Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 407: Chapter 48 Attack and Defense_2

The prayer ended, Winters buttoned up his pendant box, gently pressed it against his forehead, and carefully placed it back around his neck.

Miles away in Sea Blue City, Anna Navarre woke up from a dream with tears unexpectedly sliding down the corner of her eyes.

…

…

By noon, the Herders’ third onslaught had been repelled. But they didn’t retreat far, setting up camp just two hundred meters away to regroup.

More than a dozen wagons lay within thirty steps of the western wall of the camp, riddled with bullet holes and arrows.

The anti-cavalry stakes on the west side of the camp had been yanked chaotically out of the ground by Herd Cavalry with lassos.

The Herders even dragged away the stakes they had pulled out, denying the Paratu People any chance to replant them.

The central wooden hut of the camp was turned into a medical station, where seriously wounded Paratu People were brought in for treatment, while the lightly wounded were tended to at their posts.

“Lieutenant Montaigne!” Pierre shouted as he searched among the wounded and the dead, “Lieutenant Montaigne!”

“What is it, Mr. Mitchell?” Father Caman had just removed an arrow from a soldier and asked with displeasure at Dusack’s ruckus.

Amon the crowd, only Father Caman had received proper training in surgical medicine. Whether he liked it or not, he had to pick up the scalpel at this moment.

“The colonel sent me to find Lieutenant Montaigne!” Pierre exclaimed anxiously.

As Caman was treating wounds without looking up, he responded, “Lieutenant Montaigne has washed his eyes; he’s gone back already.”

At the camp wall, Colonel Jeska had already personally found Lieutenant Montaigne.

Winters, with bloodshot eyes, listened to the colonel and nodded repeatedly.

In the previous battle, a panicking musketeer fired rashly just as he extended his gun over the lieutenant’s shoulder.

The loud bang made the lieutenant dizzy, the flame burned off half of his eyebrows, and the gunsmoke sprayed into his eyes, temporarily blinding him.

Immediately, Xial and Berlion sent Winters to Caman to treat his injuries.

Fortunately, there was no external wound, and after washing his eyes, Winters rushed back to the front line as soon as possible.

The wagons previously abandoned by the baggage train now fell into enemy hands. The Herders nailed planks onto the wagons and filled the gaps with earth, using them for cover from bullets and arrows.

Shielded by makeshift assault carts, Herd Cavalry switched to longbows and heavy arrows to get closer and exchange fire with the Paratu People, causing heavy casualties.

The Paratu People, with only three one-pounder swivel guns, were helpless against the dirt carts.

The officers deeply regretted not simply burning the abandoned wagons since they harbored a faint hope of “picking the wagons back up for use later.”

“We need to burn those wagons.” Colonel Jeska’s eyes flashed with fury as he pointed to the big wagons outside the camp wall, “You lead the way, take more kerosene, resin, and I will call the musketeers from other units to cover you.”

“Forget about it.” Winters laughed loudly, strapping on his helmet, “I’m more worried about getting killed by your musketeers!”

The others around them burst into laughter along with him.

Winters genuinely feared being hit in the back by some fool’s bullet, but he had to appear fearless, because “if the officer isn’t scared, the soldiers won’t be either.”

Carrying the incendiaries, Winters led a few Dusack on horseback out of the camp gate.

The Herders in the distance noticed the defenders’ movements as well, a group of riders quickly mounted their saddles and closed in on Winters and his men.

The swivel guns fired first, solid shot flying towards the Herd Cavalry and kicking up only a few clouds of dust.

One of the cannonballs even whooshed over Winters, drenching the lieutenant in a cold sweat.

The one-pounder cannon was the equipment of the Colins’ company of a hundred men in the camp, which were all breech-loaded shell guns.

Lieutenant Colin had no designated gunners under him, nor was he from the artillery branch. The three small cannons were purely ornamental and were never intended for actual combat.

Getting to the wagons, Winters realized the Herd Barbarians weren’t exactly fools.

Each wagon had been drenched with water, the wood was thoroughly soaked, and even the earth between the planks was wet.

“These Barbarians are the craftiest!” the lieutenant couldn’t help cursing.

“Now what?”

“Burn them!”

Winters slapped his horse’s hindquarters, and the animal glanced back at its master before conscientiously running towards the camp gate.

The position was too close to the moat and wall, it made more sense to climb back over than to go through the gate.@@novelbin@@

The kerosene and resin ignited upon contact, but the thoroughly soaked wood simply refused to catch fire.

As the Herd Cavalry closed in swiftly, the musketeers and crossbowmen behind the camp wall opened fire.

With the wagons within thirty steps from the wall, the Herders dared not approach too closely. Instead, they stood at a distance, firing arrows at the few men beside the wagons.

The Herders’ arrows were both fast and accurate, forcing the men to lie flat on the ground for cover.

With eyes wide open, the lieutenant watched the flames on the wagons wane smaller and smaller, while his own fury burned even brighter.

Winters patted Dusack beside him, “Retreat!”

They all ran towards the back, leaped over the trench, climbed the camp wall, and returned to the safety zone.

“They’ve poured water on them,” the lieutenant took off his helmet, panting as he explained.

“It’s alright,” Colonel Jeska frowned tightly but didn’t blame the lieutenant, “We will find another way.”

“I have a way!” Winters fought to control his breathing, eyes blazing with fury, “Give me the iron bombs!”

Iron bombs were cans filled with black gunpowder, extremely heavy but often effective in siege defense. The camp also had a stockpile.

The lieutenant asked for iron bombs, but the people in the camp didn’t understand why.

“Give me the iron bombs!” the lieutenant was almost shouting, “And shovels!”

His soldiers hurriedly brought several iron cans tied with rope.

With a shovel in hand and four iron lumps weighing about twenty pounds in total, the lieutenant climbed back over the wall amidst exclamations of surprise from everyone.

Not only the Paratu People but this time even the Herders were taken aback.

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