Defending Border Town (Part I)
Defending Border Town (Part I)
Van'er felt that his hands started to sweat again, just like what had happened to him when he had stood on top of the city wall fighting against demonic beasts for the first time. This time, he thought that he and his enemy, the noble alliance army of Longsong Stronghold, were at least of his own species.
"No, my own species? When did those nobles treat you as an equal?" He spat and mocked himself internally and put those thoughts behind. The Stronghold Coalition came here to capture Border Town and control the North Slope Mine area again. More importantly, they even claimed to banish His Highness from the Western Region. That was totally unacceptable for all soldiers of the First Army.
The soldiers knew from a pre-battle speech made by His Highness yesterday that Timothy Wimbledon, an elder brother of His Highness, had killed King Wimbledon III, the late king, and had seized the throne through scheme and tricks. Van'er usually cared nothing about nobles' plotting against each other, as he believed it made no difference to him no matter who was the king. However, he thought Duke Ryan who coveted the domain of His Highness in the current disruption was really way out of line.
Van'er had witnessed lots of positive changes that His Highness had brought to the town since he had become the lord here. He also clearly remembered the previous lord, who seemed to be an earl. People in the town had seldom seen him except when he had come out to buy furs with his guards. He had often purchased best quality furs from hunters at low prices and had always been the first one to flee in Months of Demons, leaving all his subjects in the slums of the stronghold. He had never concerned about the sufferings of people.
His Highness was different. Under his governance, the life of the town was obviously getting better for all the locals. The miners could be paid more for more work. His Highness had installed a black machine into the mine of Northern Slope to boost production, but he still attributed the extra output to the miners and increased their personal incomes. The locals of the town, who took part in building city wall or crushing stones in the mine, were all paid timely. No one was starved or froze to death this winter.
The biggest change in the town was the Militia, now called the First Army. Protected by soldiers, the locals of the town did not have to huddle up in their cold wooden sheds and beg big shots for food in winter. Van'er asked himself secretly, "If the prince is banished, will the Duke allow the First Army to exist?"
He took a deep breath and wiped his hand sweats with his clothes while thinking. "No, he won't. The nobles of the stronghold won't give a damn about people of the town. Just like what His Highness has said, only an army of people will fight for people."
He lifted his head to look up to the left and saw a black point hovering up in the sky. It could be easily mistaken as a big-headed bird, but actually, it was the firing commander of the artillery squad, Lightning. She flew in the sky to investigate the enemy's movements while well covering herself with trees on both sides of the main road. When she flew back, Van'er noticed that the treetops overhead indeed made it impossible for the people below to see her. That meant, if the witch did not fly to an open place by herself, all the enemy could see were branches of trees when they looked up.
15 minutes ago, Lightning had flown close to Border Town's defense line to show them a green ribbon.
Seeing it, Van'er knew at once that the enemy was within 1,000 meters. Now he must immediately command their artillerymen to get ready for firing. In fact, Van'er did not know how long "1,000 meters" was. He only gave orders based on the rules he had learned during the maneuver. He quickly shouted out the correct order, instructing the team to reload cannons and correct angles.
Four mortar teams quickly switched angles of cannons to the third gear and filled the bores with gunpowder and solid shells, thus finishing the whole preparation process.
After that, Van'er still felt nervous. His heart had been palpitating all the time since the moment the army had assembled in the afternoon. He had considered himself an experienced leader, as he had fought against demonic beasts on top of the city wall, but today he found that he had still a long way to go before becoming a good team leader like Iron Axe or Brian. Both of them had calmly led their teams to the shooting positions, and he had even sensed a tinge of excitement from Brian's voice just now when he had been giving orders. Even his buddy, Rodney seemed to be better than him. That made him feel a little depressed.
He licked his dry lips and started to search for Lightning again.
At the moment, the enemy forces suddenly slowed down.
"What're they doing?" Rodney asked.
"I don't know." Cat's Claw widened his eyes to look at the enemy. "They seem to be adjusting the formation, and their people look quite messy."
"They're waiting for the troops behind," Jop said with a shaking voice. "Knights won't fight alone. They're certainly followed by a large number of people."
"Oh? How do you know that?" Nelson twitched his mouth and asked.
"I've seen it. One knight will take at least two squires and a dozen serfs who carry food," Jop said while counting on his fingers, "You see, a Duke of Longsong Stronghold must have at least 100 knights. He has at least 300 people who can fight on horseback other than the earls, viscounts in the stronghold...There're even more! And they've hired many mercenary fighters. Those guys are cold-blooded, professional killers! But there're only 300 of us."
"Nearly 300 of us." Van'er corrected him silently in his heart, but he actually felt better knowing that someone was even more nervous than him. Only about 270 soldiers of the Flintlock Squad were equipped with weapons, due to the insufficient production capacity, a phrase said by His Highness. As a result, the Flintlock Squad soldiers without guns were relocated in the mortar teams to carry ammunition for the four cannons.
"The mercenary fighters, they're coming!" Jop said in a low voice.
Van'er looked up and saw a group of people dressed in various clothes gradually taking the central position in the enemy's formation. They did not ride horses or march in lines. In groups of two or three, they gathered in the center. The knights were moving to the sides, leaving the central space for them. In less than 10 minutes, the alliance army of the duke's had gotten much closer to him again.
In a sudden, a knight rapidly galloped out of the army and headed to Border Town. Van'er's heart skipped a beat at the sight. He almost shouted out the firing order.
"What's he going to do?" Confused as he was, he looked up but still could not see Lightning. The knight was getting closer and closer while waving a white flag in his hand.
"He's the messenger of the duke. He's probably coming to persuade us to surrender," Jop mumbled.
"That's none of our business," Rodney said and then squatted down behind the cannon to align his eye with the central line of the cannon barrel. "Sir, the cannon needs to be readjusted, as most of the knights have already left the central part."
The soldiers were taught repeatedly during the maneuver when they had conducted solid shell practices that a shell's point of fall was in line with the cannon barrel. Given that, if they wanted to hit their target, they needed to adjust the cannon barrel until its central line aligned with the target. Five soldiers worked together to move the canon's carriage a little, so as to aim precisely at the knights in the front of the alliance army again.
The messenger arrived and was brought by His Excellency Carter to the back of the defense line, but Van'er knew clearly that it was only a waste of time, as His Highness would never surrender to the duke.
Right at the moment, Lightning put on a burst of speed, flying toward the town with a yellow ribbon in hand.
The yellow ribbon flapping in the wind indicated that the enemies were within 800 meters. At this distance, they were able to hit targets with solid shells from the cannons. At the meantime, the mortar teams could fire freely as long as the captain of artillerymen did not forbid it.
Seeing the signal, Van'er's team members all looked at him. He nodded, took a deep breath and then ordered, "Fire!"