Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"[Hidden] What's going on?" The red-feathered warrior with a lion's nose stationed his horse at the edge of the Jevaudan Valley and asked dissatisfiedly the green-feathered man in front of him: "[Hidden] Didn't the fire-warmer say Has he already captured the city? Brother?"

The Qing Fei Feather soldier, who has a similar appearance to Hong Fei Fei and also has a lion nose, frowned: "[Hudian] How do I know? You pick a few good ones and cross the river to find out."

The two of them were in a commanding position, and they could clearly see the white gunpowder smoke spewing out from the city wall on the south bank.

But between them and the battlefield, apart from the earth, there was also a wide river.

Little Lion Nose responded in a low voice, and then asked a little confusedly: "[Herd language] What should you and I do now?"

"[Herd] The fire-warmer seems to be fighting hard, and it's his turn." The big lion's nose narrowed his eyes slightly, and said in a deep voice: "[Herd] But if he loses, you and I will not be the same. You lead My son, go and scare the two-legged man on the north bank."

Little Shibi whistled, turned his horse around, and fired a whistle into the sky.

The more than 100 trusted followers who accompanied him dismounted one after another and reluctantly removed their saddlebags.

Whether riding a horse or riding a horse, every horse's saddlebags are bulging - they are their "trophies", and they are only the part they carry with them.

Along the road to the north, out of sight, more Huds were escorting slaves and captives towards Gévaudan.

Terdun's left wing army arrived.

…

In the old city of Gevaudan, Anna found the old Mayor Priskin in the chaotic city hall.

"I saw a beacon." Anna tried her best to stay calm and composed: "Mr. Mayor."

"Yes, beacon, Mrs. Montagne." Old Priskin's wrinkles became even finer, and he stood up with difficulty holding on to the table: "The outpost at Hammer Castle discovered that barbarians were attacking, so they lit a beacon... Fortunately, the boys have all withdrawn, and the residents of Hammer Castle were evacuated early in the morning..."

"Hammer Keep? Is it to the north?"

"That's right." Old Priskin's eyes were full of fatigue: "They are barbarians from Wargne County, alas."

The city hall has become like a military camp. The panicked city councilors carried out bundles of weapons and distributed them to the equally panicked citizens.

However, most of the young and middle-aged men were brought to the south bank to defend the city. Except for half of the city guards maintaining law and order and the residents of Hammer Castle who had recently entered the city, the men who stayed on the north bank were either too old or too young.

Even old Priskin, who had to walk with a cane, had a short sword in front of him.

"Grandpa!" A young man wearing an armored leather jacket rashly opened the door and walked in: "I brought all my friends here!"

Seeing a young and beautiful lady in the mayor's office, little Priskin couldn't help but be stunned.

"This is." Old Priskin coughed lightly: "The wife of Tribune Montagne."

Little Priskin's knees trembled subconsciously. He hurriedly saluted and left quickly, carefully closing the door when he left.

Anna didn't understand why the other party saw her like a mouse seeing a cat, but she had a clear mind and quickly figured it out.

But those things are obviously not important at the moment. Anna looked at the old Mayor Priskin: "Is there anything I can do?"

Old Priskin wanted to say "no", but he still replied: "I have sent people to find the Mason tribune for help, but I'm afraid it won't come for a while. All the municipal commissioners, including me, will go to the city wall. If you It would be great if we could help stabilize the civilians in the city."

"Don't worry." Anna nodded lightly.

"Or..." Old Priskin thought: "Can you please find me another two hundred to three hundred strong women?"

…

Villeneuve Gévaudin.

Every musket in the entire city was transferred to Arrowhead Fort on the west wall, and the wooden cannons placed on the south and east walls were also concentrated on the west wall.

Behind Arrowhead Fort, the militiamen were racing against time to build the urn city.

On Fort Arrowhead, Mason personally commanded two wooden cannons and used solid bullets to blast the Teltons' carriages.

The musketeers were deployed on both wings of Arrowhead Fort to flank the enemy from a distance. Lead bullets and arrows come and go, constantly harvesting fresh lives.

"Ah!!!" A burly militiaman yelled and started to run, throwing a grenade at the truck with all his strength.

The moment the grenade was released, he seemed to have all his strength taken away from him, and he was breathing heavily.

However, the next scene made the air solidify: the grenade that flew out of the city wall flew back to the city wall, and the unburned gunpowder was still hissing.

The lead is left too long! The barbarian picked up the grenade and threw it back!

Mason next to the gun carriage was knocked down by Demon Anse. The other militiamen screamed in despair and rolled and crawled away.

The grenadier militia also wanted to escape, but their lower limbs were so stiff that they couldn't move.

The old sergeant behind him cursed, pushed him away, grabbed the grenade and threw it towards the wall.

Before he could leave his hand, the grenade exploded.

The old sergeant and the grenadier militia were killed on the spot, and three more were seriously injured by flying fragments. The old sergeant's right arm was blown off, and pieces of flesh were scattered everywhere.

The choking smoke cleared and someone was vomiting.

Mason climbed up and yelled an order: "What are you doing standing still? Carry him away!"

The stretcher team rushed over and carried away the dead and seriously injured people. There was a member of the stretcher team picking up scraps of meat on the ground, and they couldn't finish it.

"Drum!" Mason lit the propellant of the wooden cannon with his own hands: "Fire!"

The drums and gunfire sounded again, and the fighting continued.

"Your Excellency!" Dusak, the middle-aged man in charge of the cavalry, made up his mind after repeated psychological struggles and came to Mason: "Let me lead the cavalry out for a round."

The captain of the cavalry clearly volunteered, but his knees were shaking slightly.

Mason's face was blackened by the gunpowder gas. He looked at the other party with a scrutinizing gaze: "No one can pick you up. You will definitely die if you leave the city."

Dusak gritted his teeth and replied: "I know."

"You are not afraid of death, so I can't let you die in vain." Mason wiped the ash from his face and said unusually calmly: "There is no need to go out of the city to fight back. There is no point in going out."

As more troops were invested, the Gévaudan garrison gradually suppressed the Teltons.

Mason summoned his militia captains and redeployed his defenses.

Many militia captains were in a daze, obviously not yet accustomed to bloodshed and death.

"Listen, don't be afraid of the Tertun people digging trenches." Mason slammed the ground with his sword: "No matter how fast they dig, they can't be as fast as us! At worst, they will build another city wall! The barbarians are still green when it comes to soil work. Some."

Many militia captains swallowed subconsciously.

Mason pointed to the east and south: "The Teltown people will not fight in one place. The troops on the south and east walls should guard your positions. Don't crane your neck to look at the west wall!"

The militia captains guarding the south and east walls nodded desperately.

"Your Excellency, the beacon smoke in the old city?" Someone hesitated to speak.

"You don't have to worry about the safety of the old city. Tribune Montagne and I have already been prepared." Mason replied decisively, with fire flashing in his eyes: "As long as we can hold on to the city wall, the situation will be in our favor, not the Teltown people. !”

Mason pulled out his sword suddenly, and the militia captains were startled, and they unconsciously took half a step back.

"Did you see that?" Mason shouted sternly: "In hand-to-hand combat, the barbarians can kill you all with one charge! What's so difficult about holding a musket, standing twenty meters away, and pointing the firing rod at the enemy?"

At this time, Demon Anse walked quickly to Mason: "Sir, the hand cannon is ready."

"Let's go!" Mason suddenly became energetic.

…

Gevaudan, North City.

Little Shibi led his men around the city wall. Not only did they not find any gaps that could be exploited, but they found that there were at least nearly a thousand defenders on the city wall.

He planned to get closer to explore the situation, but as soon as he entered within a stone's throw of the city wall, the defender's Xiao Lei opened fire immediately.

Little Shibi didn't want to take any chances, so he stepped back.

Beicheng's defenders were extremely nervous. All the men who could take up arms were on the city walls, and all the flags they could find were planted on the city walls.

At this moment, only half of the defenders in Beicheng were men, and the other half were women with blackened faces and wearing men's clothes.

Seeing that the barbarian cavalry left after only a brief trial, a loud gasp of relief could be heard from the top of the city.

Little Shibi returned to the edge of the valley and told his brother what he saw.

The Lion-nosed brothers only had a hundred tribesmen beside them, so attacking a city garrisoned by thousands of defenders would be tantamount to suicide.

"[Herd] You and I will wait for the rest of the tribe to come and join us." Big Lion Nose thought about it and decided that it was better to play it safe. The brothers had gained a lot from this robbery and did not want to lose their lives at this time.

The big lion's nose asked his younger brother again: "[Hud] Can you send someone to the other side of the river?"

"[Herdese] sent, but they haven't come back yet." Little Lion Nose asked sullenly: "[Herdese] Brother, if the fire-warmers want to share our plunder, what should you and I do?"

The big lion's nose sneered: "[Hidden] The man who roasted the fire wanted to eat meat, but ended up chewing on the bones. Who can blame him? Horses have four legs, and people have two legs. If he treats it unfairly, you and I don't have to stay in Tel. Atsushi."

"[Herd] Wow!" Little Shibi was already dissatisfied with the way the roaster divided the two wings this time: "[Herd] The Jin family has been bullying others for a long time! You and I have long..."

"[Herd] Don't say this now!" The big lion nose stopped his younger brother and ordered: "[Herd] just camp here and let the children go out to find some food and drink."

Big and small lion noses grabbed a lot of goods, but not much food and drink, so they relied on scavenging along the way to replenish their supplies.

More than a hundred Hurd cavalry found a sheltered place to lay down their plunder, and then split up to plunder nearby inhabited places.

That night, a group of mounted infantry sent by Winters to the north shore raided the camp.

The heads of the big and small lion noses were cut off.

…

New Town of Gevaudan, outside the Arrowhead Castle on the west side of the city wall, the trenches of the Terton people.

As the defenders mobilized more musketeers, the Teltuns gradually fell into a disadvantage in the exchange of fire.

Musketeers only need ammunition and courage, while archers require physical fitness in addition to ammunition and courage.

Moreover, when faced with close-range shooting from a heavy matchlock gun, wearing armor or not is the only difference between dying faster and dying slower.

Hong Lingyu [Ta Hei]'s companions and bodyguards died one after another, which made him feel heartbroken.

However, the Hundred Cavalry Team supervising the battle was behind, and Tahei did not dare to retreat. He could only keep telling himself: the future reward for those who roast the fire will definitely be as generous as promised.

Tahei's subjects and slaves are working hard to dig trenches. They all make a living by grazing and are not used to the work of digging earth.

Logically speaking, there is no need for them to do this kind of work.

Because enslaving captives to work and driving women and children to fill trenches are the usual methods of various tribes.

But there was not a single two-legged man outside the city, so we had to let the tribe take action.

Big thunders on the city wall rumbled one after another, and the carriages nailed with iron sheets and cowhide were as fragile as straw mats. After the solid iron ball penetrates the car, it can still break flesh and blood.

Tahei ordered his men to pile earth into the cart, and the cart gradually turned into an earthen cart, temporarily blocking the deadly thunder.

No one dared to hold a bow and shoot at the two-legged man anymore, no matter how high the reward offered by the Kota was.

Fortunately, the two-legged people did not dare to take the initiative to attack. The two sides faced each other at close range, and no one could do anything to the other.

As the trenches were dug deeper and deeper, it seemed that the two-legged men also found that there was no point in continuing to shoot at each other. The sound of gunfire became sparse and the thunder stopped roaring.

Tahei hid behind the gradually thickening and heightening earth wall, and this small space actually began to make him feel safe.

After an eerie silence, there was another dull thunder.

But what followed was not the tremor of a solid iron ball hitting the car - nothing happened.

"[Hidden] Missed?" Tahei thought to himself.

No, a dark iron ball carrying the sound of wind, like a huge hailstone, hit the back of the carriage from mid-air and sunk deeply into the ground.

Tahei's eyes widened, because where he was, the thunder couldn't hit him anyway.

"[Hedian] Throwing it in?" Tahei was shocked: "[Hedian] Are there such strong men among the two-legged people?"

Then came the second one. This iron ball had one more hemp rope than the previous one.

Tahei's chest almost burst, and he howled and leapt towards the trench: "[Hedian] Black Thunder!"

It was too late, the grenade exploded with a bang and took Tahei away.

…

Villeneuve Gévaudin.

A large open space was cleared behind the west side of the city wall, with twelve strange-looking short thick iron pipes pointing slantingly at the sky.

They look like mortars, but their caliber is too small and their walls are too thin.

Mason carefully took out a modified grenade. Compared with ordinary grenades, the powder of the grenade in Mason's hand had an extra layer of protection.

After igniting the charge, Mason immediately placed the shell into the short-barreled gun.

Demon Anse also lit the fuse of the short-barreled cannon, and the two of them immediately retreated far away.

The short-barreled artillery roared, and the grenades were shot into the sky and disappeared.

"Just use it like this!" Mason looked around at his subordinates: "Do you understand?"

The gunners nodded in understanding.

They had learned how to use first-, second- and third-generation wooden cannons from Tribune Mason, but they had never seen or heard of a guy who fired grenades.

The gunner responsible for observing the impact point of the bullet ran over and reported: "Missed!"

"Close or far?" Mason asked.

"Close! Still to the right!"

"Give him two small flags." Mason pointed to the observing gunner: "Let the flags speak for you, so you don't have to run back and forth."

Demon Anse nodded.

The blacksmith workshop in Gévaudin does not have the ability to cast the entire barrel, let alone directly forge the entire barrel.

So they could only forge short iron pipes first and then splice them into long barrels, which was laborious and time-consuming.

What Mason lacks most is time. In this case, the artillery captain decided to skip the welding process and directly transform a short iron pipe one foot long and one inch thick into a mortar for firing grenades.

The renovation work started as early as the first day of the siege, but it came in handy today.

"The Teltown people dug trenches, pushed carts, and built earthen walls in order to block direct fire." Mason said to his subordinates with a hint of cruel pleasure: "Okay! Please let them have a taste of mortars!"

…

The grenade-launching mortar can easily hit a four-pound grenade twenty meters away, and its trajectory is curved so that the shell can fly over the car and then fall into the trench.

They became the final straw for the Teltown people.

Although the Terdun people who attacked the new city showed far more tenacity than the ordinary Hed tribe, they could not dig trenches while being bombarded.

Mason thought to himself that if he were to command the siege, he should be able to take some countermeasures. Mortars were not without their drawbacks; they were dangerous to both the user and the enemy.

However, everything that happened today has exhausted both offense and defense.

The Tertun people abandoned their dead and wounded and their carts, and allowed the war cavalry to wave their butcher knives, and they were defeated regardless.

The defenders were also unable to pursue, and there was not even a cheer of celebration.

As the sky gradually turned dark, the battlefield became quiet, and only the abandoned and dying Teltun people could be heard moaning in pain in an incomprehensible language.

Some brave and greedy militiamen quietly climbed out of the city wall and wanted to cut off the head of the barbarian. They unexpectedly encountered the Telton people who were trying to plunder the deceased's belongings. Both sides were startled and ran away shouting randomly.

Mason sent people to burn the Tertons' carts and backfill the enemy's trenches as much as possible.

The next day, the siege started again.

Terdun's troops used more men and horses. While digging trenches from the front and approaching, they divided their troops and walked along the river to try to bypass the city wall.

The Terdun people who made a sneak attack from the river were intercepted by the fleet.

Mason mounted a second-generation wooden cannon on a small boat and rained down deadly stones and iron on the water-soaking enemy.

The Tertons who forced their way to shore found that the shallow riverbed was littered with pointed wooden sticks—how could Richard Mason have left a hole? They were quickly killed on the river beach.

On the third day, the Tertun people finally opened up the trenches and trenches.

Mason also used last resort measures.

With an explosion that shook the earth, a huge gap was opened on the bank of the Saint-Georges River in the northeast of the new town of Gevaudan.

The raging river poured into the trench, and the Teltown slaves digging the wall had no time to escape. They either drowned or were shot.

The moat became a moat—or rather, it was a moat from the beginning, but it was deliberately not filled with water.

On the fourth day, it was quiet outside the city.

Mason sent people out of the city to check and found that the outside of the city was deserted.

"The barbarians have been defeated?" Old Priskin seemed to have received a general amnesty.

"No." There was no trace of joy in Mason's eyes: "I'm afraid their goal has been achieved."

"I don't understand what you mean, sir."

"The real purpose of the Teltown people has always been to force Winters to attack. They want Winters most, and us second."

"What do you mean?" Old Priskin said half-frightened and half-joyed: "Montagne has launched an attack?"

"The Tertun people took the initiative to withdraw from the siege." Mason said calmly: "It means that the real battle has begun."

At the same time, at the dam stronghold on the banks of the Big Horn River, Tamas and Samkin also discovered that the Teltun people who besieged them had disappeared without a trace.

"Let it go now!" Tamas said immediately.

"The water is not full yet!" Samujin disagreed: "If the water is released now, no one can guarantee that the pontoon bridge will be destroyed."

"Can't wait any longer!" Tamas yelled: "The withdrawal of the Teltun people means that the Centurion has started fighting! We need to release the water now!"

"Demolish the dam." The silent Captain Moreau suddenly spoke.

Samujin looked at the two of them and agreed with difficulty.

Mason and Tamas's speculations were correct. The final battle had begun a day ago.

[There will be another chapter tonight - or maybe early tomorrow morning, in which case there will be no debt]

[For the last time, I will never raise the flag again (O_O;)]

[You really need to apologize for setting up a flag randomly (T_T)]

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

[Thanks to book friends for their support during this difficult time for updating, thank you all]