Six heavy-duty trucks used to transport sandbags were separated by two car lengths from each other. They were approaching the moat of Archeng in a grandiose manner.
Under the command of their commander, the soldiers of Archeng were constantly using catapults to attack the advancing transport carts. However, the attacks of the catapults were futile. These stones that could shatter shields were incapable of doing any real damage to the transport carts. At most, they would block the wheels of the transport carts, but the soldiers inside could use wooden sticks to move the stones away or use hooks to hook the stones into the carts and use them as raw materials to fill the moat.
Seeing that the attacks of the catapults were ineffective, the commander on the walls ordered the ballistae to attack. If the ballistae could pierce through the wooden armor of the transport carts, they would be able to kill the soldiers inside and thus break the siege.
After several rounds of ballista fire, some of the ballista bolts managed to hit the top and front of the transport carts, but because the siege armor was rather thick, the ballista bolts were unable to pierce through, only grazing the surface.
Ziyad was very pleased with this outcome, and Abu Muslim was also very happy. The morale of the Khorasan soldiers on the besieging side was high, while the morale of the defenders was low. They could only watch as the enemy transport carts slowly approached, but they could do nothing to counter them.
Although the transport carts were extremely heavy, and the fifty sandbags they carried were also very heavy, with twenty muscular soldiers pushing them, the pressure was relatively small. They were able to advance at the speed of a normal person's stroll, a very impressive sight.
Soon, the six heavy transport vehicles arrived at the edge of the moat. The small cover at the front was gently opened, and the soldiers inside threw fifty sandbags filled with mud into the moat. Because of the angle of the moat, the soldiers on the city wall could no longer attack the front of the heavy transport vehicles. Therefore, even if the cover was opened, they would not be attacked. Moreover, the front of the vehicles was tilted inward, so it was difficult to attack.
Plop plop …
Three hundred sandbags and a small number of stones were thrown into the moat again and again, splashing a lot of water and making a lot of noise at the same time.
The generals and soldiers on the city walls could only watch as these huge creatures filled up the moat. Since the catapults and ballistae were ineffective, there was no need to continue attacking to avoid wasting resources.
But the city had to be defended. They had already offended Abu Muslim, and if the city was breached, all the soldiers and civilians in the city would suffer. Thus, they had to think of a way to defend the city, and destroying the transport carriages was the most urgent task.
Since the catapults and heavy crossbows were all ineffective, they had to think of another way. Not far from the city, there were ten thousand elite Khorasan cavalry. This made them not dare to rashly leave the city. Even if they gathered all of the defending troops and left the city, they might not be a match for the ten thousand Khorasan cavalry. Moreover, the enemy had already set up an attack formation, and the soldiers inside the city had to leave the city in batches. Thus, they had even less strength to fight against the Khorasan cavalry.
Therefore, going out of the city to fight was not considered. If the enemy took the opportunity to break through the city gates, the consequences would be even more serious.
But if they didn't leave the city, how could they resolve the crisis before them? They couldn't just watch the enemy fill up the moat in front of them!
They had to destroy the enemy transport carriages. This was a mission that had to be completed, and there was no room for discussion. The generals and soldiers all understood this.
"General, it seems like we can only use fire. No matter how thick the wooden planks are, they fear kerosene. Have the catapults shoot fireballs and burn down the enemy transport carriages."
A soldier suggested.
The general loudly said, "Then what are we waiting for? Go and get ready!"
The soldiers of the city began to prepare kerosene and flammable cotton balls, and they even began to prepare stones for mixing.
They formed the cotton balls into balls, placed a small piece of heavy stone inside, and soaked the outside in kerosene. This way, once the balls were lit, they could be easily thrown out.
It took time to prepare these things. However, it also took time for the attacking side to fill up the moat. With the size of the moat, three to five trips wouldn't have much effect. They had to continuously transport the goods to fill up the moat.
After the first batch of sandbags was thrown into the moat, the six transport carriages began to reverse. The carriages didn't turn at all, but the soldiers inside turned their bodies and directly pushed them back.
After returning to the starting point, the 20 soldiers were also exhausted, so they were replaced by another 20 soldiers. After filling up the sandbags, they continued to move in the direction of the moat.
After the first success, the attacking side's morale was greatly boosted. They pushed the transport carriages faster, and soon, they reached the moat and threw the sandbags in the carriages into the moat.
The defending soldiers on the city wall were still preparing. They needed to prepare a sufficient number of fireballs for the attack to be effective. If they only used one or two fireballs, it wouldn't have much effect. If they couldn't burn the transport carriages in one fell swoop, then it would lose its purpose.
When the attacking side's transport carriages reached the fourth round, the defending side had prepared their fireballs. In addition to the fireballs used by the catapults, there were also the fireballs used by the heavy crossbows. After all, the fireballs thrown by the catapults were easily deflected by the transport carriages. If they were deflected, they wouldn't be able to burn the transport carriages very well. On the other hand, the ballistae could nail the fireballs on the transport carriages and continue to burn until the transport carriages were destroyed.
Seeing the transport carriages he invented transporting the sandbags to the moat, Ziyad's expression became more and more proud. This was exactly what he wanted to see. As long as the transport carriages continued to transport the sandbags, the moat would be filled up sooner or later.
The soldiers on the city wall were paying close attention to the transport carriages. In order to not give them too much time to escape, they had to wait for the transport carriages to reach the moat before launching their fireballs. At the same time, they prepared a large number of stones to prevent the transport carriages from escaping.
"General, the enemy's transport carriages are almost at the moat."
A soldier reminded him.
The general ordered loudly, "Ballistae and catapults ready, fire …"
Immediately, the soldiers threw the fireballs, bolts, and catapults at the transport carriages outside the city. Some of the fireballs that didn't hit the transport carriages fell to the ground. The ones that did hit the transport carriages were also deflected. Only the fireballs that were shot by the ballistae stuck closely to the transport carriages and burned them.
Considering that the arrow was made of wood, it couldn't withstand the burning of fire. Therefore, when the cotton wool was tied to the arrow shaft, it had already been treated with fire resistance so that the arrow shaft wouldn't burn so easily.
"Use the stones when you're done with the fireballs. Quick!"
When the general saw that the catapults had thrown out all the fireballs, he quickly ordered them to continue throwing stones to block the enemy's transport carriages' escape route. This would make it difficult for the enemy's transport carriages to retreat so that they would have enough time to burn to ashes halfway.
A large number of fireballs either landed on the transport carriages or the ground, forming a sparse net of fire, making the entire front of the city very bright and spectacular.
Wood wasn't very fire-resistant. After burning for a short while, the transport carriages caught fire and the flames kept growing bigger.
Seeing this scene, the soldiers on the city wall were all very excited. They worked hard in their hearts, hoping that the flames would burn faster so that the enemy's transport carriages would all be burned to ashes.
As for the soldiers on the siege side, especially Seiyad, who had invented such a transport vehicle, he smacked his chest in frustration. In his moment of panic, he had actually forgotten such an important rule as setting fire. He really shouldn't have done that.
"Retreat, tell them to retreat immediately."
Ziyad roared at the top of his lungs.
At the beginning, the soldiers at the front didn't feel the fire. They still threw the sandbags into the moat as usual, completely ignoring the fact that the transport carriages had been set on fire.
By the time they found out that the transport carriages had been set on fire, the fire was already quite big. The transport carriages were burning from the outside, so they couldn't put it out from the inside. If they took the risk to run out, it was very likely that they would be attacked by the crossbows on the city wall.
A soldier took the risk to walk out of the transport carriages and was randomly shot by the crossbowmen on the city wall.
Soon, they received the order to retreat, so they pushed the transport carriages with all their might, preparing to escape back to the place where they came from. As long as they successfully escaped back to the place where they came from, they would be safe.
However, when they turned around and looked at the road they came from, they were completely dumbfounded. The road where they came from was densely covered with fireballs and stones. It was probably impossible to quickly retreat.
However, no matter how great the difficulty was, they had to retreat because the only outcome for them if they stayed where they were was death.
They tried their best to push the transport carriages back. When they encountered fireballs blocking the road, they used wooden sticks to pick the fireballs away. When they encountered stones blocking the wheels, they had to use wooden sticks to push the stones away and continue moving forward.
However, there were too many fireballs and rocks along the way. Even without these obstacles, they couldn't push too fast. After all, the transport vehicle was too heavy. They could only reach the speed of a stroll at the fastest speed, and it might not even be that fast.
During the process of returning, the six transport carriages were getting farther and farther away from the city wall. However, the fire on the transport carriages was also getting bigger and bigger. It even burned a big hole through the top of the carriages. This made it very difficult for the soldiers inside because they felt that the surrounding temperature was getting higher and higher. It was almost roasting them. Imagine how it felt to put a person in a pot to cook.
During the process of the transport carriages escaping, the soldiers on the city wall didn't stay idle. They continued to throw stones and stones, continuing to block the enemy's transport carriages and increasing the difficulty of their retreat.
After the roof of the transport carriages was burned, the stones could easily smash the roof and the ballistae could also be thrown in, killing the soldiers inside.
The fates of the six transport carriages were different. Some of them retreated more smoothly while some of them didn't. The situation of being hit by fireballs was also not the same. This caused some of the transport carriages to escape far away while some of them were almost destroyed by the fire.
Seeing that the transport carriages were burning, the soldiers on the city wall all laughed and cheered. They continued to attack and increase the burden on the transport carriages.
On the other hand, Ziyad's side was so angry that their lungs were about to explode. They were anxious but didn't have any good way to deal with it. It was just like how the soldiers on the city wall watched the enemy fill up the river.
One of the transport carriages was completely burned. The soldiers inside couldn't take it anymore. They abandoned the transport carriages and came out from the back of the transport carriages and quickly ran back.
The ballistae on the city wall were already prepared. When they saw the enemy soldiers leaving the transport carriages, they immediately attacked and killed the soldiers who wanted to escape. Of course, there were some who escaped faster, but they lost the transport carriages. When they returned, they couldn't expect to be rewarded. It was good enough that they weren't punished.
As these soldiers escaped, one of the transport carriages was completely burned. There was no way to repair it.
"Send a group of shield soldiers to cover their retreat."
Ziyad ordered loudly. He saw that the other transport carriages were completely surrounded by fire. The soldiers inside couldn't hold on for much longer. Abandoning the carriages was inevitable.
Soon, dozens of shield soldiers moved forward step by step and walked to the side of the transport carriages that were burning the most. They were facing the ballistae and ballistae of the city guards. The pressure was still very high.
The soldiers in the transport carriages couldn't stand the roasting of the fire. When they saw the shield soldiers coming to rescue them, they quickly ran out of the carriages and hid behind the shields as they slowly retreated.
However, the ballistae on the city wall were very powerful. Many shields were directly penetrated, and the soldiers hiding behind the shields were shot to death.
Soon, the third and fourth transport carriages were burned. When the last two transport carriages returned to the departure point with difficulty, they were already seriously injured. One of them was mostly damaged, while the other was in better condition. However, it still needed major repairs before it could be used again.
The problem now was that the city guards had learned how to attack with fire. As such, even if they repaired the transport carriages, they couldn't continue to use them. Otherwise, they would be burned by the city guards for fun.
In any case, they managed to withdraw two damaged transport carriages. At least, they saved Ziyad some face. However, Ziyad didn't feel the slightest bit of joy in his heart. This was because he had completely failed. He didn't think about it carefully enough, which led to today's miserable defeat.
"General, a total of 23 soldiers died in battle. More than 60 soldiers were injured. Most of them were burned, and some were injured by arrows."
A soldier told Seiyad the results of the statistics.
Ziyad rubbed his forehead in vexation as he looked at Abu Muslim riding over.
"General, I've lost face for you again."
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