I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 204 Offense and Defense (Part 3)
Standing beside the pig, Mia looked up at the battle raging on the distant mountain ridge, her beautiful, blinking eyes filled with confusion.

Then she turned around and ran to Chris, grabbing his clothes.

"It's so cool! Why do they charge straight upwards when they fight?"

Chris followed the direction Mia was pointing and looked towards the ridge to the north. From a distance of three or four kilometers, he raised his binoculars and glanced at it a few times, and then he knew what Mia was talking about.

Ah, those players were indeed a bit reckless. I've given you two days. These two days are for you to slowly advance and build fortifications.

If you don't want to work in civil engineering, then take a different route.

A direct frontal assault would be disastrous, but the slope behind the northern ridge on the map is relatively gentle. Cavalry would not be able to charge up there, but infantry could advance in small square formations at a brisk pace, while tiger-squat cannons could provide suppressive fire.

At the same time, skirmishers were dispatched to charge forward, using flintlock muskets for precise firing, harassing and drawing the attention of the enemy guards.

With this kind of fighting style, coupled with the players' fearless nature, taking down the ridge in two days shouldn't be a problem at all.

With the players launching such a direct and aggressive attack, Chris doesn't doubt that they can take the Ridge Highlands in a day. However, the casualties will be heavy, and even if they do take it, they might not be able to hold it.

The ridge is difficult to traverse from the east, but the path is much smoother for the Minieses from the west. In other words, it is much easier for them to attack and support the ridge than for the players.

Sure enough, Chris had already seen the players' third charge, which had reached the ridge, but then retreated as the fighting progressed. Clearly, enemy reinforcements had arrived, and outnumbered, they had no choice but to retreat temporarily.

However, as the players retreated, Chris also saw that the unfinished watchtower was surrounded by black smoke. Clearly, before retreating, the Zhongshan Wolf Squad had not forgotten to set the watchtower on fire.

Burning down the watchtower meant that all the work that the Minisians had done all night was wasted, and if they wanted to rebuild the watchtower, they would have to start all over again.

Hopefully, the player didn't forget to set off the other pieces of wood on site before lighting the fire.

"That's their preference, I can't control that..."

"Actually, they could have built a small hut halfway up the mountain, which would have made it much easier for them to climb up."

Chris smiled at Mia's suggestion.

"When you grow up, you can try leading people to fight, but not now. You're still too young. Even if I lead people for you, they won't respect you."

"Oh."

Mia blinked, her face thoughtful, seemingly lost in thought.

It was noon, and the battle in the birch forest had already begun, raging fiercely and progressing even more smoothly than the battle on the ridge.

Nearly a thousand heavily armored players, lined up in neat rows, charged into the forest in small square formations one after another, engaging in fierce battles with the Minisians who were holding out there. The battle was incredibly brutal from the very beginning.

The Miniese bombarded the player at close range with muskets and cannons, while the latter retaliated fiercely, even setting the forest ablaze and charging through the flames, as if to say, "You'll either be burned to death or hacked to pieces." With smoke and fire everywhere, and a whole bunch of reckless thugs fighting for their lives, it's no surprise the Miniese couldn't withstand it.

Chris estimated the progress of the birch forest and figured that in about an hour or two, the area would fall into the players' hands.

The only surprise is whether the Minisians will launch a night raid tonight in an attempt to reclaim the birch forest.

The flanking battles went relatively smoothly. Even on the most challenging ridge battlefield, the players largely achieved their tactical objectives, preventing the Minisians from gaining an observation advantage for the time being.

Meanwhile, on the main battlefield, Chris was commanding his army, building strong fortifications for the main camp while dispatching artillerymen to bring thirty cannons to the front lines to bombard the Minisian camp from a kilometer away.

These fifty cannons were basically made by Chris from finished steel pipes purchased from later generations. The calibers ranged from small to large: six-pound cannons, nine-pound cannons, twelve-pound cannons, and sixteen-pound cannons.

The six jin and twelve jin here refer to the weight of the shells they fired, not that they only weigh that little.

The six-pound cannon is a light field gun. Using modern steel, it has a caliber of about eight centimeters, a length of about one and a half meters, a range of 1000 to 1,500 meters, and a weight of about three hundred and fifty kilograms.

The 16-pound cannon was the most powerful and the fewest in number. It had a caliber of 15 centimeters, a length of 4.8 meters, a weight of 1,500 kilograms, and a range of 3,000 to 4,000 meters. Among the hundred cannons that Chris owned, it was a siege cannon, and there were only three of them.

Chris didn't dare build too many 16-pound cannons because they were too heavy. The 6-pound cannons were the lightest and were the most numerous, while the 9-pound and 12-pound cannons were just the right number.

The four types of artillery mentioned above have only undergone testing and calibration at the test range. Their actual combat effectiveness is still unknown. The fact that the Minisians are now putting on a show of "I'm going to defend to the death" is actually very pleasing to Chris... What a great target they are!

When artillery positions made progress on both sides of the battlefield, they began to be deployed in open areas.

Anyone in the Minisian camp who wasn't blind could definitely see those thirty steel structures of varying sizes, but all of them were deadly, a kilometer away.

The most numerous of these were the six-pound and nine-pound cannons, because they belonged to the field artillery category, had a relatively small caliber, and a short range. They were set up at a distance of one kilometer.

The 12-jin and 16-jin cannons were too heavy, so four 12-jin cannons and one 16-jin heavy cannon were deployed in an area of ​​1,500 meters and were served by about a hundred people.

The sheer number and conspicuous display of artillery immediately put the defending troops in the Minisian camp on edge.

They never expected to see such a large artillery array in Baghnia, a country notoriously poor.

The dark muzzles gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the gunners were methodically making final adjustments. Powder barrels and shells were piled up to the side, ready to be loaded at any time.

The frontline commander in Minicia immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. He turned around and ran towards the command post, not even caring that he had lost his shoes.

He wanted to let General Duds know immediately that the two-meter-high earthen wall they had built overnight would be no match for these steel behemoths.

(End of this chapter)