Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[Margit Island]

[Baishan County Infantry's Temporary Ferry]

Gunfire burst out in the darkness of dawn, and a soldier who was unloading cargo from the ferry fell into the knee-deep river water.

The sergeant guarding the ferry immediately extinguished the torch and called on his men to fight.

But the shouts and screams he expected did not sound, and the noise of his own people running in the water and taking weapons overwhelmed everything.

Soon, the Baishan County soldiers were in place behind the bunkers, but the only sound around the temporary ferry was the sharp chirping of insects, which was disturbing.

Above the head, the already dim stars also disappeared into the night sky. Margit Island before dawn was darker than any other time of the night.

"Did the sentry fire accidentally?" A soldier squatting behind the raft couldn't help complaining.

"Bang!"

Another gunshot sounded immediately.

But this shot hit the water, and there was no follow-up with a gulp.

This time, the sergeant looked carefully - the cold gun was fired from the bushes upstream, and the muzzle fire briefly illuminated two figures hiding in the bushes.

"There are only two mud guys!" The sergeant jumped out of the bunker and ran towards the enemy with a saber.

Other soldiers also rushed up.

But they did not catch the enemy's tail, only the body of the sentry.

The young sentry was lying face down in the bushes, with a hole in his back, and a small pool of warm blood under his body.

The veterans of Baishan County silently surrounded the sentry, and no one had the heart to wake him up.

It was because the sentry was young, had good eyesight, and his ears had not been deafened by the sound of gunfire that he was chosen to stand guard.

But the good eyes and ears could not save the sentry, and no one knew how he died. Maybe he just lost his mind and made a mistake.

Making mistakes on the battlefield is actually not a big deal. Everyone makes mistakes, but sometimes people don't get a second chance to make mistakes.

"Why are you all following us?" The sergeant realized something was wrong, "Go back!"

The soldiers hurried back to the temporary ferry.

Fortunately, the United Provinces also made a mistake and missed the opportunity to attack the ferry.

On the west bank half a mile away, the lights flickered out quickly as if they were urging someone to die - Captain Woods Frank was eager to know what happened on the island.

"Send a message to the captain," the sergeant waved his hand, suddenly feeling a little tired, "It's okay... Double the sentries before dawn."

——

[Margit Island]

[Bishop's Fort]

Lieutenant Alani Arthur was leading his men to race against time to consolidate his position on the island.

He had learned from the captives how the United Provinces called this fort - Bishop's Fort.

He also learned from the captives that the United Provinces had another fortified camp on the island - Domoncos Monastery.

And he was sure that the reinforcements sent by the United Provinces from the Fort of Kings had landed on Margit Island.

The rhythmic paddling sound could no longer be heard, and now only the white noise of the flowing river could be heard.

The annoying signal light on the southern tower stopped flashing, and the Domonkos Monastery fell into darkness.

Alani guessed that the reinforcements from the United Provinces would most likely land in the middle of the river island and then join the enemy troops stationed in the monastery - because in addition to the signal lights in the monastery, someone also lit a fire on the east bank of the Ten Arrow River, which should be the garrison in the city guiding the direction of the reinforcements on the water.

This made all the preparations that Alani had made to deal with the enemy's beaching invalid.

Obviously, the battle on Margit Island is far from over.

So Alani had to take over the work of the United Provinces and continue to strengthen the defense of the Bishop's Castle.

Fortunately, the tools and manpower were ready.

In addition to Lieutenant Alani's men, there were nearly a hundred laborers stranded on the island in the Bishop's Castle.

Most of these laborers came from the slums of the Kings' Castle and surrounding towns. They were the biggest victims of the current precious metal shortage crisis in the Horse Country.

Due to the large reduction in the amount of gold and silver circulating in the market, commercial activities in Plato are almost stagnant, and the amount of food that can be exchanged for a unit weight of gold and silver is increasing. The urban poor who have no work to do can only watch their children starve to death.

Therefore, the federal province people only recruited a large number of workers from the kings' castles and surrounding towns at a very cheap price.

Even because of the fear of riots by the hungry poor, the municipal governments of many autonomous cities even took the initiative to help the federal province people recruit young and strong people from the unemployed poor and advance their wages, just to get rid of these "unstable factors" as soon as possible.

This is also the main reason why the federal province people can advance the project so quickly.

After "rescuing" the civilians recruited by the federal province people, Alani immediately called everyone to speak.

He explained the righteousness and tried hard to let the workers understand that the federal province people are a group of invaders, and the Maple Stone City government is the legal successor to the First Republic.

However, the workers responded mediocrely.

Many of them are not even "Platons", but Protestants who fled from the empire. In terms of faith, they resonate more with the federal province people.

As for the remaining Palatians who had lost their land and were forced to live in the city, they thought that the Blue Rose had fought back. They had no good feelings towards either the Blue Rose or the Red Rose.

But this problem was not difficult to solve.

Lieutenant Alani Arthur immediately changed his rhetoric and offered them benefits.

After receiving the guarantee that they would not be forced to participate in the war and the promise of triple pay, the laborers recruited by the federal provincial soldiers turned to work night shifts for the Palatine soldiers without any psychological burden.

It was too late to work on the trench. Even if everyone present had four arms, it would be impossible to dig the trench to an insurmountable depth before dawn.

Therefore, to strengthen the defense of the Bishop's Castle, we can only focus on the walls.

Whether it was a sheepskin bag or a sack, all the containers that could be found in the Bishop's Castle were filled with soil and piled on the existing walls to heighten the walls.

Even tables, chairs, beds and workers’ straw mats were delivered to the fort wall:

Tables, chairs and beds were dismantled into wooden piles and boards and smashed into the walls to serve as frames;

Then, like nailing a fence, the straw mat is fixed to the frame, thus constructing a simple fence;

Repeat the previous operation, and then fill in the soil between the two fences to finally get a simple parapet.

In order not to attract enemy artillery shells, Alani did not allow any lights to be lit in the fort, and the reinforcement of the fort wall had to be carried out in the dark.

Alani's men obeyed the order silently, but the workers complained.

Within the fort walls, the sound of shovels being wielded and the curses of the laborers could be heard one after another.

But the lieutenant still strictly regulated lighting.

"Sir, otherwise," the chief sergeant couldn't hold himself any longer. He touched the wall and found the lieutenant who was carrying a bag of dirt on the fort, and advised, "Let's light some fires. It's too dark and it's really inconvenient to work."

"Did you see that place?" Alani wiped his sweat and pointed in the darkness.

"Uh...I didn't see anything."

"Yes, I can't see anything because they didn't light a fire. They can't see us because we didn't light a fire either," Alani explained breathlessly as he walked down the fort wall and picked up another earth bag. "That's the Union Province's fort, right next to the Watergate. The artillery from that fort can hit here. As long as we have a little light here, the Union Province's artillery shells will fly over immediately."

The chief sergeant hesitated to speak.

"I know what you want to say," Alani carried the dirt bag and walked towards the fort wall again. "You want to say that we are surrounded by walls, and it is not easy for the Union Provincial people's artillery to hit us."

"You are indeed a learned man," the chief sergeant, who already had a bit of white on his temples, complimented the lieutenant who was younger than his son.

Alani smiled in the dark, "But the Federation Province people don't have to hit anyone at all. As long as the shells fall into the Bishop's Castle, the people who are working now will disperse... So now is the last time we can If there is an opportunity to strengthen the city's defense, the cannons of the United Provinces will be fired at dawn. "

"Moreover, the artillery shells are flying from behind, and the federal troops are attacking from the front," he pointed to the north and south respectively, and said quietly, "This battle will be difficult to fight."

The chief sergeant snorted softly, "They come and we kill them. Is there anything difficult about it?"

After that, the chief sergeant saluted in the darkness and walked away, holding on to the wall.

Alani suddenly felt that giving up thinking was an open-minded way to live. He spat and continued to carry the mud bag.

Moments later, Lieutenant Alani Arthur received bad news that made him think.

"Sir," the sergeant responsible for inventorying the supplies in the fort reported breathlessly, "something is wrong. The food in the fort is enough for us to eat for one day..."

"How is that possible?" Alani frowned, "Don't the people from the United Provinces want to guard the Bishop's Castle? Did they bury the warehouse?"

"That's what I thought," the sergeant said, sweating profusely. "I dug all over the ground, but there was nothing! The workers also said they had never seen the secret passage. They said that the bread they ate was in the convent. Bake it and deliver it.”

Alani suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. He grabbed the sergeant's shoulder and said with a livid face: "Go to the ferry! Tell Captain Woods... don't send any more reinforcements..."

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