I Will Be The Crowned King

"The artillery is in place—!"

With a cry from the messenger, the 120 artillerymen divided into four groups, dragged the ammunition cart, entered the artillery position despite the violent storm, and started their work calmly.

Standing by the side of a twelve-pound cannon, Ludwig Franz held a pocket watch that was still "ticking" in his right hand, and pressed his left hand on the icy cannon soaked in rain.

As a general and colonel from artillery, only these war machines full of potential can give him infinite confidence and make him not regret his original decision.

In order to transport the fourteen artillery pieces from the various gunsmiths in the Kingdom of Clovis to the siege positions, twelve heavy drag wagons were mobilized before and after, not including fifty ammunition wagons and thirty carriages, and dispatched The capacity of the steam train requisitioned for transportation.

Even just the four cannons and three mortars in front of them would require 240 heavy horses and nearly 300 soldiers—this can already form two elite cavalry companies!

And if the resources spent on artillery are put on infantry, he can at least form another levy of equal strength.

But it's all worth it!

Those Clovis fools who would rather trade ten heavy artillery pieces for three thousand soldiers and only know how to queue up to be shot will never understand that even a salvo of a full regiment will cause far less casualties and a blow to the enemy's morale. One round of bombardment by an artillery battery.

As for the empire that still uses artillery to cover cavalry charges, Ludwig is even more disdainful; these antiques still living in the previous era have the best artillery in the world but do not know how to use it.

When the first artillery with a firing range of 800 meters and a firing rate of two rounds per minute was born, they became the new darlings on the battlefield.

No matter how fierce the horse, no matter how strong the armor, no matter how good a rider, you will feel ashamed in front of a twelve-pound cannon and shrapnel.

"Load the ammo, the first round of calibration—!"

The ammunition hand immediately ran to the front of the gun, and after one person cleaned the chamber, he skillfully inserted the propellant and shell into the gun barrel; one person was in charge of calibration, one sealed the fire door, two measured the firing range, and one held the gun. breech.

With the cooperation of almost instinctive tacit understanding, a team of artillerymen let the nearly one-ton cannon complete all the preparations for firing in less than half a minute.

But Ludwig still felt a little dissatisfied - when he was the gunner, he could make a gun ready to fire within fifteen seconds at the fastest.

And he also firmly believes that one day there will be an artillery with a faster reloading speed, a longer range or even completely beyond the horizon;

The required manpower will also be changed from a dozen people to a few people, and the operation process will be simplified to be as convenient as pulling the trigger.

One day... She will shatter the pride of those ignorant and stubborn, and truly become the master of war!

"All preparations—"

With a grim face, Ludwig raised his saber above his head, staring straight ahead as if he could penetrate the rain curtain and see the gate of Thunder Castle in the dark.

In the torrential rain like a waterfall, time is still passing minutes by second, the drenched shooters are holding the breech block tightly, and the entire artillery base is quietly waiting for Ludwig, waiting for the gun in his hand. The pocket watch came to that moment.

"Tick!"

With a crisp and pleasant sound, the pointer on the pocket watch finally reached 1:15.

Ludwig, whose pupils shrank suddenly, slashed forward with the general's sword, and roared slightly from his stern face:

"Fire!"

"Boom——!!!!"

In the billowing white smoke, the shaking of the earth almost exploded at the same time as the lightning of the dome.

The dazzling pale white light, the sharp whistling from the top of the head... as if the whole world is shaking.

Under the dark rainstorm at midnight, the soldiers of the 1st Corps kept four columns amidst the deafening sound, trembling toward the fortress, marching forward with their heads held high.

"Don't panic, this is our army's artillery!" Carl Bain, who looked around, said loudly:

"Stay calm, look straight ahead - the First Corps, move on!"

Amidst the shouting, Lisa, whose face was bloodless from the sound of the cannons, shuddered. Standing in the first row, she tried her best to straighten her thin chest, forcing herself to hold back her desire to reach for the canned food in her arms.

"I said, is this really okay?" Karl, who was also sitting still, trotted to Anson's side, his body trembling a little:

"It's still a rainy day at night, why am I panicking!"

"Don't worry, it's okay."

An Sen, who finally waited for the shelling, shrugged and deliberately did not lower his voice:

"The artillery positions are marked in advance, and the target is Thunder Fort, which can be seen without blindness - if we can still let the cannonballs fall on our heads, our artillery-born brigadier general can really get out of the way!"

"Even if we take 10,000 steps back, we are standing at the forefront of the forward position. If the artillery wants to hit this position, the artillerymen under his command must want to kill us so that the muzzle can be lowered so low... What do you think?"

"Well...that's what happened."

Seeing that he was gradually relieved from the unease, An Sen, who was as bottomless as him, couldn't help but sighed inwardly, feeling that something in his heart disappeared faster...

"Boom——!!!!"

Another roar came from the artillery position behind him.

Accompanied by the billowing smoke of gunpowder, the artillery that had undergone the first round of calibrated shooting entered a state of continuous firing; the gasping ammunitionmen kept running back and forth between the artillery and the ammunition truck, uninterruptedly. The cannonball was stuffed into the hot, smoking barrel.

Just in the round after round of loud noises on the artillery position, the solid bullets with sharp screeching shrieks in the air tore open the rain curtain and landed precisely on the city wall of Thunder Fort; the solid stones shattered instantly, Exploding a flashing smokescreen in the torrential rain.

But this kind of bombardment is not enough to cause substantial damage to Thunder Fort - although it is only a military station in the territory, her retaining wall is also designed in strict accordance with the standard; the outer covering soil can greatly weaken the power of solid bullets, and The slightly sloping structure itself also makes her stronger than vertical walls and will not collapse easily.

The 1st Corps, which finally stabilized the team, re-completed the entire team. Amid the sound of artillery on its own side, and in the pouring rain shrouded in dark clouds, it started to march towards Thunder Fort in a neat pace~www.readwn.com~ The remaining infantry regiments huddled in the forward positions also began to walk out of the trenches one after another, maintaining the three-column line that was most suitable for focusing fire, followed by the beating of light and pleasant drums.

At this moment, Lei Mingbao, who sensed the movement outside, finally started to fight back.

"Boom——!!!!"

With the flash of fire on the city wall, a shrill scream came from the rain curtain.

The solid bullet that landed on the ground with a beautiful parabola happily smashed one after another on the muddy ground in the rainstorm; and when it "passed" through the ranks of the battle line infantry, it would incidentally block the block. The soldiers on the road broke their legs and feet.

In the terrified sight of the levy soldiers, the artillery shells that fell from the sky were almost as many as raindrops.

Soon, the roars completely suppressed the firepower of the siege position, and the fire of artillery was so dense that the levies could not imagine, and the entire siege position was washed in an instant!

If the levies were still stationed on the ground, more than a third of them would have been killed by now... But now, almost all of their troops are on the frontline.

The Imperial defenders, who had temporarily launched artillery counterattacks, did not realize this. The artillery shells scattered throughout the siege position caused few casualties to the levies.

"Boom——!!!!"

With a sudden loud noise, the imperial defenders on the city wall only had time to feel their feet shaking when they heard a hoarse scream from below:

"The city gate! The city gate was knocked down—!"

An Sen, who was standing at the front of the queue, shrank his pupils and slammed his rifle forward.

"The 1st Corps - the bayonet!"

"Charge—!"