That's what William originally thought. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Info The next day, however, he realized that he had probably guessed wrong.

On the east bank of the Vistula, the other party did not cross the river in a hurry, as William thought. Encircle, and then storm the estuary fortress.

Sarida Khan's Centaur army did not do so. On the contrary, they were preparing for the siege and seemed to be quite serious, as if they really wanted to storm the bayou fortress.

William had made very good preparations in advance. Around the north and south estuary fortresses, within a radius of 100 kilometers on both the east and west banks of the Vistula, the already rare timber has long been cut down. Even larger pieces of stone were gathered and became part of the two fortresses.

The scarcity of stone and wood was William's first problem for Sarida Khan...... It's just that now it looks completely useless.

It is useless in armament.

Yesterday evening, Sarida Khan showed William only his invincible cavalry to the fortress, but the infantry and the rest of the armament were not shown at all.

So, early this morning, William was rightly surprised when he heard the news that "Artillery! Centaurs have a lot of artillery!".

"How could they- who gave it to them?!"

William was a little stunned for a moment - although the Tartarya Khanate was very powerful, the level of productivity, science and technology, and production technology of the Khanate were not very good.

Whether it was a new type of flintlock musket, a sophisticated plate armor or a variety of artillery, the khanate could not produce it on its own. And very few people in the human world would be willing to provide them with these things—even the merchants—and perhaps some would supply the khanate with old muskets in small quantities for profit. But new muskets and artillery are absolutely forbidden.

So, usually, all of the khanate's "sophisticated weaponry" came from trade with the Ottoman Empire in the south, with the Dark Elves, except for a very small number of smuggling and a very small number of self-produced ones.

"But they've just fought three big battles with the Dark Elves...... The Eighth Armenian War, the Battle of the Black Sea and the War of South Tronica. They stained each other's blood so much that they couldn't wash it off even if they soaked in the blue ocean. In this case, how could the dark elves ......"

After saying this, William thought of a possibility - yes, it is true that there is a very big contradiction between the dark elves and the centaurs. But at the same time, there is no need for them to continue fighting in a short period of time.

Their strategy has been balanced.

In the Black Sea, the dark elves have an absolute advantage. In this case, if the centaurs want to provoke the "Ninth Armenian War", they will have to endure the danger of the Dark Elves cutting off the Black Sea trade, launching coastal raids, and even landing campaigns.

In this case, if there is still a shred of sanity, it is impossible for Sarida Khan to fight the dark elves again.

At the same time, the Dark Elves kept their northern border safe in this way. And they couldn't afford to go deeper into the interior of Tronica. In this case, the Fatimid Sultan will also prefer to keep peace with the Centaurs......

Although the two sides are unlikely to reach any agreement or become allies anytime soon, because of their concerns. But after the armistice was signed, Sarida Khan and the Fatimid Sultan must have thought all about it.

That is, in the future, how to deal with their strong enemies in the north and south.

"They definitely have some kind of understanding. And this is the reason why the Dark Elves will provide heavy weapon support to the centaurs of Tartaria. ”

William quickly figured out why. At the same time, I also figured out "why they reached a tacit understanding." It's ridiculous, but in this case, there seems to be no better answer to explain it.

"So I'm so hateful......" William sighed leisurely.

Yes, the Fatimid woman Sudan was in order to take revenge on William, and at the same time to ensure the balance of power in the north, the great border region, so she sold artillery to Sarida Khan on a large scale.

Sure enough. After William had not eaten breakfast and hurried up to the head of the fortress to take a look, he found evidence—evidence that could support his inference—that there were a large number of dark elves with brown and black complexions, in addition to humans, centaurs, and nomads, around the cannons that were constantly being transported to the riverside.

Artillery is a technical class, and even if enough artillery is sold to Sarida Khan, Sarida Khan will not be able to conjure up enough qualified artillery in a short period of time. Therefore, providing after-sales service to the centaurs of Tartaria has become the proper duty of the dark elves of the Ottomans.

"Damn it......" William turned his face to look at Shalumi beside him, and then asked, "Shalumi, do you think I look very bad?"

“？...... Oh...... Well...... That's right. After William said such a sentence without beginning or end, Xia Lumi quickly reversed from this sentence and straightened out all the causes and consequences.

Therefore, she did not answer William's question of abnormal nerves. Instead, he comforted, "It's okay, William. Our fortress has the latest beveled structure and is sturdy enough. Enough to defend against artillery attacks of any caliber. And you see - the number of artillery on the other side is very large. But they were usually six- and nine-pounder infantry guns, and there were no large-caliber siege guns. We don't need to be afraid. ”

"That makes sense. William took a closer look and found that the situation was indeed as Shalumi said, so he relaxed a little: "But you still can't be careless." Or maybe Sarida Khan did have large-caliber artillery, but he hid it all. ”

"Perhaps. But even so, it will be difficult for them to break through this fortress, and we should have confidence, William, and you should have faith in yourself. ”

"yes, yes. William nodded: "I'm a little out of shape." He took a deep breath, calmed down for a moment, and then showed an apologetic expression: "I just...... Understand that my enemies are not one, but two. Two alien empires capable of calling the name 'Enemy of Humanity' are targeting me. It makes me a little uneasy. ”

"That's okay. Yes, William. "We didn't have any allies from the beginning, and we didn't have any 'neutrality,' they were our enemies from the beginning, weren't they?"

"Yes, they have been our enemies from the very beginning. William nodded again, and then did not speak again.

Well, since the other side has enough artillery, and "it is possible to have large-caliber siege guns", then they naturally don't need too many traditional siege engines - such as various catapults, battering rams, siege towers, etc......

In other words, the demand for things like wood and stone was greatly reduced - of course, not that Sarida Khan didn't need that kind of things - he still needed a lot of wood - and the parapet walls of the new bastions were shorter than those of traditional castles, so there was no need for too tall, too heavy siege towers. But the basic ladder is still needed by the siege troops.

In addition to this, there was another thing that was very wood-consuming, and at the same time made William understand that Sarida Khan was "seriously". That is, Sarida Khan intends to build several pontoon bridges over the Vistula River -

Although in autumn the Vistula is shallow enough to wade through - it is also waist-deep. The efficiency of wading through the water is not too high.

"So we have to build a pontoon bridge. In order that the main force may pass quickly---but I have collected all the boats on both sides of the river, and cut down all the timber, and I have the river fleet, and even the river is still under the cover of my city artillery! How determined must he be to dare to build a pontoon bridge here?"

William didn't say this. He just watched quietly, quietly. Soon, William saw the source of the timber from which Sarida Khan had built the pontoon bridge - he had dismantled the carts of his army, the nomadic carts with very high wheels.

"He really meant it. William reaffirmed this fact.

In fact, William was trying to replace "he's serious" with "he's crazy."

"He's dismantled those cars, how is he going to go back to Tartaria? Or has he decided to take a gamble, win or lose, and give himself no leeway? What is this? Who does he think he is? Who does he think he is?"

Thinking of this, William couldn't help laughing: "Hehe, hehehe...... Hehehehe-artillery!"

The shouting that followed the laughter almost scared the star officer who followed William to death. But then, William was gone.

"So, then, Count, is it going to be artillery to attack the other side's engineering troops?" asked the star officer.

"No," William shook his head, looking at the Tartar soldiers who were stacking a large number of stakes and logs on the banks of the river, and driving piles into the mud of the riverbed.

"There is no need for an artillery attack...... Didn't we contact the Polotsks? I promised them a lot of things, so it was time for them to do their part -- to send a message to the Polotsk river flotilla! to tell them that the pontoon bridge in Tartaria could not be built under any circumstances. They have all the sea control over the entire Vistula, and if they can lose this, let them kill themselves as soon as possible!"

"Yes, Count. Hearing William say this, the star officer breathed a sigh of relief, and then hurriedly ran out as fast as he could.