Terton's artillery emplacement.

The firing interval of the artillery was getting longer and longer, and the accuracy was getting worse and worse. Hong Lingyu, who was supervising the battle, was very dissatisfied and used the whip without hesitation.

"Why the hell don't you understand!" The small-eyed slave wearing a smooth leather robe repeatedly explained to no avail, and angrily cursed Hong Lingyu: "If it explodes, it will be all over!"

A slave dared to be so rude to a samurai. He must have taken the wrong medicine.

But Little Eyes’ status is rather special. He is the servant of the roaster. In other words, he is the personal property of the roaster and no one dares to kill him.

Hong Lingyu's expression became more gloomy, and he turned to look at the interpreter.

The little-eyed slave glared and shouted at the interpreter: "Translate for him!"

The gunners, wrapped in tattered military uniforms, remained silent and watched the farce with cold eyes.

Except for three of the gunners who were surrendered, the rest were captured Plato soldiers.

The prisoners who had a more submissive attitude and had never escaped were selected by the roasters and organized into a separate battalion. The small-eyed slaves who had become [Honorary Tertonians] taught artillery skills, and finally the current Tertun Artillery Corps was formed.

.

The small-eyed slave used to be an ordinary artilleryman of the Fifth Legion, but now he is the favorite servant of the Fire Lord. He can be said to have "reached the sky in one step".

However, it was clear that the roaster did not fully trust his new slaves, so he sent extra people to supervise the artillery operations.

The Hong Lingyu standing in front of the [Honorary Slave] is the second son of the previous War Supervisor.

The previous war supervisor's left leg was broken by a cannonball from the knee down. He could not stop the bleeding and died soon after.

The translator Duo Duosuosuo relayed the words of the little-eyed slave to Hong Lingyu, and deliberately translated the curse words in it.

Hong Lingyu was furious, and without caring about anything else, he hit the slave with small eyes with a whip in the face and kicked him down violently.

The little-eyed slave had stars in his eyes and struggled to get up, but another boot was placed heavily on his chest.

Hong Lingyu pulled out her scimitar, put it against the neck of the little-eyed slave, and said a few words fiercely.

The interpreter quickly translated: "The Great Khan asks you to fire off cannons, so just fire off cannons. If you dare to find any excuse to evade, I will chop off your head."

The desperate little-eyed slave seemed to be grasping at straws: "Great Khan! I want to see the Great Khan! [Hidden] King Khan!"

Hong Lingyu understood the last word and patted the opponent's cheek with a scimitar: "[Hud language] You can't see the Great Khan anymore! The Great Khan is not here at all."

…

At the same time, Mason behind the city wall was also checking the condition of the third-generation artillery.

"It's scrapped." Although Mason was reluctant to part with it, he still made a decisive decision: "Send it back to the workshop."

"It can be used a few more times." Demon Ance said calmly: "Other wooden cannons can't hit solid bullets far."

Mason's attitude was firm: "No, the seams have cracked. Send it back to the workshop for re-forging."

Demon Anse stopped talking and led his men to push away the wooden cannon.

The number of artillery pieces of the Telduans was far from enough to destroy the entire city wall, so they aimed at the Arrowhead Fort on the west side of the city wall.

The Arrowhead Fort of Gévaudan is a triangular fortress protruding from the city wall into the trench. It is a primitive bastion structure that can flank enemies entering the trench.

The new triangular fort is generally independent of the main body of the fortress. Even if the triangular fort falls, it can continue to rely on the main body of the fort for defense.

However, due to the tight construction schedule, Gevaudan's Arrowhead Fort and the city wall were integrated as a whole.

Arrowhead Castle falls, and the city wall will be breached immediately.

The shelling that lasted from early morning to afternoon left Fort Arrowhead covered in wounds, and the steep walls have collapsed into gentle slopes.

The Terdun people were maneuvering in the trenches and could vaguely see the swaying feathers. They quietly watched the artillery fire and did not take the initiative to attack the city wall.

Mason didn't mind if the other party kept bombarding him like this.

The Teltown people seemed to be counting on the artillery to completely destroy Arrowhead Fort, but as soon as it got dark, Mason would immediately send out manpower to repair the city wall.

Through continuous [ricochet bombardment], Mason successfully forced the Teltown artillery to retreat to two hundred meters away. As the distance increased, the hit rate of the Teltown artillery also decreased.

Even the most unconfident militiamen have to admit that this is skill, not luck.

Ricochet shelling is when a solid shell bounces continuously after hitting the ground, just like using pebbles to float in a pond.

Although it looks a bit funny, most of the cannonballs can eventually fly into the barbarian's gun position by accident.

When shooting directly at the target, even if there are only slight differences in the shooting angle, gunpowder loading, and shell weight, the trajectory of the shell will be severely deformed.

Cannonballs flying over the enemy's head will not cause any damage, while cannonballs falling in front of the enemy may get stuck in the mud.

But when Mason aimed at a distance in front of the enemy and increased the charge to lower the trajectory of the projectile, things changed subtly:

The soil is solid in winter, allowing cannonballs that hit the ground at a small angle to be "deflected";

In this case, as long as the cannonball falls into a certain area in front of the enemy, the bouncing cannonball can also cause damage;

And [hitting a certain area in front of the enemy] is far simpler than [hitting the enemy directly].

Mason has opened a new door...but the threshold is a bit stumbling.

Because if you want the iron ball to bounce, the trajectory of the cannonball needs to be as straight as possible, that is, the speed of the cannonball must be fast.

Currently, the only way Mason knows to increase bullet speed is to load more gunpowder.

As a result, after being used less than twenty times, the third-generation wooden cannon with the best quality was scrapped at a rate far exceeding Mason's expectation.

Demon Anse led people to deliver wooden cannons to a row of simple wooden sheds by the river.

This is the weapon workshop of Gévaudan. Although it is winter now, there is no chill inside the workshop.

The blacksmiths wearing only single clothes were sweating profusely, and the dull sound of forging hammers could not be heard.

Dagancha was wearing a leather coat full of holes made by iron filings and was forging a large yellowed iron ingot on a hydraulic forging hammer.

Seeing that the eldest brother had beaten the iron ingot into a flat cylinder, Dagangcha's two younger brothers immediately lifted up a chisel-like tool and fixed it directly above the iron pillar.

With the continuous pounding of the forging hammer, the iron pillar penetrated up and down. Then the chisel was removed and replaced with an iron rod to drive in.

The hot wrought iron ingots are "strung" on iron rods, and then continue to be forged into iron pipes.

The three Goncharov brothers didn't say a word the whole time, but their tacit cooperation was like a giant with six arms working.

After the entire process was completed, Dagancha sent an iron pipe about one foot long and one inch thick back to the furnace for reheating.

This iron pipe needs to be [welded] with three other iron pipes of the same size to finally obtain a longer diameter gun barrel.

Seeing the demon Anse, Dagancha asked directly: "What's wrong?"

"Cracked." Demon Anse simply replied: "It's scrapped."

There was shelling in the front and blacksmithing in the rear, and neither side had the energy to exchange pleasantries.

"There's no way." Dagangcha drank a large pot of salt water and breathed heavily: "The barrel of the gun will have problems sooner or later."

"Where is the thing that the tribune asked you to prepare?" Demon Anse frowned and asked.

Dagancha's face turned pale: "We are ready...but who dares to use it?"

"You don't have to worry about it." Demon Anse replied coldly.

…

On the other side, at the Tertun people's artillery position, small-eyed slaves were forced to reload the artillery.

The small-eyed slave struggled to push the cannonball into the barrel. The other prisoners watched indifferently as the slave worked for his new master. No one stepped forward to help.

The prisoners just pretended to be busy while being scolded and whipped, and stayed as far away as possible.

The four long cannons of the Telton Division were purchased from the Red River Division. They were the same four guns used by Mason in the past. They were all crucified and then sunk in the river - they were indeed second-hand daughters.

Nailing the artillery can not only block the fire door, but also cause imperceptible cracks and deformation in the barrel, so it has to be reinforced with iron hoops.

The shell is very sticky when it enters the chamber, which is a danger signal.

The small-eyed slave inspected the cannon body again and found that the high temperature caused the black paint to become a little sticky, and the iron ring holding the cannon body also had small silver cracks.

"This cannon can't be used anymore." The little-eyed slave was completely panicked and no longer had the same air as before. He looked at Hong Lingyu and begged: "This cannon really can't be used anymore!"

Although she couldn't understand what the little-eyed slave was saying, Hong Lingyu could understand what the little-eyed slave meant.

Hong Lingyu was furious, slapped the little-eyed slave, took the fire pole, and pressed it against the fire door.

Mason, who was behind the city wall, saw two clouds of white smoke rising from the enemy's gun emplacement in the distance. The shells only flew a short distance before falling weakly to the ground, and faint screams could be heard.

"Your Excellency, what happened to the barbarian?" a militiaman asked in confusion.

"Maybe it was an explosion." Mason frowned slightly.

The Tertun people's artillery positions were filled with smoke, and both the gunners and the Tertun soldiers supervising the battle were all shaken and dizzy.

A huge gap appeared in the barrel of the explosive cannon, and the collapsed fragments shot out like lead bullets.

The largest fragment came into contact with Hong Lingyu's forehead at a negative distance, denting the latter's skull and then disappeared.

The explosion of the barrel was like a trumpet blast. Qingqi carried the news in all directions, and the Telton army began to move.

War drums rumbled, and the four carriages took off their camouflage, each pushed by six or seven people, and advanced side by side toward the triangular fortress whose outer wall collapsed.

Behind the large cart there were several small carts loaded with soil. The Terton archers in the trenches also leaned out and fired arrows at the city wall.
To be continued...