Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 199 The Real Bridge

   The Battle of the Unknown Valley, Seckler defeated the Hurd coalition.

  The leaders led their own troops to escape for their lives, and were chased and killed by Arpad all the way.

   There are more than 3,000 ears just cut off from the corpse. The blood-stained human ears were dressed in straw ropes and contained two carts.

  Plateau's Fifth and Sixth Corps also suffered heavy casualties.

  More than 7,000 legionary infantrymen and more than 5,000 recruited auxiliary soldiers participated in the battle. A total of 772 people were killed and 943 seriously injured.

   Minor injuries could not be counted, because almost all the soldiers who survived were wounded.

The criterion for    serious injury also becomes whether he can walk on his own.

After    sweeping the battlefield, Palatine's army marched non-stop to the northeast.

   A victory for the Platoons, no doubt about that.

   If it was in the past, they could already "talk and laugh".

   However, the victory of the battle cannot make up for the lack of strategy.

  Alpad failed to break up the Hurd coalition—because the Heard coalition was originally in bulk.

   Although the various tribes are not very hard at fighting, but running away is their strength. The cavalry of the Suzi army was defeated, and the battle turned into "dogs chase rabbits".

  Dogs and rabbits are nothing. According to past experience, it is enough to hurt the Hurds.

   But now the pack of wolves decided that Erma was weak, even if Erma could kick one or two wolves to death, the rest of the hungry wolves would still lick their wounds and follow Erma closely.

   Just as there is no independent will called the "Hed", the motives of the Hed to fight against the Paratus are also very complicated.

   For the bottom Herd herdsmen, on the one hand, they were coerced by violence to fight, on the other hand, they also longed for the trophies, rewards and class promotion brought by military exploits.

   Above the bottom herdsmen, it is the full-time warrior class of Heder society.

   Including the leaders of medium and small tribes, the relatives, friends and guards of the leaders.

   To a certain extent, the motives of these people are similar to those of ordinary Heard herders. They drive the clan, and the three ministries drive them.

   They don't want to lose strength, but they also crave spoils.

  Armors, weapons, muskets, ammunition, and craftsmen are all resources that are difficult for the tribes to obtain on weekdays.

  The older leaders still remember the good old days. They sincerely hope that they can destroy the standing army of Palatu, and then go to Palatu to loot - provided that their own horses and horses do not suffer losses.

   In the eyes of more ambitious and powerful leaders, this battle would not only wipe out the standing army of Palatine, but also a good opportunity to build prestige and control the ministries.

   In addition, for all the Hurds, there is a collective emotion that is invisible, intangible, in the heart but inexpressible.

   That is the hatred and resentment of the "Hurds" towards the "Platoons", which is not linked to a certain individual, and is in the heart of every Hurd.

   This sentiment may not be as strong as "the tribe on the other side of the river robbed my family of two horses, I hate it so much", but it does exist.

   All in all, the white lion's strategy of "don't let go, but don't bite" is recognized by most of the Hurds.

  Except for the Chihe Department and the Teltown Department, most of the leaders were left with only cronies, and they needed time to gather the lost followers.

   No one dared to fight the Palatine Legion head-on, but no one was willing to give up.

   Arpad and Sackler achieved their goal, and the retreat of the Palatine army became extremely quiet, and there was no more fighting.

   Only the occasional Hurd light cavalry reminded the Paratus that the enemy did not stop.

  …

   Realizing that the second pontoon had also been destroyed, the mood of the Palatine army became restless and depressed.

   Anyone with a slightly normal mind can see that this army has come to a dead end.

  The Platoons didn't lose, they just had nowhere to go.

   That night, two auxiliary soldiers stole the horses and wanted to escape.

   They were captured by cavalry patrols on the beach and executed in public the next morning.

   Must make a quick decision - this is the consensus of all officers.

   At the enlarged meeting of senior officers, someone suggested: "Or, continue to swim?"

   Continue to walk upstream, a simple and rude method.

  The further upstream you go, the shallower the water and the narrower the river channel will be. Wouldn’t it be alright to go to a place where it can flow through?

"Where to go?" Colonel Bode choked back mercilessly: "Even if you go 200 kilometers upstream, the Styx is still 100 meters wide! Just walk into the Shady Mountains and turn around from the Monta people. Is home okay?"

   "I just said..."

   Another moment of silence.

Someone else suggested: "I have seen workers who cut wood in the mountains. They chop down trees in winter and transport them to the river and nail them into rafts. When the water rises in summer, they can go down the river directly to the castles of the kings and to the inner sea. ."

   "We also make wooden rafts?"

   "Maybe it works..."

   "Everyone." Lieutenant Colonel Robert had a splitting headache: "The principle of buoyancy!"

  The buoyancy of an object is related to the volume of liquid displaced, and whether the officers here remember it or not, at least they have learned it.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert picked up a pen and paper and began to calculate: "The wooden raft is not a boat, it has no empty space, it all depends on the buoyancy of wood. The density of wood is half of water, that is, 1 kilogram of wooden raft can carry 1 kilogram of things. Not one to one, but I'll give you as much as you can.

   There are now more than 20,000 people in the entire army, each weighing 70 kilograms, a total of 1.4 million kilograms, or 1,400 tons! Where is the 1400 tons of wood going? Where can I find it? ! "

The more he calculated, the more excited Lieutenant Colonel Robert became: "This is just the weight of people, not counting our weapons, armor, baggage, and ammunition! By the way, there are horses! And war horses! We still have tens of thousands of war horses! There are also draw horses."

  The meeting place was silent.

   "Put the wooden raft? You can think of it!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert suppressed his anger: "We might as well just jump into the river with a log and throw all the weapons, armor, and war horses to the Hurds!"

   "How about building a boat without using wooden rafts?" Someone asked in disbelief.

"Ship! What kind of ship?" Lieutenant Colonel Robert finally couldn't control it: "Aren't there Venetas in the army? Call them over and ask how many ships it takes to hold 20,000 people! And war horses! Even if it is in the Inland Sea The largest ship, if you want to carry 20,000 people, you need a whole fleet!"

   The two generals said nothing.

In the    military tent, the atmosphere became extremely depressed.

  Robert is usually not a very excited type, on the contrary he is very rational.

   But the more rational a person is, the easier it is to collapse in the face of absolute despair.

"Let's stay here and send people to the castles to find ships?" Colonel Hogwitz asked thoughtfully: "There are many ships in the castles. Every year, the wool is not always the first to be loaded on the castles. , and then go down the river and send it to the United Provinces and Veneta?"

  [Note: The river in the Palatu population refers to the Jinliu River, that is, the torrent river in the United Provinces and the Veneta population]

   There was a glimmer of hope in everyone's eyes.

   "That's right! All the castles have ships! There are all sizes!"

   "The Styx River is connected to the big river, and the rivers in the wasteland are connected! Let the boat come and pick us up."

"Gentlemen!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert couldn't help shouting: "We are upstream! The castles are downstream! Haven't you heard of [Buying a Boat Dongxia]? Veneta merchants bought boats in Palato, carrying Take the wool to the Inland Sea, tear down the boat and sell the wood, and finally ride back to the castles of the kings!"

   Colonel Bode reassured Lieutenant Colonel Robert and explained to the others: "From the castles of the kings to here, it is upstream. The Veneta people would rather buy a boat and go down, because it is too difficult.

   Boating against the current relies on three things, the oar, the sail and the tracker. It is winter now, and the west wind blows, not only against the current but also against the wind. No sails, and no one to pull the fibers for us. If you want to gather enough paddle ships, you need to come to the Inner Sea Fleet of the United Provinces. "

"Don't count on ships!" Colonel Bode concluded heavily, after a pause, he said: "The only feasible way is for us to hold on here and send people back to the kings for help. As long as the reinforcements can defeat the barbarians on the other side of the river, we will Can take a pontoon bridge."

  Because the pontoon bridge has no fixed piers, in order to keep the axis position from shifting, cable anchors need to be arranged on both banks, upstream and downstream.

The   Hard raiders on the other side of the river were tantamount to jamming the throat of Plato's army.

   Without defeating them, the pontoon bridge cannot be built.

   "I think it's feasible!" Some school officials agreed loudly.

   A school official asked worriedly: "Stay strong? Do we still have enough food?"

   Colonel Bode replied firmly: "If it's not enough, save it! If it's not enough, kill the horse! Be sure to defend until the reinforcements arrive."

   "What if the reinforcements fail to clear the siege?"

"On the newly reclaimed land, we can pull out tens of thousands of Dusaks and militiamen. How can we be unable to defeat the thousands of Hurds on the other side?" Colonel Bode said with confidence: "The barbarians have entered the bandits, and the militiamen from all over the country must have been gathering. Headquarters just need to send them here."

Colonel Hogwitz folded his arms and asked, "It's too passive to expect reinforcements to clear the siege. We should find a way to send some people across the river and destroy the barbarians on the other side. There are about three thousand or four thousand barbarians on the other side. As long as we can Just send fifteen squadrons."

  [Note: Fifteen squadrons have about 3,000 cavalry in full force. In actual combat, there are only about 1,700 cavalry because it is difficult to replenish personnel]

  Lieutenant Colonel Robert asked back: "How to send it?"

"ferry?"

   "How can there be a ship that can hold two thousand cavalry!"

   "Go upstream and use a small boat to carry it bit by bit."

"Colonel Hogwitz! Haven't you thought about morale?" Lieutenant Colonel Robert retorted with his eyes wide open: "If the Hurds can stay on the other side, they can't monitor the upstream and downstream? If they fail, the loss will not only be fifteen squadrons. cavalry, and fifteen squadrons of horses.

   I won't say whether you can cross the river. With the current state of the army, our side will collapse before you get to the other side! The soldiers will think you are running away! "

   Haugewitz sneered: "You underestimate the Paratus!"

   Lieutenant Colonel Robert was furious: "We all do the hard work, what qualifications do you have to say such a thing?"

   The two sides were at each other's throats, and it was almost on the verge of breaking out.

   "Sit me down!" Arpad slapped the table hard: "A duel? Get out. Don't splatter my blood!"

General Sackler sighed: "It's not a good idea to stick to waiting for help. It seems that we can only choose the best one from the bad ones. Think about the backup plan. What if the reinforcements don't come? What about the relief?"

The    army tent fell silent again.

  If reinforcements don’t come, or they come and fail to clear the siege.

   Then there is only one fate waiting for the Fifth and Sixth Corps—the entire army is wiped out.

   "My centurion has an idea." The one-eyed lieutenant colonel, who had been silent so far, broke the silence. His voice was not loud, but he grabbed everyone's attention: "That kid is a little quick-witted, I think I can try it."

   "Don't talk nonsense." General Sackler gave Lieutenant Colonel Jesska a dissatisfied look: "Tell me!"

   "Build a bridge!" Lieutenant Colonel Jesska took out the blueprint: "Not a floating bridge, but a real bridge."

  Lieutenant Colonel Robert raised his eyebrows: "The real bridge? How to build it?"

   Lieutenant Colonel Jesska stepped forward and hung the drawing on the shelf:

   "Build like Kaiser!"

  …

  Winters stood on a mound, and in front of him was a large camp that was busy with construction.

   Further forward, is the majestic Styx.

   To the left of Winters, there is another mound of similar height.

The official code names given to the two mounds by the    Corps Headquarters are South Highland and North Highland.

   But because the two mounds were shaped like female twin peaks, the soldiers called them...that.

  The big camp and two mounds are distributed in a triangle, next to the river beach.

  This position is not very conducive to defense, because the two mounds are commanding and overlooking the general view of the camp.

  Plato's army had to build fortresses on the southern and northern highlands, and spread their troops there.

   The camp is located on unsuitable terrain for two reasons:

   First, half a kilometer northwest from here, there is a dense coniferous forest;

  Second, the width of the river here is less than 200 meters, which is suitable for bridge construction.

  Time waited for no one. The soldiers of the Fifth Army were still digging trenches and building camp walls, and the soldiers of the Sixth Army had already returned with logs.

  The barracks is now a huge open-air wood workshop and blacksmith shop.

   Not limited to blacksmiths, carpenters, charcoal burners, masons... All the artisans in the army were gathered in one place, and Berian was also among them.

   Even half a bucket of water that can only use a plane was pumped away.

  The bellows made the fire whistling, and the clanging sound of forging and beating kept ringing.

   Surplus armor and weapons are forged into axes, nails, anchors and sent to those who need them.

  Everyone is working hard. In the middle of the camp, a giant raft is gradually taking shape.

   "Boom!"

   "Boom!"

   "Boom!"

   At the same time, another giant raft was floating on the water, smashing stakes into the riverbed.

   There are also several small boats anchored in the middle of the river, measuring the water depth.

   On the giant raft there is a simple device like a pile driver: a stone pier, a set of lifting gear, and a slide rail.

  The raft carrying this set of equipment is the core of the bridge construction project.

  The soldiers on the raft shouted and pushed the turntable, the ropes creaked, and the heavy piers were lifted little by little.

  The rest of the soldiers on the raft worked together, put a log into the rail, and tried to overcome the buoyancy as far as possible.

  When the tip of the log touched the riverbed, the officer on the raft pulled the crane stub.

The   stone pier fell heavily, hitting the end of the stake, and the raft trembled.

  The stake was knocked into the river bed by Juli to a depth of nearly half a meter.

  The soldiers chanted again to push the turntable—they had to repeat it twice more until the stakes were firmly entrenched deep in the riverbed.

  The wooden piles fixed on the river bed will serve as bridge piers, extending all the way to the other side of the river.

  The super-large raft carries a six-meter-high pile driver, walking on the water like a giant in mythology.

   "Have you never seen this thing?" Winters was delighted: "It seems that there is no Hedd version of "Takato War"."

   Brother Reid was also beside Winters.

  The old man stroked his beard and sighed: "[Selika language] is a tricky trick, it's really a tricky trick."

   "What?" Winters couldn't understand.

   "I'm saying you're really good at it!"

   "I didn't invent it." Winters scratched his hair a few times in shame: "It's all from the ancient books, but there is no real thing. When we were in Luyuan, the teacher led us to try to restore it."

   "But." Brother Rhett said with a sigh, "I'm afraid this bridge will not be used."

   "I don't expect to use it at the end of the world anyway, it's enough to use it once."

   Brother Reid laughed: "Yes."

   "White Lion!" Winters suddenly shouted at Styx: "What else is there! Use them all!"

   [There is a diagram, if you don't see it, please refresh it later]

   The technology used by the Plato army is actually the technology used by Caesar to build the "bridge across the Rhine".

   Use a floating pile driver to drive wooden piles into the riverbed, and then use the wooden piles as piers to build bridges.

On the other side of Caesar were the Germans, and on the other side of the Palatus there were the Heds; Caesar had forty thousand soldiers, while the Paratus had only 20,000; but Caesar's chosen position on the river was 400 meters wide and 9 meters deep. The selected location is only 200 meters deep, and the depth is less than 6 meters, which is considered to reduce the difficulty.

   However, Caesar did not cross the bridge in the end...

   (end of this chapter)