“Sir Art~Sir Art!” Charis saw that Art was in a trance and ignored Viscount Geoffrey’s words, so he quickly reminded him.
"I'm sorry, Lord Legion, what did you ask me just now?" Art quickly shifted his gaze from the firewood burning in the brazier in the tent to Viscount Jeffrey.
Viscount Geoffrey looked unhappy, "If you like that brazier, I can give it to you, but now it is for you to discuss the siege strategy, not for you to fall in love with the brazier."
The officers in the tent couldn't help laughing.
"Lord Legion Master, I would like to ask where the firewood in Solburg City is piled?" Art suddenly asked.
Jeffrey was a little annoyed by this inexplicable question, "I'm asking you to think about countermeasures. Where do you put the Lombard people's firewood? Do you want to borrow firewood from them?"
Jeffrey stopped just after saying the word "firewood".
"Sir Art, do you have any ideas?" Jeffrey's face suddenly softened and he asked tightly.
Matt thought for a moment and took a step out from the end of the camp, and replied: "Master Legion, we are outside the city, so we are naturally not worried about the lack of firewood, but it is different inside the city of Solburg. There are no trees and shrubs in the small city of Solburg for the Lombards to cut down. Not to mention the fuelwood needed to make food every day. Now that the cold winter is coming, the city will definitely need a lot of fuelwood to light fires and keep warm."
Jeffrey's eyes lit up, he stood up and walked quickly to Art, "You mean to burn the firewood in the city!"
"Yes! The Lombards could have expected that we might sneak in and burn the food baggage, but they shouldn't have expected that we would burn their firewood. They couldn't even hide the firewood in the stone houses, right? The city would be gone by then. Firewood, even if they have stored food for ten years, is useless, not to mention that the Lombards still need firewood to keep warm and keep out the cold. They can't use kerosene for heating. Most of the houses in the city are made of stone, and even if they want to tear down the wooden planks, they won't be able to use it as firewood."
“Once there is no material support in the city that can hold on for a long time, the Lombards may surrender by then, or they may go out of the city to fight with us in the wild. Either way, the outcome is much better than the current situation. We really don’t have time to waste outside Solburg. After a while, our baggage line will be blocked by snow. "..."
Everyone in the room listened to Art's words with wide eyes and ears. They had never thought of burning the firewood of the Lombard defenders in the past. For them, the firewood that could be cut anywhere was really out of their sight. To be honest, Art had also just stared at the burning brazier in the tent and had a sudden idea.
"It is the cavalry that is provoking the situation in the city of Durburg. Do you know where the firewood is stacked in the city?" Jeffrey asked the cavalry captain.
Everyone focused their attention on the cavalry captain.
The cavalry captain was made uncomfortable by the crowd, and replied: "Lord Legion Commander, when I first spied on the people, I didn't say to pay attention to where the Lombards put the firewood. Besides, who would pay attention to where the worthless things are for no reason~"
Everyone looked disappointed.
"There are two places where large amounts of firewood are piled up in the city. One is the East City Free Market, which is less than 80 steps away from the outer wall of the East City. The other is in the wasteland next to the Beicheng Church. If the firewood piled in these two places can be used sparingly, it can support half a meter. It shouldn't be a problem. Considering the need for a fire to keep warm in the cold winter, it should last three to five months. By the way, there is also a lot of firewood piled in the open space next to the stables in the Lord's Hall, but it is not much compared to the other two places." Knight Charis spoke when everyone was silent.
Why he knew where the firewood was stacked in the city was because Knight Charis was responsible for the two missions of sneaking into Solburg to burn the granary and poisoning the well water. In order to find out the location of the granary and wells in the city, he would of course have a much better understanding of the layout of the city.
"But it's useless to know where the firewood is piled in the city. Even if the Lombards can't send people to guard the firewood, the entire Solburg is now very strictly guarded against submarines. It's not that easy for you to sneak into the city and set fire to it." Charis raised a very difficult problem.
"Yes, after the first two infiltrations, we are unlikely to set fire under the eyes of the Lombards." Viscount Jeffrey's mood just mentioned dropped again.
Finally had a good idea, but it was blocked again, and everyone sighed again.
Just when everyone was about to give up this desperate plan, the legion baggage officer who had been silent until now spoke, "Legion commander, gentlemen, there is actually no need to sneak into the city again."
Everyone turned their attention to this inconspicuous "cook leader".
As if he had picked up a treasure, the adjutant of the legion in charge of the baggage train encouraged him: "If you have any good ideas, please tell me. If you can really march, the commander of the regiment will definitely reward you!"
"Yes, if you have any good ideas, please tell me immediately." Jeffrey also echoed.
The baggage officer has a fat waist and a round belly, and a bald head. It looks like he has drunk a lot of oil and water. Normally, everyone does not think this guy has a very good attitude, but at this moment, everyone looks at the baggage officer with expectations and approval.
“Legion commander, gentlemen, although we cannot enter the city, we can throw fire into the city through trebuchets.”
"Of course it's impossible to throw a stone ball so far, but it's different if it's something lighter than a stone core ball."
"You mean the fire oil can?" Art said to the baggage officer.
"Sir Ater is really resourceful. He used a trebuchet to throw the kerosene jar. The kerosene jar will definitely fall on the firewood pile, but we need to find a way to ignite the kerosene. We can't expect the kerosene to burn by itself or ask the Lombards to help ignite it." The baggage officer encountered another problem.
"This is not difficult, I have a way." Art took over and replied.
The three of us solved every problem in front of everyone with just a word.
"Okay! Okay!! Since the three of you came up with this great idea together, I will leave it to you three to complete it. If it succeeds, I will definitely take credit for you!" A smile finally appeared on Viscount Jeffrey's face.
………
In the next few days, Art stayed in the legion camp outside the North City. He, the three knights of Charis and the legion baggage officer spent the whole day studying around the trebuchet and fire oil can.
"Sir Art, why didn't I think of using tinder to wrap charcoal grains as kindling?"
In the open space next to the camp, the baggage officer held a sealed clay pot in his hand. The pot was filled with fluffy tinder, and the core of the tinder was a charcoal particle that kept burning. Within a certain period of time, as long as the sealed clay pot is broken and the tinder particles come into contact with the air, an open flame will ignite in a short time.
Beside the tinder pottery pots, there are more than forty sealed pottery pots filled with kerosene and kindling.
"Lord Baggage Officer, have you tested the trebuchet? Can it hit the target?" Art asked.
"I asked the grenademen to choose two more reliable trebuchets for trial throwing. The grenadeers practiced based on the distance provided by Sir Charles, so there should be no problem."
"Okay, let's go report to the commander of the legion, and we can start tomorrow."
…
On the third Sunday of December, the sun shines on the southern continent. The Soleburg offensive and defensive battlefield, which had been silent for many days, erupted at a time when the cleaning service was supposed to be held.
The Eastern Army's First Company, Two Flag Troops of the Second Company, Two Flag Troops of the Fourth Company, and the Crossbow Troop totaled more than 700 people and began to "storm" Sauerburg again from the east, west, north, and west.
However, this "forced attack" was only for the Lombards to see. The purpose was to attract more Lombards to the city to prepare for war, and to create better conditions for the Atres' conspiracy.
Then again, even if he was pretending to attack Viscount Jeffrey, he was serious about it. The elite first company of the legion pushed the siege tower and battering ram and launched another fierce attack on the North City under the cover of the trebuchet; the attack teams from the other two directions were also huge.
In the rear formation outside the North and East cities, six trebuchets kept throwing stone balls into the city. The walls of Solburg were smashed and rubble flew everywhere.
Among the six trebuchets, two trebuchets ejected in different directions and contained projectiles in their magazines.
The target of the two trebuchets was not the outer wall of Solburg, but over the city wall and aimed at the free market in the East City and the wasteland outside the church in the North City.
The throwing material loaded in the trebuchet's magazine is not an ordinary stone ball, but a small stone of similar weight to a fire oil can and a tinder can.
Of course, these are two trebuchets testing fire. Since it was a test firing, it was of course impossible to directly use kerosene and tinder cans. First, if the test fire used kerosene and tinder, if it failed to hit the firewood pile, it might arouse the vigilance of the Lombards. The second reason is that the Eastern Legion is not Lombard. Things like kerosene are quite precious. There are not many stocks in the army's arsenal, and it is impossible to use them directly for test firing.
Matched with the two trebuchets were two tall siege towers. They were pushed by the siege team to a relatively safe distance and slowly approached the city wall.
Soldiers specifically responsible for observing the impact point and correcting the direction were assigned to the siege tower, holding flags to serve as "eyes" for the trebuchets.
The army outside the North City attacked the rear formation. A stone was thrown up by the trebuchet and flew over the wall into Sauerburg.
亚特搭着手观察着攻城塔上士兵，见士兵朝右挥舞了几下旗帜，亚特转身对投石机下的十几个士兵令道：「把投石机朝右移动半步。」
十几个士兵喊着号子抬起投石机基座一侧，将沉重的投石机往右挪动了半步。
The throwing soldier put the stone into the magazine, and then raised the heavy hammer to knock open the lock.
The stone was thrown out by the trebuchet and flew towards Solburg in the famous arc.
After a while, the soldiers on the siege tower waved their flags upwards a few more times.
"TMD, it flew by again!" Art cursed, and then ordered to the cavalry beside him: "You guys, take off a small counterweight stone."
The soldiers took out a weight bar stone from the counterweight frame at the front of the trebuchet, and then repeated the action just now.
After a while, the soldiers on the siege tower finally lowered their flags and waved their hands across each other.
"Okay! Okay!!" Art excitedly walked around the trebuchet and ordered a cavalryman on standby behind the trebuchet: "Hurry up to the East City and see if the baggage officer is ready."
The cavalry leaders jumped on their horses and ran towards the East City.
It seems that the feint attack team is approaching the city wall. If the ejection cannot be completed here, the feint attack team will have to retreat.
While At was waiting anxiously, the cavalry finally came back, "Master At, get ready, get ready!"
Throw out all the fire oil cans!!"
With a command from Art, twenty or so fire oil cans were all thrown out by the trebuchet, followed immediately by seven or eight clay pots filled with tinder charcoal particles that flew over the wall...
……………
"What happened to the people outside the city today? All the stones were thrown at the church. Do they want to smash God out?"
Looking at the stones falling one by one near the church in the North City, several Lombard defenders on the outer walls of the North City couldn't help muttering.
Another soldier sneered a few times and joked: "Who knows, we may not be able to capture Sauerburg. Those bastards must be anxious, but it's useless even if they smash the church. God is always on the side of the great Lombardy."
"Haha~" A group of Lombardy guards laughed.
While the soldiers were amused by the stupid actions of the enemies outside the city, the Lombard officers commanding the defense at the top of the city stared at the broken clay pots that "missed" and fell on the pyre in the wasteland next to the church.
"That thing doesn't look like a stone!" the commander exclaimed.
However, the tinder and charcoal particles in the broken clay pot came into contact with the air and ignited a fire. The flames soon caught up with the black kerosene spilled from the kerosene tank, and the firewood pile was ignited, and the fire broke out quickly... "No! The firewood pile in Dongcheng is on fire!!" Another soldier caught a glimpse of the firewood pile in Dongcheng Free Market, where the fire was even more intense, and exclaimed to warn.
"Put out the fire! Put out the fire!! Hurry and put out the fire!!" The Lombard commander shouted to the soldiers around him.
Woo~Woo~Woo~
Just when the soldiers on the wall were about to extinguish the open fire that had just risen on the firewood pile next to the church, three horns sounded from outside the city. This was not the horn of retreat...
……………
In the middle of the Eastern Army, Viscount Jeffrey had already seen the thick smoke rising from the east and north of the city. However, Viscount Jeffrey did not withdraw the feint attack team as planned. He chose to take the opportunity to launch a new round of substantial attack on Solburg. Anyway, the death of soldiers was inevitable. Maybe he could take advantage of the chaos in the city to capture the outer wall of Solburg.
This was a disaster for the army, which was originally just a feint attack. They were not prepared for a real attack at all, and the retreat trumpet that was supposed to sound turned into a urging call.
No matter how unwilling you are, you still dare not disobey orders, so you can only bite the bullet and rush forward...
The legion's siege team did not capture the outer wall that day, but the two firewood piles in Sauerburg were burned into two large pieces of ashes. The ferocious fire also spread to the surroundings of the two firewood piles, burning more than a dozen wooden houses until only ashes were left...