I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 263 The Sound of Cannons
Having finished writing a letter, Meredith stretched, his bones, already over fifty years old, cracking a few times in the military tent.

He rubbed his aching wrists, placed the quill pen next to the ink bottle, and noticed that the sounds of gunfire outside the tent had ceased sometime earlier, replaced by the heavy footsteps of patrolling soldiers and the occasional neighing of horses.

Meredith stood up, the hem of his dark blue military uniform sweeping across the corner of the table. He walked to the bronze mirror in the corner of the tent and examined himself by the flickering candlelight.

A few more strands of silver hair had appeared at his graying temples, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were deeper than before he went to war. He subconsciously touched the three badges on his chest, which were testaments to his half-life of service to the empire.

"Sir, would you like some hot water prepared?"

The guards asked in a low voice outside the tent.

“No need.”

Meredith unbuttoned the top two gold buttons of his uniform, revealing a crisply starched white shirt underneath. He turned to walk towards his cot, but stopped abruptly... a sharp pain shot through his knee. This damned rheumatism, it'd festered ever since his mission in the northern snowfields three years ago.

He slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, took out a silver flask from under his pillow, tilted his head back and took a gulp of strong liquor. The burning sensation traveled down his throat to his stomach, finally dispelling some of the chill. The sound of soldiers talking could be heard outside the tent.

"Have you heard? The Third Company lost over a dozen more brothers outside the city today..."

"Those damned mountain archers, they always aim for the eyes..."

"Woooooooo..."

The sudden, high-pitched bugle call interrupted everything. The captain of the guard disregarded etiquette and quickly burst through the tent flap, his angular face bearing an extremely serious expression.

"Sir, an unidentified army has appeared in the eastern valley!"

Unidentified army?

Meredith was taken aback for a moment, but quickly realized what was happening.

He did not possess outstanding military leadership talent, was not the current commander of the Seventh Army Corps, and had never attended any military school. However, his common sense told him that the army that had come here should be Prince Chris's army.

Meredith got out of bed, dressed, grabbed the monocular telescope hanging on the tent frame, and strode out of the tent. The biting night wind, carrying fine snow, hit his face, forcing him to squint.

It is evening now, and on the eastern ridgeline, a fiery procession is winding its way down.

In the fading light of the setting sun, Meredith could clearly see the outlines of at least fifty four-wheeled supply wagons, their tracks unusually deep, clearly indicating they were fully loaded with military equipment and provisions.

"It's Bagnia's army!"

The sentry on the watchtower shouted.

"They're flying Prince Chris's eagle flag!"

Meredith watched for a while, but because it was snowing and he was far away, he couldn't see any better than the sentry on the watchtower.

Even so, Meredith still had a question in his mind... Why did our army only discover this when Prince Chris's army was already very close to Hegland?
Was it the work of the mountain folk archers roaming the forests, or were Prince Chris's scouts too excellent, or was there a mistake in our reconnaissance work?

Meredith didn't know, he was uncertain about nothing, and there was nothing he could do but observe and record quietly.

As a head of intelligence, interfering with military authority is a capital offense!
While waiting and observing, Meredith saw a cavalry unit quickly leave their camp, marching in a large column towards Prince Chris's army, clearly attempting to harass and intercept them. At the same time, in other areas of the camp, infantry units were also assembling, marching swiftly along designated routes in neat formations. They were clearly the main force for interception, displaying excellent discipline, and their ranks also dragged a dozen or so cannons.

Seeing this, Meredith felt a little relieved. Although he didn't know the origin of this infantry unit, it was clearly an elite force that should be able to complete his mission well.

"The gates of Hegland have been opened!"

The sentry shouted, his voice calm, clearly confident that the intelligence was not bad news.

Meredith didn't see this as bad news; in fact, he thought it was a good opportunity. He stared intently toward the city of Hygrand.

If the attacking force can delay Prince Chris's advance and simultaneously defeat the count's army leaving the city, then the Bohemian army can charge forward and, if they can enter the city, they are very likely to capture Hegland.

The general of the Bohemian Legion clearly thought the same thing. Soon, Meredith saw the soldiers in the camp being quickly assembled, and the second team soon formed a long line heading towards Hegland.

As darkness fell and Meredith's eyesight deteriorated, even with binoculars, he could barely hear the distant cannon fire.

This round of shelling was clearly fired from the old heavy cannons on the walls of Hygrand. The cannon fire was dull and slow, indicating that these old relics had been used too many times. The cannon barrels were deformed, and Meredith could even see the dim trails left by the shells in the night sky.

Most of them strayed from their target, exploding into harmless clumps of mud and snow on the snow.

Immediately afterwards, a loud and continuous barrage of artillery fire came from the side of the Bohemian camp. This was undoubtedly the Bohemian army's artillery counterattacking and suppressing enemy artillery or infantry groups.

Meredith didn't understand military matters, but having spent so much time in the military camp and witnessed the army's artillery bombardment of Hegland, as well as the daily small-scale skirmishes in the field, he roughly knew that his own troops would bombard the area with artillery several times before launching an attack.

Suppressing the enemy with firepower, then having the infantry advance to attack while the cavalry provides cover – Meredith had seen this tactic so many times that he felt he had almost mastered it. So now, just by listening to the sound of cannons, he could imagine the scene on the battlefield.

This must be the Bohemian army's artillery preparing for the upcoming charge. They were trying to suppress the defenders on the walls of Hegland with concentrated artillery fire, while simultaneously weakening the fighting capacity of the Count's army and Prince Chris's army as they marched out of the city.

Just as Meredith was lost in his imagination, a more intense and clearer roar came from afar, interrupting the court official's thoughts.

He was startled and instinctively pointed his binoculars at the source of the sound.

The sound did not come from the Bohemian army, but from the direction of the eastern ridge.

Meredith saw that flames had also appeared in Prince Chris's army, indicating that they had brought their own cannons. These cannons made a clearer sound, and the trajectories of their shells were much straighter, clearly far more advanced than the old heavy cannons on the walls of Hygrand.

"My lord, Prince Chris's army has begun bombarding us with artillery!"

The captain of the guards' voice carried a hint of tension.

"I know……"

Meredith was getting a little annoyed.

"Why has our artillery stopped? Captain, you must ride there immediately to find out what's going on!?"

"Understood, my lord."

(End of this chapter)