Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 96 To Conquer a City, First Build Roads

As the proverb says, "To get rich, build roads first."

But the Venetians' purpose in building roads on Chiliu Island is definitely not to boost the local economy.

"Road repair?" Winters, still a little groggy from just waking up, asked, "What kind of road repair?"

"We need to build a standard Guzhi Road, from Chiliu Port to Tacheng." Andrei said cheerfully, "The order jointly issued by the two major generals is correct. Hey, whatever kind of road we build, as long as we don't have to be the copyists!"

"Hmm." Winters rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out the real purpose of the road construction. He suddenly sighed and said, "I think I understand what's going on... It seems the higher-ups have made up their minds to attack the city."

Chiliu Island is a typical volcanic island, with the island itself being a massive volcano. Therefore, the elevation of Chiliu Island increases as one moves inland from the coast.

Located in the center of the island, Tacheng is backed by a volcano on the volcanic island, thus occupying a strategically important location.

The environment where Tacheng is located was not originally suitable for the formation of natural settlements, but it is rich in volcanic sulfur deposits.

In order to keep the sulfur mines under his control, the former Duke of Chiliu Island did not establish his capital in Chiliu Port, but instead built a new city here.

The sulfur mining industry and political factors ultimately shaped Tacheng, which was named after the tower castle built there by the former Duke of Chiliu Island.

There is no direct road between Tacheng and Chiliu Port, not even a decent one.

The long-neglected dirt road leads from Chiliu Island, winding through several villages and plantations before finally reaching Tacheng.

Considering all of the above, Winters' view is that Antonio and Leighton's purpose in building roads instead of attacking the city is quite obvious.

Winters had also observed the defensive structure of Tower City from afar. Although it was an old-fashioned city wall that was outdated, it was still awe-inspiring.

In the old days, towering, sturdy walls were considered indestructible and insurmountable, and were symbols of wealth and military power.

However, no one builds such walls anymore, for a simple reason: this design cannot effectively withstand artillery bombardment.

Funds are limited, and if the city walls are to be built high, they will inevitably be built thinner. In the past, this was not a problem; when defending a city, wooden scaffolding would be erected behind the walls to temporarily increase their width so that more defenders could stand on them.

However, once artillery technology matured, the advantages of high walls also became disadvantages:
The higher the city wall, the larger its frontal projection area, making it more vulnerable to being hit by artillery shells.

Moreover, if the walls were not thick enough, it would be impossible to place cannons. During the Siege of Constantinople, the defenders discovered that the recoil of the heavy cannons placed on the walls caused more damage to the high walls than the siege cannons themselves.
The towers on the original city walls also became a problem, as the old city walls had towers that were much taller than the walls themselves. This design allowed the defenders to hold the towers even if the enemy scaled the walls.
However, the presence of the high towers on the wall prevented the defenders from quickly moving artillery across the city walls...

The shortcomings are too numerous to list in detail. In short, if you see such a high wall, just bombard it with cannons.

In the Venetian army's organization, the artillery units were formed as an independent army outside of the regular legions, so the legions only contained infantry and cavalry.

However, Antonio and Leighton now have readily available cannons at their disposal:
Thirty-two-pound cannons, dragged from the ruins of the Chiliu Bay fortress, are sunbathing on the dock; if these cannons are not enough, there are also four-pound and eight-pound cannons in the Chiliu Harbor bastion; if the cannons in the bastion are not enough, the cannons on the warships can be unloaded.

As for the lack of gunners? That's even easier to solve, since artillery and engineers are inseparable.

Graduates of the artillery department of the Army Officer School, those who do well become artillerymen, and those who don't do well become engineers.

Although Antonio and Leighton did not have artillery, they did have engineers, and there were many officers who had graduated from the artillery department and were now in civilian positions.

They couldn't possibly have forgotten all the knowledge from the books so quickly, so Layton slapped his forehead and said, "What engineering civilian positions? All of you, go back to being artillerymen."

In addition, gunners on naval warships can be temporarily deployed to attack the city.

The enemy gave away a batch of cannons for free, and the army had no shortage of gunners. The biggest problem was how to move the cannons from Chiliu Port to Tacheng.

The roads on Chiliu Island were too bad and too winding, and the Venetta people lacked heavy draft horses and oxen. Moreover, due to the terrain, the journey from Chiliu Port to Tacheng was uphill, making transportation very difficult.

If we rely on the island's existing dilapidated roads, moving these dozens of cannons to the front line would be less efficient than simply waiting for the defenders to run out of food and surrender, which would save us some effort.

Therefore—we need to build roads.

Upon hearing the order to build roads, Winters' first thought was: it must be another idea that Major General Layton came up with on a whim.

However, after setting aside prejudice and thinking rationally, Winters realized that this might actually be a good approach.

As the saying goes, "Using soap won't stop you from shaving."

The Grand Vinetta Legion, as a standing legion, is highly skilled in civil engineering and has readily available technology. Chilu Island has a large population of farmers and slaves, providing a readily available labor force. Furthermore, the island has quarries, providing readily available materials.

Building a road connecting Chiliu Port and Tacheng would not only make it easier to transport artillery, but would also greatly benefit the logistical support of the attacking army.

It also allowed the Venetta forces to move quickly between Chiliu and Tacheng, and to provide rapid support to Chiliu or retreat to ships should the situation change.

Even after the war is over, they can continue to collect tolls... because the Venetian Army has the right to collect tolls on the roads it has built. Part of the tolls is used to maintain the roads, and the other part goes into the army treasury as extra income.

This law was originally intended to encourage the army to undertake more infrastructure projects, but now the road network connecting major cities in Venetia has become one of the army's important sources of revenue... The best part is that this revenue is not within the military budget and the army can use it as it pleases... So the magnificent army headquarters can actually be said to have been earned by the sweat of the road-building soldiers.

"What have I been thinking about..." Winters shook his still somewhat dizzy head, quickly straightened his clothes, took the newly issued sword from the rack, and said to Andrei, "Let's go."

The two mounted their warhorses and galloped toward Chiliu Harbor.

The Third Legion's warhorses remained in Hailan City. The Saint Mark Legion did have some warhorses, but they were only for the officers' personal mounts. As a reserve force, the Saint Mark Legion did not have a cavalry unit.

However, it was inconvenient for officers of the Third Army Corps to travel without warhorses, so the logistics department initially procured a batch of mules. This was met with strong resistance from a group of officers who came from the cavalry branch, with some even declaring that they would rather die by gunshot than ride a mule and lose face.

Winters came up with the idea. He had previously discovered that the plantation owners on Red Sulphur Island commonly kept horses. The Third Army's logistics department immediately mobilized and forcibly bought all the horses from the plantations on the island. The plantation owners, of course, dared not complain, since they were already being treated leniently as long as they weren't punished.

Through forced purchases, the Third Army's logistics department managed to provide every officer in the army with a warhorse.

The army acts swiftly and decisively. Now that the two corps commanders had decided to build a road to Guzhi, the men below only needed to carry out the order.

Five minutes after the order was issued, the Red Iwo Jima Road Construction Countermeasures Headquarters was established. This department was formed by drawing officers from the two legions and was fully responsible for the construction of the Guzhi Road. António himself served as the head of the headquarters.

The countermeasures headquarters immediately dispatched engineering officers in charge of surveying, and preliminary map work began immediately.

These tasks requiring exceptional professional skills were, of course, unrelated to the two junior warrant officers, Winters and Andrei; the assignments given to them took into full account their abilities.

"Huh? What? We're being told to take men to recruit workers?" Winters looked at the warrant with a bitter expression.

"Hey." Andrei didn't seem to mind, laughing as he said, "After all this trouble, it turns out we still have to deal with farmers?"

"Oh, let's go."

The order from the road construction headquarters only specified the number of laborers needed, and said nothing else. In addition, forty fully armed soldiers were assigned to Winters and Andrei.

The superiors' meaning was veiled but clear: regardless of the means, all they needed was manpower.

In the days that followed, while Winters and Andrei were busy recruiting farmers in the island’s villages for five silver coins a day to build roads, a small-scale skirmish broke out outside Tower City.

The defenders noticed that the Venetians outside were not doing much except building walls, and they gradually became bolder, even sending men out of the city at night to further deepen the moat.

This could not possibly be kept secret from the Venetians outside the city, whose army had built a siege wall less than 400 meters from the city wall at its closest point.

The clanging sound of stones being smashed in the moat could be clearly heard by the defenders on the ramparts 400 meters away.

António and Leighton could not stand idly by while the defenders fortified the city, and due to a lack of cavalry, two hundred-man squads of the Third Army were temporarily mobilized.

Without time for pleasantries, António ordered Captain Doria and Lieutenant Juan to each lead a hundred-man squad in a lightly armed assault from the east and west flanks, aiming to reach the city moat as quickly as possible.

If they could drive the fleeing troops into the city, the assault team only needed to hold the city gates while the two legions launched a full-scale attack. If they couldn't capture the city gates, the assault team would quickly retreat after inflicting casualties on the enemy. Ten minutes later, two groups of figures silently left the Venetta army's fortifications and advanced towards the city from both flanks.

The lightly armed and swiftly advancing troops covered less than half a kilometer in the blink of an eye. The defenders on the city wall had barely noticed the enemy attack and rang the alarm bells when the two centurions at the front leaped into the trenches, swords drawn, and began a frenzied slaughter.

Immediately following the officer, Veneta's soldiers plunged into the moat like a tidal wave. The Tanilians inside the moat only had tools; they tried to climb over the moat to escape, but Veneta's soldiers grabbed them by the hind legs, dragged them back into the moat, and killed them.

What happened in this moat, which was less than two meters high and wide, was a one-sided massacre. Two centurions began to lead their men from the east and west sides toward the central city gate.

They advanced and killed their way through, driving the Tanilians in the trenches toward the city gate.

"The credit for capturing Tacheng is mine!" Captain Doria thought to himself as he looked at the Tani people crowding at the city gate.

However, no matter how desperately the Tanilians who had fled to the city gate pounded on it and pleaded, the gate remained unmoved.

The defenders inside the triangular fortress outside the city gate were the first to react. Gunfire erupted from the fortress as musketeers and crossbowmen began firing at the Venetians inside the moat.

The defenders on the city wall were also awakened by the counterattack from the triangular fortress and began to use ranged weapons to suppress the enemy.

Arrows and bullets rained down on the Vineta soldiers in the moat, halting the assault team's advance.

"Blow the bugle, signal the retreat!" António shouted from the ramparts, and the bugler immediately sounded the retreat signal.

Lieutenant Juan, in charge of the attack on the east flank, immediately led his soldiers over the moat and sprinted towards their own fortifications. Muskets and crossbows from the walls felled several soldiers from behind, but the majority of the centurion retreated safely.

However, Captain Doria, who was in charge of the western assault, did not want to give up. The vanguard was less than twenty meters from the city gate. The opportunity was too good to pass up. Maybe they could take down the city of Tacheng in one fell swoop.

He roared, "Forward! Charge in as soon as the enemy opens the gate! Victory is within reach!"

However, the city gates remained closed, and the roar of cannons shattered his ambitions.

The cannons mounted on the triangular bunkers were loaded and began firing at the enemy troops in the moat. The triangular bunkers, which shielded the city gates and spanned the moat, posed an extremely deadly flanking threat to the attacking side.

Projectiles from the city walls posed little threat to the Venetta soldiers in the moat, but they were completely exposed to the arrows fired from the triangular fortress.

A four-pound cannonball entered Captain Doria's left chest and exited through his back. It then pierced the body of the soldier behind him, and then another soldier... A single cannonball had carved a bloody trench in the moat.

Captain Doria was killed on the spot. His hundred men were initially at a loss, as the soldiers behind the moat did not know what had happened, and then they completely collapsed.

First, one soldier took the lead, then two, then three, and finally all the soldiers climbed out of the moat and started running back.

Sergeant Major "Big Beard" and another sergeant, "Bucktooth," lifted Captain Doria's body, attempting to take it back. However, they hadn't taken more than a few steps when a short, thick crossbow bolt shot from behind, pinning Sergeant Major "Big Beard" to the ground.

Upon seeing this, the buck-toothed sergeant who was holding the captain's leg hurriedly let go and ran towards the Veneta army's camp without looking back.

At this moment, the city gates of Tacheng finally creaked open.

Amid the chaotic battlefield, António suddenly caught a whistle and roared, "Musketeers! Get to the west rampart! Get to the west rampart! Shoulders up, await my command!"

Amid shouts and the neighing of warhorses, more than thirty cavalrymen burst through the crowd from the city gate, leaped over the moat, and charged toward the Veneta soldiers who were fleeing toward their own fortifications.

The buck-toothed soldier, lagging behind, heard the approaching hoofbeats and gritted his teeth, turning around to fight back when he saw a flash of cold light. A saber, propelled by the horse's speed, cleaved down from the buck-toothed soldier's shoulder, instantly splitting him in two, flesh and bone.

This terrifying slash did not slow the cavalry down even slightly. The sabers arced back over their heads, and the cavalry continued to chase and kill new prey without slowing down.

The soldiers who lagged behind were cut down like wheat fields after a storm. Antonio stared intently at the Union cavalry at the front and shouted sternly, "No firing without my order!"

On the tower, Captain Kidd didn't want the cavalry to pursue too far. Seeing that his own cavalry had crossed the center line, he quickly ordered the horn to be sounded to retreat.

At the same moment the bugle sounded from the city walls, Antonio roared, "Now! Fire!"

From the ramparts, musket fire erupted like popping beans, and a volley of lead bullets rained down on the pursuing Union cavalry.

The rider who had killed the buck-toothed soldier was at the forefront, making him a target for many musketeers. A lead bullet exploded in the rider's right shoulder, causing him excruciating pain that nearly made him faint. His warhorse, riddled with four bullets, died instantly.

When the warhorse fell, it dragged the rider underneath and broke his left leg. The rider let out a scream that was not human as he struggled to crawl out from under the horse.

However, his left foot was stuck in the stirrup, and a 600-kilogram weight was pressing down on his leg, so he couldn't move.

Several other riders who charged too close to the wall of Vineta's fortress were also shot dead on the spot.

The gates of Venetta's fortified camp were flung open, and a squad of halberdiers charged out, shouting as they came to meet their own soldiers.

Seeing that they had already killed many Venetians, the cavalry commander decided not to linger. He blew a sharp whistle and led the remaining cavalry in a swift retreat.

The halberdiers of Veneta pursued for some distance, and one of them, seeing that the rider under the horse's carcass was still alive, gave him a quick death.

The cannons on the Triangle Fortress and Half Moon Fortress also began firing at the Vineta halberdiers, covering the retreat of their own cavalry.

Several iron balls flew over, but they were inaccurate and posed little threat to the scattered soldiers.

One shell was so high that it even flew over the walls of the Venetta army.

The besieging forces had constructed a fortified wall between 400 and 600 meters from the city wall, a distance within artillery range. However, this was the first time the defenders had fired at the fortified wall, and they knew that the distance posed little threat.

There has been a lot of bloodshed today, and the halberdiers have completed their mission. António has ordered a retreat.

As dawn broke, a rider carrying a white flag approached the walls of Vineta's army, claiming to have brought a message for General Serbiati.

"I am Antonio Serbiati, what do you want to say?" Upon hearing that the messenger wanted to see him, Antonio, who had just fallen asleep, rushed to the rampart.

"Respected General Serbiati, General Kidd pays you the highest respect." The rider said loudly, "Last night's battle has already shed a lot of blood. General Kidd hopes that today your side and our side can collect the bodies of the fallen without interference, tidy their remains, and bury them."

Antonio pondered for a moment before replying, "Alright, the person in charge of collecting the bodies will tie a white cloth to their left arm. If you don't attack our people, we won't attack yours."

Upon hearing the reply, the envoy removed his helmet and bowed, saying, "Greetings again, General Serbiati. It is now that your side and our side have reached an agreement."

After saying that, he rode away without looking back.

"Ha, I never thought that pirates and slave traders would still have a shred of virtue left in their hearts," Lieutenant Sara, on duty, muttered as she watched the riders depart.

Antonio glanced at Lieutenant Sara expressionlessly: "Mr. Sara, do you think they offered to collect the body out of virtue?"

Sarah, who was suddenly called upon by the legion commander, was slightly flustered: "Yes, sir! I don't know either, sir!"

Antonio patted Sarah on the shoulder and said gently, "Don't be nervous. As an officer, you should think from the enemy's perspective. William Kidd's request to collect the body undisturbed is simply to buy himself another day."

"Then...then why did you agree to his request?" Lieutenant Sarah asked hesitantly.

“Why? Because time isn’t on their side,” Antony sighed. “And if it can prevent the warriors from dying in the wilderness, then let them have a day’s delay.”

I got home too late yesterday and just collapsed onto the bed to sleep without even taking off my clothes or showering. Sorry!

Thank you to all the readers who voted for this book. Special thanks to Clive Lawrence, Tianshui Youjiaren, Killing Star EX, Ami, Social Justice Old Wang, and Justice and Purity is Koala for their votes. Thank you everyone.

Thank you to reader "Old Wang, the Social Justice" for the monthly ticket.

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(End of this chapter)