Chapter 503 (1/2)

Chapter 503: The Battle of King’s City (Part 1)

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

“Your Highness, there’s a platoon guarding the pier area,” Lightning, who was responsible for monitoring the enemy’s situation, reported. “There are about 100 of them, and judging from their uniforms, they seem to be militia.”

“Only 100?” Roland was slightly surprised. It was predictable that Timothy would deploy troops to the pier of the outlying district—the massive fleet was certain to be noticed when it passed through Redwater City and Silver City. Though steamships were much faster than sailing ships, and could in five days cover a distance which the latter would require seven days for, they were still not as fast as messengers who continuously changed horses and traveled round the clock. Not to mention pigeons—if the new king’s spies used pigeons to deliver their report, Timothy would have received the news two or three days in advance.

But it was unexpected that Timothy would deploy only 100 men to defend the pier. Roland had imagined that the first battle would take place in its vicinity. He anticipated that crossbowmen, musketeers, and even mangonels would be stationed along both banks of the river in order to prevent his troops from landing on shore successfully. This was why he wanted to build inland river gunboats in time for the spring offensive. The efficiency of transportation by water was much higher than that of by land, but its disadvantage was that the troops had to alight at a dock and thus could be easily ambushed. If his army had the capability to attack across the shore, it would be able to handle any ambush easily and create a secure landing point.

It seemed as though Timothy had already given up on the “massive advantage” he would have while Roland’s troops were landing. From Roland’s perspective, although this was the right decision, it was unjustifiable—it was impossible that Timothy knew about the range and power of his 152 mm naval artillery.

As Roland thought about this, he beckoned Sylvie over. “Are the militiamen carrying any Berserk Pills?”

Sylvie summoned her Eye of Magic and took some time to observe the scene. “I don’t see anything that looks like a pill. Some of them don’t even have any weapons on them. But… there’s something strange about the ground.”

“The ground?”

“They have buried a few things in the ground… there’re also some on the pier.” Sylvie strained her brows to observe even more carefully. “Crocks and barrels… they’re filled with dark gray powder.”

“Gunpowder?” Nightingale exclaimed uncontrollably.

“Well, that makes sense,” Roland said, acting as calm as he could. “The militia is just a bait to draw our attention. By presenting us with a false opportunity to scramble ashore and capture the pier, Timothy will then ignite the gunpowder and blow all of us up.”

In his heart, he was not as calm as he appeared. This strategy was similar to the landmine warfare of the past and was indeed a good plan. Though he saw through it early, his troops would still need to land on shore—having made the choice to travel by water, the pier was a necessary crossing, and it seemed that Timothy was aware of this inevitability. He probably hoped to catch Roland by surprise by setting up an ambush instead of fighting straight up. If Sylvie was not around, there was a chance that Roland would have walked right into the trap.

The solution to this was fairly accomplishable. As Timothy did not have wireless methods to ignite the gunpowder, he would have to deploy people near the barrels to do the ignition. All that Roland had to do was to eliminate these people. In any case, it was important to preserve the pier, or else he would not be able to transport his cannons and ammunition on shore.

Through Sylvie’s careful observation, Roland was able to pinpoint two places where the ignition was likely to be carried out. One was situated in a shack on the edge of the pier, as evident from a long iron pipe that connected it to the nearest barrel. The other was situated in the pier’s warehouse. The two places had a similar feature – a shifting black hole formed by a God’s Stone of Retaliation.

After some discussion with Iron Axe, Roland quickly decided the battle plan.

First, Nightingale would sneak into the warehouse, silently dispose of the ignition crew, and guard the gate against substitutes running in and igniting the gunpowder. Then, Roland would use the naval artillery to destroy the shack. There was no problem even if it caused the gunpowder to ignite—so long as the pier remained in good condition.

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Leaning against a battlement on the west side of King’s City, the Steelheart Knight, Weimar, raised his telescope and observed the movement on the river.