The Siege of Ileang Castle
Ines raised her voice to address the points, her rebuttal carrying persuasive weight.
Jeanne listened, hoping the divine would respond well, then countered.
Their eyes met.
Devin understood her intention and let out a faint smile before continuing.
“In the end, we’ll have to sever their supply lines as well.”
“We’ll starve them out from food shortages. After that, we’ll deal with it based on how Nicolas moves.”
Devin’s plan was nearly identical to what Ines had thought.
More precisely, it was the only viable approach.
It was simply that no one wanted to take responsibility for leading the way.
Gaspar walked around the conference room.
No one seemed ready to offer further opinions.
“Then, for now, let’s prioritize defending the gates and walls as much as possible.”
“The special units will be handled by the Second Knight Order as before.”
“For now, we’ll stick to this broad outline.”
Gaspar turned his gaze toward Ines.
“Do you have any information on their new weapons?”
“It seems we’ll need to know if we’re to counter during defense.”
Earlier, during the capital conference, she had mentioned Rotinzel’s new weapons.
So, as soon as Gaspar was appointed supreme commander, he questioned a soldier who had survived Liam’s defeated unit.
But the soldier’s account was nothing more than people collapsing amid thunderous noise.
From that, he could only infer it was some kind of ‘cannon’.
“I’ve heard that the Second Knight Order clashed with the enemy several times in Roire.”
“So, I imagine you’ve had the chance to see their new weapons.”
To fight the enemy, you must first know the enemy.
Ines nodded.
“As a matter of fact, I was preparing to demonstrate them.”
Ines summoned the commanders and knights to the largest training ground at Ileang Castle.
Just as the people were gathering, a soldier approached Ines and bowed deeply.
He was none other than Hughes Tallean.
A soldier from the Salpetra unit specializing in gunpowder and explosives.
After helping to bring down the old Roire Castle, he had come to Ileang Castle to serve.
Ines had requested a favor of him when she first arrived at the castle.
In his hands was a single matchlock.
He greeted Ines, then followed up with Gaspar, the supreme commander.
“Is this the new weapon?”
“Yes, Sir Ines, Knight Commander.”
Ines had ordered him to study it after she had ambushed soldiers with a matchlock in the capital.
She handed him the gun and recalled the rough usage from memory.
Even before her regression, she had examined captured weapons from the ongoing war with Bluisol, so she had a rough grasp of its range.
Using that, Hughes performed additional tests.
“All right, let’s begin the demonstration.”
As soon as Gaspar’s order ended, Hughes moved to one end of the training ground.
On the opposite side stood a target for arrow shooting.
He poured gunpowder into the matchlock, pressed the ramrod in place of the arrow to pack it, then rammed the lead bullet home to complete loading.
He aimed the loaded gun at the distant target.
Through the flint, he lit the match cord.
Noticing the wick burning down, Hughes pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Along with the massive report, the bullet pierced the target and embedded itself in the tree behind.
Unlike Devin, who had already covered his ears, several knights frowned in surprise.
Gaspar showed clear shock on his face and pressed his palm over his ear.
“Hoo.”
Hughes lowered the gun and sighed.
If the gunpowder was too little, it wouldn’t fire properly.
If too much, it might explode internally.
Fortunately, he had only one gun and it had succeeded.
Hughes walked over to the tree and inspected the bullet mark.
A small metal fragment had lodged deep into the thick body.
He estimated the distance from where he had fired the gun.
Then he returned to Ines and reported.
“Effective range around seventy meters, maximum perhaps two hundred fifty meters.”
“But since we didn’t use proper technique, it’s best to be cautious.”
The effective range was enough to pierce plate mail and kill the enemy.
With the correct amount of gunpowder, proper loading tool, and accurate stance, the records would be far better than this arbitrary test.
Even so, it was still in the early development stage, and its performance was not yet outstanding.
Ines took the gun back.
She was satisfied with Hughes’ demonstration.
“Well done.”
“Soon I’ll reorganize the Salpetra again.”
“I hope you will lead the research into weapons that use gunpowder.”
“Thank you.”
Ines patted Hughes’ shoulder.
He bowed his head several times, as if he had received a lifetime of honor.
Even when she had met him before, he had still seemed like an unattainably high figure from the perspective of a commoner.
The order to research new weapons that could be used by allies was also received with joy.
Thus, Hughes dismantled the gun and reached a level where he could roughly replicate it.
Since then, he had continued to ponder how to make it even better.
“The improvement work is still in progress.”
“We are focusing on resolving the inconvenience of loading and the delay.”
“Soon I’ll show visible results.”
Currently, the gun required manual loading after each shot and had to be lit by the wick before firing.
It was difficult to use on rainy days.
If that were solved, it could even surpass the enemy in weapon superiority.
For that purpose, Ines passed on as much of her knowledge as she knew.
The reactions of those watching diverged.
Civilian officials like Gaspar or commanders who had been soldiers from the start were awed by the power of the new weapon.
But the knights showed no great surprise.
Especially Diego, whose face was displeased even after witnessing Hughes’ demonstration.
“My country’s bow has a shorter range… it doesn’t look like a very good weapon.”
Diego said to Ines.
“With this much, a skilled knight should be able to handle it.”
Ines did not wish to trample on Diego’s pride as a knight.
But she wanted to instill vigilance toward the gun.
As if he had sensed her intention, Devin stepped forward.
“If it’s one-on-one and only one shot, maybe so.”
“But when the enemy uses cannons, they form formations and fire at once, don’t they?”
“Blocking or dodging that barrage of cannon fire will be difficult.”
“True… that would be long.”
“Moreover, even if the knight can handle it, there is no way for ordinary soldiers or commoners to handle it, so it can never be dismissed.”
Upon Devin’s words, Diego fell silent.
A knight who had reached the level of manifesting aura could deflect a bullet with a sword.
But the era when the outcome of war was decided by one outstanding knight had passed.
It was obvious that if such a gun were used in large numbers in a military-to-military clash, it would have a significant effect.
Gaspar expressed his impression of the demonstration.
“The power is considerable.”
“But the long loading time is its weakness.”
“They will arrange their soldiers in three rows with new weapons and cover that weakness.”
“Do you know their tactics?”
“If they have a brain, they’ll do that.”
“They’ll draw up tactics that emphasize eliminating weaknesses and highlighting strengths.”
“I see.”
Gaspar answered with a somewhat awkward expression.
It was based on his memories from his previous life.
But even if it weren’t, Ines would have thought the same.
The difference was that in her previous life, she had not been able to prepare because she lacked information on the matchlock.
“Anyway, we must never engage them directly.”
In the Ileang battle before her regression, Ines vividly remembered what happened to the Bluisol soldiers who had rushed out when food ran out and desperation set in.
The moment they stepped outside the gates, the hail of bullets.
Flesh fragments scattered with blood.
Standing on the walls and seeing the debris that could only be described as what had once been a person, they all felt nauseous.
The image of soldiers collapsing without resistance was so shocking that it remained an unforgettable memory.
“Of course.”
Gaspar agreed with Ines’ words.
***
Ileang Castle was a fortress built after the development of gunpowder weapons.
Therefore, it was located high on the mountain itself, and compared to ancient castles, the walls were relatively lower but much thicker.
The outer side had been reinforced with earth to absorb cannon impacts.
“It would still be somewhat easier for people to climb the walls directly.”
“Fortunately, there is quite a surplus of gunpowder and arrows in the castle.”
“Food can last several months.”
Devin briefly stated his impression after inspecting the castle.
As expected of a fortress, Ileang was optimized for endurance.
In front of the walls stood Nicolas’ forces that had already reached Ileang Castle.
Gaspar looked down at them from the walls.
His eyes darkened with the swirling dust.
The enemy was far too numerous.
“That’s half the number that pushed into the capital…”
If that was half, how many would the whole be?
Liam, sent by the royal family to block the enemy, had fought against such a vast army.
Even if Rotinzel had no new weapons or Liam had made a wise judgment to fight on better terrain, victory would have been impossible.
‘We were too complacent.’
Gaspar felt anew how much the kingdom’s officials had been immersed in bureaucracy and how much they had underestimated the enemy.
At the same time, he felt resentment toward Liam.
What good was it to blame the dead?
But the thought kept rising that if he had fought even a little better, he could have reduced the enemy numbers.
Unlike Gaspar’s serious face, Ines remained calm.
Thirty thousand was indeed a huge number.
But it was not enough to surround the entire castle, as she had experienced in her previous life.
“Are the cannons ready?”
“Yes, Knight Commander.”
Even with soldiers right in front of her, she gave calm orders.
“You are quite calm.”
“As if you have experienced many such things.”
Gaspar was surprised by the princess’s boldness.
Ines continued to report on the combat readiness of each position without reacting.
Despite the supreme commander, it was clearly an act of overstepping, but Gaspar knew himself well.
First, it was more important to win and see.
Nicolas, already angry by the time he arrived here, launched the attack immediately without even issuing a duel challenge.
“Not a very good move.”
Devin muttered to himself.
Rotinzel valued chivalry highly.
Duels, where knights fought each other, held great significance.
Many saw skipping it as a betrayal of honor.
It would cause dissatisfaction among soldiers’ morale and among the knights themselves.
“In any case, as long as we win, it will all be forgotten.”
The walls became lively.
Guns and arrows flew.
Catapults advanced toward the gates.
“Soldiers, raise your bows.”
“Archers!”
Gaspar’s subordinate major shouted the order loudly.
The soldiers originally stationed at Ileang were mostly skilled with bows.
The archers raised their bows.
“Fire!”
Whoosh, whoosh.
The soldier fired an arrow at the Rotinzel army.
Arrows rained down like a storm.
A cry echoed.
“Shield soldiers!”
“Yes!”
The shield soldiers formed a dense wall like another castle.
The enemy’s arrows and bullets struck the solid iron shields and fell.
From behind, Bluisol soldiers shot arrows.
Ordinary arrows could not pierce the shields, but ballistae embedded themselves on the walls.
The shield soldiers and the archers behind them were hit and killed.
The power of the ballista was considerable.
In Rotinzel they had not brought siege ladders, but even if they had, they could not surround the outer wall.
So the enemy attacked from the walls with ranged weapons.
The defenders did not need to worry about the enemy climbing the walls.
Therefore, the knights also wielded arrows instead of swords against the enemy.
Archery was a basic skill that had been mastered.
But individual proficiency still varied.
Heini, who had always used arrows as her main weapon, was as lively as a fish that had just been thrown into water.
Both ballista and cannon could fire in an arc, but the attacking side was at a disadvantage because of the elevation.
So Nicolas placed the cannons and ballistae on low hills near the base.
He even piled earth on the hilltops to reinforce them and minimize the height difference.
The cannons and ballistae fired from there had considerable power.
The Bluisol side had matched them with their own guns.
But it was only turning one attack into another.
It did not stop the soldiers’ casualties.
The tenfold difference in soldier numbers made such exchanges far more fatal for this side.
Ines, preparing for the siege, took out the notebook she had written her pre-regression experiences in.
She felt frustrated with herself for rushing to stop Rotinzel’s attacks from Roire to Ileang.
But all of this was to create a solid foundation.
Ines looked at Nicolas with murderous eyes from behind the wall in the dusty plain.
In the second war after her regression, there would be no triumphant victories at Roire or Ileang.
Unless an ancient sorcerer suddenly appeared before her eyes and shot a massive meteor at the enemy.
But war was originally a slow and grueling process.
Nicolas, like a chariot that had pursued Bluisol to the end together with Aaron in her previous life.
The provocations at Roire and the raids on Nicolas’ army with the special units were all for this.
If that man disappeared, Rotinzel would lose enormous power.
And the day Ines closed her eyes to his blade would vanish.
This long and tedious siege was the prelude to Nicolas’ death.