Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 260 Countermeasures

Upon returning to the camp, the nobles of the Territory were ready to set a banquet to celebrate. Despite a series of failures and nearly half of the casualties, it is nevertheless a matter of joy that the enemies stationed in Squirrel Village have been forced back to their own cantonment sites. Even if the enemy builds their cantonment camp like a small fortress, it is much better than their endless conspiracy to inflict losses on the Alliance of Territorial Aristocrats with their mobile defenses outside...

It's like a mouse falling into an oil tank. Although eating oil takes up a lot of cheap, this mouse can't climb out of the tank. The rest depends on when someone kills him. That is why the aristocrats of the Territory are excited. At last, they can sleep peacefully at night. There is no need to worry about being harassed by the enemy's night raids or anything. As long as the aristocratic militants guard Squirrel Village, the enemy will not be able to leave their camp. Funny thing is, the enemy still trapped himself inside, like a jar.

After celebrating for a while, the nobles of the Territory began to discuss how to capture this small fortress-like cantonment camp.

Baron Quinrona of the Principality of Kanas, who came from the march, came to his delight and pinched the mud wall and log fence of the enemy with white bread on the table and started his own long story: “Gentlemen, I discovered today one of the shortcomings of the enemy's wall, which is that it is straight, that is, the enemy can only attack the attacker from the front in defense, unable to react sideways and shoot sideways, which will reduce our casualties greatly...”

Many knowledgeable territorial nobles nodded, and Baron Quinrona was right, but perhaps it had something to do with the length of the wall built by the enemy, which was only 70 metres long. Too short a distance to set a left-right prominent horse face, perhaps due to a lack of manpower and time to build it like this only temporarily. But this has nothing to do with the nobles of the Territory, who only care when they can take down enemy cantonment sites.

“While we have suffered enormous losses and are not as good as our enemies in terms of weapons, equipment and training of soldiers, our greatest advantage lies in our strength. Now that we all know that there are just over a hundred defensive enemies, the real reason they abandon their positions in the field and around us is because they have too few guards, and even if we trade 10 for one of their casualties, they cannot continue because they are afraid that there are not enough soldiers to guard their camps. ”

Baron Quinrona continues to express his high opinion: "We are still at a gap of twenty to one against the enemy's strength, so I am confident in taking over the enemy's camp. We just need to think about reducing our casualties and destroying our enemies in as short a time as possible. So I think, starting tomorrow, we're sending all the recruits to cut down the trees, and we're sending them to Squirrel Village for equipment like a wooden trailer and a ladder for siege. ”

A territorial nobleman looked up and asked, "Are we sure we want to make these things in Squirrel Village? The enemy was armed with two standard infantry artillery cannons from their kingdom, which I remember could range up to 700 metres. If we concentrate our private and conscripted colonists in Squirrel Village, I fear the enemy will fire and cause us unnecessary losses..."

“Don't worry about that.” Baron Quinrona laughed and his chest looked like bamboo: “Actually, I thought about this when I was watching Squirrel Village on the hillside this afternoon, but I think it would be helpless for the enemy to abandon Squirrel Village and retreat from their cantonment camp, because they didn't have enough troops to guard such a huge Squirrel Village.

For us, Squirrel Village is a very ideal starting point for a forward offensive, first close to enemy camps and second from Squirrel Village to the enemy's defensive fence, which is flat in the middle to ensure that the siege weapon is pushed under the fence for a short period of time, while maintaining the strength of our soldiers without consuming too much power.

Admittedly, the enemy's artillery range did cover the entire squirrel village, but one thing you don't know is, if we just stay half way behind the squirrel village and avoid a distance of 300 meters in front, the defensive enemy won't be able to harm our people with cold guns, and even the enemy won't be able to take our people even if they fire. ”

“Why?" was appropriately asked by an aristocrat from a territory that didn't know much about the military, and he got a praiseworthy look at Baron Quinrona so he could continue what he was talking about.

“Simply put, this type of infantry artillery, equipped by the enemy, is a very famous light standard artillery of the Kingdom of Orvillas, tested by our Principality, and I happen to know the results of it through a military relationship.” Baron Quinrona has revealed his military ties, but there is nothing to keep secret about this test. As a member of the alliance against the kingdom of Ovilles, the enemy's weapons naturally require the military of the Principality of Eskirin to understand their power and their strengths and weaknesses, so that when confronting each other on the battlefield they can count.

“This type of infantry light field artillery is mainly used by infantry as a fire support point during offensive and defensive operations, and its main feature is that it is lighter in weight and can be manoeuvred in mountainous and field locations. Though the range can reach 700 meters, the real power is only within two or three hundred meters. For example, such artillery can only smash or break a wooden platoon as a shield within two or three hundred metres, beyond this distance unless several successive artillery have hit the same landing point, which is likely to cause damage.

Our Duchy military, after testing the artillery, believes that the greatest characteristic of this light infantry artillery is its ability to fire shotguns in defense, with a range of 100 metres, causing great damage to the defenceless soldiers. I think we've all learned that yesterday, the enemy's two light infantry artillery were on defensive positions, as well as the afternoon shelling of our camp, luring our militia to attack, so that we all saw the power of shotgun firing… ”

Baron Quinrona's words evoked the terrible memory of yesterday's noblemen, who lost more than 1,200 people a day, the most tragic of failures. A number of territorial nobles have suffered losses due to their own personal interests, and the curse of teething has provoked enemies.

“I propose to make log plates in Squirrel Village for two purposes: to be close to the enemy and flat on the ground, suitable for our attack. Meanwhile, the villagers' houses in Squirrel Village, which are shattered but cannot be harmed by enemy artillery as long as they are 300 metres away in the second half of the village, provide cover for our people. We can build a wooden platoon there, complete one that blocks shelling in the open space, and then push forward as many as we can, leaving more room for our people to move.

The second objective is to attract the enemy to shell the wooden platoon that we make, and the more they fire, the faster the powder's stockpile runs out. I would like to know if they shell out the wooden platoon fast or if we make the wooden platoon faster, and when they run out of gunpowder stockpiles, we can easily attack enemy camps without paying too much for casualties. ”

Baron Quinrona was proud to finish his proposal to create a wooden caravan, welcoming the compliments and accolades of many territorial aristocrats. Because it is a really effective offensive tactic against enemy recalcitrance.

“But what if the enemy doesn't fire cannons on these wooden platoons?” There are people everywhere who do not see the scenery of others. There is such a prevalence among the nobility of the Territory that immediately a question is raised by the nobility of the Territory.

“Ha ha...” Baron Quinrona laughed. "I am using a masculine scheme, and the enemy is ultimately not stronger than these wooden cars. Because if the enemy doesn't shell these wooden platoons, then when we attack, these wooden platoons will resist the shotgun attacks of their two artillery cannons and will not cause harm to our attackers. Everyone should have looked carefully at the enemy's defensive fence this afternoon, and they even built a wooden shed over the log fence that covered the rain and prevented us from queuing behind the wooden platoon.

Though our soldiers are less equipped with firearms than the enemy has in their hands, they have a long range and are capable of precise targeting. But the guns in the hands of our soldiers are not firecrackers, and if they are covered by wooden platoons, we can line them up for full fire, causing damage to the enemy. But the enemy is insidious, thoughtful, and intentionally put a wooden shed over the log fence for protection, indicating that the enemy is visionary and experienced in guarding, he will not be unaware of the dangers of those wooden trailers and will definitely shoot them down.

Also, I found a lot of straw and dead wood firewood in Squirrel Village, which are weapons we can use to attack. By pushing the wooden trailer in front of the enemy's fence, we can pack up some firewood and set it on fire, throw some water to make it smoke, and use smoke to shield the enemy's firing range, which can also greatly reduce the casualties among our soldiers. ”

Almost all the nobles of the Territory applauded the words of Baron Quinrona this time. By his analysis, no one felt that the enemy's small fortress-like cantonment camp could be overcome. And so everyone was working out ideas for how to attack enemy camps faster and with fewer casualties.

“We may be able to split the two tracks, continue to fill the traps along the hillside and engage the enemy's defences from the hillside. We all know that the enemy is understaffed, which may save the Squirrel Village a little more effort in its attack…" suggested a territorial nobleman.

After discussion, however, it was decided to put the proposal aside, because even if the current trap was buried, it was not known how many large pits were waiting on the road ahead. Even if a horse is lost every time a trap is discovered, for the aristocrats of the territory where there is now a perfect plan to capture enemy camps, these horses are their wealth, and the easy loss is unwilling in the trap.

“What if the enemy launches a surprise attack while we're making a wooden trailer?” Another noble question was raised.

This time, Baron Quinrona did not need to answer, and soon another nobleman stood up: “Our family is not vegetarian either. Although Baron Quinrona said to give up 300 meters, we can still use the ruined houses of the villagers in front of us to place a group of elite guards against enemy raids. Though our soldiers do not have as good a gun as the enemy, close proximity still kills the enemy.

Yesterday afternoon our soldiers made a big mistake, they wanted to capture the enemy's two artillery guns so badly that they forgot the guns they had in their hands. If they could have fired a random gun within 100 meters of the cannon, and killed several of the soldiers who fired it, perhaps they would not have been deceived into being attacked by a shotgun fired by the cannon, causing the whole army to collapse... ”

It is a fact that yesterday afternoon the two or three hundred noble militiamen who chased the two guns only knew to run desperately, forgot the guns they had in their hands, and were ambushed by the enemy with the guns. None of them came back, making the nobles of the territory spit blood.

During most of the evening, the nobles of the Territory finally decided to prepare for the attack, as suggested by Baron Quinrona. Tomorrow, all recruited residents will be dispatched to cut trees and moved to Squirrel Village to make a wooden trailer. As for the aristocratic militias, a large battalion was left to guard the camp here, and the rest were divided into two groups. One group supervised the work of the conscripts and the other set up squirrel villages to guard against enemy camp raids and raids.

So over the next two days, Squirrel Village was very lively, and a tree was cut down and moved into the village. If the cherry tree on the hillside behind the village wasn't too big, it might have been cut down just like the other trees in the woods.

Wood trailers are easy to make, with six or seven trees cut off from the branches and a row of chunky trunks in the middle five or six meters bowl, followed by the body and two wheels. Anyway, it's a one-time thing, and it doesn't have to be so sophisticated. On the first day, dozens of woodworking recruits created more than a dozen wooden platoon cars, standing in empty villages as shelters.

The enemy did fire on the wooden platoons, but after several launches, it was found that the shelling had ceased without merit. The next day, there were 40 or 50 more wooden platoons in the village, and the position moved forward by nearly 100 metres. The enemy in the camp fired again. However, the shelling stopped when only five or six vehicles were destroyed.

On the third day, the village was almost full of wooden platoons and the front pushed to the entrance of the village, more than 100 metres from the enemy's camp. The enemy fired heavily and the shelling stopped for half an hour, but the wooden platoon was destroyed by more than thirty vehicles and soon replaced by a new wooden platoon.

“Attack tomorrow morning!” The aristocrats of the Territory gave satisfactory orders to attack and gave the aristocratic militants and conscripts a good meal and a drink. These few days have been hard enough for them to sleep well in Squirrel Village at night and feed themselves well, waiting for another attack on the enemy's camp tomorrow.

The enemy still had no intention of giving up shelling and fired several rounds every half hour. Territorial aristocrats let noble militiamen and conscripts not worry, even if the platoon of wooden platoons at the entrance of the village is destroyed, it is no big deal to replace another batch tomorrow morning. They want to see how much gunpowder the enemy wastes on these wooden platoons. Just keep an eye out for the aristocratic vigilantes on the lookout at night and don't let the enemy dogs jump off the wall.

At midnight, inside the camp, Claude looked at three light infantry cannons and asked, "Are you ready? ”

Charcoal fires burned in the iron basin next to it, and several iron bullets burned red.

Muried replied: "Don't worry, boss, it's been a wonderful three days since it rained. I watched on the wall. The enemy did not find thatch on those shacks was spilled with fire oil by us, and the dry wood and powder in that trench in the village. They didn't even notice the fire oil on the log fence...”

“All right, Markie, fire, let the enemy have a barbecue.” Claude trivialized the words.