Iron Powder and Spellcasters

  Chapter 185 The reason for the decisive battle

  The officers from the Luyuan Academy have all recited a sentence: "The premise of the main battle is that both sides have the intention of a decisive battle."

  [The Hurd-Plateau War] is the best footnote to this sentence.

  The Hurd tribe ran in front with all their belongings, and the Pratu army chased after them until the sphere of influence was demarcated again—this was the old war pattern.

General   Sekler dreamed of having a main battle with the Chihe Department, but as long as the Chihe Department didn't want to fight, the battle would be impossible.

  There is no other reason: the more mobile side has the right to choose the battlefield.

  The barbarians are the most sensitive and cunning. They also have many horses, and they come and go like the wind. They are only willing to fight battles that they can win.

   As soon as they smell any danger, they will flee without hesitation, and the battle will become tiresome again.

  But now the Paratus people have seized the sore spot of the Chihe Department, which is Bianli City.

   In the early years, there were actually some urban settlements on the great wasteland.

   At that time, the Hurds were in their heyday. They beat the Palatine nobles and only dared to hide in the castle and tremble, and let the Hurd cavalry rob people, food and goods.

  Some tribes and even whole tribes moved into Palatu, trying to seize the rule of Palatu.

  The eagle rips and devours the flesh of the galloping horse, becoming stronger and stronger.

  The prosperous Herd tribes built cities one after another. Although most of the people still lived by water and grass, it did not prevent the ruling class from living in the city and enjoying it.

   Decorated the palace with robbed gold and silver jewels, and Platonic slaves worked for them, and the big and small Hurd nobles lived a life of luxury and luxury.

  No luxury goods are produced in the wasteland, but that's okay.

   Because as long as there is money, there are Veneta people.

  The Veneta merchants came from far and wide to bring treasured knives, horses, spices, silk and wine to the "Khans" of Hurd.

  The chiefs of the various tribes competed to get rich, and they did everything they could.

  You use cotton as a tent, I will use silk as a tent. You use one layer, I use two layers.

   Even falcons and saddles have to use "imported goods", otherwise they will lose face.

The geographer Bai Bailuo once recorded: "...The leader was dressed in two layers of silk, surrounded by eunuchs, and a dwarf was in charge of making him laugh... He ordered three jewel-encrusted scimitars to be taken out for me to choose. When he shook his head, he gave me all three machetes..."

   Bai Bailuo also left such a record: "When the leader lived a more luxurious life than the king, the bottom herdsmen among them had only pitiful cattle and sheep."

   With the publication of Bai Bailuo's "Notes on a Journey to the West", "Head Chief" gradually became synonymous with "luxury, rich, and spending a fortune".

   Of course, in the Veneta dialect this word refers to those who "don't bargain and pay big money", with a slightly derogatory connotation...and a little bit of jealousy that he doesn't want to admit.

   But when feasts come to an end, those are things of the past.

  Since Que Yehan was defeated 30 years ago, the various ministries flourished and declined.

  The two sides changed their positions in attack and defense, and the cities of Heard were gradually abandoned.

   First, the output of the wasteland alone could not support the city; secondly, the restored Paratus chose to fight the Hed tribe who built the city.

  Because the city represents the concentration of wealth, the Hed tribe consciously gathered their belongings in one place, which saved a lot of trouble for the Paratus.

  Part of the city of Hurd was sacked, looted, and destroyed, and some of the city was occupied by the Paratus, and the rest were abandoned.

  [Hard-Plateau War] has become a mobile battle of you chasing me and fleeing.

   Therefore, while the fortification of the Chihe Department brought benefits, it also gave the Paratus a clear goal.

  The Great Palatine Legion surrounded Bian Li, like pinching the eggs of the Chihe Department.

  The Chihe Department had to defeat the Palatu army if they wanted to relieve the siege of Bianli City.

   Sackler was only worried about two things: First, the reinforcements from the Chihe Department simply gave up Bian Li and Baishi; second, the reinforcements from the Chihe Department did not dare to fight decisively, and changed their harassment tactics to delay the siege.

  The former seems to be overthinking now. The reinforcements of the Chihe Department have a strong desire to attack, and there is no sign of giving up Bianli.

   As for the latter, it is a game between the two sides. The curtain has not been opened yet, and it is still unknown who is the hunter and who is the prey.

  …

   The night raid of the Jessica unit was a great success.

  According to Lieutenant Colonel Jesska's original plan, the robbery camp should be fully deployed, smashing the chain of command of the Teltown department with one punch.

   But the day's hard work has exhausted the Paratus.

The   Teerton troops had just retreated when many of the Platonic soldiers collapsed to the ground, unable to wake up.

   Only the cavalry who did not participate in the defense of the city still have the strength to fight.

   Forty-four Dussac light cavalry, sixty-eight borrowed hussars, plus Winters and Andre.

There were no more than 114 cavalry in total, which turned the Terdun camp upside down.

   It would have been more successful if all the people of Teltown slept in felt tents—because felt tents were flammable.

  The Kettletown camp had been burned to the ground before, and now they didn't even have a few belongings left to burn.

   It was a blessing in disguise, and the kindling that Winters prepared didn't come in handy.

   It is estimated that the fire roaster would never have imagined that a camp would be attacked at night for two consecutive nights.

   After baking the front side, turn over and bake again.

   In the chaos, some daring Hurds simply went home while taking advantage of the chaos. Although I didn't get any spoils, it was better than losing my life.

   There were even foreign centurions and thousand commanders who ran away directly with their troops. They don't want to damage their family's family for the golden sacrificial people of the Teltown department.

  Thinking about the next time they meet, they should no longer be from Teltown.

  The force is too small, and it is destined to be limited. Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Jesska lost his interest and did not come at all.

"Scare the Hurds, and then come back. I don't expect you to do extraordinary things to make them dare not camp within ten miles." Jesska said when assigning tasks to the two centurions: "Be careful, don't put yourself Fold inside.

   The result was also as Lieutenant Colonel expected, Winters and Andre's men were able to create chaos, but not enough to completely defeat the Turtletown Department.

   Even 20,000 pigs could not be killed by a hundred and tenth cavalry.

  …

   This morning, it was foggy.

The scout cavalry dispatched by    reported that several thousand Heard cavalry had gathered people and horses along the way and were heading east.

  The scout also reported that he saw a big blue ponytail among the cavalry.

   Obviously, the fire roaster's direct line was not defeated, and the fire roaster himself did not admit defeat.

   This battle is not over yet.

  …

  The battlefield is like a random stack of building blocks. If any piece is drawn, it will cause unknowable changes.

  The night before, the Jesska team captured the golden man.

   Yesterday, the Terden Ministry besieged the bridgehead.

  If the causal relationship can still be seen between these two events, then the chain reaction caused by them will be transmitted to [Beizhai] twenty kilometers away in a hidden way.

  The commander of Beizhai, Colonel Bode Gates, must have never imagined that the reason that triggered the desperate siege of the city by the Chihe troops outside was the accidental loss of an artillery officer from a joint province.

   Beizhai has two infantry brigades and a cavalry squadron, plus an auxiliary army of a centenarian, with a total strength of nearly 1,300.

  The camp is small, but strong enough, and has a large stock of food and ammunition.

   The only problem is "water".

   In order to occupy a higher terrain, the camp is located on a hillside.

   It is about 300 meters away from the Beihuiliu River, and the camp cannot directly obtain water.

   This was not a problem at first, because the fortress was originally set up here to prevent the defenders in the city from crossing the river and breaking through.

  But now the reinforcements from the Chihe Department have arrived—this is beyond the expectations of the Paratus people, and Beizhai is the first to bear the brunt.

   Leading the reinforcements from the Chihe Department were Bai Shi Yaxin's uncle and younger brother. They surrounded Beizhai without attacking, obviously they had seen through the weakness of Beizhai's difficulty in getting water.

   The Chihe tribe outside was busy intercepting the soldiers of Paratus who were fetching water, and Colonel Bode inside was busy digging a well, and the battle became a stalemate.

   But just yesterday morning, the Chihe Department seemed to get some kind of signal and suddenly launched a general attack on Beizhai.

  Colonel Bode didn't know that, twenty kilometers away—on the other side of the battlefield, the Terden Division was also besieging the Jesska Group.

   Winters did not know that the fire they set would cause the Chihe Department to storm the Beizhai.

   No one can see the full picture of the battlefield, because there is no one commanding position to overlook the killing, suffering and death of thousands of people.

   For most people, the war only happens within 50 meters of themselves.

  The pawns cannot see the board, the soldiers are pawns, Winters is also a pawn, and Jesska is also a pawn.

   There are only a few people who can be called chess players: Yasin the white lion, Sackler, Arpad... But even they can't see the whole picture of the chessboard.

  Everyone is just struggling within the limits of what they can see, what they can know, and what they can do.

   Take Colonel Bode as an example, he only thinks about how to defend Beizhai. He neither understands nor cares about the big plan.

   The Chihe Department made a sudden force, and the casualties of the Beizhai defenders increased sharply.

   Colonel Bode was surprised to find that there were a considerable number of musketeers in the Chihe Department outside. You must know that some Hed tribes were still using bone arrows and stone arrows.

   Even the defenders of Beizhai had no artillery, and the army of the Chihe Department that besieged Beizhai actually launched four cannons - although the shots were not accurate.

  The battle went on for a whole day. The Chihe Department bullied the Beizhai defenders for lack of heavy firepower.

   Colonel Bode led people to dig out the wall at night, and dug out the soil filled in the trench.

   The army of the Chihe Department found that the Paratus had left the village, and immediately sent cavalry to attack.

  The two sides went back and forth, fought in the dark, and each left hundreds of corpses to retreat.

  …

   It dawns today, and mist rises over the wasteland.

   Nearly Wanchihe soldiers lined up outside Beizhai again, and most of them chose to dismount and fight on foot.

   Most of the Akagawa soldiers carried **** recurve compound bows, and a few carried heavy muskets.

  Mist is bad for both weapons, compound bows will glue and match ropes will go out more easily.

   But thinking that the enemy is also under the same harsh environment, the fog is not so unbearable.

   Through the mist, Colonel Bode couldn't see the enemy's arrangement, but he knew exactly what it would be like.

   There will obviously be a chariot, a Heard family heirloom.

   There should still be some ladders. Yesterday, the Hurd people had filled in several trenches, and even the wood of the wall was pulled out.

   There are also shovels and pickaxes, which are inconspicuous but very telling.

   The most troublesome thing for Colonel Bode is the artillery. The general of the Chihe Division outside has found that his subordinates have poor artillery skills and are really no threat.

   Therefore, the chief of the Chihe Department quickly changed his tactics and stopped firing solid bullets from 200 meters away.

   Instead, he put the artillery on the carriage and dragged it to within 40 meters to clean the wall with grape bombs.

   Inside and outside the village, there is silence.

   "You're not bad." Colonel Bode stood by the wall of the village with a blank face, and said to himself in his mind: "But I'm not bad either. Don't try to take the North Village without blood."

   "Ahach! Ahach!" The Heds outside the wall began to shout in unison.

   "Ahachi?" Colonel Bode grabbed a mass of dry grass, wiped his palm, and casually asked the interpreter beside him: "What do you mean? Is it the name of the enemy's commander?"

Daniel—the former businessman, now a translator, and a bilingual who was conscripted into the army—reported with a sad face: "Yahach should mean lion cub. [Hach] means a child, [Yah] is a lion, and Yasin is a white lion. . As for whether it is the name of the enemy's main general, I don't know."

   "Cubs?" Colonel Bode raised his brows: "Could it be that he is still the brother of Yasin, the barbarian chief? But I haven't heard that he has a younger brother..."

   The horn sounded, and the Hurds outside began to advance towards the camp.

   Colonel Bode waved.

The flag of    was waved, and the Palatine musketeers walked up to the wall of the village, set up their muskets at their respective chosen positions, and hung the arquebuses on the clamps.

   The Hurds advanced to a hundred meters.

   The snare drummer began to beat rapidly, the musketeer blew the tip of the smoldering red arquebus lightly, and then lifted the lid of the gunpowder pool.

  Everyone held their breaths and waited for the sound of gunfire to announce the official start of today's killing.

  Suddenly, a series of rapid gongs came from outside.

   The Hurds, who came in like a tide, retreated like a tide.

  Palatu people you look at me, I look at you, just feel inexplicable.

   "Let everyone put the lid on the gunpowder pool." Colonel Bode ordered the messengers.

   No matter whether it is an order, a semaphore or a drum beat, there is no order to "close the lid of the gunpowder pool".

   The messenger received the order and ran in circles along the wall of the fortress, telling them in turn.

   "Look west!" Someone exclaimed: "What is that?"

   "Behead the shouting! Shut up!" Immediately, a sergeant scolded.

   But everyone still couldn't help but look westward, as if there was a forest approaching Beizhai.

   An army came out of the mist, but it was a real army.

   The flag officer riding a white horse held the eagle flag high and walked at the forefront of the column.

   Behind him, row after row of pikemen came out of the fog, as if there was no end.

   The neatly arranged spears moved slowly to the beat of the drums, like a forest swept by the wind.

   "Eagle flag! Reinforcement!" Some Beizhai defenders shouted excitedly: "Reinforcement is coming!"

  Only the legion has an eagle flag. When the eagle flag goes into battle, it means that the legion commander is on the battlefield.

   There was no sergeant to stop the reckless soldier this time because everyone was cheering desperately.

The   Chihe Department also began to move, they retreated slightly, but did not leave the battlefield.

   Just adjusted the direction, left the position where it was flanked by both sides, and changed the front of the formation to face the newly arrived Palatine Corps on the battlefield.

   Thousands of cavalry broke away from the main formation of the Chihe Department and circled towards the flank of the Palatine Corps.

  Under the watchful eyes of both the enemy and the enemy, the newly arrived Praetorian army used a set of beautiful moves to spread out the formation.

   The mist dissipated little by little, and the wasteland, the confluence river, and Bian Lidu on the other side of the river gradually became clearly visible.

   Appeared in front of everyone, a square of four thousand people lined up in a row.

  Palatu's army did not enter the camp, but formed a formation on the wasteland, as if they were inviting battle to the Chihe Department from afar.

The    fog dissipated, and Colonel Bode's heart tightened.

   The reinforcements were much less than he imagined, and at first glance it would not exceed 4,000 people, that is, eight brigades.

   "What is the old man doing?" Colonel Bode couldn't help but kicked hard at the wall and yelled at the messenger, "Tell all the centurions to prepare to attack."

   The cavalry of the Chihe Department has at least double the number of cavalry, but apart from sending some cavalry to outflank the two wings, the formation has not made any big moves, and I don't know what to do.

   And the Platoon Square stood on the spot, as if he was sure that the Hurds would attack.

   "Boom!"

   "Boom!"

   is the sound of cannons, but it is very deep and should come from a distance.

   Colonel Bode looked around and saw white smoke spewing out of Bianli City behind him.

  The white smoke quickly turned black, and the thick smoke rose from Bianli and shot straight into the sky.

   Colonel Bode's pupils dilated and his eyes widened: "Is the old man crazy?"

   At this moment, in the West Acropolis of Bianli.

  The six infantry battalions of the besieged city are using simple trebuchets to throw iron rings and wooden blocks covered with asphalt, turpentine and licorice at the inner city.

   This is the inspiration of the Paratus people from the fire set by the Hurds themselves - the Acropolis is a wooden wall and a grass roof, and the inner city is probably inseparable from these two.

   In winter, the weather is dry and dry, and there is a west wind blowing towards the inner city, which is missing a fire.

   and the simple trebuchet were carried out, as well as artillery, battering ram and "gunpowder coffin".

  Looking at the posture, the Palatine army was going to attack Bian Li in one fell swoop.

   Sackler has set up the chess game, and he is patiently waiting for the white lion Yasin to move.

   [The last chapter has been rewritten, starting with the attack on the Burner. Because the cavalry who participated in the robbery were not only the hussars borrowed from Sackler, but also the Dussack of the Jieska brigade. So rewrite it. As well as debug, there are 20 infantry brigades in the Palatine Standing Army, six in Sackler's hands, six in the siege battle, two in the North Village, two in the South Village, and two returning to the Styx to build a pontoon bridge. now, there are only two left, not four]

   [The end of the last chapter was also rewritten, but it was the last sentence at the end]

[The old people in the community seem to be holding singing competitions, singing "The blue sky is full of clouds, and the horses run under the white clouds", "Ah, this person is my mother, this person is my mother, after more than 20 years of hard work, give me a home." . All kinds of bel canto, from morning to afternoon, sang all day, and also used power amplifier. I am dry. I don't know if they sing on weekends or every day]

   [Thanks to book lovers for reading, subscribing, recommending tickets, monthly tickets and rewards, thank you all!

   Thanks to book friends Xiaofan, Sonnets, Pear Flower Empty Lane, Mass-produced Magic Warfare Toolman, Noble Township, and the cat with a shield on the ice for the rewards, thank you a few;

   Finally, thank you again for the book friends who voted today]

   [The author's words are limited in number of words. In the next chapter, I will also thank the book friends who voted for the monthly vote]

   Comparing hearts.

   (end of this chapter)