Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 409: Chapter 49 Reinforcements

The enemy was not some mere brave yet foolhardy barbarians—Winters became increasingly certain of this that afternoon.

With the Styx army camp positioned to the east of the great river, taking the terrain into account, an attack should be launched from the south and north sides.

The uneven terrain along the riverbanks restricted the defending force’s shooting range.

The river was still in its winter low-water period; the exposed riverbed was a natural road leading directly to the Floating Bridge.

Putting himself in the shoes of the Herders, Winters thought that if he were commanding them, he would feign an attack on the western wall while focusing the main attack on the southern and northern walls.

At the same time, a force of elite troops would be positioned in the dry riverbed, ready to strike a sudden blow through the Floating Bridge and the eastern gate to surround the troops inside the camp once the battle reached its peak.

Caught between attacks from inside and out, the defending soldiers would certainly descend into disorder. Considering the disparity in numbers between the two forces, casualties sustained in taking down the camp would not exceed thirty percent.

Not only did Winters think so, but the other officers thought similarly. Due to similar tactical training, the thought patterns of several officers were more or less identical.

Consequently, the camp’s defenses were arranged based on this thinking.

Originally, a hundred-man squad of the Standing Army was stationed in the Styx base camp to defend the southern wall.

Winters was responsible for defending the north wall, Andre for the west, and Bard’s temporaily armed personnel for the eastern gate.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeska led the Cavalry squadron, providing discretionary support wherever needed.

Above the dry riverbed, Winters and his men dug out over a thousand horse traps overnight.

The horse traps were about the size of a molehill, deep enough to reach a horse’s shin. Hammer a stake into the ground, pull it out, and a trap was made.

The effect was incredibly malicious; a horse at full gallop stepping into one would at the very least sprain its hoof, if not break its leg.

Normally, nobody would use such a tactic because horses were precious spoils of war. But in desperate times one must first ensure survival before considering the extent of the bounty.

The defending soldiers took up their duties, standing ready for the battle to come.

However, to the surprise of all the officers, the Herders neither feigned attack nor split their forces, nor did they attack from the south and north. Instead, they focused their ferocious assault on the western wall.

The west side of the camp featured a continuous downhill slope, which seemed ideal for the charge of the Cavalry. In reality, it was akin to a shooting range.

The defenders had an unobstructed view with no blind spots.

The enemies’ attack from the west was precisely what the Paratu People, armed with an abundance of long-range weapons, hoped for.

Yet the Herd Barbarians stubbornly pushed their shield carts from the west and attacked.

As soon as the battle commenced, Andre, in charge of defending the western wall, immediately noticed something was amiss.

The wind!

The wind was coming from the wrong direction!

Generally, in the spring and summer, the wind blows from the east between the two mountains—an easterly wind from the Senas Sea toward the inland, bringing precipitation and moisture.

But with the onset of autumn and winter, the wind would shift direction, blowing from the highlands toward the sea, with westerly winds sweeping over the land.

The Herders pushed their shield carts all the way to within twenty or so steps of the camp walls, even as close as fifteen steps. Using large carts filled with soil as cover, they shot arrows downwind, both accurate and ruthless.

Once Andre’s gunmen opened fire, the gunpowder smoke was blown back by the westerly winds. It not only choked soldiers, causing sore throats and stinging eyes, but it also severely obstructed their view.

With the defending archers suppressed by strong bows and heavy arrows, Herder light Cavalry with lassos came howling in. The caltrops outside the camp wall were lassoed, pulled out, and dragged away one after another.

The Styx base camp was a field camp that could accommodate tens of thousands of troops; with the defending side short-staffed, Andre’s hundred or so men couldn’t even fill the western wall’s firing platforms.

Without even dividing their forces or making probing attacks, the Herders savagely tore at a few points, and the Chellini hundred-man team immediately found the pressure unbearable.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeska urgently summoned the Colin and Montaigne hundred-man teams for reinforcement at the western wall.

In the first assault, bold Herder Cavalry scaled the camp walls, only to be quickly surrounded and killed.

In the second assault, the Herders pushed up several small traction trebuchets and began bombarding the defensive firing positions.@@novelbin@@

Winters had never imagined he would witness the return of trebuchets to the battlefield with his own eyes.

But the defense, with only a few inaccurate rotary cannons, really had no answer to the trebuchets.

Andre made a charge with his Cavalry but was intercepted by the well-prepared Herders.

In the third attack, the Herders patiently sniped at musketeers, cleared away all the caltrope stakes, and inflicted casualties on the firing platforms.

Their composure in advance and retreat was like that of skilled butchers deftly boning meat.

Although the camp wall had yet to be truly breached, Winters could sense that the morale of his own militia was nearing its breaking point.

At noon, the military officers held a meeting in the camp.

“Next time, the Herd Barbarians will get serious,” Jeska said with a grim expression.

“The afternoon will be even harder to fight,” Bard calmly pointed to the sun. “The light is against us.”

Winters suddenly realized that in the morning, the Herders had the wind at their backs but the sun in their eyes. After noon, both sunlight and wind direction would be unfavorable to their side.

“The light and wind are secondary,” Winters frowned deeply. “I’m worried that once the Herders break into the camp walls, the morale of the militia and those makeshift armed merchants will collapse.”

Defending a live position was more difficult than defending a fixed position.

The past two battles had been fought in formation on the vast plains, where there was no escape, and everyone could only fight desperately to survive.

But now, with the Floating Bridge just behind the large camp, offering a route across the Styx, safety was a stone’s throw away.

Across the river, destroy the bridge, and everyone is safe.

A way of survival was laid out right before their eyes, and no one could resist being tempted.

“We might as well…” Andre bit his lip and said, “Just cross the river.”

“Absolutely not!” Lieutenant Colin firmly refused, raising his voice. “Whoever dares to touch the Floating Bridge, they’ll have to step over my dead body first!”

Although their time together was brief, Colin Victor’s meticulousness made a deep impression on Winters.

At the other campsites along the way, which after collecting camping fees paid no mind to the merchants, it was only Lieutenant Colin’s camp to the west of the river that showed no favoritism and strictly forbade any outsiders from entering.

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