The Desperate Counterattack (1)

On the seventh day, Otto stood behind the inner wall, facing the castle's last reserve force: fewer than 200 Templar Knights, around 80 manor guards, and 300 armed workers. They were a sorry sight, their faces and clothes covered in soot and blood, their clothing tattered, and many of them bandaged from injuries.

But this was all the castle had left to give!

"Lads, if I'm not mistaken," Otto paused, "the section of the wall behind me is about to collapse."

Though they had suspected it, hearing it from Otto's lips still brought disbelief to their faces. Expressions of helplessness, sorrow, and despair flickered across their countenances.

"If we surrender now, the Frankish warriors will suffer the humiliation of captivity," Otto said, looking at the Templar Knights, then turned to the armed workers, "And you will be executed on the spot."

The armed workers were now terrified, with some of the more fragile ones shedding tears.

"Why don't we carve out a path for ourselves?" Otto roared, his voice resolute.

"The king's reinforcements are almost here! If we hold on through today, we'll all make it home alive!"

The word "home" finally sparked a glimmer of hope in the crowd. Someone shouted, "Home! Home!"

A wave of stone projectiles struck, with several loud booms, but it couldn't dampen the crowd's hope for survival.

"Kill them all!" Otto raised his longsword high. "And then go home!"

"Kill them all! Home!" The crowd's eyes blazed with ferocity. They were now a group of desperate fighters, ready to tear apart any enemy that stood in their way.

Otto fastened his visor, thinking to himself: Norn, this is all I can do. The rest is up to you.

As black smoke rose again from the outer wall, accompanied by a thunderous roar, the section of the inner wall finally gave way under the strain. The Saracens outside let out a cheer; they could finally stop climbing ladders and facing the defenders' fortifications. The last barrier keeping them out was gone, and the tall castle keep seemed within reach.

A flood of Saracens poured through the breach, with dozens of the fastest runners already crossing the slope formed by the fallen wall debris.

Before them stood a group of fierce, desperate defenders, and two ominous, dark openings.

"Fire cannon one!!!" Norn, hiding at a safe distance, shouted while covering his ears.

The goose feather tube filled with gunpowder was ignited, and the powder inside the cannon roared like thunder, instantly expanding the pressure and propelling hundreds of grape-sized iron balls at high speed.

A curtain of steel struck the slope, which was less than 400 square feet, and the powerful iron balls tore whole enemies into pieces.

The dozens who had been charging were, in the blink of an eye, turned into a literal bloodbath!

Though they heard the thunderous roar, those who didn't see the carnage behind the slope still charged up to the top by inertia.

"Fire cannon two."

The steel curtain of death swept across again, and the ten or so people at the top of the slope were turned into a pile of fragments. A shower of blood rained down from the slope, drenching those behind.

The Saracens were now in shock. It seemed like an ancient beast was hiding behind the mound, and after roaring like thunder, it chewed up dozens of men. The vanguard was so frightened that they abruptly halted their advance, and the momentum of the charge was broken.

"By the grace of the Lord!" Otto, who had been mentally prepared, raised his longsword and charged. "Kill them all! Go home!"

"Go home!" The manor guards, who had seen similar scenes before, were the first to charge. The armed workers were initially startled, but then realized that the thunderous weapon was on their side, and their morale soared as they followed suit.

The castle defenders, facing the demoralized Saracens, quickly turned the tide of battle. From the breach, they actually pushed forward, forming a triangular battle line.

Norn, limping, ran over from a distance and watched the workers busily operating his secret weapon.

If someone from a certain island 400 years in the future saw this weapon, they would definitely scream in shock: "It's a national collapse!"

That's right. This weapon was the wooden cannon that Norn had spent three months crafting. He had found two massive solid oak logs, each 1.5 meters long and 1 meter in diameter, hollowed out the cannon barrels, and reinforced them with copper hoops.

"Load it quickly!" Norn urged. The workers frantically cleaned the cannon barrels and then inserted the pre-loaded gunpowder and cannonballs.

"Get cannon one out there!" Hearing the roars of the ongoing battle outside, Norn urged again.

"I'll do it!"

Harold, a tall and burly man, looked at the wooden cannon with a sense of reverence. After making the sign of the cross, he led four Norsemen and pushed the several-hundred-pound cannon carriage at a breakneck speed. Norn, who was injured, could barely keep up.

The enemy outside was in the midst of fierce fighting when they saw Norn and his crew pushing out a strange, copper-clad wooden object.

"Get out of the way!" Norn shouted.

The castle defenders, seeing the wooden object, made room in the crowded ranks. Everyone kept a safe distance from the cannon, fearing that the beast might accidentally spit fire and turn them into fragments. The massive cannon carriage moved unimpeded to the right front line, with the muzzle almost touching the chest of a Saracen soldier.

"Fire!"

With a thunderous explosion, the muzzle spewed fire once more, and a whirlwind of death swept through a 30-degree angle in front. Dozens of men were instantly pulverized, and many more were splattered with unknown organs and gory blood, causing their morale to collapse!

The enemy outside had only heard the noise without seeing the situation inside. Now, the power of the cannon was displayed in the most direct way before their eyes.

Witnessing this carnage, the Saracens on this side dropped their weapons and fled toward the outer gate, crying and shouting.

"Don't let them escape! Chase!" Otto gave the order. Already desperate, their morale soared to the peak after seeing the power of the cannon. Even the armed workers, who only had one weapon each, were now roaring with excitement.

Norn had no doubt that these workers would now dare to challenge the Mamluks.

"Cannon two, aim over there!"

Cannon two was also rolled out. The enemies on the other side, who had been struggling to hold on, saw the cannon aimed at them and, without a second thought, dropped their weapons and fled toward the other gate.

"Boom!"

Thunder roared again, and dozens more men were knocked to the ground. The routed soldiers ran even faster for a while, but the gate was only so big, and there were still many people outside who didn't know what was going on, blocking the way. They couldn't escape in a short time.

To fight for the escape route, the routed soldiers even trampled on each other and started to fight among themselves.

But this problem was quickly solved. Norn's cannon carriage was pushed near the gate, and the dark muzzle was aimed at the crowded routed soldiers once again.

"Drop your weapons and surrender!" Norn, holding a torch in one hand, shouted in Saracen, "Otherwise, I will summon thunder again!"

At this moment, Norn felt like a deity.