The sun is high - #169 - Chapter 168 Deep in the trenches

“I can always recall that cold winter morning.”

“There was thunder in the distance, and then it started to rain in the sky. The magic raindrops fell on the edge of the black forest, tearing the town apart…the rain of cannonballs…”

——Excerpt from “The War Diary of Mookie Alfred”

…

The sky is roaring.

The earth is shaking.

The artillery unit has always been the pride of the Kingdom of Deland. Therefore, in the artillery regiment of the Kingdom of Deland, they will be specially equipped with a larger number of crystal cannons to achieve an advantage in artillery battles.

Therefore, the number of crystal cannons in an artillery regiment of the Delan army is often controlled at more than 50. Sometimes, some special types of crystal cannons are added based on the number of mages accompanying the army to suppress enemy artillery positions. .

When more than 50 Mendelans’ “Earth Dragon Lizard” crystal cannons fire concentratedly at an area at the same time, the impact and destructive power it brings can be imagined.

The 5th Chasseur Regiment had already received news about the arrival of Deland’s reinforcements. Since the Chasseur Regiment itself was unable to construct artillery positions and the follow-up support troops were already on the way, Alfred and other officers were prepared for what might happen at any time. The large-scale bombardment adopted a conservative but ingenious strategy.

Based on the last remaining battlefield etiquette and morality between countries, and the sense of honor as plateau soldiers, the Fifth Chasseur Regiment evacuated all residents living in the Black Forest Town in advance, and then they spent a day With the efforts of a large number of accompanying military mages, a false defensive position was built outside Black Forest Town.

Only a very small number of volunteers are left to monitor this position, and the real defensive position of the Chasseur Regiment is set up in the northern area of ​​Black Forest Town. There is a vast farmland here, which is very suitable for building Votel’s military. New fortifications of the kind currently being proposed.

This decision enabled the Fifth Chasseur Regiment to successfully avoid this disaster.

The bombardment from the Thirteenth Field Artillery Regiment of Deland was so fierce and brutal that just a few minutes after the bombardment started, Shouge felt that he was going deaf. He had to use earplugs with the others. He blocked his ears and waited quietly in the deepest part of the trench for the shelling to end.

Because they entered a state of magical silence in advance, the spell casters of the Kingdom of Deland and the Legal Committee had no way to determine the specific position of the Fifth Chasseur Regiment. Therefore, they based on the most basic judgments on the entire Black Forest Town and its The surrounding area was covered with very thorough artillery fire.

Including the trench where Xiuge is currently hiding, it was also affected by the magic explosion.

The nearest cannonball landed not far away. When the explosion occurred, Xiuge felt that he was almost jumped up by the shock. The magic cloud that spread out due to the explosion made him feel even more disgusted. As for the other military mages, their performance was even worse. Some of the stream-level mages even started vomiting violently because of this chaotic magic disturbance.

“Oh shit.”

Xiuge opened his mouth and cursed silently.

Now he suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

This world is absurd, and the war taking place is absurd…

He and the things he had worried about before seemed very absurd.

“If the people of the Black Sun Society knew that I could be blown into pieces by a crystal shell at any time, would they be surprised?”

Amidst the continuous roars and vibrations, Xiuge’s expression became more and more distorted. He thought of the briefings he had seen before, and also thought of the weapon research and development ideas that had been put on the agenda by various countries. He couldn’t help but once again help mankind in the future. Marvel at the potential shown in self-destruction.

“Should I lament the commonality of human beings in all time and space, or should I lament that this is really a bullshit worldview written by me?”

While thinking wildly, another round of shelling ended.

During this brief silence, Xiuge looked up to his side and opposite side.

There are still some special people in this trench, and there are two of them in front of Xiuge, and these two people are still busy with their own things.

The first is Wei Lin. She is on the left hand side of Shuge. She also has her ears plugged. She is holding a copy of the document brought from Bolden in her hand. She seems to be taking advantage of the light of a dim lamp next to her. Read carefully.

Of course, Shuge thought that Weilin most likely didn’t see anything, because with the help of the power of the “Walking Forest”, his perception became very sharp, so Shuge could feel Weilin’s rather chaotic mood at the moment. breathing and a high heart rate.

It was obvious that she could not remain calm under the continuous bombardment of artillery fire.

In contrast, Professor Meyer, who was sitting opposite, was really doing his own thing – he was writing something in his notebook and seemed extremely focused. The shelling of the Delan army did not seem to matter at all. method to have any impact on him.

Under this situation, in order to relieve his emotions, Shuge could only choose to talk to his “advisors”. However, what he saw and heard on the battlefield these days made Bernhardt and others very angry. Souls who were familiar with past war patterns felt unprecedentedly confused. They had no idea that today’s war would evolve into this.

General Bernhard sighed with great melancholy: “Today, only the shelling of the Delanders can still give me a sense of familiarity.”

“Times are changing, that’s inevitable.”

Xiuge sighed in his heart and said: “And I’m sure this is just the beginning. Maybe next, the evolution of ordnance will lead to changes in people’s thinking.”

“Oh? Are you saying that there will be some more terrifying weapons? Just like the… heavy machine gun you used before? Is that the name?”

Xiuge responded, and then he replied: “With your vision and experience, you must have seen the limitations of this weapon, right? Although these new types of firearms are powerful, their flexibility is actually very limited. , in fact, they should be used for positional defense rather than offense.”

“Indeed, it’s too cumbersome and slow… I saw your previous combat methods. In fact, you just move a position directly to someone else’s face. Occasionally, it may work once or twice, but if the enemy already understands With this kind of weapon, they will have countless ways to prevent you from approaching… At that time, the fighting method of temporarily building a position will undoubtedly be suicide.”

“So, the weapons we use will definitely continue to change.”

At this time, the whistling sound of crystallized artillery shells came from the sky again, and the roar and vibration once again covered the entire Black Forest Town.

Shuge shrank his head and said in his heart: “The Delan people have already made innovations. They are working hard to reduce the size of the crystal cannon and use them in other places… And this idea is very important to Walter. The same applies to the Kingdom of Er. You can imagine that we now build a steel vehicle engraved with a large number of magic rituals, and install the bulky Kalfan heavy machine gun or even a small crystal cannon on it…”

“Kid, you are really a genius!”

As an experienced leader, Bernhardt immediately imagined the picture painted by Shuge. Like an ordinary person who had glimpsed a miracle, he hurriedly awakened the will of the other Ernst families, and then excitedly The feasibility of this idea was discussed with them.

This kind of discussion is meaningless to Xiuge, because he knows that this kind of thing will definitely appear, but in this world, it probably will not appear with the strange name of “water tank”.

Magic has given Van En’s humans too many possibilities. What Shuge envisioned is just a fragment extracted from the history and common sense of another world. He has reason to believe that any ordinary thing can After adding magic, new trends will emerge that are beyond everyone’s expectations.

“boom!”

A cannonball landed very, very close, and the violent vibration almost destroyed the solidification ritual the mages had imposed on the trench. In the astonishing magic explosion, a large amount of soil splashed into the air, and then poured down, just like that. Even the underground space where Xiuge and others were hiding had a lot of loose soil falling down.

“spit……”

Weilin accidentally took a mouthful of dust, which made her feel very uncomfortable, so Shuge reluctantly took out the kettle and handed it over. Weilin did not refuse, picked up the kettle, poured two mouthfuls into her mouth, and rinsed vigorously. Only then did the strange smell in his mouth wash away.

War and battlefields can always bring huge changes to people. In the past, Xiuge would never have imagined that the female scholar he knew would one day be huddled in the trenches like other soldiers with her head covered in dust. , and would never have thought that she would take her kettle over and use it so casually.

Because the entire position was under magical silence, Weilin had no way to do anything else, so after returning the kettle to Xiuge, she picked up her revolver and started a routine inspection. Her familiarity with firearms was very limited, so her fingers, which were usually able to flexibly imprint magic patterns and perform magic, now seemed a little clumsy.

There are many, many people doing similar things.

Faced with the imminent threat of death, the soldiers were trying every means to relieve their stress. They were either praying, singing the military song of the Kingdom of Walter in a low voice, or shouting something negative. Relevant jokes, or talk about your hometown, family or lover.

Of course, there are also people who are writing letters or writing suicide notes.

This behavior has nothing to do with their current morale. After all, anyone who faces this level of magical bombardment will have some fear for their future.

Taking advantage of the break in the shelling, Shuge greeted Meyer opposite him: “Professor, what are you writing? I see you have been writing for a long time!”

Meyer put the earplugs in tightly, and when he saw that Shuge seemed to be talking to himself, he took out the earplugs in one ear.

So Xiuge asked again.

After hearing Shuge’s question clearly, Meyer generously handed over the notebook in his hand. After Shuge reached out to take it, he moved the lamp on the side towards him and started reading through the light. .

Then Shuge discovered that Frey Meyer was actually fulfilling what he said before setting off.

In this notebook, he recorded all the details of the war very carefully, including the fanatical marches in Bolden, the field hospital in Brown Hill, the refugees escaping from Salem, the Black Sun Society, and those anomalies. The monster’s interference in the world, the development of the current war, and its impact on the world…

A lot of what happened was recorded by Meyer.

Shuger could see that Meyer was trying to make his words more detailed. He respected the authenticity of the events, and when he was commenting on a specific event, he would try his best to keep himself as clear as possible. Objective and neutral perspective.

Wei Lin was also somewhat interested in what Xiuge was reading, so she leaned a little closer and started reading with Xiuge in the dim light.

Both of them read at an astonishing speed, so it didn’t take long for Professor Meyer’s notebook to be thoroughly read by the two of them.

As a scholar, Weilin has a very strong ability to understand and grasp words, so she asked: “Professor, are you trying to learn and understand the war itself?”

“That’s right.”

Meyer nodded: “In human activities, war has always been an area that I have not had the opportunity to understand and contact, so I took the initiative to request to follow the Chasseur Regiment to the front line. I hope to get what I want here. Some answers.”

Wei Lin looked at the other person curiously. Meyer’s face and body were also stained with a lot of dust, which made him look more like a sculpture.

So Wei Lin asked: “So, Professor, do you want to learn and understand these things just because you are curious?”

“Curiosity is human nature, and I am no exception.”

Meyer replied with a smile: “As a scholar who studies humans and society, I believe that if you want to further explore the nature and possible evolution direction of human society, you need to go as deep into human activities itself as possible… What we are experiencing now and what we have witnessed with our own eyes cannot be replaced by any books or documents. They are unique and convincing enough.”

“And I think that everything I’ve learned on this battlefield…”

The shelling came again, and with the deafening noise, Shuge and others had to plug their ears again.

However, through the shape of Meyer’s mouth, Shuge vaguely recognized the second half of what he wanted to say.

Meyer seemed to be saying, “Everything I’ve learned on this battlefield can one day be put into practice.”