Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 102 Sapper

After the fixed end of the suspension bridge on the Triangle Fort was cut off, all the people on the bridge fell to the open space between the Triangle Fort and the city gate.

   Fearing that the Veneta would attack, the defenders dared not open the city gate to save people.

  This temporary triangular fort is actually a mound, there is no entrance or exit door, only a road to the drawbridge between the city walls.

After    destroyed the drawbridge, the Veneta temporarily cut off the support of the defenders, turned around and started strangling the remaining Union soldiers inside the Triangle Fort with all their might.

   More than a dozen Union soldiers fled into the storage room deep in the Triangle Fort. The space was small, and the Veneta people couldn't help them for a while.

  Huan saw that all his soldiers were standing at the door and no one dared to enter, so he couldn't help burning with anger, and yelled, "Waste! What are you doing standing there? Take off the armor and give it to me!"

   A sergeant immediately took off his armor, and everyone hurriedly tied the centurion.

  Don Juan was wearing his original officer armor, with two layers of breastplates inside, which looked particularly bloated and clumsy.

   He drew a short knife from his boot, and without saying a word, kicked open the wooden door.

   The Tanirians inside the door were also taken aback, and subconsciously pressed the snake rod. There were two consecutive "dong" and "dong" sounds, one was the sound of a gunshot, and the other was the sound of a lead bullet hitting Huan.

   The buckshot pierced the outer breastplate, but changed its flight path because of it, bounced off the inner breastplate, and flew out from under the ribs.

  Huan only felt like he was hit by a sledgehammer, his internal organs were surging, and he almost suffocated, but he still stabbed the nearby enemy with willpower.

The soldiers behind    saw that the centurion was like this, and rushed in behind him. The Tanirians were quickly killed in a close fight.

   And the defenders on the city wall also came back to their senses. They clipped heavy arquebuses to the parapet and began to fire at the enemy on the triangular fort.

  The height of the city wall is three to four meters higher than that of the Triangle Fort. The Tanirians are commanding, and the buckshots like the storm hit the Veneta people on the Triangle Fort untenable.

  [The height of the triangular fort in front of the city gate is 5-6 meters, while the height of the tower city wall is 8-9 meters according to the terrain. ]

   But the next scene stunned the Union officers and soldiers on the city wall, and a group of strange soldiers rushed up from the front of the triangular fort.

   said they were soldiers because they all wore gray military uniforms. Strange, because they were not holding weapons, but all kinds of tools.

The second group of troops sent by   Antonio and Layton was the engineering brigades under the two legions.

  The sappers shouted their horns and used shovels, pickaxes and explosives to tear down the sharp corner of the triangular fort that pointed to the Veneta position under the hail of bullets from the enemy, turning the original five or six-meter-high earth wall into a gentle slope.

Then the Veneta sappers sent buckets of soil and bundles of firewood to the triangular fort through the gentle slope, just like the lamp **** who moved a city overnight in Qitan Zhongnei, the Veneta sappers used sacks, soil and firewood in the triangle. A temporary fortress was built on top of the fort. Unlike the original structure, the new building faced the city wall.

  The position of the Veneta people on the Triangle Fort was quickly consolidated, and the long-range weapons of the defenders on the city wall were no longer able to kill the Veneta soldiers in the Triangle Fort.

   And all of this was done under the guns of the Tanirians.

   This night, the officers and soldiers of the Taniria Federation understood for the first time what military technology crushing was.

   Military technology is not just better muskets and cannons, military technology is better ideas, training and tactics.

  The Tanirians can also muster the courage to fight the Venetas to the end, but they will never be able to complete the tactics of the Veneta army tonight - a resolute and fast attack and efficient civil work.

  The siege continued for nearly half a month, and for the first time William Kidd began to feel a hint of despair.

  …

  …

   The first day after the short and tragic battle for the Triangle Fort.

   For the first time, the Veneta army began a real mass shelling of the city.

The   heavy artillery had not been delivered yet, and the light artillery under six pounds was roaring on the front lines. It is difficult for these artillery pieces to cause substantial damage to the city walls, and the shells only leave white marks on the hard outer walls of the granite.

   But the shelling has continued since the early morning and has not stopped until now.

There are two reasons for   . First, although light artillery and mortars are difficult to destroy the city wall, they are extremely effective against the parapet above the city wall. The Veneta people focused on bombarding the two Half Moon Forts and the city gates, just to knock down those parapets, so that the defenders had no way to hide and avoid them on the city walls.

   Secondly, it is also necessary to put pressure on the Tacheng defenders, making them unable to launch a counterattack against the Triangle Fort.

  Because the location of the Triangle Fort is too critical, and it is too close to the city wall. Until now, if the Veneta soldiers wanted to go to the Triangle Fort, they had to pass through an open area where the guns of the Tanir could cover.

The    engineer brigade is working hard, trying to extend the corridor to the Triangle Fort, but it is still a hundred meters away.

  The triangular fort is only seven or eight meters away from the city wall. If Tanee wants to counterattack the triangular fort, he can get over it with a longer ladder.

   And the Veneta wanted to support the Triangle Fort, but had to cross a "kill zone" - the officer's name for the open space covered by guns.

  If the Tani people are determined to retake the Triangle Fort, the two infantry battalions inside will definitely not be able to hold it.

   Therefore, the defenders on the city gate must be suppressed by artillery bombardment. The defenders dare not stand here, so that they cannot organize a counterattack.

   At the same time, the two brigades in the triangular fort were frantically raising the triangular fort, and continued to build a high wall above the triangular fort with sheepskin bags and sacks filled with soil.

The logistics chiefs of the Legion of Great Veneta and the Legion of San Marco are bleeding. You must know that for some ordinary people who are not rich, sheepskin and linen can be worn as clothes, but now they take it without hesitation. to repair the wall.

  The time is running out, and the cost is out of Antonio and Layton's consideration.

   While the front was working hard, in the field barracks where the two legions were stationed, Winters was hesitating whether to knock on the door.

   "Crack!" The clear and loud slap sound, even Winters outside the door could hear it clearly.

   Major General Layton's roar came from the legion headquarters in the center of the field barracks: "Bastard! Why cut down the drawbridge?! Who gave you the guts to make an assertion?!"

   "Crack!" followed by a louder slap.

   "Yes! Sir!" Lieutenant Don Juan, who was staggered, said in a rather unconvinced tone, "At that time, a team of armored soldiers was about to cross the drawbridge! If it is not destroyed in time..."

   "Crack!" Before he could finish speaking, Lieutenant Hu An was slapped down again.

   "Did I let you speak!? I allowed you to speak!?" Layton became more and more furious: "What was the order given to you before the attack?! Tell me! What was the order given to you!?"

  Don Juan tried to get back on his feet quickly, and answered loudly: "Yes! Sir! The first goal is to drive the enemy out of the Triangle Fort! Second, if conditions permit, control the drawbridge, sweep the city walls and control the city gates!"

   "Which order allows you to cut down the suspension bridge? Who allows you to order it without authorization!" Layton yelled: "[Veneta scolded]! You broke a major event!"

   "But..." Huan was still unconvinced after being slapped three times.

   "Okay! I didn't call you here to make you excuse me!" Antonio interrupted Lieutenant Juan.

  In Antonio's opinion, the young lieutenant in front of him actually did the right thing. The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and how could the rear know the danger of the front line. But Juan is Layton's subordinate, Antonio can not destroy Layton's prestige in front of everyone.

He frowned and said to Juan: "No matter what you see, you are not qualified to make such a decision. Your brigade leader is on the front line, and it is his responsibility to judge whether the suspension bridge needs to be cut, not yours! Got it! Do you? Like to defend, right? Go back and hand in a self-defense report... I have a meeting with General Layton in a while, get out!"

   After listening to the words of the Serbian army commander, Juan looked at Layton again.

   "Get out!" Leyton's chest heaved violently, and he spit out a word impatiently.

   Lieutenant Juan put his boots together, gave a military salute, and turned to leave the Legion Commander's office.

   But when he walked out of the headquarters, he happened to bump into Winters who was waiting outside.

   Looking at Senior Juan's swollen cheeks, Winters hurriedly saluted the senior. And Don Juan just nodded, wiped his nosebleed with his sleeve nonchalantly, and left with his neck up.

  The two major generals were still talking about Juan when Winters brought the report from the road building headquarters to the corps commander's office.

   "...This little beast, a stubborn donkey, still refuses to accept it! It's just [expletive] to be beaten!" Layton said bitterly.

   "Come on. Didn't you have this kind of virtue when you were twenty?" There were only two people in the office, and Antonio mercilessly exposed his classmates.

  Layton snorted coldly, but didn't say anything.

   There was a knock on the door, and Winters brought in the report.

The two senior officers of the    Corps were very concerned about the progress of Guzhi Dao and asked to report the progress every day.

   In the known world, there may be armies more valiant in fighting than the standing armies of the republics, but there is absolutely no army that is better at civil engineering than the standing armies of the republics.

   The road construction plan formulated by the Road Construction Headquarters is very ingenious. It is not a complete new construction, nor is it a straight line between the Red Sulphur Port and the Tacheng on the map.

  The hair of the engineer officers is getting thinner and thinner, but the engineering plan is very good: the original rammed earth road on the island is used as much as possible, while avoiding hills and streams, and minimizing the amount of work.

  The 33-kilometer-long Guzhi Road has large stones and clay as the base, the second layer is gravel and mortar, the third layer is sand, lime and clay, and the top layer is paved with stones as a hard surface.

   However, this road did not use better quality pozzolan concrete, and it was not even too late to wait for the mortar to set completely before using it.

   The road in front is still being repaired, and the artillery has already started to be carried in the back. The road is repaired a little forward, and the artillery is moved forward a little.

  According to the engineer officers, there may be a problem with the life of the road, but they patted their chests and assured that they would be fine for three to five years.

  When Lieutenant Colonel Vauban and the Tacheng defenders were fighting each other, the progress of the road connecting the two places was growing rapidly.

  But until the day of the raid on the Triangle Fort, the front of the construction was still four kilometers away from the Veneta military camp. But the astronomical phenomenon does not wait for anyone. After the past few days when the moon is the darkest, when I think it will be next month.

Therefore, Antonio and Layton made a decisive decision. They did not wait for the arrival of the heavy artillery, and used livestock to carry light artillery to the front line for emergency response. Therefore, there were four mortars to suppress the eastern half-moon fort. The pounder, the artillery on the wall was not very effective, but the clumsy mortar did the trick.

  Antonio looked at the report, and there was no gossip with his nephew, and Winters also stood at attention in a proper manner. There are only regimental commanders and trainee warrant officers in the barracks, with no personal identity.

On the other hand, Leighton, who was sitting on the side, didn't know the relationship between the two. After staring at Winters for a few seconds, he suddenly stood up and walked to Winters' side and said, "Huh? You're not the one who's broken. Warrant Officer of the Red Sulphur Bay Iron Rope? Is that you? I'm not mistaken? Is it you?"

   Winters' face was a little hot, and he stood at attention and replied, "Report to the general, it's me!"

   "Boy, why did you go to repair the road?" Layton asked with a strange look on his face. He narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, "Winters... Your name is Winters, right?"

   This question made Winters unable to answer. He couldn’t say that he didn’t want to go to the front, right? I had to answer: "Report to the general, because I received a transfer order!"

Layton was obviously satisfied with the answer, he laughed and turned to Antonio: "I said, General Serbia, you are too incompetent, you are wasting all the good steel in your hands. Great first-line officer, you asked him to repair the road?"

After criticizing the old classmate for a while, Layton looked at Winters again, patted Winters on the shoulder and said boldly: "Do you want me to lead soldiers? I tell you, and Tany After this battle is over, I don’t know how long it will take for the next one. I don’t want to make more contributions now. You will be a colonel in the future. You are still a trainee, right? The centurion of the brigade! How is it? Are you coming? Your name is Winters… er, Winters Mont… Montagne, right?”

Antonio behind the desk said without looking up: "Warrant Officer Montagne, feel honored. General Layton remembers your name when he sees you twice. When he was in the military school, he was two months old. Can't remember my full name."

"Montagne...Montagne..." Layton chewed on the surname, frowned for a while, and then said with a smile: "This surname is good, Montagne is a good surname! I also had a Montagne at the same time. , but he's a cavalry...you, you're an infantry, right? It doesn't matter...it shows that we are destined! Come and lead my troops, you kid!"

   Winters recalled Senior Don Juan's red and swollen cheeks, and thought that I didn't want to be slapped every once in a while. He played a word game: "Report to the general! I will go wherever the order tells me to go?"

   "Good! Good!" Leighton thought the little warrant officer in front of him agreed. He patted Winters hard twice on the shoulder, and said happily: "Okay! Work hard under me! One day you will be able to sit in my place."

  Layton was in his late 40s, but he was still very strong, and two slaps made Winters painful.

   Winters saluted, and Layton said nothing more.

After   Antonio read the report, he wrote down the order to be sent to the road construction headquarters on a piece of paper, sealed it with flame paint, and handed it to Winters.

   "The road is almost repaired, and the remaining cannons can be deployed on the front line the day after tomorrow."

   "Really? Wow!" Layton was overjoyed when he heard that the heavy artillery was finally in place.

  Antonio looked out the window and sighed softly: "The order to slaughter has been issued, and the bulldogs of war will ravage the Tanirians and us."

   Thanks to the book friends who have voted for the recommendation before. Thank you to the book friends who are righteous and pure are koalas, black computer accessories (sorry for the dullness of the brain yesterday), Tianshui Youjiaren, Ami and Xiaohong sing lowly for the recommendation votes, thank you all.

   (end of this chapter)