Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 307 Luck

  The west wind howled, people shouted horses neighing, and stiff-footed militiamen and wagons laden with supplies poured into the small town of Sank from all directions in the west.

   As if there is a huge vortex invisibly, all the manpower and material resources of Tiefeng County are gathered here.

   There is no doubt that the church of the monastery of the town of St. Ke is located in the center of the vortex.

  A statue of the Virgin Mary with downcast eyes stood above the door of the church, silently watching the people wearing sharp knives walking in and out.

   "Lieutenant Bud, the village chief of Bainiu Village in Xiaoshi Town said that the amount of dry food distributed to them is not enough."

   "The ration of Bainiu Village was raised yesterday."

   "He said it wasn't enough..."

   "Sergeant Roland!"

"exist!"

   "Bring the roster and military police to the Bainiu Village station and count the number of people."

"Yes!"

   "Report!" The guard hurried into the church: "Another convoy came from Wangqiao Town!"

   "Mr Mersin!"

"Your Mightiness?"

   "The new convoy from Wangqiao Town asks you and Brother Theodore to take charge of the registration."

   "Don't worry, Your Excellency."

   The cargo needs to be stored, processed, and distributed, and the militia needs to be dispatched to various places on the front line, as well as to have food, drink, and shelter.

  If it wasn't for Bard's support, the Tiefeng County army would have been overwhelmed by logistics.

The    headquarters is no longer a configuration of "Winters Montanega a few messengers", and it inevitably becomes huge, because Bard recruits all the civilians and soldiers who can read and write and can count.

  Bud sits in the copy room of the monastery, and intelligence and information are continuously sent into the copy room, and then instructions and orders will be issued everywhere.

  The clerks were surprised to find that even if it was a small matter, as long as it was reported to the Bard Tribune, the latter could recall it when needed.

   Therefore, Bard never issued general instructions. Each of his orders was issued to the specific executor, and he clearly told the other party what he had to do, leaving no room for the executor to shirk.

   The clerks were both in awe and exhaustion.

  Bud seemed to have endless energy. He waved his invisible long whip and drove his clerks at all levels to move forward like a horse.

The    headquarters was in operation in this way, and the personnel and materials gathered in the town of Sanke were registered in an orderly manner, and then uniformly deployed to the most urgently needed places.

   There is also a small episode: centralized office and a lot of writing work, which indirectly led to the acceptance of graphite strips.

   There were some old-school people who resolutely used quill pens, because the graphite strips were not very clear and were easily scratched.

   But soon, even the clergy of the monastery quietly changed to graphite strips with ropes.

  There is no other reason, the graphite bar is too convenient. With a feather pen, you have to use sand to dry up the ink, and the graphite strip can be sent directly after writing.

  With Bard supporting the logistics, Winters can devote all his energy to the war.

   Most of the time, Winters was not in Sank.

   He roamed the battlefield, talked to the militias on the front lines, and even went into the Terdon controlled area to scout out himself.

   He hardly used his knees and boot spurs, but kept swinging his whip.

   To this end, Ciel specially prepared many slave horses, and if any horse was about to be exhausted, he would immediately replace it.

   After learning that the dam was raided, Winters rushed to Oxhoof Valley as soon as possible.

   At this moment, he was on the Big Horn River, and in front of him was the dam that was extending towards the opposite bank.

  The night before, the Turdun cavalry raided the construction site on the south bank, killed some civilians and burned some timber, and was repelled by Tamas and his troops.

   "It's exposed when it's exposed, and it can't be hidden in the first place. The key is speed and time." Winters leaned on a cane and asked Samukin and Tamas seriously: "How much time do you need?"

  Samukin bit his lip and answered determinedly: "Three days! If the repair is not finished after three days, you will kill me!"

   "Three days is not enough." Winters calmly rejected Samukin's assurance: "According to your current progress, it will take at least five days. Considering the process of water storage, it may take a week or even ten days."

   Samukin lowered his head.

   "Re-camp at the South Bank construction site." Winters gave the order directly to First Company Commander Tamas: "Bring your men down."

   "Yes!" Tamas answered without hesitation.

  Tamas' camp is located in the pass between Niusho Valley and Forge Township, with Tiefeng to the east and Bighorn River to the west. The terrain is dangerous and difficult to defend and attack.

The reason why   Winters placed the most elite 1st Company and auxiliary militia there was to prevent the Teldon people from entering the Oxhoof Valley from the western foot of the Iron Peak.

   Re-establishing a village at the location of the dam can protect the dam site, but the terrain here is too low, which is not conducive to defense.

   Winters touched the arm of the company commander, nodded slightly, and said nothing more nonsense: "The third and fourth companies will be strengthened for you."

"Yes."

   "I'll give you some more people."

  Samukin raised his head sharply.

   "It can be repaired slowly." Winters tapped lightly with his cane: "But the dam must be maintained."

   Seeing that Samukin was a little puzzled, Winters didn't answer the riddle: "As long as the dam exists, the Teldun people's back road is threatened. The dam's progress is slow, and at best it can't even cut off the enemy's back road.

  If the Terdun people retreat, the siege of Gervoudan will be solved by itself. But if the dam fails, the people of Teltown are free to come and go, always in control. "

   "So the dam must not fall." Winters looked stern: "Do you understand?"

  Tamas nodded heavily, and Samukin gritted his teeth and replied, "Yes!"

"Since the dam is exposed, the competition here will be very cruel." Winters drew a rough map on the beach with a cane, and explained it carefully to the two most important subordinates: "I will launch a feint in the direction of Sank Town and share the Your pressure here."

  Right now, the situation on both sides is like a nesting doll:

   In the inner circle, the fire-boilers are besieging Gervodin;

   Outer circle, Winters' troops are gradually taking control of the road around Gervoudan.

  The initiative is temporarily in the hands of the fire roaster. He can choose to fight, or he can choose to walk, or he can choose to attack Geraldine.

   Winters was passive, as his troops had little field capability and were far less mobile than the swiftly coming and coming Turdun cavalry.

   But holding hands has never been Winters' style. "Striving for the initiative without the initiative" is Winters' motto.

   Winters has two strategies for seizing the initiative:

   First, threaten the escape route of the Telton people. Once the pontoon bridge is destroyed, the Telton people will have to work hard if they don’t want to;

  Second, guard the main traffic routes around Gervoudan, advance step by step, and constantly compress the activity space of Terdun people.

   As long as Winters' siege is in place, the Teltowners will be trapped in a narrow area on the south bank of the St. George River.

  At that time, the situation will become a re-enactment of the Battle of the Pangtuo River, and Winters can slowly strangle the burner to death.

   But at present, the dam has not been completed and the encirclement net still has gaps, and the Teltown people still hold the initiative.

The   fire roaster also seemed to smell danger.

The   Telltown cavalry walked along the path and through the old forest, tried every means to bypass the blockade, and went crazy behind the line of defense.

   Their intention is obvious - to cut off Winters' supply line and strangle the army of Sanke.

   In response, Winters set up garrison stations to protect the supply line, and also used cavalry against cavalry.

  The Teltown people broke the attack, and Winters broke the attack. The Teltown people robbed the militia convoy, and Winters' cavalry specifically intercepted the Teltown light cavalry.

  The war has a tendency to evolve into a war of attrition. Winters looked at the aggregated casualty reports, and his mood became more and more depressed, but he never wavered.

   Watching the Big Horn River bypass the unfinished dam and slowly flow downstream, Winters sighed softly: "Please thank Senior Morrow for me."

   "Yes." Samukin nodded earnestly.

   Winters and Captain Moreau had met several times during the construction of the Styx Bridge, and he vaguely remembered that the other was a personable and witty senior who was always surrounded by a circle of colleagues.

   But the two did not have a deep friendship, because Morrow was born in the artillery department and was many years older than Winters.

  Moreau refused to meet Winters, and Winters did not force it.

  A rider in a green helmet galloped down the hill with a letter with diagonal red stripes.

   The red diagonal stripes mean that the content is urgent.

   Winters lifted the lacquer seal, and after scanning the contents, Tai Ran handed the letter to the two subordinates.

  Samukin hesitated for a while, but did not reach out, letting Tamas take it first. Tamas didn't reach out either, because he couldn't read.

   "After the war, learn slowly." Winters smiled and put away the envelope: "The Teltown people have attacked the city."

  …

   The siege of Gervodin kicked off with an artillery bombardment.

   In winter, the weather is cold and freezing, and the soil work is more difficult and requires a lot of manpower.

   Winters can recruit militiamen, but there is no recruiting around Gervoudan, because the common people have already taken refuge in the city.

   Therefore, the progress of the trenching project of the Terdun people was not smooth. After five days of digging, the front end of the trench was still more than 60 meters away from the city wall, and there was no time to expand in a direction parallel to the city wall.

   Maybe he wanted to put more pressure on Gervoudan to lure Saint Ke Town to attack; he might also just plan to attack Gervodin.

   In any case, the Terdun people abandoned the strategy of not working hard and launched a real attack on the city walls.

  The four artillery pieces were lined up and fired solid shells at the firing tower behind the city wall and the Arrow Fort on the city wall.

   Many militiamen, who had never seen a cannon fire, stuck their heads out from behind the city walls to watch the excitement.

  Mason put his left hand on his knee, sat on the ground with his back against the city wall, and listened carefully to the roar of his second-hand daughter.

  The four cannons were fired in sequence at regular intervals, which meant that the Terdun people knew how to use the cannons in groups.

   And the people of Teltown were lucky, they hit the shooting tower directly without calibrating the second shot.

The arrow shield of the    shooting tower was broken, and the sharp sawdust flew around with the sound of the impact, and the militiamen who had just been happily watching the firing were frightened and hid behind the wall.

   Mason was unmoved. He had already given an order: before the enemy approached the city wall, the shooter was not allowed to go to the shooting tower in advance.

  The third shell flew over the city wall, and the fourth shell directly hit the city wall. The shell sank deep into the wall, and the floating earth on the surface of the city wall slid into the trench.

   "The angle is still not enough to deflect the cannonball—I didn't expect the Teltown people to have artillery." Mason counted in his heart, while ordering the sergeant beside him: "Go up to the shooting tower."

   "Huh?" The sergeant looked embarrassed, obviously the shelling just left a lot of shadows on him.

"The artillery of the Teltown people is still being loaded, and you can't hit you if you go up and down quickly." Mason explained helplessly to the first-time sergeant: "I see that the cannonball didn't hit the right way, you go up and put the cannonball. Bring it to me."

   The sergeant was suspicious and went reluctantly.

  Mason patiently counted the clocks to see how often the Teltowners could fire.

  Reload speed is more representative of the gunner's level than accuracy - of course, the premise is not to blow up the cannon.

   About six minutes later, there were four more thunders. A six-minute round shot, the reload speed is a bit slow.

   As for the performance of the six-pounder, Mason knew very well: a round of three or four minutes is normal, and a skilled artillery crew may not be able to shoot a round in two minutes.

   In the second round of firing, the Tordon artillery did not explode.

   Another six or seven minutes passed, and four thunders sounded in sequence again, but there was still no explosion.

   The fortifications of Gervodin were designed to resist cavalry attacks. Therefore, the facade of the city wall is relatively steep, and the cannonball hits it can "eat hard".

  The Teltown people are not random, their twelve shots are always aimed at an Arrow Fort.

   was continuously hit by external forces, and the Arrow Fort was smashed to a corner, and a large piece of soil collapsed into the trench.

  Although the walls are still intact, Turdun's artillery batteries have proven they are capable of threatening the walls.

  Mason sighed, took out his handkerchief, and wiped the dirt on his face.

   Sergeant picked up the cannonball and gave it to Mason as if taking credit: "Your Excellency, don't mention how dangerous it is just now..."

  Mason took the cannonball, shook it, and smiled: "Iron cannonball."

   The sergeant and the surrounding militia are unknown.

   "In the Great Wasteland, iron is the same currency as gold and silver, and Teltown calls it 'dark money'. The Teltown people are now beating us with money." Mason patiently explained the mystery to the militia beside him:

"If it is a stone cannonball, it means that the Terdun people are well prepared. But they are using iron now - the Terdun people do not have the ability to cast iron cannonballs, these iron cannonballs should have been abandoned on the wasteland by the expeditionary force, Use one hair less."

   All the militiamen suddenly realized.

   Mason flipped over to look at the cannonball, trying to find something like an inscription, but couldn't find it.

   He casually threw the cannonball on the ground: "I estimate that in a while, the Teltown people will switch to small stones as shotguns and switch to close-range shooting tactics."

  The militiamen nodded, whispering in whispers.

   "Then we can only be bombarded?" A tall and thin young sergeant asked boldly, "Your Excellency?"

   "Of course not." Mason smiled confidently: "You have to teach them a lesson too."

  How to teach each other a lesson? Mason had a bold idea—to concoct it.

   A three-generation wooden cannon was pushed against the wall, and Mason lightly patted the cannon body as if encouraging.

   This was the best quality three-generation wooden cannon he had on hand, firing a solid round about four pounds.

  Three generations of wooden guns are wrapped with leather ropes and iron hoops on the outside of the wrought iron pipe, and finally fixed with wood.

  From the design point of view, its function is to launch shotguns, but it is not impossible to hit solid bullets.

  Mason stretched his arms and pinned his thumbs. According to his estimation, the guns at Tertown were about a hundred meters away from the city wall—that's why the artillery was so accurate that it rarely missed.

   Four artillery pieces were lined up, and the artillery bunkers were built with planks.

   If Mason was the attacker, he wouldn't have pushed the guns that close. One hundred meters, it has entered the killing range of the shotgun.

The    plank can withstand the fire of the arquebus, and perhaps the storm of the shotgun, but the opponent obviously did not consider the possibility of the defenders using cannons - it is more likely that someone deliberately gave the defenders a chance.

  Mason took a long time to adjust the angle, and then the loading process: gunpowder, wooden backing board, cotton wool and linen batting were stuffed into the barrel in turn.

   To disperse the crowd of militiamen, Mason nodded and signaled that his subordinates could put in cannonballs.

   The vicious man with a red birthmark on his face spat two mouthfuls in the palm of his hand, picked up an iron spoon and took out a red-hot cannonball from the stove.

   There were several exclamations from the crowd, and then the militiamen understood why they were not allowed to stand nearby and watch.

   The faintly flaming four-pound iron bullet was put into the cannon, and Mason used a long rod to ignite the igniter and quickly retreated into the distance.

With a    "Boom", the gun body trembled violently and was pushed away from its original position.

  The crimson fire projectile shot out of the muzzle, drawing a graceful arc in the air with the expectation of victory.

  Then flew over the head of the Terden people's artillery under the watchful eyes of the crowd, landed slowly in the distance, jumped a few times, and finally fell silent - far away.

  The huge gap made the militiamen unconsciously let out a sigh of disappointment.

   Mason was unmoved, he reset the gun first, then adjusted the angle with the plumb line, loaded and fired again.

   The second shot didn't hit, the shell landed early, and after a few jumps, it didn't move - it was close.

  Some militiamen couldn't help but muttered in a low voice, "Is Your Excellency Mason okay?"

There are also veterans who testified confidently for the tribune: "You know what shit? When we fought before, Captain Mason missed the first three shots, and the fourth shot was a direct hit! This is called artillery! Test firing, understand ?"

  Mason was busy adjusting the firing angle with the plumb line and did not hear what the other militias were saying. Even if he heard it, it was difficult for him to explain to the other party.

   He is indeed shooting school.

   For the first shot, he deliberately let the shells fall farther away;

   For the second shot, he instead let the shell fall close;

   Then you can calculate the correct shooting angle through the landing point and shooting angle of the two shots.

  Ballistics is an esoteric subject. Although there are only some empirical formulas that can be used at present, it is by no means something that the well-developed and simple-minded muscles of infantry and cavalry can learn - Mason thought with a little pride.

   Of course, theoretical calculations are one thing, and actual combat requires a little luck... a little bit.

   The third shot, bearing Mason's hope, shot at the most accurate preset angle, but still missed.

  The cannonball screeched out of the barrel and landed at the far point.

  It is a bit different from the calculation. In theory, even if the shot is missed, it should land close.

   Mason was not discouraged and continued to correct.

   The fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds, none of them hit.

   There were fine beads of sweat on Mason's forehead, the militiamen onlookers were already feeling a little bored, and the people of Teltown became even more numb.

  When the defenders attacked for the first time, the people of Teltown were taken aback, and Qing Lingyu, who was in charge of the battle, hurriedly ordered his troops to protect the artillery with planks.

   After taking a few rounds of shooting, Qing Lingyu, who was supervising the battle, found that the two-legged man's artillery was smashed, and the shells flew everywhere without accuracy. It was not as accurate as his slave gunners.

   Qing Lingyu simply ignored the harassment of the two-legged man and concentrated on bombarding Arrowhead Fort.

   The defenders fired six shells, not even a single pony tail.

  During this process, Qing Lingyu's artillery fired three rounds, but most of them hit the wall of Arrow Fort.

"It's the artillery." After the seventh missed shot, Mason wiped the sweat from his forehead and said seriously to the old man with the red birthmark on his face: "These wooden cannons have not been drilled, the inner tubes are too rough, and the shells are too rough. There is no pattern to the trajectory.”

   "That's it." The man with the red birthmark nodded expressionlessly—because the birthmark on his face was so terrifying, he usually had no expression: "The barrel of the gun is very hot, do you want to cool it first?"

   "Bring the oil and let it cool down." Mason looked around and inadvertently met the complicated eyes of the militiamen. He couldn't help but sighed: "It's really a problem with the artillery."

   "That's it." The man with the red birthmark nodded and left the gun emplacement to get the cooling oil.

  Mason took out a roll of papyrus and began to write and count again.

When the    militiamen saw this, they returned to their posts, and many were still talking in a low voice when they left.

  Everyone has given up hope for the artillery skills of the tribunes, but fortunately, after some tossing, the defending militiamen are also somewhat desensitized to the artillery - anyway, the power is the same, and it is not very powerful.

"The use of artillery by the Teltown people is still very rudimentary." Mason recorded: "The advantage of the six-pounder is that it is lightweight and can be moved at any time with the gun carriage. But the Teltown people placed the six-pounder in a fixed position. On the artillery position, it is used as a heavy siege artillery, and it voluntarily gives up the advantage of mobility..."

  Mason observes and records impact points as he writes the calculations.

  Suddenly, his body stiffened, his pupils dilated sharply, and the graphite strip in his hand was snapped.

   Mason didn't have time to get a new one, so he picked up half a graphite bar, quickly calculated and sketched, his lips pursed tighter and tighter.

  The man with the red birthmark brought his subordinates to take out the grease, and after cooling the barrel of the gun, he didn't dare to disturb the old man as he was fascinated by sliding the graphite strip on the straw paper.

   The red birthmark man and the other gunners waited silently.

   "Eureka! Eureka!!" Mason jumped up at once, slammed the last small piece of graphite on the ground, and laughed loudly: "Angs! Double charge this time!"

   Anse, nicknamed "Demon" because of the huge red birthmark on his face, rarely questioned the old commander's order: "Double charge, it will explode."

  [Note: Birthmarks are considered to be the devil's kiss, and black birthmarks on women are considered to be the R head that nurtures the devil]

   "Then try a half charge first." Mason immediately set up a new firing angle for the gun.

   "I'll set the fire." Demon Anse said nothing.

  The maximum range of a gun is at a forty-five degree angle. This is the experience of the gunner.

  Mason no longer chose to hit the opponent's shooting angle directly as before, instead, he chose a smaller shooting angle.

After    was loaded, the demon Anse took the ignition rod and lit the igniter with a blank expression.

  The extra half of the gunpowder brings a higher unloading speed.

  The fiery red cannonball shot out and flew towards the gun positions of the Teltun people with unprecedented power.

Although the    militiamen don’t understand artillery, they can understand what’s going on after watching it a few times.

   "It's near." The quick-responding militiamen thought subconsciously.

   is indeed close, there is still some distance from the cannon position, and the cannonball has already hit the ground heavily.

   Qing Lingyu, who was supervising the battle next to the artillery, laughed.

   But just for a moment, his smile froze on his face.

  The high-speed cannonball did not sink into the soil. Instead, the cannonball bounced off the ground and glide forward again.

  Time seemed to freeze at this moment, and Terdun Qingling Yu watched in horror as the cannonballs flew straight towards him in a jumping attitude.

   Qingling Yu wanted to dodge, but the shells were faster.

The    dark red high-temperature shell directly hit Qing Lingyu's left leg, smashing the latter's left leg from the knee.

   At a certain moment, the surrounding prisoner gunners seemed to hear the "squeak" of barbecue, and then they really smelled the smell of barbecue - the skinny prisoners saliva subconsciously.

   Then, they heard the screams of the Qingling Feather barbarian.

  The cannonballs were like floating in water. They landed and bounced into the crowd several times. Whether it was the siege or the defender, everyone was stunned.

   "What kind of luck is this?!" The defending militiamen were surprised at first, and then began to applaud desperately.

   "What kind of luck is this?!" The Teltown people who were watching the game were also surprised.

  The devil Anse quickly figured out what was going on: it was freezing cold and there was no rainfall, the soil was hard, and the shells were shot at a small angle and high speed, and they could bounce off instead of sinking into the soil.

   But the Demon Anse still had a hard time believing it was a "planned" shooting,

   His eyebrows were slightly raised, and he looked at the old chief inquiringly with a look of surprise.

   "I'm lucky, I didn't expect to hit the first time." Mason scratched his head embarrassedly, his cheeks were a little hot: "It seems to have hit someone? Next, try double the charge?"

  …

  The artillery battle of Gervodin ended with a win and loss.

   On the other side, Winters had two guests.

   The first guest claimed to be a slave who had escaped from the Tertown Department, carrying important information.

   Don't claim the second guest, he called Lucky Gold, who brought good luck to Winters—and that was exactly what Winters needed.

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   [Sorry for being late again... 2, 4, 6 maybe 2, 4, weekends are more appropriate? ]

   [Once again, Happy Labor Day to everyone! Long live the working people! ]

   [Long live the big chapter! ]

   (end of this chapter)