily, and Samukin gritted his teeth and replied: "Yes!"

"Since the dam is exposed, the fight here will definitely be cruel." Winters drew a rough map on the beach with his stick, and carefully explained to his two most important subordinates: "I will launch a feint attack in the direction of Shenk Town, and divide the The pressure you have here.”

Right now, the situation between the two sides is like a matryoshka doll:

In the inner circle, the fire-warmers are besieging Gévaudan;

In the outer circle, Winters' troops were gradually gaining control of the roads around Gévaudan.

The initiative is temporarily in the hands of the fire-warmer. He can choose to fight, walk, or attack Rewodan.

Winters fell into a passive position, because his troops had almost no field capabilities, and their mobility was far inferior to the Turton cavalry that came and went like the wind.

But sitting back and waiting has never been Winters' style. "Strive for the initiative if you don't have the initiative" is Winters' motto.

Winters has two strategies for seizing the initiative:

First, it threatens the retreat of the Terdun people. Once the pontoon bridge is destroyed, the Terdun people will have to fight desperately even if they don’t want to;

Second, guard the traffic arteries around Jevaudan, advance step by step, and continuously reduce the activity space of the Telton people.

As long as Winters' siege took shape, the Telltowners would be trapped in a narrow area on the south bank of the St. George River.

At that time, the situation will become a reenactment of the Battle of Pangtuo River, and Winters can slowly strangle the roaster to death.

But at present, the dam has not been completed and there are still gaps in the encirclement network. The Teltown people still have the initiative.

The fire-warmers also seemed to smell danger.

The Teltown cavalry took small roads and passed through old forests, trying every possible means to bypass the blockade, and frantically penetrated behind the defense line.

Their intention is obvious - to cut off Winters' supply line and strangle the army in Saint-Kerg.

In response, Winters set up garrisons to protect supply lines and also used cavalry against cavalry.

The Tertons broke through the raid, and Winters counterattacked. The Terton people robbed and killed the militia convoy, and Winters' cavalry specially intercepted and killed the Terton light cavalry.

The war has a tendency to evolve into a war of attrition. Winters looked at the summary casualty reports, his mood became more and more depressed, but he never wavered.

Watching the Bighorn River bypassing the unfinished dam and slowly flowing downstream, Winters sighed softly: "Please thank Senior Morrow for me."

"Yes." Samujin nodded seriously.

Winters and Captain Moreau met several times when they were building the Styx Bridge. He vaguely remembered that the other person was a graceful and witty senior who was always surrounded by a circle of colleagues.

However, the two did not have a close relationship because Morrow was from the artillery department and was many years older than Winters.

Moreau refused to meet with Winters, and Winters did not push.

A green-helmeted rider flew down the hillside, delivering a letter with red diagonal stripes.

Red diagonal stripes mean the content is urgent.

Winters opened the lacquer seal, scanned the contents, and calmly handed the letter to his two subordinates.

Samutin hesitated and did not reach out, letting Tamas take it first. Tamas didn't reach out either because he couldn't read.

"Wait until the battle is over and then learn slowly." Winters smiled and put away the envelope: "The Teltown people are attacking the city."

…

The Siege of Gévaudan began with an artillery bombardment.

In winter, when the weather is cold and freezing, soil work becomes more difficult and requires a lot of manpower.

Winters could raise militia, but there was no way around Gevaudan because the civilians had taken refuge in the city.

Therefore, the Terdun people's trench-digging project was not progressing smoothly. After five days of digging, the front end of the trench was still more than 60 meters away from the city wall, and they did not have time to expand in a direction parallel to the city wall.

Perhaps they wanted to put more pressure on Gévaudan and lure Saint-Que Town to attack; perhaps they simply planned to attack Gévaudan.

In any case, the Teltun people abandoned the strategy of using labor without any effort and launched a real attack on the city wall.

Four artillery pieces lined up in a row, firing solid shells at the shooting tower behind the city wall and the Arrowhead Fort on the city wall.

Many militiamen had never seen artillery fired before, and they stuck their heads half out from behind the city wall to watch the excitement.

Mason put his left hand on his knee and sat on the ground with his back against the city wall, listening carefully to the roar of his second-hand daughter.

The four cannons were fired one after another at regular intervals, which means that the Tertuns knew how to group the cannons for use.

Moreover, the Teltown people were very lucky. The second shot directly hit the shooting tower without calibrating the shot.

The arrow shield of the shooting tower was broken, and sharp wood chips flew in all directions with the sound of impact. The militiamen who had just been happily watching the cannon fire were frightened and hid behind the wall.

Mason was unmoved. He had already given an order: no shooters were allowed to enter the shooting tower before the enemy approached the city wall.

The third cannonball flew over the city wall, and the fourth shell directly hit the city wall. The cannonball sank deeply into the wall, and the loose soil on the surface of the city wall slid into the ditch.

"The angle is still not enough to deflect the shells - I didn't expect the Teltowns to have artillery." Mason counted in his mind and ordered the sergeant beside him: "Get up the shooting tower."

"Huh?" The sergeant looked confused, obviously the shelling just now left a big shadow on him.

"The Terton people's artillery is still loading. If you go up and down quickly, they won't be able to hit you." Mason helplessly explained to the sergeant who was on the battlefield for the first time: "I think the cannonball didn't hit the target. You go up and put the cannonball." Bring it to me."

The sergeant was doubtful and went reluctantly.

Mason patiently counted the seconds to see how often the Tertons could fire.

Reloading speed is more indicative of the gunner's skill than accuracy - of course, as long as the cannon doesn't blow up.

About six minutes later, there were four more blasts of thunder. One round of shooting takes six minutes, and the reloading speed is a bit slow.

Mason is very familiar with the performance of the six-pounder: three-minute or four-minute rounds are normal, and a skilled gun crew may not be unable to fire within two minutes.

In the second round of firing, the Tertons' artillery did not explode.

Another six or seven minutes passed, and four thunders sounded again in sequence, but there was still no explosion.

The fortifications of Gévaudan were designed to withstand cavalry attacks. Therefore, the facade of the city wall is relatively steep, and cannonballs can "strength" when hitting it.

The Terdun people did not shoot randomly. Their twelve shots were always aimed at an arrowhead fort.

After being hit continuously by external forces, a corner of Arrowhead Fort was collapsed, and large pieces of soil collapsed into the trench.

Although the wall is still intact, Turton's artillery batteries have proven their ability to threaten the city wall.

Mason sighed, took out his handkerchief, and wiped the dust from his face.

The sergeant picked up the cannonball and gave it to Mason as if he was taking credit: "Sir, don't mention how dangerous it was just now..."

Mason took the cannonball, weighed it, and smiled: "Iron cannonball."

The sergeant and the surrounding militiamen didn't know what happened.

"In the wilderness, iron is the same currency as gold and silver. Teltown calls iron 'black money'. The Teltown people are using money to beat us now." Mason patiently explained the secret to the militiamen beside him:

"If it is a stone cannonball, it means that the Telduun people are well prepared. But what they are using now is iron - the Telduun people do not have the ability to cast iron cannonballs. These iron cannonballs should have been abandoned by the expeditionary force in the wilderness. , use one shot and one shot less."

All the militiamen suddenly realized.

Mason turned the shell over, looking for any markings like an inscription, but found none.

He threw the cannonballs on the ground casually: "I estimate that after a while, the Teltun people will use small stones as shotguns and switch to close-range shooting tactics."

The militiamen nodded in understanding and whispered among themselves.

"Then we can only endure the bombardment?" A tall and thin young sergeant asked bravely: "Your Excellency?"

"Of course not." Mason smiled confidently: "We have to teach them a lesson."

How to teach the other party a lesson? Mason had a bold idea - to make cannons out of cannons.

A third-generation wooden cannon was pushed up the wall, and Mason patted the cannon body gently as if to encourage him.

It was a third-generation wooden cannon of the highest quality he had on hand, capable of firing solid shells weighing about four pounds.

The third generation wooden cannon is pre-tensioned by wrapping a leather rope and iron hoops around a wrought iron pipe, and finally fixing it with wood.

In terms of design, its function is to fire shotgun shells, but it is not incapable of shooting solid bullets.

Mason straightened his arms and tied his thumbs. According to his estimate, Teltown's artillery was about a hundred meters away from the city wall - that's why the artillery fire was so accurate and rarely missed.

Four artillery pieces were lined up in a row, and the artillery bunkers were built with thick wooden boards.

If Mason was the attacker, he would not have pushed the artillery so close. One hundred meters away, it has entered the lethal range of shotguns.

The thick wooden planks could withstand the fire of matchlock guns, and perhaps could withstand the storm of shotguns, but the opponent obviously did not consider the possibility of the defenders using cannons - it was more likely that someone was deliberately leaving opportunities for the defenders.

Mason spent a long time adjusting the angle, and then the loading process: gunpowder, wooden pads, cotton batting and linen batting were stuffed into the barrel in sequence.

After dispersing the onlookers' militiamen, Mason nodded to indicate to his men that they could put in the shells.

The vicious man with a red birthmark on his face spat twice in his hand, picked up an iron spoon and took out a red-hot cannonball from the stove.

There were several exclamations from the crowd, and the militiamen finally understood why they were not allowed to stand close and watch.

The vaguely flaming four-pound iron bullet was put into the barrel of the gun. Mason lit the ignition powder with a long pole and quickly retreated into the distance.

With a "boom", the cannon body shook violently and was pushed away from its original position.

The red fireball shot out of the muzzle, drawing a beautiful arc in the air with the expectation of victory.

Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone, it flew over the heads of the Tertun people's artillery crew, landed slowly in the distance, bounced a few times, and finally fell silent - far away.

The huge gap caused the militiamen to sigh in disappointment.

Mason was unmoved. He first reset the gun, then adjusted the angle with the plumb line, loaded and fired again.

The second shot also failed to hit. The shell hit the ground early, bounced a few times and then stopped moving - it was close.

Some militiamen couldn't help but whisper: "Can Mr. Mason do it?"

Some veterans confidently testified for the tribunes: "What the hell do you know? When we fought before, Captain Mason missed the first three shots, and the fourth shot hit directly! This is called gunnery! Test firing, you know?" ?"

Mason was busy adjusting the shooting angle with the plumb line and did not hear the other militiamen talking. Even if he heard it, it would be difficult for him to explain it to the other party.

He did shoot at school.

On the first shot, he deliberately let the shell fall further;

On the second shot, he instead let the shell fall closer;

Then the correct shooting angle can be calculated based on the impact points and shooting angles of the two shots.

Ballistics is a profound knowledge. Although there are only some empirical formulas that can be used at present, it is definitely not something that the muscular sticks with well-developed limbs and simple minds in the infantry and cavalry departments can learn - Mason thought with a little pride. .

Of course, theoretical calculations are one thing, but actual combat requires a little bit of luck...a little bit.

The third shot, which was the shot Mason wanted to take, according to the most accurate preset angle, still missed.

The shell screamed and flew out of the barrel, falling far away.

It's a little different from the calculation. In theory, even if the shot misses, it should land nearby.

Undeterred, Mason continued making corrections.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth shots, none of them hit.

There were beads of sweat on Mason's forehead. The onlookers' militiamen were already feeling a little bored, and the Teltown people had become even more numb.

When the defenders launched their first artillery bombardment, the Terdun people were startled. Qing Lingyu, who was supervising the battle, hurriedly ordered his troops to protect the artillery with thick wooden boards.

After receiving several rounds of shooting, Qing Lingyu, who was supervising the battle, found that the two-legged man's artillery skills were poor, and the cannonballs were flying everywhere with no accuracy. They were not as accurate as his slave gunners.

Qing Lingyu simply ignored the harassment from the two-legged people and concentrated on bombarding Arrowhead Fort.

The defenders fired six artillery shells, but not even a hair on the horse's tail was hit.

During this process, Qing Lingyu's artillery fired three rounds, but most of them hit the wall of Arrowhead Fort.

"It's a problem with the artillery." After the seventh missed shot, Mason wiped the sweat from his forehead and said seriously to the old man with a red birthmark on his face: "These wooden cannons have not been drilled through the bore, and the inner tube is too rough. There is no pattern to the trajectory.”

"That's right." The man with the red birthmark nodded expressionlessly - because the birthmark on his face was too scary, he usually had no expression: "The barrel of the gun is very hot. Do you want to cool it down first?"

"Bring the oil and let it cool down." Mason looked around and inadvertently met the complicated eyes of the militiamen. He couldn't help but sigh: "It's really a problem with the artillery."

"That's right." The man with the red birthmark nodded and left the gun position to get the cooling oil.

Mason took out a roll of papyrus and began to write and calculate again.

Upon seeing this, the militiamen returned to their posts. Many of them were still talking quietly as they left.

Everyone had given up hope on the artillery skills of the tribunes, but fortunately after a lot of hard work, the defending militiamen were somewhat desensitized to the artillery - anyway, the power was just like this, nothing terrible.

"The Teltown people's use of artillery is still very rudimentary." Mason recorded: "The advantage of the six-pounder long gun is that it is lightweight and can be moved at any time with the gun carriage. But the Teltown people placed the six-pounder long gun on a fixed On the gun position, it is used as a heavy siege artillery, actively giving up the advantage of mobility..."

Mason observed and recorded the point of impact as he wrote the calculations.

Suddenly, his whole body stiffened, his pupils dilated sharply, and the graphite strip in his hand was broken with a "snap".

Mason didn't have time to get a new one, so he picked up half a graphite strip, quickly calculated and sketched, and pursed his lips tighter and tighter.

The man with the red birthmark took his subordinates to get grease and cooled the barrel of the gun. He saw the old officer sliding the graphite strips on the straw paper like he was in a trance, and did not dare to disturb him.

The man with the red birthmark and the other gunners waited quietly.

"Eureka! Eureka!!!" Mason suddenly jumped up, threw the last small piece of graphite strips to the ground, and laughed: "Anse! Double charge this time!"

Angs, who was nicknamed "The Devil" because of the large red birthmark on his face, rarely questioned the old commander's order: "Double charge will explode the chamber."

[Note: Birthmarks are considered to be the devil's kiss, and black birthmarks on women are considered to be the R's head that feeds the devil]

"Then let's try half a charge first." Mason immediately set to work setting a new firing angle for the artillery.

"I'll light the fire." Demon Anse said nothing more.

The artillery has the greatest range when it is at an angle of 45 degrees. This is the rule of thumb for gunners.

Mason no longer chose to directly hit the opponent's shooting angle as before. Instead, he chose a smaller shooting angle.

After loading, Demon Anse took the ignition rod and lit the ignition powder with an expressionless face.

The extra half of gunpowder brings a higher muzzle velocity.

The blazing red cannonballs burst out and flew towards the Tertun people's artillery position with unprecedented power.

Although the militiamen didn't understand artillery, they roughly understood what was going on after watching it a few times.

"We're close." Some of the militiamen who responded quickly thought subconsciously.

It was indeed close, still some distance away from the gun emplacement, and the shells had already hit the ground heavily.

Qing Lingyu, who was supervising the battle next to the artillery, laughed.

But just for a moment, his smile froze on his face.

The high-speed flying shell did not sink into the soil. On the contrary, the shell suddenly bounced off the ground and glide forward again.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment, and Turdun Qing Lingyu watched in horror as the cannonballs flew straight towards him in a bouncing manner.

Qing Lingyu wanted to hide, but the cannonball was faster.

The dark red high-temperature shell directly hit Qing Lingyu's left leg, breaking the latter's left leg at the knee.

At a certain moment, the surrounding captive gunners seemed to hear the "squeaking" sound of barbecue, and then they actually smelled the smell of barbecue - the skinny prisoners drooled subconsciously.

Then, they heard Qing Lingyu Barbarian's screams.

The shells seemed to be in vain, hitting the ground several times, bouncing off and flying into the crowd. Everyone on the attacking side and the defending side were stunned.

"What kind of luck is this?!" The militiamen guarding the city were surprised at first, and then began to cheer desperately.

"What kind of luck is this?!" The Teltown people watching the battle were also shocked.

Demon Anse quickly figured out what was going on: it was freezing cold and there was no rainfall, the soil was hard, and the cannonballs were able to bounce back instead of sinking into the soil when they were incident at a small angle and at high speed.

But Devil Anse still finds it hard to believe that this was a "man-made" shooting.

His eyebrows were raised slightly, and he looked at the old officer inquiringly with a bit of surprise.

"Good luck, I didn't expect to hit the target the first time." Mason scratched his head in embarrassment, his cheeks a little hot: "It seems like I hit someone? Try double the charge next?"

…

The artillery battle at Gévaudan ended with a mutual victory.

On the other side, Winters had two guests.

The first guest claimed to be a slave who escaped from the Terton tribe and brought important information.

The second guest, don't call yourself Lucky Gold, brings good luck to Winters - and that's exactly what Winters needs.

[Thanks to book friends for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation votes, monthly votes, rewards and comments, thank you all]

[Sorry for being late again... 2, 4, 6, maybe 2, 4, weekend is more appropriate? ]

[Happy Labor Day to everyone again! Long live the working people! ]

[Long live the big chapter! ]