Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

The Xiluo army began to retreat like a tide, gradually moving away from the artillery coverage area.

Lai Gou'er waved his hand to signal a stop to the shelling, then, ignoring the reactions of Hope and the others, fell into deep thought.

He hadn't expected the Church to possess gunpowder weapons.

However, although they had cannons, their cannon technology was not as advanced as his own.

The cannons currently used on the city walls were all taken from warships.

And the cannons mounted on the warships were still the old-fashioned cannons used in earlier years.

The newest Italian cannons, small in size and powerful, just hadn't been used on his batch of ships.

In contrast, the enemy's cannons were extremely cumbersome, even more so than his old-fashioned cannons.

Their technology was lacking, but they compensated with sheer mass.

Relying on the massive cannon body, they could barely compare to his side, but their flexibility was too poor.

The enemy artillerymen operating the cannons were also not very skilled.

The Great Jing's artillerymen, over years of experience, had long since developed a set of highly efficient operating procedures.

But the other side was far behind, appearing somewhat disorganized.

Even so, the fact that the enemy had mastered firearms meant that the intensity and form of warfare had completely changed.

Although he hadn't seen them use firearms yet, the current quality of bows and arrows couldn't be 100% replaced by firearms.

It should be said that the strengths of both sides were equal, with his side being slightly at a disadvantage; his biggest advantage was that he was defending the city.

The Xiluo and Church armies had a large number of troops and were not short of supplies.

The difficulty of defending the city suddenly increased exponentially.

He had originally planned to repel a wave of attacking troops and then launch an attack directly on the Holy City.

It seemed that there was no chance to leave now, and he could only ask the Great Jing for reinforcements and look for an opportunity to counterattack.

Otherwise, if the city were captured and the port lost, it would be extremely difficult to recover.

After a long silence, Lai Gou'er said, "Duke, how long can the food in the city last?"

"Half a year..."

"Mm."

Lai Gou'er called his deputy and said, "Immediately write two letters, one to be sent to the garrison, requesting the deployment of troops and firearms, as much as they can bring. The other to inform the imperial court that the Church has mastered firearms, so that the court can prepare early. We will prepare to defend the city, and as soon as reinforcements arrive, we will immediately divide our forces to attack the Holy City."

"Yes!"

The deputy responded and quickly retreated.

Although the first wave of fighting quickly repelled the enemy, the Church's firearms clearly brought a great shock to the Duke and others.

Their original full confidence had been shaken.

Lai Gou'er gently patted the Duke's shoulder twice: "Duke, we may have to fight a protracted war. Our cannons are stronger, and we have the advantage of being high above. Moreover, I have immediately requested support from the overseas garrison. When our second batch of men arrives, it will be time for a counterattack."

"Now, you must work with the priest to stabilize the situation in the city. There must be no trouble. Control the food supply and collect the food from the people's hands for centralized distribution. Also, send another group of people to reinforce the city gates, blocking them all the way down so that the enemy's shells cannot penetrate them."

"Do... do you really think we can win? I think the Church's firearms are bigger than ours," the Duke said in terror.

Lai Gou'er smiled: "It's not necessarily the bigger the better. Look at how cumbersome their equipment is. If we had enough manpower to rush out and fight them, how much better would their cannons be than scrap iron?"

"And don't worry, the cannons we're using now are not the best."

.....

Outside Fika City.

The Xiluo troops and the Templar army had stopped five miles away.

At this moment, the army was panic-stricken, after all, the scene of the artillery barrage just now was indescribably shocking.

Even Mode, who had experienced many battles, was still in shock. After his emotions had completely stabilized, he walked up to the Judge and said, word by word, "Judge, I need an explanation."

The Judge opened his mouth, his panic mixed with confusion: "I don't know, I really don't know... why Fika would have such weapons. General, what do we do now?"

Mode gritted his teeth: "What else can we do but retreat! Go back and reorganize our men. I need the Church to provide more resources, otherwise this siege will never end."

Retreat?

The Judge suddenly calmed down: "We can't retreat, and we can't even increase our troops! His Holiness has ordered that Fika must be taken. By now, the news of our campaign should have spread. We have deployed the Templar army. If Fika is unharmed, I don't need to say what impact it will have on the Church, right?"

Mode's neck veins bulged, and he roared, "How do you expect me to fight in this situation! This so-called divine punishment weapon is best suited for defending a city. This thing is too heavy; it shouldn't be a weapon for attacking a city! Now the enemy is using it to defend the city, and what about us? We can't even push it away fast enough to escape!"

"I warned you long ago! Insufficient troops, insufficient troops! We need at least five times the number of troops as the enemy to be sure of victory, and you need a quick victory. That's impossible now."

"If you want to fight this battle, you can only go back and plan for the long term. Otherwise, with only half regular troops and half peasant soldiers, are we going to fill the gap with our lives? Even if we take it, only one in ten of our men will survive!"

One in ten?

The Judge slowly raised his head, one eye still stained red with the blood of the Cardinal: "If we can take it, one in ten is fine."

"What are you worried about? It's just that more people will die. The Church will provide compensation. As long as you can agree, money is not a problem. We might even provide you with divine punishment weapons in the future."

"Damn it! Half of these are my men!" Mode said angrily, "If you're not afraid of casualties, the Templar army can go first, and we'll cover the rear."

The Judge said coldly, "General, which is more important, the lives of these people or the face of the Church and His Holiness? I don't need to say more, right?"

Mode was speechless with anger.

He was right. If they rolled back in such a dejected manner, the Church's and the Pope's faces would definitely be greatly damaged.

He couldn't bear this consequence, and neither could the Emperor.

The Judge's voice rang out again: "General, they all say you are the best general in the Xiluo Kingdom. Think of a way. Even if it takes a little longer, it doesn't matter as long as we can take the city. The Church will definitely reward you greatly, and His Holiness will definitely receive you in person."

Mode's face changed several times, and countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Finally, he sighed deeply: "If we want to fight... we can, but it will take several months."

"Several months? Can't it be shorter? Fika is just a small, insignificant country. It needs..."

"No." Mode shook his head and interrupted him, "We will garrison here and start building trebuchets. We will deploy trebuchets in the same position as before to harass the enemy city."

"Can the trebuchets throw into the city? Don't lie to me," the Judge questioned.

Trebuchets could only throw about two hundred meters at most. The position where they had fired the cannons earlier was about five hundred meters away.

Mode sighed softly: "Use gravel to harass the soldiers on the city walls. The Church's expedition must have caused instability in the enemy's morale. We must continue to harass them. Also, that divine punishment weapon seems to shoot out iron balls, right? That thing is a consumable. We can try to deplete the enemy's military supplies."

"Looking at the size of this city, their food supplies must be limited... In the long run, there will probably be internal chaos. It's best to go back and find someone to send a fleet to surround their port and prohibit fishing. However, they can't get close to the port. If they deploy divine punishment weapons in the port, any ship will be riddled with holes."

"That's the general arrangement. We'll plan the details later. All we can do is wait for an opportunity to move and lead a large army into the city. As long as we can successfully enter the city, the rest will be simple."

The situation had changed too suddenly. The Judge sighed deeply: "Do as you say, but as quickly as possible...."