Chapter 170: The Defense of Brandenburg — A Tiger’s Head and a Snake’s Tail

The next day, amidst the howling of the north wind, the war drums sounded again. The massive siege ram, still being pulled by the Thunder Lizards, moved forward toward the North Gate of Brandenburg. During the continuous battles of the past ten-plus days, as the only siege weapon left standing, this thing had been shuttling back and forth between the Barbarian camp and the walls of Brandenburg.

It was rare to see such a sturdy siege weapon; even the combination of Sir Feld’s lead balls and the Fireball spell could not cause too much damage to it in a short time.

Of course, the Ogres inside who were responsible for swinging the heavy hammer had a terrible time, and many were burned to death or maimed. However, although these large creatures did not have the crazy regeneration abilities of Trolls, their recovery speed was still quite fast for Humans. With their naturally strong bodies and vitality, plus sufficient food supplies, these guys might not have been as energetic as a dragon the next day, but they could still work normally.

As for the source of food! With the help of the Kingdom of Lucia, the Barbarians had plenty of grain and supplies. If they really ran out of rations, didn’t the Barbarians still have fresh corpses and critically injured soldiers who were doomed to die? The name Ogre did not sound as pleasant as “Man-eating Whale.”

This scene was completely different from the previous battles. The huge siege ram continued to move forward slowly, but the arrows shot from the city walls and the stone shots and Fire Pots thrown by the catapults from the towers had all disappeared without a trace, as if they were ignoring its existence entirely. The cold wind passed through the A-frame guard of the siege ram, making a piercing shriek, as if protesting the Brandenburg defenders’ neglect.

The reason for this situation was not that the defenders ignored the Barbarians’ attack, nor was it some friendly welcome event, but rather the influence of external conditions.

As mentioned before, the arrow reserves of Brandenburg were running low. Now, even the tactic of covering fire against the Barbarians, who were swarming on the plain in front of the fortress like mold, had been cancelled. There were simply no extra arrows to waste on this iron-shelled turtle of a siege ram.

Furthermore, the catapults on the city towers had developed various faults due to the heavy snowfall from the night before last until now. Similarly, the Ballistae were also not functioning well due to the cold weather. This was not because the soldiers guarding them were careless, but because the harsh environment and the material of the weapons themselves had combined to cause the problems.

After every battle, the soldiers operating the catapults would loosen all the tensioned parts, grease the transmission mechanisms, and finally cover them with canvas. A similar series of maintenance processes was also followed for the Ballistae.

However, this sudden drop in temperature and the blizzard were completely unexpected. Although the catapults were not crushed by the snow, their wooden strength was not affected. More importantly, the animal tendons used as elastic parts on both types of weapons had lost a lot of their elasticity due to the sudden change in temperature, making it difficult for them to function as they used to in the short term.

Under normal circumstances, such weather changes would have had some impact on the city defense weapons, but never to this extent. However, after more than ten days of fierce fortress attacks and defenses, the city defense weapons in Brandenburg could basically be said to be nearing the end of their lives.

Everything has its own service life. Even after entering the industrial age, gunpowder weapons could not escape this natural constraint. Take cannons as an example! The sight of hundreds of cannons firing at once was very spectacular, and the scene of large-scale artillery fire sweeping the ground was the favorite of the artillery party. But even at the level of World War II, the service life of each gun barrel was basically around 500 to 1,000 shots. It mainly depended on the type of shell and the range; the farther the range, the shorter the life.

For example, the favorite of the “Multi-Turret Cult,” the main gun of a battleship, had a service life of only about 300 shots. With an average rate of fire of about two shots per minute, they would need to change the barrel after a few hours of continuous firing. Of course, this was just the theoretical life. Another problem was that continuous firing caused the cannon to get very hot. If the heat dissipation was not good, it definitely could not reach the theoretical life.

From this, one could imagine that the military weapons using mechanical power in this era also had limits on their lifespan. In fact, weapons that relied on the conversion between kinetic and potential energy had inherent defects in terms of lifespan compared to gunpowder weapons. Therefore, the resilience shown by these weapons in Brandenburg up to this point was truly moving.

If someone paid close attention, they would realize that the city defense weapons used by the Brandenburg defenders were no longer the same batch from the beginning of the war. During this process, the load-bearing bearings of the catapults kept breaking, and the heavy levers kept shattering. On the Ballistae, bowstrings lost their power and bow arms broke. Of course, Brandenburg did have repair parts and spare replacements.

However, because no one expected such a large-scale battle, these city defense weapons faced the same awkward situation as the arrows. The pre-prepared quantities were seriously insufficient, forcing the defenders to dismantle usable parts from the old, broken weapons and piece them together into new tools. Judging by their previous performance, the professional soldiers and craftsmen of Brandenburg had done a good job.

But this sudden blizzard became the straw that broke the camel’s back. The saying “new for three years, old for three years, patched for three years” could apply everywhere—as long as there was a lack of material supplies. Of course, you could not expect these patchwork items to perform exactly like the original ones. So, under normal circumstances, the city defense weapons would just have reduced performance, but this time they were completely broken down.

After all, the standardization of this world was not very good, and the precision of the parts did not meet the requirement for absolute interchangeability. At the very least, before the weather warmed up, these big guys would not be able to exert any power.

Of course, even without these weapons, the defenders of Brandenburg still had the confidence to firmly block the enemy below the walls. Although the cost might be a bit higher, it was much smaller compared to letting them move south.

According to George’s thinking, if things really got out of hand, the Knight Val could actually use spell-like abilities related to fire. A few Fire Imprints and Cloud-Burning spells would surely clean up those guys below the walls in a short time, making even the corpses harmless.

However, according to the Knights’ thinking, it was not yet time to use these methods. Although the enemy numbers were huge, their individual combat power was low, and they even seemed to be offering themselves up for the kill. They were quite suitable for use as targets for training.

Unfortunately, even though the Brandenburg defenders were not resisting fiercely, the siege ram did not move much faster than before; in fact, it seemed to be moving even slower.

Those Thunder Lizards pulling the ram were, after all, closer to cold-blooded animals. Although they would not hibernate in this weather, they were definitely sleeping more than they were awake—too lazy to move.

It could be imagined that under severe sleep deprivation, the Thunder Lizards would become irritable and lazy, just like humans. Not only was their movement speed far slower than before, but they often went mad and charged around randomly, causing heavy casualties among the Barbarians marching in formation around them.

After being whipped by the beast tamers, they even bullied the weak and feared the strong, swallowing several Barbarians nearby in one bite. This accident made the originally loose and uncoordinated formation suddenly chaotic. After all, unlike the previous collisions and trampling, the act of devouring their own living comrades was simply too shocking.

The Barbarians’ lack of training and poor coordination were fully reflected here. The speed and scale of the chaos not only caught the Barbarian leaders off guard but also made the Brandenburg defenders on the walls gasp in disbelief. If it were not for the fact that the enemy’s numerical advantage was too great, sending out a cavalry charge at this moment might have even decided the outcome of the battle.

Large-scale chaos often led to stampedes. The Barbarians once again demonstrated their unparalleled comedic talent in front of Brandenburg. Fortunately, this happened during the day, and under the coordination of the commanders, there was no large-scale loss of personnel as there had been at night.

However, the nature of the snow itself made the duration of the chaos last much longer than estimated. Similarly, the marching speed of both the Barbarians and the Thunder Lizards was reduced. Especially for the suicide squads who originally carried the Siege Ladders and rushed to the foot of the wall, they were now still far away from the city walls.

In this situation, although the siege ram continued to move forward, and the sound of the iron chains shaking with the heavy hammer was still chilling, George knew that if the Barbarians continued to use the old methods for today’s battle, then even without arrows, the pressure on the Brandenburg defenders would be much less than before.

The drumbeats on the battlefield were still wildly noisy. However, they did not coordinate with the whistling of the north wind and instead seemed quite out of place. Fortunately, through the joint efforts of many Barbarian officers, the Barbarians finally stabilized their formation.

A certain Barbarian waving a big club stepped through the snow that covered his ankles but did not reach his calves. He effortlessly made his way into the ranks, beat his chest, and let out a series of deafening roars.

Coordinated with the gaps in the war drum beats, the effect was indeed outstanding! The Barbarians seemed to have a massive surge of adrenaline, speeding up their pace. Following them was the cart carrying the war drums, which struggled forward in the snow, pulled by those lowland grassland horses. Behind them were the Barbarian Wizards and Shamans dancing a strange dance.

Under the influence of this red supernatural power, the morale of the Barbarians soared. The spirit of the entire army was different from before, as if they had been reborn. This near-transformation made George’s expression become much more serious.

During these past ten-plus days, although the Brandenburg defenders had been hiding their true strength, the Barbarians had also not played their trump cards. It looked like the intensity of today’s battle would be much fiercer than before, and that Hiren guy would probably have no more complaints about having nowhere to fight.

Thinking about it, George reached out and touched the standard-issue Longsword he had received yesterday. This was the replacement he got after sending his finely crafted steel sword to the quartermaster for maintenance. In terms of performance, it was a bit inferior to the previous one. After all, no one could expect these mass-produced items to compare with those crafted by famous masters from the guilds.

Even works by famous masters had to temporarily leave the battlefield during this period of fighting. From this, it could be seen that the consumption of weapons throughout the entire battle was not much better than consumables like arrows or city defense weapons.

From George’s understanding of the quartermaster’s department, during these ten-plus days of fighting, at least 2,000 weapons of various types, including Longswords, Light Maces, Flails, Light War Hammers, Hand Axes, Battle Axes, Scimitars, Heavy Mattocks, Greatswords, and Flails, had been sent for repair. The number of weapons taken out from the armory was close to 3,000. Some of these weapons were lost, and some were no longer worth repairing. As for whether anyone took advantage of the chaos to fraudulently claim weapons, no one would care about that at such a critical moment.

Of course, the weapons taken out from the armory were only a few types of standard military weapons commonly used in the army, such as Longswords, Greatswords, Battle Axes, War Hammers, Spears, and Halberds. Compared to the wide variety of weapons brought in for maintenance, the types were far fewer. Although these items might not be as handy as the original weapons, their quality was still guaranteed. Most importantly, they were all easy-to-use types.

As for the strong bows and powerful Crossbows, countless had been broken. The only thing George knew for sure was that more than 700 new bowstrings had been taken from the quartermaster. Longbows and Crossbows could not be repaired like melee weapons. If the bowstring lost its tension, it could be replaced, but once the bow arm was snapped, it was completely scrapped. In this regard, metal weapons had many advantages. Not only were they relatively easy to repair, but if they could not be fixed, they could be melted down and recast, recovering some of the loss.

From this, it could be seen that the losses suffered by Brandenburg in this battle were not small. Including personnel losses, it could be said to be equivalent to more than half a year’s surplus of the Duchy of Nohan. Of course, compared to this, the losses suffered by the Barbarians were definitely even greater. However, it looked like if they were smart, the Brandenburg defenders would not be able to make up for their losses from the Loot.

Ideals are full, but reality is lean. This sentence was the biggest irony of the Barbarians’ attack this time. The heavy snow and severe cold had a much greater impact on the attacking forces than on the defenders. This was even more true during a siege. The city walls, covered in frost, were like a natural moat, blocking those Barbarians who seemed to have high morale.

After all, Siege Ladders were different from Siege Ladder carts; their base was not very stable. Under the combined effect of the ice layer on the walls and the snow on the ground, slipping was inevitable. And once the top of the Siege Ladder was placed on the city wall, although the risk of slipping was reduced, it gave the forked pole another chance to show its power.

A situation similar to the first day happened here again. A large number of Barbarians and their Siege Ladders fell to the ground like candied hawthorn sticks—long poles broken, limbs shattered. And the clean white snow made the red blood appear especially bright, just like the winter plum blossoms blooming proudly in the cold.

Coming with high spirits and returning in disappointment was a very good description of Hiren’s current mood. The young brother roared in his heart, “This isn’t fair! We set up such a huge formation before, why is the performance so weak now? I thought that without arrows, we could have a truly hot-blooded battle! I never expected to encounter this situation on the first day.”

“My dad is not here, George is not here, and Sir Ahuatan is not here. Can I order these soldiers not to use the forked poles and let the Barbarians climb up to fight?” Thinking of this, Hiren started to hatch a scheme, but he immediately felt something like a thorn in his back. When he turned around, he found himself face to face with Sir Val.

“Clang!” With a single shake of his finger, the Star-Iron Longsword in Hiren’s hand fell directly to the ground.

Seeing Sir Val’s half-smiling, half-serious expression, Hiren shook his head, clearing all his absurd thoughts from his mind. Then, in a flustered manner, he picked up the Longsword from the ground and stood at attention in front of Sir Val. Judging by his performance, Sir Val had instilled a deep sense of awe in him over the years. Hiren’s path to manhood was still nowhere to be seen.

“Father, how… how did you get here?” Hiren’s speech became stuttering.

Sir Val played with his chin, making Hiren sweat on his forehead and back despite the biting cold wind. His leather gloves seemed to have changed color slightly.

“Why are you zoning out on the battlefield? Be careful not to get knocked off the wall like last year.” Sir Val’s expression clearly showed he did not want to dig deeper.

Having been let off the hook, Hiren sighed in relief and said, “It won’t happen again.”

“Keep your word! Do not let a single Barbarian reach the city wall.” As if he could read minds, Sir Val gave Hiren a strict order. This completely killed Hiren’s little schemes.

Thinking of the methods his father might use, Hiren shivered and gave a military oath: “I promise.”

Fortunately, this interlude happened in only one place. After discovering that the battle situation was far more severe than before, the Barbarians blew the retreat horn early.