Chapter 26: Capturing Ackerman

(This is my first time writing about siege, so I don’t know how it goes, please forgive me)

Aron also carried out an emergency mobilization in Ackerman, and a total of 2,000 residents were mobilized. And there was plenty of food and drinking water.

At dawn the next day, the cannons outside the city began to show their power. A cannonball hit the city wall, and Ackerman was indeed the most solid fortress. Except for some scattered stones, there was no problem with the others.

The cannons cannot be fired continuously, and the barrels must be cooled down. Fortunately, the catapults have been installed, with a total of 15 Huihui cannons, and the cannonballs have been prepared.

"Ignition" At the commander's command, some cannonballs were ignited by torches. The outside of these stone shells was soaked in oil, so it was very easy to ignite.

"Fire!"

One by one, the stone shells streaked across the sky and fell directly on the city wall. No matter how solid Ackerman was, it couldn't withstand such a beating.

And the attack point of these stone shells was a bit low, and most of them fell on the foundation of the city wall. Soon several large holes appeared.

In addition to large stone shells, some small shells were also fired. They were specifically targeting the soldiers on the city wall.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

The soldiers who were hit fell to the ground and wailed, and some died directly.

"My lord, look. Some of them can't hold on."

On the hillside, Constantine told Peter about Ackerman's situation.

"We must take Ackerman today." Peter said. "Attack"

"Yes" Constantine drew his sword and pointed at Ackerman, "Attack"

The infantry began to move, and they advanced towards the city wall step by step. The Huihui cannons and archers were responsible for suppressing the defenders in the city.

For the moat, Peter adopted the so-called method of filling the moat with sticky and cold. First, make a template in the shape of a house, put wheels at the bottom, and install huge stones and wood on top. Put large pieces of wood and firewood inside, and then cover the wood with soil and stones. The outside is first covered with raw cowhide, and then wrapped with iron sheets. People push them inside, one after another, a total of fifty vehicles. Behind them were many carts, loaded with sacks of soil that had been made before. Countless unarmored soldiers lined up and passed the sacks forward one by one, hand in hand. The soldiers who had pushed the carts in the wooden carriages did the same. Soon, sacks of soil were thrown into the trench one after another.

Although Aaron didn't know what these wooden carts were used for at first, he still ordered the soldiers to shoot arrows at them out of intuition.

At the same time, many arrow-shielding carts with a wide wooden board erected in front were lined up side by side, advancing towards the city wall in the gaps between the five wooden cart columns. These arrow-shielding carts were pushed in front of the trench, forming a discontinuous wooden wall. Archers and crossbowmen shot arrows at the defenders on the top of the city through the gaps between the wooden boards.

At noon, part of the moat was filled. Soldiers began to approach the city wall, which was different from ordinary siege warfare. They didn't take ladders, and each of them had a big bucket, and some of them also had manuscripts and shovels.

"Attack, attack."

Under Aaron's order, some defenders began to attack the soldiers below. But the fierce Huihui cannon and the crossbows in the distance made them unable to get out.

Taking this opportunity, the five hundred warriors originally trained by Peter expanded and buried barrels of explosives on the basis of these large holes. And ignited the fuse.

"Look, they retreated."

The defenders looked at the enemy who was fleeing quickly and shouted directly. Aaron was also happy. He thought that the other party saw that the fortress was strong and thought they were defeated and ran away.

"Run, wait for the Grand Duke to come back, we will beat you up."

The defenders were also continuously outputting words, but before they all joined in. There was a loud bang, and then there was no sound.

The huge smoke completely covered the fortress, and the explosion spread to every corner. Peter was looking forward to the result, and Constantine was also looking forward to it.

The smoke dissipated, and a huge gap appeared in front of them. The effect of using gunpowder to blow up the city wall was indeed remarkable, not to mention that it was granular gunpowder. (One pound is better than three pounds)

"Attack!" The herald blew the attack horn.

The remaining defenders of Ackerman didn't know what to do, because just now, their commander was also killed. Seeing the tide-like army coming, they surrendered smoothly.

Near dusk, all the defenders of Ackerman were annihilated. Peter really took Ackerman in one day. (The defenders didn't expect this to be a heavenly soldier's way of fighting)

On this day, the defenders and local people suffered more than 2,000 casualties, and less than 500 defenders surrendered. And Peter's side died 10 people (6 people were killed in the city, 3 people were shot by the opponent's bows and arrows outside the city, and one person was killed by the explosion because he couldn't dodge in time).

Peter entered the fortress and was amazed at the wisdom of the people who built the fortress. He was also glad that he had mastered the special siege method, so that at least half of the army could be saved.

Entering the office, Peter ordered all the information to be sealed. And began to search for money in it, and found a lot.

The treasury was filled with various currencies, including Polish zloty, Venetian ducats, Moldovan groshen, etc., and there were also a lot of food and cloth. If an ordinary army came, it would take at least ten days or half a month to conquer it.

"Sir, what should we do next?"

Constantine asked about the next situation.

"General Constantine, I order you to lead an army to sweep the surrounding manors and castles that are not obedient tomorrow. Just ask for anything you need."

"Yes"

If Ackerman is in hand, the task of conquering Moldova will be half successful. Because the two fortresses of Kilia and Ackerman can provide Moldova with considerable income every year, and they are also the keys to Poland and Lithuania. It can be seen how much damage the fall of these two places will cause to Moldova.

The soldiers who followed Peter also had a lot of spoils of war. According to their degree of danger, Peter gave them different rewards. And for those soldiers who died, Peter gave each family a pension of 60 ducats. This move made many people burst into tears. If it were not for the inappropriate age, they would probably worship him as their godfather immediately.

In this era, civilians' lives are cheap. As long as the army is not of noble origin, there is no compensation for pensions. Even many generals have stolen the property left by the dead soldiers instead of giving it to the families of the deceased.

Therefore, Peter's move is seen as a big sucker by others. But Peter was unmoved. He needed this move to make the soldiers loyal to him, which is the key to the future of Ottoman. Those Janissaries are not a joke.