Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

[Outside Kingsfort]

The biggest advantage of frontline lessons is that they allow for immediate practice.

That's why Houdel deeply regrets not paying closer attention when the Mason Commissioner demonstrated how to dig while lying down.

Not just Houdel, there are probably few reserve officers who could have foreseen how intense the task assigned by the Mason Chief Steward would be.

As soon as the lesson ended, the reserve officers were sent straight to the frontline to apply their newly learned skills in practice.

The class Houdel belonged to was brought back to the small fortress they had built three days earlier by Baby Face.

Baby Face handed each person a tool, clapped his hands, and briskly announced, "Start digging."

And any questioning from a few reserve officers with "Do we have to do this ourselves too?" was simply dismissed by Baby Face with "Later, no; now, yes."

At this moment, the reserve officers gradually began to realize that the amiable Mason Chief Steward was actually "the most stringent of the academy."

Because failure in other people's assignments would only result in losing points, but a mistake in Richard Mason's assignment could be deadly.

Earlier, when the Chief Steward was crawling on the ground like a worm, the reserve officers found it amusing, and someone even made an inappropriate comment, mocking the Chief Steward like a maggot.

Once the trainees were driven into the trenches, really starting to dig towards the walls of Kingsfort amid the firearms and cannon fire, everyone wished they could transform into a maggot and burrow into the earth.

Houdel was among them.

At this moment, Houdel's clothes were as if they had just been pulled from water, the fabric at the back soaked with sweat, sticking tightly to his back, causing extreme discomfort;

The fabric at the front was full of mud because the dry earth beneath him had turned to mud from his sweat;

The helmet was stuffy and hot, continually sliding down, yet Houdel did not dare to take it off;

Sweat streamed into his eyes, and Houdel dared not wipe it, as his hands were covered in mud.

To Houdel's left was a row of willow baskets filled with soil, ahead was a small handcart nailed with wooden boards, both of which were his life-saving shields.

Clearly, he only had to straighten his waist to breathe fresh air, yet Houdel didn't even dare to lift his head, keeping it as low as possible.

Although their trench was just being dug and was still at least two kilometers from the walls, the shadow of death hung over each person, suffocating them.

...

Early on, with the New Army's city-enclosing fortifications breaking ground, after discovering the cannon posed little actual threat to siege personnel, the United Province settlers immediately implemented a new strategy.

They no longer fired cannons to intimidate siege personnel by day, but instead sent out sharpshooters equipped with rifles by night.

The latter would stealthily approach the New Army trenches, lurk there until sunrise when siege personnel began work.

Then, they would pull the trigger, taking down an unlucky officer, sergeant, foreman, or anyone with their head exposed outside the trench, and then swagger back to the city.

The officers of the New Army were clearly aware that the United Province settlers were not in a hurry to escape, intentionally luring pursuers into the effective range of the cannons on the city walls.

Therefore, even when patrol cavalry arrived timely at the scene, they dared not pursue deeply.

The New Army leadership had no effective countermeasure against the United Province settlers' new tactics, only repeatedly stressing discipline, strictly forbidding any exposure of the body outside the shelter.

If one looks only at the number of casualties, the sharpshooters of the United Province only inflicted single-digit casualties on the New Army.

But they successfully disrupted New Army construction, slowing down the progress of fortifications, leaving laborers and soldiers on the frontline in a constant state of alarm.

...

So at this moment, Houdel also did not know if there was a sharpshooter in the killing zone between the siege trench and the city walls, aiming at him.

He could only stick to the ground, lean against the basket, and keep his head as low as possible.

Besides, Houdel had to dig and check simultaneously to ensure the shallow trench he was digging was straight.

Because when he entered the passage, Baby Face smilingly reminded him from behind:

"Be careful, don't veer off course, veering off can be deadly."

Knowing full well Baby Face was intimidating him, Houdel couldn't help but be on heightened alert.

The cannon placed by the United Province settlers on the city walls and fortress had cross-fire capabilities.

Therefore, the trenches advancing towards the city walls couldn't go straight forward, they had to zigzag—this was something Houdel had learned when besieging Maple Fort.

However, there were only a few hundred demoralized troops at Maple Fort; there were no United Province settlers' cannons on Maple Fort's walltop.

Everyone knew Maple Fort's fall was just a matter of time, so back then Houdel was neither afraid nor anxious, it felt like playing a game.

But this time it's different, this time it's for real.

The United Province settlers' cannon was astonishingly accurate, even at two kilometers distance, they could hit with precision.

It stands to reason, the further forward they advanced, the more likely the settlers' shells would directly hit the trenches.

So the Civil Guard Officer determined an angle for each trench advancing forward individually.

As the spearhead of the "advancing team" he belonged to, Houdel's responsibility was to ensure the trench didn't veer off the route planned by the Civil Guard Officer.

But this task was incredibly difficult; only after rolling in the mud did Houdel realize how difficult "don't veer off course" truly was.

Aside from the cart in front, the willow basket to the left, and the mud beneath him, he could hardly see anything.