Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The proverb says: "If you want to be rich, build roads first."

But the Veneta people want to build roads on Red Sulfur Island, and their purpose is definitely not to stimulate local economic growth.

"Building a road?" Winters, who had just woken up, was still a little confused: "What kind of road should be built?"

"We need to build a standard solid road from Chisulfur Port to Tacheng." Andre said happily: "The order jointly issued by the two major generals is correct. Hey, no matter what kind of road is built, we don't need to be scribes anyway. That’s it!”

"Hmm." Winters rubbed his eyes and tried to think about the real purpose of building the road. Suddenly he sighed and said: "I probably figured out what's going on... It seems that the higher-ups have made up their minds to attack the city."

Red Sulfur Island is a typical volcanic island, and the island itself is a huge volcano. Therefore, Chesulfur Island starts from the coast and becomes higher in altitude as you go inland.

Tacheng, located in the center of the island, is backed by the volcano on the volcanic island, so it occupies a naturally dangerous terrain.

The environment where Tacheng is located was originally not suitable for the formation of natural settlements, but it contains rich reserves of volcanic sulfur minerals.

In order to keep the sulfur ore in his hands, the former Duke of Red Sulfur Island did not set up his seat in Red Sulfur Port, but opened a new city here.

The sulfur mining industry and political factors eventually created Tacheng, which was named after the high tower castle built here by the former Duke of Red Sulfur Island.

There is no direct road from Tacheng to Red Sulfur Port, not even a decent road.

Starting from Chiliu Island on a dirt road that has been in disrepair, you have to pass through several villages and plantations before reaching Tacheng.

Thinking of the above, it seemed to Winters that Antonio and Leighton's purpose of not attacking the city but building roads first was obvious.

Winters also observed the tower city's defense structure from a distance. Although it was an old-style city wall that lagged behind the times, it was still daunting.

In old times, towering walls were considered impenetrable and impassable, and were a symbol of wealth and military strength.

However, no one builds this kind of wall anymore. The reason is simple: this design cannot effectively resist artillery bombardment.

Funds are limited, and if the city wall is to be built high, it will inevitably be built thin. In the past, this was nothing. When defending the city, wooden scaffolding would be built behind the city wall to temporarily increase the width of the city wall so that more defenders could stand on it.

However, after artillery technology matured, the advantages of high walls also turned into disadvantages:

The higher the city wall, the larger the front projection area is, and the easier it is to be hit by cannonballs;

Moreover, the city wall was not thick enough to deploy artillery. During the siege of Constantinople, the defenders discovered that the recoil generated by the heavy artillery placed on the city wall when it fired caused more damage to the high wall than the siege artillery;

The towers on the original city wall also became a problem. The towers of the old city wall were much higher than the height of the city wall itself. This design allowed the defenders to continue to hold the tower even if the enemy scaled the walls;

However, the existence of high towers on the wall made it impossible for the defenders to quickly move artillery on the city wall...

The various shortcomings cannot be listed in detail. All in all, if you see such a high wall, blast it with cannons and that's it.

In the establishment of the Veneta army, the artillery unit formed an independent army outside the regular legion, so the legion only had infantry and cavalry.

However, Antonio and Layton now have ready-made cannons:

The thirty-two-pounder guns pulled out from the ruins of the Chessulfur Bay fort are basking in the sun on the pier; if these heavy guns are not enough, there are also the four-pounders and eight-pounders in the Red Sulfur Port bastion; the artillery in the bastion is not enough either. It can also be used to remove the cannon from the warship.

As for the lack of gunners? It is easier to handle, because artillery and engineers are not separated.

Graduates of the Artillery Department of the Army Officer School, those who do well become artillerymen, and those who do not do well become engineers.

Although Antonio and Leighton did not have artillery, they did have engineers, and there were a lot of officers from the artillery department who were now working as civilians.

Thinking about it, they wouldn't forget all the knowledge in the book so quickly, so Layton slapped his head: "What engineer and soldier civilian positions? They all go back to work as artillery for me."

In addition, gunners on naval warships can also be temporarily mobilized to attack the city.

The enemy gave away a batch of cannons for free, and there was no shortage of gunners in the army. The biggest problem was how to move the cannons from Red Sulfur Port to Tacheng.

The roads on Chisulfur Island are too bad and winding, and the Veneta people lack large livestock such as heavy draft horses and cattle. Moreover, due to terrain factors, it is still uphill all the way from Chisulfur Port to Tacheng, making transportation very difficult.

If we rely on the original bad roads on the island, it would be better to move these dozens of artillery to the front line and simply wait for the defenders to run out of food and surrender, which can save some energy.

So - build roads.

When Winters heard the order to build roads, his first reaction was: it must have been Major General Leighton's idea.

However, after putting aside his prejudices and thinking rationally, Winters found that maybe this was actually a good idea.

As the saying goes, "Applying soap will not delay shaving."

As a standing corps, the Grand Veneta Corps is very good at civil engineering work and has ready-made technology. There are a large number of farmers and slaves on Chiliu Island, with a ready labor force. Moreover, there are quarries on the island with ready-made materials.

Building a solid road connecting Chisulfur Port and Tacheng will not only make it easier to transport artillery, but will also be of great benefit to the logistical support of the siege army.

It also allows Veneta troops to quickly maneuver between Red Sulfur Port and Tacheng. Once the battle situation changes, they can quickly support Red Sulfur Port or withdraw to the ship.

You can even continue to collect tolls after the war is over... because the Veneta Army has the right to collect tolls on the solid roads it built. Part of the tolls is used to maintain the roads, and the other part goes into the army treasury as additional revenue. .

This law was originally intended to encourage the Army to build more infrastructure. As a result, the fixed roads between major cities in Veneta have become one of the Army's important financial resources... The best thing is that this part of the revenue is not within the scope of the military budget, and the Army can You can control it at will... So the splendid Army Headquarters can actually be said to have been obtained by the sweat of the road-building soldiers.

"Where have I been thinking about this..." Winters shook his still somewhat groggy head, hastily arranged his clothes, took down the newly issued sword from the shelf, and said to Andre: "Let's go Bar."

The two of them got on their horses and galloped towards Red Sulfur Port.

The war horses of the Third Legion stayed in Hailan City. The San Marco Legion did have some war horses, but they were only the officers' own mounts. As a reserve force, the San Marco Legion did not have a cavalry establishment.

However, it was inconvenient for the officers of the Third Army to travel without war horses, so the Logistics Department initially hired a group of mules. As a result, they encountered strong resistance from a group of officers with backgrounds in the cavalry department. Some even claimed that they would "rather commit suicide by drinking bullets than be embarrassed by riding a mule."

It was Winters who came up with the idea. He had discovered long ago that the plantation owners on Red Sulfur Island generally kept horses in their homes. The Logistics Office of the Third Army immediately dispatched and forcibly bought all the horses from the island's plantations. Naturally, the plantation owners dared not speak out. After all, it was good that they were not liquidated.

Relying on forced buying and selling, the Logistics Office of the Third Army was able to issue a war horse to every officer in the Army.

The army acted vigorously and resolutely. Since the two army commanders had decided to build a solid road, the people below just focused on how to carry out this order.

The Red Sulfur Island Road Construction Countermeasures Headquarters was established five minutes after the order was issued. This department was formed by transferring officers from the two legions and was fully responsible for the construction of the solid road. Antonio himself served as the head of the department.

The Countermeasures Headquarters immediately dispatched engineering officers responsible for surveying and mapping, and preliminary map work began immediately.

Of course, these tasks that require high professional abilities have nothing to do with the two junior warrant officers Winters and Andre. The tasks given to them fully took into account their abilities.

"Ah? What? Let us take people to recruit workers?" Winters looked at the warrant with a bitter look on his face.

"Hi." Andre didn't take it too seriously and said with a smile: "After so many days of hard work, we still have to deal with the farmer in our relationship?"

"Oh, let's go."

The order from the Road Construction Countermeasures Headquarters only stated how many migrant workers were needed, and nothing else. Forty fully armed soldiers were assigned to Winters and Andre.

The meaning above is vague but clear: no matter the means, only the hands.

In the following days, when Winters and Andre were busy recruiting farmers to build roads in villages on the island with a salary of five silver coins a day, a small-scale conflict broke out outside Tower City.

The defenders discovered that the Veneta guys outside had done nothing major except building walls, and gradually began to become more courageous. They even sent people out of the city at night to continue deepening the trenches.

Of course, it was impossible to hide this from the Veneta people outside the city. The siege wall built by the Veneta army was less than 400 meters away from the nearest part of the city wall.

The sound of stones being smashed in the trench could be clearly heard by the defenders on the rampart four hundred meters away.

Of course, Antonio and Leighton could not sit back and watch the defenders strengthen the city defense. Due to the lack of cavalry, two centuries of the Third Army were temporarily mobilized.

There was no time for nonsense. Antonio ordered Captain Doria and Second Lieutenant Juan to each lead a hundred-man team to attack lightly from the east and west sides in order to approach the trench as soon as possible.

If the defeated troops could be driven into the city, the commandos would only need to hold the city gate while the two legions would attack across the board. If there is no chance to capture the city gate, the commando team will quickly retreat after killing the enemy.

Ten minutes later, the two groups of figures quietly left the fortress of the Veneta Army and marched towards the tower city from both wings.

The light soldiers and sharp soldiers moved quickly and quickly, reaching a distance of less than half a kilometer. The defenders on the city wall had just discovered that the enemy was coming and sounded the bell to warn them. The two centurions in the lead had already jumped into the ditch with their sabers and hacked wildly.

Immediately behind the officer, Veneta's soldiers jumped into the trench like a tide. The Tanirians in the trench had only tools. They tried to climb out of the trench and escape, but the Veneta soldiers grabbed their hind legs and dragged them back to the trench to kill them.

What happened in this moat, which was less than two meters high and wide, was a one-sided massacre. Two centurions began to lead people from the east and west sides toward the middle city gate.

Killing all the way forward, they drove the Tanirians in the trenches to flee towards the city gate.

"The first victory in capturing Tacheng belongs to me!" Captain Doria looked at the Tani people crowded at the city gate and couldn't stop shouting in his heart.

However, no matter how hard the Tanirians who fled to the city gate beat the gate and begged, the gate did not move at all.

The defenders in the triangular fort outside the city gate were the first to react. There was loud gunfire on the triangular fort, and the musketeers and crossbowmen began to shoot at the Veneta people in the trench.

The defenders on the city wall were also awakened by the counterattack from the Triangular Fort, and began to use long-range weapons to suppress the enemy.

For a time, arrows and lead shot like a storm, hitting the Veneta soldiers in the trench, and the commando's offensive was stalled.

"Blow the trumpet and give the order to retreat!" Antonio, who was watching the battle on the ramparts, ordered loudly, and the bugler immediately blew the trumpet to signal retreat.

Second Lieutenant Juan, who was in charge of the attack on the east side, immediately led the soldiers out of the trench and ran towards their own walls. The muskets and crossbows on the wall knocked down several soldiers from behind, but most of the centurions retreated safely.

However, Captain Doria, who was in charge of the assault on the west side, did not want to give up. The leading soldiers were less than twenty meters away from the city gate. The opportunity was really good. Maybe they could capture the tower city in one fell swoop.

He shouted: "Go forward! The enemy will rush in as soon as the door opens! Victory is at hand!"

However, the city gate did not open, and the roar of the cannon destroyed his ambition.

The artillery deployed on the triangular fort was loaded and began to fire at the enemy troops in the trench. The triangular fort covering the city gate stretched across the trench, which was an extremely deadly side fire for the siege.

Projectile weapons from the city walls were not a big threat to the Veneta soldiers in the trenches, but they had no protection from the bullets fired from the Triangular Fort.

A four-pound iron cannon ball penetrated Captain Doria's left chest and emerged through his back. Then it penetrated the body of the soldier behind him, and then another soldier... Only one shell plowed a bloody ravine in the trench.

Captain Doria was killed on the spot, and his centurions were at first overwhelmed, for the soldiers behind the trenches did not know what was happening, and then collapsed completely.

First one soldier took the lead, then two, then three, and finally all the soldiers climbed out of the trench and began to run back.

The centurion's sergeant "Big Beard" and another sergeant "Bucktooth" lifted Captain Doria's body and tried to take it back. However, before they had taken a few steps, a short and thick crossbow bolt shot from behind, pinning the bearded sergeant to the ground.

The buck-toothed sergeant who was carrying the captain's calf hurriedly let go and ran towards the Veneta Army's camp without looking back.

At this time, the gate of Tacheng finally creaked open.

In the noisy and chaotic battlefield, Antonio suddenly caught an unusual sound. He shouted an order: "Musketeers! Get to the west rampart! Get to the west rampart! Put your gun on your shoulder and listen to my order!" "

Accompanied by shouts and curses and the neighing of war horses, more than thirty cavalrymen pushed through the crowd and filed out of the city gate, leaping over the trench to kill the Veneta soldiers who were fleeing towards their own fortress.

The buck-toothed sergeant who was lagging behind heard the sound of horse hooves getting closer and closer. He just gritted his teeth and turned around to fight for his life, when he saw a cold light in front of him. A saber was struck from the buck-toothed sergeant's shoulder with the speed of his horse. In an instant, the buck-toothed sergeant was split into two pieces, including flesh and bones.

This terrifying cleave failed to slow down the cavalry even a little bit. The saber drew an arc back to the top of the head, and the cavalry continued to pursue new prey without slowing down.

The soldiers who fell behind were cut down like wheat fields after a strong wind. Antonio stared closely at the Union cavalry at the front and shouted sternly: "Don't shoot without my order!"

Above the tower city, Captain Kidd did not want the cavalry to pursue them too deeply. Seeing that his cavalry had passed the center line, he quickly ordered the trumpet to be blown to retreat.

At the same time as the horn sounded at the top of the city, Antonio shouted: "Now! Fire!"

On the fortification wall, the sound of muskets sounded like exploding beans, and a row of lead bullets hit the pursuing Union cavalry.

The rider who hacked the buck-toothed sergeant to death was at the forefront, so he was targeted by many musketeers. A lead bullet exploded in the rider's right shoulder, causing him to nearly faint from the pain. The horse under his crotch was shot four times and died on the spot.

When the war horse fell, it wrapped the rider under him and crushed his left leg. The rider let out a scream that was inhuman and struggled to get out from under the horse.

However, his left foot was stuck in the stirrup, and there was a 600 kilogram weight on his leg, making him unable to move.

Several other riders who rushed too close to the walls of the Veneta fortress were also shot dead instantly.

The gate of the fortress of the Veneta Army was opened, and with a shout, a group of captains of halberdiers came out to meet their own soldiers.

The commander of this cavalry group saw that many Veneta people had been killed and no longer wanted to fight. He blew a sharp whistle and led the remaining cavalry back quickly.

Veneta's halberdier chased for a distance. When one of the halberdier passed by the rider who was crushed under the horse's corpse, he saw that he was still alive and gave him a good blow.

The artillery on the Triangle Fort and the Half-Moon Fort also began to fire at the Veneta Halberdier, covering the retreat of the cavalry.

Several iron balls flew over, but they were not very accurate and posed no threat to the scattered soldiers.

One shell was angled so high that it even flew over the ramparts of the Veneta Army.

The distance between the fortress walls built by the besieging party and the city wall is between 400 meters and 600 meters, which is already within the range of the artillery. But this was the first time the defenders fired at the fortress wall, and they knew that there was little threat from this distance.

A lot of blood had been seen today, and the halberdiers had completed their mission, so Antonio ordered the troops to withdraw.

At dawn, a rider with a white flag approached the fortress wall of the Veneta Army, claiming to have brought a message to General Serbetti.

"I am Antonio Serbetti, what do you want to say?" When he heard that the envoy wanted to see him, Antonio, who had just slept for a while, hurried to the fortress wall.

"Dear General Serbetti, General Kidd pays you the highest respect." The rider said loudly: "A lot of blood was shed in the battle last night. General Kidd hopes that you and our side can be undisturbed today. The earth collects the bodies of the fallen, arranges their remains, and buries them.”

Antonio pondered for a while and replied: "Okay, the person responsible for collecting the body will tie a white cloth to his left arm. If you don't attack our people, we will not attack your people."

When the messenger heard the reply, he took off his helmet and bowed and saluted: "I greet you again, General Serbetti, then you and we will reach an agreement on this."

After that, he rode away without looking back.

"Haha, I didn't expect that there was still some virtue left in the hearts of pirates and slave traders." Second Lieutenant Sarah, who was in charge of the watch, muttered as he watched the rider leave.

Antonio glanced at Second Lieutenant Sara with an expressionless look: "Mr. Sara, do you think they proposed to collect the corpse because of their virtue?"

Sarah, who was suddenly called by the legion commander, was slightly flustered: "Yes! Sir! I don't know either! Sir!"

Antonio patted Sara on the shoulder and said gently: "Don't be nervous. As an officer, you have to think more from the enemy's perspective. William Kidd's request to collect the body without interference is just to delay it for one more day. That’s all.”

"Then...why do you still agree to him?" Lieutenant Sarah asked hesitantly.

"Why? Because time is not on their side." Antonio sighed: "And if we can prevent the soldiers from dying in the wilderness, then let him delay it for one day."

Yesterday I came home too late and went straight to bed without taking off my clothes or taking a shower. I'm sorry.

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