194 – Defense of the Yellow Plains (7)
When the order came from within Kreutel to load the grapeshot, the gunners repeated the order in slightly excited voices.
“One shot of grape shot! It’s good to shoot iron ball bullets made of cast iron, but aren’t cannons grapeshot?”
“I don’t know if it’s the explosion of the allies, but it’s thrilling to see the enemy explode.”
“Put grapeshot in and fire! Let’s explode it in front!”
The artillerymen unpacked the ammunition canisters containing the grapeshot, put the gunpowder in first, and then began to ram it into the gun barrel.
“Use your strength! Spend only half of what you spend on prostitutes brought by war merchants!”
“Anyone who mortars into the air, I will personally slap them in the cheeks!”
It took 10 seconds to drive the grape shot hard with a stick with a thick rag attached to it, like a mortar in a mill.
After loading, the gunners in groups of four pushed the cannons forward on wheeled carriages.
The wheels rolled forward with a gurgling sound, and the barrel of the cannon hit the cannon bore.
Observing the situation, I looked at the enemy’s current situation from the top of the watchtower.
Enemy soldiers were whimpering and approaching from a distance of about 70 meters, carrying thousands of ladders and ropes.
Some of them felt the power of cannons before approaching the wooden castle, and thought it would be better to desert… Enemy desertion was carried out.
The commanders and self-defense squads grabbed the soldiers by the collar and beat them, then returned them to their ranks, or killed them to prevent desertion as much as possible…
“My hometown is Iris anyway, so what’s the point of fighting so hard? Hit the ball, you serfs!!”
“You’d be wiser to desert than to fight while getting shot with that damn iron ball!”
If the soldiers who tried to escape succeeded in falling only about 10 meters from the ranks, they gave up the pursuit and just let them run away.
If we’re going to stop desertion by using solitary battles so viciously, then we should release knights and light cavalry to make sure no one falls in like that… Eh, if I were the commander, if I managed my forces in that way, I would have given discipline first and prepared for a court-martial.
No, you don’t have to think about that, because most of you, including the commanders over there, are destined to die from the intensive fire of our allies.
Also, all enemy commanders who make the wrong choice, whether incompetent or competent, are on our side.
While I was thinking about the next strategy and looking at the enemy’s condition, one of my adjutants whispered in my ear.
“Your Excellency, the enemy has entered within 60 meters.”
Hearing those words, I felt a sense of anticipation in my heart as well as the artillerymen.
That would be the case, too, because I had only trained with live ammunition and targeting trees, but had never used it against a real enemy.
Also, although the light has faded a lot over 10 years since I was reincarnated…
I, Kim Do-yoon, who inherited the blood of Joseon, who has a romance for firepower and knows the coolness of explosions, was attracted to being able to shoot shotguns, which are said to be the strongest weapon in short-range and mid-range battles.
“As soon as you are ready to fire, fire all at once. After that, the enemy will cover all sides of the allies and try to cross the wall of the wooden fence, so divide the cannons into 5 pieces. At the same time, leave 30% of your troops on the wall facing the enemy, and divide the rest of the soldiers equally on the 3-way wall to defend. Also, as instructed in advance, arrange swordsmen, spearmen, arquebusiers, and grenadiers in the order on the top of the wall.”
“Yes, Your Excellency the Marquis! The messengers immediately tell the baron, who is in charge of the defense of each of the four walls, that artillery support is going to go and deploy the soldiers as agreed! Also, ring the bell and give the command to fire the shotgun!”
As the adjutant relayed my orders so fast that the listeners were dizzy, the messengers started running and the bells started tong.
The artillerymen repeated the order to fire loudly as if they had waited for the order.
“Prepare the shotgun!”
“Ignite gunpowder!!”
“Let’s step in!!”
They ignited the wick in the cannon, and within seconds the cannon backed away with a loud bang and black smoke.
Artillerymen are supposed to put wet pieces of cloth in their ears before firing in case of such a loud noise, but the other soldiers did not take such measures.
So, despite being some distance away from the cannon, the tremendous noise irritated my eardrums…
As a result, some of the soldiers pressed their ears and closed their eyes tightly, as if their eardrums were shocked immediately after the cannon was fired.
When the cannon was fired, there were soldiers who were surprised or complained of pain because they couldn’t cover their ears in time…
The sight of Marquis Simon’s soldiers beaten by shotguns was devastating.
Without adding a single exaggeration, none of the guys at the front of the guys who were hit by 20 cannons could maintain their human form.
No, it’s just thinly sliced, as if people were ground like beans on a millstone.
In addition, the soldiers behind him had at least 2 or 3 rows of enemies dying with at most 3 or at least 1 hole in their arms, legs and torso.
Among them, it was rare to see those who completely lost their minds from the fear of the battlefield.
“hell… this is hell… ”
“Just now, the guys next to me were swept away at once… But wow! This time, everyone is dead in front of me, and my arm!!”
“Mom hehehehe… I want to go home…”
Some of the soldiers with such a hole in them lost their reason in fear, threw down their weapons and ran madly backwards in the homing instinct to return to their hometown.
Of course, those who ran back were summarily executed by Franzi’s single-handedly or by friendly hands.
As I watched this hellish scene, I felt two conflicting emotions.
One, the pleasure I felt from being able to overwhelm enemies who dared to trample the soldiers I raised with just 20 grapeshots.
The rest of the feelings are that the future war will now revolve around cannons, and the weight of the lives of the serfs and soldiers of my estate who may die as a price for opening the start…
If I had just reincarnated, the rest of my emotions might have felt sympathy and guilt for the enemies who died because of the weapons I developed, but…
In a world where if you don’t kill, you will be killed, if you treat your enemies with such ambiguous feelings, it’s inevitable that I will die in return.
As if to prove it, Franchi’s solo squad and elite soldiers pointed their spears at their allies, the serf soldiers, and gave orders.
“You guys have no other way to survive than by fighting the enemy and surviving! Those who flee will surely be killed by our allies!”
“Go ahead! Go ahead and fight the enemies!”
“One way or another you die, one way or another you will die. In that case, fight the enemy and die!!”
Franzi’s serfs and foot soldiers cried out in tears as if resenting their lord for forcing them to choose death.
“Let’s go forward!!”
“Let’s defeat the enemy and change the character!!”
“Long live the French Empire!!!”
Even though he sent soldiers to the limbs and sent them out as if they were going to grind into steel plates, Marquis Simon was secretly dividing his troops to attack the walls in all four directions at the same time.
If someone who doesn’t know war sees it, ‘Doesn’t it sound like an idiot when soldiers are divided before a war in the law of war?’ I don’t know if I’d say…
In all battles, the number of soldiers who can participate in battle at once is limited for both offense and defense, so if the attacking side has an advantage, it is better to induce the defending side to divide their forces unconditionally…
This is far more advantageous as it reduces the number of reserves the defenders have.
Of course, that is also a story when the firepower of each other is boiling.
By the time Franchi’s foot soldiers continued to charge, taking direct fire from cannons and matchlocks, and were about to enter the moat.
“Noblesse Oblige, if you are a noble, of course you have to bear the burden of being a noble. When the soldiers engaged in close combat guarding the walls get tired and ask for a change, the knights go out and assist them. Also, do not spare the gunpowder and fight with the determination to use up all of it.”
On that order, the flag bearers hoisted the golden eagle banners, symbolizing total war.
At the signal, melee soldiers with swords or blunt weapons raised their weapons, spearmen aimed outside the walls, and matchlocks fired their matchlocks at the location of the enemy without aiming properly in the front.
Lastly, the soldiers trained in the Combat Engineers Battalion commanded by Captain Mark, who was trained to throw grenades, no, now a major…
They started pouring grenades weighing more than 1 kilo at random at a distance of 10 to 20 meters.
As a result, the soldiers who survived the cannonballs were pierced and blasted away by matchlocks and grenades.
In particular, the grenade could attack at a higher speed than the matchlock, but where the grenade landed, 3 to 5 soldiers were seriously injured or died from burns.
Soldiers who survived such an outpouring of firepower climbed up ladders, were checked by spearmen and slaughtered by soldiers in charge of close combat.
It looked like a factory with machines installed by experts.
And as the factory manager, I gave orders to the soldiers.
“Kill every single enemy that climbs the walls of this fortress.”