Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 549 Siege (Part 1)

[Kings' Castle]
[West Suburbs]
“We’re too late,” Woods Frank muttered to himself, resting his chin on his hand.

……

Gazing at the semi-independent polygonal fortress that rises from the ground on the western outskirts of Kingsburg, the second most popular among the people of the United Provinces, he unconsciously began to bite his nails.

For his outstanding performance in the Battle of River Valley, Lieutenant Woods Frank was specially commended and promoted one rank, and is now a distinguished captain.

In fact, Gaisa Adonis originally intended to take advantage of this "everyone gets a reward" opportunity to promote Woods two ranks and directly into the ranks of colonels.

However, someone who made a greater contribution only got promoted one level.

Therefore, not only the commanders and combatants of Tiefeng County, but also the officers of Baishan, Leiqun, and Bianjiang Counties were innocently implicated. Apart from those who died in battle, none of the survivors were promoted more than one rank.

No wonder there are rumors that someone only took one step this time, which was actually a self-inflicted injury by the four-person group to avoid the expansion of military ranks.

……

“Yes,” Major Loson Gyula, standing to the side, agreed wholeheartedly, wiping away his “tears” as he sighed, “If only we could have arrived a month earlier.”

……

Although the eyeball of Loson's blind left eye has been removed, the wound has not yet fully healed.

After examining the patient, Father Kaman said he was powerless to help and could only wait for time to work its magic.

Later, during the preparations for the New Reclamation Free People's Congress, Losang rested quietly and his eye injury improved.

But after he mounted his warhorse again these days, colorless liquid began to frequently flow from his eyes.

Therefore, Losang had to carry several handkerchiefs with him to wipe himself at any time.

Some Xilin citizens who were unaware of the truth thought that the major was a sentimental person, otherwise why would he shed tears so easily?
……

“A month? I’m afraid it’s more than that.” Woods shook his head seriously. “If you ask me, we’re at least thirty years too late.”

Losson paused, his hand wiping away tears stopped, and it took him a while to realize that Woods was joking. He couldn't help but shiver.

“I was worried that you would get too anxious after seeing the skills of the provincials,” Loson said with a complicated look in his eyes. “Since you still have the mind to joke, I’m relieved.”

“You’re right. I was really anxious before today. I couldn’t eat or sleep properly, fearing that we would arrive too late and give the enemy too much time to prepare, thus missing the opportunity to attack the city,” Woods Frank sighed, looking exhausted.

The next second, he said with relief, "But now, my heart is dead, and my hope of easily entering the city has been completely shattered, so I am not anxious at all."

Upon hearing this, Losang frowned: "You mean, there's no other way but to besiege them? The United Provinces are good at digging, but they are outnumbered. Is besieging them the only option?"

Woods chuckled and retorted, "Do we really have that many people?"

"There are more of them than the provincial bastards, right?"

The intellectuals in the artillery department simply cannot explain things to the muscle-bound cavalrymen.

But he had to explain even if he couldn't, so Woods Frank explained as succinctly as possible: "You're right, in a battle on flat ground, we definitely have a numerical advantage."

"But siege warfare is not calculated that way. In theory, siege warfare requires more troops than field battles."

"Because the besieging side must not only win a siege battle, but also win a field battle against the enemy reinforcements who come to relieve the siege."

"There are countless examples of battles in which the besieging side can win the siege battle but not the siege relief battle, ultimately failing to achieve their goal."

When the siege was mentioned, Woods' eyes lit up, and he counted on his fingers as if reciting a familiar story: "Pottera, Wernner, and Beldegrad—that's how the Oathbreakers won those glorious victories against the Saracens!"

When he heard his junior use the pseudo-emperor's achievements as an example, Losang was very displeased, but he did not argue with the bookworm in the artillery department. He just snorted and said, "That's great. We don't have to worry about enemy reinforcements."

Even if Woods was slow to realize, he understood that his senior was a little unhappy.

So he immediately stopped and tried to end the conversation: "Anyway... anyway, it's impossible to just break in now, and it seems the other side has no intention of surrendering. What to do is to wait for General Gaisa to come and let him decide."

“Wait a minute,” Loson raised an eyebrow, completely unaware of his bullying behavior, “you still haven’t told me why you think ganging up on us is the only option?”

“This…” Woods Frank just wanted to end the conversation quickly. He turned to look towards the city wall, avoiding Lawson’s gaze, and gestured towards the various gun emplacements on the wall, stammering, “This…”

"Sigh, don't overthink it. I just feel... even without the fortifications added by Chief Cornelius, King's Castle is still a tough nut to crack... and the Chief has already added a lot of nails to this tough nut... a direct assault would result in heavy losses... so, I think, since we're not in a hurry, it's better to slowly besiege it, so fewer people die..."

Woods spoke slower and slower, his brows furrowed more and more, his neck stretched higher and higher, and his gaze became more and more focused. In the end, he simply stopped talking and stared intently at the island in the middle of the river upstream of Kingsburg.

From where Woods and Loson were positioned, the distant island in the middle of the river appeared as a small, blurry patch of color, with barely visible human figures moving about on it.

"Huh?" Woods turned to look at Lawson. "Senior, that's Margit Island, right?"

"Where else could it be?" Losang asked, puzzled.

Woods asked in surprise, "I remember there was only one convent on Margit Island?"

"Oh, you mean that fortress?" Loson casually pointed with his riding crop at the newly appeared fortress on the island in the river. "The provincial barons built it. I heard they even demolished the old summer palace to find stone..."

"I think there's still some movement on the island?" Woods cupped his hands together, held the container to his eyes, trying to see more clearly. "Is it not finished yet?"

"It's not finished yet, it's still under repair," Luo Song nodded casually under the astonished gaze of his junior.

He understood what Woods was thinking, of course, and sneered, "I may have lost an eye, but I'm not completely blind. I've also thought about sneaking up to that fort before it's finished and taking it..."

“But it won’t work,” Loson sighed deeply. “There’s no boat, not even a plank of wood. The reeds along the riverbank have all been burned by the provincialists; they haven’t left us a single sturdy clump of grass.”

Losang pointed behind him with his riding crop, "Not only along the banks of the Ten Arrows River, but within a twenty-kilometer radius of the Fortress of the Kings, there are hardly any mature trees left. All the groves I remember have been burned and felled by the Allied Provincials..."

Losang sighed again, "Just wait, I've already sent people to find timber."

However, Woods Frank did not wait in place. He cracked his whip and rode straight toward the distant island in the middle of the river.

[Note: Andre and Woods are both captains now. I made a mistake when writing the last chapter on negotiations and wrote them as majors. This has been corrected.]
I'm sorry today was so short, I feel guilty. Every day off I'm full of ambition and want to...
I've been working on so many updates, and as a result, I have more to do on my days off than on weekdays, and my concentration is even lower than on weekdays. [Orz]
(End of this chapter)