Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 308 Seesaw
"[Herd] What's going on?" The red-feathered warrior with a lion's nose stopped his horse at the edge of the Revodan Valley and asked the blue-feathered warrior ahead with dissatisfaction, "[Herd] Didn't the Fire-Baker say that he had already captured the city, brother?"

The blue-feathered warrior, who resembled the red-feathered warrior and also had a lion's nose, frowned and said, "[Herd] How should I know? Pick a few good men and ask them across the river."

From their elevated position, the two had a clear view of the white smoke billowing from the south bank of the city wall.

But what stood between them and the battlefield, besides the land, was a wide river.

Little Lion Nose responded softly, then asked somewhat bewilderedly, "[Herd] So what should we do now?"

"[Hede] The man by the fire seems to be struggling, and it's to be expected of him." The lion-nosed man narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a deep voice, "[Hede] But if he loses, neither you nor I will fare well. You take your men and go, and give the two-legged man on the north bank a fright."

Little Lion Nose whistled, turned his horse around, and fired a whistling arrow into the sky.

The more than one hundred trusted followers who accompanied him dismounted and reluctantly removed their saddlebags.

Whether riding or following a horse, every horse's saddlebag was bulging with "trophies," and these were only the parts they carried with them.

Heading north along the main road, out of sight, more Heds were leading slaves and captives toward Jervodan.

The left wing of Teldun's army has arrived.

……

In the old town of Zhevodan, Anna found the old Mayor Priest in the midst of chaos in the town hall.

“I see beacon fires,” Anna said, trying her best to remain calm and composed. “Mr. Mayor.”

“Yes, the signal fire, Madame Montagne.” Old Priskin’s wrinkles deepened as he struggled to his feet, leaning on the table. “The outpost at Hammerhold discovered the barbarian attack and lit the signal fire… Thankfully, the lads all returned, and the inhabitants of Hammerhold were evacuated early this morning…”

"Hammerburg? Is it to the north?"

“That’s right.” Old Priskin’s eyes were full of weariness. “They are barbarians from Vaughan County, alas.”

The city hall had become like a military camp, with panicked city councilors carrying out bundles of weapons and distributing them to equally panicked citizens.

However, the vast majority of young and middle-aged men were taken to the south bank to guard the city. Apart from half of the city guards maintaining order and the recent residents of Hammerburg, the men left on the north bank were either too old or too young.

Even old Priskin, who needed a cane to walk, had a short sword in front of him.

"Grandpa!" A young man in a leather jacket with armor plating rushed in, "I've brought all my friends!"

Upon seeing a young and beautiful woman in the mayor's office, little Priskin was stunned.

“And this is,” old Priskin coughed lightly, “the wife of the tribunal Montagne.”

Little Priskin's knees trembled involuntarily. He hurriedly bowed, left quickly, and carefully closed the door behind him.

Anna didn't understand why the other person looked at her like a mouse before a cat, but she was quick-witted and soon guessed what was going on.

But those things were obviously not important at the moment. Anna looked at Mayor Priestin and asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

Old Priskin wanted to say "no," but he replied anyway: "I have sent someone to ask Tribunal Mason for help, but I'm afraid he won't be able to get here anytime soon. All the councilors, including myself, have to go up the city walls. If you can help keep the civilians in the city calm, that would be great."

"Don't worry," Anna nodded gently.

“Or…” Old Priskin’s mind raced, “could you please find me another two hundred—three hundred strong women?”

……

The new town of Thevordan.

Every musket in the entire city was moved to Arrowhead Fort on the west wall, and the wooden cannons positioned on the south and east walls were also concentrated on the west wall.

Behind Arrowhead Fort, militiamen are racing against time to build a barbican.

On Arrowhead Fortress, Mason personally directed two wooden cannons to bombard the Teldun's shield wagons with solid shot.

Musketeers were positioned on the flanks of Arrowhead Fortress, maintaining distance to flank the enemy. Lead bullets and arrows rained down, constantly reaping lives.

"Ah!!!" A burly militiaman roared as he took a running start and threw a grenade at the shield truck with all his might.

The moment the grenade left his hand, he felt as if all his strength had been drained away, and he gasped for breath.

However, what happened next made the air freeze: the grenade that flew out of the city wall flew back to the city wall, and the unburnt gunpowder fuse was still hissing.

The fuse was left too long! The barbarians picked it up and threw it back!
Mason, standing beside the cannon, was tackled to the ground by the demon Ons. The other militiamen screamed in despair and scrambled away.

The grenadier militiamen also wanted to escape, but their lower limbs were too stiff to move.

The old sergeant behind him cursed and shoved him aside, then grabbed a grenade and threw it over the wall.

The grenade exploded before it was even released from its grasp.

The old sergeant and the grenadier militiaman were killed instantly by the explosion, and flying shrapnel seriously injured three others. The old sergeant's right arm was blown off, and bits of flesh were scattered everywhere.

As the acrid smoke dissipated, someone was vomiting.

Mason scrambled to his feet and roared, "What are you standing there for? Take him away!"

The stretcher team rushed over and carried away the dead and the seriously injured. One of the stretcher team members was picking up scraps of flesh from the ground, but he couldn't finish picking them all up.

"Beat the drum!" Mason personally lit the propellant of the wooden cannon: "Fire!"

The sounds of war drums and gunfire rang out again, and the battle continued.

"Your Excellency!" After much internal struggle, the middle-aged Dussac, who was in charge of the cavalry, finally made up his mind and approached Mason: "Let me lead the cavalry out for a charge."

The team leader had volunteered, but his knees were trembling slightly.

Mason's face was blackened by the gunpowder smoke. He looked at the other man with a scrutinizing gaze: "No one can meet you. You'll surely die if you leave the city."

Dusak gritted his teeth and replied, "I know."

“You’re not afraid of death, so I can’t let you go and die in vain.” Mason wiped the ash from his face, unusually calm: “There’s no need to go out of the city to fight back; it’s pointless.”

With the deployment of more troops, the defenders of Jervodan gradually turned the tables and suppressed the Teldun.

Mason summoned his militia captains and redeployed the defenses.

Many militia captains appeared dazed, clearly not yet accustomed to bloodshed and death.

“Listen up, don’t be afraid of the Teldens digging trenches.” Mason slammed his sword into the ground. “No matter how fast they dig, they can’t be as fast as us! We can just build another wall! The barbarians are still too green for earthwork.”

Many militia captains subconsciously swallowed.

Mason pointed to the east and south: "The Teldens won't fight to the death in one place. The troops on the south and east walls, hold your positions and don't crane your necks to watch what's happening on the west wall!"

The militia captains defending the south and east walls nodded vigorously.

"Sir, what about the smoke of war in the old city?" someone asked, hesitating to speak.

"You need not worry about the safety of the Old City. Tribunal Montagne and I have long been prepared," Mason replied decisively, a glint of fire in his eyes. "As long as we can hold the walls, the situation will be in our favor, not the Teldens'!"

Mason suddenly drew his sword, startling the militia captains, who involuntarily took a half-step back.

"See that?" Mason shouted sharply. "In hand-to-hand combat, a barbarian could wipe you all out in one charge! Holding a musket, standing twenty meters away, firing at the enemy—what's so difficult about that?"

At this moment, Demon Ons strode to Mason's side: "Your Excellency, the hand cannon is ready."

"Let's go!" Mason suddenly perked up.

……

The northern part of the city of Zhevodan.

Little Lion's Nose led his men around the city wall, but instead of finding a usable breach, they discovered that there were at least a thousand defenders on the wall.

He intended to approach and scout the situation, but as soon as he entered within an arrow's reach of the city wall, the guard Xiao Lei immediately opened fire.

Little Lion Nose didn't want to take the risk, so he retreated.

The defenders of the northern city were on edge. Every man who could take up a weapon was on the city walls, and every flag they could find was planted atop them.

At this moment, only half of the garrison in the northern city were men, while the other half were women with their faces painted black and dressed in men's clothes.

Seeing that the barbarian cavalry had only probed briefly before leaving, a chorus of gasps for breath rose from the city walls, a testament to the relief of those who had survived the ordeal.

Little Lionnose returned to the edge of the valley and told his brother what he had seen.

With only a hundred or so followers, the Lion-Nose Brothers' attack on a city defended by thousands of soldiers was tantamount to suicide.

“[Hede] Let us and the rest of our tribesmen come and join us.” After much deliberation, the lion-nosed man decided that it was best to play it safe. He and his brothers had reaped a great harvest from their raid and did not want to lose their lives at this time.

The lion-nosed man then asked his younger brother, "[Herdet] Has anyone been sent to the other side of the river?"

"[Herdit] sent someone, but he hasn't returned yet." Little Lionnose asked sullenly, "[Herdit] brother, if the fire-warmers want to share our spoils, what should we do?"

The lion-nosed man sneered: "[Hede] The fire-gatherer wanted to eat meat, but ended up gnawing on bones. Who can he blame? Horses have four legs, and people have two. If he was unfair, neither you nor I would have to stay in Teldun."

"[Hede] Good!" Little Lion-Nose was already dissatisfied with the way the fire-gatherers divided the area into two wings: "[Hede] The Golden Man has been bullying us for a long time! You and I have long..."

"[Hede] Don't talk about this yet!" Big Lion Nose stopped his brother and ordered, "[Hede] Set up camp here and have the men go out and find some food and drink."

The two lions plundered a lot of valuables, but carried little food and drink, relying entirely on scavenging along the way to replenish their supplies.

More than a hundred Hart cavalrymen found a sheltered spot to lay down their loot, and then split up to plunder nearby populated areas.

That evening, Winters sent a cavalry infantry battalion to the north bank to raid the camp.

The heads of the lions, large and small, were severed. ...

The new city of Ghevordan, outside Arrowhead Fort on the western side of the city wall, the trenches of the Teldun.

As the defenders brought in more musketeers, the Teldunmen gradually lost ground in the exchange of fire.

Musketeers only need ammunition and courage, while archers need not only ammunition and courage but also physical strength.

Moreover, when facing close-range fire from heavy muskets, whether you're wearing armor or not, the only difference is whether you die a little faster or a little slower.

The successive deaths of Red Feather [Tahei]'s attendants and guards shattered his spirit.

But the hundred cavalrymen supervising the battle were right behind him, and Tahei dared not retreat. He could only keep telling himself: the reward for the fire-bringer would surely be as generous as promised.

The subjects and slaves of Tahe were working hard to dig trenches. They were all herders and not used to digging.

Logically speaking, they shouldn't have needed to do this kind of work in the first place.

Because enslaving prisoners of war and driving women and children to fill trenches were the common methods used by various tribes.
However, since they couldn't catch a single two-legged person outside the city, they had no choice but to have their men take action.

Thunder rumbled repeatedly on the city wall, and the shields, nailed with iron plates and cowhide, were as fragile as straw mats. Even after a solid iron ball pierced through the shield, it could still shatter flesh.

Tahei ordered his men to pile soil into the shield wagon, which gradually turned into a mud wagon, temporarily keeping the deadly thunderbolt out.

No one in the tribe dared to shoot at the two-legged people with bows anymore, no matter how high the bounty offered by the Kotas.

Fortunately, the two-legged people did not dare to take the initiative to attack, and the two sides fought at close range, neither of them able to do anything to the other.

As the trenches were dug deeper and deeper, it seemed the two-legged men realized that continuing the exchange of fire was pointless. The gunfire became increasingly sparse, and the thunder ceased its roar.

Hiding behind the gradually thickening and heightening earthen wall, Tahei found himself beginning to feel safe in this small space.

After an eerie silence, another muffled clap of thunder sounded.

But instead of the shudder of a solid iron ball hitting a shield, nothing happened.

"[Herd's] shot missed?" Tahe thought to himself.

No, a dark iron ball, accompanied by the sound of wind, crashed into the back of the shield cart like a giant hailstone, sinking deep into the ground.

Tahei's eyes widened, because from his position, Da Lei was completely out of his reach.

"[Herd] Thrown in?" Tahei was startled. "[Herd] There are such strongmen among the two-legged people?"

Next was the second one, which had an extra hemp rope compared to the first one.

Tahei's chest nearly burst open as he howled and leaped into the trench: "[Herd] Black Thunder!"

It was too late. The grenade exploded with a "boom," taking Tahei with it.

……

The new town of Thevordan.

A large open space was cleared behind the west city wall, with twelve oddly shaped short and thick iron pipes pointing diagonally towards the sky.

They look like mortars, but their caliber is too small and their walls are too thin.

Mason carefully took out a modified grenade. Compared to ordinary grenades, the grenade in Mason's hand had an extra layer of protection on its fuse.

After lighting the fuse, Mason immediately loaded the shell into the short-barreled gun.

Demon Ons then lit the fuse of the short-barreled cannon, and the two retreated far away.

The short-barreled cannon roared, and grenades were launched into the sky, disappearing without a trace.

"Use it like this!" Mason looked around at his subordinates: "Do you understand?"

The gunners nodded, seemingly understanding.

They had learned from Tribunal Mason how to use first, second, and third generation wooden cannons, but this grenade-firing machine was something they had never seen or heard of before.

The gunner responsible for observing the impact point ran over and reported: "Missing!"

"Closer or farther?" Mason asked.

"Getting closer! Still veering to the right!"

"Get him two small flags." Mason pointed to the gunner in charge of observation: "Let's use flags to communicate, so he doesn't have to run back and forth."

Demon Ons nodded.

The blacksmith workshops in Ghevodan were not capable of casting an entire cannon barrel, let alone forging one directly.

Therefore, they could only forge short iron pipes first, and then splice them together to form long cannon barrels, which was both laborious and time-consuming.

Mason's biggest shortage of time was time. In that case, the artillery captain decided to skip the welding process and directly convert the short iron pipe, which was one foot long and one inch thick, into a mortar for firing howitzers.

The renovation work began on the very first day of the siege, and it came in handy today.

"The Teldenans are digging trenches, pushing shields, and building earthen walls, trying to block direct fire." Mason said to his men with a cruel satisfaction, "Good! Let them taste the power of mortars!"

……

The mortar that fired howitzers could easily launch four-pound shells twenty meters away, and the trajectory was curved, allowing the shells to fly over the shields and land in the trench.

These became the final straw that broke the camel's back for the Telden people.

Although the Teldens who attacked the new city showed a tenacity far exceeding that of ordinary Hed tribes, they could not dig trenches while being bombarded.

Mason thought to himself that if he were in charge of the siege, he should be able to devise some countermeasures. Mortars were not without their drawbacks; they were equally dangerous to both the user and the enemy.

However, everything that happened today has exhausted both sides.

The Terdun people abandoned their dead, wounded, and shield wagons, and fled in disarray as the supervising cavalry brandished their swords.

The defending troops were also unable to pursue, and there wasn't even a celebratory cheer.

As darkness fell, the battlefield fell silent, with only the painful groans of the abandoned, dying Teldun people audible.

Some daring and greedy militiamen secretly climbed over the city walls, intending to cut off the barbarians' heads, but unexpectedly encountered the Telden people who were planning to loot the dead. Both sides were startled and fled in panic, shouting incoherently.

Mason sent men to burn the Telden's shield wagons and to backfill the enemy's trenches as much as possible.

The siege resumed the next day.

Teldun's forces mobilized more troops, digging trenches to approach from the front while splitting off to try and bypass the city walls by taking the river.

The Teldenans, who launched a surprise attack from the river, were intercepted by the fleet of ships.

Mason mounted the second-generation wooden cannon on the small boat and unleashed a deadly barrage of stones and iron blocks at the enemy in the puddles.

The Teldenans, who forced their way to shore, discovered the shallow riverbed riddled with sharp wooden spikes—how could Richard Mason have left such a loophole? They were quickly killed on the riverbank.

On the third day, the Teldun people finally broke through the trench and the city moat.

Mason also resorted to the last resort.

With an explosion that shook the earth, a huge gap was blasted open on the bank of the St. George River in the northeast of the new city of Gevordan.

The surging river water flooded the city moat, and the Teldun slaves who were digging through the walls had no time to escape; they either drowned or were shot.

The moat became a city moat—or rather, it was a city moat from the very beginning, but it was deliberately left unfilled.

On the fourth day, the area outside the city was quiet.

Mason sent men out of the city to investigate, only to find the area outside the city deserted.

"The barbarians have been defeated?" Old Priskin was overjoyed, as if granted a pardon.

“No.” There was not a trace of joy in Mason’s eyes: “I’m afraid they have achieved their goal.”

"I don't understand what you mean, Your Excellency."

"The Teldenans' real goal has always been to force Winters to attack. They want Winters most, and us second."

"You mean...?" Old Priskin asked, half alarmed and half delighted, "Lord Montagne has launched an attack?"

“The Teldenans have withdrawn on their own initiative,” Mason said calmly. “This means the real battle has begun.”

Meanwhile, at the dam stronghold on the banks of the Great Horn River, Tamas and Samukin also discovered that the Terdun who had besieged them had vanished without a trace.

"Release the water now!" Tamas immediately decided.

“The water isn’t full yet!” Samukin disagreed: “If we release the water now, no one can guarantee that it will destroy the pontoon bridge.”

"We can't wait any longer!" Tamas roared. "The Telden's retreat means fighting has broken out at the centurion's place! We must let them pass now!"

“Demolish the dam,” Captain Morrow suddenly spoke up.

Samukin looked at the two of them and reluctantly agreed.

Mason and Tamas were right; the final battle had already begun a day earlier.

[There will be another chapter tonight—or maybe early tomorrow morning—so that I won't be behind on anything.]
[This is the last time. I'll never set a flag again. (O_O；)]
[Setting false flags really does require an apology (T_T)]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments. Thank you everyone!]
[Thank you to all the readers for your support during this difficult time of updating. Thank you everyone!]
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(End of this chapter)