Chapter 571 Siege (Twenty-Three)

[Margit Island]

[Defenders’ Position]

Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Montecuccoli counts the firing of the rebel artillery.

The four six-pound guns on the island are all in place. The artillerymen pushed and lifted them with great effort to move the cannons originally deployed in the temporary artillery position in the north to the new position selected by the lieutenant colonel.

But Montecuccoli did not fire, and even delayed the order to reload.

Because the appearance of the rebel artillery has completely changed the rules of the game.

The new position selected by Montecuccoli is located northeast of the rebel landing point, diagonally facing the battlefield, with a little height and a good view.

From his position, he can see the pontoon bridge, the destroyed water fence, the rebel landing point, and the position of Lodwijk’s troops.

Beside him, his men are racing against time to build shelters for the cannons.

In the distance, illuminating rockets whistled into the air from behind the defense line of Lodwijk's troops, and the bloody light dispelled the darkness, leaving the rebels on the shallows nowhere to hide.

The musketeers of Lodwijk's troops, who were looking down from above, shot the exposed rebel soldiers one by one like shooting targets.

The cannons on the other side of the river immediately opened fire, fiercely bombarding the breastwork of the defenders.

The rebels in the trenches also released smoke to cover the landing of friendly troops.

However, due to the wind direction, the thick smoke overflowing the trenches was pushed towards the position of the defenders, which gave Lodwijk's troops another opportunity to assault the beach.

In the previous battle, Lieutenant Colonel Lodwijk successfully divided the rebels in the trenches by forcibly approaching and throwing "liquid fire".

When the smoke between the trenches and the breastworks became thicker and thicker, not only obscuring the sight of the defenders' musketeers, but also hindering the sight of the rebels' artillery, the soldiers of Lodwijk's army once again climbed over the breastworks and launched a counterattack in a loose formation towards the landing site and the rebel-controlled position at the southern end of Margit Island.

If Montecuccoli could stay out of it, he would definitely applaud Lieutenant Colonel Lodwijk's decisiveness.

Unfortunately, he was in the middle of it, so Montecuccoli's mind was full of his artillery... and the rebels' artillery.

A row of hourglasses was placed next to him, and he turned over an hourglass every time a roar sounded on the other side of the river.

To the ears of laymen, gunshots and artillery sounds are just a kind of noise. The difference between the two is nothing more than that the gunshots are smaller and the artillery sounds are louder.

As for judging the specific model of guns and artillery based on the sound of firing, it is even more a fantasy.

But for Montecuccoli, an artillery expert, different types of cannons are like the same type of musical instruments with different ranges.

Musicians will not confuse tubas, trumpets and trombones, and Montecuccoli will not mistake the artillery equipped by the Republic Army.

The roar that sounded first was rough and majestic, and the tail sound was thick and powerful, lingering for a long time, making the listener's chest tremble unconsciously.

There is no doubt that only heavy artillery with a large amount of powder can make such a sound.

As before, the roar of heavy artillery came a total of seven times, with short intervals, indicating that the "rebels" deployed at least seven heavy artillery on the other side.

Combining the information accumulated in his mind, Montecuccoli judged that the seven heavy artillery currently exposed by the rebels should all be a type of siege artillery cast during the Sovereignty War.

Because the country of running horses has no record of mass production of artillery in the past, and it does not have the ability to mass produce artillery at present.

The artillery held by the Plato Army was either the "legacy" obtained when the Allied Army split up thirty years ago, or purchased from the Federation and Veneta after the founding of the country.

The Plato Army has never attached importance to artillery construction. After the victory of the War of Sovereignty, the Plato people only imported a small number of light artillery from the Allies to decorate the facade and maintain the theoretically existing artillery organization. There has never been a record of ordering heavy artillery.

And the firing sounds of the seven heavy artillery on the other side were unified and coordinated, as if the same drum was struck seven times in a row, indicating that although they are old, they are not real "antiques".

Because each of the real antique cannons is cast separately, there is no specification to speak of, and naturally it is even more impossible to have a consistent "tone".

Then the answer has actually been revealed: the only heavy artillery that meets the above conditions is the batch of 32-pound bronze cannons cast by the Victory Arsenal in 528, which was also the first time that the Victory Arsenal mass-produced heavy artillery.

Due to insufficient manufacturing experience, this type of heavy artillery has many unreasonable design features. For example, due to too many invalid structures, this type of artillery is extremely heavy and difficult to transport.

In the Federation, the same batch of 32-pound cannons are either sealed, placed outside an important gate as a ceremonial vessel, or in a fort at a port to watch the sea.

Montecuccoli can imagine how much effort the rebels spent and how many draft animals died to "invite" these old predecessors to the front line.

However, it is precisely because of the recognition of the true identity of the opponent that Montecuccoli is not too worried about them.

Because these old predecessors are amazingly powerful, but extremely troublesome to use.

The purpose of casting them is very clear, not for field battles, but to smash the castles and high walls of the old era.

These old siege guns continue the design concept of stone-shooting guns, pursuing the ultimate destructive power, and trying to cause irreparable structural damage to the city wall with one shot, even at the expense of firing rate, accuracy and transportability.

Therefore, the two banks of the Shijian River at this moment were not a suitable battlefield for them.

Even the "pursuit of single-shot damage" had been confirmed by the Artillery Teaching and Research Department to be a wrong concept.

And in the 528th year when they were produced, the casting technology of the Victory Arsenal was not mature, so when using them, one had to be careful of the barrel bursting.

Therefore, Montecuccoli was not afraid of these "old predecessors".

What really made Montecuccoli's alarm bells ring were the light artillery that fired after the heavy artillery group on the rebel position.

Although the sound of the light artillery was not as deafening as the sound of the heavy artillery, it was clearer, more transparent, and crisp.

And the reason why Raymond Montecuccoli felt dangerous, even surprised, angry, and his back was cold, was not because the sound of the shooting was unfamiliar, but because he was very familiar with it.

Because he had heard this unique "crisp" shooting sound countless times on the shooting range.

He was even familiar with this sound and could directly call out which model the sound came from-the six-pound field gun put into production by the Victory Arsenal in 553.

The appearance is ordinary, but it has achieved a balance in weight, ballistics, productivity, etc., and it can be called the crystallization of Victory Arsenal's 30 years of cannon casting technology.

The cannon he is using at the moment.

It is also the cannon he designed himself.

And Montecuccoli is very sure that this type of cannon has no export record.

[Orz, I'm very sorry]

[I'll take a leave until next Monday]