Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 89 Mound Fort

  The gun fort at the entrance of Red Sulphur Bay is located on the west coast of the bay, and another small pier is located on the east coast of the bay, facing the gun fort across the sea.

  The two ends of the sea-blocking iron cable at the entrance of the Red Sulphur Bay are fixed at the gun fort and the pier respectively.

   The structure of this pier is very simple, it is nothing more than a square surrounded by four rammed earth walls. The bottom edge of the square pier is more than ten meters wide, and the wall height is over six meters, which is about the height of a two-story building.

  In the defense system of the old era, this pier was completely without a mesa, and it was purely four walls. Not steep enough, not high enough, not even a shooting hole in the parapet.

   In the defense system of the new era, this kind of fortification with dead ends, lack of artillery, and purely high defense is outdated.

   But for Winters, a team of light infantry who lacked siege means, this fort was still a tough bone to crack.

   On the top of the fort, the sentinels of the Tanirians were also drowsy. In order to prevent the enemy from quietly approaching from the woods, the trees within 30 meters of the fort had already been cleared away. In the bright moonlight, everything is inescapable.

   For the Tanirians who defended the fort, the excitement and nervousness of ambushing the Veneta that day had long since dissipated, and all they had to do in this war was a tiresome watch, watch, and watch.

   Several muffled noises sounded, and the half-asleep sentinel was suddenly awakened by the knocking sound. He shuddered and listened with bated breath, and there were a few more muffled sounds.

   This time, he confirmed that it was not his hallucinations, and the voice was coming from under his feet, neither near nor far.

The    sentinel drew out his armed sword, walked lightly to the parapet, and looked down cautiously.

   Just as he stuck his head out, a dark hand suddenly stretched out from the wall and grabbed his collar. The next moment, the sentinel only felt a strong force coming from his neck and dragged him directly outside the wall.

   The sentinel screamed, fell down the high wall in a head-on position, broke his neck, and died.

   Immediately afterwards, two shaved, naked Heards, whose whole body was smeared black by furnace ashes and black mud, climbed over the parapet. In order to hide their figures in the dark, they didn't have anything that could reflect light on their bodies, and even the only short knife they carried was baked into matte black.

   Winters lurked at the edge of the woods with the rest, watching the movements of the two Heards. These two were the warriors Hestas had picked out of all the Hurds, the best at climbing.

   No Veneta can climb a six-meter-high wall with their bare hands, not even a rammed earth wall. However, if the remnants and slaves lacking siege weapons wanted to break into this fort, the only way was to send someone to go in and open the gate.

   Winters watched silently as the two ghostly Heards approached the Mound without a sound and began to climb upwards. At this moment, even though Winters was an atheist, he suddenly wanted to pray.

   But he still heard the sounds he least wanted to hear, screams and landings. He didn't know whether the voice was made by the Hurds or the Tanirians, and the two Hurds had disappeared from Winters' field of vision.

   "It was discovered, change the backup plan!" In the silent night, the scream could be clearly heard even by Winters more than 30 meters away, not to mention the defenders in the fort. Seeing that the sneak attack failed, Winters immediately ordered: "Come with me, even if we all die here, we have to destroy this iron chain!"

   As soon as the voice fell, Winters came out more and more, carrying the caster and carrying equipment, and strode towards the coast. The others were stunned for a moment, and immediately rushed out of the woods.

  Everyone stepped forward and ran fast, and the night attack became a strong attack, so there was no need to tiptoe.

  This pier is located on the high ground by the coast. The end of the iron cable is fixed inside the pier, and it extends from the hole in the pier wall to the water surface.

   Unlike the gun fort in the middle of the bay, this pier is less than ten meters away from the sea, and the shore part of the iron rope is all within the range of the pier’s projection weapons. It is an impossible task to destroy the iron rope under the eyes of the defenders and not be discovered.

   But the plan to capture the fort has gone bankrupt, so we can only do it hard.

   However, what everyone had not expected happened, the gate of the pier first showed a bright line, the bright line became wider and wider, and the gate opened slowly.

  Winters saw the door open a hole, he didn't have time to think about it, he waved and shouted: "Grab the door!"

  The door opened with difficulty less than a meter, and the people inside screamed and wanted to close it again, but it seemed that something was stuck again.

   The distance of thirty meters was just a few steps away. Winters drew out his sword and jumped in from the gap between the two wooden doors of the fort with a loud roar.

   Inside the door were six or seven Tanirian soldiers, and they were all stunned when they saw a figure flash in. But Winters, who had experienced many life-and-death struggles, did not give the opponent time to react at all, and slashed the enemies around him fiercely.

   The Tanirian soldier didn't realize what had happened until Winters nearly split a Tanirian in two.

   They screamed and stabbed Winters with knives and spears in their hands. Winters just wanted to draw a knife to block, but his machete was stuck in the bones of the corpse and could not be pulled out.

   The current Winters is no longer the fool he was when he left the military academy, he has been tempered in iron and blood.

   Finding that the machete was stuck, Winters gave up the knife and retreated without hesitation. At the same time, abandoning distracting thoughts and entering a spellcasting state.

   The next moment, the powder jug ​​on a Tanirian soldier suddenly exploded. The power of the explosion not only blew a big hole in the waist of the soldier carrying the gunpowder pot, but also injured the soldiers around him. Even Winters was pushed to the door by a wave of air.

   This is Winters' first original spell, improved from "Axel's Hair Burning". During the fight on the day of the landing, Winters realized that since the fire technique can ignite the enemy's hair, it can also detonate the gunpowder on the enemy's body. After several attempts, he found the spell to be surprisingly useful.

   A full pot of gunpowder was detonated, like a bomb dropped in a narrow doorway. Smoke filled the doorway, blood, pieces of meat and intestinal contents were splashed everywhere on the walls and the ground.

  The blast of air slammed into Winters' chest like a heavy hammer, making him feel stuffy. But he struggled to stand up, spit out a piece of meat residue that flew into his mouth, picked up a spear from his side, and stepped into the smoke.

Until then, the other Veneta and Heard could keep up with Winters, and the Veneta soldiers and Heard slaves who broke into the gate of the fort were trembling with fright, and no one dared to step into this flesh-and-blood corridor. .

   "XX! What are you doing? Kill!" Bud came back to his senses, swearing swear words rarely in his life, and rushed into the fort with a machete.

   An officer took the lead, and the others gathered up their courage and screamed and rushed into the fort.

There were only a dozen or so defenders in this fort, and half of them were killed by Winters in the doorway. found out.

  The surviving Tanirian soldiers were dragged out of cabinets, baskets, and warehouses and pushed to the open space in the center of the fort. Some cried and begged, while others closed their eyes and began to pray.

  The Veneta soldiers and the Hurds surrounded the captives.

   "We have no one to watch over them, they are all killed." Winters ordered the execution of the prisoners with a blank expression. He found a clean towel and was wiping the blood on his face.

  The Hurds couldn't understand what Winters was saying, and the Veneta soldiers were at a loss.

   Winters didn't say much, grabbed a spear and walked over to the captive, gritted his teeth and said, "This is for the soldier I was nailed to the stake... I haven't forgotten a single one."

After   , he stabbed a prisoner to death cleanly.

   The other captives rolled and crawled to escape, but were pushed back by the Veneta and the Hurds on the side.

  Bud also held a captive's hair blankly, inserted a machete through his collarbone, and executed a captive.

  Two officers took the lead, and the other soldiers gritted their teeth and attacked the remaining prisoners. There were no Tanirians alive in the fort.

"Two of our men were wounded, not dead. The Hurds didn't die either...except those two." Bud and Winters reported the casualties: "One of them desperately opened the door, the other ruined the alarm bell. ...If it weren't for them, we would be eating guns on the coast by now."

   Winters turned his back to Bud and said nothing, just reloading the arquebus found in the fort.

"The time is almost up, you can go to the beach with the flare, the rest is not up to you." Winters said without looking back: "If we are both gone, who will deliver the letter to the Legion Commander? Go quickly. Bar."

  Bud sighed, but didn't leave.

   Winters also sighed, put down the musket in his hand, turned around and said helplessly: "I know it's not good to kill prisoners, but if I do it again, I'll do it again."

   "I'm not against your execution of the captives, we really don't have anyone to look after them." Bud said sincerely: "I just hope you don't cling to revenge, and you don't blame yourself for the demise of the centurion."

   Winters did not speak.

   Bud stood at attention with a military salute, Winters also stood up and returned the salute solemnly, Bud turned and left.

  Bud led two Veneta soldiers away from the fort and headed for the beach to the south.

   Winters used up the remaining molten iron casting materials in one go, and the iron cable across the entrance of the bay was cut off on the east coast and sank to the bottom of the sea.

   Winters saw the warrior Hurd who desperately opened the gate. He finally understood why the Tanirians couldn't close the door, because the Hurds had jammed the door shaft with their own bodies.

   His clan took out his body and laid it flat on the ground. The body had three stab wounds on the abdomen, and almost half of the body was crushed.

   Winters gave a military salute to the corpse of the Hurd, and the soldiers of Veneta followed suit.

   "There is no need to grieve for him, he is already waiting for us by the River Styx." Hestas said calmly: "He went to the River Styx as a free man, and we will go to him as a free man."

  The old shaman squatted beside the corpse, put a silver coin in the palm of the deceased's hand, and sang the song of the Requiem of the Hurds.

   In the whispered chorus of the Hurds, Winters led the remaining soldiers and the Hurds from the fort and headed for the cannon in the middle of the bay.

   In the ambush a few days ago, although the Tanirians were not able to eat the Veneta's revenge fleet, they also had a windfall.

  There is a blocking tactic in naval warfare, that is, self-sinking ships block the entry and exit channels of the enemy's port, and the enemy's fleet is blocked in the port.

   Blocking tactics can keep ships in the port from getting out, but also keep the ships outside the port from getting in.

  Three sunken Veneta warships traversed the bay channel, forming an artificial reef. Even if there is no iron cable blocking the sea, the ship will hit the bottom of the ship after passing through this reef, and even capsize and sink.

   Because of this, the Red Sulphur Island Council believes that the Red Sulphur Bay is impregnable. Even without these two sea-blocking iron cables, this wreck reef alone with two artillery bases is enough to resist the Veneta.

  If Veneta's head is hard, and a few warships are sunk, it will completely block the bay.

   But tonight was different than usual.

  A nearly full moon hung in the sky, and she blocked Winters' surprise attack. But she will also compensate the Veneta in her own way.

  Tonight is the seventeenth of the lunar calendar, the astronomical tide!

  The tide in Chisulfur Bay has been surging and rising since nightfall. According to Budd's calculations, the tide will be at its highest level in a month between one and two o'clock.

   By that time, even the sunken reefs could no longer hinder the Veneta warships. As long as the two sea-blocking iron cables are destroyed, the Veneta warship will drive straight in and hit the red sulfur port.

  Kalman claims to be able to send Winters off the island of Iwo, and through a secret route of smugglers, he can send two people out at a time.

   But Calman told Winters it was only to destroy the unity of the Veneta from within. He didn't expect Winters to use this smuggling route to get in touch with the Veneta fleet.

  The fleet, which was already poised to launch in the open sea, would immediately enter the Red Sulphur Bay after receiving the signal from Bard.

   Winters can now find a safe place to hide, waiting for the Veneta Army to return to the Red Sulphur port after the capture. His mission has been completed, and in the original plan, he only needs to destroy two iron cables.

   But he knew there was one more thing he could do—destroy the cannons in the east coast fort.

  Red Sulphur Bay is guarded by two artillery bases, the west bank guards the entrance to the bay, and the east bank guards the middle of the bay.

  The west bank cannons are beyond his reach, but if he can destroy the east bank cannons, many fewer Veneta people will be killed.

   Winters himself didn't know what was driving him. He is not for military exploits, nor is it for a sense of honor, this war has no honor for him.

  Thinking about it, he convinces himself only one sentence: "If you can destroy those cannons, you will kill a lot of Veneta people."

  Maybe he just didn't want to see Veneta's bodies anymore.

"Our target is the artillery base on the east coast." Warrant Officer Winters Montagne, the chief battalion Centurion Quan, mobilized before the battle to the last soldiers of the 100th Corps: "We are fewer than the enemy. , the only hope of victory is to fight hard, go in when the enemy doesn't react, destroy those cannons and withdraw immediately."

   "You have done a lot for Veneta, but we still need to fight for Veneta again." He glanced at the soldiers who followed him to hide XZ on Red Iwo Island. Under the bright moonlight, everyone's eyes were sparkling. He stopped talking nonsense and drew out his machete: "Follow me!"

In front of    is the artillery fort of Red Iwo Island.

   (end of this chapter)