"Without reinforcements, it will be difficult for us to hold Fort Saint-Cyr. Please send the fleet."
With a heavy heart Andrete wrote the secret letter and put it in the brass letter box.
Looking out of the window, the light of the artillery fire can be clearly seen. The shelling has never stopped. Since the evening, the main artillery camps of the Roland army located in the three directions of Fort Saint-Cyr have been bombarding the triangular fort. Dalton wanted to capture Senglei Island as soon as possible, just as Andret was looking forward to the early arrival of reinforcements from Yager or Free Commercial City, Roland's army was also on guard against their reinforcements.
John VI's last reply arrived in the morning.
The fleet of Yager and the Free Trade Alliance is located in the Doria Sea in the middle of the Sea of Heaven, and is jointly blocked by the fleets of the Root Empire and the Roland nobles. John VI asked Andret to stick to the castle and wait until the corresponding fleet arrived before sending out warships from Senglei Island to attack inside and outside.
When will reinforcements arrive
A shell roared, dragging its tail of flames across the sky, bombarding the training ground of Fort Saint-Cyr, and smashing down the roof of the nearby houses.
Andrete put on his helmet, picked up his shield, opened the door and went out.
"Bring the slaves to the triangular fort," Andréte ordered the herald, squinting his eyes for a while to see where the shells hit, "then tell them that as long as they hold the triangular fort, they will be free."
The herald had just received the order, and before he left, a soldier came running out of breath.
He came with bad news:
"The fleet of the Rolands has moved, and they brought a very strange... ladder?"
"Ladder? What ladder?"
Andret didn't understand for a while.
The soldier was full of anxiety, and he gestured with his hands: "It's the long, protruding ladder installed on the mast."
An ominous premonition flashed through Andret's mind, and he immediately gave up his original idea of seeing the connection point between the castle and the fort on the opposite side of the bay, and instead walked towards the triangular fort.
…………………………
When Andréte saw the warships driving slowly on the bay, his heart sank instantly.
After the Roland fleet arrived at Senglai Island, it has been parked in a distant harbor. Andret's plan to send fireboats to attack Roland's fleet had to be abandoned because of this. But apart from sealing the bay, Roland's fleet did not directly participate in the siege war. There were rumors that Roland's navy and army were competing with each other, and they didn't quite see each other.
When he learned about this from Roland's old believer captives, Andret thanked God with great joy.
Tonight, the Roland Navy Fleet, which had been standing idly by, suddenly moved.
After seeing the Roland fleet with his own eyes, Andret understood what the "ladder" was for reporting to the soldiers, and also understood what the Roland fleet was doing "on the sidelines" for so many days.
— On the Roland warship, a complex pulley system raised a flying bridge made of the spar end of a sailboat. The nearly 100-foot-long flybridge was derived at a distance of about 60 feet from the sea. The high-side sailboats in the fleet were grouped in twos, raised the ladder and sailed towards the wall of the Triangle Fort Saint-Cyr facing the sea. [1]
The Yage soldiers defending the city had never seen this kind of strange siege equipment before, and their faces changed for a while.
"Not good!" After a brief moment of astonishment, Andrete shouted as he rushed to the sea wall at the fastest speed under artillery fire, "Seven teams, ten teams, all wounded who can still move, come with me to the sea wall Defense!"
Seeing the warship carrying the flying bridge, Andréte was clearly aware of the coming crisis.
Because of the limited manpower on Senglei Island, Andret had to carefully calculate the position of each part of the soldiers when deploying the defense. The northwest of the triangular fort is close to the sea and has a natural barrier, so there is almost no defensive force at the sea wall, and the city wall there is also lower than other places.
Now, it has become the exposed weakness of the triangular fort.
The only consolation that is not consolation is that warships with high sides have a deeper draft and travel very slowly.
"Where's the fireboat?"
Andrete gave orders while roaring like crazy.
"Shoot out all our fireboats and burn theirs!"
Following his order, about four or five fireships were quickly lowered from the city wall with iron chains. After being ignited, the fireships turned into bright fireballs on the sea surface, and quickly headed towards the Roland battleship.
Andrete nervously watched the movement of the fireship.
Thanks to the gods, the direction of the tide at night was in their favor, and the sea pushed the fireboats, which were much lighter than the warships, towards the fleet lined up by Roland.
Andrete just raised his hand to draw a sign of the cross on his chest, but paused just after he made a stroke.
On the surface of the sea, Roland's warships did not disperse as expected. Taller galleys and lighter galleys sailed across the sea reflecting the fire like arrows, and met the fireboats sent by the sea. . The man standing on the bow of the galley throws the rope with the hook with a skill that ordinary sailors cannot.
As soon as the grapple at the top of the thick hemp rope that had been soaked in water hit the side of the fire boat, the galley immediately separated to the left and right like elegant fish swimming on the sea surface, and the fire boat was dragged on the sea surface in vain, leaving an arc in vain. long line.
The well-organized and well-formed naval main fleet was not affected in the slightest, and it still pushed forward steadily.
"attack!"
Andret's face was as sinking as water, maintaining his composure, and he waited until the sailboat entered the attack range of the throwing weapons on the city wall before issuing a combat order.
The sound of the horn exploded on the sea in an instant.
The stone bullets thrown by the crossbow slammed heavily on the deck of the sailing ship. Iron arrows and muskets were fired together, falling towards the warship like a torrential rain, and everyone's eardrums were buzzing. Under the defensive attack of Yager's defenders, Roland's warship bumped violently on the sea.
As the ship pitched, the flying bridges, which were sixty feet above the sea, swayed and heaved along with it.
Andrete's lips were dry and cracked in the hot blast of artillery fire. He watched this scene without blinking, secretly hoping that this terrible sight would scare away the enemy soldiers, or that the violent shaking would make them The wooden structure on top of Roland's warship disintegrated.
While Yager's defenders tried their best to contain the advance of the Roland battleship, the navy on the Roland battleship also started its first attack since the Battle of Sengley Island.
The artillery of the battleship was transferred away by the army before that, and at this time, those artillery were bombarding the front of Saint-Cyr Castle together, pinning down most of the Yager defenders. Therefore, at this time, the trebuchets installed on the bow of the warship are not weaker than artillery when the distance is sufficient.
The boulder roared and roared against the sea wall, and the original rainstorm-like offensive was torn apart a little weak area.
The high-side sailboat quickly approached, and the two flying bridges grabbed the broken city wall like eagle claws.
Yager's defenders rushed forward and smashed one of the flying bridges with a huge axe. With his face sinking like water, André directed the soldiers at the muzzle of the city wall to light the artillery. Amidst the piercing roar, another flybridge was half destroyed.
Despite the results, Andrete's face was not happy, but became more and more ugly.
Just as he directed the city wall artillery to bombard the warships, another group of more cunning warships approached the sea wall, chose a tricky area where the muzzles were difficult to aim, and built the flying bridge. Originally, Andret was still praying in his heart, hoping that the Roland Navy would not be crazy, and would not dare to fight in mid-air more than sixty feet above the sea.
At this moment, his hopes were completely dashed.
There were already nimble soldiers stepping on the suspended flying bridge and quickly ran towards the city wall.
Andrete's heart sank into the sea like those fireboats that had just been towed away.
The only thing worthy of praise is that in this case, he can effectively command the soldiers to close the defense line and destroy the enemy's flying bridge.
…………………………
It was Abigail who commanded the battleship fleet and the light and heavy warships to cooperate with each other, but besides Abigail, there was another person on the warship.
Dalton calmly observed the entire battle situation.
The top of the flybridge is covered with oil-soaked animal skins to protect the soldiers who stepped on the flybridge from being shot down by the weapons thrown by the enemy. It's just that this level of protection can have very limited effects. The opponent's commander Andret's reaction and perseverance can be called excellent. Although the flying bridge is built on the sea wall, until now none of them have been completely fixed.
As time passed, the sailors became more and more hesitant.
Except for those members of the Iron Cross Pirates, the other navy soldiers were just ordinary people, their legs were already shaking before they stepped on the flying bridge which was sixty feet above the sea. Now they have not completely lost their courage, it is entirely because of the leading role played by the Iron Cross pirates in front.
If the stalemate continues, tonight's operation is likely to fail. Losing this opportunity, the Yager people are prepared, and it will be very difficult to seize the triangular fort from the sea wall.
With a sudden change in his mind, Dalton grabbed a dark red Roland Empire flag, stuffed it into his arms, and jumped onto the lift at the mast of the ship.
"Boss!"
He moved neatly, and before the adjutant on the deck could react, he had already been sent to the top by the cage-shaped elevator.
The adjutant stared blankly on the deck, and could only watch as Dalton stepped on the undulating flybridge. The other soldiers on the side asked him nervously if he wanted to stop Dalton back. The adjutant waved his hand violently: "How to stop? Fly to stop?"
While cursing, he led others to jump up after the elevator fell down again.
The elevator slowly reached midair, and the adjutant sighed inwardly.
Unlike those officers who huddled behind the soldiers as soon as the battle started, Dalton was the blade of the troops he commanded on the battlefield. Some people say that commanders should not risk their lives, while others say that generals should lead by example. The former is certainly reasonable, but when it comes to fighting, the soldiers are definitely more willing to follow the latter.
Dalton's prestige in the army has always been very high.
However, the adjutant always felt that their boss's frequent involvement in the situation was not for the sake of the reputation of leading the way.
He's just used to doing everything he can, no matter the cost.
Dalton was such a lunatic.
…………………
There was a sudden change at the head of the sea wall flying bridge that was stalemate.
Bang, boom, boom.
With one shot after another, Yager's defenders fell down one by one, and the fly bridge that was about to be pushed away stabilized again.
A cold black-haired officer came on a rickety flying bridge, firing shots one after another. Each shot accurately killed an enemy. The shaking of the flying bridge and the defensive attacks of the defenders seemed to have no effect on him at all, and the wrist holding the gun was so steady that it was chilling.
The Yage defenders of the sea wall were overwhelmed by his precise gear-like, ruthless aura like a sword. For a while, no one dared to approach the flying bridge on the city wall.
He was wearing a black military uniform with tight cuffs, showing a pale wrist bone when he fired the gun.
A Yager knight mustered up his courage, and when he was about to jump on the top of the city wall, he raised his broad sword and slashed at him.
The broad sword blows and blows the wind.
Dalton kicked off the city wall and jumped up. The broad sword brushed past his shoulder and fell into the air. He sheathed his gun and drew the knife from his belt.
With a flash of cold light, Jager Knight's throat was cut open by him.
The author has something to say: [1] Roger Crawley. The Oceanic Hegemony of Venice, the City of Fortune [M]. Beijing: Social Sciences Literature Publishing House. 2017.