Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Time waits for no one. Colonel Kara drew his sabre and commanded loudly, "Arrowhead formation, officers in front, young men to the back, I'll stand first."

"What wishful thinking do you have?" Colonel Bozuhof rode forward and whipped Kara's back with the back of his sword, laughing and scolding, "What makes you think you can stand in the front alone?"

After three battle cries, Andre turned his head to his aide-de-camp and whispered, "Begin."

Accompanied by a command of "Advance!" the beat of drums began, and with the musketeers at the forefront, the Third Legion started to move forward.

The soldiers of the Third Legion, like an unstoppable tsunami, step by step they approached the shipyard. At a distance of more than sixty paces, a musketeer within the wall, unable to bear the psychological pressure, fired his gun at the approaching army.

This time not just a dozen, but all musketeers with powder in their guns pulled the trigger. Gunshots burst forth like popping beans, and even a few short-barreled cannons fired.

Dozens of grapeshot the size of grapes sprayed out of the cannons, forming a barrage.

Amidst bullets and cannonballs, over twenty musketeers were struck down, their bodies acquiring four or five bloody holes.

Being killed outright was actually a mercy, as most deaths were accompanied by cruel pain. A musketeer whose lungs were pierced, blood poured into his trachea, and air sacs squeezed out of his mouth. Yet, he still hadn't breathed his last, lying on the ground with helpless whimpers.

But the soldiers of the Third Legion continued to advance resolutely, the musketeers keeping eyes fixed on what lay ahead, not even glancing at their fallen comrades. Not just the musketeers, but also the sword and shield bearers and the spearmen behind them did the same.

The soldiers, treating the bodies on the ground and the dying as though they were invisible, stepped over them as if stepping over a log lying on the ground.

Advancing to about fifty paces, accompanied by the command "Halt!" the human wall stopped moving.

"Fix bayonets!"

The musketeers planted their support rods into the ground and readied their matchlock guns.

At this time, their enemies were frantically reloading.

"Ready!"

The musketeers gently blew on the fuse and opened the lid of the powder pan.

"Aim!"

They rested the guns on their shoulders, lining up their targets through the sights.

"Fire!"

They pulled the lever, the smoldering match cord drew an arc, igniting the powder in the pan. With a flash of light and the sound of gunfire, a volley of lead shot flew towards the stone wall, and screams came from behind the wall of smoke.

"Charge!"

Behind the ranks of musketeers, the officers leading their subordinates jabbed their horses' flanks, charging to the front. Sword and shield bearers followed, shouting as they rushed towards Haidong Port's shipyard.

On the other side of Haidong Port, the officer's cavalry completed their formation, galloping towards the docks at a "quick march" pace.

The four colonels were at the very front of the entire charge, leading the assault. Behind the four colonels, the width of the formation gradually increased.

The charging formation was shaped like an arrowhead, known as the arrowhead formation or chevron formation. Just as a red corner does not make one move faster, forming the chevron does not increase the penetrating power of the charge.

The true purpose of the chevron formation was that as long as every cavalryman followed the one in front, a single person at the forefront could guide the direction of the entire charge, while under this premise, they maximized the width of the formation.

At less than a hundred meters away from the shipyard wall, Colonel Kara bellowed his charge command. All officers drew their sabres, leaned in, and accelerated to full speed.

It was expected that this distance would have to be crossed under a hail of gunfire, but no gunshot sounded from within the stone wall.

The cavalry met no resistance and quickly reached the stone wall. Without a moment's hesitation, Colonel Kara spurred his horse into a leap, gracefully clearing the chest-high wall.

Seeing Kara leap so caught the other officers off guard. Take Winters, for instance, who had never trained in such vaulting. Seeing Colonel Kara jumping the breastwork, the warrant officer's heart skipped a beat.

He had no idea if his horse would suddenly stop at the wall's edge and throw him off to break his neck. But if his seniors ahead of him all jumped over, he too had to bite the bullet and jump.

Fortunately, the others were not as reckless as Colonel Kara. Colonel Bozuhof pulled the reins at the wall's edge and stopped. The rest followed suit and stopped as well.

Cursing under his breath, Colonel Bozuhof led the other two officers to climb over the breastwork and opened the gates.

The cavalry charged into the shipyard only to halt in their tracks. There were no enemies inside, only people scattering in flight.

"[Expletive]!" Colonel Bozuhof cursed, "The Third Legion has done all the work! Leaving us crumbs."

"What do we do now?"

"What do you mean what do we do?" Bozuhof glared fiercely at the person who asked the question, "Are we not going to eat the crumbs? Kill every non-uniformed person!"

He then slapped the side of his horse with the flat of his sabre and charged at the enemies fleeing to the seaside.

Winters saw Andre gleefully following Colonel Bozuhof, chasing after the fleeing enemies.