Chapter 1468: Chapter 33: Siege (Part 3)
[Kingsfort]
[Jiāng’àn Battery]
United Province Army Warrant Officer Kris Marlow cautiously walked along the narrow path between the ramp and the trench, bending his knees and waist, pressing down his sword belt, and holding his helmet, trying to avoid making any sound.
On his left was a long slope that gently connected to the open space around the battery.
On his right was a fearsome trench, nearly four meters deep and wide, with wooden stakes at the bottom, scattered with iron caltrops.
Warrant Officer Marlow stopped to observe, looking at the drastically different scenes on his two sides, feeling an ironic sense of humor surge in his heart.
Because beyond the gentle slope that even a cripple could easily ascend, lay the enemy’s controlled area.
And the safe fortress was isolated from him by an insurmountable trench.
…
After the Sovereignty War ended, by summarizing the gains and losses of numerous urban offensive and defensive battles during the war, the Army Academy gradually formed a new theory that differed from traditional fortress defense theories.
In contrast to studying the traditional defense theory of “how not to be breached”, the new theory was quite unconventional. The academic circles firmly believed that “no fortress is impregnable” and used this as the basis for all discussions.
The traditional defense theory viewed fortresses as a durable good, while the Army Academy’s new theory considered fortified camps as a consumable.
Putting aside the obsession with “must hold”, the key to defense shifted from defending itself to “delaying the enemy’s siege progress” and “destroying the enemy’s living forces”.
Tactically, the new theory emphasized “if you guard the fortress, you must guard the trench; if you guard the trench, you must guard the path”, meaning if the enemy occupies one side of the trench, the firepower efficiency on the walls would be greatly reduced, and the fall of the fortress would only be a matter of time.
The focus of defense is not to hold the trench, but to prevent the enemy from approaching the trench.
Therefore, unlike the trench which during the Sovereignty War was just a ditch, the Kingsfort defensive works, personally designed by Army Academy’s former Artillery Department research and teaching director, Major Raymond Montekucoli, added a sunken path in front of the trench.
Major Montekucoli called it a hidden path, a shooting path.
Because through clever design, the slope angle of the ramp just ensures that defensive soldiers only need to squat in the path, and attackers on the slope can’t see them.
Conversely, by standing up, the defenders’ musketeers can shoot at the climbing enemies with a small profile.
…
At this very moment, Warrant Officer Kris Marlow was standing on the “hidden path” of Jiāng’àn Battery.
Compared to the formal name, Warrant Officer Marlow was more accustomed to the nickname given by the veterans, calling the path underfoot—the Path of the Dead.
The reason for this nickname was simple: the enemy only needed to climb a gentle slope to kill their way into the hidden path, while the soldiers guarding the hidden path had to cross a trench to return to the fortress.
Although the officers assured that if the situation became critical, soldiers defending the hidden path could retreat to the main fort via a drawbridge.
However, drawbridge?
The veterans all shared a knowing smile when they heard this word.
Thus, the “hidden path” became the “Path of the Dead”.
The nickname was so catchy that even low-ranked officers started calling it that, infuriating Major Raymond Montekucoli to the verge of fury.
If Kris Marlow hadn’t drawn the short straw unluckily, he wouldn’t have voluntarily stepped onto the Path of the Dead no matter what.
He slightly raised his head, peering into the pitch-black midnight engulfing the path, always feeling something in the darkness was stirring restlessly, causing chills down his spine.
The war was different from what he imagined, and even more different from all the hero stories he had heard since childhood.
There was no grand formation of armies, no soul-stirring war drums, and no earth-shaking cheers—not yet at least, only digging, digging, and more digging.
The enemy also appeared in an unusually mundane way, first with a few fewer soldiers returning from scouting, then some unfamiliar riders occasionally appearing on the horizon, and finally General Cornelius announced a citywide lockdown, the whole process being uneventful and disappointing.
Kris Marlow couldn’t help but lament in his heart, the dramatic scenes he expected could probably only be seen in storybooks.
Thinking of this, Warrant Officer Marlow only wished to quickly complete tonight’s patrol, return to the barracks early, sip a bit of wine, and dive under the covers to continue reading that book, which had reached an exciting part of its tragedy.
…
If not for this war, Kris Marlow should still be in Guidao City’s “Swan” Troupe, continuing to write his scripts.
On the flip side, without this war, Kris Marlow would not have had the chance to become an officer.
Like most who failed to get into the Army Officer Academy, after graduating from Blackwood Fort’s preparatory school, Kris Marlow first entered the National Guard and worked as a clerk for several years.
Finally becoming a sergeant, he started to feel bored with the monotonous desk work, so he voluntarily retired, and after some twists and turns, eventually joined the Swan Troupe.
After the April 1st coup, the United Province Army began ramping up military expansion preparations intensely.
People like Kris Marlow, who had military school education backgrounds and had achieved a sergeant rank, were approached by the United Province Army recruiters.
Kris Marlow accepted the invitation without hesitation, not only to make up for the regret of failing to enter the Army Officer Academy but also because he had a natural desire for the unknown and had begun to feel weary of a playwright’s life.
Thus, playwright Kris Marlow became an unremarkable warrant officer in the United Province Army National Guard, responsible for commanding a Hundred-Men Squad.