Chapter 1520: Chapter 63-2
The Iron Peak Army has mastered some tricks to deal with these types of fortresses.
The problem is that Bishop’s Castle is situated on the riverbank, where digging just a few shovelfuls down will cause water to seep through.
In such circumstances, trench advancement is impossible.
Even when Montekucoli laid siege to Bishop’s Castle, he only dug trenches at a somewhat distant, higher ground along the riverbank.
Incidentally, with the reversal of the situation on Magit Island, all the fortifications previously built by Colonel Monteccolli to blockade Bishop’s Castle have fallen into the hands of Tamas, saving the warriors of Iron Peak County a lot of effort.
Trench digging becomes a self-trapping endeavor, roughly so.
However, this leads to another problem: Bishop’s Castle is basically at the lowest point of its area, with the terrain steadily rising from Bishop’s Castle to Domoncos Monastery, completely unobstructed.
Moreover, Bishop’s Castle’s walls have height, which means the gentle slope in front of Bishop’s Castle is like a target paper with no dead angles to the cannons and musketeers deployed on the fortress walls.
The second of Iron Peak County’s troops’ wall-building approach, in such a “funnel” like terrain, also becomes difficult to execute.
It’s not entirely unusable, just extremely hard to plan.
Additionally, the crossfire from enemy artillery on both the east and west banks—Tamas would bet his head that the enemy has deployed many cannons in those two strongholds, just waiting for him to charge at Bishop’s Castle—complicates the design of a safe approach path.
This is already beyond the capabilities of Tamas, who has barely touched a triangular ruler, requiring someone like Lord Mason or Captain Woods, professional engineer officers, to take charge.
After much thought, Tamas believes the most reliable strategy is to turn the tables, using their higher terrain to build an even taller artillery platform directly opposite Bishop’s Castle.
This way, not only do they not fear the crossfire from both shores anymore, but they can also set up cannons to bombard Bishop’s Castle from above, not worried about breaking tiny Bishop’s Castle.
They could even pile soil all the way, pushing the artillery platform before Bishop’s Castle, to confront it face to face.
By then, Bishop’s Castle would crumble without being attacked.
Tamas shared his idea with Regimental Commander Lannis and other commanders, and everyone thought it was good.
Except for one flaw—time.
It takes too much time.
Whether it’s wall building, fortification construction, or piling soil to advance, all require a lot of time and manpower.
And Iron Peak County’s troops stationed on Bishop’s Castle neither have manpower, nor do they have time.
Firstly, because although General Gessa has never urged Lord Mason, anyone with eyes can see that Gessa is anxious, worried that the siege will drag on too long and cause unexpected changes;
Secondly, because Iron Peak County, although has never issued a military order, nor boasted ahead of time, the unconditional trust and expectations from the entire army are like a big stone pressing on the hearts of all Iron Peak County commanders.
Mind you, since Lord Mason took over the siege, almost anything needed was provided, be it personnel, money, or cooperation.
All resources of the New Army have been unreservedly tilted towards Mason’s battle plan.
The preliminary work using “Pearl Necklace” to block the New Town, transferring barges from upstream, and other preparation work, have already consumed a lot of manpower, materials, and the most precious resource—time.
Right now, taking Magit Island is just one last step away, at this juncture, it isn’t feasible to dawdle further and demand more resources, Iron Peak County commanders simply cannot say it.
Moreover, capturing Magit Island is not the endpoint of the siege.
Occupying Magit Island is to build a floating bridge to the East Bank, on reaching East Bank there’s Queen’s Castle, after taking Queen’s Castle, they have to tackle the Old City, and upon taking the Old City, might even have to keep hammering New Town.
Every one of the above steps requires a lot of resources. They cannot expect the enemy like a brick wall in a dry stack, suddenly collapse when a few bricks are pulled out.
Where’s the spare time to waste in front of Bishop’s Castle?
Besides internal factors of the New Army, there’s an important external factor that cannot be overlooked.
That is—in terms of being “besieged,” the United Provincials do indeed have a unique experience.
General Yanosh once commented: “Madman Richard has been dead for nearly ten years, yet those folks in the Mountain Front Territory still live in a siege, never having walked out.”
The famous Vineta traveler John Bebert—that said, Bebert himself publicly claims to be a Sea Blue person, although Bebert is actually a Genova surname—once left such records:
“…(Each city of the United Province’s) public reservoirs are eternally filled and receive regular maintenance…”
“…The warehouses of the city government store weapons accumulated during wartime; even outdated armaments aren’t scrapped, just to arm everyone when necessary…”
“…Each guild in the city annually pays a fee labeled as donation, but in reality, a tax, specifically for repairing the city walls…”
“…(Those) living in the cities of the United Province love not just the city walls, but to say they worship them wouldn’t be an exaggeration…”
“…The horrific sieges and massacres that happened in these lands during the Sovereign Wars left indelible marks in the hearts of the surviving United Provincials, and they vow never to suffer that fate again…”