Not only did they ambush the party that went to ambush the castle, they even sent a large party over to attack the castle. In the end, the two sides fought for most of the night in front of the castle and caused more than 30 casualties to 1st Ranger Tribe.
The only good news was that 1st Ranger Tribe had mobilized a large number of men to collect the logs from the shattered wooden carriages. They even hauled a few intact ones up to the top of the walls. It seemed that they had enough to build a row of wooden rafts on the walls for cover.
Fortunately, they listened to Claude's suggestion and didn't open the gates to move the logs. Instead, they used ropes to pull the logs up from the walls.
Otherwise, the enemy's main party would be able to sneak into the castle and the outcome would be even worse.
The bad news was that the enemy's three siege towers were even closer to the castle. They had been stationed at the back of the village during the day, but they discovered that the enemy had moved the three siege towers to the front of the village.
In other words, if they advanced another 30 meters or so, the cannons on the three siege towers would be able to bombard the soldiers on the walls.
Schri decided that they had to erect the wooden rafts at the top of the walls during the day so that the soldiers would have a place to hide.
He didn't think that the enemy would be able to assemble such an elite line of infantry even after the fall of Askilin. Even though the enemy had suffered more than 300 casualties in the past few days, it was still far from the number of casualties they could sustain.
But for a line of soldiers, that number was only a sixteenth of their total strength. It wasn't even close to the critical point.
Now that the three siege towers were nearing the castle, the next few days of defending the castle would be a tough test for 1st Ranger Tribe.
It was Claude who led Dyavid's Band to attack the three siege towers. Had it not been for the fact that he sensed the breathing of many people in the village and hurriedly retreated, they might have really fallen into the trap and been surrounded by the enemy.
Even so, Dyavid's men were caught in an ambush and only realized that they had lost a squad when they retreated into the trenches.
Fortunately, Claude and the others managed to retreat just in time to see the enemy's main force making its way towards the castle. They fired a warning shot.
The Fourth Brigade, who was collecting wood at the foot of the city wall, realized that they were almost surrounded by the enemy. So, everyone lay down on the ground and opened fire. The soldiers on the city wall threw burning torches down to illuminate the area and fired in the direction of the enemy. After shooting for most of the night, the enemy left behind more than fifty corpses and retreated.
Claude, Myjack and Dyavid were fine, but Gum took a bullet to her left arm and lost a chunk of flesh.
That was fortunate, because if the bullet had pierced through a bone and lodged in a joint, Gum would have lost half of his arm. The medic would usually recommend amputation for such an injury, and not just bandage the wound and wait for the flesh to grow back.
After watching from the top of the walls for a long time, everyone finally understood how the enemy managed to move the three siege towers from the back of the village to the front.
It turned out that the enemy had given up on using the oxen to pull the siege tower. Instead, they added a few poles and crossbars to the sides and back of the siege tower. Then, they had the soldiers push the siege tower from the back and the sides. Little by little, the siege tower was moved to the entrance of the village.
With the siege towers and wooden carts on both sides providing cover, the soldiers pushing the siege towers didn't have to worry about being bombarded by the cannons from the castle.
Perhaps it was because it was too busy and tiring the previous night, it was rather quiet on both sides. It wasn't until three or four in the afternoon that the enemy finally appeared in the village.
First, they pushed more than twenty wooden carts into a snake-like formation about eighty meters away from the castle as cover. Then, under the command of a few officers, they prepared to push the siege tower at the very front.
Naturally, the soldiers of the second line on top of the castle started firing. Eleven light infantry cannons were fired at full force, five at the wooden carts and six at the siege tower at the very front.
The enemy soldiers scattered and hid behind the dilapidated walls of the village. The six cannons on the three siege towers fired back at the castle as well.
About twenty minutes later, the cannons stopped.
Seven or eight of the wooden carts on the empty ground were destroyed, but it didn't do much to the three siege towers. All it did was leave white spots that were larger than the ones from the day before.
It was the same for the enemy. The six cannons installed in the siege towers only destroyed two wooden carts that were used as cover for the cannons. The other cannons didn't pose much of a threat to the soldiers on top of the wall.
The enemy was currently dragging down the wooden carts that had been smashed and pushing over new ones. The distance of seventy to eighty meters was within the accurate firing range of the aubass mark 3 standard matchlock. The soldiers of the second battalion hiding behind the wooden carts on the city wall began firing. Several enemies who were cleaning the wooden carts fell to the ground. Soon, a large group of enemies relied on the cover of the wooden carts to open fire at the city wall.
Although the accurate shooting range of the enemy's firearms wasn't as far as the aubass mark 3 matchlock, this distance was still within the effective shooting range of their firearms. Countless bullets hit the wooden carts on the wall, and a few soldiers were even injured by these stray bullets.
However, the battle ended very quickly after the destroyed wooden carts were replaced with new ones.
Claude, Skree and the others were inspecting the two wooden rafts destroyed by the cannons. The wooden rafts used as cover on the walls were rather simple. There was a row of logs at the front and two horizontal poles at the back. Then, they could make two triangular pieces of wood and place them on top of the two horizontal poles.
The two log rafts that were destroyed by the enemy's shelling were the logs in the middle. Because the back was hollow, it couldn't withstand the force of the solid shells hitting the logs, so it broke and expanded into a big hole.
The enemy's siege tower was still a hundred meters away from the village entrance. Six cannons were able to destroy two wooden carts in one go.
It wasn't hard to imagine that when the enemy's three siege towers were set up the day after tomorrow, a barrage of cannons would destroy all the wooden carts on the wall. The end result would be the same as before. They would cover the front of the wall with grapeshot and force the soldiers to be unable to defend it. The enemy would then take the opportunity to open the front gate and allow the reinforcements to enter the castle.
"I think I have a way to prevent these wooden carts from being destroyed," Claude said.
His suggestion was simple. They would fill the empty sacks of grain with soil and pile them behind the wooden carts.
That way, even if the enemy's cannons destroyed the wooden carts, the sacks would still be able to provide cover and cover for the soldiers on guard.
"Since that's the case, let's do it right away.
Captain Kurdwark, I'll leave this to your clan, "Skri accepted Claude's suggestion without hesitation.
Even though the defense on the walls was guaranteed, the worry in his eyes still remained.
"We have to think of a way to get rid of the three siege towers."
Claude knew what Skri was worried about. He had thought that 1st Ranger Tribe would be able to defend the sturdy castle, but he didn't think that not only would the enemy be elites, but they would also bring along three such big fellows.
Given that they had the advantage in numbers and firepower not losing out to 1st Ranger Tribe, Skri couldn't help but worry about whether they would be able to defend the castle.
"What do we do?"
Major Skri smiled bitterly: "The enemy is not an idiot. They know that the key to breaking through the castle we are guarding lies in their three siege towers. The defense is definitely tight.
They'll definitely set up a trap for us to destroy the three siege towers and ambush us like they did last night.
"In fact, the enemy will definitely be delighted if we attack the three siege towers. They'll be able to effectively use them to wipe out our forces. It's like putting a piece of delicious cheese on a mousetrap to attract the mice.
"The enemy already knows about our defensive forces in the castle. They have an infantry line and three light cavalry battalions watching us from three other directions. Their numbers are more than enough to overwhelm us.
"We're trapped in the castle and we've lost contact with the outside world because of those two beasts in the sky.
All we can do now is to hold our ground and wait for the first snow of December. Perhaps the enemy will retreat due to the cold. "
Pointing at the three siege towers at the entrance of the village, Major Skri's face was full of bitterness: "In the past few days, I have been very sure that the enemy's commander is a very experienced veteran, and he knows very well what the key to this battle is.
"It's been a week since they arrived and they've only launched two attacks. They've only lost around 400 men, which is insignificant compared to their numbers. On the other hand, we've exposed all our firepower and defenses on the walls.
"The enemy commander knows what we're hoping for, but he didn't rush things and ordered his troops to attack us wave after wave. Instead, he patiently had his soldiers spend three days building the three siege towers.
"That means he's confident that he can take down the castle we're defending once the siege towers are in place.
"No matter what, as long as the three siege towers are in place, our defensive advantage on the walls will be nullified.
"I suspect that the enemy is trying to fight a war of attrition with us. With the three siege towers in front of the walls, they'll be able to suppress our firepower on the walls while allowing their soldiers to attack the walls. That way, we'll have no choice but to fight a war of attrition with them. Even if the enemy loses a battalion, it'll be a worthwhile victory for them as long as they can take down the front gate."
If the front gate was taken by the enemy, even if the enemy only lost a battalion, 1st Ranger Tribe would also suffer heavy casualties. By then, they wouldn't have enough men to defend the other parts of the castle.
As long as the enemy managed to enter the castle, 1st Ranger Tribe would be completely wiped out.
Claude stared at the three siege towers at the entrance of the village and couldn't speak for a long time.
It was as Skri had said, the enemy had used the night to set up the three siege towers.
Over the next four days, while suppressing the enemy on the walls, they launched a series of assaults on the castle. The first two days, they didn't give up even at night. They even made it to the top of the walls a few times, forcing the enemy to retreat through hand-to-hand combat. This made 1st Ranger Tribe pay a heavy price.
"How many casualties did the enemy suffer in the past few days?" Skri was also injured and had his arm in a sling.
He was still in charge of 3rd Band and held the position of Band Jarl.
The original captain, Captain Hackham, had been sent to the rear a long time ago because he had been injured during an ambush on the enemy cavalry scouts.
"About seven or eight hundred?" Captain Kurdwick replied.
The only intact unit in 1st Ranger Tribe was Claude's First Band.
In the past four days, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Bands had suffered heavy losses. 2nd Band was almost crippled and Jarl Hackmus was sent to the infirmary at the back of the castle with heavy injuries.
3rd and 4th Bands fared better. They still had two and a half platoons of men in total.
"How many cannons do we have left?" Skri asked.
"Seven." Claude was well aware of that.
The cannons on the walls had suffered heavy losses in the past few days. The cannoneers on the three siege towers were all experienced cannoneers. After discovering the location of the cannons on the walls, they gathered the six cannons on the three siege towers and focused their fire on the area where the cannons were located. Two days ago, three cannons were destroyed due to a moment of carelessness.
"One was destroyed by the enemy who climbed up the walls yesterday afternoon. Apart from the four cannons on the two towers, there are only three left on the walls.
The cannoneers are already experienced and will switch locations after firing a shot. Last night, the enemy tried to attack Heasen Castle. It was these three cannons that contributed greatly to our success. The cannoneers fired a barrage of cannoneers and left 80 or so corpses behind, "Claude explained.
During the day, the enemy took advantage of the fact that the soldiers on the walls couldn't see clearly to use the ladders to launch a surprise attack.
When there was no smoke, they would hide behind wooden carriages and fire sneak attacks.
At night, they would make use of the darkness to climb up the walls and launch sneak attacks.
The enemy had more than enough manpower to launch an attack as a brigade. A regiment of 16 brigades would take a day to rotate between each brigade. The soldiers of 1st Ranger Tribe couldn't be replaced like the enemy. That was the main reason why they were able to climb up the walls a few times yesterday.
"Thankfully, you came up with the idea to use the sacks to reinforce the wooden carriages. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to hide ourselves.
But why did the enemy stop attacking today? "Skri looked at the three siege towers with a puzzled expression.
"I think they've suffered too many casualties. The enemy has lost around eight hundred men in the past four days. Including the ones from before, they've lost more than a thousand. I reckon that's a quarter of their forces.
The walls are still under our protection, so they have to stop attacking and appease the soldiers. Otherwise, no one will be willing to continue attacking, "Claude guessed.
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m.