Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 562 Siege (XIV)
Late at night, outside the city of Zhuwangbao, the attacking side's position.

Captain Charka Matt, battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the Redfield County Infantry Regiment, led a small squad of light infantrymen, who silently crawled out of the front trenches and, following the marks left by the scouts, made their way to the bastion located in front of the main gate of the new city of Kingsburg.

Since the United Statesmen send riflemen out of the city every night, Captain Matt's route tonight has been cleared in advance by scouts to avoid any surprises along the way.

Through a man who claimed to be an inside agent, the attacking side obtained a great deal of intelligence about the Southern Area Army.

For example, they learned that the so-called Southern Army was nothing more than a donkey in horse skin, consisting of four battalions of infantry, plus some artillery and engineers, totaling no more than three thousand men.

For example, they also learned that because Jason Cornelius himself was an avid chess player, all the new fortresses built by the United States were codenamed after chess pieces.

The fort on the banks of the Jinliu River is codenamed "Knight".
The fortress on Margit Island is codenamed "The Bishop".

The light infantry, who infiltrated the death zone between the attacking and defending positions, had a target codenamed "Queen".

The code name chosen by the United Provinces alone reveals just how dangerous this large fortress, standing in the center of the battle line and protecting the entire new city, was to the enemy, and how important it was to the defenders.

Meanwhile, on the upper reaches of the Ten Arrows River, on the opposite bank of Magitek Island, diagonally opposite the bishop's castle.

Captain Woods Frank led more than twenty men to carry four rafts down the riverbank in the darkness.

They pushed the raft into the river as quietly as possible, and then walked into the water themselves.

But instead of sitting on the raft, they stayed in the water, six people in a group, pushing the raft against the current, gliding towards Margit Island under the cover of night.

Standing on the bank, the surface of the slowly flowing Shijian River is as delicate as velvet.

However, once people step into the water, they can immediately feel the immense power hidden beneath the river's calm exterior.

There is no sky or earth; the river sweeps you in from all directions, presses you down, and gently yet irresistibly carries you to where it wants you to go.

Woods Frank is fighting against just such a force.

The river relentlessly pushes the raft downstream, and anyone who tries to challenge it will find themselves in a bitter battle destined to fail.

Fortunately, after a few days of trying, Woods figured out some techniques.

He gripped the edge of the raft with both hands, distributing his weight as evenly as possible onto it. At the same time, he tightened his abdomen, lifted his waist, and forcefully kicked his legs backward and downward.

Most importantly, don't fight the river. No matter where the river wants to take you, just keep pushing towards the opposite bank.

Having grasped this trick, Woods was no longer as disheveled as he had been on his first night swimming across the river. The men he chose were all skilled swimmers.

With everyone working in perfect harmony, the raft quickly crossed the center line of the river.

As they drew closer to Margit Island and the Ten Arrows River slowed, Woods Frank's nerves tightened, and the White Mountain County soldiers escorting the raft moved more and more subdued.

The riverbanks were deathly silent, except for the tireless chirping of insects echoing the flowing water, stirring the hearts of listeners.

Woods stared wide-eyed at the opposite bank of the river.

Suddenly, a piercing whistle drowned out all the noise.

A blood-red meteor shot into the sky at the sound of a whistle, illuminating the waters near the shore of Margit Island.

"Go!" Woods shouted without hesitation. He skillfully spun around in the water, kicked off the raft, and swam back the way he came.

Woods' men even abandoned their rafts and turned back before the provincials' illumination rockets took off and the captain gave the order; many soldiers jumped into the water and disappeared into the river.

Their advance action was correct, because the next moment, a series of gunshots erupted on Margit Island.

The musketeers of the defending army opened fire fiercely on the river from the trenches behind the "horse-stopping stakes"—that's what the Paratists called the sharp wooden stakes that the United Provincemen had driven into the riverbed.

However, since Woods and his men had already retreated immediately, all the shots hit empty air.

Some of the lead balls hit the raft and embedded themselves in the wood; the rest hit the water's surface, gliding a short distance with a "plop" before exhausting their power and crashing to the riverbed.

Meanwhile, gunfire erupted on the riverbank on the west side—White Mountain musketeers began firing at Magitek Island to cover their comrades' evacuation.

Not to be outdone, the provincial musketeers also turned their guns and opened fire on the "rebel" positions on the opposite bank of the river.

The two sides fought fiercely across the river, their blows neck and neck locked in a close contest.

The rebels' momentum was finally suppressed when the cannons on the provincial forts in front of the bishop's castle joined the battle.

Two rounds of shotgun shells hit the "rebels'" breastwork, and the gunfire on the west bank immediately subsided.

A burst of exhilarating cheers immediately erupted on Margit Island.

On the gun emplacement in front of the bishop's castle, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Montecouccoli, who had personally operated the cannon and fired two rounds of accurate shots, casually stuck the iron rod back into the brazier, showing no sign of pride on his face.

In the eyes of the artillery lieutenant colonel, exchanging fire with the "rebels" across the river was a pure waste of ammunition.

Even with artillery, it would be difficult to inflict effective damage on the "rebels" hiding behind cover.

However, the number of casualties is not the only metric for evaluating a battle. While exchanging fire across the river is a waste of ammunition, it is necessary to maintain morale.

“At least the rebels are wasting gunpowder too,” Montecuccoli thought.

As expected, the shelling only silenced the "rebels" temporarily. Before long, red lights flashed and gunfire rang out again from the "rebels'" breastwork on the opposite bank of the river.

Seeing this, the provincial musketeers in the trenches also resumed their indiscriminate firing, which wasted gunpowder.

The same thing has been happening every night lately, except for the night before last, because it happened twice the night before last.

The "rebels" never stopped trying to transport supplies to Bishop's Castle using small rafts.

But in Raymond Montacuccoli's view, the rebels were simply wasting their time.

Not to mention that the "rebels'" overly regular modus operandi completely negated the important advantage of "surprise" in offensive operations.

Even if the "rebels" were able to approach Margit Island undetected, how could they possibly break through the defenses set up on the shore by the garrison with only a few small rafts of troops?
Over the past few days, Montecocoli has been reinforcing the defenses of Magitek Island.

Today, the shallows on the west bank of the Ten Arrows River on the side of Margit Island are covered with sharp wooden stakes.

The sharp wooden stakes were half underwater and half above water, spaced an arm's length apart, forming a long, impenetrable line, like a fence on the water.

Iron rings were added to the top of the wooden stakes. An iron cable passed through the iron rings, turning the scattered wooden stakes into a whole.

Any vessel wishing to land on the island from the west must first break through this "water barrier".

After the water fence was completed, Montecochli led his men to dig a trench around the riverbank.

Through this circular trench, even on pitch-black nights, Lieutenant Colonel Lordwick's musketeers could quickly reach any point on the riverbank. Anyone attempting to breach the water barrier would face deadly fire from within the trench.

Meanwhile, the firepower from the opposite bank of the river was having difficulty suppressing the gunners in the trenches.

Give Raymond Montecouccoli some more time, and a rammed earth road will appear around Margit Island.

By then, even artillery could be repositioned at any time to quickly support any possible landing site of the "rebels".

Rammed earth roads can be upgraded to gravel roads, and gravel roads can be upgraded to paved roads.

Given enough manpower and time, the entire island of Margit could be transformed into a fortress.

Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Montecochli was not very worried about the safety of Margit Island.

Sometimes, he would even reflect on whether he had lost his composure because of the easy fall of Bishop's Castle, and gone too far, so that the rebels completely lost their desire to attack Magitek Island, thus ruining the original battle plan of "luring the rebels to the island and then killing them".

At present, Raymond Montecouccoli is more concerned about the situation in the new city of Kingsburg.

The zigzag trenches that grew out of the "fence posts" gave him a very serious sense of crisis.

If the rebels are determined to fight head-on, then the only way out for the Southern Army is to burn down the new city, retreat to the old city, and defend along the river.

Because Cornelius had far too few troops at his disposal, and he also had to spare some men to monitor the movements inside the city, if the rebels dragged him into a protracted war, the Southern Army would be the first to collapse.

However, if they retreat to the old city, what awaits the Southern Army is nothing more than a delayed death sentence.

The Paratites will never forgive the group of people from the United Provinces who burned down their capital.

Grove Magnus's rule would completely collapse—no, perhaps Grove Magnus would even stand up against burning down the new city.

At that time, the Southern Army would be a small group of foreigners surrounded by hostile Paratists.

They might be able to hold out for a while longer, and if they're lucky, they might be able to hold out for a very long time.

However, the possibility of victory will be completely eliminated.

That's right, we won.

Perhaps influenced by Jason Cornelius’s annoyingly confident attitude, Montecuccoli never gave up hope of victory, even though the situation in Kingsburg was already precarious—though he often found himself ridiculous.

After all, only a small percentage of people in this world can keep going even when they know that failure is the ultimate goal.

And the fall of a fortress always begins with the loss of hope.

Montecuccoli couldn't guarantee he could "die for victory," but he knew he couldn't "sacrifice himself knowing victory was impossible."

From this perspective, Montecuccoli also admires Jason Cornelis.

He didn't want to delve into his old colleague's inner world, nor did he deign to do so, but as long as Cornelius was still fighting, he would continue to fight.

Therefore, Raymond Montecouccoli wants to win this fight.

So, although he is currently on Margit Island, his mind is entirely on the new town across the river.

As the illumination rockets ran out of alchemical fuel and disappeared into the night sky, both sides' musketeers quickly grew tired of "firing randomly at any light."

The chirping of insects resumed, and tranquility returned to both banks of the Shijian River.

The out-of-control "rebel" raft, though deviating from its original course, still drifted toward Margit Island and got caught on a sharp wooden stake in the water.

Montecuccoli sent a lieutenant to handle it.

A moment later, the lieutenant returned to report, "The rafts have all been salvaged."

"Where did it drift to this time?" Montecoccoli asked.

"A little downstream from Bishop's Castle."

“Understood,” Montecuccoli nodded imperceptibly. “Leave the sentries on duty and let the others go and rest.”

Although the artillery lieutenant colonel thought the "rebels'" idea of ​​crossing the river on small rafts was foolish, he had to admit that the "rebels'" swimming skills were improving day by day.

When the "rebels" first tried to send supplies to the island using small rafts, they miscalculated the distance of the current. Their rafts, made of large wooden barrels filled with flour and coated with asphalt for waterproofing, missed Margit Island and were swept downstream, almost damaging the pontoon bridge connecting the new and old towns.

When the "rebels" made their second attempt, the rafts did drift ashore, but they were still a long way from the bishop's castle because they drifted directly to the east coast.

Tonight, the "rebels" have been able to deliver the rafts accurately to the front of the bishop's castle.

Unfortunately, as long as the garrison remained on high alert every night, even if the "rebels" managed to deliver the supply rafts to their location, they would be unable to carry them ashore, let alone deliver them to the "rebels" inside the bishop's castle.

Compared to the "rebels" crossing the river on small rafts, Montecuccoli was actually more worried about the "rebels" inside the bishop's castle breaking out.

So after digging the trenches around Magitek Island, Montecouccoli immediately set about digging trenches around the bishop's castle.

The rebels dug trenches outside the new city, while Montecuccoli dug trenches outside the bishop's castle, a rather amusing contrast.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Montecoli had absolutely no interest in the small fry in the Bishop's Castle.

Contrary to Jason Cornelis's view, Montecuccoli maintained that the rebels would abandon the remnants in Fort Bishop's Castle, and even abandon the attack on Magitek Island—a point on which the artillery lieutenant colonel felt partly responsible—and instead launch a frontal offensive against Newtown.

Therefore, although Raymond Montecouccoli returned to Magitek Island to take charge immediately after attending the war council at Kingsburg, his mind was entirely focused on Kingsburg.

So although he ordered the soldiers to disperse, he himself did not intend to rest and wanted to wait for news from the new city.

A northwest wind is blowing tonight, and the direction is just right. Montecocoli hopes to hear good news from the new town.

On the other hand, the musketeers in the trenches were overjoyed to receive the order to disband.

The "rebels" harassed the island once a night, and sometimes several times a night. Although each harassment was thwarted, it still left the island-guarding troops exhausted. Even with shifts for night watch, the fatigue continued to accumulate.

Moreover, the troops stationed on the island are on night duty and have to work during the day, which makes the soldiers physically and mentally exhausted.

Upon learning that they could rest, the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and immediately lined up to return to their camp in the monastery, hoping to get some rest as soon as possible.

Those unlucky ones who drew the night shift could only yawn and stand alone in the trench.

While the island's garrison was resting, further upstream on the Ten Arrows River, several dark rafts were pushed into the river and silently drifted toward Magitek Island.

[Looking back at the previous text, some key information, such as the strength of the new army, was not clearly explained. I apologize for that.]
[Therefore, relevant descriptions were added at the beginning of Chapter 40, and further explanations are provided here for readers who are following the story.]
The New Army currently has a total strength of seven battalions outside Zhuwangbao: two battalions each from Tiefeng, Leiqun, and Baishan, and one battalion from Bianjiang. Theoretically, the total strength should be 3,500, but in reality, it is less than 3,000. This is because most battalions are not fully staffed, and Gaisa is eager to launch an offensive, so many battalions can only go to the front line first and then be replenished slowly.
In addition to seven battalions of infantry, the new army also had six companies and over a thousand light and heavy cavalry.
These cavalrymen were key to the blockade of the Kings' Fortresses and the reason why the Southern Army completely abandoned its desire to engage the New Army in open battle.
[Gesa's haste in launching the offensive resulted in many of his troops being unable to replenish their ranks, but it also compressed the Southern Front's time to construct fortifications, leaving many gaps in the defenses of the Old Town and Magit Island. There were both advantages and disadvantages.]
[As for the replenishment of the new army, that depends on Skul's abilities.]
I apologize for not being able to produce my best writing performance lately.