Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 20 Burning the City (Part 2)

   "What do you need us to do?" The Minister suddenly asked.

"Ah?" The attitude of the high-ranking official in front of him changed too quickly, and the captain of the fire defense team couldn't accept it for a while, but he quickly regained his sense: "Pick up the house! The house here is definitely not going to be preserved, and I need to step back two more times. block, remove the isolation tape."

   "Everyone has it! Back-Turn! Start-Go!" The noisy and chaotic voices around the fire field were covered by the orders amplified by the amplification technique, and the Headmaster directly ordered all the students through magic.

   He is very aggressive with Gray, and he does what he says: "Which houses are to be demolished, tell me!"

   "I'll take you there!" The captain of the fire defense team nodded hastily and led the way in front: "I really don't have enough manpower. It's great that you can help, and God will bless you."

   "Huh." The Minister snorted again, obviously not interested in this kind of flattery.

The residents of the    house located in the separation zone demarcated by the captain of the fire brigade realized what this group of soldiers was going to do. The fire is still two blocks away! Of course they wouldn't let the soldiers demolish their houses.

   "What are you doing?"

   "Why do you rip up our house!"

   "You want to smash my house and step over my body."

   "Why don't others pick up ours?"

   "The soldier kills!"

   Residents who lived in the area designated as the isolation zone stopped by the street, picked up door bars, kitchen knives and other things, and waved them to keep the cadets from approaching.

   The fire defense team leader ran back and forth, trying to persuade him, but no one was willing to listen to what he was saying.

   Residents living inside the isolation belt also recalled that once the isolation belt is removed, it means that their house will be abandoned.

   Therefore, they also joined the team to prevent the demolition of the house, and resolutely did not allow the officers and students to get close to the house.

   Residents living outside the isolation zone are very supportive of the plan to demolish the house, but they are just watching the fun with their hands on the sidelines.

   "Go away!" The headmaster shouted out a violent shout wrapped in magic power, which scared the residents who were still full of momentum just now. He really couldn't stand the farce: "The third school year! Infantry Division! Come out!"

   Winters heard the order, and reflexively took a few steps and stood outside the queue.

   "Who dares to stop it! Kill it!" It was still a deafening voice amplified by amplification: "I want to lose money! Ask the city government for it!"

   Winters did not expect that the minister directly issued the order of "shoot to kill", in his opinion, things never reached the level of killing people.

   The residents of the port area obviously did not expect this official to be so ruthless. They were fighting with each other. If they hadn't supported each other, I would have been unable to stand, and there would be no more unreasonable momentum.

   Winters stood face to face with the residents who were protecting their house, and he saw horror and fear in the eyes of the residents.

   "Are you really going to do it?" Winters thought, clutching the shovel in his hand tightly, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

   "Do it!" The Minister shouted again.

   Winters was heartbroken, and the sense of responsibility to obey orders prevailed over all distractions. He didn't care whether his arm was still injured, he swung the shovel with both hands and smashed it towards the person opposite.

   But Winter deliberately used the wooden handle end, not the iron end, he thought to himself: "The wooden handle shouldn't kill anyone."

   How could a group of petty citizens be the opponents of these prospective officers who had been trained for many years.

   "Murder!"

   "The soldier kills!"

   "The fire was set by the people at the military academy!"

   "Demolish!" The Minister ordered, he completely ignored what the residents who were dispersed were shouting, and just carried out the original plan.

   No one dared to stop this time. The residents all turned their heads and ran home to move things, trying to rescue some more belongings before the house was demolished.

  The house in the port area of ​​Guitucheng can be said to be a typical case of the urban area that is natural and unplanned.

   Starting from the pier, the city grows naturally without any rules, and the houses are wrapped layer by layer like an onion.

   There are houses for any purpose: living, warehouses, workshops, shops; houses of any material: wood, adobe, brick, stone; all ages. It's just a pot of hodgepodge.

  The cadets fixed ropes on the wooden houses facing the street, and pulled down one wall of the house with all their strength.

  The location of the isolation belt of the fire prevention captain is very particular. The isolation belt is delineated along a stinky ditch. After the military cadets demolished the house, the construction waste generated can be directly pushed into the stinky ditch, which greatly improves the efficiency.

   "Don't get all gathered here, you won't be able to perform! Stay here for the third school year! For the first year, go to the east block! For the second year, go to the west block! Whoever dares to stop it will be shot!"

   "Montecuccoli!" The minister called another person's name.

   "Arrived!" The director of the Artillery Science Teaching and Research Office responded immediately.

   "Go back to the armory to get gunpowder, and all the masonry houses will be blown up!"

   "Yes!" The director of the Artillery Science Teaching and Research Section left without saying a word, leading a subordinate.

   While all the soldiers were demolishing their houses in full swing, a hoarse chanting sound suddenly came from a distance.

"Be in awe! Feel the fire of God's wrath! His glorious Judgment Day has come!" A pilgrim monk in sackcloth and sackcloth strode forward with prayer flags high, and the residents who were still watching just now knelt down at his feet , many tried to kiss his clothes and shoes.

   The friars raised their prayer flags in both hands and proclaimed sternly: "The angel of fire has descended on Sodom! This is the holy fire that punishes your daily sins! Repent..."

   "Fuck you!" The head of the department whipped the magic stick with a whip.

"Anyone who comes to help with the work! Each will receive twenty large silver shields! There is no distinction between men, women and children!" To solve the clergy who blatantly promoted defeatism, the minister kept recruiting from the onlookers at the scene: " If you don't help, the fire will burn, and your house will not be able to be saved!"

  [The big silver shield: refers to the big silver coin minted by the republic of the United Provinces since 537 in the imperial calendar, and the corresponding small silver shield, the ratio of the silver content of the two is 12:1]

  Who pays the money? It's definitely not from the military academy.

  According to the thought of this minister: "Go to the city government to ask for it yourself."

  This minister doesn't care how much trouble his words will bring to the Guitucheng ruling committee. What he is thinking about now is how to remove the isolation belt quickly and well.

  Through coercion, inducement, and even bluffing, the demolition team has added a large number of people.

  The sheriff came with the assembled Guitucheng city guards, just in time for the city guards to maintain law and order at the scene.

  The two infantry battalions stationed outside the city (with a full force of 960 soldiers and 14 officers) also rushed to the scene, and the army soldiers soon joined the work of removing the isolation belt.

   The dull sound of explosions and the sound of houses collapsing came one after another. The war horses were put on simple yokes to drag down the houses. The demolition works were being carried out in an orderly, tense and orderly manner, racing against time.

   But the plan never changes quickly. From night to now, the wind speed of the sea breeze blowing from the ocean to the land has been gradually increasing.

   With the blessing of the sea breeze, the flames spread faster than everyone expected. The line of fire is accelerating towards the barrier, and there is still a large area left to remove the barrier.

   "My lord, I'm afraid we're too late... We should set up the isolation belt two blocks further back." The fire team captain grabbed the hat in his hand with great chagrin, and crumpled it into a mess.

   "I know." The Minister still had a cold attitude, but he thought about it and seemed to have some ideas.

   "Christian!" The Minister called out a name.

   "Here!" The director of the caster's teaching and research section heard the summons from the minister and ran over from a distance.

   "If all spellcasters use Wind Ride in a concentrated manner, can the wind direction of an area be temporarily changed?" The Minister proposed his wonderful idea.

   "It is difficult to compete with the mighty power of nature with the power of the spell caster." Teacher Christian felt that the minister's idea was too whimsical: "The spell caster should use the power of nature to use spells, not against the trend..."

   "I asked if you could or not?" This minister didn't want to listen to nonsense.

   "Theoretically, it should be possible." Instructor Christian continued to explain: "But in fact, I think it should be difficult to do with our existing spellcaster power, we don't have enough and strong enough spellcasters..."

   "You can do it." The Minister only heard what he wanted to hear.

   "I'm talking about theoretically possible, in fact..." Christian hurriedly tried to explain that there was a gap between theory and practice.

   "Doing something is better than doing nothing." The head judge made a judgment: "Gather all the casters on the scene, and I will tell you where to go in a moment."

  Winters, who was busy demolishing the house, was suddenly called, and he noticed that the caster students who were called out with him were all spellcasters.

   All the spellcasters at the scene were gathered in one place, and Teacher Christian repeated the order loudly: "I will hear the order in a while, use the wind riding technique with all your strength to the front, no need to hold back. Remember! It is straight ahead."

  Winters understood the leadership's plan as soon as he heard it. He thought that he would be arrested and used as a tool for such a poor level of acceleration magic. It can be seen that this minister is really a dead horse and a living horse doctor.

   Then, the casters were taken to an area that had not yet been demolished. In order to distribute them evenly, some of the caster trainees were even arranged to stand on the roof.

   Winters didn't go to the house, he stood on the street, and through the smoke he could already see the burning house more than 20 meters away.

   "Wind control, activate it with all your strength!" An order came from not far behind.

   Winters heard the order, kept the gesture of pressing the **** with the thumb of his left hand, recalled the feeling of using the acceleration type magic, and entered the casting state with all his strength.

  The scorching heat and the extreme cold took turns tormenting his "third hand," and it seemed that thousands of knives were slicing through his "fifth limb."

   He could feel that the wind direction around him was changing. The wind blowing from the front gradually became smaller, stopped, and then turned into the wind blowing forward from behind.

   Winters knew that the minister's plan worked, but he couldn't hold on any longer, so he tried to relax his mind and exit the spellcasting state.

   But something frightened him, he couldn't get out of the spellcasting state. In the past, the spellcasting state that could not be maintained without a little concentration, but now it is impossible to withdraw even if it wants to.

   He was even paralyzed and lost control of his body.

  To others, Winters just stood at attention in the street, but in fact he was being forced to undergo endless torture. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. His eyes darkened and he lost consciousness.

At the last moment before    fell down, he saw a flaming python rising into the sky.

   A credible record of blasting mining with black powder was written in 1627, but the exact origin of blasting technology is unknown. Apparently people realized that black powder could be used for demolition a long time ago. For example, in 1453 Urban was killed by his own cannon; the British gunpowder conspiracy in 1603; the siege of Antwerp in 1585, the Dutch tried to blow up the pontoon with two large ships filled with gunpowder. Therefore, it is not surprising that the artillerymen of the military school know how to use gunpowder to blast.

   (end of this chapter)