“How is my cousin doing?” Derek asked Corinth.

“He’s in the medical tent, he hasn’t come round yet, his missing an arm and leg,” Corinth Narrated what the doctors told him.

“Any sign of recovery.”

“The healers have managed to get him into a stable condition,”

“I see,” Derek said. “We need to discuss our next plan of action; the destruction of those trebuchets has set us back quite a bit.”

“Indeed,” Corinth agreed. “We still have ladders, and those walls a sloped which would give us a better time climbing. The alternative is to try and sap the walls. However, they have recently moved their fort to this hill, and the surrounding looks to be made up of dirt and rock, so it may be difficult.”

“Can we get our hands on that powder they are using for the mines, if it’s improved the iron mines by 4x, it should give us a good chance with this?”

“It would be difficult, even if we had it, the benefit of sapping is the element of surprise, if the base that fort is built upon is mainly stone, we would have to start using it a few tens of meters in front, giving away our plans.”

“I see, for now, we will charge the fort with ladders on the south side, while we prepare a second force on the north, also send the knights to the north side.”

“Is it wise to send the knights into battle yet?”

“They are merely a distraction, the enemy won’t be able to commit all of his troops to the south, and if he is stupid enough to do so, then we can attack from the north.”

“Understood.”

___

“The enemy is making moves,” Mendes called out.

“Let’s go take a look,” Fred said, it had been 3 days since the Trebuchet incident, the enemy had just been preparing and sorting out the mess of the battle, this was fine with Fred, it gave him more time to prepare.

Fred wasn’t cut off from the Mines up north, mainly because they were on the other side of the river and had naval supremacy in this region.

In fact, Normandy didn’t move their ships past the border with Brittany, Aquitaine had positioned their navy off the cape of Britany and Cornwall to protect transit.

No engagement had been made yet as it would drag the land forces into war, and this would put their most highly developed regions in danger. That’s not to say they weren’t prepared, both sides had started amassing forces by their river boarders, Lorie for Aquitaine, and Selune on the Normandy side

The Duchy of Maine was also becoming restless and had sought support from the crown, who mobilised 1000 men to the borders in Maine. This wasn’t enough to deter a determined actor, but it would drag the crown in to support the other side.

“So, what’s happening?” Fred asked Mendes as they reached the centre battlement.

“They are gathering forces in the south and north, most of the knights have been sent north.”

“This early, it must be a bluff, or preparations to exploit an opportunity,” Fred commented.

“Sire,” a scout called over,

“Yes,”

“The enemy is preparing to charge in the south.”

Fred looked over to see the enemy moving,

“Any news of the enemy in the north?” Fred asked.

“None, they look like they are still preparing.”

“Move 200 men of the north wall to the avenue below it, and in 5 minutes move 200 reservists from the ground to the south wall.” Fred had 3 groups of 400 on each face of the walls, and 400 men below each wall to act as reservists and to give the enemy false information.

They had also recruited 600 levies to protect the town walls with the town garrison, they might not be able to fight as well as the army, but they could delay for reinforcements.

“Is that wise, the enemy might see that as an opportunity?” Mendes asked,

“Scout, wait.” Fred cancelled the order, “Isn’t it obvious what the enemy is doing, we cannot commit to defending the south because of the north forces, but if we were ‘stupid’ enough or ‘desperate’ enough, the north can charge,” Fred explained. “Also, call the men from the norths gatehouse, I want to give the enemy chance to open the gate.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, in fact, I am going over with the 60 marines to the north side.” Fred commented, “Scouts, go to the arsenal and bring the grape shots to the north.”

“Understood.”

“Scout, go tell Daniel to prepare to have 200 men join the top of the wall when I give the signal, then come back over.”

“Understood.” The scout rode over.

Fred Walked down from the wall and started riding with the marines over there on horseback, Mendes was quick to follow. “Are you planning to get captured, what are you playing at?”

“Look, I don’t want this war dragging on, I have a plan to end it.”

“What, give up?”

Fred got to the gatehouse in the north. “Sergeant, go to the city and get as many logs as possible brought over, I want a barricade set up around the gate.” Fred went to one of the doors on the wall that led to the top of a bastion.

“Come on, Mended, do you not see the opportunity here?” Fred asked when he reached the top.

“The north will only attack when we look weak on this side”

“Yes, I know, I’ve been trying to tell you that.”

“And what do you think those knights and counts would do if the gate was opened by the troops.”

“They would charge in to claim glory!” Mendes exclaimed, “That’s why I’ve been trying to tell you to not let the gate fall.”

“Soldiers, move those cannons that are not facing the gate side away from the edges, bring them to the middle. You, soldiers start chiselling at the base of these crenelations, I want you to be able to push them off when I give the signals.”

“Yes, sire,”

“Officer, go tell that bastion to do the same, I want to be able to Field all cannons down at the path to the gate at a moment’s notice.”

“Yes, Sire.”

“Fred, are you going to explain?”

“We are targeting the knights.”

“What?”

“We are going to target them, knights, with all of the cannons and muskets when they come into range.”

“That’s madness.”

“When I was reading through historical battles at school, Duchies found it devastating if only 30-40 knights were killed in battle, usually weapons weren’t that good to get through armour the knights wore, and the fight would last till one surrender. Then you ransom your captives for gold.”

“Yes, that is how battles are usually fought.”

“But look,” Fred pointed to the colourful banners of the knights, “there is at least 300-400 barons and counts in the centre and a few Earls, and the rest surrounding them, Knights, a 1000 man-knight unit, we could end the battle easily by targeting the centre.”

“This will have dire consequences,”

“Hey, I’m willing to bet that we will do a ton of damage to Normandy’s power base.”

“COMMANDER”, an officer shouted up to the bastion. Fred looked over the side, “We have the logs,” the commander had sent two hundred soldiers to fetch them, and came back with the soldiers and 400 labourers carrying and dragging the logs.

“Excellent, we are coming down.”

Fred came down from the bastion. “Right, listen up. We are going to make a tank… Horse trap, you take two logs and tie them together in a cross, and then make copies of them, then you are going to stack a bunch of them up and lay a log along with the cross in the middle, this will make a fence.”

Fred continued “You are going to make a fence between this building and this one, then one each between the buildings and the wall, to completely surround the gate. Then the log facing the gate is to be sharpened into a point. Furthermore, on the inside of these wooden buildings, lay stones on the walls where the enemy will have access, I don’t want them burrowing through them.”

A Scout ran over, “Report,”

*Bang, Bang,*

The scout was cut off from the sound of cannon fire from the south,

“I take it they have started the assault.”

“Yes, sire.”

“Is Daniel still commanding the south?”

“Yes, sire.”

“Tell him about the grape shots, they are more effective at close range, but tell him to only start using them when the north commits.”

“Will do sire.” The scout rode off.

“Right people, time is ticking, we could win this battle today if it goes to plan.”

Another scout came from the bastion, “Report.”

“Go ahead,”

“The crenelations are ready, and the grapeshot is being loaded into the cannons.”

“Excellent, do the men know where to set up the extra cannons?”

“Yes, sire. They are all loaded.”

“Excellent bring all unnecessary personnel to the floor, we need to bait the enemy in. The two hundred men, leave the gate.”

“Scout, in 5 minutes, go tell Daniel to put 200 men on his wall.” He said to the scout who informed Daniel earlier.

“Sire!”, a scout called down from the wall.

“Yes,” Fred asked.

“The north camp is getting restless.”

“Excellent, let me know if they are doing something… weird.”

“Yes, sire.”

“Marines, split into 2 groups of 30, when I give the signal, I want you two units to be the first on that bastion,” Fred ordered.

“Crossbowmen, I want 3 of you stationed in each window on the second floor that can see the gatehouse, Halberdier crossbowmen, form battle ranks behind the fences. I want 40 crossbowmen on the walls, to calm the minds of the enemy.” Fred ordered.

“Understood.”

“Mendes you know the plan.”

“Sigh, yes,”

“When it comes to the fight, my rank isn’t high enough to lead, and our forces will suffer penalties for it, so I need you to stick to the plan.”

“What about you,”

“Fred grabbed his Musket from behind his back,

“I’ll be with the marine squad as their sergeant.”

Due to the system, Fred couldn’t really command properly in battle, but he could ‘Hop on’ Mendes’s lead, Mendes had the skills to command and Fred could do it through him, and this was how a lot of Nobles lead, but it would stiffen experience gain during the battle, it was still better for Fred to properly lead his unit, and that way he would get experience from both methods.

___

Derek had been having trouble with this fort, when he got there, he was shocked. He had never seen such a style of a defensive structure. It meant that wherever he was attacking; his enemy would practically be encircling his troops.

He was getting updates from the southern battle, and news of heavy casualties was not looking good. They had managed to get a foothold on the top, but the enemy’s superior armour and weapons were showing their strengths.

The cannons going off kept sending shivers down his heart, this wasn’t a weapon he was prepared for and seeing the mangled wounds of his cousin disturbed him greatly.

“Sire,” A scout rushed over,

“What is it?” Derek wasn’t in a good mood and dreaded seeing scouts rush over, each time they did, it was either a piece of bad news or a piece of good news with a horrible price.

“300ish men have left the north battlement.”

“What?”

“Is he reinforcing the south?” Corinth chimed in.

“Is it a bluff?”

A minute later a scout from the south side rushed over.

“Sire,”

“Yes.”

“The south side has added reinforcements, we saw 1-200 enter the top of the wall before I came over.”

Derek and Corinth looked over to the two walls. They could barely see the top of the walls where they were but could notice a difference with manpower from both sides.

“Scout, go tell the north to prepare to charge.”

“What if it’s a trap.” Corinth countered

“We are just trying to rattle their nest.”

A few minutes later the scout returned.

“They reinforced the wall with 40 men carrying crossbows and halberds.”

Derek looked at Corinth. “Maybe it wasn’t a bluff, maybe they wanted us to treat it as a bluff.”

“Sire, this could be a huge gamble, we don’t know what would happen.”

“We can still commit the infantry; however, I want you to take charge of the knights, I don’t want them acting stupid, especially if we cant get the gate open.”

“Understood.” Corinth rode over with his retinue.

Derek felt unease about this whole battle, his enemy had castled up here, abandoning 2 castles right after challenging him to the princedom. And had shown off a weird fort and weapons that terrified him. He couldn’t even tell if he should be restless and on edge, or that he was only like this from the sounds of the cannons.

A scout came over from the north 10 minutes later. “Report”

“Go”

“The north infantry have started heading for the wall. But…”

“But what.”

“I noticed some of your… more outspoken family members are not content with listening to Corinth.” The scout said this nervously, they outright refused to listen with Corinth and was causing a fraction in the unit, but it wasn’t something the scout could openly say to Derek.

Derek knew what the scout meant, and was thankful that he told him, Corinth wouldn’t mention it as it might reflect badly on his character. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

Another rumbling went off but this time they sounded different. And within minutes a scout came running over from the south.

“Report.”

“Go”.

“Their cannons did a lot more damage this time, and it looks like our men are starting to waver,”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw a spray of black dots whizz through the air, and a whole portion of troops were turned to bloody paste, even pink mist was seen in the area they were originally at.”

“Sire,”

Another scout came from the north.

“Go.”

“Our troops have reached the walls of the gate and are only meeting resistance from the two towers on either side, it looks like they have the gate secured.” Bastions were a new thing and were only introduced by Fred’s wall, the closest thing this world had to them were wall towers.

“What, do they have none of those weapons that side.”

“They do sire, but they haven’t used them.”

Derek looked at the scout who informed him about the infighting “Tell Corinth to not engage the knights… but tell him to not bother convincing those that ignore him.”

“Understood.”

After he left another advisor spoke up. “Is that wise, you think this is a trap, and are allowing the family to spring it.”

“I merely told Corinth to not bother to convince them, he will still tell them my orders, once, and if they are too up themselves to listen, then I have no use for them.”

A scout rushed over from the south, “Sire,”

“Yes.”

“We are losing the south. Men are starting to flee to the palisades.”

Another scout ran over, this time from the north, “Sire, we breached the gates.”

“I see,” this was a new scout and wasn’t privy to the prior conversation so was surprised by the lack of joy from Earl Derek. “And what of the knights.”

“That coward Corinth refuses to budge; however, Earl Harrold has Led over 600 knights towards the castle.”

Derek laughed, the scout sang praises of Earl Harrold, He knew which faction the scout was from.

“Sire, what’s so funny.”

“Listen,” he said, everyone went silent,

“I don’t hear…” the scout was interrupted by a cacophony of cannon fire from the northwest. The scout quickly turned to look in horror at the direction of the sound and could see plumes of smoke coming off the bastions. But the horses were hidden from the walls and Bastions their fate unknown.