Chapter 118: Mechanized Assault Force
Half an hour later, the first cannons began firing on the north wall.
The enemy force had moved within cannon range, preparing to set up their siege weapons while the troop transports were still racing toward the city, intent on using a mechanized charge to try to get the advantage of a shock assault.
It took time to redeploy troops who had to run across the city on foot, but the entire Natural Sons’ Regiment was already in place, and once the Dagos Army started getting close, gunfire joined the sound of cannons from the wall, and the whole north side of the city slowly vanished into a white haze of gun smoke.
The firing rate wasn’t slowing, and the smoke was getting thicker. But the flag men were relaying messages to the interpreter in the window, who was making notes for the Nobles and the advisors in the room.
"They’re nearly at the wall now. The riflemen targeted drivers as much as possible, but there wasn’t enough warning of the invasion to get more than the basic defences erected around the city." Marquis Burton lamented.
That meant the moat, which was surrounded by a ditch, which had been oiled, in preparation for being set alight, and the simple fence of spiked poles dug into the leading edge of the bulwark in front of it.
Those should stop the trucks effectively enough, preventing any tactic that involved ramming the walls or directly flipping up siege ladders. It wasn’t optimal, but when the soldiers unloaded, they would be vulnerable to the defenders on the walls, as the fortification had been set with an archer’s accurate range in mind.
"The enemy has autoloading crossbows." The interpreter relayed, not entirely certain he had read the signal correctly.
That did sound like it could be an issue. Rate of fire was the great downfall of crossbows, so if they could fix that, their effectiveness could be close to that of a rifleman.