I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 207 A Long Day (Part Two)
While the henchman was testing the four cannons one by one and thinking about how to write the report, the Minisians opposite him, who were being bombarded by shells, had no time to think about such things.

They were trying to launch a counterattack, raising the muzzle of the Bronze King Cannon as high as possible with double the propellant charge, so that the cannonballs could finally reach the enemy artillery positions deployed far ahead.

However, once the old problem was solved, a new one arose... accuracy.

The bronze cannons of the Minesians were inferior to the modern steel cannons of Chris. This was a difference in equipment, followed by personnel. The former relied on their naked eyes, experience, and rudimentary cannon sights to aim.

The latter is a player artillery commander with extensive mathematical knowledge, and who also has a self-made rangefinder and a standardized artillery aiming table to help with shooting.

Such a huge gap meant that even if the shells fired by the Minisians managed to reach a distance of a thousand meters, their accuracy was poor, relying entirely on luck. Even firing a hundred shells might not guarantee that they would land near the player's position.

Even so, the Minisian artillery continued to fire tenaciously. While the lowly soldiers directed the nine-pound field guns to concentrate fire on the earthen walls and exposed gun positions, they were retaliating... at least in terms of momentum, they kept firing.

The Minisian artillerymen knew they hadn't destroyed a single enemy cannon, but the other infantrymen hiding behind the earthen walls were unaware of this. Hearing the commotion, they mistakenly assumed their artillery was evenly matched with the enemy.

Although that wasn't the case, the morale of the Miniese soldiers did return. After the earthen wall collapsed, they would rush over without regard for their own safety and fill the gap as quickly as possible.

The six-pound and nine-pound cannons commanded by the henchmen, although with a fast rate of fire, were still field artillery with limited destructive power. Their bombardment of the earthen wall couldn't keep up with the desperate Minieses' efforts to fill the gap.

The concentrated fire from the anti-artillery also did not yield ideal results. After all, it was a muzzle-loading artillery piece that fired solid shot and was not equipped with explosive shells. In addition, the enemy artillery had cover, so it was only natural that the results were limited.

This situation changed after the henchman ordered the 1,500-meter-long, 12-pound and 16-pound siege cannons to fire.

Unlike field artillery that requires concentrated fire to breach a section of earthen wall, the four siege cannons achieved results that made the people of Miniesia tremble when they first spoke.

The first shell from the 16-pound cannon crashed into the Minisian earthen wall like a meteorite. With a deafening roar, the entire three-meter-long section of the earthen wall snapped like a rotten wooden stick, sending mud and wood fragments flying in all directions like a gushing spring.

The cannonball, still powerful enough to smash through the earthen wall, even tore five Minisians who stood in its way to pieces upon landing, spraying blood and entrails in a radial pattern onto the nearby earthen wall.

"Oh My God"

A Miniese veteran stared blankly at the scene, the shell in his hand rolling away and falling to the ground.

He watched as his fellow infantrymen, with whom he had spent every day, were grazed by a slow-moving, enormous artillery shell... The burly man was like a pumpkin trampled by a giant; his upper body instantly exploded into a bloody mist, leaving only his two legs standing kneeling in place.

Immediately afterwards, the cannonballs of the twelve-pound cannon came whistling in.

A shell accurately hit the weak point of the bunker, and the rammed earth protective wall collapsed like paper, exposing an Eagle Cannon hidden behind the earthen wall. The shell also caused the bronze cannon to fold in half like paper and jump up, with fragments of the cannon carriage sweeping around like shrapnel.

In just one round of firing, the four heavy cannons managed to collapse more than ten meters of earthen wall, smash a bronze cannon, and kill twenty unlucky guys who couldn't avoid them.

Of all the casualties, only one cannonball missed the earthen wall, instead flying past it, blowing away three tents, collapsing a shed, and crushing half of the twenty casualties.

At first glance, the results didn't seem very impressive, but in reality, the artillerymen who witnessed everything from behind the earthen wall completely collapsed after the shelling.

The power and accuracy terrified those in the know, who fled in terror, refusing to stop no matter how the officers whipped them.

One soldier, driven mad with fear, even ran over the earthen wall, clutching his head, towards the nearby stream, just to escape the terrible artillery fire.

The four siege cannons, with just one round of bombardment, shattered the fighting spirit of the Minisian artillery.

In the following period, the four siege cannons fired two more salvos, blasting a gap of 100 meters in the two-kilometer-long earthen wall before ceasing fire.

Siege artillery is, after all, an experimental product and cannot be fired indiscriminately. It needs to be inspected after three rounds of firing. Even if extreme testing is required, it is not now. If the barrel explodes, it will be no laughing matter.

On the contrary, the six-pound and nine-pound cannons could take turns bombarding, maintaining uninterrupted firepower and continuously suppressing the enemy.

After the artillery fire in Minicia ceased, the engineering corps led by the player set off. Under the cover of their own artillery, carrying entrenching tools, shovels, and other equipment, they marched with high morale to the alluvial plains and shallow streams to begin their earthworks. What were they going to do?
Of course, it is necessary to level out multiple roads that allow the main force to pass through. Alluvial platforms and shallow streams are covered with tall weeds and soft silt. If these terrain features are not cleared away, they will become obstacles to the infantry's advance when the attack begins.

After spending half an hour efficiently clearing away the weeds and silt, the Beaver Squad players, along with hundreds of engineers, quickly got to work on professional battlefield construction. They were divided into three teams, each showcasing their unique skills.

The first team of players wielded entrenching tools, digging drainage ditches in the shallows of the stream. The murky water flowed away with a gurgling sound along the ditches, and the originally soft mudflats quickly became firm.

"Drainage system sorted out!"

The player with the ID "Water Conservancy Engineer" wiped his sweat.

"Next, it's time to pave the road!"

The second team of players took over at this time. They brought in pre-prepared planks and gravel from the rear and laid a simple road on the drained mudflats.

One player with the ID "Infrastructure Maniac" even took out a homemade level to carefully check the flatness of each wooden plank.

"Raise the left side a little higher!"

He directed his companions.

"The shield truck will be passing through here tomorrow!"

Meanwhile, the third team of players was clearing obstacles from the stream. They used ropes to lasso the barricades that the Minisians had thrown into the stream and, while chanting, dragged the wooden objects aside.

One player with the ID "Garbage Sorting" even meticulously led a group to sort and neatly stack these wet woods and stones.

What are you doing?

The other players asked, puzzled.

"Environmentally friendly... oh, no, it's recycling!"

He answered the garbage sorting question without even looking up.

"Look at this barricade. If you take it apart, the four pieces of wood that make it up can be used as stakes in the stream to provide a foundation for building a wooden bridge. We don't need to go far away to cut wood. They are all good things!"

There are also stones like this, perfectly square in shape, just right to serve as foundation stones…

As soon as the words were spoken, the first team of players, who had already finished, rushed over and carried away all the materials, preparing to build a floating bridge in the stream... However, before they could even get started, they had to regretfully retreat because it was getting dark.

Before leaving, however, these "Beaver Warband" players didn't forget to throw a lot of caltrops into the stream... Tonight, the Minisians are very likely to try a night raid to destroy the cannons, so throwing things into the water at this time is very appropriate.

The Minisian defenders were completely dumbfounded. They peeked out from behind the dilapidated earthen walls, staring in disbelief as the enemy transformed the previously impassable swamp into a network of attack routes in just a few hours.

An officer tried to organize the musketeers to fire, but as soon as he peeked out and fired a round, he was immediately greeted by grapeshot from six-pound and nine-pound cannons, and bombarded by siege artillery.

After the bombing, those who were still alive had no intention of showing their faces.

In addition, the precise concentrated fire of the three hundred flintlock musketeers accompanying the engineer unit, along with the spray from the three tiger-squat cannons, made the Minieses have no intention of leaving the earthen wall for cover.

The slope hindered the enemy's attack, but it also posed some trouble for the Minisians going downhill... Unprotected, charging forward with their bare bodies against cannonballs and lead weights, the Minisians really didn't dare.

(End of this chapter)