When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 717 - 675: A Catapult with a 2-Mile Range?

"You, 1000 men, were beaten by 500 until you ran away with your tail between your legs, and then you tell me you did your best?" Ursion looked coldly at the few knights in front of him.

"It's not that we didn't try, it's just that the enemy had meteors." The knights quickly gesticulated in defense, "We were blasted away before we got close, and by the time we could see their helmets, it sounded like 'bang bang', and then we started bleeding profusely."

"Is the power of Devil's Wind really that great?"

"Yes indeed." The leading knight hurriedly explained, "They can shoot a kind of arrowhead without a shaft that even breaks through plate armor."

"If that's the case, how come you three are completely unharmed?" Ursion stood up, staring fiercely at the knights, "At the very least, you should have captured something, right? Even just one head would be acceptable."

"Yes, yes." One knight's eyes lit up and hurriedly said, "I'll have someone bring it to you right away."

"Do you think you can fool me? When you use the heads of Black Snake Bay captives to bolster your numbers, do you think I wouldn't know?"

Seeing the three knights looking sheepish, Ursion waved his hand disgustedly: "All three of your military ranks are revoked. Go to the city wall to atone for your sins. Get out."

The three knights exchanged glances but still left the narrow wooden room with downcast faces.

Picking up the red tea on the table, Ursion glanced at the battle report on the table and felt irritated, turning his head to stand by the window with the tea cup in hand.

From yesterday morning to this morning, apart from the western Mo'en River Port, defeated soldiers and the Snake-man Servant Army have been flooding into Avis Temple from all directions.

Defeat reports are flying into Ursion's study like snowflakes.

Since receiving news of the Salvation Army entering Green Blood Town, in just two days, first the outer sentry posts were removed one after another, followed by the fall of various outposts.

Ursion found it hard to believe - even though the walls of those outposts were fragile and poorly defended, how could three or four be breached in just one day?

In these two days, almost all small military outposts on the north side and east side of Avis Temple have been wiped clean.

With these village communities occupied, if not for the city still having a reserve of beer, even drinking water would become a problem.

Before the carrier pigeons from the Western County Church arrived, Ursion was calculating how to transport treasures and supplies out of the temple.

Unexpectedly, in just three or five days, he didn't even have time to escape before being surrounded by the Thousand River Valley Salvation Army's troops.

This war was originally initiated to ensure the monopoly of Clove Corridor, opposing the Royal Family, and Ursion naturally couldn't brandish the flag of the Falan Royal Family to threaten Horn.

For this reason, he decided to first test the quality of these Thousand River Valley troops, dispatching 700 Armored Soldiers and 300 Foot Knights to attack a lost fort in the north.

But these merit-seeking, useless knights were crushed by 500 men in an instant, failing to gather much information at all.

Though there wasn't much information, Ursion still extracted the most crucial part: these soldiers should all belong to that detachment that defeated the Pseudo-Pope's Personal Guard.

Then there's no need for a field battle outside the city.

He was very confident in his self-assessment capabilities; he was one hundred percent unable to defeat these robust infantrymen in a field battle.

But who says victory must be achieved through field battles?

Ursion received personal assurances from the Church and Duke of Bodosa early on, as long as he held the city for two weeks, Duke of Bodosa could breach Solaburg to provide support.

The resources and defensive equipment in the city could at least last another month, but caution is necessary to prevent these Salvation Army men from sneakily using spells to open the gates.

"Boom—"

With a shock to his feet, dust fell from the beams, interrupting Ursion's elegant tea-drinking.

Wiping the tea stains from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, Ursion sternly walked to the door, "Someone come!"

Soon, during the second roaring sound, a Falan Armored Soldier ran over, clutching his helmet in a stagger.

"What was that just now? An earthquake?"

"No, Count, the Thousand River Valley's army has begun to attack the city. That was their trebuchet hitting inside the walls."

"Trebuchet?"

Following the Armored Soldier, Ursion, clad in a wide black feather brocade robe, stomped up the slippery steps, rushing all the way to the gate tower on the eastern section of the city wall.

From the gap in the battlement, the Count from the Clove Corridor poked out half his head and saw the sun gear flags waving more than two miles outside the city.

On the blue-green moist grassland, this group of soldiers wore uniform black-grey jackets and either capped helmets or boat-shaped helmets, with a temporary earthen mound erected in front of them.

Placed on the mound was a huge, black, straight iron pillar, inclined on the ground, with one end facing the city wall.

Before Ursion could ask what it was, an old knight beside him turned pale, shouted a warning, and lunged at Ursion.

Under the enormous force, Ursion, falling face-up, grimaced in pain, but as he opened his eyes to a slit, he felt something dark blocking the sunlight.

Was that... a rough iron ball, completely black?

The iron ball seemed to disappear like an illusion before Ursion, and the next second, he heard a deep "thud." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Pushing the knight off himself, Ursion lunged at the city wall. Behind the wall, smoke and debris rose from two wooden houses, nails and splinters flew, and thatch soared into the sky.

In the black gaping holes in the wall, cries and groans followed one after another.

The trebuchets designed by the Empire's top military engineers should only have a range within a mile.

A trebuchet capable of hurling iron balls into the city across two miles—why would he have such a dream?

As Ursion was in a daze, the Griffin Cannon began to slowly turn amidst Mormon's furious curses from Black Snake Bay.

The fourth shot left the range of the city gate tower, swooping into the city towards the left corner, while the fifth finally struck at the foot of the city wall.

Eight minutes later, the sixth shot, personally adjusted by Mormon, traced a perfect irregular arc, hitting the stone-clad earth section of the wall.

The vibration beneath their feet made everyone on the Avis Temple wall turn pale.

This type of wall, nearly perpendicular to the ground without any incline, was incredibly suitable for the 12-pound Griffin Cannon.

After wiping the lubricant accidentally smeared on his hands onto his pants, amid the respectful gazes of the nearby gunners, Mormon left the cannon position: "Alright, just keep firing like this. By His Majesty's order, do not stop until nightfall."

In front, the Griffin Cannon was firing, while at the rear, the cart carrying the spring warehouse was rapidly racing along the muddy road, and at the end of the road, the hydraulic winding machine was gradually turning.

The water, forcibly compressed by low dams and stone cages, struck the blades, and the main shaft, fastened by rivets and iron hoops, emitted a piercing creak, while the damp air was filled with the rhythmic click of gears meshing.

A bathtub-sized mountain copper mainspring gradually shrank under rapid operation, compressed into a golden cylinder the size of a washbasin.

The operators skillfully and cautiously installed the spring clips and locking wedges, opened the lid of the spring warehouse, inserted the spring into the main power shaft connection, then secured the locking wedges with a pin.

With the lid closing, a "click" sounded, completing the winding.

Standing next to the winding machine, Horn smiled at Leonardo with satisfaction: "Your mechanical talent has once again astonished me."

"You flatter me…"

"And what about me?" Novia suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"You're excellent too."

The Witch of the Mechanical Soul Sect was satisfied and left.

Turning his head, Horn pointed at the hydraulic winding machine and asked, "Tomorrow, when the sand-pattern cannons and 60 new spring warehouses arrive from the rear, will this winding machine be enough?"

"Barely enough, we'd better build a new one." Leonardo watched the foam and splashes between the water wheels, "Luckily, the Avis Temple is situated on a riverbank highland, otherwise we wouldn't have these convenient hydraulic conditions."

Horn nodded silently, relying on hydraulic power was the biggest issue with this winding machine, with the second being the problem of the spring warehouse.

Although the spring clips themselves could be made from carbon steel forged iron, the core pins and locking wedges had to be crafted from high-tensile-quality steel materials or even mithril alloy.

Even with Mayo Town's cannon foundry at full capacity, only 60 spring warehouses were produced in three months, exhausting both mithril and Eog reserves.

Currently, mithril and Eog are extremely rare in nature, with most deposits stored in the volcanic regions of the Furnace Plateau, tightly controlled by the Dwarves.

Yet, the Thousand River Valley and the Dwarves are separated by the Shattered Stone Plain, the Roaring Corridor, and the entire Bear Hammer Territory. At least for now, the Holy Axis can only rely on imports.