HCB Chapter 282: Attacking the Border Mountains
Chapter 282: Attacking the Border Mountains
In the largest fortress in the border mountains, Berenguer fell into deep thought as he looked at the reports provided by his subordinates.
It has been a month since General Schneider was transferred. Berenguer has never forgotten what the old general said. Every day he orders the army to be on alert at all times and to strengthen patrols in important areas.
But the Mitlan army at the foot of the mountain had not made any movement except for the previous artillery attack, and even that artillery attack was just a few scattered shots, with only one bullet leaving a crater on the wall of the pass. Berenguer inferred that the Mitlan army might not dare to attack actively because of the lack of siege equipment.
Whenever he thought of this, Berenguer looked down upon the Midlan army even more. Even if they had siege equipment, the artillery on the fortress was not to be trifled with. Coupled with sufficient supplies, Berenguer believed that even if the Midlan king led his troops in person, he would have the information to keep.
"When General Schneider returns with his soldiers, we will be able to launch a counterattack and capture Mont-de-Marsan first, then the southwestern region of Midland, and possibly even the entire western region. By then, the king might even grant me a countship there."
"General? General!"
The voice of a corps commander brought Berenguer back from his reverie.
"what's up?"
"Are we going to patrol tonight with the same intensity as before?"
"Of course, what if the Midlanders attack at night?"
Seeing Berenguer still replying in this way, the Corps Commander hurriedly said:
"Sir, the soldiers are tired because the patrol workload has doubled and are starting to complain. Some places have even seen some soldiers deserting their posts."
"Huh?" Berenguer didn't care. Although the patrol tasks of the remaining soldiers had been doubled due to the withdrawal of half of the troops, they were now on the front line fighting with Midland. If the soldiers didn't even have the awareness to sacrifice their time to defend the fortress, how could they go abroad to fight?
"Lock up the leaders, or kill them if necessary. Let the other soldiers see the consequences of not following orders. Tell them that if anyone dares to leave their post without permission, the Midlanders may succeed in the end."
At sunset, the sage far away in Mont-de-Marsan looked at the sunset and suddenly felt something strange in his heart.
"Something is wrong." The sage suddenly thought that Bernas had gathered so many troops, but John, as the commander of Midland, only let Hoss take the regular army, while he himself remained in the embassy and did not go out.
But despite this, according to intelligence, there is a steady stream of horse-drawn carriages traveling back and forth between the mountains and Bernas, and it seems that a large-scale standing army on the border is indeed being transported to Bernas.
Suddenly, the door opened and a man in a black robe ran in. When the sage saw this, his pupils shrank, and he knew something bad was going to happen.
"Sir, there are unusual movements in the military camp outside the city. Hundreds of carriages are carrying soldiers from the camp to the mountains!"
"What!" The sage was confused by the sudden news, but then his brain began to work rapidly.
"Are you planning to attack the stronghold on the mountain? Impossible. There aren't even enough artillery there... Wait... Those carriages!"
Thinking of this, the sage suddenly remembered a detail that he had overlooked. He only paid attention to the movements of the army and did not pay much attention to what was inside the carriage.
"The purpose of those carriages is not to transport the standing army near the mountains to Bernas, but to transport Bernas's artillery and shells to the strongholds controlled by John's army near the mountains."
Thinking of this, the sage immediately ordered the man in black robe:
"Hurry up and send someone to deliver a letter to the mountain range. It must be quick!"
The border mountains at night look like a black wall from a distance, and it is pitch dark inside. Even the best local hunters dare not stay alone in the mountains at night.
Although there were 50,000 troops stationed on the mountain, Berenguer was afraid that too strong a light on the fortress would attract a concentrated attack from the Midland artillery, so he only allowed soldiers to patrol the city walls with a torch, causing the soldiers to complain that they could not see clearly what was below.
In a fortress in the central part, two Rana soldiers were guarding a gunpowder warehouse, which stored gunpowder and artillery shells and was one of the most important places in the entire fortress.
"Ha~~ I'm so sleepy." A Lana soldier yawned and looked at another Lana soldier with his tired eyes:
"How much time do we have before we can go back and rest?"
"I don't know. I don't have a pocket watch or anything like that to tell the time." Another Lana soldier responded, but he looked to both sides and said:
"Chief, they went to the toilet for such a long time and they haven't come back yet?"
"Oh, I think they went straight back to sleep."
"Aren't they afraid of being discovered by the centurion?"
"What did you find? The centurion has already fallen asleep. It will probably be noon before he wakes up."
The two of them were chatting back and forth, but one of the Lanas suddenly felt that for a moment he saw a figure rushing past behind the other Lana soldier, so he hurriedly said:
"Did someone pass behind you?"
"Someone?"
Another Lana soldier rubbed his eyes and pointed his spear into the darkness. After observing for a long time, he slowly turned around, yawned, and said:
"It must be a fox. Wasn't I bitten by a fox while sleeping a few days ago? I'm really sleepy. I'll have a cigarette to calm down first."
The Lana soldier felt around in his breastplate and pulled out a silver pipe, but he realized he had forgotten to bring matches and said:
"Have you got any matches?"
"Yes, here you go."
He took the match and struck it on the matchbox several times, but found that the match could not be lit at all.
"Is there something wrong with your matches?"
"It's probably damp. Try it a few more times."
After being struck dozens of times, the match finally produced a little flame.
"Hey, it's on fire." The Rana soldier was about to light the tobacco with a match when the gunpowder warehouse behind him suddenly exploded. The two men were torn into pieces by the violent force amid the roar.
At the same time, the artillery stored inside flew from the warehouse to the surrounding areas under the action of gunpowder. The flying shells hit the city walls and the patrolling soldiers on them. Some even fell into the tents, killing several soldiers who were still asleep.
"The gunpowder warehouse exploded!"
The centurion, who was awakened by the explosion, brought people to check, only to find that a hole had been smashed directly into the city wall by a cannonball.
"What are you standing there for? Fix it quickly."
The captain was so frightened that he didn't know what to say. If such a big thing happened and his superiors knew about it, he would probably be brought to a military court.
However, a loud roar frightened him so much that he shouted anxiously:
"Where's the explosion again? Do you want to die?"
The soldiers on the city wall hurriedly said:
"Sir, it's not here, it's the fortress across the street. They are already on fire."
"That's good...that's not right!" The centurion was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt something was wrong. How could two fortresses explode at the same time?
"Sir, something bad has happened!" At this time a messenger ran over.
"The Mitlans just bombarded the Gu Pass with cannons and blew open the gate!"