So the Medieval Age Has a Split Inheritance System…
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 15 – Siege Weapon
When I told all the captain class personnel that David approached the wall of the fort with nearly 3,000 men, everyone had an “Ah, I see”-like reaction. Um, do these incompetent people lack a sense of danger or what? The enemy’s army was nearly 3 times as much as ours, you know? We couldn’t win if we fought normally.
…Well, I guess it could be the reassurance of knowing that we could win without casualties if the things we prepared were executed properly. We had done a lot of trials, and these captain class personnel were aware of the things I prepared. That said, most of these personnel were my slaves. Since I didn’t have anyone I could trust enough, it couldn’t be helped. I think people purchase slaves in other worlds due to trust issues. Slaves were a really convenient existence since they couldn’t betray you.
A little while ago, the second son Alfred filled the gold mine with gunpowder and used that to annihilate several of Wagner’s troops. In short, gunpowder existed in this world. Well, I didn’t find it weird that gunpowder existed in the Middle Ages. In the first place, anyone who read enough manga or light novels would be aware of how to make it. The correct answer was through the use of charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter.
It might sound dirty, but I think many people have heard of a “poop bomb”. I won’t go into detail but basically, if you mix feces with dead leaves and straw and then leave it alone for some time, saltpeter would be produced. This saltpeter accounted for more than half of what makes gunpowder, so yeah, it was a poop bomb.
In addition to poop saltpeter, I also dug up a small amount of natural saltpeter available within the territory. From the excavated saltpeter, gunpowder was produced and made into siege weapons. It didn’t have a gun barrel due to its tremendous recoil and while I couldn’t make a lot, I thought it would be powerful enough to crush David’s army.
“Enemy within shooting range.”
“Once the center of the enemy’s army enters the range, fire a salvo. All gunports keep shooting until they break down.”
Since Wright, the captain of the slave unit, reported that an enemy had entered the shooting range, I instructed him to wait for some time before shooting. Really, it was worth giving orphans some money to spread various rumors. Thanks to that, David shouldn’t have a proper evaluation of me. That was why they weren’t wary as they proceeded.
After a while, I had all 12 cannons fired all at once from the top of the castle walls toward the enemy’s center units. One of the cannons exploded and broke, blowing the slave’s arm away, but the slave had self-regeneration so it should be okay. He would recover after a night’s sleep. [Ed: …He’s such a slavedriver HAHAHA]
When I looked through the binoculars at the direction of the impact, I could see they were more flustered than I thought. Serves you right. The continuous salvo after that broke one or two cannons every time they fired, but wasn’t the sacrifice of 12 slaves to deal with 300 enemies worth it? As expected, cannons were the goddesses of the battlefield. I didn’t want to think about how much it cost to develop one, though. Not to mention all of them breaking down at the moment. As expected, artillery sucked tons of money from the military.
After shaving off some of the enemy forces with cannon fire, I sent slaves who carried gunpowder on them and had them charge at the enemy. It was the so-called suicide bomb tactic. This was the method with the highest kill ratio, so it couldn’t be helped. Seeing the slaves rush in with a smile with tons of gunpowder on hand would be a scene of pure dread to my enemies. Moreover, they were tough people who wouldn’t stop even when they were riddled with arrows. It was almost certain they would reach the center of the enemy army and explode there.
That said, the suicide bombers would survive. For some reason, there were people who acquired explosion resistance and fire resistance characteristics among the veteran slaves. The people in question would burn in fire and become living fireballs with their skins peeling off as they performed the suicide bombing, but they would recover just fine the next day. I didn’t bully them all for nothing.
As that happened, the enemy fell into a state of panic, so I sent my 200-unit standing army in addition to the 300 new combat slaves at them. The enemy commander, David, fled the moment my slaves began to suicide bomb, so it was time to turn those remnant troops into combat experience for my army. If these remnant troops were hunted down, I would have an easier time in the next fight.
…As for David himself, he was chased around by the conscripts I hid in advance and was slain by an ordinary boy soldier. Casualties on our side were 2 slaves and 37 conscripts. On the other hand, I think my enemies suffered at least 1,000 casualties? Even if they didn’t die, I think many suffered major wounds.
David was properly defeated, and aside from the two veteran slaves being killed, I guess it could be considered an overwhelming victory as expected. In addition, there were no longer barons within Fentz county who opposed me after this. I didn’t know the reason, but since the amount of tax they paid increased, I could properly provide decent armaments to my army from now on. For the time being, let’s replenish the number of slaves and purchase an additional 300. So now, there were 700 slaves.
I didn’t gain much from this war. That said, the situation within Deal duchy became 6 counties with five counts. With David’s army destroyed, his sons would have to divide what remained of the territory by three, which would make it easier for me to plunder.
Of course, it would take some time for me to acquire the justification for that, but since I paid 10% of the total tax earned to the church, I think I would be able to get it quite quickly… for the time being, let’s get along with the church force seeing as they would provide the justification as long as the money was paid.
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