Chapter 166: Volley Fire
Torran had brought a much larger caravan this time.
He came with ambition. If he was going to make the journey at all, he wanted to take back as much white sugar as possible and earn a fortune from it.
Naturally, he hired plenty of guards to protect the cargo. There were fifty men in total.
But against more than a hundred Thalric cavalrymen, fifty guards would only be throwing their lives away.
Thalric cavalry was famous throughout the realm.
Whether in mounted archery or close combat with blades, they were nearly unmatched. The Grand Concord Dynasty had launched several campaigns against Thalric and failed to gain any real advantage.
That alone showed how formidable the Thalric warriors were.
If even the armies of the Grand Concord Dynasty struggled against Thalric cavalry, ordinary caravan guards had no chance. At most, these men were capable of dealing with bandits along the road.
Fortunately, the guards were observant.
They noticed the Thalric riders almost immediately.
The moment Torran learned they were being followed, he ordered the caravan to race for the mountains at full speed. By the time the raiding party began its pursuit, the caravan had already opened up some distance.
Otherwise, with the speed of Thalric horses, there was no reason they would need this long to catch a merchant caravan.
Rumble!
After Torran’s caravan passed through the valley, a rapid and powerful thunder of hooves followed behind them.
A moment later, the Thalric raiders charged straight into the valley.
Their leader saw how narrow the valley was. Thick vegetation covered both slopes, and the terrain immediately filled him with unease.
He frowned and shouted, "Move faster. Get through the valley now!"
As he spoke, the entire raiding party entered the middle of the valley.
The Wardens suddenly emerged from the woods near both entrances.
They raised their flintlock muskets and fired a full volley at the Thalric riders.
The sound crashed like thunder.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
White smoke burst from the musket barrels.
Iron balls tore into the Thalric formation faster than the eye could follow.
Flesh and blood could not withstand iron.
In an instant, blood sprayed through the air.
The iron balls ripped through muscle, shattered bone, and in some cases punched straight through their victims.
"Ah!"
More than a dozen men screamed and fell from their horses.
Several horses were also struck. The deafening gunfire sent the rest into panic, throwing the Thalric formation into complete disorder.
"What is happening?"
The Thalric riders stared in alarm.
They had not seen anything flying toward them.
How had they been wounded?
"Fire!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before they could understand what had happened, the Wardens unleashed a second volley.
Caught between attacks from both ends of the valley, more riders and horses collapsed amid bursts of blood.
The Thalric forces had never witnessed weapons like these, much less fought a battle of this kind.
With their horses in chaos, they became living targets and were cut down one after another.
The Wardens had been trained to fire roughly three shots per minute.
Rifled muskets were slower to load, so they were still equipped with smoothbore weapons.
At the moment, the Wardens were using a three rank firing formation.
The front, middle, and rear ranks took turns firing and reloading.
Together, they could deliver roughly nine volleys per minute.
It was a true storm of gunfire.
In only a short time, more than half of the Thalric riders had fallen.
"Retreat!"
Caught in an ambush and facing muskets for the first time, the surviving Thalric warriors panicked.
They stared at the rows of Wardens holding what looked like fire sticks, terror plain on their faces.
Then they turned to flee.
If even one escaped, Newhaven might be exposed.
Caelum’s order was to kill every Thalric rider, and the Wardens had no intention of letting them get away.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another wave of bullets tore through the valley.
The Thalric riders fought desperately to control their frightened horses and retreat the way they had come.
A few of the most skilled warriors twisted in their saddles and managed to loose arrows at the Wardens.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Arrows fell among the formation.
Several Wardens were hit, but the ranks did not break.
Under the commands of their Squad Captains, they continued firing in rotation.
Soon, another volley was ready.
"Fire!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
White smoke erupted from the barrels.
The flying bullets knocked rows of Thalric riders from their horses.
The Wardens began advancing, gradually closing in from both ends.
They marched as they fired.
As the distance narrowed, the accuracy of the flintlock muskets rose sharply.
The Thalric riders soon lost even the courage to draw their bows.
All they wanted was to escape.
From a distant slope, Caelum watched the battle in the valley.
He had known from the beginning that flintlock muskets alone would not crush the Thalric riders without difficulty.
Some injuries were unavoidable.
Fortunately, the Thalric warriors had never experienced gunfire before and had fallen into chaos.
The smoke also interfered with their aim, preventing them from inflicting greater losses on the Wardens.
Overall, it was a decisive victory.
Caelum thought that if he could place a machine gun at each end of the valley, wiping out a hundred riders would take almost no effort.
But that was only a thought.
There was still a considerable technological gap between flintlock muskets and Maxim guns.
It would probably be some time before he could develop automatic weapons.
After the battle ended, a Warden rode back to Newhaven at full speed and reported the result to Caelum.
"My lord, we achieved a complete victory. The first through fifth squads killed every Thalric rider. We captured seventy two warhorses, one hundred bows, and one hundred military sabers. Eight of our men were struck by arrows, but none of the wounds are fatal."
"Very good."
Caelum nodded.
"Every soldier who fought will receive three dou of millet. Each wounded man will receive one shi. Make sure they rest and recover."
"Thank you, my lord."
One shi equaled ten dou.
A single person could eat from that amount for eight or nine months.
Such a generous reward would undoubtedly deepen the soldiers’ loyalty.
Edrick said, "My lord, this battle consumed a great deal of ammunition. Without new supplies, what remains will not last much longer."
Nearly one thousand shots had been fired in this battle.
Newhaven’s powder stock was already low, and now it was almost exhausted.
"Then let us go see Torran."
Caelum said, "He must have brought plenty of saltpeter this time."
Before Torran left on his previous visit, Caelum had told him that other goods could be absent, but saltpeter was essential.
Without it, there would be no reason for him to make the trip.
At the entrance to Newhaven, Torran kept glancing back uneasily.
Only after confirming that the Thalric riders had not followed did he finally relax.
Then he turned toward Newhaven and stared in astonishment.
"It has only been a little over two months, yet this town has already grown this much."
Unlike the rest of the frontier, everyone here looked well fed and full of energy.
One glance was enough to tell that they ate well.
"How strange."
Where had they found so much food in these remote mountains?
Torran could not understand it.
Even more puzzling was the thunderous noise that had come from the valley.
"Torran, it is good to see you again."
The voice arrived before the man.
Edrick led the Household Guard out from the town, lining both sides of the road.
Caelum approached with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.
"Had you waited much longer, I would have gone looking for you myself."
