Upon returning to the camp, Ziyad immediately reported the results of his investigation to Abu Muslim. Even though the scouts had already investigated the situation, how could the investigation of ordinary soldiers compare to the investigation of a general? The two had different comprehension and observation abilities, so the results of their investigations were naturally different.
"General, Maia City's defenses are truly formidable and too difficult to attack. This general feels that we won't be able to take it in time. We might need the Caliph to give us a few more days so that we have enough time to build even more siege weapons."
The first thing Ziyad said to Abu Muslim was to ask for more time.
"Ziyad, you're right. More than half a month has passed, so we definitely won't be able to complete the mission. I will ask the Caliph for more time. You just need to prepare for the siege. Right, how many siege weapons do you plan on building?"
Abu Muslim asked.
Ziyad thought for a few moments before saying, "General, in order to minimize casualties, we need to prepare at least one thousand siege weapons of various sizes. This is the minimum."
Abu Muslim nodded. "Fine! Then prepare one thousand. We have to protect these weapons and not let the enemy destroy them. Moreover, we need to build them with great fanfare, the bigger the disturbance, the better. In addition, dispatch some soldiers to begin digging tunnels. We need to dig them out quietly so that the enemy doesn't notice. "
"General's meaning is that we need to build a tunnel under the guise of building siege weapons on a large scale while secretly digging tunnels to attack the city?"
Ziyad sighed.
Abu Muslim nodded. "Yes, that's what I mean. If we can dig our way into the city, our losses will be minimized. But if we're discovered, everything will be over. Thus, we can only rely on siege weapons to attack the city from the front."
"Yes, this general understands. I will definitely proceed with caution. "
Ziyad understood and hastily went to make preparations.
Seiyad followed his instructions and made two preparations. On the one hand, he cut down trees on a large scale and built a large number of siege weapons to give Artek, who was guarding the city, the impression that the enemy was about to launch a large-scale attack. On the other hand, Seiyad sent his most reliable troops to dig a tunnel far away from Maia City.
Digging tunnels near Maia City was no easy task. The soil here was not sticky enough, so the tunnels would easily collapse. However, the soil was easier to dig and didn't require too much energy.
The problem of the tunnels collapsing was also very easy to solve. They just had to use wooden planks to prop up the tunnels. As long as the planks were propped up, the tunnels would not collapse so easily.
The location of the tunnel was hidden in a very hidden place. This way, it would not be easily discovered. The soil that was dug out from the tunnel was secretly transported to a place far away, leaving no traces. The soldiers guarding the city would not be able to discover it.
In order to minimize losses, Ziyad dearly hoped that the tunnels would be successfully dug. This way, his elite soldiers would be able to enter Maia City without anyone noticing. As long as several thousand elites entered the city, they would be able to take the gates in one fell swoop and receive the main force of the army into Maia City.
After some calculations, Ziyad concluded that if the tunnels were effective, the army would only need to pay the price of several thousand soldiers to capture Maia City. On the other hand, if they launched a frontal assault, they would need to lose several tens of thousands of soldiers to capture the city. The difference in losses between the two was about ten times greater.
After taking the ratio of casualties into consideration, Ziyad attached great importance to the tunnels. Not only did he send his most reliable elite soldiers to complete the job, he also built siege weapons on a large scale near the tunnel entrance. This would make the enemy think that the tunnel entrance was just a workshop to build siege weapons.
In order to achieve the best goal of deceiving the public, it was crucial to deal with the soil that was dug out. If the soil that was dug out was not dealt with properly, it would be easy to expose the plan. Thus, the soldiers in the city would be prepared. As a result, it would be worse.
While Seiyad was busy building siege equipment and digging tunnels, Artek's troops were also actively preparing for the battle in Maia City. They moved all kinds of defensive supplies to the city wall. Some of the more dangerous items such as kerosene were only placed on the city wall. Most of them were stored in the corners below the city wall to prevent them from being destroyed by the attackers.
In order to boost the soldiers' morale, Altik and Ibrahim took turns to inspect the city walls. This was to show that the higher-ups attached great importance to the defense of the city and that the higher-ups were willing to share weal and woe with the lower-ups and face difficulties together.
As Altik's subordinates, many generals and officials naturally had to accompany him to inspect the city walls. They could also give useful suggestions at appropriate times.
"My Lord, the enemy is cutting down trees on a large scale outside the city. They are building siege weapons. Judging from the scale of their cutting, I'm afraid they are going to build thousands of siege weapons! They are determined to break into the city! "
A subordinate said worriedly when he saw the sea of people outside the city.
Altik was also very nervous. However, he was the commander-in-chief of the army. If even he lost confidence, their team would be completely finished.
Therefore, as the commander-in-chief, Altik could not show any signs of despair. He had to be firm in his confidence and believe that they would be able to defeat the enemy in the end.
"Don't worry. We have 30,000 defenders and 10,000 reserves. The Tang dynasty has sent us a lot of crossbows and arrows. We also have enough kerosene and other defensive weapons stored in the city. We will definitely be able to withstand the enemy's attack."
Altik said encouragingly.
"My Lord, I think we should send someone to discuss with the Tang dynasty and ask them to send reinforcements directly. If the Tang dynasty is willing to send reinforcements, the enemy outside the city is nothing to be afraid of."
One of the subordinates said.
How could Altik not understand this? However, Ang Lee of the Tang dynasty had already expressed that he did not want to directly intervene in the internal disputes of the Arabians. Moreover, if he wanted the Tang dynasty to send reinforcements, he would have to give them some benefits. Without benefits, the Tang dynasty would definitely not send reinforcements.
This was a society where benefits were paramount. As an experienced businessman, Altik naturally understood this. Therefore, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, he was not willing to ask for help. After all, the Tang dynasty's help was based on the ceding of Aden and the Peninsula to the Tang dynasty. If he continued to ask the Tang dynasty for help, who knew what else the Tang dynasty would propose to cede?
If the Tang dynasty continued to cede territory in the Arabian world, the area he could rule would become smaller and smaller. This went against his beliefs and would make him feel uneasy.
"If we can stop Abu Muslim alone, that would naturally be for the best, but if we can't, won't we have to consider the Great Tang's assistance? The enemy is coming with such ferocious momentum that we need to make some preparations."
The subordinate continued.
Altik felt that this made sense and nodded. "Okay! I will seriously consider this problem. However, you should still consider how to deal with the enemy outside the city. "
"My Lord, look. Several cavalrymen have broken through the enemy's blockade and are running toward the city gate."
One of his subordinates saw the situation in the distance and said.
Altik hurriedly picked up the binoculars and carefully observed. He saw that the cavalrymen running toward them were his subordinates.
"There are not many enemy cavalrymen. Immediately open the city gate to receive them."
Altik ordered.
Seeing that there were reinforcements in the city, the pursuing Khorasan cavalry very wisely stopped. They knew that they would never be able to catch up, and any further pursuit would be futile. Moreover, the enemy already had reinforcements.
Only three cavalrymen had managed to break through the blockade. They quickly entered the city and ran up the walls to meet with Altik.
"It's our cavalry. I recognize them."
One of his subordinates said.
Altik asked, "Where did you come from?"
One of the cavalrymen replied, "My Lord, we came from Archeng and hid in the vicinity for many days. Today, we saw that the enemy's defenses were lax, so we risked our lives to charge in. However, we still lost more than half of our forces. Of the fifty cavalrymen, only three of us managed to enter the city. The rest were all killed."
"They are all good. I will record their achievements. Quickly tell me, what is the situation in Archeng?"
Artek asked nervously. His subordinates were also very nervous because everyone in the city was very concerned about the situation of Al City. The loss of Al City was very important to the Maia City. If it was lost, it would greatly affect the morale of the soldiers and civilians of the Maia City. If Al City was still intact, it would greatly boost the morale of the soldiers and soldiers of Al City.
"My Lord, the people of Archeng are united against a common enemy and have caused great losses to the enemy. The city has always been in our hands and has not been lost. However, there are twenty thousand Khorasan cavalrymen surrounding Archeng. The infantrymen in the city do not dare to go out and fight. They can only guard the city and confront the Khorasan cavalrymen outside the city. There are also many cavalrymen who have been harassing the enemy's supply lines and have caused some losses to the enemy."
The cavalryman reported.
"Archeng is not lost. Archeng is not lost. Haha! That's great, that's really great. "
Altik excitedly said.
"My congratulations, City Lord. Archeng is not lost. This means that the enemy's siege methods are only so-so. Our Maia City is many times tougher than Archeng and is even more difficult to attack. We are confident that we can hold the city."
"City Lord, we can definitely hold the city. Abu Muslim and Ziyad are only so-so. We can defeat them."
His subordinates seemed to have been injected with chicken blood, and they immediately became lively and energetic.
It was obvious that their morale had been low because they believed that Archeng had been breached by the enemy. Even though Archeng's defenses were not as good as Maia City's and it did not have as many soldiers as Maia City, it was still a sturdy city. If it had been so easily breached, they had been worried that Maia City would not be able to last much longer. But now that they heard that Archeng had not been breached, all of them sighed in relief. After all this time, Abu Muslim had circled around Archeng to get to Maia City. It turned out that they were only so-so.
"City Lord, when the enemy launched their attack on Al City, they fought very fiercely. However, every fierce attack was repelled by our army. Our army even took the initiative to attack and caught the enemy outside the city off guard. We heavily injured the enemy and forced them to give up on attacking the city. They could only choose to surround the city."
The cavalryman continued.
Altik happily said, "Good, truly wonderful. Everyone heard it. Our not-so-elite force was able to defeat Abu Muslim's one hundred thousand Khorasan cavalry. This is enough to show that the Khorasan cavalry are nothing special. As long as we work together, we can definitely defeat them."
"Yes, City Lord is right. We can definitely defeat the Khorasan cavalry and give them a taste of their own medicine."
His subordinates were abnormally excited.
"Right, City Lord, while we were hiding outside the city, we noticed a very strange phenomenon. I don't know if I should tell you."
A cavalryman frowned and said.
"A strange phenomenon? There's no harm in speaking of it."
Altik hurriedly asked.
"City Lord, while we were lying in ambush in the forest, we saw a group of enemy soldiers transporting sandbags, but they were pouring the dirt from the sandbags into a very inconspicuous pit. What were they doing?"
The cavalryman said.
"Pouring the dirt from the sandbags into an insignificant pit? There must be something going on here."
"That's right. Why would the enemy transport dirt into a pit for no reason? There must be some unspeakable secret. "
"City Lord, we must take this situation seriously."
His subordinates spoke up.
Altik seemed to have guessed at something. He looked at the cavalryman and asked, "Did any of you take a look at the dirt in the sandbags? What kind of dirt was it?"
"While they were leaving, we ran over to carefully inspect it. It was just ordinary dirt. Right, it was also a little damp, like it had just been dug up from the ground."
The cavalryman said.
Altik and his subordinates looked at each other and immediately understood. They immediately thought that the enemy had dug a tunnel outside the city and wanted to break through the defenses of Maia City from underground, thus greatly reducing the losses during the siege.
"City Lord, the enemy brazenly built siege weapons on a large scale, but we didn't expect them to secretly dig a tunnel. This is to confuse us! Fortunately, we were discovered. Otherwise, we would still be in the dark. "
"City Lord, since the enemy is digging a tunnel outside the city, we can't just sit around and do nothing. We have to dig a circle of tunnels inside the city to block the enemy's tunnels and ensure the safety of the city."
His subordinates spoke up.
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