Mage? Spell Engineer!.

Chapter 496: Hu Lai's Fight

Drouot sometimes wondered, he was an artillery general, but why did he lead a heavy infantry division?

Moreover, this organization seems to be taken out of ancient books. In those days, the average soldier in the army only had cotton-padded clothes, and at most a thin breastplate. And there were heavy infantry?

It was not until the troops were training that a group of spellcasters suddenly came, excitedly used twelve horse-drawn carriages to pull a pile of iron shells and machinery that he could not understand, and then assembled them with the help of magic.

Well, he is eleven meters tall, covered in steel armor, and can't fly. He is indeed very heavy, so there is no doubt that he is a heavy infantryman.

The codename of the giant mechanical breacher assigned to the Drouot Division was "Heavy Gunner", which was in line with his expertise. They had practiced with the big guy more than once. Now it was time for actual combat. Not only him, but four of the nine corps participating in the battle today were equipped with a new generation of constructs.

The Imperial Army had already detected the movements of the National Guard, and now the enemy was well-rested and ready to attack. Drouot looked from afar and could not see a single head on the opposite side, only ugly scars on the earth - trenches, derivatives of scars, multiple barbed wire fences and makeshift fortresses.

Obviously, charging is useless against such an arrangement, but the top brass of the guards seem to have a superstitious belief in charging, as if the era of line infantry and line shooting is over, and even if there are no conditions, they must create conditions to rush.
If morale is not high enough, there are supervisors; if there are too many obstacles, there are "heavy artillery".

Drouot could understand this trend of thought at first. After all, the Valois were somewhat superstitious compared to the Imperials. After the rush tactics miraculously saved Valois, they felt that such "courage tactics" would have some kind of bonus. In addition, there were indeed too many newcomers in the early stage of the expansion of the National Guard, and the organization and training were not enough for them to complete too many complex tactics.

But by now, there were more veterans than rookies in the team, and Drouot found it unacceptable to continue using stopgap measures. At least he still valued every soldier under him and couldn't bear to let the supervision team shoot at their own people.

Fortunately, his troops had no shortage of artillery and "big killer weapons".

At noon, all the soldiers simply ate some biscuits and candies, and drank some spicy but not much inferior wine. After the friendly forces had also completed their battle deployment and arrived at the designated position, Drouot began to mobilize the troops and issued an order: "Fire!"

The first round of test firing aimed at the enemy's high points, and all the buildings visible through the telescope were to be hit. Of course, this was only an ideal situation, as the distance that field artillery could reach was limited, and most of the current test firings fell into fields or tunnels, and no foreseeable results were achieved.

One group of gunners immediately adjusted their elevation and aiming, while another group began to shift their positions and move forward to cooperate with the friendly forces that were about to charge. No, the warriors from other units had already started to move, and the first round of artillery fire was more like the roar of a beast before the battle, trying to intimidate, while the soldiers from other corps almost simultaneously took steps to rush towards the fortifications a few hundred meters ahead.

There is absolutely no aesthetic appeal. When Drouot was still in school, the description of the tactics of the Sun King era in the textbooks was like art. The two armies would first have tense long-distance contact and spy, then calculate the marching time to deploy, and when the war broke out, the various branches of the military would continue to cooperate.

As for the war between the two countries that has continued to this day, at the beginning, one could still see the last bit of classical influence, but then it disappeared and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, as if the officers of Valois and the Empire tacitly forgot how to fight before and all chose the simplest mode: rushing while digging trenches and waiting for the other side.

The drum beats urged the vanguard forward. The recent drum beats were very strange, no longer the usual simple rhythm, but the soldiers' pace was getting faster and faster, and they were running more and more easily, forgetting their fear.

Because of the "mischief" of a spellcaster, they extracted the "resonance" technology that affects soldiers on a large scale from the "battle rituals" of ancient nobles, combined with drum beats and alchemical potions mixed in alcohol to achieve additional "courage" gains. At least that's what the wizard told Drouot.

As the vanguard gradually reached the range of the Imperial Army, the gray defenders could already see the blue, white and red attackers. They raised their guns, and scattered gunshots and gun smoke finally appeared over the fields. There was a special type of soldier in the charging troops. They were selected because they were good at running. They pushed a two-wheeled cart with a two-meter-high steel plate in front.

Before setting off, the wizard cast levitation spell on the steel plate to reduce its weight, and gave the athletes a sprint buff to ensure they could be at the front and defend against bullets and shotgun attacks. The most important thing was that when they got to the barbed wire, they could just buckle the steel plate to hold down the bridge that would serve as a bridge to cross the obstacle.

This kind of fool-proof and outrageous method would have been absolutely not feasible in the past, but with just a few clicks from a wizard, they can display their power on the battlefield. When the vanguard troops approach the enemy, they unconsciously gather behind the steel plates. Apparently, the effect is quite good.

It was simply nonsense. Drouot felt that he could no longer fight.

Black gun barrels extended from the temporary bunker of the Imperial Army, and shotguns were also pushed out. Soon, the attacking soldiers on the front line, as well as commanders such as Drouot, discovered that something was wrong - the density of bullets fired from the small bunker was surprisingly high.

Drouot found that the gunshots were much denser and had a certain pattern. There were many other noises on the battlefield, until there was a gap, and only the strange gunshots remained. He silently memorized that a group of gunshots was about six to eight consecutive rounds.

Continuous fire? The Imperial Army had more surprises in store for the National Guard. A shell from the Imperial Army flew over the Guard's charging column and exploded. The high-speed flying fragments instantly knocked down a large number of people. Even the "soldiers" who were protected by iron door panels had no protection behind their backs and sides.

Several similar delayed-explosion shells exploded over the National Guard. The two new weapons did not seem to be deployed on a large scale, but their appearance caused a great shock and hindrance to the front-line soldiers, and the pace of the charge and the attack on the first trench slowed down.

The radio station's call sign blasted, and the commanders of the National Guard tried to think of ways to deal with the new situation. Only the wizard beside Drouot looked relaxed, holding up a telescope to "appreciate" the grand scene: "It seems that we are not the only ones who prepared a 'gift' for the enemy."

"The battle situation is not favorable to us now. Is it time to send out the 'heavy gunner'?" Drouot was very dissatisfied with the spellcaster's attitude of watching a show, as if the compatriots killed and wounded on the front line had nothing to do with him.

"You can go out if you give the order."

31 minutes after the battle began, looking forward from the Imperial Army's trenches, a huge amount of water vapor suddenly erupted on the horizon, and five huge black shadows stood up from the white mist.

They broke through the steam that was about to dissipate, and their heavy steps made the earth tremble, but they charged towards the position faster and faster, and in the eyes of the imperial soldiers, their size became larger and larger. Behind them and to their sides was the real main force of the National Guard, holding their long guns and launching a second round of charge.

Veterans who participated in the Battle of Valuana had seen similar steel giants before, but they were very different from what they are now.

The new models of constructs had strengthened frontal armor and abandoned exaggerated jumping abilities. Every time they took a step, thick steam would rise behind them, seemingly indicating the source of their power, but at the same time, magical glows overflowed from the gaps in their armor, especially the red light behind their classic helmets, like murderous eyes.

"Quick, quick, all the heavy artillery aim at the new targets! Those big guys!"

(End of this chapter)