When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#664 - 12-pounder Griffin

January 18th, Imperial Calendar 1447.

The morning light shone on the mottled walls of Fraser Fortress, triggering the alarm bell. Dust and debris fell from the towering battlements as crossbow bolts, like fangs, were revealed amidst the sound of footsteps.

The side gate of the castle opened, and dozens of riders bearing swallowtail flags streamed out.

The biting spring wind swept across the stone bridge over the river, fluttering hexagonal war flags resembling spiderwebs.

Beside the river outside Fraser Castle, the eye was filled with colorful turbans, vests, and tattoos covering bodies and arms.

At Louluse's urging and request, all the major and minor secret societies of the Northern County and their private armies that could arrive within three days had gathered.

Dozens of secret societies gathered together numbered nearly a thousand people, but most of them wore only thin robes and vests, exposing bare knees and ankles, with only waist knives and staffs at their waists.

Some even carried grass cages containing toads, which they would occasionally take out to lick. Most were lean, even emaciated.

Some combat-specialized mages were gathered in advance.

They were strong, wearing iron-masked helmets and leather armor, with jagged greatswords made of obsidian and hardwood on their backs, ready to unleash spells and then launch fierce charges.

Most of the time, ordinary mercenaries and even armored soldiers would be overwhelmed by this tactic.

If it were near mountains, forests, or streams, combat mages would even dare to counter-charge extraordinary knights, and could actually inflict some damage.

However, in the small plains area around Fraser Castle, which had been reclaimed and deforested by knights and slaves for generations, the knights could suppress the combat mages with their mobility.

"Fraser Castle... are we going to have to fill it with our lives again?" A combat mage shielded his eyes with his hand, standing on the hillside and looking towards Fraser Fortress.

Another dark-skinned wizard with a scimitar at his waist smacked his lips, "Walls six-xun high, we can't even climb them. At least let me kill one person."

"Isn't there that Holy Grandson of Thousand River Valley?"

"Holy Grandson..." Several members of the secret societies and combat mages looked at each other, all with complex expressions on their faces.

On the one hand, they admired this farmer for expelling the Church of Thousand River Valley, killing Prince Condé, and slapping the Pope in the face.

But on the other hand, this Holy Grandson seemed to be a fanatic, not only calling himself Pope but also creating his own sect to expel devils, which made the secret societies, who had always opposed the church and worshiped devils, very conflicted.

"Even if he's a Holy Grandson, he's not the pseudo-god's actual grandson, right?" Looking up at the heavily guarded black-clad soldiers on the hillside, a combat mage was both envious and complaining, "Can he even call down a meteor shower from the pseudo-god?"

"It's said there's some new type of trebuchet? Or some kind of clockwork-driven fire ballista?"

"Come on, which fire ballista can launch projectiles three miles?"

"Maybe, don't they have clockwork guns?"

"I made a clockwork gun myself, not that powerful." A member of the secret society raised his head. "If we call so many people here and it doesn't have any effect, it would be too embarrassing."

As if remembering something, several leaders of small and medium-sized secret societies immediately found the troublemakers in their teams and threatened them: "If Lord Horn's new weapon doesn't work, if anyone dares to be sarcastic, I'll slap their mouths, understand?"

These secret society leaders were still counting on Horn's relief food. It would be too uncomfortable if he held a grudge and cut them off.

He couldn't hear the secret societies' discussions. He stood on the high hillside, listening to Louluse explain the strategy for capturing Fraser Castle over the past few months.

The Joan Party's strategy for Fraser Castle didn't begin after Horn arrived.

As early as June of last year, the Joan Party began to gradually remove the castle strongholds around Fraser Castle, until there were no more obstacles between Long Dike City and Fraser Castle.

With the clockwork guns, the Joan Party finally had the ability to fight against knights.

Even so, the secret society armies still hesitated to advance, watching the riders galloping back and forth on the plains.

They were waiting, waiting for a certain Holy Grandson to complete his spellcasting.

On the hillside, several high priests of the Joan Party and several elders of the Shadow Council were watching the engineers busily working, as well as the long, straight, thick barrel under the canvas.

This is... a magnified version of a clockwork gun?

The high priests and elders exchanged glances, all unsure of what it was.

Leonardo recorded data with paper and pen, while Haimoting nervously directed the artillerymen to load the clockwork chamber into the breech of the gun.

With a crisp click of the buckle, several artillerymen carefully installed the rack-and-pinion firing lever and gears onto the clockwork chamber's rotating shaft.

The iron ball slid into the iron barrel from the front, making a dull sound. Amidst the smell of metal and lubricating oil, Haimoting gave Horn a lazy salute with a fist to her chest: "Installation and loading complete."

"Good!" Standing beside this long barrel, Horn felt genuine joy.

After Leonardo and Haimoting proposed the concept of a clockwork cannon, they successfully developed the first prototype clockwork siege cannon in just one month.

Because no expense was spared, this cannon used the lost-wax process and cast iron to create the barrel, a 5-meter-long barrel, 8-centimeter-thick barrel walls, and a carbon steel clockwork chamber as tall as a person.

Inside the clockwork chamber, covered with a mithril frame, was a full 8 pounds of mithril spring, which even Horn couldn't wind more than a few turns.

Bearing this giant clockwork cannon was a rocking bracket that adjusted the cannon's angle and direction through two gear sets, and a two-wheeled gun carriage made of iron sheet rivets and wood.

Unlike the Falcon Cannon, which was a three-pound cannon, this Griffin Siege Cannon fired a solid iron ball weighing a full twelve pounds, specifically designed for castles.

Most castles in this era were tall, straight, and thin, or rather, thin relative to manpower.

The thickness of the city walls was about the width of two or three people standing side by side. This thickness was thick enough for trebuchets and manpower, but not enough for siege cannons.

"Astrology complete, angle and position correct!"

"Calibration complete!"

"His Majesty orders, move the barrel forward five centimeters!"

"All preparations are complete, requesting permission to fire."

"Granted." After giving the order, Horn pulled the several onlookers, including wizards and the crowd, back a few steps to a safe distance.

Although the clockwork chamber casing was made of carbon steel, removing the tightened spring cotter pin was a very dangerous thing. If you weren't careful, the chamber would explode.

During the previous transportation, one roll of 10-pound tightened spring broke a low-quality C-clamp, and the remaining half of the porter's head has yet to be found.

Using a hook to hook the cotter pin, an artilleryman took a few steps back and suddenly yanked the rope in his hand.

Several high priests who were still dozing off suddenly jolted awake. Before they could open their eyes, they felt a gust of air blowing against their faces, forcing them to squint.

The roaring sound was like a war chariot passing through the sky. A gust of wind spewed from the pressure valve, and several nearby soldiers and secret society members were even blown over by the sudden air current.

Several old wizards of the Joan Party, as well as the elders of the Shadow Council and even Louluse, all changed their expressions slightly.

The moment the cotter pin was pulled, the entire Griffin Cannon trembled. The kinetic energy of the spring's rotation was transmitted from the central axis to the gears and instantly converted into the kinetic energy of a direct shot.

The heavy iron ball flew out of the muzzle with an afterimage, drawing a trajectory through the air.

In everyone's dazed gazes, it landed on the wall of Fraser Castle, three miles away.

"Boom—"

In the huge explosion, the secret society wizards all stood on tiptoe, blankly looking towards Fraser Castle in the distance.

On the bluestone wall, which was a full ten meters high, a wave of smoke composed of bricks, stones, dust, and human bodies rose up.

When the spring wind blew away the dissipating smoke, bringing with it the terrified cries and screams from the city walls, everyone couldn't help but swallow hard.

This tall, impenetrable city wall had been the nightmare of many secret society members. They had launched hundreds of frontal assaults or cunning raids over the decades, but had never bitten off a single brick of Fraser Castle.

But now, a visible gap appeared in the previously neat and perfect city wall. Broken stones and mud fell diagonally to the ground, including even the bodies of two unlucky knights.

"The wall, the wall collapsed?"