Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 579 Siege (Thirty-One)

Under the cover of night, a small boat drifted silently downstream, without lights or oars, and quietly moored on the shore.

In the darkness, Winters crossed the riverbank and headed for the small boat, with Mason and Bart Sharing following behind.

In the distance, faint lights flickered in the north and northeast directions.

That's the bishop's castle on Margit Island, and the "castle" fort at the southernmost tip of the new town, relaying a message.

Both fortresses are currently in enemy hands, forming a defensive perimeter and protecting each other.

On the riverbank below the castle fort, the wreckage of a barge can still be faintly seen.

The part of the hull above the waterline was almost completely burned away, leaving only a charred hull bottom lying lifelessly on the mudflat, like a crumbling tombstone.

Of the new army's seven warships, three others met the same fate.

However, thanks to the crew's efforts, they did not drift into the enemy's territory, but instead ran aground on the riverbank under their control. They were subsequently recovered by friendly forces on the shore and incorporated into the fortifications.

Warships converted from cargo ships are still too weak in the face of real warships.

The new army's muskets only managed to leave minor cuts and bruises when they hit the hulls of the provincial ships.

However, the cannons equipped on the warships of the United Provinces were devastating to the ships of the New Army.

Even dragging the United Provinces into hand-to-hand combat was extremely difficult—the new army's warships had such low gunwales that they were only slightly higher than the lower decks of the United Provinces' warships, requiring ladders to board them.

Not to mention that the warships of the United Provinces also had sterncastles and forecourts.

At this critical moment, Samukin, who was in charge of commanding the new navy, made an astonishing decision.

He ordered the war drums to be sounded on his command ship and charged straight at the enemy vessel.

Things happened too fast for signaling to be done. The other six warships of the new army stopped their retreat and turned to meet the enemy ship when they saw the command ship rushing toward the enemy ship.

This threw the provincial sailors into disarray. They unleashed several volleys of broadside fire, riddling the "rebel" boats with holes, but to no avail in slowing them down.

Ultimately, the captain of the United Provinces' warship decided to retreat and distance himself from the "rebel" boats.

It wasn't that the provincial captain was afraid of boarding action, but rather that the frenzied rush of the small boat toward him made him think it was an arson ship.

The captain's decision gave the new army a glimmer of hope on the water.

Not only in terms of firepower and tonnage, but also in terms of speed, the New Army's river barges were no match for the United Provinces Navy's oar-sailed warships, and the wind direction was also unfavorable to the New Army.

If we keep running away, we'll only be caught up by the warships of the United Provinces, who will then use their cannons to clean the decks of each ship.

Instead, the new army's small boats took the initiative to engage the enemy, catching the United Provinces off guard and forcing their large ships to retreat.

Taking advantage of the temporary retreat of the provincial warships, Samukin ordered the abandonment of the four severely damaged warships and instructed the other three less damaged warships to retreat upstream.

Thanks to the valiant efforts of the new navy sailors, the three severely damaged warships successfully ran aground on the sandy beach on the west bank of the Shijian River, within their controlled area. Most importantly, the crew members were safely evacuated, and even the wounded were brought ashore.

However, one ship was engulfed in flames and had to be abandoned.

The abandoned ship drifted all the way to the "Castle" fortress at the southernmost tip of the new city of Kingsburg.

Perhaps to mock the "rebels," the United Provinces did not retrieve it, leaving it on the beach.

And all this is just the beginning.

Because of the first appearance of the United Provinces' "navy," a single warship dealt a heavy blow to the Parat people's painstakingly assembled inland river fleet.

Therefore, the confidence of the people in the United Provinces seemed to swell as well.

The following day, they once again dispatched warships to intercept the new army's small boats transporting supplies to the island and attempted to completely destroy the "rebel" vessels stranded on the riverbank.

This time, however, Richard Mason, who was prepared, taught the United Provinces Navy a good lesson.

Although the artillery of the new army suffered considerable losses in the artillery battle the previous night, all the gunners who were still able to fight were still wounded.

However, when earthen walls are used against wooden walls, long-barreled cannons against short-barreled cannons, and fixed positions against floating positions, it is ultimately the wooden walls, short-barreled cannons, and mobile gun emplacements that cannot withstand the attack first.

After its hull was ripped open with several large holes, the Marco Good Luck withdrew from the battle in disarray and fled hastily to the Kingsburg docks.

If this warship named "Good Luck" hadn't been so fortunate as to avoid being hit below the waterline, this warship from the United Provinces, which had been so arrogant the night before, might have ended up on the riverbank the next day to join its enemies.

From then on, the United Provinces never dared to expose their warships to the range of the new army's cannons again—at least during the day.

At night, the Southern Army would still send out surface troops to sail upstream through the channel east of Margit Island.

Sometimes they would send large ships loaded with cannons to harass the new army's positions on the west bank;
Sometimes they would send small boats filled with flammable materials to sabotage the pontoon bridges that the new army was building.

Clearly, the Southern Army knew that if they allowed the new army to build the pontoon bridge, the complete fall of Magitek Island would only be a matter of time.

Therefore, even at considerable risk, the Southern Army insisted on sending ships to interfere with the New Army's operations, especially slowing down the construction progress of the pontoon bridge.

As a result, the new army's pontoon bridge has not yet been completed.

Mason was also very troubled by this.

The new army's artillery positions are located on the west bank of the Ten Arrows River, which can, to some extent, block the river channel on the west side of Magitek Island.

However, Magit Island is an island in the middle of the river, navigable from both sides. The cannons positioned on the west bank of the Ten Arrows River were ineffective against the other side of the river.

Mason did consider moving the cannons to the island, which would allow him to block the water from two directions simultaneously.

But in the end, he gave up on the idea.

Firstly, it was too difficult to move the cannons onto the island; secondly, once the cannons were moved up, it was even more difficult to move them down.

Considering the risks involved, Mason did not act rashly.

So when Winters arrived at the front, Mason was preparing a second plan—a chain across the river.

That is, to completely block the waterway by laying an iron chain across the river.

If this plan can be realized, then the new army can carry out construction between Margit Island and the West Coast without interference.

The problem was that the iron needed to make the chains could only be transported from the rear.

However, the besieging troops were already putting a huge burden on the supply lines with food and supplies for the horses, and to transport iron materials on top of that was simply asking the impossible.

In fact, Mason also tried to make ropes using materials that were readily available at the front, such as flax, leather, and bark.

However, after the Southern Army's arson boat was capsized by the ropes on the first night, they immediately responded the following night by sending small boats carrying people to cut the ropes before sending out arson boats to burn the pontoon bridge.

So after going around in circles, Mason finally realized that he still had to use iron chains.

But the iron materials couldn't be transported over.

The only solution Mason could think of was to solve the problem of food and supplies on the front lines, thus freeing up the transport capacity of the supply troops.

At the same time, they also collected iron materials on the front lines as much as possible.

However, the new army marched rapidly to Zhuwangbao and immediately attacked the city, hardly putting any effort into "taking over" it.

In many towns in Xilin province, they simply changed the flag, and then everything remained the same.

Many towns haven't even changed their flags; they're still sitting on the fence and watching.

Mason was thus forced to try to communicate with local towns and cities, collect and purchase supplies, and coordinate and arrange routes.

On his way to Kingsburg, Winters encountered Andrei.

Andrei then vented his frustrations to Winters, complaining that he had gone back to his "old job" of escorting supplies.

In Winters' view, Mason has actually fallen into a "chicken or the egg" dilemma:
In order to rule Platu, it is necessary to conquer the Castle of Kings;

In order to capture Zhuwang Fortress, resources need to be drawn from Xilin Province;

In order to extract resources, it is also necessary to establish effective rule in Xilin Province...

For Winters, the more serious problem than the vicious cycle of "attacking Kingsburg first or ruling Plato first" was "establishing effective rule," which not only completely exceeded the capabilities of a frontline command but also overstepped the authority that a frontline command should have.

In other words, in order to solve the endless stream of new problems, Senior Mason has turned the "Siege Command" into the de facto government of the New Republic in the Xilin Province.

Before the National Assembly in the rear had even decided how to take over the various towns, messengers from the front lines of the siege were already issuing orders to the autonomous cities of Xilin Province.

All of this was for a "chain," leaving Winters speechless.

Winters had no intention of blaming his senior, because just seeing Mason's haggard face, he knew that his senior was working to solve problems, one after another.

In fact, he believed that Gaisa Adonis should be the gatekeeper for Mason.

The problem is that Gaisa Adonis doesn't see this as a problem at all—which may be an even bigger problem.

However, no matter how big the problem is, it has nothing to do with Richard Mason, because in Mason's view, his mission is to solve the problems at hand.

In fact, besides "moving the cannons to the island" and "laying iron chains across the river," Mason had a third plan:
The artillery positions were moved forward until they reached a point where the Ten Arrows River, which had been divided in two by Magitek Island, was reunited, directly blocking the shipping route between Magitek Island and Kingsburg.

After just one look at the actual site, Winters understood why this seemingly simplest and most reasonable solution was ranked third.

The ideal location for "blocking the shipping lanes between Margit Island and Kingsburg" already had a fortress—the "Fortress" fortress, built by the United Provinces at the southernmost tip of the new town.

In other words, this becomes a "chicken or the egg" problem.

To block the waterway, the "fortress" batteries must be destroyed first;
Attacking the fortress and gun emplacements will result in being attacked from the flank by the Bishop's Castle on Magitek Island.
To capture Margit Island, the shipping lanes must first be blocked.

For a moment, Winters even felt sorry for Mason.

On the other hand, he became increasingly convinced that the United Provinces had not randomly chosen a few locations and built a few forts.

It is highly likely that the predicament currently faced by the new army was designed by the enemy.

This brings us back to the battle situation on Margit Island.

If we consider Magit Island and Ten Arrows River as two separate battlefields, then the intensity of the fighting on Ten Arrows River pales in comparison to that on Magit Island.

In Andrei's words—and at this point Andrei's expression was one of disgust and seriousness—it was "a complete mess."

[Thank you to every reader for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation votes, monthly tickets, tips, and comments. Thank you all!]
(End of this chapter)