I Was Reincarnated as a Marquis in Another World

As soon as Croilet issued my order to load grape shot, the artillerymen echoed the command with voices that seemed a bit excited.

“Load one grape shot! It’s good to fire iron round bullets, but isn’t grape shot what artillery is really about?”

“If it’s our side blowing up, that’s one thing, but the enemy blowing up is exhilarating.”

“Load the grape shot and fire! Let’s make a big explosion ahead!”

The artillerymen began to unwrap the ammunition case containing the grape shot, putting in the powder first and starting to shove the shot into the gun barrel.

“Put some strength into it! Just half of what you use for the courtesans brought by the military merchants!”

“I’ll personally smack the one who’s just messing around!”

Like grinding at a mill, they diligently pounded the grape shot into the cannon for ten seconds.

Once loaded, the artillerymen, organized in teams of four, pushed the wheeled cannon forward.

With a clattering sound, the wheels rolled forward, aligning the cannon barrel into the cannon hole.

Observing this, I examined the current situation of the enemy from the watchtower.

The enemy soldiers were straining under the weight of thousands of ladders and ropes, approaching from about 70 meters away.

Some among them, feeling the power of the cannon even before reaching the barricades, perhaps thought it better to desert… and attempted to defect.

The commanders and execution teams grabbed such soldiers by the scruff and either beat them back into line or killed them to prevent desertion as much as possible…

“Anyway, my hometown is Iris, so why should I fight hard? Run away, you serfs!!”

“Fighting against that damned iron ball and gun is not wise; it’s better to defect!”

Soldiers who managed to escape about ten meters from the ranks found that pursuit was quickly abandoned, allowing them to run away.

If they were going to use such harsh measures up to the execution team to prevent desertion, they should unleash the knights and cavalry to make sure no one escapes like that… Sigh, if I had been the commander, I would have faced discipline immediately for managing troops in such a way.

Not that such thinking was necessary, since most, including those commanders over there, were destined to die without even being able to withstand our concentrated fire.

Also, whether competent or incompetent, the wrong choices made by the enemy commanders were all in our favor.

While I contemplated the next operation and observed the enemy’s morale, one adjutant leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“Your Excellency, the enemy is within 60 meters.”

Hearing this, excitement rose within me like the artillerymen.

This was only natural, as I hadn’t actually fired at real enemies; I had only trained with live rounds against wooden targets.

Moreover, even though it had been over ten years since my reincarnation and the spark had faded somewhat…

I, Kim Do-yoon, who has the blood of Joseon that understands the beauty of explosive power, was drawn to the fact that I could shoot the shotgun, which was deemed the strongest weapon in close and mid-range combat.

“Once ready to fire, open fire all at once. Afterward, the enemy will try to surround our castle from all directions and attempt to breach the barricades, so distribute the cannons in groups of five. At the same time, leave 30% of the troops facing the current enemy and evenly divide the rest of the soldiers to defend the walls in three directions. Also, as previously instructed, deploy the swordsmen, spearmen, matchlock musketeers, and riflemen in that order atop the walls.”

“Yes, Your Excellency! Notify the messengers that artillery support will be sent to the Baron overseeing each of the four walls, and have the soldiers deployed as agreed! Also, ring the bell and issue the order to fire the shot!”

As the adjutant rapidly disseminated my orders to a dizzying pace, the messengers started running, and the bell began to ring loudly.

The artillerymen responded as if they had been waiting for the command, loudly repeating the fire order.

“Prepare to fire the shot!”

“Ignite the powder!!”

“Load one round!”

They lit the fuse at the cannon and, in a few seconds, with a loud bang and thick black smoke, the cannon lurched backward.

The artillerymen were accustomed to inserting wet cloths into their ears to prepare for the loud noise, but the other soldiers had not taken such precautions.

Thus, even though they were somewhat distanced from the cannon, the tremendous noise stimulated their eardrums…

As a result, some soldiers seemed stunned by the powerful shock to their eardrums immediately after the cannon fired, pressing their ears tightly and closing their eyes.

While our side experienced some soldiers startled or slightly pained from not blocking their ears in time when firing the cannon…

The sight of Simon Marquis’s soldiers, hit by grape shot, was horrific.

Without exaggeration, those at the front, assaulted by twenty cannons, were utterly unrecognizable as human beings.

No, it was as if they had been ground like beans in a mill, reduced to thin slices.

Moreover, those behind them, at least two to three rows deep, were riddled with holes, anywhere from one to three or more in their arms, legs, and torsos, dying.

Among them, there were also some who had completely lost their wits from the fear of battle.

“Hell… this is hell…”

“The guys who were right next to me just got wiped out all at once… what the hell! Now everyone in front of me is dead, and my arm!!”

“Mom, hehehe… I want to go home…”

Thus, some soldiers with gaping holes became paralyzed with fear, throwing down their weapons as they rushed back in a frantic bid to escape home.

Of course, those fleeing were summarily executed by Franche’s execution team or our soldiers.

Watching this hellish sight, I felt two contradictory emotions.

One was the thrill of overwhelm at being able to crush those who dared assault my soldiers, with merely twenty grape shots.

The other emotion was the weight of the lives of the serfs and soldiers of my territory, who might die as the war would now revolve around artillery, a consequence of my intentions.

If I had felt these emotions when I had just reincarnated, perhaps I would have had sympathy and guilt for the enemies who died because of the weapons I had developed…

In a world where you are killed if you don’t kill, harboring such vague feelings towards enemies would lead to my own death; there was no choice in that.

Proving that point, Franche’s execution squad and elite soldiers aimed their weapons at their own peasant soldiers and commanded them.

“There is no path to survive except by fighting the enemy and winning! Anyone who flees will be killed by our side!”

“Move forward! Go forth and fight the enemies!”

“You will die either way, so die fighting the enemy!!”

The peasants and infantry of Franche yelled in a teary voice, seemingly resentful of their lord who forced them to choose death.

“Let’s move forward!!”

“Let’s defeat the enemy and change our fates!!”

“Long live the Franche Empire!!!”

Even though the troops were sent into peril, like going to the gallows, Simon Marquis was secretly splitting his forces to simultaneously attack the four walls.

Someone who knows nothing of warfare might say, “Isn’t it foolish to split your troops before the battle?”…

However, in every battle, the number of soldiers who can engage in combat at once is limited for both offense and defense. Therefore, if the attacking side has superior numbers, it generally encourages the defenders to split their forces…

This is advantageous as it can reduce the number of reserve troops the defenders have.

Of course, this is only true when the firepower each side possesses is roughly equal.

As Franche’s infantry continued to charge while bearing the brunt of the cannon and matchlock musketeer fire, trying to enter the moat…

“Noblesse Oblige – as nobility, it is only natural to bear the burden of nobility. When the soldiers engaging in close combat on the walls tire and request a change, let the knights personally go out to assist them. Also, don’t hold back with the gunpowder and fight with the resolve to use it all.”

In accordance with that command, the cavalry raised the golden eagle flag symbolizing total war.

At that signal, the close-combat soldiers with swords and bludgeons raised their weapons, the spearmen aimed outside the walls, and the matchlock musketeers fired randomly in the general direction where the enemy was thought to be without proper aim.

Finally, the trained combat engineer battalion led by Captain Mark, now a major, began to bombard the advancing enemies with 1-kilogram grenades thrown at distances of 10-20 meters.

As a result, the surviving soldiers from the cannon were being pierced and blown apart by the matchlock and grenades.

Especially since grenades could attack faster than matchlocks, where they landed three to five soldiers sustained severe injuries or were killed.

Even so, the surviving soldiers who managed to climb the ladders were met with spearmen and butchered by the soldiers responsible for close combat.

The scene resembled a factory operated by machinery installed by experts.

And as the factory director, I commanded the soldiers.

“Kill every single enemy that climbs this barricade without exception.”

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