Chapter 258 - Cannon Bombardment

“We got to retreat now,” Claude said to the officers beside him.

“Can’t we continue to defend this place a few more days?” Mazik looked rather apologetic. It was his mistake that morning that allowed the tens of enemies to even reach their defence line. He hadn’t grasped the firing tempo of the two cannons properly as he was too nervous and let them both fire scattershot at the same time, giving the enemies at the rear a chance to push forward. The fastest a cannon could be reloaded was two minutes and that small window was time enough for the enemy to rush to the line and engage the defenders in a melee. That cost them around twenty casualties.

Currently, Claude only had around eighty men still capable of fighting as well as the members of the three cannoneer squads, himself, and Gum and Myjack. They totalled up to around a hundred. While the nobles of the two duchies suffered heavy casualties for their attacks during the morning, they had around three thousand men remaining. If they continued attacking during the afternoon, Claude couldn’t be certain their defence line wouldn’t be overwhelmed. The disparity was still overwhelming.

Additionally, the soldiers would be worn out from defending the line the whole day. Fortunately, the ones who were sent to charge at the line were mostly conscripted peasants instead of trained veterans. Mazik’s reloaded cannons managed to cut off any other reinforcement from the rear, giving Claude and the rest the time to exterminate the enemies who had made it to their line.

Claude shook his head. “Let’s see whether the enemy will launch another attack during the afternoon like they did in the morning. Our goal here is not to stop the enemy from advancing at all costs. We’re only taking advantage of the terrain while we can to shave away at their numbers. If the enemy presses their attack, we will have to conserve our strength and avoid all casualties wherever possible. If we can’t hold them off, we Smiles lit on the faces of the pursuing soldiers. The only thing on their minds was capturing the two cannons and be rewarded by the nobles. Every one of them scrambled towards the cannons and even forgot that they were holding their muskets in hand.

“Fire!” That cry startled the frontmost soldiers out of their frenzy. All they saw was a flash inside the barrels of the two cannons, followed by countless black pellets bursting out of the two holes. Then, multiple spots on their bodies burned and the sound of liquid dripping on the ground could be heard. Those were their last sensations before their consciousness faded to black.

All 134 soldiers of the nobles’ private armies were completely wiped out by the two scattershot barrages. The remaining 70-odd soldiers at the rear were completely dumbfounded. They hadn’t imagined that the cannons were loaded with scattershot. They had run all that way and fell for the enemy’s bait.

Before they snapped out of it, fifty-odd gun-wielding enemies popped up near the cannons and fired. The soldiers that survived the cannon barrage were shot down one after another in a cloud of white smoke the guns emanated.

The nobles in the camp watched as their 300-odd private soldiers were completely wiped out. By then, the cannons had finished loading more scattershot and the Auerans checked on their fallen enemies to see if they were truly dead. Anyone who was found still breathing was given a stab with bayonets to be put out of their misery before they were looted.

The two tents of Aueran sneak attackers being pursued by the 100-odd pursuing noble soldiers ran through the forest in a huge circle and made their way to the two loaded cannons. The remaining soldiers of the nobles saw the ready-to-fire cannons and the other enemies armed with muskets and wisely chose to return to camp instead of charging towards the enemy in a hot-blooded impulse.