Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 743 743 52 Contact_2

?Chapter 743: Chapter 52 Contact_2 Chapter 743: Chapter 52 Contact_2 “Yes.” Winters patted Heinrich on the shoulder, “This is the first step to dealing with the people of Terdun. The enemy has more soldiers, we have fewer; the enemy is strong, we are weak; the enemy attacks, we defend.

We must first find ways to weaken the enemy before we can have the power to fight. Aren’t you called the fire-maker? Just right to set a fire for you—The two lieutenants are doing exactly this in the no-man’s land.”

Xial asked with a pained expression, “What about Shovel Port? Are we just going to ignore it?”

“No need to mind it,” Winters dismissed with a wave of his hand, “The town mayor of Shovel Port Town is the old soldier Dusack, with thousands of able-bodied refugees under his command. Isn’t he busy training the refugees lately? With two companies of militia at hand, if they can’t even block the river mouth, they might as well die early.”

“If he dies, he dies, but what about the people of Shovel Port?” Xial felt uneasy, “Should we not gather our troops first?”

“Even if we need to send reinforcements, we’ll wait until daybreak. Isn’t marching forcibly at night just like delivering meat into the wolf’s mouth?” Winters knocked on Xial’s head again, “Let’s talk about tomorrow’s matters tomorrow. Even if we are to fight tomorrow, we still need a good night’s rest tonight.”

Xial rubbed his head and let out an “Oh.”

“I’ll tell you this, the thing Shovel Port fears the most right now is ‘reinforcements’.” Winters sneered, “They’re afraid I’ll take the opportunity to send troops and occupy Shovel Port. With barbarians in front and rebels behind, the war would be difficult to fight. So we might as well stay put and let them focus on dealing with the Herders. How the battle goes, we’ll find out tomorrow morning.”

Xial and Heinrich saluted with their hands.

Winters began unbuttoning his clothes—he hadn’t taken them off before sleeping due to exhaustion—and said, “I estimate… the messenger from Shovel Port is on his way to Revodan now. It must be a great victory, the garrison need not worry, and by no means should they come to help, hmm.”

Seeing that Winters was about to sleep, Xial and Heinrich prepared to leave.

Winters called the two men back, “After this battle, I plan to establish a military school. The students… tentatively would be officers at the Centurion level. Would you be interested in going?”

Xial and Heinrich were both stunned.

“You two can’t always be my guards,” Winters said with a smile, “Do you not want to lead troops?”

Xial’s eyes suddenly reddened, “I’ll be your guard, for a lifetime.”

“Don’t rush to answer, take your time to think about it. First, we have to deal with this mess from the ‘fire-maker’.” Winters pushed the two Attendants out of the room, “Unless the barbarians break into Revodan, don’t disturb my sleep!”

Xial and Heinrich, unable to recover from the shock, stood at the door looking at each other for a while before tiptoeing softly down the stairs.

…

Before dawn, Shovel Port.

Mr. Alpha dismounted his horse, sword in hand, and walked into the town church. His features concealed under his helmet, his breastplate covered in bloodstains.

The church was Shovel Port’s tallest and sturdiest stone building, and naturally served as the command post during war, with the great beacon tower on the bell tower.

Mr. Alpha walked through the altar and entered the spiral staircase, heading straight for the roof.

Mayor Polta was on the roof.

Upon meeting, Mr. Alpha immediately confronted Polta, “Didn’t I say, ‘Do not light the great beacon tower without my consent’?”

His voice, muffled from inside the helmet, sounded somewhat dull.

“Seeing the beacon fires on the riverbank, the lads in charge got panicked and lit the great beacon tower,” Polta pointed to a few young men with sooty faces in front of him, “I was just in the process of scolding them.”

The beacon fires were a system, with large and small beacon towers, each being a part of a whole.

The small beacon towers were set along the riverbanks, while the large beacon tower was established on the church of Shovel Port.

If the large beacon tower did not light up, the information would be contained within Shovel Port; if the large beacon tower was lit, Revodan would receive the warning.

Having dismissed the beacon tower guards, Polta anxiously asked, “How is the battle situation?”

“What could be resolved has been resolved,” Mr. Alpha removed his helmet, shaking off the sweat from his hair, “Some remaining enemies fled into the woods while others took advantage of the chaos to break through to the east. Altogether, there are probably about a dozen or so.”

“The barbarians truly came!” Polta gritted his teeth and thumped his thigh, genuinely thanking Mr. Alpha, “We owe it to your presence.”

Mr. Alpha shook his head without expression.

Polta had not been very attentive to the defenses against the barbarians. In his mind, the Herders were severely defeated in September, so how could they dare to come again?

On the contrary, Mr. Alpha took it seriously; he was personally responsible for arranging the defenses along the Glory River and the beacon towers.

After receiving the beacon fire alert tonight, it was Mr. Alpha who was first to provide support.

Time was the key element.

Time was not on the side of Terdun’s men:
The waters of Glory River were wide, and each time the sheepskin rafts crossed the river, they were swept far downstream, needing to be carried back upstream by horse, hence wasting a lot of time;
Time wasn’t on the side of Shovel Port’s men either:
The crossing point chosen by Terdun’s men was forty kilometers away from Shovel Port. Even if adults walked non-stop, it would take a whole day to cover forty kilometers.

It was thus a race against time, favoring only the party that was faster.

Therefore, Mr. Alpha chose to get a head start—time also favored those who prepared in advance.

Mr. Alpha divided the Shovel Port militia into six teams, assigned along the river. By careful calculation, he ensured that Shovel Port militia would not be more than two hours’ distance from any point on the riverbank.