In a world with fighting magic, transporting two cannons to the top of a twenty-story-high wall became much simpler. Xiao Chen's men didn't even need to take action. Count Orgas directly called in a team of low-level warriors, and each team of four carried the gun carriage and carried the cannons up the wall.
The imperial outpost camp was only about two kilometers away from Heimu Pass. The camp was on top of a hill and looked like a town covered with hilltops, with a large castle in the center.
Olgas and Xiao Chen were standing behind the battlements on the top of the wall, looking at the imperial camp. He said, "Blackwood Pass is one of the most important passes on the continent. People nowadays don't have the ability to build such a tall pass. It is said that this pass was built by the mages of the Forge Tower in the Seven Towers era to resist the attack of the Temple of Nature. I don't know what method those mages used to pile the stones so high. Some people say that the core of this pass is made of mithril alloy. This is of course the fantasy of fools. Mithril is so precious, how could it be used to make this? But they must have used magic that we don't know.
No one knew the outcome of the battle between the Seven Towers mages, but the pass remained and served as a barrier between the north and south of the continent. In the eastern part of Black Mountain, whoever occupied the pass would have the initiative in the war.
More than two hundred years ago, this pass was in the hands of the Purple Eagle Empire. Berserker Melo fought with his entire Berserker Legion to snatch this pass from the Empire. If there hadn't been this battle, the subsequent war history between the Kingdom and the Empire would have had to be rewritten."
Although Xiao Chen had read many historical documents, he had never heard of these details. Now that the owner of Blackwood Pass was telling him everything, he felt a heavy sense of history. He asked, "So since Melo took over Blackwood Pass, it has never been breached again?"
"Of course, it has always been like this. So as long as the kingdom can provide us with enough support, the imperials will never be able to break in. But since the death of the previous king, Queen Laura has been unable to control many powerful lords. Even if those people don't rebel, they still have to protect themselves. Who will send me reinforcements? If I hadn't recruited new soldiers in the surrounding villages and towns, I wouldn't even be able to maintain the current number. Fortunately, several lords around knew that they would be finished if Heimu Pass was lost, so they provided us with food and drink together with Baldini, otherwise we would have starved and disbanded long ago."
Count Orgas pointed to the hilltop and said, "In the last war, the Imperials fought very hard on the eastern front at Zhinan Fort and could often reach the border of the kingdom, but they had a hard time fighting here. Whether to fight or when to fight is up to us. They felt that they were too passive, so they also built an outpost camp here.
It was just a shabby thing surrounded by wooden fences. After our cavalry burned it twice, they sent a large army to build a castle. After the truce, they took the opportunity to expand the castle. They also built a wall around the town. Now there are more than a thousand people stationed in the castle and the town next to it.
But there is a large camp in the valley ahead, where the main force of the Empire is gathering. But it cannot be seen from here. According to the information our scouts gathered yesterday, the enemy's assembled forces have exceeded 30,000. "
Xiao Chen said: "Then let's start from that camp."
"Okay." Orgas stepped aside to give space to the artillery brought by Xiao Chen.
The artillerymen pushed the pneumatic guns to the appropriate crenels and roughly aimed them at the imperial camp. Then they began to calculate and adjust the firing parameters of the pneumatic guns.
Olgas watched the artillerymen stretch out their right arms, raise their thumbs and start gesturing at the target fortress in the distance, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "What are they doing?"
"They are measuring the distance from here to the enemy camp. This is called the eye-jumping method." Seeing that Olgas was still curious, he said, "If you join our army, you will naturally receive relevant training. I am not an artilleryman, so it is difficult for me to explain the principle clearly."
Since a good rangefinder has not yet been developed, the artillery battalion usually uses the Mage's Eye to measure distance. However, Xiao Chen and Huang Zheng did not want to expose these methods, so they let the artillery use the method of visual distance estimation.
While the artillerymen were busy, Xiao Chen asked, "Does that camp have shields and defensive barriers?"
Olgas laughed and said, "How is that possible? Except for really big cities and castles with rich heritage, how can ordinary fortresses be equipped with that?"
"In that case, let's just use the fire element bomb." Huang Zheng said.
After the artillerymen finished their preparations, the two pneumatic cannons began to test fire at the same time. One shell missed the target by about 50 meters, and the other shell landed in the town next to the fortress, directly blowing off the roof of a house and setting the whole house on fire.
When the other gun was slightly adjusted, it fired a second time, and both shells landed in the town, exploding two huge sparks. Xiao Chen glanced at Orgas. Although the Earl tried his best to remain calm, his wide eyes and slightly open lips betrayed his shock.
Huang Zheng nodded to Xiao Chen. Xiao Chen asked, "Sir Olgas, the test launch has been completed. In order to achieve the best results, we must start the formal attack as soon as possible."
"Of course, of course." Orgas said to a soldier beside him, "Go, quickly ask the leaders of each unit to come to the top of the city wall, and let them see the power of the Tower of China."
There were originally about ten people accompanying Xiao Chen and his group, and after a while, another twenty or so people came up one after another. There were warriors and mages, and the most important generals under Orgas were already here.
A few people who rushed over cried out in surprise when they saw the town engulfed in flames and smoke.
At this time, both pneumatic guns began to fire effectively. Although the firing frequency of both guns was not high, the artillerymen operated according to the rules, but it was this unhurried attitude that formed a huge contrast with the tragic scene of flames rising continuously and houses being blown up to the sky on the opposite side.
It was as if the Chinese could destroy a town without any effort. This shocked the audience, including Olgas.
As the surrounding towns were engulfed in flames, both factions focused their attacks on the castle in the center. Although the castle was made of stone, the fire elemental shells did not need fuel and could burn for a certain period of time. Under their intensive attacks, the castle soon became a blazing beacon tower.