Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters-Chapter 841 - 87 Tug of War_3

Chapter 841: Chapter 87: Tug of War_3 Chapter 841: Chapter 87: Tug of War_3 But outside the city, not a single biped could be captured, so the troops had to take action.

The thunderous cannons on the city walls continuously boomed; the shields, reinforced with iron sheets and cowhide, were as fragile as mats. After the solid iron balls pierced through the shields, they were still able to shatter flesh and blood.

Tahai ordered his troops to pile dirt into the shield carts, which gradually turned into dirt carts, temporarily blocking the deadly thunder from outside.

No more troops dared to exchange arrows with the bipeds, even if the Kotas offered high bounties.

Fortunately, the bipeds did not dare to attack either. As the two sides confronted each other at close range, neither could do anything to the other.

As the trenches were dug deeper, it seemed the bipeds also realized that continuing to exchange fire was pointless. Gunfire became increasingly sparse, and the thunder no longer roared.

Tahai hid behind the thickening, raising earthen wall; this small space unexpectedly began to make him feel safe.

...

After the eerie silence, there came another dull boom of thunder.

But what followed was not the trembling of the shield carts being struck by solid iron balls—nothing happened.

“Missed?” Tahai wondered.

No, a pitch-black iron ball with a swoosh, like a giant hailstone, smashed into the space behind the shield carts from mid-air, burying itself deep into the ground.

Tahai’s eyes widened, because from his position, the thunder could not possibly hit there.

“Hurled in?” Tahai was shocked, “Do the bipeds have such a strong man?”

Then came the second one; this iron ball had a hemp rope attached to it.

Tahai’s chest nearly burst; he screamed and leaped into the trench, “Black thunder!”

It was too late; the grenade exploded with a “boom,” taking Tahai away.

…

Revodan New Town.

Behind the western city wall, a large open area was cleared, hosting twelve bizarrely-shaped, short, thick iron tubes pointing to the sky.

They appeared to be mortars, but their calibers were too small and the tube walls too thin.

Mason carefully took out a modified grenade that had an extra layer of protection on its fuse compared to a regular grenade.

After lighting the fuse, Mason immediately placed the shell into the short-barreled cannon.

Demon Ongs also immediately lit the fuse of the short-barreled cannon, and both retreated far away.

The short-barreled cannon fired, shooting the grenade into the sky, its whereabouts unknown.

“This is how you use it!” Mason looked around at his subordinates, “Did you understand?”

The gunners nodded, somewhat puzzled.

They had learned how to use the first, second, and third generations of wooden cannons with Mason Commissioner, yet they had never seen or heard of this type of grenade-launching device.

The gunner responsible for observing the impact point ran over to report, “Missed!”

“Too close or too far?” Mason asked.

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“Too close! And to the right!”

“Get him two small flags,” Mason pointed at the observing gunner, “Use the flags to communicate to save running back and forth.”

Demon Ongs nodded.

Revodan’s forge workshop lacked the capability to cast whole cannon barrels, let alone directly forge entire ones.

So they could only forge short iron tubes and then assemble them into long cannon barrels, which was laborious and time-consuming.

Since Mason was most short on time, the artillery captain decided to simply skip the welding process and directly transformed short iron tubes, one foot long and one inch thick, into mortars for launching grenades.

The modification work had started on the first day of the siege and today proved to be the perfect occasion to use it.

“The people of Terdon are digging trenches, pushing shield carts, and stacking earthen walls, trying to block direct fire,” Mason said with a hint of cruel pleasure to his subordinates, “Very well! Let them taste the flavor of our mortars!”

…

The mortar that fired shell easily launched four-pound shells to a distance of twenty meters, and its trajectory was curved, allowing the shells to fly over shield carts and then drop into the trenches.

They became the last straw that broke Terdon’s resistance.

Although the Terdon people attacking New Town showed toughness far beyond ordinary Herde tribes, they couldn’t keep digging trenches while being bombarded.

Mason thought to himself that if he had been commanding the siege, he might have taken some countermeasures. Mortars had their drawbacks too, and were just as dangerous to their operators as to the enemy.

However, the events of today had exhausted both the attackers and defenders.

The Terdon people abandoned their dead, their wounded, and their shield carts, and broke ranks in a disorganized retreat, ignoring the supervising cavalry as they brandished their sabers.

The defenders were too weary to pursue, and there were even no cheers of victory.

As the evening darkened, the battlefield fell silent; only the dying Terdon people could be heard moaning in pain in a language that was incomprehensible.

Venturesome militiamen stealthily climbed out from the city walls, aiming to decapitate the barbarians, and unexpectedly encountered Terdon people trying to loot the dead. Both parties startled each other and fled in chaotic shouts.

Mason ordered the burning of Terdon’s shield carts and the refilling of the enemy’s trenches as much as possible.

The next day, the siege resumed.

The Terdon tribe utilized more personnel; while directly digging trenches toward the front, a contingent tried taking the river pathway in an effort to bypass the city walls.

The Terdon attackers from the river were intercepted by the flotilla.

Mason stationed second-generation wooden artillery on small boats, bombarding the enemy wading in the water with lethal stones and iron chunks.

Those Terdon people who managed to swim to the shore discovered that the shallow riverbed was riddled with sharp stakes—how could Richard Mason possibly have left a loophole? They were quickly slaughtered on the beach.

On the third day, the Terdon people finally connected their trenches to the city’s moats.

Mason then used his last resort.

Accompanying a blast that made the earth tremble, a huge breach was blown open on the banks of the St. George River, northeast of Revodan New Town.

The raging river water poured into the city moats, and the wall-digging Terdon slaves had no time to escape; they were either drowned or shot dead.

The defensive moat had become a defensive river—or rather, it had always been intended as a defensive river, just never filled with water until then.

On the fourth day, the outside of the city was eerily quiet.

Mason sent men to inspect and found that the enemy camps were deserted.

“Have the barbarians been defeated?” Elder Priskin asked as if granted amnesty.

“No,” Mason’s expression held no trace of joy, “I’m afraid their objective has been achieved.”

“I don’t understand what you mean, sir.”

“The real aim of the Terdon people has always been to force Winters to make a move. Their primary target has been Winters, then us after him.”

“What do you mean?” Elder Priskin asked, half in terror, half in joy. “Has His Excellency Montane launched an attack?”

“The Terdon people voluntarily lifting the siege,” Mason said calmly, “indicates that the real battle has already begun.”

Meanwhile, at the water dam fortress by the Big Horn River, Tamas and Samujin also discovered that the Terdon people besieging them had vanished without a trace.

“Release the water now!” Tamas decisively ordered.

“The water hasn’t accumulated enough!” Samujin disagreed, “Releasing it now, no one can guarantee it will destroy the floating bridge.”

“We can’t wait!” Tamas roared, “The Terdon people pulling back means the Centurion is already engaged in battle! We must release the water now!”

“Then let’s destroy the dam,” Captain Moro, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.

Samujin looked at both of them and reluctantly agreed.

Mason and Tamas’s speculation wasn’t wrong; the final showdown had indeed commenced a day earlier.