plumnovel #117 - Self-propelled artillery armored fighting vehicle
#117 - Self-propelled artillery armored fighting vehicle
Straw sandals stepped on fallen leaves, making a cracking sound of the leaf stems breaking.
Slender, silk-like grass blades brushed against his calves, as if the ground was covered in green hair.
The road ahead became narrower and narrower, the towering trees on both sides blocked the view, and the rocks by the roadside were covered with moss.
The quiet forest was as silent as night, and even the calls of wild animals and birds were gone.
According to Carrie's memories and the reconnaissance of the child soldiers, Horn and others slowly moved forward along the faint road.
Horn could feel that the road was getting steeper and steeper, and the small streams that used to flow horizontally were gradually flowing vertically.
This should be entering the foothills, and the Wild Spider Forest is attached to these foothills.
The trees in the Wild Spider Forest are mainly cedar, ash, and trident maple, and occasionally beech and pine trees can be seen.
The citizens of the Papal States wearing black hats and black scarves are walking on the last part of their thrilling journey.
The too quiet forest made Horn a little anxious.
That jumping spider from the day before seemed to jump in front of him again.
Even though this section of the road was more leisurely and quiet than before, he still had a creepy feeling.
After thinking about it, Horn decided to continue moving forward, but in order to prevent attacks from those terrible giant spiders, he adjusted the army.
The original method of distributing the spring-loaded guns in a scattered manner was still too wasteful.
Now the Papal States has a total of eleven spring-loaded guns, ten of which were assigned by Horn to ten armored vehicle brigades, each brigade holding one.
The original spring-loaded gunners were all transferred into the Holy Armored Division directly under the Pope's crown.
The entire Holy Armored Division also drew elites from the two major legions and eliminated some personnel, and carried out a temporary reorganization.
All the decree companies in the Holy Armored Division were soldiers who would not faint after firing at least one shot.
In this way, the spring-loaded gunners were concentrated.
The Holy Armored Division was no longer a small formation of six companies per brigade, but was changed to a large formation of ten companies per brigade.
The entire Holy Armored Division has a total of ten brigades, each brigade sharing one spring-loaded gun, which is usually kept by the brigade commander.
In battle, they are divided into one main and one secondary gunner. When the main gunner fires, they will enter a stiff state of after-casting, and the secondary gunner is responsible for loading ammunition.
When the main gunner has fired the scheduled two shots, the secondary gunner will step forward to fire, while the main gunner is responsible for reloading.
The remaining decree companies will serve as guards to ensure the safety of the holy gunners.
When the main and secondary gunners are finished, the remaining people will take turns to continue firing.
Then the configuration of an armored vehicle is: the main and secondary gunners, generally the brigade commander and the soldiers in the brigade with two levels of mana, they are responsible for holding shields and short swords.
Two flail-wielders are responsible for attacking close-range units, four spearmen are responsible for attacking medium-range units, and two javelin throwers are responsible for throwing short spears to cover the gunners and the long-range attack after the holy gun is finished.
As for the safety between the carriages and the carriages themselves, it is still the responsibility of the Black Hat Army and the Guards.
Since they don't have much ammunition and gears for them to practice, they often have to practice with wooden sticks pretending to be spring-loaded guns.
After a painful live-fire exercise yesterday, the firing frequency of the two main and secondary gunners reached about once every twenty seconds, and the other ordinary soldiers could also do it once every thirty seconds.
The firepower of an armored vehicle is about fourteen shots in seven minutes, and the firing frequency is two shots per minute.
Since Cannity is a shotgun type, the damage range is fan-shaped, which can barely cover one-third of the vehicle body.
It's not that Horn doesn't want to make it a single-shot gun, one bullet at a time.
But the problem is that their manufacturing process is also not up to standard. When Jeanne welds, she will accidentally weld the thin barrel to death.
Since they can't hit accurately, they can only put more pebbles and iron sand to deal area damage.
Another day of peaceful progress, Horn and others finally arrived at the campsite.
Standing on top of the carriage, Horn looked around, and when he arrived here, he couldn't even believe his eyes.
This is a mountain open space, mountain spring water flows down from the high mountain on the left, the ground is flat, and you can clearly see the roads and traces of artificial felling.
This is just a common sight in the Wild Spider Forest. What is not common is the monastery located on the hillside, faintly revealing a corner in the forest.
Yes, in this dangerous Wild Spider Forest, there is actually an abandoned monastery.
Who would come here to build a monastery?
Horn immediately found the child soldiers who were scouting: "Have you been to the monastery over there?"
"No, it looks close, but it's actually quite far." Duvaron shook his head.
Rene on the side said, "I wanted to go and see, but there is a very rapid river there, and there is no bridge, so I can only give up."
"Are there no giant spiders nearby?"
The two child soldier leaders looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time.
"Not to mention giant spiders, at first we could still see some wild animals like rabbits and field mice, but now we can't even see a wild bird."
Horn frowned, and the unease in his heart became more intense.
Or should we travel overnight?
He looked up at the gray and white sky. There was no sun today, and there probably wouldn't be any moonlight at night.
The road ahead is unpredictable. Traveling in the dark of night might not be as good as now.
Looking down and straight ahead, the entire camp has basically been set up. Since the left side is a steep mountain wall, the ten carriages are only arranged in an arc on the right side.
Spiked wooden stakes were placed between the carriages, and the leather oak panels on one side of the carriages were also pulled up.
People standing in the carriage, the leather wooden boards just cover the lower edge of people's chest.
Although the cliff on the left is bare, and giant spiders are unlikely to attack from this side, Horn still kept an eye out and put down chevaux-de-frise on the right side.
After arranging everything properly and increasing the night watch guards and sentries by two times, Horn was slightly relieved.
Black as ink dyed the sky, and the pale light gradually disappeared behind the mountains.
Clusters of bonfires lit up in the camp.
The villagers in front of the bonfire held up rice paste with chili flakes and gnawed on salted fish, still talking and laughing about the jokes of the Holy See.
The condemned prisoner in the Inquisition asked the newcomer what punishment he was sentenced to. The newcomer said burning at the stake. The condemned prisoners asked, are you a wizard?
He said no, I am innocent. The condemned prisoners immediately shouted: Don't lie, innocent mortals will only be sentenced to hanging."
"Hahahaha."
"Have you heard that joke..."
The rough laughter swirled in this mountain road, coupled with the warm bonfire, it actually made the original quiet night sky a lot more lively.
After evening prayer, according to the "Horizontal Sleeping Doctrine(《横睡教法》: Horizontal Sleeping Doctrine)" and the "Papal State Military Law(《教皇国军法》: Papal State Military Law)", they should go to sleep and rest.
In the shouts of the elders and the whistles of the officers, the soldiers and residents diverged, one side went to the camp near the carriages, and the other side returned to the canvas tents on the spot.
The bonfires went out one after another again, and the entire camp once again fell into darkness and silence.
But Horn lay in the tent, tossing and turning, and couldn't fall asleep until midnight.
He simply put on his cloak, picked up the fluorite lamp, and came outside.
The night watch guards were still dutifully patrolling around. When they saw Horn appear, they immediately nodded and thumped their chests in salute.
Putting his finger on his lips to signal them not to make a sound, Horn walked around the entire camp again before heading back to his tent with a heavy heart.
"Brother, can't you sleep either?"
Horn was startled and turned around, only to see Jeanne.
She leaned on her battle flag, her hair simply tied into a ponytail behind her head, and looked at him with a smile.
Horn also smiled: "Yes, I'm just wandering around. It's too quiet this way…"
Speaking halfway, Horn saw the bushes shaking out of the corner of his eye.
Jumping spider?!
"Jeanne!" Horn shouted.
Although there was only one word, after so many battles, Jeanne was already very familiar with what the different tones meant when Horn called her.
She deftly turned sideways, like a back fist after turning around, a dazzling ball of electric light lit up and hit the spider's carapace heavily.
Lightning pierced through the jumping spider's carapace, and it fell heavily to the ground, its eight legs rubbing against the carapace, making a creepy creaking sound.
Jeanne immediately added another lightning bolt.
A rich muscular aroma slowly floated up, and the jumping spider gradually stopped moving.
After giving the jumping spider a second strike with the battle flag, Jeanne breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fortunately, there's only this one. Brother, are you okay?"
Horn didn't answer, just frowned.
The night wind blew through the mountain forest, and in the original silence, Horn heard a strange rustling sound.
That wasn't the night wind shaking the leaves, but the green fluff of the earth rubbing against something moving at high speed.
"No, no." Raising the fluorite lamp high, Horn sprinkled a handful of lime powder on the fluorite lamp and threw it into the forest.
The fluorite lamp immediately shone brightly, illuminating the bushes and the forest. Countless dense red eyes gradually lit up.
From left to right, all that could be seen were red spider eyes, and all that could be heard was the sound of carapaces rubbing.
When found by the light, they would occasionally step back one or two steps, or move their bodies restlessly.
How many were there? Hundreds, or thousands?
Thechelicerae kept opening and closing, dripping with pale green venom.
At this moment, Horn's blood was about to congeal.
"Blow the horn, quick, blow the horn!"
ps There is another chapter, I was fascinated by checking information, and it's a little late.