Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 98 Saxony's Spell Dilemma
"Enemy attack! It's a magic crystal cannon!"

"How could the Saxons use magic crystal cannons?!"

"Scatter! Scatter now!"

The surviving Britannian soldiers were completely thrown into disarray, scattering in terror and abandoning all semblance of attack formation.

Colonel Lionel, the commander, watched in disbelief from the rear. His warhorse, startled, reared up and threw him to the ground.

"This...this is impossible!" he screamed. "Saxon mages have never appeared on the front lines! This is impossible!"

However, reality told the colonel that just because it didn't exist before doesn't mean it doesn't exist now.

On the castle tower, Morin was calmly issuing firing orders over the phone.

"Team Two, I've completed the guidance. Fire immediately after loading!"

"Three groups."

Under his command, the six magic crystal cannons were divided into groups of two and used to precisely target the two battalions of the Warwickshire Regiment.

Four more magic crystal fragmentation bullets rained down from the sky, creating two blank spaces in the Brittany's formation.

The fate of the 1st Battalion on the high ground outside Seville was just as dire as that of these two Breton infantry battalions.
On the hillside, blood seeped into the soil, forming large, continuous patches of dark red, creating a picture of hell on earth.

With just one volley, two Britannian battalions were completely routed.

Colonel Lionel stared in disbelief at the hellish scene before him, his mind blank.

He couldn't understand why the Saxons were able to use the Empire's magic crystal cannons so skillfully.

Moreover, the accuracy of their artillery fire was just as high as their own!

Did they also have a monk guiding them?

While he was still in a daze, another death knell sounded from the town's defensive positions.

"Da da da da."

These are the two MG08 heavy machine guns that reinforced the 1st Company, as well as the two Vickers heavy machine guns they captured in the town.

Under the command of Sergeant Klaus, they were quickly carried to the top of the gentle slope and began to suppress the remaining enemy forces on the hillside with firepower.

Bullets rained down on the fleeing Britannians.

Soldiers who had just survived the shelling were thrown into a hail of machine gun fire, and many more fell.

They no longer had any intention of attacking; they only wished their parents had given them two more legs, and they rushed back the way they came.

Meanwhile, the 2nd and 3rd companies, which had already passed through the town but remained stationary, launched a counter-offensive under the leadership of their respective company commanders.

Saxon soldiers, rifles with bayonets fixed, charged out from the edge of the town and rushed down the gentle slope.

This counterattack became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

The Britannians, whose morale had already collapsed, were no longer able to mount any effective resistance when faced with the Saxon bayonet charge.

Their only thought was to escape.

A counter-offensive was turned into a brutal pursuit.

In the end, the two battalions of the Warwickshire Regiment barely managed to break away from the battlefield and retreat back to their starting positions in a sorry state, leaving behind more than half of their dead bodies.

After this battle, they will not be able to organize any effective attacks for a while.

The town of San Lorenzo de la Parrilla, once a precarious outpost, transformed into an impregnable stronghold for the Saxons on this front.

Upon receiving the news, the headquarters of the 32nd Regiment, along with several other infantry battalions, began to move closer to the town, preparing to use it as a base to continue advancing northwest.

After the battle, Morin came down from the castle.

His mind was filled with thoughts about the magic crystal cannon.

"It is indeed powerful and ridiculously easy to guide, but this big, clumsy thing has really poor mobility."

"Only a lunatic would carry 42 tons of equipment into the field."

He took out the small notebook he always carried with him and began to write and draw in it.

"Based on the guidance just now, we know that the Britannians have already adapted, and any spellcaster can perform the guidance."

"What if multiple spellcasters are channeling the spell simultaneously? How can we distinguish them?"

Maureen wrote this sentence down, then crossed it out, since this wasn't normal.

"If we could lighten its weight, even at the cost of some range and power, and make it into a large-caliber mortar that can be carried by infantry."

"Or, combine its magical activation technology with traditional gunpowder technology to use it as a range extender."

One after another, wildly imaginative ideas kept popping into his mind.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the technology of the magic crystal cannon should not be used on such a bulky thing.

In other words, the Brittany were able to apply this technology to such cumbersome mortars.
Just as Maureen was immersed in his own world, writing furiously, the roar of a car engine came from afar.

A military convertible painted in field gray, escorted by a troop of cavalry, drove straight to the town's central square.

This abstract yet contemporary scene also caught Maureen's attention.

The car door opened, and a major wearing the armband of a royal attendant stepped out of the car.

He walked straight up to Morin, who was jotting down his ideas, and snapped to attention with a salute.

"Lieutenant Friedrich Morin!"

"It's me." Morin closed the notebook and looked at the other person with some doubt.

“His Highness the Crown Prince wishes to see you in person,” the officer said respectfully. “Please return to the forward command post with me immediately.”

The Crown Prince wants to see me?
Upon hearing the officer's words, Morin immediately understood who the Teutonic Knights task force and the 'Royal Guard' were protecting.

It seems that the Crown Prince has also come to the front lines. I just didn't expect that he would send someone to find him as soon as the battle ended.

He glanced back at Klaus, who was directing the troops, and shouted, "Klaus! Tell the company to rest and regroup, and those who need to eat to eat! I'll be right back!"

"Yes, sir!" Klaus responded from afar.

Morin didn't linger any longer and got into the convertible.

The car started and slowly drove away from the town where the smoke of battle had not yet dissipated.

On the way back, Morin saw an even more spectacular sight.

The massive 9th Infantry Division, serving as a reserve force, was advancing along the road.

Rows of Saxon soldiers in gray uniforms marched in orderly steps toward the front line.

On either side of them were draft horses pulling cannons, wagons carrying supplies, and the occasional passing officer's carriage.
Based on Morin's memories and the information about the organization of the Saxon Army in the system's "Information" tab.

During this period, a standard Saxon army corps consisted of two divisions. However, during this expedition to the Kingdom of Aragon, each corps was reinforced, with a third division added.

His current unit, the 7th, 8th, and 9th Infantry Divisions, together formed the 2nd Corps of the Saxon Empire's Expeditionary Force, which was also a temporary operational unit.

General Mackensen currently commands four corps, totaling twelve divisions.

In addition, there were some reinforced cavalry and artillery units.

Judging solely from the scale of the troops involved, the Saxon Empire's involvement in the Aragonese Civil War was not actually that significant.

In Morin's view, this also proves one thing from another perspective.

The high command of the Saxon Empire—especially the emperor himself—seemed to retain a sliver of rationality and had no intention of escalating the war indefinitely.

Their ultimate goal was perhaps to gain an advantage on the battlefield and force the Brittany back to the negotiating table to resolve the issue in a way that was more favorable to Saxony.

And the Britannians are mostly the same.
This is also a common problem among the 'tested imperialist warriors' of this era.

People often think about gaining an advantage on the battlefield and then taking advantage at the negotiating table, but they tend to underestimate the risk of war getting out of control.

The car sped along, though not very fast.

After driving a few kilometers to the rear, they brought Morin to the command post located there.

This place was originally a farm, but it has now been temporarily requisitioned as the forward command post of the expeditionary force.

Everywhere you look, there are busy staff officers and messengers coming and going. As soon as you enter the command post, you can feel a tense but efficient atmosphere.

Led by the accompanying officer, Morin entered a spacious room.

There were only two people in the room.

The Crown Prince and General Mackensen.

"Lieutenant Morin, we meet again."

Crown Prince George smiled and spoke first, his voice gentle.

"Your Highness, General." Morin quickly stood at attention and saluted.

“No need for formalities, please sit down.” Georg gestured to a chair next to him.

Maureen sat down somewhat awkwardly, wondering what he wanted to see her about.

"General Mackensen and I both saw your performance today from the observation balloon."

The crown prince's face showed undisguised approval.

"A very well executed operation. Especially the breakthrough of the enemy's lines, which was faster than we expected."

Georg smiled, then changed the subject and his expression became serious.

"However, the main reason I invited you here today is to ask you the most important question."

He paused, looked into Morin's eyes, and asked, word by word:

"Can the tactics you used today be replicated and scaled up across the entire army?"

After listening carefully, Morin pondered his words and replied cautiously:

"Your Highness, infantry tactics, such as trench warfare, squad coordination, and assault team infiltration, can all be mastered through rigorous training."

"Given enough time and qualified instructors, theoretically any infantry unit can learn it."

“Lieutenant Morin, but based on our observations, the spells you used during the breakthrough of the enemy's defenses played a crucial role.”

General Mackensen, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.

"Without your magic as cover and support, your assault team could not have so easily torn through the enemy's defenses, let alone penetrated with such low casualties. Your troops would have suffered much greater losses."

General Mackensen's words pinpointed the crux of the problem.

Morin was unable to refute it.

Whether it's the smoke wall created by [Stealth Step] or the protection provided by [Mage Armor] and [Shield], these are the fundamental reasons why he was able to achieve brilliant results with minimal cost.

"General, is it really impossible to select a group of low-level mages from within the country and have them join the army to participate in frontline combat?" Morin couldn't help but ask.

Upon hearing Morin's question, Crown Prince Georg and Mackensen exchanged a glance, both displaying complex expressions.

"Issuing orders by force is certainly not a problem."

Georg sighed:

"But this is equivalent to forcing a group of top scholars to put down their research projects and pick up rifles to go to the battlefield."

Morin was not surprised by the Crown Prince's words, because this was precisely the 'magical dilemma' that the Saxon Empire was currently facing.

Previously, the information about spellcasters in the Saxon Empire had already been updated in the [Intelligence] tab.

[Current number of mages in the Saxon Empire: 392]

[92% of the monks are at or below the third ring level, 7% are at the fourth to sixth ring level, and 1% are at or above the seventh ring level]

[Some spellcasters have not selected a specialization, so the percentage of spellcasters specializing in a particular school is temporarily unavailable.]

If the small number of spellcasters and the scarcity of advanced spellcasters are merely superficial issues...

A deeper reason lies in the Saxon Empire's internal positioning of spellcasters.
From the day they awakened to become spellcasters, the current mages of the Saxon Empire have almost always been engaged in research on the integration of various magical techniques and radiant crystal techniques in the various research institutes and universities in the rear.

Because becoming spellcasters greatly enhances their intelligence and learning ability, they are, in a sense, natural researchers.

It was these fewer than four hundred people who, with their extraordinary wisdom, propelled the Saxon Empire to rapid development in the field of magical technology.

Hybrid armored knights, armored airships, and replica magical equipment.
These technologies were all achieved little by little by these 'academic' mages.

This is a completely different development path for spellcasters, but it is indeed the path that suits the Saxon Empire.

After all, you can't send these low-level mages to the battlefield to fight against the Britannian highland mages.
In this context, the Saxon Empire also successfully integrated magic technology and crystal industry technology, embarking on a technological path that was completely different from that of Brittany.

These people can be considered equivalent to the top experts and national treasure-level scientists in various scientific fields in the world before Mo Lin transmigrated.

They held an extremely high social status and were highly respected within the Saxon Empire.

In this situation, it's unrealistic to expect them to abandon their comfortable research environment and come to the front lines to fight life-or-death street battles.
There are indeed some minor troubles.

"I understand."

Morin nodded, his expression becoming extremely solemn.

He suddenly stood up and, with a determined look in his eyes—as if he were about to join the Party—said to the two of them:
"Your Highness! General! I, Friedrich Morin, am willing to dedicate everything to the Empire! I request to return home immediately to contribute to the magical technology research of the Saxon Empire!"

Georg: "."

Mackensen: "."

(End of this chapter)