When the young generals of the Tang Dynasty heard the enemy's horn, they naturally did not continue to rest in their tents. They immediately rushed to the city wall to observe the situation outside. Soon, they saw a large group of people carrying sand to fill the moat.
Once the moat was completely filled up, it would be very disadvantageous for the defenders. The ones who were filling up the moat were ordinary people, and they were the people who lived near Al City. Many of the soldiers who participated in the defense of the city were strong laborers in the vicinity. How could they lay their hands on their loved ones?
This was a dilemma. The soldiers could not bear to shoot the civilians who were filling up the moat, but if they did not stop the civilians from continuing to fill up the moat, it was only a matter of time before the moat was filled up. That would be terrible.
After seeing this situation, the young generals of the Tang Dynasty began to think about how to deal with it. Because their mission was to help the soldiers here to defend Al City. Moreover, after so many days together, they already had feelings for each other. So, they were more determined to help them defend the city.
"General Tang, what do you think we should do in the current situation?"
The City Lord looked at the young generals of the Tang Dynasty and asked for countermeasures.
"Tens of thousands of enemy cavalry are outside the city. You can't win even if you rush out. The soldiers guarding the city are unwilling to attack the people. So, the situation has become very tricky. It's not easy to deal with!"
"It's very difficult to passively defend. We're in big trouble."
Two young generals of the Tang Dynasty said.
"Can we only wait for death here?"
The City Lord said helplessly.
A young general of the Tang Dynasty who was the leader said, "Because of the lack of time, we only had time to dig the moat, but we didn't build the barbican. Now it seems that we are in trouble. If there is a barbican, we can open the city gate. Even if the enemy rushes into the city, it doesn't matter. We can completely annihilate the enemy in the city."
"A barbican. That's right. It's still not too late to build it now."
The City Lord thought it was very reasonable. He immediately ordered all the strong laborers in the city to be recruited. Many soldiers also had to participate. They had to build the barbican in the shortest time possible.
If they needed bricks and other materials, they could just demolish the nearby houses. In short, they would use the local materials to build the barbican as quickly as possible.
Of course, because it was used in an emergency, the barbican didn't need to be too tall. It only needed to be able to block the soldiers who rushed into the city.
One person's height was enough, or a little higher would be fine too. After all, if the enemy launched an attack, they would definitely use cavalry. Cavalry was taller than infantry, so it should be built appropriately.
Tens of thousands of people were working together, and they were very active. Naturally, the efficiency was very fast. The construction of the wall was very fast. It wasn't difficult to build a simplified version of the barbican in a few hours.
This newly built barbican was much taller than a person, but it was shorter than the real city wall by half. However, the width of the city wall was not bad. It was as wide as the real city wall. Moreover, there was a parapet wall that was half the height of a person.
After the simple barbican was built, the City Lord deployed a large number of soldiers and horses on the wall. In this way, even if the enemy cavalry broke into the city, they would be killed by the soldiers who were guarding the wall.
"The barbican has been built. We can form a suicide squad. Send dozens of soldiers out of the city to guide the people into the barbican. If the enemy takes the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, don't be polite. Just shoot them directly."
The young general of the Tang Dynasty suggested.
"What if the people are accidentally injured?"
A guard said.
"Then let the soldiers shoot more accurately. It's normal to accidentally injure some people. That's all we can do."
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said.
"Let's do it. Immediately form a suicide squad and go out of the city to cover the people entering the city."
The thick-armed general said.
Soon, a suicide squad of 50 people was formed. They were armed with shields and short guns. Some of them were armed with bows and crossbows. They were ready to go out of the city to cover the people at any time.
"Warriors, your loved ones are outside. Now the city gate will be opened soon. Go out of the city to cover the people entering the city. If the enemy cavalry launches a surprise attack, shoot the enemy cavalry at close range."
The City Lord said.
"Yes, General."
The 50 soldiers took the order.
Soon, the city gate was slowly opened. The deployment on the moat was also slowly lowered. The 50 soldiers quickly rushed out.
"Hide in the city, quick."
The 50 soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.
These people were tired after working for half a day. When they saw the city gate open, they were stunned for a long time before they thought of running into the city.
However, the drawbridge over the moat was not very wide. There were 10,000 people in total. Under such circumstances, it would take a long time for them to pass through the drawbridge and the city gate in an orderly manner.
The City Lord, who was observing the situation on the city wall, saw the dense crowd of people and asked, "General Tang, the city gate is so small. I'm afraid it will be difficult for these people to enter the city."
"Of course. Not only is the city gate small, it's difficult for a large number of people to pass through in a short time, but the enemy cavalry will also not miss a good opportunity to launch a surprise attack. These people will probably be knocked away and killed by the Khorasan cavalry."
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said.
"In that case, won't we be doing harm to these people?"
The City Lord said sadly.
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said, "Our task is to defend the city. In order to defend the city, we can't think too much about the interests of the people. Moreover, if these people are killed by the Khorasan cavalry, the soldiers defending the city will hate the enemy even more and be more determined to defend the city. It's much easier than letting the soldiers kill the people!"
Obviously, although this was not a good idea, it was better than waiting for death. The soldiers defending the city were reluctant to kill the people, but the soldiers attacking the city did not have this concern. They would take the opportunity to attack the city gate. On the way, they would inevitably knock away and kill the people.
Driven by their desire to live, a large number of citizens began to run towards the suspension bridge. The older ones held the younger ones' hands, while the women carried their children. They were all running for their lives. The suspension bridge was very narrow, so how could it withstand so many citizens rushing over at the same time? Very quickly, it was filled with people. Some of the citizens were accidentally pushed into the moat, and many of them drowned.
"General, the city gate is open. This is a good opportunity!"
The guard said excitedly.
Of course, Ziyad would not miss such a good opportunity. He excitedly ordered, "Cavalry, charge into Archeng. The first one to reach the top of the city gate will be rewarded with 10,000 gold coins."
Soon, thousands of cavalrymen rushed over. The cavalrymen were very fast. After they caught up with the people, because the people were also running toward the city gate, they would be blocked. Therefore, they slaughtered these people who were in the way to increase the speed of their advance. They wanted to rush into Archeng as soon as possible and capture the city. As long as they were the first to reach the top of the city gate, they would be rewarded handsomely.
At first, thousands of cavalrymen charged very fast. However, as they approached the drawbridge, their speed slowed down. A large number of people were blocking the drawbridge, so it was difficult for them to rush over.
In order to solve this problem, they could only choose to kill. They slaughtered all the people in front of them without mercy. Only in this way could they break into Archeng faster.
Although too many people were slaughtered, and some fell into the moat, there were still some who entered the city and were successfully rescued.
Because most of the people were very close to the moat, the heavy crossbows and catapults could be used to attack. They could attack the cavalrymen behind these people and attack the enemy.
Soon, a battle broke out. A large number of crossbows dealt a heavy blow to the Khorasan cavalrymen at the back. However, the cavalrymen at the front were already intertwined with the people. The heavy weapons could not attack at all.
Some of the soldiers used crossbows to attack, but due to the problem of accuracy, they would always injure the people by accident, further increasing the casualties.
The cavalry's surprise attack was very powerful. The commoners blocking the drawbridge were quickly pushed aside. After the cavalry continued their assault, they stepped onto the drawbridge and started killing left and right. They killed the commoners on the drawbridge and kicked them into the moat.
The cavalrymen who charged across the drawbridge were only a few steps away from the gates of Archeng. However, the fifty soldiers who were already deployed here were not to be trifled with. They immediately attacked and shot the cavalrymen down from their horses.
However, there were many enemy cavalrymen. They attacked like crazy. Soon, many cavalrymen rushed into the city. The cavalrymen behind them continued to attack.
Ziyad was in a good mood when he saw his troops break into the city. In order to take down Archeng in one go, he immediately ordered the soldiers to attack with simple ladders.
Because a large number of people were fleeing in all directions, the soldiers guarding the city were more or less afraid of attacking the enemy outside the city. This caused a large number of enemy soldiers to rush over the drawbridge. Some rushed directly to the city gates, while others placed ladders on the city walls, preparing to attack from the city walls. With more points of attack, the chances of breaking through the city walls would be higher.
Because the soldiers guarding the city were already prepared, a large number of soldiers were deployed on the city walls and the barbican. Therefore, the cavalrymen who rushed into the barbican were quickly destroyed and suffered heavy casualties. The cavalrymen were unable to advance or retreat. They were in a very passive situation.
Originally, this city didn't have a barbican. During the previous attacks, the besiegers had observed from the watchtower that there was no barbican in the city. However, all the heavy siege equipment had been destroyed by the fire last night. Therefore, the besiegers couldn't understand the situation inside the city.
The attacking soldiers who rushed into the city were completely in a passive situation. It could be said that they were turtles in a jar. It was only a matter of time before they were all wiped out.
Even more attacking soldiers did not know that there was a barbican in Archeng. They all rushed into the city with all their strength. They still wanted to break into the city and take the military equipment.
There were at least ten thousand soldiers used to attack the city. There were even more soldiers behind. They could kill their way into the city at any time. They had made up their minds to take down the city. They would not stop until they took down Archeng.
Except for a small number of people who escaped into the city, most of the people were either killed or fled in all directions. There were also many injured people lying on the ground and wailing in pain.
The attacking soldiers quickly gathered inside and outside the moat. Some rushed into the city gate, some climbed up the ladders to attack, and some desperately squeezed across the moat to attack the city.
The battle was very fierce, and both sides suffered a lot of casualties. However, the attacking side suffered more losses. After all, the attacking side did not have the geographical advantage, while the defending side had the geographical advantage. Their weapons were better, and their supplies were much more convenient.
If it weren't for the newly built barbican in Al City and the large siege weapons being burned down, the city lord wouldn't have dared to open the city gates, nor would he have dared to lower the drawbridge over the moat.
Seeing that the attacking soldiers were so fierce and caused huge losses to the defending side who had the geographical advantage, the defending city lord was afraid. If it were not for the sturdy city and the advanced weapons of the Tang dynasty, these new soldiers would not be a match for the Khorasan cavalry. There was still a long way to go.
"Catapults attack! Break the drawbridge!"
Seeing that there were more and more attacking soldiers, the defending city lord was worried that the city would really be breached. He hurriedly gave the order to attack the drawbridge.
A large number of catapults immediately aimed at the drawbridge and smashed it fiercely.
This caused an even greater loss to the attacking troops. This was because many of the attacking troops had squeezed through the drawbridge. This was where the troops were the most concentrated. The boulders did not even need to aim to hit a few soldiers.
It was not enough to just attack with stones. If they wanted to completely destroy the drawbridge, they also needed the help of fire. Soon, balls of fire flew toward the drawbridge and turned it into a sea of fire.
There were many advantages to attacking the drawbridge. It could prevent more attacking soldiers from smoothly crossing the moat. At the same time, it could make it difficult for the attacking soldiers who had already crossed the moat to retreat. Thus, a large number of them would be wiped out.
Ziyad, who was watching the battle from a distance, saw that many of his soldiers had already broken into the city, but why hadn't they reached the top of the city wall? This made him very confused. Moreover, the drawbridge was in a sea of fire, which made him very nervous. That was the most convenient way for his soldiers to rush to the city. If the drawbridge was destroyed, the soldiers behind him would not be able to attack, and the soldiers who had already rushed over would not be able to retreat.
"General, the bridge has been burned. It will be difficult for our soldiers to cross it."
A soldier beside Ziyad said.
Ziyad said, "Of course I know that. However, the enemy's gate is wide open. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. It would be a pity to miss it."
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