Chapter 1373 The Battle of Ruman (3, ask for a monthly ticket)
After nightfall, the north wind blowing from the cold permafrost tundra in the north and the snow-capped mountains stretching for thousands of miles raged across the central plain of the Ruman Empire, causing everything to wither and the vegetation to become sad.
The cold wind was raging across the earth like a terrifying banshee in legend, blowing the bare branches and making bursts of sharp and harsh sounds, just like the howls of the three banshees of Graea in ancient mythology.
The temperature quickly dropped to near freezing point.
The weather was gloomy, clouds covered the moon in the sky, and darkness enveloped the earth, making it impossible to see even one's fingers.
This was supposed to be a completely silent night, but firelight dotted the earth like stars all over the sky - even in this biting cold wind, there were still people moving.
In this small inn a few hours away from Ruman City Kuaima, the soldiers of the Skeleton Division of the Ruman Flying Eagle Group's security army were facing off against hundreds of thousands of Semitic soldiers on the opposite side.
The position between the two armies was dark and quiet. In the invisible night, the bodies of countless soldiers who were killed in yesterday's battle lay silently on the soil.
During yesterday's daytime battle, the blood shed by these dead soldiers had already frozen into ice, freezing them firmly with the earth.
Occasionally, illumination bombs screamed into the sky. After rising to a high altitude, they suddenly emitted a dazzling light, piercing the darkness and illuminating the battlefield.
The human soldiers hid in the trenches, huddled in their thick military uniforms, with their heads hunched, stamping their feet, panting into their cold hands, hoping that this cold night would pass quickly.
Although they won a victory and successfully repelled the enemy, no one relaxed. Instead, they became more vigilant.
Every time their eyes glanced at the Semitic camp opposite, they felt a little nervous and uneasy.
Opposite them, the camp of the Semitic army was completely bright, and even the sky was illuminated by countless torches, showing an unhealthy crimson color.
From time to time, there were bursts of noise, carried by the cold wind from afar.
Although the distance between the two sides is extremely far, and they are separated by a large camp, so they can't see what's going on inside at all, but they are not stupid. Even with your buttocks, you can guess that the enemy must be up to something to make such a big noise.
Terrible weapon.
If you cast your sight to the other side from the air, you can clearly see that behind the numerous military camps, the black pyramid-shaped war fortress of the undead is parked on the ground.
The light of countless torches illuminated the ground in front and behind the war fortress. Even the yellow grass roots on the ground were clearly illuminated.
Battalions of Semitic soldiers were like worker ants, busy around the black war fortress.
They formed a team of hundreds of people, and under the command of the officers, they shouted loud chants and unloaded huge weapons from the war fortress with sweat on their backs.
The weapon looks a little strange.
In the middle is a black cylinder that is as thick as one person and as long as two people. It seems to be made of steel.
There is a hole the size of a human head in the middle of the black iron barrel. The entire barrel is placed on a wide wooden shelf. There are four wheels at the bottom for movement.
The rope was tied to the front and rear ends of the cannon. Someone in front was pulling it. When it went downhill, the soldiers behind tightened the rope and slowly lowered it down. The tight rope made a "squeaking" sound.
The soldiers shouted neat chants and moved them carefully little by little.
More than a dozen dark mages were supervising on one side, with cold expressions on their faces. They kept shouting warnings.
"Slow down, slow down, if I touch them I will kill you all."
"Be careful, don't touch it, otherwise, I will throw you bitch into hell."
"Look at the road. Believe it or not, grandpa will dig out your dog's eyes right now."
"..."
Amidst their shouts and curses, every Semitic soldier felt angry and helpless at the same time.
At the same time, they also felt strange, what on earth was this thing? It actually made the dark mages so nervous.
If there were soldiers from the security forces here, looking at this silly, thick, black thing, they would be able to call out its name - a cannon.
If you are a veteran of the Thor Brigade, you can even name its model - the first-generation experimental cannon from the Flying Eagle Group's Alchemy Research Institute.
Nowadays, such bulky cannons have been eliminated by Feiying Group before they were officially finalized for production, and they were remelted and turned into molten steel.
But the Semitic soldiers didn't know what it was.
They gathered together curiously to watch, pointing at this thing they had never seen before, and kept guessing.
"I think this must be a ballista, specially used to smash human city walls."
"Impossible. How can a crossbow have no bow arms and bow strings? How can it be used to fire crossbow arrows?"
"Is it a trebuchet? There is a stone in it, and it goes out when pushed."
"Idiot, I didn't see that the back is sealed."
"I should have sprayed water on him."
"Silly 13, where can I get water for you to squirt~!"
"Since it was brought here by the mage masters, it must be a magic weapon. Yes, it is definitely a magic weapon~!"
"That's quite possible."
"Well, it's probably related to magic."
"..."
The soldiers talked about it for a while, but most of them agreed that it was a magical weapon made by dark mages.
They were airlifted from the war fortress, and the mage masters in black looked at them as if they were their own little ones, afraid that they might bump into each other?
The soldiers' eyes slowly focused on Orlandini in the middle of the crowd.
He stood with a lich wrapped in a black robe, watching eagerly as the soldiers slowly pulled the cannon out of the war fortress, with an excited expression on his face.
The lich next to Orlandini had phosphorescent light flashing in his eyes, as if he was unhappy, and looked coldly at the Semitic soldiers pulling the cannon with his hands behind his back.
It was a sacrilege to him to let these mud-legged filthy feet step into his war fortress and leave muddy footprints on the smooth floor.
To the lich, this is like a pig in a pigsty running into a luxurious living room.
If the high priest had not personally ordered it, he would never agree to do this.
After dozens of minutes of joint efforts, ten heavy black cannons were unloaded from the war fortress and parked in a row in the open space.
The black muzzle faced the southern sky, and the whole body exuded the unique reflection of metal, making it extremely powerful and domineering.
This brought great shock to the surrounding Semitic soldiers.
Orlandini couldn't help but burst out with a proud smile. He took a few excited steps to the cannon, circled around the black cannon twice, then jumped onto the cannon stand with great agility, stepped on the wooden stand and stroked the cannon's cold body.
barrel.
Looking at their huge figures, he nodded with satisfaction and thought to himself: The Ruman people think they are great if they have cannons. Now I have them too, and there are ten of them at a time. Let me see what advantages you have.
Even if you have more cannons than me, it doesn't matter. More cannons and weapons are being manufactured intensively on the Semitic continent. In the future, they will be continuously delivered to our hands.
Maybe after two months, I will have fifty, seventy, or one hundred doors.
General Orlandini has always believed that his progress has been unfavorable, not at all because of his unfavorable command, nor because the three armies are not brave enough, but because of the Ruman people's strange long-range weapons and such rogue tactics.
Ling Kong's powerful Semitic army was like a dog biting a hedgehog, unable to bite it.
It was like this at the gates of Weizi City. It was like this on the march, and it was still like this at the gates of Ruman City. Weapons like cannons could hit people outside the city even further than the longest-range crossbows and trebuchets.
They couldn't see the person who fired the cannon, but the cannonballs seemed to have eyes, chasing the Semitic soldiers' butts. And they were extremely powerful.
More than a dozen artillery pieces fired at the same time, causing too much damage to the attacking soldiers. They easily created areas of no man's land, wiping out every soldier within the range.
Facing that terrifying weapon, Orlandini couldn't charge forward even though he had an absolutely superior force.
When Orlandini heard for the first time that the high priest said that the dark mage had made such a weapon, he was shocked and immediately strongly requested to be sent to reinforce him.
However, there were not many cannons at that time, only a few experimental ones, and the technology was still immature.
Just the propellant charge of the artillery was enough for them to study it for thirty to fifty years.
But the high priest pressed hard again, and would ask again every three to five days. The anxious supervisor almost went crazy.
However, these lichs are indeed geniuses. They spent more than a dozen lives to develop a method of using explosive crystal powder as propellant, which also resulted in high costs.
Having sex is just like throwing money away.
Despite this, the undead people are still very happy. They can finally proudly declare to the world that they also have independent intellectual property cannons.
Then, they discovered to their dismay that this was just the first hurdle in the long journey of firearms technology.
Artillery shooting is another huge problem.
When shooting, the angle, range, and amount of charge all need to be carefully considered.
In desperation, they had to go into battle in person and practice one by one. However, the expensive training costs made every official in charge of military supplies miserable.
This has also led to a serious lack of training among dark mages. In fact, to this day, dark mages are still not skilled in the use of cannons. Let alone trained qualified ordinary artillery.
Faced with all these problems, they hid the cannon as a secret weapon and used it as a trump card when attacking Ruman City.
Just imagine, when they surrounded the city of Ruman and suddenly used cannons to bombard the city, the people of Ruman would be caught off guard.
But the Semitic defeat outside Fantino and Orlandini's urging prompted the high priest to reveal this weapon.
The disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fantino left the Semites temporarily unable to launch an offensive on the western front, so there could be no mistakes on the northern front.
Orlandini walked back and forth several times in front of the neatly arranged cannons, then turned to face the Semitic soldiers and shouted in a loud voice: "Soldiers, brothers, the cowardly Rumans are hiding behind the city walls.
, are afraid of fighting us, and only dare to use their cannons against us.
Ruman's artillery fire is powerful, but all this will change today, thanks to His Majesty the God. We also have our own cannon~!"
The surrounding Semitic soldiers suddenly became commotion.
"Cannon? That's what it is?"
"Our cannon?"
"It's our cannon."
"We have cannons too!"
"Great, we also have cannons~!"
"It's finally time for humans to feel the taste of being bombed for a long time~!"
"..."
After confirming that they heard correctly, that it was their Semitic cannon, the Semitic soldiers cheered excitedly.
Orlandini raised his fist at the right time and shouted loudly: "Long live His Majesty!"
The soldiers raised their weapons excitedly and shouted in unison: "Long live His Majesty!"
"Long live~!"
The sound spread in waves, and soon the entire Semitic camp echoed with the cry of "Long live His Majesty the God of God!"
Regardless of whether they knew what was going on or not, as soon as they heard someone shouting "Long live the throne of God" or "Long live the high priest", they had to get up quickly and chant the slogans with real expressions.
Otherwise, they are disrespectful to the high priest. They are resentful, they are dissatisfied with the beautiful Semitic family, they are bad elements who plot coups, launch terrorist attacks, and destroy the good situation of social unity and stability.
At the most minor level, you will be arrested and given a thorough education with whips and iron fists, write a letter of repentance, and pay a fine.
In the worst case, he was arrested and beheaded on the charge of rebellion.
The sudden availability of such a powerful weapon greatly boosted the morale of the Semitic army.
They had a bloody encounter in front of the Ruman position yesterday. The soldiers were generally depressed and fearful of the Ruman cannons and machine guns.
The arrival of new weapons has shocked the soldiers, and they are gearing up for a big fight. Many people are already imagining the scene of their cannons blasting the Ruman people around.
Seeing that the soldiers' morale was high and eager to fight, they wished they could rush forward and hand over the Rumans right now. A smile appeared on Orlandini's lips, and he was secretly happy in his heart. He bowed solemnly to the black-clothed lich next to him.
He saluted and said with a sincere expression: "Thank you, Master Heiss. Thank you for bringing us the cannon. With them, our victory is more certain."
Lich Heiss waved his hand and spoke in a cold tone, as if it were business, and said: "General, let me remind you once again that our cannon is not yet mature, and the barrel may explode when firing. Of course, it will explode now.
The probability is much lower.”
Having said this, Lich Heiss sighed and glanced at the thick barrel of the cannon with his green eyes.
After the high priest assigned the imitation task, Lich Heis led a group of people to get busy.
According to intelligence, the barrels of human cannons are only one or two inches thick, and I heard that the barrels of newer cannons are less than half an inch thick.
But after they cast the gun barrel according to this thickness, it would always explode, resulting in many casualties.
By reducing the amount of charge, although the barrel can withstand a few more rounds, the shells cannot hit far, which is worse than not letting the trebuchet go.
They had to thicken the barrel again and again, and then increase the charge to increase the range. If it exploded, they would thicken the barrel again...
Falling into the cycle of adding more noodles and adding more water, and adding more water and adding noodles, after constant experiments, we finally created the super-large barrel in front of us, which is also a super-large-caliber cannon.
When there was an urgent need on the battlefield, he transported the cannon from the Semitic continent, but the Lich Heiss himself did not know how many times his cannon barrel could withstand the shots.
Orlandini was stunned for a moment, and had a bad premonition in his heart, but then he thought, as long as it can be used, it is better than nothing.
Lich Heis's tone suddenly became a little helpless, he shook his head and said: "Although the principle of the cannon is very simple, we didn't realize the trouble until we built it.
Therefore, they do not fire explosive shells like human cannons. We have not mastered that technology so far, and we only need to use explosive crystals as propellants.
The explosive powders made by humans are really weird. The information Edwood received said that these powders are rich in the force, and it is the force that makes them explode. However, I have studied for a long time and still can't figure out what the force is.
, so amazing..."
Lich Heiss kept complaining incessantly, meaning that the time given to him by the high priest was too hasty and too little, and the human alchemy information that Edwood snatched back was missing the most critical part.
This kind of weapon has not yet been put into practical use, probably in another thirty to fifty years.
For the long life of a lich, thirty or fifty years is really not a long time.
Orlandini felt the urge to vomit blood as he listened. He was filled with joy and prepared to give the Ruman people a good blow and give them a taste of retribution.
He didn't expect that what the high priest sent him was such a thing.
He interrupted Lich Heis and asked with concern: "Master, what is this cannon hitting?"
"Oh, this..." A black iron ball the size of a human head suddenly appeared in the hand of the Lich Heiss, and said: "This is it. We have tried many things, but they were blown to pieces by the exploding crystal before we could hit them.
Later, someone suggested using this, and after the experiment, it turned out to be good.”
"Is this... an iron ball?" Orlandini said blankly, stretching out his fingers to touch it.
"Don't touch~!" Lich Heis gave a stern warning, removed the iron ball in his hand, and said in a solemn tone: "It's poisonous, and it will kill you if you touch it. We have solidified the dark spell inside. After it is shot out, the spell will be
Spread quickly to kill the enemy."
Orlandini was so frightened that he retracted his hand and leaned back, trying to stay as far away from the iron ball as possible, and asked: "How is the power?"
Lich Heiss chuckled a few times with a hoarse voice like a night owl. He stroked the surface of the iron ball with his hands like dry branches, and said in an excited tone: "We have done dozens of experiments on living people. The lethality
Huge~!”
Orlandini automatically filtered out the phrase "experiments on living people". Liches never treat people as human beings anyway. In their eyes, killing dozens or hundreds of humans is like killing a group of chickens.
He only cared about the power of the cannon. When the Lich said it was extremely lethal, Orlandini felt relieved. He waved his hand and said, "Then let us take a look.
Come here, push the cannon onto the battlefield~!"
"Ouch~!" The Semitic soldiers shouted excitedly, and they all rushed forward. Thousands of people circled around the ten cannons.
They pulled and pushed, slowly moving these heavy beasts southward.
A few miles away, after hearing the commotion in the Semitic camp, the soldiers of the Skeleton Division had already stepped onto their positions, holding their guns and searching for the Semitic people with their eyes wide open.