Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Chris Vallee watched helplessly as the best infantry brigade of the new Reclamation Army collapsed, and the fleeing soldiers were hacked to death from behind by rebel riders like helpless children.

Among the "rebel" cavalry who were killing the defeated troops wantonly, Lieutenant Colonel Varrey saw the wounded cavalry officer who had destroyed half of his troops.

And Luo Song was also in another "puppet army" phalanx that had not been destroyed, and he found the school officer in conspicuous clothing at a glance.

In the chaotic battlefield, he saw at a glance the leader of the rebel cavalry who had destroyed half of his troops. And Luo Song also found the conspicuous colonel in the puppet army formation that had not yet been destroyed.

"Over there! The Union Provincial man is over there - let me go!" Luo Song was furious and violently broke away from his subordinates who were trying to force him to retreat. He raised his hand and pointed directly at the artillery officer in the Union Province military uniform: "Go to Bianjiang County. The cavalry! Let them move closer to us! Go to Petofi! Let him drive the enemy troops back to me! Come back and charge the remaining phalanx! Go! Go!"

"Senior, Petofi is gone." The reply was in a low voice.

Luo Song lost his mind briefly, and then gave the person who answered a hard push: "No! If he's gone, you go! What are you waiting for? Go!"

After receiving the order, the second lieutenant wiped away his tears, raised his hands in salute, and immediately led two messengers to reorganize the third and fourth cavalry squadrons.

Luo Song pulled out his dagger, cut off a section from the edge of the ribbon, bandaged the bleeding left eye three times, and kept giving orders: "First and Second Squadrons, assemble! Reorganize! Find Fei Sergeant Lun, his men are armed with nails and hammers, nail these four cannons to me first!"

Upon hearing the order to nail the cannons, the sergeant showed a hint of hesitation: "Sir, maybe we can use these cannons."

The bandaging process stretched the wound, and Luo Song let out a suppressed roar in pain. He turned his head suddenly and cursed ferociously: "I asked you to crucify him! Just go and crucify him to death for me! Can you use the cannon? Can I use it? If you don't know how to use it, just destroy it for me!"

The sergeant did not dare to say any more and set off to deliver the order.

Luo Song gasped, pulled the reins, and quickly glanced at the battlefield with his still intact right eye.

On the hillock, there was chaos with people shouting and horses neighing.

The brown-coated soldiers abandoned their helmets and fled eastward, southward, and even westward at all costs.

The Leiqun County light cavalry who rushed forward were like herding dogs driving livestock, trying their best to hold back the fleeing enemy.

Under the hillock, the left wing of the coalition forces and the right wing of the "pseudo government forces" retreating to the east bank once again started a fierce battle.

Colonel Scull's silver-edged flag slowly moved forward, intending to defeat the remaining enemy troops on the right wing in one go.

The two infantry brigades of the "New Reclamation Dispatch Army" that came from the puppet army's central army to support the right wing had already repulsed the Leiqun County 2nd Infantry Brigade that followed the cavalry to forcibly cross the river bend.

After driving the latter back to the west bank, the two brigades of the New Reclamation Expeditionary Army did not try to rescue the artillery positions, but rushed directly to the flank of the coalition's left wing.

At the same time, the other two infantry brigades of the New Reclamation Expedition Army once again launched a fierce attack on the valley village.

The bell tower of the River Valley Church was submerged in the fire, gun smoke and shouts of death, like a lonely boat struggling in the stormy waves, which might capsize in the next second.

To the south of Hehe Village, Baishan County troops were also fighting with the enemy's left wing.

But the diffuse smoke and the smoke from burning houses in the valley village hindered Lauzon's vision, making it difficult for the captain to see what the fighting was like there.

After a long and short period of waiting, confrontation, and testing, this battle that has not yet been officially named has begun to heat up.

There were bloody battles everywhere, and no one was involved. Gunshots, hoofbeats, screams... countless sounds intertwined together, bombarding everyone's eardrums.

The soldiers became numb in the crazy fighting, and the world collapsed into the weapons in their hands and the enemy in front of them.

Stabbing, stabbing, slicing necks, splitting chests - for ordinary soldiers, perception and reason are luxuries that are useless to survival.

The trumpeter behind Luo Song played the rallying horn desperately, which made his cheeks sore and his throat burning. Only half of the heavy cavalry returned to the team. The other heavy cavalry either couldn't hear the order or couldn't understand the order.

Moreover, the special lances of the returning heavy cavalry had been broken in the previous charge, leaving only the swords in their hands.

Luo Song stroked his beloved horse's sweaty neck and turned the horse to look at his subordinates.

His subordinates include children of military officer families, retired soldiers who have been re-recruited, and standing army riders who have fled back to their hometowns... Many of them are not willing to fight, but they still followed him all the way here, and are ready to attack the enemy again Preparation for a charge.

"The light cavalry is in action." Lauzon's voice was hoarse and low. He stated word by word: "Once they drive the enemy to disrupt the remaining phalanx, we will take advantage of the situation to defeat them, and then the troops who are fighting Colonel Scull. Enemy troops, and then the enemy troops in Riverdale.”

The captain took a steel helmet that had been removed from the remains of his subordinates, put it on his head, and pulled down the face shield: "In the end, we will be here to end all wars and suffering in the newly cultivated land."

At the same time, at the other end of the hillock, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Vallee's phalanx was temporarily out of battle as the "rebel" cavalry retreated and regrouped.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Varley had no time to breathe at all, because more and more defeated soldiers who originally ran down the hillock were being driven by the rebels, turning around and fleeing towards the only remaining parliamentary army formation on the hillock.

The rebel light cavalry chased and killed all the way behind the defeated troops, while the rebel heavy cavalry was already ready to attack.

The defeated soldiers running at the front rolled and crawled, crawling under the forest of spears towards the human wall. Some veterans grabbed them by their collars and pulled them behind them.

Under the protection of the phalanx, they suddenly felt at ease. Some were slumped on the ground, crying and laughing; others were so frightened that they were twitching and drooling as if they were suffering from a serious illness.

"Don't let them in!" Lieutenant Colonel Warley shouted an order. He walked to the edge of the phalanx, picked up a broken soldier from the ground, and forced a broken spear into the latter: "Stand up! Take it! Arm yourself! Otherwise get out!"

The spearmen in the outermost circle received the order of the lieutenant colonel and waved their spears to stop the defeated soldiers. But where can it be stopped? The defeated soldiers who just wanted to escape to safety as soon as possible still squeezed through the forest of guns desperately, even if they were cut bloody by the gun blades, they didn't even notice.

With a sudden heart, Ware grabbed the matchlock gun from the soldiers beside him, stepped out of the human wall, stood between the gun barrels and turned his head and ordered: "Musketeers! Fire at everyone approaching the phalanx!"

After saying that, the lieutenant colonel slightly raised the gun body, pointed diagonally in the air and pressed the firing rod.

A plume of white smoke erupted from between the barrels of the guns, and other musketeers who were able to shoot followed suit.

The continuous gunshots and gunpowder smoke stopped the momentum of the rout, and the rout soldiers who still had a trace of rationality moved around the two wings of the phalanx.

At this moment, Lieutenant Colonel Varley saw the rebel heavy cavalry starting up in the distance.

Warley turned around and grabbed the flag from the shoulder of the flag-bearer. He strode to the southwest corner of the phalanx facing the enemy's charge. He jumped on the cannon that was being loaded and slammed the flag on the gun mount: "Hold your position! It's the same as running away. die!"

Somehow, his roar was louder than the maximum volume a human could normally produce, even over the murmur of the battlefield.

Chris Vallee stood where everyone could see, with his back turned to the rushing enemy cavalry and facing the faces inside the phalanx.

"We must win here!" Regardless of whether the soldiers could understand it or not, Lieutenant Colonel Varley shouted desperately: "Otherwise, all the republics will be dragged into the war!"

…

[River Valley Village]

Lieutenant Woods leaned behind an earthen wall outside the church square and fired at the Grand Council troops who appeared at the end of the road.

After he fired one shot, he handed the gun over and took another loaded gun. In the farmhouse next to him, several wounded soldiers with blood stains on their clothes were hurriedly pouring gunpowder and stuffing lead into the barrels.

Woods' clothes were also covered in large chunks of blood, but it was not his blood, but Elno's blood.

The thirty-two-pound solid shell easily collapsed the sheep pen that served as a temporary fort. Woods was pulled out from the rubble and broken wood by his men, while Erno stayed there.

The parliamentary army's shelling did not cause serious damage to the river bank wall, because the eight heavy guns were not aimed at the low parapet temporarily modified by Woods - they were aimed at the slope itself.

The soil slope between the high ground and the river beach where the Hehe Valley Village is located varies from steep to gentle. During the previous reinforcement work, Colonel Geza Adonis personally led people to dig out the bottom of the soil slope. While covering the wall with mud, he raced against time to turn the gentle slope into a Steep slopes, steep slopes turn into even more difficult to climb steep slopes.

But under heavy artillery bombardment, all their efforts were in vain.

The artillery shells fired from the hills on the opposite bank directly collapsed the steepest river bank, and the collapsed soil and gravel formed several gentle slopes from the river beach to the high ground.

The terrain advantage of the defenders was gone. The soldiers of the New Land Dispatch Army who launched the third attack stepped on the soft soil, shouted and rushed to the high ground, and drove the defenders out of the breastworks along the river.

This time, no cavalry could come to support, because all the coalition cavalry had already gone into battle.

However, the troops dispatched to the new land, who had suffered a big loss, became overly cautious. The sword and shieldmen who arrived first did not rush into the village, but only occupied the parapets and farmhouses along the river.

As soon as it was confirmed that the defenders had been repulsed, the officers of the New Reclamation Expedition Army ordered the musketeers and reserve troops remaining on the east bank to cross the river, and ordered the advance troops to widen the gentle slope caused by the shelling.

The coming and going gave Woods valuable time to regroup his defense.

He set fire to the farmhouses and sheds outside the church, using fire to continue to delay the enemy; he overturned carriages, chipped away walls to block roads, piled furniture, hay and horse carcasses into piles, turning the church and the surrounding square into a temporary of fortress.

The village was burning, and the smoke covered the sky. Woods leaned against the courtyard wall, aiming at the shadowy enemy at the end of the dirt road, and firmly pressed the firing rod.

The figures in the distance fell down in response, but when one fell, a new one was added, as if there were endless enemies hiding behind the smoke screen.

But Woods didn't care about all that. He just aimed, shot, picked up another matchlock, aimed again, and shot again.

The parliamentary army, which had established a strong "bridgehead", began to try to attack the church square. But the fire was so intense that they had to take detours from the east and west.

This played into Woods's plan, and the lieutenant assigned his musketeers to every house and behind every courtyard wall to block the enemy forces layer by layer, so that the parliamentary commander could not figure out for a while how many troops were guarding this high ground.

But River Valley Village is too small, too small. No matter how Lieutenant Woods displays his talents, it will only delay the time of falling.

The officers of the New Reclamation Dispatch Army, who had been beaten several times, quickly learned the taste. Instead of slowly sending out musketeers to suppress and test, they directly sent troops to launch a hand-to-hand charge towards the houses and walls that were spitting out tongues of fire.

In the melee, houses and courtyards were cleared one by one by troops dispatched from the new land. Woods led the soldiers who could still fight to retreat to the church square.

The situation was extremely critical. Woods returned to the church and immediately met Colonel Bode, who had never left the top of the bell tower.

But in the conversation between the two, it was Colonel Bode who spoke first.

The colonel saw the blood stains on the lieutenant's clothes, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are you injured? Lieutenant."

"Sir, no." Woods replied concisely: "This is the blood that someone else shed for me."

Colonel Bode sighed softly.

"Please evacuate as soon as possible." Woods stated the current situation in a hoarse voice: "It is only a matter of time before the village falls. The ammunition has been exhausted, most of the soldiers were injured, and lost their weapons. The enemy troops rushed and attacked, probably because they wanted to They want to outflank us. Before they encircle us, I will send someone to escort you to Colonel Gesa."

Colonel Bode was noncommittal: "I'm evacuating, what about you?"

"I'll stay here." Woods replied calmly: "Cause as much damage to the enemy as possible."

Colonel Bode looked at Lieutenant Woods, and he saw something new in the lieutenant's eyes, something... something he had never seen in the lieutenant:

"Hate."

The thick smoke from the burning house obscured the view from the bell tower. The colonel stared out the window and seemed to be able to see the two armies fighting fiercely in the distance through the smoke.

"I will not evacuate, Lieutenant." Colonel Bode turned to look at Lieutenant Woods: "At the same time, I order you to hold on here as long as possible until the last person."

"Yes." Woods raised his hand in salute, but restrained his objection: "But please allow me to remind you, Colonel, you are exposing the entire army to unnecessary risks. Your decision now may lead to the collapse of the entire battle. fail."

Colonel Bode was unmoved. He smoothed his gray hair and said calmly: "It doesn't matter, Lieutenant. It doesn't matter if you lose this battle. The point is to fight until the last moment."

As soon as he said this, Woods, who did not hesitate to accept the order to fight to the last man, couldn't help but feel a little confused: "I...I don't understand, what did you say?"

"From the moment I sent Gesar Adonis to attack, our mission was no longer to win this battle." Colonel Bode's voice was as cold as ice, and he laughed contemptuously: "Saner is a He's not a simple guy. I still can't figure out what his back-up plan is. But I guess he must be sure of victory before he dares to take the initiative to fight us."

Lieutenant Woods listened carefully without saying a word.

Colonel Bode stood in front of the window, overlooking the battlefield that carried tens of millions of lives and deaths. Fearless power burst out from his broken and thin body: "But no matter how many preparations he has, no matter how many tricks he has. He can win this battle." There will be a battle, and I will make sure that he loses the next battle."

"This is my strategy, Lieutenant." Bod Gates turned around and looked at Woods coldly: "Do you understand?"

[Some book friends mentioned before that [the poundage of cannonballs refers to lead, so the weight of iron cannonballs is actually smaller than the poundage], which is wrong]

[Although the rules for using the weight of artillery shells to replace artillery caliber, power, and specifications are very confusing, and although the actual mass of pounds in different countries is different, this [weight] refers to [a spherical solid artillery shell made of iron of XX weight] . Only on gun bullets could it refer to lead]

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