Tyranny of Steel

The thunder of guns echoed in the air outside the city of Acre. The city's brave defenders continued to fire their rifled muskets onto the enemy formations, creating a wall of death as the minie ball projectiles tore through the iron armor of the crusaders as if it were made of tissue paper. With the echo of every volley, the scent of fresh blood would accompany it. 

Though the city's walls were primitive in so far as they were not based upon the star principle that the German Empire used, they held firm against the measly one and six-pound cannon balls which sought to bring them down. 

The reality was that the Crusaders lacked the gunpowder necessary to continuously bombard the enemy's defenses. As supplies began to run short, the artillery officer called out to the English King, who gazed upon the scene of the siege with disdain on his lips. He had assumed with the arrival of the Knights of the Red Dragon, things would be easier, however for the past few weeks the Crusader forces had failed to break through Acre's defenses. Supplies were running low, and so too was morale. 

If they did not bring these walls down soon, then they would be overwhelmed by the Byzantine and Timurid reinforcements, which were surely on their way to break the siege. King Lawrence of England had no choice but to shift his tactics. 

"Target the gates! Use the last of our artillery fire to smash them to pieces!"

Field artillery was still a new concept to most of the world's empires, and though Berengar used them with exceptional results, the rest of the European Kingdoms were lagging behind in their tactics. It was because of this that they foolishly followed the German Empire's example of smashing walls to bits with overwhelming firepower.

This did not work out as planned, as they lacked explosive shells capable of rapidly achieving such results. Sure a solid cannonball could bring down a castle wall, but it required quite a few of them, and with every shot fired that was a waste of precious gunpowder, a resource the Catholics were severely lacking now that Berengar had destroyed one of the largest deposits of saltpeter in Europe. 

The crusader's artillery quickly shifted their target towards the thick wooden gates of the City's walls.  When the Byzantine Defenders saw the artillery barrage aiming for their gates, they had finally had enough. They quickly ordered their own artillery to target the enemy's guns. Much like in the early days of Berengar's rule, the city of Acre was defended by 24 lb siege cannons, which had a much greater effect than their 12 lb counterparts. 

These massive pieces of artillery were refurbished by the German Empire and sold to their Byzantine allies at a fraction of the cost. Though few of them had ever actually been used in combat, Berengar still felt the need to refurbish the weapons, a many of them had been poorly maintained and were pitted with rust. 

After these magnificent pieces of artillery were loaded and fired, explosions echoed in the air as the 24 pound cannon balls rained from the sky and onto the Crusader artillery pieces. The pathetic falconet and saker cannons were practically torn apart by the superior artillery of the Byzantine Artillery. Needless to say, they were rendered inoperable. When the Byzantine soldiers saw they had successfully removed a major threat to the city, they cried out in joy.  Despite this loss, the Grand Master of the Knights of the red dragon was not the slightest bit discouraged. Instead, he quickly issued orders to his own troops.

"Bring out the Drakes!"

The soldiers of the English, French, and Hospitaller armies were confused when they heard this. However, when they saw the unique field guns gathered beyond the range of the 24 lb smoothbore cannons, they had a hint of excitement on their face. 

These cannons differed from the one and six-pound guns the crusaders were previously using. For starters, they were made entirely of wrought iron, and had a giant metal band over the rear section of the gun. These guns were designed to fire twelve pound projectiles that were in the shape of a shell. The only difference was they were inert.

The Grand Master of the Red Dragon had done extensive research on the captured rifled muskets from the Austrian War of Independence and had discovered the rifling in their barrels, and while he had yet to figure out how to replicate such a pattern on muskets he decided to experiment with its principle in artillery. Because of this, the Order of the Red Dragon now had rifled muzzle loading artillery, which fired inert projectiles. 

A total of six of these guns, which were referred to as Drakes, lined up far beyond the range of the 24 lb siege guns, and fired their projectiles towards the gate of the city, smashing them into splinters after a single volley. Once the gates were blown apart, both parties stood back in shock. However, it did not take long for the Crusaders to recover. They quickly rushed through the opening of the gates. In response, the Strategos of Palestine desperately called out to the Timurid soldiers below. 

"Hold the line!"

However, as the men appeared in the gap, they were quickly gunned down by the volley fire of the Crusader's musketeers, who proceeded to charge into the fray with their socket bayonets. Bodies filled up the gap as the feudal Timurid soldiers clashed with the Crusaders. While this was occurring in the gap, the Byzantine soldiers continued to fire their shots onto the soldiers below. Taking as many lives as possible, hoping to relieve the pressure at the gates. 

Aubry gazed upon the scene from afar and decided to place another wager with his English counterpart. 

"I wager ten tons of silver that my soldiers kill the most heretics."

Lawrence gazed over at the effeminate prince and scoffed before replying.

"Make it twenty and you have a deal..."

As the two kings gambled on whose forces would kill the most of the enemy troops, the Hospitaller and Red Dragon leaders were engaged in a different conversation.

"Those cannons? They are one of your inventions?"

The Grand Master of the order of the Red Dragon broke out into laughter as he explained himself.

"Indeed. I noticed something peculiar after cutting one of the barrels of a captured musket in half. They have these little grooves on the inside of the barrel. These grooves rotate and help spin the projectile, allowing it to stabilize at greater distances. That is why the German and Byzantine weapons have such a greater range than our own. 

However, unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to efficiently cut the grooves into the tiny barrels of a musket. It is much easier with a larger bore, at least for me. This should give our armies vastly superior range in terms of artillery against our foes. Only the German Army will have better artillery than the Knights of the Red Dragon!"

The Hospitaller Grand Master did not disagree with a word the man had said. He had seen how far away the so called Drakes were as they fired onto the gates of the city. He was thoroughly impressed. Now if only they could figure out how to make the weapons explode like the Germans had. Unfortunately for them, that would require advanced chemicals that would not enter their hands for many, many years. 

The city's defenders fought bravely to defend themselves from the enemy, however in the end the city began to fall into the hands of the Crusaders. The Sultan of the Timurid Empire was in a state of panic as he fled to the rear of the city with the Strategos of Palestine. 

"We need to get out of here. Tell me there is some way to leave the city without the Crusader army noticing?"

The Strategos was a bit hesitant, however he ultimately nodded his head.

"We can escape through the rear gate, however our soldiers will know what we have done and will quickly surrender the moment we abandon them."

In response to this, Salan spat upon the ground before turning away from his Byzantine counterpart.

"You can stay if you wish. However, I know what happens to a city that falls into the hands of Crusaders, and I will not wait around to have my head removed!"

After saying this, the Sultan had run off, looking for a mount to escape upon. The Strategos gazed upon the chaos, which was spreading into the hearts of the city, and sighed before taking off in the direction of the Timurid Emperor. It was a pity, but Acre had fallen. There was no hope of salvaging this battle. 

As for the fate of the city's inhabitants, and the brave men who defended it? That remained to be seen, but history had shown that when Catholics were worked into a religious frenzy, only bloodshed could abate their fury.