Three days later, Loriste led the family's armed forces of more than a thousand people to attack Beiye Town.
A journey that should have taken less than an hour on horseback took more than three hours to reach Northern Field Town. Loriste could only shake his head and smile bitterly.
Just as they had expected, Beiye Town was ready for battle. Swords and spears gleamed on the city walls, and heads were everywhere. It seemed like the four families of Northern Field Town were ready to fall out. Occasionally, a few guards pointed at Loriste's men and cursed loudly.
Buckingham sent Padt to the city gates to issue an ultimatum, demanding that the four families and the guards of Northern Field Town lay down their weapons, open the gates, and surrender. In return, Buckingham would forgive the rebellious actions of the four families on account of the close relationship between Northern Field Town and the Norton family. As long as they followed the current rules and regulations, Buckingham promised not to punish anyone.
In the end, Padt was shot back by a volley of arrows before he even reached the city gates. His mount became a target, but Padt reacted quickly and ran back unharmed.
Loriste and his men were furious. This meant that the people of Northern Field Town did not care about the Norton Family at all. They did not even want to talk, and used arrows to greet messengers. There was no more rebellious action than this.
Suppressing his anger, Loriste rejected his men's suggestion to attack the town immediately. He ordered his men to set up camp and cook.
Northern Field Town only had two gates, one at the front and one at the back. Logically, Loriste should have set up two camps and locked both gates. However, Loriste only had a thousand men with him, and splitting them into two groups would make them seem too weak. Laurist gathered his troops and set up camp at the front gate, while sending a team of cavalry to monitor the back gate. They only needed to prevent the garrison of Northern Field Town from sneaking out from the back gate and ambushing the camp.
If the garrison of Northern Field Town really came to attack the camp, Laurist would be more than happy to do so. He was looking forward to using the field method to wipe out all the enemies. Not only would it deal a heavy blow to Northern Field Town and greatly reduce their morale, but it would also reduce the number of soldiers they had to defend, making the siege even smoother. Unfortunately, the garrison of Beiye Town lived up to their name of cowardice. They just stood on the city wall and watched the troops busy setting up camp. There was no sign of them leaving the town to attack.
By the time all the trivial matters were settled, it was already dark. Laurist checked the arrangements of the patrolling camp and hidden sentries, then went to bed early. He rested and prepared himself for tomorrow's siege. Just like that, the first day of the expedition passed.
On the second day of the expedition, after breakfast, Loriste led his men to Beiye Town and set up their formation. The plan in the morning was for Josk to lead a team of soldiers who could shoot a few rounds around Northern Field Town, find the weak points in the defense, and wait for an opportunity to launch a strong attack. Then, Laurist would lead his men to occupy a city wall or a gate. From there, they would slowly expand their advantage and finally take Northern Field Town.
Joske and his men ran two laps around Beiye Town and only lost four soldiers. They were quite lucky. After returning, Josk reported, "It didn't work. When we got to the front of the city wall, we found that the moat had been deepened and widened. If we don't fill in the moat, we won't be able to rush to the bottom of the wall. I shot an arrow at the two gates in front and back, and found that they've been blocked. It seems like they're determined to defend and haven't thought of attacking. We can only attack from the city wall. After running around twice, there should be about a hundred arrows from the city wall. They're all hunting bows of different types, so they're not much of a threat to us. "
Laurist was very angry. The last time he went to Northern Field Town, he had noticed the moat in front of the city wall. It was a very shallow moat, but this time, he found that the moat had been deepened and widened. According to Josk, it was less than a meter away from the city wall, two meters deep, and three meters wide. Because of the terrain, it could only be seen from the front, and could not be seen from where they stood.
Laurist personally rode around Northern Field Town, and found it strange that the soil from the moat had disappeared. However, the moat was just as Josk had said. Without filling in the moat, they would not be able to attack the city wall.
As he ordered Redi to return to Maple Villa, he had Spear send a batch of straw sacks and shoveling tools over. At the same time, Laurist ordered his men to cut down trees to make wooden rafts to block arrows and carts to fill the moat.
On the third day of the expedition, the plan was to fill in the moat on the left side of the city gate by a few dozen meters. Laurist was prepared to attack from that position. Josk commanded a squadron of his family's soldiers to carry dozens of wooden rafts until they were less than fifty meters away from the city wall. He then ordered a small group of longbowmen to use the wooden rafts as cover to shoot arrows at the city wall, suppressing the archers on the city wall.
This small group of longbowmen used simplified longbows. These longbows used for practice were made from a type of dense yew wood. The craftsmanship was extremely simple, and a piece of yew wood as thick as the mouth of a bowl could be made into a longbow. As long as the shape of the longbow was carved out and dried, it could be used. This simplified longbow was a foot longer than a formal longbow, and its direct shooting range was only about seventy meters. It was about thirty meters away from a formal longbow, and its accuracy and strength were also inferior. Usually, the longbow had to be redrawn after a hundred or so arrows to check if the longbow was deformed. It was fine as a training bow, but using it to attack the defenders on the city wall was like forcing a duck onto a perch.
A formal longbow was made from a type of wood that was even tougher than yew wood. This type of wood had to be left to dry for a period of time after being cut, then soaked in a special type of oil for up to three months before being slowly dried in the shade. During the soaking and drying process, it had to be molded before being strung, trimmed, shaped, and polished. Finally, it had to be painted a few times and a leather sheath wrapped around the bow. An official longbow would take a year and a half to two years to be made. Such a longbow could even pose a threat to a Gold-ranked knight within a 100-meter range.
The shape of the boxcars was also very simple. To be precise, it was just a wooden shed with a pointed roof and four wheels. The roof was even covered with a thick layer of wet soil to prevent it from being burned down by arrows. The soldiers in the boxcars pushed the boxcars to the edge of the moat and raised the board in front so that they could throw the grass filled with mud from the rear into the moat.
Everything went smoothly in the morning. Under the suppression of the longbowmen and Josk's godly archers, the defenders on the city wall could not even raise their heads. They could only occasionally fire arrows from the sawtooth shooting holes on the city wall. Needless to say, their accuracy was not even the slightest threat to the attackers below. In fact, they even suffered more casualties than the attackers. A small part of the moat had been filled, and it should be done soon in the afternoon.
Laurist was greatly relieved. Judging from the counterattack from the defenders on the city wall, this attack should not be too difficult. They might even achieve victory with a small number of casualties.
Unexpectedly, wooden rafts were erected on the walls of Beiye Town right after lunch. The defenders also used the wooden rafts as cover to launch a counterattack against the longbowmen and soldiers filling the moat. Furthermore, since the arrows were not effective, they threw clay pots filled with kerosene down from the top of the wall, ultimately burning down the boxcars …
Josk showed off his prowess and shot down a few large wooden rafts on the city wall. Unfortunately, it was useless. He destroyed one, but more wooden rafts were erected on top of the city wall.
"Six longbowmen died, and twenty-one were injured. Also, more than half of their deformed longbows are useless. Fortunately, we prepared more than a hundred this time, so there are still replacements. Eight of the family soldiers filling the moat were burned to death, and twenty-six were rescued with injuries. Do we continue to build boxcars? "Sederkamp reported to Laurist the number of casualties from the failed moat today.
"Send a platoon of the family soldiers to cut down trees. Let the people of Beiye Town see that we are continuing to build boxcars. Let them think that our next attack will only be tomorrow, and lower their guard. We will make preparations at night. Once the moon is covered by clouds, we will take the opportunity to approach the moat with our straw bags and fill it overnight, "Laurist instructed.
Laurist's arrangement was beyond the expectations of the defenders of Beiye Town. By the time they discovered the commotion below the city wall, the moat had already been mostly filled. Looking at the alerted defenders and the torches thrown down, Laurist smiled, "Come, let's go back. It doesn't matter if it's almost done, we just need to bring a few more straw bags of soil to fill the moat tomorrow. Hopefully, we can take the city in one fell swoop and return victorious. "
It was a good day on the fourth day of the expedition. The sky was clear and boundless.
Laurist's entire army moved out. Seven squads of family soldiers raised seven long ladders and charged towards the walls of Beiye Town.
Laurist, Padt and Redi followed behind the charging soldiers and approached the city wall. As long as there was a ladder on the city wall, Laurist believed that he could charge up the wall and kill everyone in his way. He could even occupy a spot on the wall. As long as the rest of the army could catch up, victory was just a matter of time.
A hundred meters, eighty meters, sixty meters. When they were about to reach the city wall, the wooden rafts on top of the city wall were suddenly lowered, revealing rows of archers and crossbowmen.
"Fire!" Following the order from the top of the city wall, a rain of arrows rained down. The charging soldiers were smashed into pieces like waves crashing into a reef …
One by one, the soldiers fell under the rain of arrows. Laurist's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and he hurriedly shouted, "Retreat, retreat quickly …"
The green longbow in Josk's hand let out a thunderous sound. Streaks of green lightning flew towards the top of the city wall, and the archers and crossbowmen who were firing arrows fell to the ground. There was panic on the city wall, and the archers scattered in all directions, revealing four black ballistae behind them.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four huge crossbow bolts flew straight towards Josk ….
As soon as Josk saw the four ballistae appear on the walls, he knew that something was wrong. Without even bothering to turn his horse around, he fell off. Rip! A large ballista bolt brushed past Josk's back, taking away a large chunk of his armor and inner clothing. It left a deep gash on Josk's back, from which blood gushed out. In the blink of an eye, Josk was covered in blood.
Josk's mount had already been cut into several pieces by the three bolts, and the ground was a mess of flesh and blood.
Josk rolled twice on the ground and jumped up. He endured the pain on his back and drew his green longbow again. With a flash of light, a green arrow struck one of the black ballistae on the city wall. The ballista shattered, and a few soldiers who were busy reloading their bolts were smashed to pieces. The soldiers operating the other three ballistae hurriedly pushed the ballistae away from the city wall.
Josk's entire body was exhausted after shooting the arrow. Laurist rushed over and carried him on his back as they charged towards the camp.
"Bang!" Laurist slammed his fist on the long wooden table, leaving a deep fist imprint on the table.
Too hateful, too infuriating. No one expected the guards of Northern Field Town to be so cunning. Two days ago, they had used their hunting bows to counterattack and watched as Laurist's siege troops filled up the moat. This made Laurist think that Northern Field Town did not have the strength to defend and counterattack. It was only when Laurist was preparing to take down Northern Field Town that they suddenly attacked, catching Laurist off guard and causing heavy casualties.
There were a few pieces of beast skin on the table. It was the list of casualties that Sadekamp had compiled. In just a short period of time, they had lost close to three hundred men. Eighty-three of them had died in battle, and around two hundred were injured. Even Redi had taken an arrow in his shoulder when he went up to help. If not for the fact that the family soldiers at the front were all wearing chainmail, the number of casualties would have been doubled.
Josk was fine. His back had been grazed by a ballista arrow, and it was fine after applying medicine. However, he had shot an arrow that destroyed one of the ballistae, and the last arrow had strained the veins in his back, causing the wound to split open. It would take at least ten days of rest to heal.
"My lord, the morale in the camp is very low. We won't be able to continue attacking the city tomorrow. We were really surprised today. Why are there so many ballistae in Northern Field Town? There are even four ballistae. "Padt said.
"Maybe I know where these crossbows came from." Patko lowered his head and said: "Four years ago, Young Master led the family's cavalry to fight for the second prince. At that time, there were around a hundred guards who followed Young Master. They were in charge of escorting supplies for Young Master and the family's cavalry. After every battle, they were the ones who cleaned up the battlefield. When I was first captured by Young Master, I also cleaned up the battlefield with these guards. At that time, I realized that these guards were very focused on collecting weapons and equipment. Even the damaged ones would be kept together. I know they handed over the armor and money, but I didn't expect them to hide the longbows, ballistae, and even the ballistae ….. "
"What a meticulous plan. Four years ago, they were already prepared to rebel at any time. No wonder they have been looking down on the family. Do they think they can protect Northern Field Town with these long range weapons? I have to get rid of this tumor. "Laurist said through gritted teeth.
"But we can't get close to the city walls!" Padt said.
"A night attack. As long as I go up, we can take down Northern Field Town!" Laurist said as he looked at the town in the distance.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
