When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 714 - 672: 7-Day Siege Plan

On the land of Black Snake Bay, many towns are established around the Old Gods Temple.

These temples include both the ruins of the ancient Norn Tribe and the sacred sites of the southward-moving Snake-men. Since they are ready-made, the Black Snake Bay People have a habit of building acropolis around temples.

Living inside the acropolis are the so-called Black Snake Bay Warriors and Secret Party Wizards, while outside are mostly uncivilized local barbarian villages and tribes.

These uncivilized barbarian tribes include both the remnants of the Falanized Norn Tribe and the Falan villages that have degenerated into tribes.

So, many times, the temple in Black Snake Bay is a name for a settlement.

The Avis Temple, as an important transport route to Solaburg, has had its walls repeatedly repaired, with a thickness that can accommodate four people walking side by side, estimated to be about three meters thick.

The walls are approximately twelve meters high, getting thicker towards the base.

However, when the Church Army attacked Avis Temple, they used catapults, resulting in slight damage to the walls.

Louise frowned, "Since the walls are only slightly damaged, how was the temple captured?"

"Uh, the Demon Hunter made a surprise attack on the city gates under the cover of night, and we were unprepared," an embarrassed Secret Party Wizard who escaped from Avis Temple said.

The terrain around Avis Temple is straightforward, with the Mo'en River on the west, a tributary of the Ibe River, and to the east, a vast, impassable forest marshland.

At the Mo'en River Port to the west, over a dozen barges were docked, while several ships and stone cages were sunk by the Church in advance at the junction of the Ibe River and Mo'en River to prevent Horn's fleet from entering.

In the east, stationed in the village near the forest, were a thousand Snake-man Servant Army they hired from the Green Dragon Forest Sea.

The defending army within the city, calculated based on the smoke and tents, was approximately 3,000 to 5,000 men.

"Weren't there over 2,000 Black Snake Bay Warriors and their families residing in the temple earlier? Where are they now?" Dass, the Guard Battle Group Commander, asked as he stared at the map on the table.

"They were captured as slaves, some transported to the rear through the port."

"Solaburg is not breached, how did they bypass it to reach Avis Temple?" Dass questioned, focusing on the map.

"They went upstream along the river, bypassed Solaburg, captured the port, and then transported provisions and materials through the rear via the port," Petier said, placing a stone on the small port to the west of Avis Temple. "There might be a few hundred troops stationed here."

Dass immediately perked up, "So does this mean if we seize the port, the Church troops in the city will be starved?"

The Secret Party from Avis Temple coughed gently, "Well, there are still provisions and weapons that were not moved in time from Avis Temple."

"The Church Army's offensive was so fast? There wasn't even time to set fire to the supplies?"

"There was time, but the City Guard at the time thought it wasteful to burn so many supplies. If the city remained unbreached, wouldn't it have been a waste to burn them?" The Secret Party awkwardly lowered his head, "So not until the Church Army stormed in did we start burning the supplies, but we only managed to burn a small portion before they were extinguished."

The officers at the long table exchanged looks, seeing confusion and surprise on each other's faces, but out of camaraderie, they refrained from speaking out.

"If we resort to shelling, how long would it take to breach the walls?" Horn turned his head to Mormon next to him and asked.

"Your Excellency, based on calculations, it would take about a thousand cannon shots to pierce through a 3-meter-thick stone wall," Mormon replied, calculating on the spot, "If we shell 12 hours a day, using both Griffin Cannon and Sand Eagle Cannon for the siege, it would take approximately 8 days to breach the city."

The penetration Mormon referred to has a specific definition in the "Artillery Manual," which is "successfully creating a sufficiently large breach in the target wall with siege artillery, allowing infantry or siege engines to break through the wall defenses and enter the fortress."

This typically requires a breach 2-3 meters wide horizontally and completely penetrating vertically through the wall.

"Could using Dragon's Breath shorten this time?" Louise suggested.

However, Horn frowned, "Dragon's Breath is a battlefield weapon, not quite cost-effective for sieging. If we have options, we shouldn't use Dragon's Breath. Does anyone else have any ideas?"

The officers fell into deep thought, and Horn scanned their faces but noticed one of the fleeing wizards from Avis Temple seemed hesitant to speak.

"What's your name? Do you have something to say?"

The Secret Party Wizard quickly stood up, "My name is Aurion, Your Excellency, I happen to know some information about the siege, though I'm not sure if it's useful..."

"It's alright, things discussed in the pre-war military meeting stay within the table. Even if you're wrong, it's my fault for considering your suggestion. You can speak freely."

"The walls of Avis Temple are not entirely constructed with sandstone, a section had collapsed due to an earlier earthquake and was rebuilt using rammed earth covered with sandstone bricks." The Black Snake Bay Secret Party Aurion became animated, "Rammed earth isn't as solid as sandstone walls."

Unlike sandbags that block shells, rammed earth walls, while both essentially earth, are compacted differently; the former is compacted, the latter relatively loose.

When struck by cannon fire, the energy concentrates at the impact point, which makes rammed earth structures prone to cracks or partial collapse.

"Which section is the rammed earth wall?" Mormon immediately became alert.

"It's the section on the eastern wall of Avis Temple, approximately at one-third the distance from the corner."

The commanders around stood up, gathering around the map.

"If we are to attack from this section, for continuous shelling, we need to first seize the water wheel on the east side of the temple." Horn pointed at the map symbol representing the waterwheel, "Is it possible to convert this into a temporary spring warehouse water-driven winding point in one day?"

Leonardo, however, was confident, "It's entirely possible."

Normally, converting this water wheel would require three days of construction, making it unlikely in just one day.

The first thing is building a temporary spill dam to increase water flow speed, and second is fabricating a suitable gear assembly and reconstructing mechanical designs on the spot.

However, these two challenges are not problems in front of the Salvation Army.

The first point can be handled by these Secret Party Wizards. They might not succeed in attacking Avis Temple, but raising a short dam in the river should be achievable, right?

As for fabricating suitable gear assemblies on the fly, which was originally a major issue, it's not a problem at all for someone like Novia who can manipulate metal shapes.

Finally, the reconstruction of the mechanical design—Leonardo doesn't want to be too disrespectful, but he could design a perfectly matching temporary winding device without using much effort.

With the primary attack direction confirmed, the next step was the siege plan revolving around that direction.

The first issue to address was the Snake-man Servant Army stationed in the eastern village. Adapted to the forest marsh environment, failing to eliminate them before the artillery is deployed will likely lead to continued harassment.

Simultaneously, two battle groups secured key transport locations, construction began on the water wheel's side.

The day after construction completion, the Griffin Cannon was transported to a suitable position and the siege begun.

As for the port on the west riverbank, cavalry was dispatched for surveillance, waiting for subsequent 6-Pound Cannons to arrive for shelling the reinforcements on the ships.

"The port garrison is estimated to be only a few hundred strong. Why not simply seize it?" A newly appointed Legion Commander of the Divine Punishment Army couldn't help but raise his hand to ask.

"Because besieging a city must leave an opening. The Church and Secret Faction are mortal enemies. This is unlike noble wars; if trapped in a siege, the knights inside the city wouldn't surrender." Horn pointed to Solaburg on the map with his index finger, "Don't waste time here, Solaburg is our strategic focus."

"Consider it the knights' luck for grabbing an extra life." Recognizing this as inevitable, a few Legion Commanders of the Divine Punishment Army could only sigh.

Horn couldn't help but chuckle, "I only said to leave an opening for them. Who said to let them go?"

"Huh?"