Chapter 105: New Technology

On the green screen was an image of a metal and wooden launching ramp with these odd looking iron spears. To the average person, it would look like some complicated and overly large fireworks. To Victor, who in his previous life studied the Napoleonic era, these were a gift that could change the entire approach of siege warfare.

The artillery he got was the infamous Congreve Rockets, 10 of them in fact. They were like fireworks but could do deadly damage to people and wooden buildings. There were all types of uses for these rockets, especially if Victor could manufacture different types of warheads for them.

Explosive, poisonous, incendiary, and even shrapnel warheads could prove to be deadly in certain situations. Victor could use poisonous warheads and devastate the population of Joltz, however, that would be a very heinous war crime that he would never be able to live down. If he was cruel enough to do that, the other continents might view him as a tyrant and maniac who should be put down.

Victor was hopeful that he would get explosive or anti-personnel warheads. He could use them to destroy the defender's cannons along with their crew. If there were no cannons firing upon them, the Luxenberg army could ferociously bombard the walls of Joltz without fear of the enemy raining down cannon fire above them.

Enthusiastic about his new rocket artillery, Victor spent the remainder of his 50,000 Store Points to add another 10 Congreve Rockets to his arsenal. With 20 new rocket artillery pieces set to arrive tomorrow, Victor went to bed excited, not being able to wait and see the rockets in action.

As morning came the Luxenberg army showed no intention of attacking the city. A stare off between attacker and defender was the only action seen in the morning. During this stare off, Victor assembled his advisors to tell them of his new strategy.

"Gentlemen, I bring good tidings. I received a letter last night with news of a new experimental artillery that shall be arriving today. It had been kept secret from everyone due to how it could change the way we look at artillery warfare. I plan to use them to help disable the enemy's cannons. Hopefully, we will be able to bombard the east wall with no contest,"

The advisors were suspicious and unsure about this magical new artillery piece that could supposedly take out the cannons atop the wall. No cannon could position itself in range to even reach the top of the wall and yet their king is saying he has something that can do it. For them, it was hard to believe, nevertheless, they dared not to question their king.

Just after midday, a cart pulling along 20 unique contraptions had arrived at the Luxenberg army camp. The crews for the contraptions saluted their king and awaited further orders. "Men, set these up along the eastern wall of the city, your targets are the cannons. Your objective is to remove any opposition for the 12-pounder cannons. Am I understood?" Victor said confidently.

The crew nodded and saluted once again. With their new orders, they began to set up the rocket frames outside of the Joltz's cannons' range. They could fire upon them without worrying about retaliation. This was a perk of using the Congreve Rockets.

During the middle of the afternoon, Victor assembled his elite guard and his advisors to spectate the debut of the Congreve Rockets. The air was fresh with anticipation, many were curious to see these weird spears in action.

Gerhard and the other defenders watched from the city's eastern wall, perplexed about those odd spears. "Captain, what are those barbaric looking spears? Gerhard asked with a puzzled expression.

"I do not know, young lord. In my opinion, we should be concerned. Yesterday was a good victory for us, now it looks like they are ready to throw something different at us. We should prepare ourselves," The Garrison Captain said with a strong urgency.

While the defenders were trying to guess what the contraptions were, the rockets were loaded and ready to be fired. The crew awaited Victor's orders, and the advisors held their breath as Victor stepped in front of the on-looking crowd.

"Soldiers of my kingdom! Today we witness a historic moment in our army's history. I present to you, the Luxenberg Rockets. May they soar and vanquish our enemies!" Victor yelled in a charismatic fashion. 

The onlooking soldiers applauded his speech and to the sound of thunderous applause, screeching rockets blasted off from the frames. Their ear-piercing screams startled the Luxenberg soldiers and terrified the Hirschmann defenders.

The onlookers watched the flying javelins soar slightly above the heads of the defenders. Boom! Boom! Boom! Each rocket exploded near each of their targets. Men were flung around like ragdolls. Some were blown off the walls while others curled into the fetal position, horrified at what monstrous devastation had followed those explosive javelins.

Gerhard was beyond terrified while the Garrison Captain huddled over him, attempting to protect him from the exploding rockets. "What the hell are those things captain? We must get off these walls immediately," Gerhard yelped in a frantic tone

The captain nodded, and hurriedly he and a dozen soldiers escorted the young Gerhard off the walls. While young lord Gerhard was rushed off the wall, the cannon crews tried to return to fire, yet their effort was all for nought. The Luxenberg rockets were out of their range and proved impossible to hit.

Although the rockets were initially effective, their accuracy slowly declined to the usual rate that Victor expected. The debut for the Congreve Rockets was a success, they had performed as well as he had hoped for. All of the Luxenberg men spectating were left in awe of what they were witnessing.

With the defenders terrified and scrambling to survive, Victor felt that they had experienced enough torment and wanted to save his ammunition. With a nonchalant gesture, the rocket crew ceased their bombardment.

Victor and his men retired for the day, pleasantly surprised with the overwhelming success of the rockets. The second day of the siege was a success. While Gerhard and his fellow defenders wallowed in grief and shock, Victor along with his army celebrated a good day's work.

Tomorrow would mark the brutality of Victor's new weapon.