NOVEL WEB Chapter 287: Artillery Ranging
“What? Suspend the mapping operation and return to Lakeheart Town?”
The students were dumbfounded by this sudden news.
Josh had no choice but to spread his hands to them: “This is an order from above, and we just received it.”
He secretly complained to himself, wondering why it had to be him delivering this unwelcome news.
“Tomorrow or the day after, we will depart southward to engage in battle with the enemy. Only essential defense forces will remain here, and it might not be possible to guarantee your safety.”
The leading student was the first to react, whispering, “Mr. Josh… perhaps we can…”
Before he could finish, Josh shook his head like a rattle-drum: “I’m just a private; I can’t decide anything. If you have any ideas, you should talk to Lord Bryce or Lord Joyce. Only they can decide your fate.”
The leading student nodded: “Thank you for the reminder, we’ll discuss it among ourselves…”
After wishing them a good night, Josh left the room, leaving the students to quietly discuss their situation.
“If we go back so meekly, our group will definitely be at the bottom of the standings.”
“Such bad luck, getting assigned to this place.”
“Let’s talk to Lord Bryce and Lord Joyce tomorrow.”
…
The next morning, Bryce and Joyce were discussing their plans to move south. They were supposed to leave today, but they realized they needed to make many additional preparations.
A guard standing outside came to report that students from Weiss Academy requested to see them.
After a moment of thought, Bryce said, “Those students? Let them come in.” The count still highly valued these students.
“What? No way!”
The students, after being let in, made a surprising request that shocked Bryce – they wanted to stay and complete their mapping work.
“Lakeheart Town has repeatedly asked us to ensure your safety, and I can’t let you roam around without guards.”
The leading student – their group’s captain, named Nick – pleaded again with an anxious face: “Lord Bryce, thank you for your concern about our safety, but map-making is a very important task. We can’t afford to abandon it halfway. Alda is developing its mining industry, and prospecting for minerals cannot be done without maps. Maps also provide convenience for merchants traveling around, promoting the development of commerce. For your army as well, having accurate maps is of great significance. It makes troop deployment and battle planning much more convenient. The lord’s office places great importance on this task; otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent us, students who haven’t completed our studies, out here.”
Bryce just kept shaking his head: “No matter how many reasons you have, I can’t let you run around freely.”
The two sides were at a stalemate, and neither could convince the other.
Suddenly, a student suggested: “If we can’t be left alone in the rear, then let’s go south with you! Sooner or later, the geography there will need to be mapped too.”
“Ah? That’s a great idea! Please let us accompany you on your journey!”
Nick agreed with his classmate’s idea, and the other students nodded in approval.
“Still fooling around! We are going to war, not on a leisure trip!”
Bryce continued to oppose, frowning. Although he had complete confidence in his troops, and it was a feint, the battlefield is unpredictable, and he couldn’t guarantee that not even one or two people would encounter problems.
Seeing that he couldn’t persuade Bryce, Nick had a flash of inspiration.
“Lord Bryce, what if we teach your artillerymen a simple method of range estimation? They can accurately—well, relatively accurately—measure the distance to their target without moving from their position.”
“Oh?”
Both Bryce and Joyce perked up at Nick’s suggestion, as it hit a sore spot for them.
Alda’s artillery units had to estimate the distance to their targets by eye, a task demanding high experience from the gunners. Some seasoned gunners with a natural talent for artillery could estimate distances almost accurately with just a glance, firing a test shot and then making slight adjustments to the elevation or powder charge for a precise second shot. However, such talents were rare, and most gunners—especially the rookies—had to adjust their firing after each shot to get closer to the target.
If there really was a method to estimate distances accurately from the gun position, it could significantly enhance the effectiveness of their artillery.
Nick smiled confidently, having piqued the interest of the two officers.
Bryce asked, “What’s this method?”
Nick shook his head: “First, you have to promise that we can accompany the troops south.”
Bryce was a bit annoyed. This young lad, barely out of adolescence, dared to negotiate terms with him. With something as crucial as artillery range estimation, he could easily hold them to their lord’s office.
However, realizing the humor in getting angry with a bunch of youngsters, Bryce suppressed his irritation.
He looked towards Joyce, the commander of the third battalion, who was not much older than the students. Joyce’s eyes conveyed agreement.
“Cough!” Bryce cleared his throat: “Alright, I agree to let you accompany the troops.”
“Is the colonel serious?”
Bryce bristled: “Would I, the commander of the first battalion, lie to you kids? Now, tell me about this range estimation method!”
“Yay!”
The students cheered, delighted that they could continue their mapping work.
Joyce, now a battalion commander but previously a young knight attendant to Schroeder, was moved by the students’ youthful enthusiasm.
He fetched paper and pen, placing them on the table. Smiling at Nick, he said, “Congratulations, our Commander Bryce is not usually so agreeable. But don’t celebrate just yet; let’s hear your method. If I’m not mistaken, it probably involves what you call ‘mathematics’, right?”
“Snap!” Nick snapped his fingers, nodding: “Exactly!”
He took the paper and began drawing: “This is a method we often use in mapping…”
Everyone leaned in to see Nick draw a triangle, but it was a special kind of triangle, a right triangle, with one very long side and one very short side.
“The artillery is deployed here!” Nick marked a circle at the right angle.
He then moved the pen tip slowly along the longer side (the hypotenuse) towards the smaller acute angle, stopping at the tip, “And this is your target.”
“This line,” Nick emphasized the long side (the hypotenuse), “is the distance between the artillery and the target.”
“And this line,” Nick marked the shorter side (the base), “is a known fixed distance to the side of the artillery, an integer for easy calculation, like one or two meters, which we call the ‘baseline’.”
“Now, by measuring this angle,” Nick circled the larger acute angle, “and combining it with this known fixed distance of one or two meters…”
“You can calculate the straight-line distance between the artillery and the target.”
He heavily marked the long side (the hypotenuse) a few times.
“This line right here!”
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