NOVEL NEXT V11: Chapter 12
V11: Chapter 12
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Interlude: Celia
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The death of the King of Wisdom.
The meeting where he threatened his own life lingered in my mind unceasingly.
Such a move should've been craven. It should have been a sign of weakness. After witnessing that moment, I should've felt assured that I was superior to him.
But such was not the case.
Jack had been indomitable and peerless from the moment that I met him, even if I had not known it then. Like a figure in the horizon, I chased after him along with all the other leaders with Citadel rings upon their hands. We all compared ourselves to the King of Wisdom. All our plans centered around somehow overcoming his nigh-insurmountable lead.
He shaped the continent by his mere existence.
So, when he threatened the end of his own life, he revealed more than just a war of annihilation waged by his people upon those who opposed him.
He revealed himself as a guidestone for the whole continent.
Or, rather, he revealed that we all moved in the palm of his hand.
He shared news of the threats beyond the continent long ago. He brought us all together for the first Council of Kings. No, even before that, he moved to have us all work together to surmount famine. When the Academy fell, he was swift to move, to show us how to take in the outpouring of people from their lands, and much of our bureaucracy, policies, and standards were so close because of that.
A common language with which we could all speak and write to one another.
A common system of measurement we could all use for experiments and industry.
A common military foundation with emphasis on anti-air and firearms.
He had a hand in forming the entirety of the continent for the sake of making us all fight together against the coming threats. And, if he dies, his people will proclaim vengeance, take everything on the continent, and then they will win against the entire world. His death would be the end of a chapter in a history book written by his people… or the start of a manuscript of a cult that deified him.
He would not have risked his life if he was not confident in his work and efforts thus far in ensuring his nation's supremacy.
Supremacy over not just the continent, but the entire world.
I was supposed to rival him after understanding that.
It felt like a cruel joke.
My ministers praised me for securing our chance at taking the whole of the continent. There were whispers with messengers from the nobility that they were considering sending some elites to aid us in taking half of the continent. People looked at me with wonder, as it was said that I stood against the demands of the King of Wisdom and that I had bargained him down when he threatened to take his own life in exchange for my nation. That through my actions, I was able to get his nation to help us seize all the others so that we may confront all the coming calamities.
Then, after it has all passed, there would be one final battle to take control over all the Citadels.
Those who knew the truth chose to believe in that lie.
Those who would question it are surrounded by words written and spoken against their own thoughts.
Those who believe it become fervent adherents filled with pride in their nation.
Just as the King of Wisdom willed.
I could only wonder how I could hope to defeat such a foe.
And, if I did, how could I hope to control the continent as he would?
The questions never ceased as we seized the lands of the merchants.
Unrivaled and unstoppable to all that opposed us.
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The walls, trenches, and palisades built by the town's defenses were set to be undone.
The field guns used by the King of Wisdom were deceptively simple. Crewed by 5 men, it was pulled in a wagon with two horses, with the wagon containing equipment and ammunition. A hundred men and forty horses allowed for 20 guns and wagons. One man acted as a spotter, another as the leader and coordinator, while two loaded and unloaded the weapon, while one fired. When deployed, it stabilized through a series of three struts, with the wheels removed from the carriage to make it easier to swivel. With cranks, the gun could be elevated and depressed, though it took two soldiers at least to make it traverse from side to side.
It was easy to see that they were not meant to be siege weapons, even if they had superb range.
They were meant to be used defensively, behind or on top of walls, and to kill large, heavily armored creatures.
Most likely the Ascendant.
Still, from the cargo hold of the massive flying fortress, there were two hundred such guns and a thousand men trained in their use. They assembled, coordinated with mages to create elevated terrain behind the frontline, and began their bombardment.
Their typical munition was Citadel Alloy 'darts.' Given the amount of propellant they loaded the breeches with, I was sure that they were hollow and weighed down by something within them. Encased in a shell that would come apart after exiting the barrel, I imagined that the dart would fly straight and true after the shell came apart after it left the barrel.
But such a weapon was not suitable for a siege.
The munition they employed instead was a bullet-shaped shell that was filled with explosives. Two hundred guns fired at once at the mountain town's defenses while my entire army watched. A rippling wave of fire and force erupted all over the enemy's side of the battle. The trenches provided a modicum of protection, but palisades were undone, and I doubted those in the trenches were in good shape.
Then, the two hundred guns fired again, then again, and then again.
Every five seconds the guns roared.
I recalled more information while they did.
Five explosive shells per ammo case per gun.
Ten cases of armor-piercing and ten cases of explosive shells for each gun.
For this initial barrage, they would expend half their explosive rounds.
Twenty-five shells each for two hundred guns.
Five thousand explosive shells in just a little over two minutes.
The cannons fired and fired, and those two minutes felt like an eternity. Flaming flowers bloomed across the enemy lines and undid mortal lives and mortal efforts. The land was upturned, and sometimes parts and pieces of the mustered soldiers flew up into the sky. A garden of fire and death bloomed and withered, while smoke arose from our artillery positions. I closed my eyes, and the constant sound of thunder rattled my brain, while focusing allowed me to hear the screaming of those who manned the trenches and walls of the town that stood in our path.
Five thousand shells.
How many hours did it take for one of his artillery shell factories to produce that much? He was set to produce thousands of these guns for the coming defense. They would be useless without ammunition, so to create so many meant only one thing: he was confident in his ability to supply them.
As the dust cleared from the barrage, I beheld the results of the barrage.
Without a hint of magic used, the earth was upturned and broken apart, the wooden palisades were undone, and the walls were blackened, scorched, and weakened.
I gave the order to march on the city… knowing that the battle was already won.
The only thought that remained in my mind was, how could anything hope to surmount such a ferocious barrage?
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Damn, I really need bigger artillery pieces.
Having the anti-tank guns double as field artillery was good on paper, but this whole battle would've been over if I could make howitzers.
Celia and her forces were rolling over the trenches and scaling the walls, and they'll take the fortified town soon, but I was disappointed by the guns.
If it were against a field army, it would've done a decent job.
If it were against the Ascendant mechs, they would've been perfect.
But they just weren't built for sieges.
"Half the number of guns but in a larger caliber with arcing projectiles would've done better. A suitable number of mages could have done better. Make a note that we won't be using these guns for siege again. Aerial bombardment and Guardian drops will be better." Ayah nodded and took notes, while I looked over the results. The trenches still had multiple pockets of resistance. The Guardians of the Moon had an easily replaced undead frontline, so those pockets were quickly overwhelmed. My troops would've taken casualties and deaths. With the resource expenditure from the barrage, that was unacceptable. Nothing less than the obliteration of the enemy's defenses would've sufficed. "Now, give me the update on the Guardian situation."
"Here, my lord." Ayah presented me with a report while I took a step back from the telescopes. The command staff was used to me now, so they just went about their business. "The Merchant's forces are being slowly overwhelmed by those of the Guardians of the Moon."
"But they won't be overwhelmed before we're done." Citadel Guardians vs. Citadel Guardians is a pure numbers game. You set them against one another, and they wreck one another. The battlefields they leave behind let you scavenge gold in-game. A lot of gold; if you have them, just keep fighting one another. It was a way to create points of interest in the map and to have players contest different territories. But that wasn't important now. I went over the reports, made by Iterants who I had manually count the attrition rate between the two sides, and nodded. "No point in pulling any back. We'll handle this on our own."
I went back to the telescope.
Celia was the first over the wall, and with her arrival she filled the top of the wall with a flood of phantoms and ghosts that ravaged the remaining defenders. More deaths for my troops, if I had them there. I'd ignored the need for dedicated indirect fire, since I couldn't make artillery that strong or complicated without Citadel materials. There was also the fact that I had mages and an air force that could conduct bombing raids. But the more I considered the situation, especially with everyone armed with at least rifled muzzle-loaders with percussion caps, the more I wanted the big guns.
However, those big guns will need their own factories and their own ammunition lines, and research will need to start from scratch while I try my best to describe what I want.
That's at least two years of investment into research and logistics.
Two years that I could spend figuring out early tracked vehicles for farming and light tanks.
Two years that could be spent investing into mages and upgrading them to their next tier en mass.
Maybe even two years getting early analog calculators figured out for rangefinders.
Yeah, that ship has unfortunately already sailed.
"Contact the manufacturers of our current cannons. We'll upgrade them and give them more types of ammunition. I want to test direct-fire incendiary rounds of the same variety used by our fliers." Ayah nodded. Setting trenches aflame from a distance with field guns seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't ideal if I wanted to take a city. "Have them devise some sort of shell that can be used for delivering chemical weapons as well."
Ayah paused writing at my mention of chemical weapons.
"No. Not Red Mist. That weapon is much too dangerous to be handled in such a manner." I told her, and she started writing again. I was tempted to look at her, but I still felt a bit bad. Even after finding out that the ampoule I had threatened my life with was impossible to destroy without magic, she was still hesitant around the stuff. "Irritants or smoke. Something that'll keep them unable to fight as troops surge over them."
As I thought about the situation a bit more, something came up in my mind.
Mortars.
Tubes with firing pins, which could be used to launch projectiles with high arcs. The logistical footprint was a lot smaller for both the weapon and its munitions. They wouldn't have the ability to break apart fortifications, but they were a good solution to trenches and great for defensive battles against hordes of enemies. Ascendant and Stymphalian slave warbands came to mind, but so did the regular infantry used by the Demons along with the flesh-beasts used by the Sahuagin.
Smash apart and shock defenders with light artillery barrages, drop in Citadel Guardians from above along with incendiary weapons, and then use Conquerors to pry open doors for the rest of the army.
I hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with any siege battles in the future with all my preparation, but that sounded good enough.
Hm, maybe dumb rocket salvos would be good, too?
Those were more for morale, if I recall correctly, but I'll investigate it.
"The Guardians of the Moon will be taking the town in a few moments. Start pulling troops back to the bastion. But keep our patrols up." Salutes and affirmatives resounded through the bridge while I looked at the battle below. I had frontline fortresses set up and ready. Safeguard and its sister fortresses were already being tested. They were supported by multiple bases and villages full of militia with their own walls, supplies, and my untouched masses of Citadel Guardians. They shouldn't be taken, but if they were, I needed to be able to take them back. "Celia said this town will be hers, but I want Iterants slipped in and replacing a few of the citizens, just like with all the other towns. From what I've seen of this land, we'll need to make sure it's not infiltrated."
Ayah nodded in agreement at my statement.
We were taking stock of Merchant lands as we passed through and conquered them.
Honestly, it was impressive that there was only a revolt now. Most towns were owned by companies, the people were paid in scrip, and only the barest necessities were in place for each town. Getting worked to death was a common enough occurrence that a flat life insurance payout was given out for it. Running water and sewage were reserved for the wealthy, while the rest lived in squalor and used communal housing, baths, and toilets. The new plants given by the Life Goddess were being seized by the state… and I had a feeling that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back.
Fruits sprouted from the ground that was new and unplowed.
Resources that could help daily living immensely just came into being.
All from the squalor of the lands they've been told to harvest.
After years of struggling for practically nothing, they get gifts freely given to them without anything expected in return.
Then, all of that was taken from them by their corporate aristocracy?
Yeah.
I had a feeling that tipped things over the edge a bit.