[Jiangan Fort/Knight Fort]

The smoke screen finally dissipated, and the figures of "rebels" disappeared along with the smoke.

In the Knights Fort, the frightened soldiers of the United Provinces were still holding their weapons tightly, and they didn't dare to stand at the shooting position with a sound, peering at the world outside the merceration.

They used their strength to widen their eyes, as if they could see through the night of Paratu.

However, everything is futile, and the darkness around the fortress is bottomless and insurmountable.

Having no time to breathe, after the "rebels" retreated, the commander of Fort Cavaliers, Daly Brand, immediately set out to count the casualties and count the ammunition.

He claims to be a Union Provincial People living in the center of the narrow mountains and regions. Whenever he mentions the Paratus, he always speaks a word in a contemptuous tone - "Border People".

Just now, the soldiers of the Union Provincial People's Government in Cavaliers had a solid understanding of the fierceness of the "border citizens".

The four-meter-span trench was not wide enough for the Palatus people. It was actually mounted on a long ladder by the "rebels" and rushed directly over.

If it weren't for the limited load-bearing capacity of the ladder, I'm afraid that the "rebel" cavalry would have followed it into the Knights Fort.

Daly Brand is very glad: most "rebels" are not carrying ladders, but some kind of log-pier-like object; most "rebels" did not engage in hand-to-hand combat, but instead rely on the bunker built by the "log-section" to continue shooting at the Knights Fort.

The rebels' "climbing the city" behavior is not like a tactic formulated in advance, but more like a heroic move of individual soldiers.

After the cannons on the side of the fort wall began to roar, the rebel soldiers who opened fire through the trench quickly retreated and disappeared under the night sky.

In the end, Captain Daly Brand's troops relied on the advantage of numbers to surround a small number of "rebels" rushing into the fort, pushed the long ladder down the trench, and temporarily defended the Knights Fort.

Despite this, there was still a wailing inside the fortress.

The minor wounded shouted, and the serious wounded rolled all over the ground. He had never seen so many bloody new recruits in a daze and at a loss.

Like his subordinates, Daly Brand was also experiencing actual combat for the first time. As his tense spirit relaxed, he also felt a little scared.

But Captain Brand's training and teaching since childhood still played a role.

Daly Brand quickly entered the situation, and while organizing the wounded to send him back, he sent a messenger to the command center again.

But this time it was not a request for help, but an explanation of the situation.

After regaining his ability to think, Captain Brand also vaguely felt that the enemy's raid to Fort Knights was very much like a feint.

Because the "rebels" neither invested enough troops, had a very unresolute attitude, and had a low willingness to bear casualties, the cannons on the Triangle Fort turned around, and the rebels immediately chose to retreat without giving the defenders the opportunity to exert their power.

Thinking of this, Captain Daly Brand regretted it very much.

Just now, because the movements of the "rebels" during the charge were too horrifying, he was anxious and ordered all three lighting rockets on the launcher to be fired out.

There are only three lighting rockets in total, and expensive alchemy products like lighting rockets have always been distributed in terms of "one" and only if you use one can you get another one.

So Captain Brand now has no available lighting rocket.

If the "Rebels" were not a feint tonight, then Daly Brand needs to find other lighting methods to deal with the rebels' next round of offensive.

If the "Rebels" really attacked tonight, Captain Brand will face a more severe test - he will have to submit a report explaining why three precious lighting rockets were used up in one go.

After weighing the trade-offs, Daly Brand decided to take a risk.

He ordered the suspension bridge facing the castle wall on the Jinliu River, and lit a reliable and brave soldier, with an axe, lamp oil and fire on his back, and quietly sneaked out of the Knights Fort from the "back" of the rebels' attack direction.

...

Due to the construction period, the Cavaliers Fortress is not large, and a team of 100 people stationed in is a bit crowded.

In terms of appearance, it is roughly square, with a bastion on each of the four corners of the main structure, and a triangular bastion is built in the west and south directions.

As for the north and east, the walls on both sides face the Jinliu River and the Kings Castle, so there is no waste of time on the Triangle Castle.

The junction of water and soil is most easily compromised - the Unionists knew this very well, so there was the Knights Fort located on the bank of the river.

...

After coming to the other side of the trench, Daly Brand did not rush to light the lights, but followed the dead man's way and carefully touched the southwest, which was where the "rebels" attacked.

Just turned the corner in the northwest direction and took a few steps, Brand's boots encountered something soft and hard.

Looking closely with the faint starlight, Daly Brand suddenly discovered that there was a headless corpse under his feet.

The body was obviously not wearing a soldier's clothes, so Brand guessed the other party's identity very much.

Daly Brand took off his helmet and stared at his desolate pre-school classmate, speechless for a long time.

"Be careful," he put on his helmet again and sent a message behind him, "Don't step on Warrant Officer Marlow."

A rustling sound came from behind, and the soldiers bit their ears and passed the orders down.

But the hidden road was too narrow, and only one person could pass by. Both of them had to walk sideways. It was impossible not to step on Chris Marlow's body.

"Damn it, the dead humanity should be widened by half a meter," Daly Brand thought bitterly, "and this dike can make the cavalry rush up directly? How did Lieutenant Colonel Montekukoli design it?"

Seeing the captain's dilemma, the sergeant following Brand whispered: "Sir, otherwise... put the warrant officer in the trench first? Then collect the burial after dawn."

Brand made a fuss, and simply stood up and shouted to the main fort: "Sergeant Lundley! Put down the suspension bridge!"

There was a commotion behind the fort wall, and someone trembled out half of his head in the shooting mouth.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! "What do you see?" Daly Brand shouted angrily, "Light the brazier! Put down the suspension bridge!"

The Knight Fort was finally lit up by the flames. In order to avoid indicating the target for the enemy's guns and cannons, there was only minimal lighting inside the fortress.

After a while, a simple suspension bridge swayed down from the fort wall.

Brand ordered people to carry Chris Marlow's body back to the Cavaliers Fort, and after lit a brazier, another body in the trench was also revealed.

So Brand ordered people to go down to the trench and pick up the body of the musketeer and Chris Marlow's head.

Since his whereabouts were revealed, Daly Brand was too lazy to hide anymore, so he simply set off a torch and acted openly.

Brand first climbed out of the dead man's way and came to the slanting embankment.

When he got closer, he realized that the "log pile" that the "rebels" carried to the trench were not wood at all, but bundles of wheat straw.

I think that the smoke released by the rebels before the attack was also made of wet wheat straw.

Brand couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief - at least it wasn't the alchemy smoke.

He was curious just now, where did the rebels get so many logs? Did they all transport them from the rear? The cost was too high.

You know, Minister Conelis destroyed the woods within a radius of dozens of miles.

Even later, the people of the Union Province were too lazy to cut down trees directly, but set fire to the fire first, and then cut off the unburned excessive wood, saving time to cut branches.

Minister Conelisbon also sent people to burn all the combustible materials that are easy to obtain.

However, the winter wheat harvest season just ended, and the rural areas of Paratu were filled with wheat straw, and the farmers were very resistant to the behavior of the Unionists, so it was normal for the "rebels" to get some wheat straw.

However, "the straw cannot stop the lead, nor can the shells," Daly Brand thought contemptuously, "No wonder the rebels ran away as soon as the gun was fired."

He kicked the rebels' bunker - the rebels used wheat straw, which saved him trouble.

Captain Brand originally thought that the rebels were carrying logs, and he specially brought an axe and lamp oil.

Since it is wheat straw, it is simple.

As the torch was thrown up, the "rebels" bunker immediately burned, instantly dispersing the night, illuminating the slanting embankment like day.

"Let's go," Captain Brand clapped his hands, "Go to the outpost to check out."

Considering the possible direction of the enemy's attack, when planning the hidden road, Lieutenant Colonel Montekukoli deliberately widened the corner in the southwest and set up an outpost there as the forefront of the entire defensive position.

The lieutenant colonel's judgment was very accurate, and the rebels' offensive tonight was launched from the southwest direction.

And in the southwest outpost, Captain Brand saw a scene that made him have a nightmare, and his good mood of burning the "rebel" bunker disappeared in an instant.

Chris Marlow's body was sad, while the sentries' tragic deaths made people sad - half of Captain Brand's bold subordinates specially selected spit out all the food they had eaten for the evening.

All three sentries died in the causeway.

The "rebels" Matthew was too fast, and they had no time to withdraw the main fort; the "rebels"'s swords were faster than horses, and none of the three sentries had a complete body.

A sentry was almost split in half, from the collarbone to the waist and abdomen, with only a small piece of meat remaining. All the internal organs were exposed to the air, and the slippery intestines flowed all over the ground, like obese maggots.

Another sentry's left arm disappeared, leaving only his shoulders, and at the cross section of the flesh, the white bone stubble and pink bone marrow were clearly visible.

The sentry who lost his arm crawled for a distance in the causeway before dying. Not only his nails, but also his mouth was covered with dirty mud. No living people present could think of the pain that would cause a dying person to stuff soil into his mouth.

Daly Brand once outlined the appearance of the "civil war" in his mind - probably every Union soldier imagined the scene of realizing Marshal Ned Smith's will and making the alliance great again.

Of course, he also thought of bloodshed and sacrificed - how can a war not kill anyone?

But it was not until this moment that he saw the incomplete corpses of his subordinates with his own eyes that he realized how pale his fantasy was.

Daly Brand now truly realizes that war is an extremely cruel atrocity.

At the same time, he realized that the Paratus had adapted to this cruelty earlier than the Unionists.

The Palathus would never be ruthless, because for them, the civil war had already begun.

Daly Brand lowered his head and silently mourned his dead men.

But the battle will continue and he cannot refuse.

He now only prays for one thing, that is, when death comes to him, it will be fast and good.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To be continued...