The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

When General Alexander Okinsky led his army to the town of Lida Fort, he was stunned by the sight before him.

Ojinsky had been to Lida Castle, although it was a time before the war broke out more than a year ago. At that time, Lida Fort still maintained the circular towers and thin red brick walls that were popular hundreds of years ago. At that time, Ojinsky told Sobieski's father half-jokingly that such a castle was fortunately in the interior of the Republic. If it was in Ukraine or the eastern frontier of the Republic, it might be occupied by the enemy after one shelling.

He does not mean that. Unexpectedly, Jan Sobieski, who was standing next to Ojinsky at the time, listened to it and transformed the entire castle.

Now the circular tower of Lida Fort has disappeared, replaced by the four-cornered enemy platform. The city walls have also been transformed to be stronger, and lower and thicker.

This is already an indestructible bastion! Ojinsky sighed and shook his head. He felt that he was too big, and he boasted to Prince Yanush that he had taken Haikou for a month to capture Lida Fort without getting sufficient information. But now it seems that it is impossible to win Lida Fort without three months. Even if Yanush gave him nearly a hundred artillery pieces, he still couldn’t give him confidence, because most of them were three-pounder artillery. These light artillery pieces that supported infantry in the field were not only short in range, but too small. The projectiles can't cause enough damage to the city wall. The power and range of the twelve-pounder gun is not so trustworthy. Perhaps the only thing Ojinsky could rely on was the 24-pound heavy artillery and the mortar.

Of course, shelling is not the only way to conquer a castle. Like in Smolensk, the Cossacks of Zaporozhye thought of an authentic way to attack the city. This is actually one of the most common ways to destroy the corner of a bastion, the disadvantage is that it takes time and effort.

But when Ojinsky discovered that his artillery might not be enough to destroy Lida Fort, the first thought he flashed through was to dig a tunnel. So Ojinsky drew the saber from his waist and thrust it into the ground under his feet.

The sharp point of the knife plunged into the soil easily. It shows that the soil here is relatively soft and suitable for tunnel excavation. However, cutting the tip of a knife into the soil is nothing but a soil method. Whether it can be implemented or not, I have to ask the engineers in the army.

After a simple investigation of Lidarburg, Ojinsky returned to the rear. He still decided to take the shelling method first to try Lida Fort's sturdiness. Okinsky issued an order to the army to dig a "Zigzag" trench. He decided to encircle Lida Fort as the army's next offensive forward position. And completely sever the contact between Lidabao and the outside world.

"General, should we try to persuade you to surrender first?" The adjutant who had finished recording Okinski's orders asked the general Dao after putting away his notebook.

The prince Sobeski has caused such a great disaster. How could he surrender? How dare he surrender? Ojinsky shook his head. He felt that the adjutant's suggestion was really whimsical.

But after thinking about it, Okinsky thought about his friendship with Jan Sobieski's father, and Okinsky felt soft again. He decided to send an envoy to try to persuade him to surrender.

In a letter to Jan Sobieski, Ojinsky promised that if Jan Sobieski surrendered, he would guarantee the safety of everyone in Lida Fort and would try his best to replace him in front of the prince. He said nice things to save his life.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the envoy sent by Okinsky came back. To be precise, the messenger's horse came back with the messenger's body.

Jan Sobieski used a shot from the wall of Lida Fort to tell Okinski their determination not to surrender.

At this moment, Ojinsky was really embarrassed into anger. He strictly ordered the engineers to speed up the digging, and sent cavalry to arrest all the men in the nearby villages to do coolies for digging.

Every day, under the cover of artillery fire, the engineers braved the artillery fire pouring down from Lida Fort to dig. They first dug a trench parallel to the castle outside the gunfire range of Fort Lida, and then continued to dig close to the castle against the trench. Each trench was more than one meter deep, and the engineers moved the excavated dirt pile to the side of the castle, higher than the top of their heads, so that they could effectively resist the blow of artillery.

By this means, although the artillery fire on Fort Lida was fierce, but the engineers and coolies had suffered no more than dozens of casualties in three days. On the fourth day, the trench had been dug three times and gradually approached the trench of Lida Fort.

Okinski is also very satisfied with this speed of digging. He no longer desperately asked the engineers to dig overnight. Engineers can rest in the trenches, and those who are ahead of schedule are even allowed to go to the market at night to drink and have fun.

But on the night of the fourth day, the defenders of Lida Fort launched a raid on the trench outside the city. This raid completely exceeded Ojinsky's expectations. More than a hundred engineers and coolies were killed in their sleep. Some sneak attackers even touched the vicinity of an artillery position. Fortunately, the soldiers guarding the artillery found out and issued a warning in time, and no more damage was caused.

The loss of this night attack greatly slowed the progress of the attacker's excavation. The trench that was excavated in two days was delayed for another four days to complete.

Next, it entered the stage of artillery battle. More than forty three-pound cannons were dragged into the front trench. This trench is only more than a hundred meters away from the walls of Lida Fort, which is the effective range of a three-pounder gun. Alexander Okinsky believed that although these three-pounder guns could not destroy the city wall, they could be used to suppress the counter-attack fire from the defending side. The twelve-pounder guns were arranged by Ojinsky in a group of three on a stronger artillery position, and they fired at one side of the city wall in a unified manner.

Dense artillery shot across the sky and fell into the trenches and city walls from time to time. After every roar, a thick smoke will rise. Occasionally, bunkers were hit, and fragments of human limbs and broken arms and building fragments flew up in the air and fell to the ground like rain.

In order to improve the effect of shelling, all the artillery of various companies, mercenary regiments and infantry teams were also required to join the ranks of shelling. The three three-pounder guns of Cheerchen's mercenary group were not spared either.

Tetsuchen's job of defending the must-see market eventually missed him. Okinski delegated this safe and oily job to another Polish officer. This officer came from a noble family and has some distant relatives with the Laziwiwu family. Relying on nepotism, he won a position in Prince Yanush. He originally followed Ojinsky this time for gilding. As for the relatives of the prince, Ojinsky certainly has to take care of it. At this moment, the adjutant who was given the money by Cheerchen was speechless.

There was no alternative, Cheerchen had to join the siege team. His three artillery guns were placed on the position north of Lida Fort to suppress the artillery fire on the bastion. There are five cannons on the north turret, all of which are twelve-pounder medium guns. The shells they fired can easily penetrate the wooden shield that protects the artillery in front of the trench, so every shot of the artillery is like a bet with death, betting that the opponent's shells will not hit the bunker in which they are located.

Cheerchen and two artillerymen operate an artillery. The other two artillery of the mercenary regiment were also around him. In fact, the artillery company who knows how to use artillery is Chechen, so he is now not only a gunner, but also a teacher of other people.

Although Cheerchen had tried hard not to allow himself to fight Jan Sobieski, destiny still sent him to the battlefield. In this shura field full of artillery fire, everyone is likely to die at any time, especially those who are half-hearted. So Cheerchen had to converge and concentrate on operating the artillery.

Chechen's goal this time was a cannon protruding from behind the crenel on the right side of the fort. Not long ago, this artillery hit a gunpowder keg on the position of one's own artillery, blasting a twelve-pounder gun and six artillery into the sky. Several three-pounder guns once suppressed the artillery, but the shots fired were either too high or hit the breast wall of the fort, leaving only a shallow depression on it.

"Aim at the point, lower the muzzle." While commanding the gunner who assisted him, Cheerchen kept visually inspecting the launch angle. Cheerchen's assistant was also a young man who was still young. Although he had become a member of the mercenary group when he was in Polotsk, he had always participated in the war as a musketeer, and it was the first time he fiddled with artillery. Right now, with a sweaty face, he carefully adjusted the pitch angle of the muzzle according to Cheechen's orders.

The enemy’s artillery had just finished firing a shell, and it was dragged back to the fort by their gunners for reloading. If you want to hit it, you have to wait for the moment when the muzzle is exposed again.

After another three minutes, the dark barrels appeared again behind the crenel. Cheerchen lit the rope without hesitation when he saw it. As the arquebus fell into the muzzle, the black powder in the barrel was ignited abruptly, and the force generated by the burning of the gunpowder slammed the shell out.

The shell failed to hit the target, it only hit the crenel. Chechen screamed a pity. Cheerchen turned around and was about to order his assistant to reload again, but saw that he actually stood up.

Cheerchen screamed badly. Obviously, his assistant wanted to stand up and observe the results of the battle. But his shelling just now definitely attracted the attention of the enemy on the fort. Although the cannons on the turret generally ignore their own three-pound cannons, the enemy musketeers who use large-caliber muskets on the turret are staring at themselves.

"Get down!"

Cheerchen rushed forward and threw the assistant who had already stretched out half of his head to the ground. At the moment when the two fell to the ground, with a flash of light on the turret, countless lead bullets crackled on the wooden shield and barrel.

"Thank you, captain."

The assistant said gratefully. He knew that if it hadn't been for Cheer Chen, even if he had all pounced on him, the lead bullets that had burst the gun barrel would have hit him. He is not steel and iron, and can be as safe as a cannon.

"Be careful, and hide after firing the cannon. The enemy is on a turret higher than us, and his eyes are poisoned." Cheerchen comforted and passed on the experience, unaware that he was actually about the same age as his assistant.

The assistant bowed down and was taught. Cheerchen patted his assistant on the shoulder.

After dealing with the matter here, Cheer Chen ran to another artillery and directed the gunner to shoot at the enemy's fort. Although Cheerchen spared no effort, after several shelling attacks, he actually disapproved of this kind of useless work. Because the three-pounder gun was too small to cause damage to the bastion at all. Moreover, the cannons were fired under the enemy's eyelids. If the number of artillery on the Felida Fort was not as good as one's own, their own cannons would have been named by the other party a long time ago.

"Cheerchen."

As soon as Cheechen adjusted the angle of another artillery, he saw Uncle Pietro walking along the winding trench under the protection of Fatima.

"Uncle, what's the matter?"

After Cheerchen motioned to the gunner to continue firing, he walked towards Pidro.

"It's okay~www.wuxiaspot.com~ come and see you. Brat, why don't you even wear a breastplate?" Pidro blamed when Cheerchen was wearing only a leather shirt.

Cheerchen originally wore a half breastplate, but the artillery battle was so hot that he took off the half breastplate and threw it aside.

Facing Uncle Pidro's blame, Cheor Chen wanted to laugh and fool around. But at this time, there was a sound of tearing the air in the air. The sound was getting closer and irritated Cheechen's eardrums.

Hearing the sound of this shell breaking through the air, Pedro, a veteran, knew it was not good. This shell came rushing to his side. He hurriedly pushed Chechen to one side, and he lay on the ground towards the other side with the help of the reaction force of this push. Fatima also squatted down, blocking the steel shield in front of her.

The shells that broke through the air fell into the trenches, but fortunately there were no casualties. Cheerchen just wanted to take a sigh of relief, but with sharp eyes, he suddenly saw that one side of the cannonball was creaking.

This turned out to be a blooming bullet.

The difference between the flower bomb and the ordinary shell is that although its shell is cast iron, its interior is hollow and filled with small iron beads. The gunner controls the explosion time of the shell by installing a fuze into the shell. If such a shell falls into the crowd, it can make a whole team of people lose the battle. And in a confined environment like the trench, the scattered iron beads can turn everyone here into pieces of meat.

Cheerchen rushed towards the flowering bomb. He pulled out the fuze inside the bullet and plunged it into the soil. A plume of white smoke came out of the fuse in the soil, and there was no movement. And the cannonball lay silently in the soil.

Cheerchen raised his head and wiped his sweat. He found that everyone looked at him with different eyes.