Iron Power And Sorcerer

Iron Power And Sorcerer Chapter 199

2021-01-23

Chapter 199 The Real Bridge
The Battle of Nameless Valley, Sackler defeated the Hurd coalition.

The leaders led their troops to escape for their lives, and were chased by Arpad all the way.

There are more than 3,000 ears cut off from corpses alone. The blood-stained human ears were dressed in straw ropes and contained two carts.

Plateau's fifth and sixth Legions also suffered heavy casualties.

More than 7,000 Legion infantrymen and more than 5,000 recruited auxiliary soldiers participated in the battle, with a total of 772 killed and 943 seriously wounded.

Minor injuries cannot be counted, as almost all of the soldiers who survived were wounded.

Severe injuries are also judged to be able to walk on their own.

After sweeping the battlefield, Palatine's army marched non-stop to the northeast.

A victory for the Palatine, no doubt about that.

If it was in the past, they could already "talk and laugh".

However, the victory of the battle can hardly make up for the lack of strategy.

Alpad failed to break up the Hurd Coalition—because the Hurd Coalition was originally in bulk.

Although the various tribes are not very hard at fighting, but running away is their strength. The cavalry of the Suzi army was defeated, and the battle turned into "dogs chase rabbits".

It's okay for a dog to chase a rabbit. According to past experience, it is enough to hurt the Hurds.

But now the pack of wolves decided that Erma was in a state of decline. Even if Erma could kick one or two wolves to death, the rest of the hungry wolves would still lick their wounds and follow Erma closely.

Just as there is no independent will called the "Hed", the motives of the Hed to fight the Paratus are also very complex.

For the bottom Herd herdsmen, on the one hand, they are coerced by violence to fight, on the other hand, they also long for the class promotion brought by spills of war, rewards and military exploits.

Above the bottom herdsmen, is the full-time warrior class of Heder society.

Including the leaders of medium and small tribes, the leaders' relatives, friends, and guards.

In a way, the motivations of these people are similar to those of ordinary Heard herders. They drive the clansman, the three ministries drive them.

They don't want to lose strength, but they also long for spills of war.

Armors, weapons, muskets, ammunition, and craftsmen are all resources that are normally difficult to obtain.

Older leaders still remember the good old days. They hoped in the bottom of their hearts that they could wipe out the Palatine's standing army, and then go to Palatine to loot - provided that their own horses and horses did not suffer losses.

In the eyes of the more ambitious and powerful leaders, this battle would not only wipe out the Palatine standing army, but also a good opportunity to build prestige and control the ministries.

In addition, for all the Hurds, there is a collective emotion that is invisible, intangible, in the heart but inexpressible.

That is the hatred and resentment of the "Hurds" towards the "Platoons", which is not linked to a certain body, and is in the hearts of every Hurd.

This sentiment may not be as strong as "I hate that the tribe on the other side of the river robbed my family of two horses", but it does exist.

All in all, the white lion's "don't let go, but don't bite" strategy is recognized by most of the Hurds.

Except for the Chihe Department and the Teltown Department, most of the leaders were left with only cronies, and they needed time to gather the lost followers.

No one dared to fight the Palatine Legion head-on, but no one was willing to give up.

Arpad and Sackler's goal was achieved, and the retreat of the Palatine army became extremely quiet, and there was no more engagement.

Only the occasional Hurd light cavalry reminded the Paratus that the enemy did not stop.

…

Realizing that the second pontoon bridge was also destroyed, the emotions of the Plato army became restless and depressed.

Anyone with a normal mind can see that this army has come to a dead end.

The Paratus didn't lose, they just had nowhere to go.

That night, two auxiliary soldiers stole the horses and tried to escape.

They were captured by cavalry patrols on the beach and executed in public the next morning.

The decision must be made quickly - this is the consensus of all officers.

At the enlarged meeting of high-level officers, someone suggested: "Or, continue to go upstream?"

Continue to go upstream, a simple and crude method.

The further upstream you go, the shallower the water and the narrower the river channel will be.
"Where to go?" Colonel Bode choked back ruthless: "Even if you go 200 kilometers further upstream, the Netherworld River is still 100 meters wide! Just walk into the shaded mountain range, and get from the Monta people. Would you mind going home?"

"I'm just saying..."

There was another silence.

Someone else suggested: "I have seen workers logging in the mountains. They chop down trees in winter, transport them to the river and nail them into rafts. When the water rises in summer, they go down the river, and they can go directly to various places. The castle, we can still go to the Inland Sea."

"We also have wooden rafts?"

"Maybe it's possible..."

"Everyone."Robert The lieutenant colonel had a splitting headache: "The principle of buoyancy!"

The buoyancy of an object is related to the volume of the liquid displaced. Whether the officers here remember it or not, at least they have learned it.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert picked up the pen and paper and began to calculate: "The wooden raft is not a boat, it has no empty space, it all depends on the buoyancy of wood. The density of wood is half of water, that is, 1kg of wooden raft can carry 1kg of water. Things. It's definitely not one-to-one, but I'll give you as much as possible.

There are more than 20,000 people in the army, each weighing 70kg, and there are 140 in total. 10,000 kg, which is 1,400 tons! Where can I get the 1,400 tons of wood? Where can I find it?!” The more he calculated, the more excited Lieutenant Colonel Robert became: “This is just the weight of a person, not counting our weapons. , armor, baggage, ammunition! By the way, there are horses! And war horses! We still have tens of thousands of war horses! Besides war horses, there are draw horses.”

absolute silence at the conference site.

"Put the wooden raft? You can think of it!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert suppressed his anger: "We might as well just jump into the river with a log and throw all the weapons, armor, and war horses to the Hurds. !"

"How about building a ship without a wooden raft?" Someone asked in disbelief.

"Ship! What kind of boat?" Lieutenant Colonel Robert finally couldn't control it: "Aren't there Venetas in the army? Call them over and ask how many boats it takes to hold 20,000 people! And Warhorse! Even if you want to take the largest ship in the Inner Sea, if you want to carry 20,000 people, you need a whole fleet!"

The two generals said nothing.

In the tent, the atmosphere became extremely depressed.

Robert is usually not a very excited type, on the contrary he is very rational.

But the more rational a person is, the easier it is to collapse in the face of absolute despair.

"We are here to hold on, shall we send people to the castles to find ships?" Colonel Hogwitz asked thoughtfully: "There are quite a few ships in the castles. The wool is not every year. First load the ships at the castles of the kings, and then go down the river to the United Provinces and Veneta?”

[Note: The river in Palatu’s mouth refers to the Ember River, which is the The running river among the people of the United Provinces and the Veneta]
A glimmer of hope gleamed in everyone's eyes.

"That's right! There are boats in the castles of the kings! There are all sizes!"

"The Netherworld River is open to the big river, and the rivers on wasteland are open! Let the boat come and pick us up. "

"Gentlemen!" Lieutenant Colonel Robert couldn't help shouting: "We are upstream! The kings and castles are downstream! Haven't you heard of [Buy Boat Dongxia]? Veneta merchants Buy a boat in Palatu, carry wool to the inland sea, dismantle the boat and sell lumber, and finally ride back to the castles of the kings!"

Colonel Bode comforted Lieutenant Colonel Robert and explained to the others : "To get here from the castles of the kings is against the current. The Veneta people would rather buy a boat and go down, because it is too difficult.

To travel against the current depends on three things: oars, sails, and trackers. It's winter now, and the west wind blows, not only against the current but also against the wind. We don't need sails, and we don't have anyone to pull the fiber for us. If you want to get enough oars, you need to come to Dvineta or the Inland Sea Fleet of the United Provinces."

"Don't count on ships!" Colonel Bode concluded heavily, after a pause, he said: "The only feasible way is for us to hold on here and send people back to the kings for help. As long as the reinforcements can defeat the river For the barbarians on the other side, we can build a pontoon bridge.”

Because the pontoon bridge has no fixed piers, in order to keep the axis position from shifting, cable anchors need to be arranged on both banks, upstream and downstream.

Hard Marauders on the other side of the river were tantamount to choking the Platos' army.

The pontoon can't be built without defeating them.

"I think it's feasible!" Some school officials agreed loudly.

A school official asked worriedly: "Stay strong? Do we still have enough food?"

Colonel Bode answered firmly: "If you don't have enough, save your horse! If you don't have enough, kill the horse! Until the reinforcements arrive."

"What if the reinforcements fail to clear the siege?"

"We can pull out tens of thousands of Dussacks and militiamen just in the new reclaimed land. Maybe they won't be able to beat the thousands of Hurds on the other side?" Colonel Bode said with confidence: "The barbarians have invaded, and the militia must have been assembled from all over the country. Legion headquarters just need to send them over."

Colonel Hogwitz hugged He raised his arms and asked, "It's still too passive to expect reinforcements to clear the siege. We should find a way to send some people across the river and destroy the barbarians on the other side. There are about 3,000 or 4,000 barbarians on the other side, as long as we can send 15 platoons. That's fine."

[Note: Fifteen platoons are full of about 3,000 cavalry, but in actual combat, there are only about 1,700 cavalry because it is difficult to replenish]
Lieutenant Colonel Robert asked: "How to send In the past?"

"Ship?"

"Where can I get a boat that can hold two thousand cavalry!"

"Go upstream and use the little boat little by little to transport it? ."

"Colonel Hogwitz! Have you ever thought about morale?" Lieutenant Colonel Robert retorted with his eyes wide open: "If the Hurds can stay on the other side, they can't monitor the upstream and downstream? If you fail, you will lose not only fifteen platoons of cavalry, but also fifteen platoons of war horses.

I won't say whether you can cross the river. With the current state of the army, we won't wait for you to get to the other side. This side is about to collapse! Soldiers will think you're going to run away!"

Haugewitz sneered: "You underestimate the Paratus!"

Lieutenant Colonel Robert was agitated Furious: "We do all the hard work, what qualifications do you have to say such a thing?"

The two sides with swords drawn and bows bent are on the verge of breaking out.

"Sit me down!" Arpad fiercely slapped the table: "A duel? Get out. Don't splatter my blood!"

General Sighed : "It's not a good idea to stick to waiting for help. It seems that we can only choose the best one from the bad ones. Think about the backup plan. What if the reinforcements don't come? What if we can't clear the siege?"

The tents fell silent again.

If reinforcements don't come, or if they come and fail to clear the siege.

Then there is only one fate waiting for the fifth and sixth Legions-the whole army is wiped out.

"My Hundred-Men Commander has an idea." The one-eyed lieutenant colonel who had been silent so far broke the silence. His voice was not loud, but he grabbed everyone's attention: "That kid is a little quick-witted. , I think you can try it."

"Don't talk nonsense." General Sackler gave Lieutenant Colonel Jesska a dissatisfied look: "Tell me!"

"Build a bridge. Lieutenant Colonel Jesska took out the blueprint: "It's not a pontoon bridge, but a real bridge."

Lieutenant Colonel Robert raised his eyebrows: "A real bridge? How to build it?"

Lieutenant Colonel Jesska stepped forward and hung the blueprint on the shelf:

"Build like Kassan!"

 …

Winters is standing on a mound, and in front of him is a large camp that is in full swing.

Further ahead is the imposing manner of the majestic Netherworld River.

To the left of Winters, there is another mound of similar height.

The official designations for the two mounds by Legion Command are South Highland and North Highland.

But because the two mounds were shaped like female twin peaks, the soldiers called them...that.

The camp and two mounds are distributed in a triangular shape, next to the river beach.

This position is not very good for defense, because the two mounds are high and overlook the whole camp.

Plateau's army had to build fortresses on the southern and northern elevations and spread their troops there.

The camp is located on the terrain that is not suitable for defense, only for two reasons:
First, there is a dense coniferous forest half a kilometer northwest from here;
Second, the width of the river here is less than 200 meters, which is suitable for bridge construction.

Time is running out and the others, soldiers from the Fifth Army regiment are still digging trenches and building camp walls, and soldiers from the Sixth Legion have returned with logs.

The barracks is now a huge open-air wood workshop and blacksmith shop.

Not only blacksmiths, carpenters, charcoal-burners, masons... All the artisans in the army were gathered in one place, and Berian was among them.

Even half a bucket of water, which can only be used with a plane, was pumped away.

The bellows blew the fire hu hu, and the forging sound of ding ding dong dong kept ringing.

Excess armor and weapons are fused into axes, nails, anchors and sent to those who need them.

Everyone is working hard, and in the middle of the camp, a giant raft is taking shape.

“dong!”

“dong!”

“dong!”

At the same time, another giant raft was Floating on the water, smashing wooden stakes into the riverbed.

There are also several boats anchored in the middle of the river, taking measurements.

On the giant raft there is a rudimentary piece of equipment that looks like a pile driver: a stone pier, a set of lifting gear, a slide rail.

The raft carrying this set of equipment is the core of the bridge construction project.

Soldiers on the rafts shouted and pushed the turntables, ropes creaked, and heavy piers were lifted by little by little.

The rest of the soldiers on the raft work with a common purpose, put a log into the rail, and try to overcome the buoyancy to probe as deep as possible.

When the tip of the log hits the riverbed, the officer on the raft pulls the Crane stub.

The stone pier fell heavily, hitting the tail section of the wooden stake, and the raft trembled along with it.

The stake was knocked into the river bed by Juli nearly half a meter deep.

The soldiers chanted again and pushed the turntable—two more times, until the stakes were firmly embedded in the riverbed.

The wooden piles fixed to the river bed will serve as bridge piers, extending all the way to the other side of the river.

The super-large raft carries a six-meter-high pile driver, walking on the water like a mythical giant, and the Hed people on the other side are stunned, running and shouting.

"Have you never seen this?" Winters was delighted: "It seems that there is no Hedish version of "Takato War"."

Rid cultivator is also there next to Winters.

The old man stroked his beard and sighed: "[Selika] is a sleight of hand, it's really a sleight of hand."

"What?" Winters couldn't hear Understand.

"I'm saying your ability is amazing!"

"I didn't invent it." Winters scratched his hair a few times in shame: "It's all stuff from ancient books, It's just that there is no real object. When we were in Luyuan, the teacher led us to try to restore it."

"But." Reid cultivator smacked his lips and said, "I'm afraid this bridge will not be used."

“I don’t expect to use Doomsday anyway, just one use is enough.”

Rhett cultivator laughed heartily: “Yes.”

“White Lion! " Winters suddenly shouted at the Netherworld River: "What else is there! Use it all!"

[There is a schematic diagram, if you don't see it, please refresh it later]
The technology used by the Palatine army is actually the technology used by Caesar to build a "cross-Rhine bridge".

Use a floating pile driver to drive wooden piles into the river bed, and then use the wooden piles as piers to build bridges.

There are Germans on the opposite bank of Caesar, and the Heds on the opposite side of the Palatine; Caesar has forty thousand soldiers, and the Palatine has only 20,000; but Caesar's chosen position is 400 meters wide on the river, 9 It is only 200 meters deep, and the location selected by the Paratus people is less than 6 meters deep, which is considered to reduce the difficulty.

不过，凯撒最后还是没走那座桥……