Although the large number of crossbow bolts fired by the new recruits did not cause too much damage to the attacking enemy, it more or less had a deterrent effect, creating psychological pressure in their hearts. In addition, the river filling soldiers with the weakest defense were hit more often. The number of casualties was much higher than the crossbowmen. Once a person was injured, they had to withdraw from the battle, which meant that their combat power was reduced by a portion.
Under Seiyad's command, the army continued to advance. In the eyes of the generals, some losses were simply insignificant. This was especially so for the generals who had fought in major battles. They were already used to seeing corpses strewn all over the field. Seeing the soldiers under their command dying in battle was not a big deal. As for injuries, there was no need to mention it. What the generals needed was victory, a victory that completely defeated the enemy. As long as they could win the war, it was worth it no matter how many soldiers they sacrificed. That was why there was the saying that a general's success was built on the bones of ten thousand soldiers.
Ziyad's gaze was always fixed on the wall in front of him. He was thinking about how to break through the city, not how many people would be sacrificed to break through the city. He had already seen the first round of the enemy's counterattack. What other tricks would the enemy use next? He was still waiting, waiting for the enemy to use more defensive moves.
When the first row of giant shield soldiers walked to the edge of the moat, the soldiers responsible for covering them were all in position. The giant shield soldiers and the few rows of shield soldiers behind them were responsible for covering. A large number of crossbowmen hid behind them and shot arrows at the wall through the gaps to suppress the soldiers on the wall and cover their own soldiers who were transporting the sandbags.
This move was often used by the attacking side, so it was naturally effective. In order to not be hit by the arrows, the defending soldiers naturally had to dodge. Their attacks were not as casual as before, and the frequency of their attacks was greatly reduced. However, projectile shooting was still better because it was a probability to kill the enemy. There was no need to aim and shoot. As long as they knew the approximate position of the enemy, they could shoot from behind the wall.
When the enemy was close, the effect of projectile shooting was naturally not as good as shooting directly. Therefore, in order to better injure the attacking soldiers, the defending soldiers took the risk of sticking their bodies out of the parapet wall and attacking the crossbowmen who were exposed through the gaps of the shields. Of course, this included the river filling soldiers who were transporting the sandbags. The river filling soldiers were especially important for the defending side because once the moat was filled, the defending side would lose a very good defensive moat, which was very disadvantageous for the defending side.
The attacking side was at a lower position, while the crossbowmen on the wall were at a higher position. The parapet wall was much stronger in terms of defensive power than the giant shield. Therefore, the defending side had the advantage in shooting, while the attacking side was at a disadvantage.
For this reason, the attacking side also prepared sharp weapons, which were mobile arrow towers that were higher than the city wall. These mobile arrow towers needed many people to move together. The front and side were all covered with wooden planks. The design of the top was similar to the parapet wall, and the overall height was often higher than the city wall.
This way, the attacking side wouldn't be at a disadvantage when shooting at each other. Seiyad's army also had such large weapons and they had participated in the siege.
Because of the urgency of time, only the attacking side had four large mobile arrow towers. Moreover, they had already moved up and were in position soon.
With the crossbowmen on the high ground, the advantage of suppressing the defending side was more obvious. Soon, the defending side on the wall was suppressed to the point that they did not dare to show their heads. They had no choice but to mobilize more crossbowmen to shoot at the attacking side on the mobile arrow towers.
As a result, the defending side did not have enough firepower to deal with the soldiers filling the moat. This directly led to the speed of the soldiers filling the moat to greatly increase.
This situation clearly favored the attacking side. As long as the attacking side filled the moat, a large number of soldiers could approach the walls and immediately launch a fierce assault. Taking the city in one fell swoop would not be difficult.
Watching from a distance, Abu Muslim disdainfully chuckled. He could already see the strength of the defending side, and he felt that the defending side really wasn't that strong. At the very least, it was much weaker than the soldiers under his command. Just a single wave of attacks was enough to make the defenders unable to hold out. Many of the defending soldiers were afraid of sacrificing themselves and were hiding behind the parapet wall. Such soldiers were far too weak. At the very least, in Abu Muslim's eyes, the defending soldiers truly were weak. For this reason, he was filled with confidence that he could take the city.
Ziyad had also noticed that the majority of the defending side was made up of new recruits. He only needed to observe the performance of the defending soldiers to determine their level.
However, the defending side had many defensive methods. At present, they did not only have heavy ballistae to attack, but also many other defensive methods.
For example, during the attack, the attacking side used a large number of catapults to attack the city walls, causing a certain amount of casualties to the defending soldiers on the city walls. Moreover, the catapults continued to attack. As a result, the defending side could naturally use the catapults to counterattack.
The catapults that the Tang dynasty had sent to defend the city had been deployed in Archeng. These catapults were smaller and could be better equipped on the walls to attack the attacking soldiers. Compared to the projectile shots from bows and arrows, the projectile shots from the catapults were clearly much more powerful. After all, the weight of bows and arrows was very limited, so their attack power was not high enough. The catapults, on the other hand, could throw very heavy stones onto the bodies of the soldiers, causing even more damage. This was especially true when thrown from above.
Of course, in addition to the catapults, they were also equipped with ballistae. These ballistae were far more powerful than the heavy ballistae in the hands of the soldiers. They were the trump card of the defending side because the ballistae had a very high range, much longer than the heavy ballistae.
However, both the catapults and the ballistae were relatively rare. After all, these were sold to Altik by the Tang Empire. It was difficult for them to copy them on a large scale in a short period of time. In addition, they might not be able to learn some of the manufacturing processes involved. Even if they could copy the products exactly the same, the range and power would probably be greatly reduced.
When the defending generals saw that a large number of new recruits did not dare to show their faces, no matter how they reprimanded them, it did not have much effect. On the other hand, the enemy soldiers below the city were filling the moat with all their strength. This was very unfavorable for the defending side. For this reason, the defending generals decisively took out the catapults and ballistae and aimed them at the four moving arrow towers outside the city.
The attack accuracy of the catapults was not very high, but there were many soldiers under the moving arrow towers. There were shield soldiers and crossbow soldiers. Therefore, even if the stones could not hit the moving arrow towers, they would still cause great damage to the soldiers around them.
The ballistae also adjusted their angles and aimed at the moving arrow towers outside the city.
The catapults were the first to launch their attack. Stones were thrown at the moving arrow tower. Because the accuracy was not high, most of them fell below, and most of them hit the shields. The shields were all made of wood, so their defense was not very strong. It was not a problem for them to block the rain of arrows, but if the stones were heavy, the shields would not be able to block them. Even if the shields were very thick, they would not be able to resist the large stones thrown from the sky. It would not be strange for them to be smashed.
The stones smashed many shields and injured many of the attacking soldiers. A small number of stones hit the moving arrow towers and smashed the defensive wooden boards at the front of the arrow towers.
The reason why the moving arrow towers had an advantage was that they were higher than the city walls. The soldiers on top could shoot from above. The other reason was that the front of the moving arrow towers had thicker wooden boards. It was enough to block the attack of the defending arrows and protect the safety of the crossbowmen.
This mobile arrow tower had a very nice name in the Huaxia Empire, and it was a very useful siege weapon. It had been spread to the Arab world a long time ago because this siege weapon didn't have any technical difficulties. It could be used as long as it looked the same. It wasn't like bows and crossbows, which required slightly more technical skills, that were useless even if they were made the same. Their power and range were different.
After the defensive wooden boards at the top of the moving arrow towers were smashed, the crossbowmen inside were miserable. Their bodies were completely exposed to the crossbows of the defending soldiers. After a few rounds of attacks, the attacking side suffered a large number of casualties.
The moving arrow towers were originally used to reduce the casualties and suppress the defending side. As a result, the shields were destroyed and the soldiers had no cover. As a result, the moving arrow towers had to withdraw from the battle.
In the process of retreating, one of the moving arrow towers was hit many times. The supporting wooden frame in the middle was broken, causing the moving arrow tower to collapse and kill a large number of soldiers.
Seeing this scene, Ziyad, who was in charge of commanding, was shocked. The enemy's catapults were too accurate! They were too powerful! This was much more powerful than he had imagined.
Indeed, the defensive catapults supported by the Tang dynasty were more accurate and powerful. Therefore, they could more easily destroy the various weapons of the attacking side.
"It was destroyed not long after it went up. How is this possible?"
Seiyad refused to believe it as he ran forward from the side. He wanted to take a look at the retreating arrow tower and see what kind of attack it was that could render it unable to continue fighting.
Of course, for his own safety, Ziyad would not get too close to the city wall. He had to be at least one and a half times the shooting range of the enemy's crossbows. This was a safe distance.
Of the four moving arrow towers, three were damaged and one was completely damaged. It was completely left on the battlefield.
Ziyad waited at a safe distance for the three moving arrow towers that were slowly retreating. This scene was naturally seen by the defending generals.
Generals of different positions wore different clothes. Ziyad's clothes were obviously different from ordinary generals. Therefore, as soon as he appeared, he attracted the attention of many soldiers on the city wall.
"A big fish is coming. All ballistae, ready to fire. Aim at the enemy's commander."
Many ballistae adjusted their angles and aimed at Ziyad in the distance. If they could kill Ziyad in one fell swoop, it would be a huge victory for the defending side. However, it would be a disaster for the attacking side.
Ziyad obviously did not expect that a large number of ballistae on the city wall were already aimed at him. He also did not expect that the range of the ballistae was enough to cover his position. In other words, his current position was not safe. It was a very dangerous place.
After all the ballistae were ready, they immediately fired a volley. The target was Ziyad in the distance.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh …
A large number of ballistae brushed past his ear. This made Ziyad jump. He did not have time to think and immediately bent down to avoid the incoming ballistae. Quite a few of the guards around him were struck by the ballistae, and the inertia caused them to fly quite a distance.
A huge ballista bolt was lucky enough to hit Seiyad's mount and almost hit his thigh. However, as the horse fell to the ground with a loud bang, Seiyad fell heavily to the ground with his limbs in the air. He looked rather pathetic.
Fortunately, Ziyad was a veteran on the battlefield and quickly reacted. He hid behind the corpse of his horse, not caring about his image at all. If he lost his life, everything would be over.
Ziyad's fall from his horse was seen by Abu Muslim and the soldiers on the walls. The soldiers on the walls were naturally very excited to see Ziyad fall from his horse, but Abu Muslim was greatly alarmed.
After all, Ziyad was his right-hand man. If anything happened to Ziyad, it would be like he had lost an arm.
Because he was so far away, Abu Muslim didn't know what was going on with Seiyad, but he was in the rear, so he couldn't personally go over to see. Otherwise, if even he was in danger, the consequences would be even more severe.
Ziyad was not injured, but because the enemy had been firing ballistae this entire time, he did not dare to rashly get up. If he was hit, he would be finished.
Soon, a large number of guards behind him raised a large number of shields and rushed over, blocking in front of Seiyad. They formed multiple lines of defense in front of him. Seiyad finally retreated under the protection of the guards. He didn't even dare to ride his horse.
The warhorse that was shot to death was a very expensive horse. It was also a comrade-in-arms who had been with Seiyad for many years. Seiyad felt a little upset that it had been shot to death just like that. However, the warhorse was already dead. It was useless to be sad. The only way was to accept reality.
As he was leaving, Ziyad casually pulled out a ballista bolt. This was the first time he had ever seen such a large ballista bolt, and he was stunned.
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.
