Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[River Valley Village]

"[There is no fortress that never falls]," Lieutenant Woods thought to himself.

The adage is often cited as a metaphor, but for Woods at this moment, "There is no such thing as a fortress" is literally "There is no such thing as a fortress that never falls."

While thinking about where this wonderful sense of humor came from, Woods put his cheek and shoulder against the butt of the gun and aimed at the enemy on the roof not far away.

The lieutenant's shoulder was swollen from the impact, and it hurt every time he touched the butt of the gun.

But he still held the gun motionlessly, breathing slowly, and waited until the interval between two heart beats before firmly pressing the firing lever.

The red flames from the muzzle briefly illuminated the main hall of the church. The enemy the lieutenant aimed at raised his hands, then leaned back and rolled down from the burned roof, where only charred wood and black mud remained.

Woods didn't feel sorry for the other person, nor did he feel any satisfaction. He just handed the musket in his hand to the wounded soldier beside him, and then waited for the latter to hand another loaded musket to his hand.

The lieutenant's shooting efficiency was so high that the four wounded soldiers could not serve the lieutenant even if they did nothing but pour gunpowder and stuff lead.

While waiting for the next musket to be handed over, Woods suddenly figured out where the funny feeling of the motto "There is no eternal fortress" comes from.

The contrast between daily life and this moment.

On the battlefield, the rules of daily life seamlessly transition into a completely different set of rules, making many things that would not normally seem ridiculous become comical.

Woods thought as he looked at the altar at the end of the main hall.

Behind the altar, the silent Son lowered his eyes, avoiding the lieutenant's gaze; under the altar, the sacrificial vessels that the priest had not taken away were roughly swept to the corner, and no one cared about them; they were originally spread on the altar and were used by believers to burn incense. The silk of the prayer had also been pulled off and turned into a bandage to bandage the wound...and a piece of rag being stuffed into the muzzle of the gun.

Woods didn't understand why he still had the leisure to think about these messy things.

It is obvious that the church where he is located has been surrounded by enemy troops, it is obvious that the enemy musketeers have begun to climb on the roof to suppress his men, and it is obvious that the enemy will soon carry the ladder from the east bank...

But the reality is that the more critical and urgent the situation is, the more active Woods' mind becomes.

And the battle situation is too clear: the square in River Valley Village is too small, not even worthy of being called a square. It is just a circle of open space around the church, with almost no room for advancement and retreat; as long as the attackers continue to invest troops, this square with wooden fences and It was only a matter of time before the rudimentary fortress, a patchwork of wagons and corpses, fell.

When an overly active mind encountered an overly simple situation, Lieutenant Woods could only consume the excess "brain power" through instinctive random thoughts.

Woods thought as he took another musket that had been hung with a match rope.

This time, his luck was not so good. The gun rang out, but the enemy he was targeting was squatting behind the chimney and reloading unharmed, unaware that the death scythe had just passed by.

Woods didn't feel any regret. He just handed the musket in his hand to the wounded soldier behind him and calmly told the latter: "This gun has too much lead. Let's get a gun that hasn't been used much."

Then it was time to wait again.

While waiting, Woods Frank inspected the walls around the church, and felt an inexplicable regret in his heart - regret that he had not practiced swordsmanship diligently when he was at the Army Academy.

Most students in the artillery department regarded sword fighting as a barbarian game and scorned the long sword technique that everyone at the Army Academy must learn.

It’s unknown how much of this emotion is the barking of a lost dog. The result is clear at a glance - from the students to the graduates in the artillery department, all swordsmanship is poor, and no one can master it.

Woods himself was very interested in swordsmanship, but unfortunately the artillery department had a heavy workload, so he had no choice but to follow the crowd.

Looking around the battlefield, Lieutenant Woods thought with regret that if he had spent more time practicing swordsmanship back then, maybe it would come in handy today.

However, another voice immediately retorted coldly in his mind: Even if Woods Frank spent more time practicing swordsmanship back then, for Woods Frank here and now, at most, it would only mean living a little longer or living a little less. difference.

Woods shook his head and inadvertently glanced at the blood stains on his clothes. He immediately looked away, forcing himself not to look at the blood stains, forcing himself not to think about where the blood stains came from.

At this moment, the observation post on the clock tower shouted in fear: "Coming! Coming!"

Immediately afterwards, the sound of attacking military drums came from outside the ramparts surrounding the church.

Soldiers from the New Reclamation Expeditionary Force moved the long ladder up to the high ground where the Hehe Valley Village is located. Several hundred-man teams each carried two or three siege ladders, followed the main roads and paths in the village, and simultaneously attacked the church located in the center of the village.

"Climb the wall!" Woods cleared away all the distracting thoughts in his mind. He pulled out his barely used sword and was the first to run out of the church: "Climb the wall!"

Previously, Woods personally set fire to the village to delay the enemy. The enemy commander organized firefighting and sent musketeers to occupy the roofs around the church square. The temporary "fortress" built by Woods and his men lacked bunkers. The brown-clad musketeers shot at the defenders from a high position as easily as shooting at targets.

The remnants of the coalition forces that retreated to the square had to give up open space and hide in buildings.

Seeing the lieutenant rushing towards the barrier without hesitation, soldiers from Baishan County and Leiqun County who could still fight also poured out from churches, warehouses, and cemeteries.

The soldiers in brown clothes stepped on the hot soil and shouted as they put up the long ladder on the barricade wall.

"Distillate!" Woods pointed his sword directly at the direction where the ladder emerged.

The coalition soldiers defending the church immediately threw out the last few pots containing alchemical fuel, and a heat wave suddenly broke out outside the barrier. Even though their view was blocked by the ramparts, the defenders could clearly hear the heart-rending screams.

The enemy troops on one road were temporarily blocked by a wall of fire, but the enemy's offensive was launched from more than one direction, and the defenders had used up all the distillate.

As the brown-coated soldiers climbed ladders and jumped into the fortress wall, hand-to-hand combat began.

The remnants of Baishan County and Leiqun County used everything they could find. Hoes for weeding were turned into halberds, muskets that had run out of ammunition were turned into war hammers, stones were used if there were no weapons, and nails were used if there were no stones.

People try their best to kill each other. You chop at me and I smash at you. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and brains splattered everywhere.

Woods was also slashing frantically, and he suddenly understood the essence of swordsmanship, which is to slash at another person without any mercy, slashing the arms, shoulders, thighs, wherever there is softness.

Hand-to-hand combat is brutal and fast: a cut in an artery can quickly cause a person to bleed out and go into shock; a stab at the heart and lungs can immediately cause a person to lose the ability to move.

Woods' back hurt, his arms hurt, and every part of his body hurt. Apart from a few scratches, there were no more fatal wounds on his body. But that's not because of his skill with a sword, or because of his luck, but because his men fought tooth and nail to protect him.

However, as the hand-to-hand combat continued, the number of men beside him became increasingly rare, but the soldiers in brown never retreated.

The enemy also discovered this extremely brave officer. Someone yelled and gave orders, and more and more brown-coated soldiers came to attack him.

By the time Woods came to his senses again, he was already vaguely surrounded by three soldiers in brown clothes.

The brown-coated soldiers looked hesitant, exchanged glances with each other, and kept swallowing. No one dared to make the first move.

But Woods didn't care about anything anymore. He raised his sword stiffly and yelled to slash at the enemy directly in front.

At this moment, a huge force came from behind the lieutenant, and someone grabbed his collar and forcibly lifted him back.

Woods saw a thin, one-armed figure passing by him. He faced the enemy on his behalf. With one block and one stab, he knocked down the brown-clothed soldier who was rushing forward.

Two more soldiers wearing light green messenger uniforms met the other two soldiers in brown clothes. The thin, one-armed old soldier protected Woods and retreated to the door of the church.

"I thought." Woods gasped, "You ordered me to hold on until I die."

"We will all die, sooner or later, Lieutenant." Colonel Bode sternly glanced at the soldiers in the melee: "But not now."

Another round of deafening shouts and war drums filled the high ground where River Valley Village is located.

The 2nd Infantry Brigade of Leiqun County, which had previously attacked the east bank and was repulsed, and the 2nd Infantry Battalion of Baishan County on the northernmost right side of the coalition front, attacked the village from the northwest and southwest at the same time.

Saner deducted too many troops from the Central Army. The parliamentary army attacking the valley village was left with only two brigades, which no longer held an overwhelming advantage in strength.

Caught off guard, the New Land Expeditionary Forces that besieged the church square were defeated and pushed off the high ground again.

It took the church's defenders a moment to realize what was happening. A Baishan County soldier suddenly cheered, and another Leiqun County soldier also cheered.

Immediately afterwards, all the coalition soldiers, regardless of whether they were from Leiqun County or Baishan County, cheered loudly, cheering with the greatest strength and from the bottom of their hearts.

Even the life-and-death hand-to-hand fighting just now came to an abrupt end. The brown-clothed soldiers who had invaded the fortress were at a loss and subconsciously moved closer to each other. This time, it was their turn to be the besieged party.

Woods Frank was also cheering, tears falling uncontrollably from his eyes.

Colonel Bode walked towards the parliamentary soldiers who were trapped inside the fortress, as if giving an order to his men, and said calmly: "Surrender, you are lucky, this battle is over for you. "

The parliamentary soldiers in brown clothes looked at me and I looked at you. No one knew what to do and no one made any move.

Only a middle-aged sergeant stared at Colonel Bode in disbelief, looking at the latter from feet to head, then from head to toes, and finally his eyes rested on the colonel's empty broken arm.

As if suddenly awakened from sleep, the middle-aged sergeant looked around in panic, at the dying man lying on the ground groaning, at the enemies and comrades covered in blood. He wanted to say something, but it felt like a big stone was stuck in his throat. .

The middle-aged sergeant lowered his head and released the weapon in his hand.

With a "clang" sound, the blood-stained steel sword fell on the stone slab.

After a moment of silence, more sounds of metal hitting stone slabs were heard, and the other soldiers in brown clothes also dropped their weapons one after another.

On the bell tower of the church, the flag belonging to Bod Gates buzzed.

[There’s another chapter tonight! ! ! (Referring to the evening of July 29, 2022)]

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