Onward! Onward!

Disease strikes the besieging army and a company of musketeers are laid low (below). Governor Zwöllenglantz can only look on with satisfaction as noisome smells of the very worst kind emanate from the putrifying enemy lines. The Vulgarian camp rings with sound of plague bells, the creak of casualty carts, and urgent cries of  "I'm getting better" and "You're not fooling anyone, you know". 

Whether it's dropsy, flopsy, or a bad case of bloaty head, the Vulgarian physicians are unable to diagnose the cause for certain. The cure, however, is obvious: leeches. 

Festooned with damp  invertebrates, the Vulgarian gunners continue their artillery bombardment. The siege guns now start to target some of the defending infantry. The Bachscuttel musketeers in one of the bastions lose heavily (below).

With limited options, Zwöllenglantz deploys another spy. This time it's Don Penguino. Even stickier than usual, and smelling of something that is hopefully lemons, the Don has been released from prison because the geese have recanted their testimony. The Spaniard creeps through the Vulgarian encampment until he can find an enemy unit that looks like it might be ready to desert. His main problem is that there are so many potential candidates.

Penguino picks his targets (above). Sadly for him, the Vulgarian unit doesn't find a citrus-scented Spaniard with a faint whiff of farmyard anaimal to be a trustworthy purveyor of rumours. If anything, Don Penguino's mix of Spanish, prison-yard German, and animal impersonations makes the troops even more resolved to bayonet the defenders. With a final disappointed "scorchio", the Spanish rake drifts off back to his lines.

(Below) Demonstrating the new professionalism and diligence brought about by expensive postgraduate professional military education certiicates, the Vulgarians begin to build batteries in the second parallel, and also begin to strike forward again, looking to push saps towards the glacis. Once on the glacis, the Vulgarians can then start digging the third parallel.

(Below) Vulgarian troops haul some of the siege batteries forwards to the second parallel. Supprting troops deploy into the nearby trenches. 

(Above) Snorting leeches by the handful, the Vulgarian gunners begin firing again at reduced range!