The siege was very fierce. However, as the drawbridge was burned down, it was difficult for the remaining soldiers to continue. Only a small number of soldiers crossed the moat using the ladders. Their speed was very slow, and they were very easy to be attacked by the defending soldiers. The losses were very great.
Seeing that the rest of the siege troops were unable to continue, the defending commander's confidence was greatly boosted. He ordered his men to attack with all their might to eliminate the enemy troops that had entered the city as soon as possible and end the battle as soon as possible.
Several Tang dynasty soldiers who had come to watch the battle also joined the battle with bows and crossbows. Their skills were superb. Almost every time they released an arrow, they would reap the life of an enemy soldier, making the soldiers beside them envious.
There were only one or two thousand soldiers who had rushed into the city gate in one go. Most of the soldiers were still stuck at the back. Furthermore, the main force of the defenders had been transferred over. Therefore, it was not too difficult to annihilate the small number of soldiers who had rushed into the barbican. It was very easy to do.
After a fierce attack, the Khorasan cavalry and infantry that had rushed into the city were all annihilated. Correspondingly, the defenders also lost a lot of soldiers. The casualties were actually two-thirds of the attackers. It could be said that the casualties were huge.
However, the attackers had been surrounded. The casualties were all dead. Most of the casualties on the defenders' side were injured. The ratio of deaths was only one-fifth. The injured soldiers could still continue to fight after their injuries were healed. In this way, the defenders' losses were much smaller.
When the soldiers who had entered the city saw that the rest of the troops could not keep up, some of them rode their horses and fled from Archeng. They swam across the moat and fled back in a sorry state. Because the soldiers on the city wall had been attacking outside the city, very few Khorasan cavalry escaped from the city. Most of them fled to the moat and were shot dead by the soldiers on the city wall.
After eliminating the Khorasan cavalry that had entered the city, the soldiers in the city worked together to close the city gate.
"General, the city gate of Archeng is closed. Then our soldiers who rushed into the city will …"
A guard looked at the city gate that was slowly closing in horror.
Ziyad said angrily, "They will all be killed. Two thousand soldiers will all be killed. It's too hateful."
"General, the situation is extremely bad for us. We can't continue the attack. We should immediately retreat."
One of his subordinates said.
Ziyad had already attacked with all his strength. The current situation truly was not suitable for continuing the attack, so he could only give the order to retreat.
Abu Muslim had also come to watch the battle. When he saw that Seiyad hadn't been able to break into Archeng, he was extremely annoyed. This was such a good opportunity, but he had failed to break into the city and wasted it.
However, he also knew that he could not blame Ziyad.......... to enter the city................................................ to... to............. ..............
"Pass down the order. Kill all the fleeing civilians. Pile their corpses in front."
. "Abu Muslim viciously ordered.
He was truly rather furious. He had used the common folk as cover, but he had still failed to break into the city. If he gathered the common folk and tried again, it probably wouldn't have much of an effect. Thus, there was no point in keeping the common folk. Since the common folk had failed to help them complete their mission, what use was there in keeping them? Thus, he gave the order to kill them.
In addition, Abu Muslim had lost several thousand soldiers in this siege, but he had failed to achieve any sort of result. This would inevitably affect the morale of the army. Moreover, many of the soldiers had lost their comrades and were filled with resentment. In this situation, if the soldiers were not given a chance to vent their resentment, they would have nowhere to vent their resentment and their morale would plummet. There was even a chance that they would begin to panic. This would be a major problem.
Although the common folk here had once been part of the Umayyad Dynasty, the Khorasan people did not speak the same language as the local people. Thus, the soldiers would not refuse to slaughter the common folk.
Even if they were of the same ethnicity, it was useless as long as they were not their own kin. For example, during the War of the Three Kingdoms in Hua Xia, Cao Cao's soldiers had casually slaughtered the common folk of Xu Province. Because these soldiers were all from Qing Province, and Xu Province and Qing Province were not in the same region, they naturally did not have their own kin. Thus, a massacre was easily carried out.
Upon receiving the order, the furious Khorasan cavalry immediately scattered in pursuit, cutting down any common folk they saw. They even cut down a few more times to vent their resentment from the failed siege.
When the soldiers on the walls saw the enemy cavalry chasing down the fleeing common folk, their eyes turned red with rage and they strongly demanded that they go out and fight to the death with the enemy.
The City Lord knew that the soldiers in his hands were all new recruits. If they went out, they would be sending themselves to their deaths. Therefore, he forcefully suppressed the soldiers' request to go out and fight. Instead, he told these angry soldiers to stay alive. Only by staying alive would there be hope.
The weeping of soldiers could be heard all over the walls, their voices sorrowful and miserable. Outside the walls, the howls of pain could be heard. Many of the common folk had not been killed, only injured at most. But if their injuries were severe, they would not survive. The majority of them would not survive. For example, many of them had lost their arms or legs, especially the elderly and children.
"General, the soldiers are about to go out of control. Should we confiscate their weapons?"
A bodyguard asked as he looked at the general.
The general of the city guard was in a difficult position. If he confiscated the weapons of the soldiers, it would probably intensify the conflict and make the soldiers hate their general. If he did not handle it well, it might even lead to a rebellion.
"Don't continue to provoke them. There are thousands of enemy corpses in the city, and there are still some that are not completely dead. Let them vent on the corpses!"
The general of the city guard thought of a good idea. Let the angry and sad soldiers vent on the corpses of the enemy. This way, it might be able to alleviate the injuries in their hearts and allow them to vent their resentment.
After receiving permission, the soldiers who had lost their loved ones roared and charged into the barbican, killing the Khorasan cavalry that were not completely dead. The dead soldiers were also chopped into pieces.
There were also some soldiers who felt that this was not enough. A few of them worked together to carry the dead Khorasan cavalry to the city walls, tied a rope around their necks, and hung their corpses on the city walls for everyone to see.
When the other soldiers saw this, they followed suit and hung even more Khorasan cavalry on the walls. This was a demonstration to the besiegers that they would not back down.
The Khorasan cavalry outside the city moved very quickly. In a relatively short amount of time, they had killed all the fleeing civilians and then used ropes to drag the corpses out of range of the city's ballistae and piled them up.
The corpses of ten thousand civilians piled together could form a very tall mountain that could be clearly seen from very far away.
The corpses of the soldiers hanging on the walls were also very conspicuous, especially when there were so many of them.
The attacking side had piled up a mountain of corpses while the defending side had hung a wall of corpses. Neither side was willing to back down, and an even greater battle seemed to be waiting for them. An intense and somber aura permeated the air around Al-Er City, making it seem like the air was about to freeze.
"So many unarmed civilians were killed just like that. Abu Muslim is truly inhumane. He's gone too far!"
The City Lord angrily said.
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said, "War has always been cruel. Even our Tang Dynasty has slaughtered many civilians since ancient times. There's a good saying: the wrath of an emperor will cause millions of corpses to fall and blood to flow for thousands of miles. Let's get over it!"
"This time, they've gone completely berserk. It seems like the enemy won't stop until they break through Al-Er City. Can we really hold the city? Will the reinforcements really not come to our aid? "
The City Lord was rather worried.
"There's no need to worry. We're relying on the defense of the city, so we still have a great advantage. The enemy has one hundred thousand soldiers, and they've come from afar. They consume a lot of food every day, and we can afford it. Moreover, our cavalry will occasionally harass the enemy and even cut off their supply lines. Once the enemy runs out of food, they'll have to withdraw. All we need to do is seriously defend the city."
The young general of the Tang Dynasty suggested.
"I just don't know when the enemy will run out of food. If it's too long, we'll probably be the first to collapse. The food in the city can only last three to five months at most, and the supplies for defending the city are also limited. Every time we use up a ballista, we'll have one less, and there'll be a time when we run out of kerosene. If we run out of weapons to defend the city, we won't be able to hold it."
The City Lord said.
"Relax! Abu Muslim's goal is to take the entire peninsula. He won't expend too many soldiers just to take Al-Er City. If he loses too many soldiers to take Al-Er City, Abu Muslim won't have the strength to attack Maia City. Thus, he won't go all out, and he won't throw away his resources. This is also our chance. "
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said.
"Mm, let's hope so! We'll just focus on defending Al-Er City. We can't let the enemy have a chance to take advantage of us. "
The City Lord solemnly said.
Through the binoculars, one could clearly see the pained expressions on the faces of the commoners on the mountain of corpses, but the commander only glanced at them a few times before turning away. This scene was far too tragic, and he didn't want to look any longer.
On a hillside outside the city, Abu Muslim was enjoying the scenery. There were two places to look at. One was the mountain of corpses piled up from the corpses of commoners, and the other was the corpses of Khorasan soldiers hanging from the walls.
Ziyad was at his side, but he didn't dare to say a word.
"Look, this is a true war. Only with so many corpses can the cruelty of war be displayed. Don't you think so, Ziyad?"
Abu Muslim said.
"General, it was I who did not complete the mission. I was guilty for not taking the city this time."
Ziyad did not want to explain, only admit his guilt.
"Your mission truly was not completed, but neither was mine. We both failed to live up to the Caliph's trust in us."
Abu Muslim said.
"General, we can't attack the city today. We must build siege weapons as quickly as possible. This time, this general will send a large number of soldiers to protect these weapons so that they won't be ambushed by the enemy. Only with a large number of siege weapons can we easily take Al-Er City and minimize our losses."
Ziyad said.
"Speak! What do you plan to do? "
Abu Muslim asked.
Ziyad raised three fingers and loudly said, "General, I plan to build three hundred catapults, all of them heavy catapults. When used in battle, they can inflict enormous losses on the enemy. I also plan to build several hundred scaling ladders and transport carts, as well as several hundred battering carts. I also plan to build shield carts that can block ballistae. Soldiers will push the shield carts forward and use bows and arrows to suppress the enemy archers. This way, we can take Al-Er City with even fewer losses."
Abu Muslim nodded and said, "Your idea is excellent. If we can really build so many siege weapons, we will definitely be able to break through al-Maiya City. However, we don't have much time. It will take a very long time for you to build all these weapons, and the Caliph won't give us that much time. He wants us to capture al-Maiya City within a month. If we spend so much time just to break through al-Maiya City, we will need even more time to break through Maia City. Thus, we might as well give up on attacking al-Maiya City and head straight for Maia City, leaving behind a small number of cavalry to surround al-Maiya City. This way, we will have enough time. Once our army reaches Maia City, you will be in charge of building all sorts of siege weapons. We will use a large number of siege weapons and our valiant cavalry to break through Maia City in one fell swoop and capture al-Maiya City."
"Is it really okay to bypass Al-Er City and attack Maia City? Won't our retreat be very dangerous? "
Ziyad worriedly said.
"The people in Al-Er City are all cowards. As long as we leave behind twenty thousand men to hold them down, we won't have any problems with our retreat. The soldiers in the city won't dare to recklessly leave, as the only thing waiting for them is death."
Abu Muslim confidently said.
"I'm not worried about the infantry in Al-Er City, but the enemy has many mounted archers. These mounted archers come and go without a trace, and they pose a great threat to our supply lines."
What Seiyad was most worried about was the problem of the food supply. The reason why he was in a hurry to attack Al City was that he wanted to use it as a base for his next attack after occupying it. All kinds of weapons and food could be stored in Al City. This was the most advantageous for the attack.
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.
