Descending On France 1780
Chapter 104 - 098 Catching a turtle in a jar

Chapter 104: 098 Catching a turtle in a jar

After Christina left to harass the enemy, Anning commanded his Artillery to throw the cannons and ammunition carts to the front of the ambush zone, blocking the road perfectly.

Upon positioning, Anning personally loaded the last cannon, aiming it at the road surface.

Once fired, the cannonball would roll down the road, smashing everything it encountered.

The reason he didn’t load Shotguns was that the pellets were small and had less kinetic energy, stopping after penetrating a few people.

Loading ordinary Solid Bullets, though they might not kill many at the cannon’s mouth, would create a swath of casualties as they rolled down the road.

Most importantly, Shotguns could only harm the first few ranks of the enemy, whereas a Solid Cannonball rolling could penetrate through most of the formation.

Having people far in front die compared to those nearby cut in half has an incomparably devastating impact on morale.

Anning needed to win by crushing the enemy’s morale.

Inflicting substantial casualties in a short time, breaking the enemy’s morale, was the key to winning this battle.

After all, the enemy outnumbered Anning’s forces by four to one.

After loading the Cannon, Anning said to his artillerymen, "I need a brave soul to hide on the ammunition cart and open fire when the enemy approaches."

Cannons of that era required a torch to ignite the fuse, not like later cannons that could be fired by pulling a lanyard.

As for the torches, Anning lit a supply wagon, disguising it as an attempt to burn supplies in a retreat that was too late.

The torch inserted into the burning supply wagon was completely inconspicuous.

After arranging everything, Anning began recruiting the brave artilleryman.

"I need a brave soul to hide here," Anning pointed to a hidden spot on the cannon cart, telling his artillerymen, "Once the enemy approaches, leap up, grab the torch from the burning supply cart behind, and ignite the loaded cannon! The one who accomplishes this feat will receive a Livre of Gold Coins!"

Saying this, Anning took out a Gold Coin, raising it high, letting it catch the sunlight.

The glinting gold immediately saw several artillerymen raise their hands.

Remembering who was the bravest usually, Anning chose him and slipped a Crown’s silver coin into his hand: "This is a down payment; complete the task, and the gold coin is yours."

The artilleryman didn’t immediately take the silver coin, instead expressing concern, "What if the enemy sends cavalry to check first? The stopped convoy is so conspicuous..."

"Don’t worry," Anning reassured, "I have already ordered the Cavalry to harass the enemy; even if they have horsemen, they wouldn’t risk being cut down by our Cavalry to come forward and inspect. Take your silver coin, be bold!"

"Rest assured, Captain!" the artilleryman with the silver coin assured confidently, "I’ll wait until the enemy is very close before firing the cannon! Just watch me!"

Anning nodded, then he mounted his horse, dragging a large branch cut from a bush, and sped along the road in front of the cannon, erasing the tracks.

While erasing the tracks, he loudly commanded, "Listen for any noises later, when you hear the cannon fire, get up, step forward through the bushes and fire at the enemy nearest to the muzzle!"

Anning almost wanted to say aim, but halfway through realized that Flintlock Guns at that time didn’t have the component called a sight; due to the Flintlock’s pitiful accuracy, there was no need to aim.

According to the standard Flintlock Gun firing procedure, you were supposed to close your eyes when firing, to prevent sparks from the Medicine Pool from flying into your eyes.

After doing all this, Anning rode a bit forward, tied his horse behind another hedge.

Then he walked back to his troops, positioning himself in the middle of the formation, drawing his long knife.

He glanced at the soldiers lying in the haystacks on either side.

The soldiers were watching him intently, looking very nervous.

Anning: "Don’t worry, follow my plan, and we will return with a great victory!"

After speaking, Anning moved forward, hiding by the bushes, nearly blending into the trunks.

**

At this time, Christina was carrying out the task of harassing the enemy forces—with her gaze.

Her cavalry maintained visibility to the enemy, keeping a distance that allowed the enemy to see them clearly, but deliberately not closing in.

From this distance, Christina carefully identified several horses within the enemy ranks, confirming they were not those ridden by Clarice and her group.

—"That’s strange, where could Clarice and the others have gone?"

Just then, the team’s standard-bearer shouted, "Tina, look over there!"

Christina looked in the direction the standard-bearer pointed and saw a small group of cavalry appearing behind the enemy lines.

The flags indicated it was Clarice.

Christina muttered, "Damn, that girl, could she have gotten lost after setting out this morning?"

The nearby fields were full of hedges, and it was indeed easy to take a wrong turn and get lost.

Christina frantically waved at Clarice, trying to get her to come closer so they could join forces and continue with the task assigned by Anning.

But for some reason, Clarice just wouldn’t come over and kept trailing behind the enemy lines.

Even when Christina ordered the bugler to sound the cavalry assembly call, Clarice did not come to join her.

**

On Clarice’s side, she had seen Christina waving at her from a distance.

"The boss seems to be waving at us," a female knight spoke up, "Should we circle around the enemy’s main force and join them?"

Clarice sighed: "I’d rather not, she’s going to scold us for getting lost. Let’s just stay here, keeping distance from the enemy, ensuring the enemy marches according to the Captain’s intentions! This is an important task!"

Female knight: "Ah... this..."

"It’s an important task!"

"But they’ve already sounded the assembly call there."

"...Can I pretend I didn’t hear it?"

"Obviously, you can’t."

"Figures... alright, everyone on alert, let’s go join Christina, and no one mention we got lost! Nobody mention it!"

**

Meanwhile, Colonel Donald’s aide-de-camp suddenly exclaimed: "The cavalry behind us is picking up speed! Should we deploy into a formation?"

Donald angrily retorted: "Damn it! Just a few cavalry, what formation do we need! If those women dare to charge at our lines, just drag them down, and let the brothers have some fun! Keep moving forward!"

Although he spoke like this, the Colonel still closely monitored the enemy cavalry speeding up to catch up.

However, his worries were unfounded as the speeding cavalry just wanted to bypass the black-dressed army and join the cavalry ahead.

Once the two cavalry groups joined, they formed a small troop of about fifty riders.

"How odd, the enemy’s cavalry shouldn’t be this few?" Donald muttered.

Aide-de-camp: "Maybe they sent out scouts in different directions."

"Hmm, possibly." Donald nodded, "The enemy cavalry keeping such a close watch on us must mean we are nearing their main force, move forward! If we defeat the enemy, we’ll have a victory celebration tonight!"

Upon the Colonel’s urging, the soldiers of the black-dressed army hastened their pace.

After about forty minutes, the Colonel saw along the road ahead that carriages and cannons had been stopped, with one carriage even ablaze with towering flames.

Donald was overjoyed: "In order to escape lightly, the enemy has abandoned their supply wagons and cannons! Move quickly, put out the fire, and salvage the cannons and supplies!"