Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 571 Siege (Twenty-Three)

Margit Island
[Defending position]
Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Montecouccoli heard the sound of several rebel artillery pieces firing.

All four six-pound cannons on the island were in place. The artillerymen pushed and lifted them with great effort to move the cannons, which were originally deployed at the temporary gun emplacement in the north, to the new position selected by the lieutenant colonel.

However, Montecuccoli held back, and even delayed issuing the order to load.

The arrival of the rebel artillery has completely changed the game.

Montecoli's chosen new position was located northeast of the rebel landing point, diagonally facing the battlefield, with a slight elevation and good visibility.

From his vantage point, he could see the pontoon bridge, the damaged water fence, the rebel landing point, and the positions of Lordwick's troops.

Beside him, his men were racing against time, working against the clock to build shelters for the cannons.

In the distance, illuminating rockets whistled as they soared into the sky from behind Lordwick's defensive lines, their crimson light dispelling the darkness and leaving the rebels on the shallows nowhere to hide.

From their elevated position, the musketeers of Lordwack's unit shot down the exposed rebel soldiers one by one, as if they were targets.

The cannons on the opposite bank of the river immediately opened fire, fiercely bombarding the defenders' breastwork.

The rebels inside the trenches also released smoke to cover the landing of their allies.

However, due to the wind direction, the thick smoke overflowing from the trenches was pushed towards the defending troops, which gave Lordwack's forces another opportunity to launch a beach assault.

In the previous battle, Lieutenant Colonel Lordwick successfully separated the rebels holding the trench by forcibly approaching and throwing "liquid fire".

As the smoke thickened between the trenches and breastworks, obscuring the vision of the defending musketeers and hindering the aiming of the rebel artillery, Lordwack's troops once again climbed over the breastworks and launched a counterattack in loose formation against the landing site and the rebel-controlled positions at the southern end of Magitek Island.

If Montecoccoli could have remained neutral, he would have applauded Lieutenant Colonel Lordwijk's decisive action.

Unfortunately, he was in the middle of it all, so Montecuccoli's mind was filled with thoughts of his cannons... and the rebels' cannons.

A row of hourglasses lay beside him, and with each roar from the opposite bank of the river, he would turn one of the hourglasses over.

To the untrained eye, gunshots and cannon fire are just noise; the only difference is that gunshots are quieter and cannon fire is louder.

As for identifying the specific model of a gun or cannon based on the sound of its firing, that's pure fantasy.

But for Montecuccoli, an artillery expert, different models of cannons were like musical instruments of the same kind with different ranges of pitch.

The musicians wouldn't confuse the tuba, trumpet, and trombone, and Montecuccoli wouldn't mistake the artillery used by the Republic's army.

The initial roar was rough and powerful, with a deep and resonant finish that lingered for a long time, causing the listener's chest to tremble involuntarily.

Without a doubt, only heavy artillery with a large propellant charge could produce such a sound.

As before, the roar of heavy artillery was heard seven times in short intervals, indicating that the "rebels" had deployed at least seven heavy artillery pieces on the opposite bank.

Based on the information he had gathered, Montecuccoli concluded that the seven heavy cannons the rebels had exposed were likely siege cannons of a certain type cast during the Sovereign War.

Because the Kingdom of Galloping Horses has no history of mass-producing artillery, nor does it currently have the capability to do so.

The artillery held by the Paratul army consisted either of "legacy" inherited from the split of the Allied forces thirty years prior, or purchased from the United Provinces and Venetia after the establishment of the nation. The Paratul army has historically neglected artillery development—after the victory in the Sovereign War, the Paratul only imported a small number of light artillery pieces from their allies to maintain a nominal artillery force and theoretically exist; there is no record of them ordering heavy artillery.

Furthermore, the firing of the seven heavy cannons on the opposite bank was uniform and coordinated, as if the same drum had been struck seven times in a row, indicating that although they were old, they were not true "antiques".

Because each genuine antique cannon is cast individually, without any standard specifications, it is naturally impossible for them to have a consistent "timbre".

So the answer has already been revealed: the only heavy artillery that meets the above conditions is the batch of 32-pound bronze cannons cast by the Victory Arsenal in 528, which was also the first time the Victory Arsenal mass-produced heavy artillery.

Due to a lack of manufacturing experience, this type of heavy artillery has many unreasonable aspects in its design. For example, due to too many ineffective structures, this type of artillery is extremely cumbersome and incredibly difficult to transport.

In the United Provinces, the 32-pound cannons produced in the same batch were either sealed away, displayed as ceremonial objects outside an important gate, or placed in a port fort to overlook the sea.

Montecoli could imagine how much effort the rebels had expended, how many draft animals they had to kill, to "invite" these veterans to the front lines.

However, precisely because he had seen through their true forms, Montecuccoli was not too worried about them.

Because although these older models are incredibly powerful, they are extremely troublesome to use.

The purpose of casting them was clear: not for field battles, but for blasting apart the castles and high walls of the old era.

These old-fashioned siege cannons continued the design philosophy of stone-throwing cannons, pursuing the ultimate destructive power and striving to cause irreparable structural damage to the city walls with a single shot, at the expense of rate of fire, accuracy, and transportability.

Therefore, the banks of the Ten Arrows River at this moment are not a suitable battlefield for them.

Even the idea of ​​"pursuing single-shot damage" has been proven by the Artillery Teaching and Research Office to be a wrong concept.

Moreover, in 528, when they were produced, the casting technology of the Victory Arsenal was not yet mature, so when using them, one had to be constantly careful to prevent the barrel from exploding.

Therefore, Montecuccoli is not afraid of these "old guards".

What truly alarmed Montecuccoli was the sight of several light artillery pieces firing from the rebel positions, following behind the heavy artillery.

The sound of those light artillery pieces firing was not as deafening as that of heavy artillery, but it was clearer, more resonant, and had a crisp quality.

Raymond Montecouccoli felt threatened, even surprised, angry, and chilled not because the sound of the gunfire was unfamiliar, but precisely because he was extremely familiar with it.

Because he had heard this unique "crisp" shooting sound countless times at the shooting range.

He was so familiar with the sound that he could immediately identify which model it came from—a six-pound field gun produced by the Victory Arsenal in 553.

Despite its unremarkable appearance, it achieves a balance in terms of weight, ballistics, and manufacturability, making it a culmination of thirty years of cannon-casting technology at the Victory Arsenal.

The cannon he is using right now.

It was a cannon he designed himself.

Montecuccoli was certain that this type of artillery had no export record.

[Orz, I'm so sorry]
[I'll still take leave until next Monday]