The sparse morning star hung in the sea-blue sky, with thin clouds like gray fog spreading over Comita Town.
The early autumn sky is always so high and far, making one feel refreshed.
Except for the townspeople who were driven out of their hos and could only camp on the outskirts, the soldiers occupying the town slept quite comfortably.
The Leia soldier on the watchtower opened his eyes, wiped away his eye boogers, and was stunned in place.
What is that? A teor?
The Leia sentinel tilted his head up, dazedly watching a huge iron ball fly across the sky, crashing into the white octagonal skylight of the church.
Seeing the bricks of the wall column wrapped in dust falling down, the sentinel suddenly woke up like from a dream, jumping up and pouncing towards the big bell.
"Dong—Dong—Dong—"
"Enemy attack, get up quickly, enemy attack!"
By the ti Count Napoie from Immortal Stone Field hurriedly put on his armor and ca out, two large phalanxes were already lined up on the outskirts of the town.
The dew-wetted trousers at the ankles, these guards and soldiers from Immortal Stone Field, with sweat on their foreheads, their puffed cheeks clearly biting tightly.
The light cavalry at the front were entangled with the opposing Kush Rangers, arrows and bullets flying back and forth.
Hundreds of Holy Gunn were already pressing forward, starting to shoot in turns, and every now and then a guard fell clutching his arm or chest.
The flying bullets kicked up spraying soil on the hillside, and Count Napoie shivered as he approached.
"Isn’t the morning prayer yet over?" He flicked the mud off his helt, cursing angrily, "What are those scouts doing? They’ve sneaked up without knowing?"
Spitting as he cursed, a few knights kept their heads down, never daring to speak.
"Luckily, this Female Grand Duke is ultimately just a woman." An old baron hurriedly ca out to smooth things over, "Not taking the initiative to attack, but instead waiting for us to form up, utterly incompetent."
Count Napoie’s face looked better: "How many are there in the enemy forces?"
"They seem to be lightly ard, about four to five thousand people, with nearly a thousand cavalry."
Napoie imdiately cursed in continuous Leia expletives: "You’re just watching, don’t know to attack?"
"Weren’t we waiting for your Tower Shield Guards?" the knight softly defended, "According to Lord Raffel, it’s not worth bracing against Devil’s Wind."
Though it was Napoie’s first ti seeing the so-called Clockwork Gun, its power indeed seed substantial.
The Clockwork Gun can penetrate armor of 4-6 mm or 2-3 mm White Crystal Steel, but can it penetrate a 12 mm tower shield?
"Call the Tower Shield Guards forward."
Over a hundred burly n in robes and chainmail stepped out from behind the hillside, raising large shields made entirely of layered wrought iron, with excellent toughness.
Amid the sound of horns, the gigantic tower shields topped the phalanx.
Clad in the luster of effortless Divine Art, over a hundred Tower Shield Guards walked at the front line of the formation.
The refined iron mixed with Mithril ford a silver-white long wall, where bullets hitting it sparked a trail of fire.
On the forrly worried faces of the guards, for the first ti appeared expressions of joy.
The Tower Shield Guards were originally ant as anti-knight infantry, but they had a huge flaw—too slow and unable to defend against arcing arrows.
But against direct-firing Clockwork Guns, they were extrely effective.
"Indeed, just as Brother Raffel said." Napoie watched the advancing phalanx, barely concealing a smile, "Their Holy Wind can only blow straight!"
Behind Napoie, the old baron and those few knights couldn’t hide their worried expressions.
The weapon that had just bombarded the church had yet to make an appearance.
As they were thinking this, exclamations erupted from the opposing battle formation.
The opposing gunners slowly retreated, while large black tubes were pushed to the front by two-wheeled carts.
Amidst visible clouds of Moliat’s raised knight sword high, then suddenly swung it down.
"It’s the earlier teor!"
With a sharp whistle, dozens of round objects descended from the sky.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock—"
Before the soldiers could react to what this ticking sound was, an invisible shock wave swept around.
They couldn’t hear the last "tick-tock," instead clutching their ears or heads, they fell straight to the ground.
"Hey, hey, what’s wrong with you?"
"Again, it’s Magic, cover your ears quickly!"
"May our Lord move in the heavens..."
The Clockwork Shell was just the simplest; after the 3-Pound Falcon Cannon fired the Clockwork Shell, the 6-Pound Cannon showed its might.
These artilleryn had been ticulously studying bouncing artillery ever since the shield cart hung in mid-air.
It was only later discovered by an artillery captain by chance that attaching a 6-Pound Cannon’s spring warehouse to a 3-Pound Cannon, combined with relatively hard ground, could successfully shoot bouncing artillery.
"Fire!" Moliat swung the knight sword again.
So the accompanying nobles watched as four 6-Pound Cannons roared simultaneously.
Under imnse force, a Tower Shield Guard was bludgeoned into the air, not to ntion the bloody path created by the bouncing artillery.
"Cavalry, charge!" Moliat pointed to the giant gap in the enemy ranks and commanded sinisterly.
Lannes and others rushed out from the military formation, waving their military sabers towards the gap to kill.
Almost at the sa ti, 2,000 infantryn finally lowered their long spears and quickly closed in on the enemy formation.
This tactic, simply put, is gunners pressing forward, artillery shelling, artillery finishing, cavalry charge, cavalry finishing, infantry pressing.
Using Holy Guns to slow down the enemy’s speed, then using Clockwork Cannons to bombard the formation, disrupting it or creating a gap.
Then using Cuirassier Cavalry or Heavy Armored Cavalry to assault the gap, subsequently launching an infantry charge targeting the gap and chaos as the main attack direction.
Moliat’s series of moves ant that prior Shattered Stone Plain armies basically stood no chance.
No wonder the Duke of Wing Nest had a tendency to run away—no matter what, it couldn’t be countered.
Horn had already verified this tactic in the Battle of Black Snake Bay, except cavalry couldn’t be used there.
The Battle of Shattered Stone Plain was a defeat, yet the vast plains of Shattered Stone Plain provided Moliat and others with a perfect testing ground.
After frequent military exchanges between the two sides, the run-in period between the Clockwork Cannon and the Thousand River Valley Army had ended, formally entering the battle sequence.
As for these nobles whose thoughts were still stuck on the Battle of Windmill Land, everything before their eyes seed like a miracle.
No cavalry countercharges, no pitched phalanx battles, no arrow showers.
Just the gunners pressing forward, dozens of large black tubes roaring in unison, and the enemy inexplicably developing a gap.
Then you’d see hundreds of Heavy Armored Cavalry charging into the gap, and a good phalanx just crumbled like that.
What happened next was needless to think about; once the infantry phalanx pressed forward, those troops ford by the vassals of Immortal Stone Field would be thoroughly routed.
"What on earth happened?" a young mountain noble kept rubbing his eyes, afraid he had mistakenly seen sothing.
The previously fat noble muttered, "Is this even considered fighting?"
"No wonder, no wonder Her Majesty Moliat always said not to fall out with the Great Shepherd, turns out this was the reason."
These mountain nobles exchanged glances, all seeing confusion and absurdity in each other’s eyes.
The previously absurd Stone Clockwork Gun had already been absurd enough, now out ca a Clockwork Cannon.
It’s fine for now, but if Clockwork Cannons could be mounted on horseback in the future to run around, would Extraordinary Knights still be necessary?
"Da-da-da—"
Upon hearing this hoofbeat, the previously bewildered mountain nobles turned their heads.
The hooves passed over yellowed grass leaves, the wet dew soaking the fine hair on the horse’s legs.
Dressed in simple leather armor, Moliat with a matte darkness on the iron mask.
Though severely injured, Moliat insisted on riding the horse, reaching the watching mountain nobles.
"All of you here, mostly living and working inland, have never witnessed the military weapon of my Thousand River Valley—Clockwork Cannon." Moliat’s mouth curled into a smile, "How does it feel seeing it today?"
"One could say it’s truly spectacular." A bald old noble walked out of the crowd, "With this weapon, the Leia people are like flies in the palm, just waiting for you to swat them."
Moliat let out a big laugh: "You’ve always thought Leia akin to gods, and our army as lowly as ants.
But as you’ve seen, our gap isn’t that large.
Otherwise, why would he first cause trouble in Shattered Stone Plain in the north, then send spies to infiltrate?
Why not openly, clearly, display troops, wouldn’t this show more of a king’s grandeur?"
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