Iron Power And Sorcerer

Iron Power And Sorcerer Chapter 103

2021-01-25

Chapter 103 Crows are singing

When the road connecting Tacheng and Chisulfur Port is finally completed, Antonio finally sent messengers to the defenders. Based on "last mercy and honor", the defenders were asked to surrender their weapons and Kaesong surrendered.

Serbiati and Layton jointly pledge that no Tanirians will be executed or tried after surrendering.

But when the messenger shouted at the city wall with a shield, only a dozen buckshots responded to him.

William Kidd's attitude has been revealed.

A heavy cannon capable of firing thirty-two-pound iron bullets was placed on the cart and dragged little by little to the front of the city wall.

The defenders on the city wall could hear the noise of their march even far away: the steers and draught horses roaring because they were beaten; the Veneta who drove the chariots shouted The whip was swung; the creaky axle made a monotonous, constant screeching sound.

If the angel of death can sing, then the song of the angel of death must be all that the Tacheng defenders are hearing now.

Once the heavy artillery arrived on the front lines, the Veneta sappers spent another day removing the artillery from the car with Crane machines. Deploy to the pre-set gun position and adjust the angle.

All light and heavy artillery pieces held by the Veneta Army were divided into eight battery groups, each consisting of one of the heaviest guns combined with other light guns.

Vineta soldiers affectionately called these batteries "Wolf Packs", because each battery was like an alpha wolf with a pack of cubs.

Taking the city gate as the dividing point, four artillery groups were arranged on the east and west side of the city wall, aiming at the weak position of the city wall.

While the Venetas deployed heavy artillery, the defenders on the city wall tried their best to destroy the enemy artillery with their light artillery.

However, these attempts had little success. The Venetas used wooden fences and dirt to protect their cannons so that the defenders could not find a suitable angle of fire.

And the artillery of the Tanirians is at an absolute disadvantage in number, and has been suppressed by the light artillery under the city wall.

The Tanirians could only watch in despair as artillery after artillery was placed in front of the city wall, while desperately strengthening the city wall.

In the early morning of the next day, when the sun shone on the Tacheng city wall, the large-scale shelling began.

Before the heavy artillery attacked, it first moved towards the defenders on the city wall with muskets and light cannons loaded with cannonballs.

Especially the matchlock gunners and artillery on the Triangle Fort, they are the closest and don't need to aim at all.

For the past two days, the Venetas have been working like crazy, constantly raising the triangular fort with bags of dirt. Now, the top of the triangular fort is level with the city wall.

The artillery that the Tanirians had deployed at Triangle Fort is now being used by the Veneta against the defenders themselves.

The Tanirians, who looked out from behind the battlements, were killed on the spot. Iron bullets and lead bullets hit the stones, shards flying, smoke and dust everywhere, and the defenders on the city wall lie behind the parapet, not daring to raise their heads at all.

While more defenders were hiding under the city wall, William Kidd was not a straw bag. In the face of this level of shelling, forcing the soldiers to stay on the city wall was just death.

So he let most of the soldiers hide in the cave behind the wall, leaving only a few sentries to watch on the city wall.

As the defenders on the wall were pinned down, the Eight Sects heavy artillery began to roar.

The sound of the cannon was like the horn of terror blown at the end of the world. The iron cannonball flew out of the muzzle and smashed fiercely on the city wall. The huge impact made the whole city wall tremble.

The previous two-pounder gun just left a few white spots on the city wall, while the heavy gun directly destroyed the Fire Mountain Cliff wrapped on the outer surface of the city wall.

Even if the rock was not crushed, the enormous stress created by the impact was beyond the limits of the mortar that bound Fire Mountain Cliff.

At the point where the shells landed, the outer walls of the city wall fell off, exposing the inner wall made of Fire Mountain Cliff concrete.

And the solid inner wall was also hit by a huge cone-shaped gap by the iron cannonball.

The Veneta soldiers outside the city cheered louder than the rumbling sound of artillery.

For the defenders in the cave behind the city wall, it was all like hell.

The loud noise, choking dust, and the vibration transmitted to the cave when the city wall was hit by a shell made the most battle-hardened veterans shudder.

There is no one who can understand the damage of artillery to the city wall better than the Tanirians in the cave. One recruit said in horror: "The city wall is shaking!"

That's right, the huge impact of the shells made the whole city wall tremble, and the defenders felt the same way.

When the artillery was still firing stone shells, the old city wall was already showing signs of fatigue. The stone cannon was like a sledgehammer, smashing the city wall from side to side, and shattering the will of the defenders at the same time.

And now the cannons pouring rage on the tower city are more formidable power than the stone-shooting cannons. Advances in material forming processes have allowed gunsmiths to forge lighter, thinner, stronger guns with longer barrels.

The ratio of shells to gunpowders from the stone shooters was twenty to forty to one, while the Eight Sects 32-pounders outside the city were able to reload 16-pound gunpowders per shot. , the weight of the bomb is an astonishing two to one.

Even though iron cannonballs are lighter than stone cannonballs, they are more penetrating.

The city wall trusted by the Tacheng defenders is falling apart in front of the artillery of the new era.

In the Tibetan Soldier Cave, the Taniriya soldiers who were praying "let me survive today" heard the alarm bell sounded by the sentinel.

In conjunction with the shelling, the trenches were filled.

Antonio and Layton selected two attack points on the east and west sides of the city wall, both of which were weak spots in the city wall according to the intelligence.

Two Legions are responsible for one attack direction, not only to destroy the city wall, but also to fill the trenches here.

Amid the loud shouts of Captain Hoffman, the defenders hurried up the city wall, and the sentry at the front of the city shouted hoarsely: "Triangle Fort! They are coming from the Triangle Fort!"

From inside the triangular fort occupied by the Veneta, a large number of soldiers pushing carts rushed into the trenches and filled the trenches with dirt and firewood from their carts.

"Shoot them! Shoot them!" The Union officer Hoffman on the city wall yelled to wake up his stunned men.

The defenders who came back to his senses immediately moved towards the Veneta who were under the city, shooting with crossbows and muskets. The distance between the two sides is too close, and there are too many Venetas, and one Veneta will fall down with a single shot.

There were a few loud bangs of cracking stones, and the light artillery outside the city fired again to suppress the defenders at the front of the city. The gravel was flying all over the sky, and the formidable power was comparable to a bow and arrow.

Captain Hoffman, who was still ordering just now, screamed and waved his arms indiscriminately, his face was covered with dust, and blood was flowing from his closed eyes. come out.

The blasted rubble flew into Hoffman's eyes, and the brawny man went mad in the pain and darkness. Hoffman's soldiers tried to hold him down, but Hoffman roared and pulled out his saber and slashed randomly, forcing everyone around him to avoid him.

Hoffman could no longer hear what the people around him were saying, he shouted moved towards the imaginary enemy slashing, standing and retreating. His men watched helplessly as Captain fell from the ruined parapet and fell down the city, dying on the spot.

And outside the city, the Veneta musket team has also arrived. Veneta matchlock gunmen took cover on the walls of the trench and moved towards the defenders on the city wall.

The temporarily excavated moat outside the city wall is very shallow, less than two meters deep, and about as tall as a person.

The parapet battlements at the top of the city wall have been ripped apart in the shelling a few days ago, and they cannot provide any decent protection to the Tanirian soldiers on the city wall. Born, will be killed by a few matchlock guns.

However, the Tanirians on the city wall know that once the moat is filled, the next one is the city wall, and everyone will die by then.

The ferocity of the defenders was also aroused, and the Tanirians howled to strengthen themselves, stretched out their bodies and killed the Veneta who were huddled under the city with crossbows and muskets.

Their position was condescending, and they looked down, and the Veneta musketeers in the moat were almost uncovered.

The two sides had a tragic exchange of lives at a distance that was almost "musket to the forehead".

Staff, the crossbowman on the city wall, suddenly thought that he could burn the Veneta with "blue fire".

Staff runs down the city wall. Soon, he ran and waved again holding a clay pot with a blue fire.

He shouted: "Blue Fire! Blue Fire!" He rushed to the parapet, just as he was about to throw the Blue Fire towards the enemy in the moat, a lead bullet shot straight from under the city. Stave's chest, knocking him backwards on the city wall.

The burning sulphur from the crock in his hand spilled all over himself, and the screams and the smell of burnt flesh even reached the Veneta people below the city.

Staff's actions, however, reminded others that the trench was seven or eight meters away from the city wall, and the oil and asphalt could not be thrown that far, but it was enough to put it in a can.

Just when the defenders at the head of the city sent people to look for the pottery, William Kidd led the reinforcements to the east side of the city wall, and the reinforcements also carried two short-barreled guns.

"Here! Don't [expletive] facing right in the face! Hit from the side!" Seeing that the gunner was so stupid that he wanted to lift the gun directly over, the angry gunner Berta kicked the gunner who was lifting the gun. , scolded angrily: "Trash! Get out!"

The two short-barreled guns were brought by Berta to a place with a small arc on the city wall, diagonally facing the Veneta people under the city.

The gunners scrambled to assemble the mounts and load the ammunition. Berta took aim and ignited it himself.

With two roars, the shotgun shot from the short-barreled cannon set off a bloody storm under the city.

"Good! Good! Good!" The artillery commander shouted three times in a row, urging his men sharply: "Keep reloading! Keep fighting!"

When Taniria When the people's artillery slaughtered the Veneta people under the city, the Veneta artillery outside the city was also cleaning the Tanirians on the city wall.

Two hundred meters away, the Veneta artillery group saw the smoke and fire produced by the artillery firing on the city wall, and immediately adjusted its direction and moved towards the two short-barreled artillery fire.

A four-pounder shell hit one of the short-barreled cannons, knocking the cast-iron cannon off its mount, breaking half of the gunner's arm.

Berta immediately changed position with another short-barreled gun.

One side is on the wall, the other is under the wall, and the Tanirians and Venetas are almost fighting each other with guns to their foreheads.

Everyone dies here, the difference is only a matter of time.

The Tanirians knew that the Triangle Fort was the key before today, but it was only then that they really realized that they had underestimated the importance of the Triangle Fort after all.

Losing the triangular fort is equivalent to losing control of the moat. If the triangular fort is still in the hands of the Tanirians, the Veneta army would never dare to rush into the moat as it is now, because the deployment The side-firing guns on the Triangle Fort will smash them to pieces.

And when the Veneta people connected the triangular fort with the siege wall with a corridor, they did not need to go through the killing area in front of the city wall, and could directly enter the trench from the triangular fort.

Not to mention the long-range firepower on the Triangle Fort to suppress the defenders on the city wall.

However, the biggest problem of losing the Triangle Fort is not only these...

Just as the offensive and defensive sides are killing each other around the trench, behind the city gate, William Kidd's most elite Mongolian The Tani Guards are assembling.

These heavily armored warriors are some of the best and most trusted troops in the Tanirian Federation. In the Empire, the Montagnier Guard is the Emperor's Guard Army. They were not under William Kidd, but the Supreme Council temporarily handed over two of the companies to William Kidd's command.

William Kidd always regarded the two hundred or so Montagnier Guards as personal guards and supervising teams. The Montagne Guards were the key to William Kidd's ability to control the army.

However, the situation is urgent, he can only dispatch the elite of this trump card.

Without warning, the double-storey city gate of Tacheng suddenly opened.

The Monta Warriors let out a chilling battle cry and slayed from the city gate. The soldiers went straight into the moat in two ways, slashing and killing the Veneta people in the moat just like the legendary Berserker.

Captain Zenus charged at the forefront with his battle axe high, and slashed into the top of the head of the Veneta in front of him. The blade of the axe was completely sunk into the skull, and after Zenus pulled it twice and failed to pull it out, he simply abandoned the axe and took out his armed sword to fight.

It is impossible to stand on a city wall and try to stop the siege from filling the trenches.

The only way is to send people out, attack from both sides of the city wall and below the city, and kill all the people in the moat.

So at any time, city gate is the most powerful weapon for defenders to counterattack.

But now, the triangular fort in front of the city gate is in the hands of the Veneta people.

When seeing a large group of armored soldiers bursting out of the city gate, the muskets and artillery on the Triangle Fort immediately turned around and slammed these heavily armored enemies.

The two musketeers threw a 40-pound iron-shell bomb at the city gate together. The smashed Monta Guard immediately spewed blood from his eyes and nose, and was killed on the spot.

The other Monta Guards around saw the sizzling leads and fled into the distance in panic. However, it was too late. There was a loud bang, the iron bomb exploded, and a wave of air almost pushed the Veneta people on the Triangle Fort.

In the narrow space between the city gate and the Triangle Fort, stumps fluttered and blood spattered. Monta Guard, who was not hit by the shrapnel, also fell to the ground, spitting out blood.

The city gate has turned into hell, but this is not over yet. The Veneta people on the Triangle Fort dropped three iron shell bombs one after another.

The Monta soldier, who vomited blood, looked at the iron-shell bomb in front of him and tried to crawl away but kept calling. He watched in despair as the bomb lead burned out,

"Lord forgive me!" he shouted at the last moment of his life, before being blown to pieces.

His "death confession" was not heard because the "Great Veneta" battle cry overwhelmed all voices on the battlefield.

A large number of sword and shield players shouted and rushed out from the triangular fort and the tunnel. The stockholders don't care about anything else, bypassing the triangle fort and going straight to the city gate.

The two major generals prepared a full six sword and shield hand Hundred Men Squad, just to prevent the defenders from going out of the city to counterattack.

“Close the city gate! Quickly close the city gate!” William Kidd at the top of the city shouted hurriedly when he saw this scene.

The defenders at the city gate immediately cut off the cable, and the heavy gate fell suddenly, trapping the several Veneta sword and shield players who rushed forward.

In front of the city gate, vats of asphalt poured down. There are still Monta Guards in front of the city gate, but the defenders can't handle that much anymore.

Several torches were dropped from above the city gate, the Veneta people screamed and ran away, the asphalt was on fire, and the defenders burned Veneta and their own people alive.

On the other side of the gate, more than a dozen defenders descended from the city wall through the passageway to the gate. The Nerians fought.

The fighting in the moat became equally fiery, the Tanirian Council always spared no expense on the "Guard Army", and the Montagnian Guard was outfitted with three-quarter plate armor. The Veneta sword and shield players are also all equipped with half body armor.

But the space is too small, and it's almost a fight between people. Many sword and shield players and Monta guards simply lost their swords and axes, pulled out short blades and moved towards the gaps in the armor and under the ribs. Stabs and stabs in places that cannot be defended.

The soldiers in the back pushed the soldiers in front and squeezed together, and there was nowhere to dodge. The only way to avoid the sharp knife from the enemy was to kill the enemy first.

Don Juan was behind the crowd, anxiously watching the clumsy fight in front of him. He looked at the walls of the trench on both sides and shouted, "Go up! Go up! Go up and stab them! Carry me up! !"

The soldiers around him lifted the Hundred-Men Commander out of the trench.

Juan strode forward, rushed to the edge of the Montagnier Guard, moved down from the outside of the moat towards the Montagnard Guard's neck.

The Monta guards in the moat found that their companions were stabbed to death and climbed out of the moat one after another. Second Lieutenant Juan's Hundred Men Squad also rushed over at this moment, and the two sides began to fight each other outside the moat.

Blood flowing into a river inside and outside the moat, like a mill of flesh and blood.

While Winters, who was in the 200-meter battle at the Flesh Mill, watched what was happening in front of him, his mouth was dry and his heart was pounding.

And next to Winters was Lieutenant Colonel Sebastian Vauban. Vauban turned a blind eye to the tragic battle under the city wall and murmured to himself in doubt: "Why is it so strange..."

Vauban and Winters are located in the most forward gun positions, and next to them is one of the Eight Sects "Alpha Wolf" heavy guns.

And Winters is here for the simple reason that Antonio brought him here.

"Sebastian Vauban is a good siege tactician, and it's always good to learn something from him."

Antoine That's what O said, and Winters came with twenty soldiers to guard the cannon.

"Uh..." Winters asked in confusion, "Lieutenant Colonel, what are you talking about?"

The roar of the cannon interrupted him, and another round shooting.

After the artillery shelling, the artillery crew of the heavy artillery quickly covered the artillery with wooden fences, so that the defenders on the city wall could not threaten these sharp weapons.

While other gunners reload in a frenzy.

The gunner first used a long-handled borer to scrape out the remaining gunpowder from the barrel, and then inserted a water-dipped mop through the muzzle to clean the barrel.

The body of the cannon after firing is hot, and the water remaining in the barrel will evaporate quickly, which will not affect the next shot.

If the craftsmanship is not up to standard, cleaning the gun chamber with water will cause the internal cracks to increase, which will cause the chamber to explode. Bad guns can only be cooled with oil, but that would be very troublesome.

Once the temperature of the cannon had cooled, the gunners began to reload the gunpowder, plug it tightly, put in the wooden stock, and finally the cannonball.

After placing the shell, the gunner used a rag to close the gap between the shell and the barrel.

Vauban stopped the firing and adjusted the firing angle of the artillery by hand.

After a thunderclap, the shells landed lower than before.

After continuing to carefully observe where the shells landed, Vauban suddenly realized, and excitedly said to Winters: "I know what's going on..."

"Uh...what are you talking about? What?"

"I understand what the Tanirians did." Vauban patted his thigh: "They piled up dirt behind the city wall!"

"Soil? You mean..." Winters said uncertainly, "You mean the impact of piling up dirt behind the city wall to absorb cannonballs? But it's not..."

"That's right! The after-effect of the cannon strikes the city wall is not like the formidable power that these heavy artillery should have." Staring at the direction of the city wall, Vauban analyzed: "I made several test shots, and the conclusion was clearer each time. .The Tanirians in the city must have increased the thickness of the city wall by piling soil."

"But if the soil is piled behind the city wall..." Recalling the content of the siege tactics course , Winters pondered and said: "Once the city wall collapses, won't it also collapse? If it pours out of the city wall and becomes a gentle slope, it will make it easier for us to climb the city?"

"Yes , that's it." Vauban rubbed his nose, patted the cannon beside him, and said, "I don't know if William Kidd doesn't understand this? Or is he trying to find anyone or anything in a crisis? Or is it him Any other ideas? But anyway, it looks like he's going to hold on to the end..."

...

...

hours After the fierce battle, both sides have no spare energy to continue fighting.

The city wall still stands, but the cracks and the one after another rift heralded its doomed future.

Almost all of the Montagne Guards who fought back out of the city were killed. Except for those who didn't have time to attack, only a few people fled to the edge of the city wall and were pulled up by the defenders with ropes.

Three trenches were nearly filled, at least no longer a hindrance to the attack.

But the Veneta also paid a heavy price.

Nearly 400 casualties were lost in just one day of fighting, more than the combined casualties of Veneta's army on Red Iwo.

And most of the wounded will also die in their hospital beds in the next few days.

The ferocious battle made the siege battles before today feel as relaxing as a vacation.

And the order given by Major General Antonio Serbia was only one sentence: "Tomorrow, continue."

Considering the siege of the castle in 1453, the Ottomans attacked the city with all their strength for the first time. Wall's death toll was about 200 (the narrator who sympathized with Dongluo claimed that the Ottomans lost 18,000 a day, which is too much water...), and considering that the Tacheng defenders sent their elites out of the city to counterattack, the casualties were 400. It should be more reasonable... right?
Thanks to the book friends who have voted for the recommendation before, thanks to the book friends writersblock, Sky Lens, black computer accessories, Tianshui has beautiful women, justice and purity are the recommendation votes of Koala, thank the book friends for the reward of Sky Lens, thank you all.