Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters-Chapter 833 - 85 Luck_2

Chapter 833: Chapter 85 Luck_2 Chapter 833: Chapter 85 Luck_2 Tamas nodded heavily, and Samujin gritted his teeth and replied, “Yes!”

“Now that the dam has been exposed, the struggle here will undoubtedly be brutal,” Winters used his cane to sketch out a rough map on the sandy beach and carefully explained to his two most trusted subordinates, “I will launch a feint attack in the direction of Saint Town to lessen the pressure on you.”

At the moment, the situation resembled Russian dolls:

In the inner circle, the attackers were laying siege to Revodan;

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In the outer circle, Winter’s troops were gradually gaining control of the roads around Revodan.

The initiative temporarily rested in the hands of the attackers; they could choose to fight, to leave, or to launch an assault on Revodan.

Winters, however, was placed in a reactive position, as his troops almost lacked field capability and were far less mobile than the Terdun Cavalry, who moved like the wind.

But to sit idly by was never Winters’s style; “If you don’t have the initiative, fight to seize it” was Winters’s motto.

Winters’s strategy for seizing the initiative had two prongs:

First, threaten the Terdun people’s route of retreat; once the Floating Bridge was destroyed, the Terdun people would be forced to fight desperately;

Second, secure the vital roads around Revodan and advance step by step, continuously shrinking the Terdun people’s maneuvering space.

...

As soon as Winters’s encirclement was complete, the Terdun people would be trapped in the narrow area south of the St. George River.

By that time, the situation would resemble a reproduction of the Panto River battle, allowing Winters to slowly strangle the attackers.

Currently, however, the dam was not yet completed, and the encirclement had gaps; the Terdun people still held the initiative.

The attackers seemed to also sense the imminent danger.

The Terdun Cavalry took backroads and passed through old forests, desperately trying to circumvent the blockade and head toward the rear of the defenses.

Their intention was clear—to cut off Winters’s supply line and strangle the large army at Saint Town.

In response, Winters set up a garrison to protect the supply line, with cavalry countering their cavalry.

When the Terdun people broke into hit-and-run attacks, Winters responded with counter hit-and-run tactics. If Terdun people ambushed the militia convoys, Winters’s cavalry would specifically target the Terdun light cavalry.

The war was trending towards a war of attrition. Winters, looking at the compiled casualty reports, felt increasingly oppressed but never once wavered.

Watching the Big Horn River water bypass the unfinished dam and slowly flow downstream, Winters sighed lightly, “Please give my thanks to senior Moro.”

“Yes,” Samujin nodded solemnly.

Winters and Captain Moro had met a few times when building the Styx Great Bridge; he vaguely remembered the other as a refined, witty senior surrounded by a circle of colleagues.

However, the two were not close, as Moro came from artillery background and was many years Winters’s senior.

Moro declined a meeting with Winters, who did not insist.

A cavalry rider with a green plume raced down the hillside, delivering a letter emblazoned with a red diagonal stripe.

A red diagonal stripe meant the contents were of utmost urgency.

Winters broke the seal, scanned the contents, and calmly passed the letter to his two subordinates.

Samujin hesitated for a moment and did not reach out, letting Tamas take it first. Tamas didn’t reach out either, for he was illiterate.

“Wait until after the war to learn slowly,” Winters smiled and put away the envelope. “The Terdun people have started their siege.”

…

The siege on Revodan began with an artillery bombardment.

The cold winter increased the difficulty of earthwork operations, demanding a large workforce.

Winters could conscript militia, while around Revodan there was none to conscript, as all civilians had already taken refuge within the city.

Therefore, the Terdun people’s trench-digging efforts did not progress smoothly; after five days, the front end of the trench was still over sixty meters from the city wall and had not been expanded in a direction parallel to the wall.

Perhaps seeking to put more pressure on Revodan, to lure out the force from Saint Town for an attack; or perhaps simply intending to break through Revodan.

Regardless, the Terdun people had abandoned their previous strategy of passive labor and launched a real attack on the walls.

Four cannons lined up and fired solid shot at the shooting towers behind the walls and the arrow towers on the wall.

Many militiamen had never seen cannon fire, peeking out from behind the walls to watch the spectacle.

Mason sat on the ground with his back against the city wall, his left hand resting on his knee, listening intently to the roar of ‘his second daughter.’

The four cannons fired at fixed intervals in sequence, indicating that the Terdun people knew how to utilize cannon units.

And the Terdun people were lucky; the second shot hit the shooting tower directly.

The arrow shield of the shooting tower broke apart, and sharp wooden splinters flew everywhere along with the impact noise, scaring the militiamen, who had been excitedly watching the cannon, back behind the wall.

Mason remained unmoved; he had already ordered that until the enemy was close to the walls, no archer was to ascend the shooting towers prematurely.

The third cannonball flew over the wall, and the fourth directly hit the wall, burying deeply into the masonry, with the surface soil of the wall sliding down into the trench.

“The angle isn’t enough to burst the shell open—nor did I expect the Terdun people to have cannon,” Mason counted silently, then ordered the sergeant next to him, “Climb the shooting tower.”

“Ah?” The sergeant looked troubled, clearly shaken by the earlier bombardment.

“The Terdun people’s cannon is still loading; you can go up and down quickly, they won’t hit you,” Mason had no choice but to explain to the sergeant, who was seeing combat for the first time, “I don’t think that shot went through; go up there and bring the cannonball to me.”