I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 206 A Long Day (Part 1)

Being on the defensive and taking a beating is always a very demoralizing thing.

Therefore, General Dudley went to great lengths, even at the cost of making things difficult for the gunners and gunners, to fire the cannon.

Therefore, as the henchman held up his binoculars and inspected the results of the six-pound cannon's firing, he suddenly noticed plumes of smoke rising from the Miniese's position.

At this moment, with the help of a telescope, the henchmen discovered that there were several gun emplacements hidden inside the two-kilometer-long earthen wall, with the muzzles of the cannons flashing.

"Holy crap! They've opened fire!"

The henchman shrank back, instinctively wanting to lie down, but then realized that the enemy's artillery couldn't be made of steel and didn't have as long a range as their own, so he continued to observe through his binoculars.

In his observation, he saw several black dots trace arcs in the air before landing more than 200 meters away from the artillery position, splashing up a cloud of mud.

"Hahaha! That's it?"

The henchman couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Brothers, don't be afraid, they can't hit us!"

He turned and shouted to the gunners.

"Keep loading! Let these Minesian antique cannons see what modern firepower is all about!"

But just then, a shell inexplicably landed near the outermost six-pound cannon. Although it didn't hit directly, the shockwave from the shell hitting the sandbag in front of the cannon still knocked over the two loaders next to the cannon.

The people weren't dead, they were just terrified and let out desperate howls, like the cawing of hungry crows, shrill and unpleasant, until a nearby player, the artillery captain, ran over and punched them, which stopped their howls.

"Oh shit!"

The henchman spat.
"Brothers, get everyone to take cover, hide behind sandbags, and conceal the gunpowder packs well. Their cannons may be rubbish, but they're not completely untouchable!"

After the henchman finished speaking, he picked up the rangefinder again, quickly focused, and carefully observed the Miniese artillery positions.

Beside the cannons, which appeared to be bronze, the Miniese gunners were busily cleaning the barrels and loading ammunition. An officer-looking man was brandishing his saber, seemingly urging them to hurry.

Can we focus fire and blast that idiot to death?
The henchman thought to himself, and subconsciously pointed the rangefinder at the enemy officer, quickly turning the adjustment knob until the enemy officer was clearly visible in the eyepiece. He could even see the ferocious expression on the officer's face and the shiny brass buttons on his uniform.

"All six-pound cannons!"

The henchman shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Fourteen hundred meters away, at one o'clock, do you see that idiot swinging the knife?"

The gunner on the left of the henchman immediately poked his head out, raised his binoculars, and squinted at the distance.

"I see him, is he the one in the blue cloak?"

The gunner is also a player, and a student at a military academy with strong mental arithmetic skills, so becoming a gunner is a perfect fit for his major.

"That's right! It's him!"

The henchman turned around and excitedly waved his arms at the gunner.

"Bomb him! I can't stand this idiot." "No problem, brothers, get ready..."

The gunners sprang into action. The loader stuffed the standard propellant charge into the breech, and the gunner went over to personally inspect and adjust the tilted muzzle angle, muttering to himself.

"This gun needs to be raised two degrees in elevation, and then tilted a little to the left."

"All guns are loaded!"

"put!"

The twelve six-pound cannons recoiled violently, spewing scorching flames from their muzzles. The shells whistled through the air, leaving faint trails of smoke in their wake.

The henchmen held their breath, their rangefinders locked tightly onto the blue-cloaked officer. Twelve shells traced graceful parabolas through the air, falling towards their target like the Grim Reaper's scythe.

The shells landed one by one. The first shell landed three meters to the left of the officer, hitting the earthen wall and sending dirt flying.

The second shot flew over the earthen wall and landed somewhere unknown. Then the third shot accurately struck the muzzle of a bronze cannon, causing the finely crafted barrel to fly backward. Even if it didn't twist, the cannon carriage would shatter into pieces like an exploding bamboo tube. The fourth shot...

"Bullet on the bullseye!"

The henchman jumped up excitedly. In his field of vision, where the arrogant officer had once stood, only half of his sword remained, stuck diagonally in the gap in the earthen wall, the ornate tassel on the hilt still burning... A shell had just hit him in the chest.

The henchmen could see clearly that the officer's chest cavity had shattered like a pottery jar struck by a hammer, with rib fragments and internal organs scattering radially, forming a crimson haze in the sunlight. Half of his spine, along with his broken chainmail, flew three meters away and hung on a branch of a bush.

This horrific scene threw the surrounding Minisian gunners into chaos. Some dropped their tools and fled in panic, some knelt on the ground and wailed, while a few stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the spot where their commander had just stood.

"Well done! Tonight, I'll treat everyone to a special meal—half a chicken each!"

The henchman shouted, his praise not only because the target he had requested had been killed, but also because the earthen wall where the officer was located had been hit by a barrage of artillery shells, nine out of twelve, causing the three-meter-long section of the wall to collapse and form a slope that infantry could jump over.

Hey, the earthen walls built by the Minisians aren't as thick or sturdy as I imagined. And the power of the six-pound field gun isn't weak either, with excellent accuracy. It can concentrate fire on an area even with a maximum range of one kilometer.

"Six-pound cannons cease fire. Artillerymen inspect the condition of the cannons. Nine-pound cannons, prepare!"

The henchman shouted, issuing his orders.

In the following period, he tested the remaining three models of artillery one by one.

The nine-pound cannon was also a field gun. It was a little heavier, had a larger caliber, a longer barrel, and was more powerful than the six-pound cannon. It only needed to hit a section of earthen wall with five shots to collapse it.

However, compared to portability, I personally feel that if a six-pound field gun is needed, carrying a nine-pound field gun is a bit redundant.

Targets that a 9-pound field gun can destroy, a 6-pound field gun can also handle; targets that a 9-pound field gun requires at its maximum range to reach, a 6-pound field gun can also reach with increased ammunition.

However, the accuracy of the six-pound cannon is slightly better than that of the nine-pound cannon. It is also lighter and has a faster rate of fire. In modern combat, a skilled artillery crew can fire two rounds per minute from a six-pound field gun.

However, the nine-pound field gun could only fire one shot per minute, a difference of half the rate of fire.

Taking everything into consideration, the underlings are already thinking about how to write the report... The nine-pound field gun is currently somewhat redundant and should be canceled, or reclassified as a siege artillery piece, instead of being used as a field gun.

(End of this chapter)