Abu Muslim was very confident in the ability of his elite cavalry to fight in the wilderness. He had every reason to believe that he only needed twenty thousand cavalry to defeat the reinforcements.
Now that he was ready to deal with the reinforcements, Abu Muslim could begin to focus on the assault on Archeng. An army of eighty thousand attacking a city of only twenty thousand had a certain advantage in numbers, but the difference in numbers was only four times, so the advantage was still not enough. Moreover, the soldiers defending the city were equipped with advanced weapons and defensive equipment. Taking a city like this would not be an easy task.
However, Abu Muslim's greatest advantage was that his soldiers were all veterans, while the soldiers defending the city were all rookies. This was the greatest difference. In addition, he had a rather vicious heart, a trait that his opponents lacked.
To attack a city with four times the number of soldiers, it was definitely not enough to rely on human lives alone. They had to have a large number of siege weapons. Otherwise, attacking a city would become a suicide mission.
In order to reduce the losses of his men, Abu Muslim naturally needed to build a large number of siege weapons. Given the haste with which the army had marched, other than the most basic weapons like shields, most of the siege weapons were still on the way and would take several days to arrive. Moreover, in order to reduce casualties, they needed to build even more siege weapons. Thus, many soldiers began to cut down trees and gather materials to build the siege weapons. In addition, in order to increase the speed of their work, they seized a large amount of manpower from the surrounding areas and forced the common folk to work. If they didn't, they would beat them until they submitted.
These people who were skilled craftsmen could participate in the construction of the siege weapons, but those who weren't skilled could still cut wood and transport materials. In short, as long as they could work, it was fine. In addition, these people who were forced to work had an even more important use.
The defenders of Archeng were also making their preparations. One side was preparing to attack while the other was preparing to defend. Both sides were doing their best to make the other pay a heavy price.
After being completely surrounded, the soldiers of Al City could no longer go out. Even the cavalry that had won the first battle were trapped inside the city. This was because there were simply too many enemy soldiers outside the city. If they went out to look for an opportunity under such circumstances, they would definitely be wiped out. Even if they were light cavalry and were fast enough, they would not be able to escape the large-scale siege of the enemy.
Altik and the others stationed in Maia City quickly learned that Archeng was under siege, and they felt a great deal of pressure. However, the majority of the soldiers in the city were infantry. If they tried to reinforce the city, there was a high chance that they would be surrounded by the superior number of Khorasan cavalry and completely annihilated. In order to avoid this fate, they could only watch from the sidelines and dispatch a small number of cavalry to suppress the small number of Khorasan cavalry on the perimeter.
There were several thousand-man mounted archers in Maia City, and these mounted archers could leave the city at any time to harass the enemy in the north. Once they were tired, they could return to Maia City to rest and reorganize. Only by having the energetic mounted archers continue to harass the enemy would they not tire themselves out too much.
"It seems like our previous predictions were correct. Abu Muslim really did choose to besiege the northern city of Archeng. Fortunately, we managed to transport a large amount of supplies and supplies into Archeng, or else the pressure on the city's defenders would have been even greater."
Altik rejoiced.
"Archeng has twenty thousand soldiers, so it should be able to hold the city. Even if the city is breached in the end, it should be able to deal a heavy blow to Abu Muslim's elite cavalry. As long as Abu Muslim's elite forces suffer heavy losses, the soldiers of Archeng won't have sacrificed themselves in vain."
His subordinate said.
It was clear that there were still people who believed that Al City would not be able to defend itself. After all, 20,000 new recruits with no combat experience were already under a lot of pressure when facing elite troops. The pressure of defending the city for a long period of time was even greater. Therefore, it was very likely that the city would be breached. It was only a matter of time. The more weapons prepared, the lower the possibility of being breached, and the longer the city could hold on.
"All we can do now is send cavalry to harass the enemy. The infantry can't move around carelessly while defending the city. Everything will depend on their own luck. Order the cavalry to leave the city in batches!"
Altik ordered.
"Yes, City Lord."
His subordinate replied.
Very soon, a thousand-man mounted archery troop departed from the city gate of Maia City. This troop carried about ten days worth of rations and food. In other words, they would return to Maia City after ten days to rest and recuperate in order to maintain their ability to continue fighting.
Maia City had three mounted archers, one of which would set out every three days. This was a very good way to harass the enemy. Meanwhile, the mounted archers garrisoned in the other cities and regions would also need to go to the north to harass and attack the elite Khorasan cavalry, exhausting the Khorasan cavalry and inflicting heavy losses on them.
In addition, a small number of mounted archers were also lying in ambush in the villages to the north of Archeng. If these mounted archers suddenly cut off Abu Muslim's supply line, the consequences would be dire. But they had too few soldiers, so they wouldn't have much of an effect.
Abu Muslim's army was progressing very quickly. In just a few days, they had built a large number of siege weapons and were ready to launch the first feint attack on Archeng.
The feint mission was personally commanded by Seiyad. There were less than 20,000 troops used to attack. They were split into four groups and attacked from different directions at the same time. This was to divert the attention of the defending army and test the combat strength of the defending army.
Ziyad was in charge of the northern front, which had eight thousand soldiers. The other fronts had even fewer soldiers. In any case, this was just a feint, not an actual attack.
There were many types of siege weapons, such as scaling ladders and shields, as well as catapults. The soldiers were also elite soldiers, so they had a very high level of defense.
Abu Muslim and his guards were in the rear rather far away, while Ziyad was in the front line. But he had chosen to stay out of the range of the siege weapons so that he wouldn't be careless and be shot. If that happened, he would suffer a great loss.
As Ziyad looked at the dense ranks of enemy soldiers on the walls, he felt a sliver of nervousness and pressure. The advanced Tang dynasty Lurking Distance Crossbows had left a very deep impression on him, and these were the most powerful weapons that he knew of. Could there be even more powerful weapons from the Tang dynasty? This question perplexed Ziyad. If the Tang dynasty had provided them with even more powerful siege weapons, wouldn't they suffer grievous casualties? And could a probing attack really test out all the defensive capabilities of the defenders? This was not certain. If the attack was not fierce enough, the defenders would not feel the pressure, and some of the defensive weapons would not be used.
Thus, in order to make the defenders use all their defensive weapons, Ziyad had decided to launch a fierce assault. Even if it was a feint, he had to make it seem like a fierce assault, so that the defenders would be frightened out of their wits and be forced to use all their defensive capabilities. In this way, his feint would have succeeded.
"Pass on my order. Prepare to attack the city."
Ziyad very domineeringly gave the order to attack.
Very quickly, the several thousand siege soldiers began to push all kinds of weapons and launch a fierce assault on Archeng. At the same time, the siege weapons began to hurl stones of various sizes at the walls of Archeng. Moreover, they were attacking from four directions at the same time. This was the only way to be fierce enough to cause the recruits to panic.
Before Seiyad's attacking troops set up their attack formation, the defending troops also began to make corresponding defensive preparations. Considering that the recruits would be nervous, they tried their best to draw out veterans from the defending troops. After a few battles, the recruits would become veterans. This was the safest way to take things one step at a time.
The siege soldiers first had to cross the moat, and then they could attack from the city walls and gates. The moat was relatively wide, and there was water on both sides. Its depth was also considerable. It was a very useful defensive facility.
There were many ways to break through the moat. For example, there were ladders on the moat, and the soldiers could pass through the ladders. However, this method was not very effective because the heavy siege weapons could not pass through the ladders. Moreover, it was very dangerous for the siege soldiers to carry the ladders and pass through the ladders. It would cause a lot of casualties to the siege troops.
Therefore, the best way was to transport earth and stones to fill up part of the moat. This way, the siege soldiers could calmly pass through the moat.
However, the distance between the moat and the city walls was generally not far. Moreover, it was in the easiest position for the defenders to attack. Filling up the moat with earth and stones would cause them to be attacked by the soldiers on the city walls.
Because the moat was relatively wide and deep, and there was a lot of water in it, it required a lot of work to fill up the moat. During the process of filling up the moat, the soldiers responsible for transporting the earth and stones would always be attacked, thus accumulating a lot of casualties.
However, in order to eventually capture the city, it was generally necessary to fill up the moat. As long as the moat was made flat, it would be beneficial for the next siege operation and minimize the losses of the troops.
When Ziyad commanded the troops to attack the city, he prepared a large number of soldiers responsible for transporting the earth and stones. Their task was to fill up the moat so that the troops could smoothly cross the moat.
In order to defend against the arrows thrown from the city walls, giant shields would be set up near the moat. These shields were several times taller than the height of a person. They could easily block the arrows and reduce the casualties to a large extent.
However, the process of filling up the moat could not be completely under the protection of the giant shields. The soldiers would always be exposed. Otherwise, they would be surrounded by the shields. How could the soldiers throw the sandbags?
Therefore, since ancient times, the troops responsible for filling up the moat had always suffered heavy casualties. These soldiers were also the lowest troop class in the army. They were the most despised troop class. Their background was generally not very good. Many of them were poor, or they were simply foreigners or captive soldiers.
Even the settings in later games were to use trash soldiers to fill up the moat. Noble knights and swordsmen would not fill up the moat. Only the lowest and cheapest troop classes, such as slave soldiers, militia, and pikemen, would be used to fill up the moat.
The troop class that Ziyad commanded to fill up the moat was the lowest troop class. Many of them were slaves from other tribes. Compared to the main tribes of the Apus dynasty, their status was much lower. After joining the army, they had very limited opportunities to be promoted. During war, they had to rush to the forefront of the battlefield and do some of the most dangerous work, such as filling up the moat.
The production of gunny sacks was very simple. Therefore, the army could easily obtain many gunny sacks and use the local materials to dig up the soil. After filling up the gunny sacks with soil, they could be used to fill up the moat.
The soldiers in charge of filling up the moat worked together. Some were responsible for digging in a safe place, some were responsible for filling up the gunny sacks with soil, and the rest were responsible for carrying them. They used handcarts to carry the gunny sacks filled with soil to the side of the moat.
There were more than 500 soldiers in charge of filling up the moat. They were divided into three groups to fill up the moat. This way, they could fill up the path and make it easier for the next siege.
Shields of various sizes slowly approached the moat. The crossbowmen also followed closely behind. One was responsible for covering, and the other was responsible for suppressing.
The shields could provide good cover for the crossbowmen and the Sky River soldiers. The crossbowmen could attack the soldiers on the wall and suppress the soldiers on the wall from attacking the soldiers filling up the moat. It was the same principle as the machine gun suppression in the future. It was to make the defending soldiers not dare to show their faces. The fewer chances the defending soldiers had to show their faces, the safer the soldiers filling up the moat would be.
Before the shieldbearers even got close to the moat, the crossbow recruits in the city couldn't help but fire their arrows. They nervously opened fire without receiving any orders, and these arrows were all blocked by the shields without exception.
"Everyone, get ready to launch a projectile attack."
The general guarding the city had some combat experience. He knew that in a situation where there were shields, the effect of direct attacks was very poor. Only by using projectile attacks could they achieve better results. After all, there were always many gaps between the first row of shields and the next few rows of shields. In these gaps, there were many crossbowmen. Only projectile attacks could better attack them. In addition, the river-filling soldiers that were transported back and forth were not very well protected. They would also be hit by the projectile arrows.
Ziyad's troops were all relatively elite. The crossbowmen were all wearing armor and helmets. As a result, the damage caused by projectile attacks on these soldiers was relatively limited.
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