The general was right. Because the expansion of the army was too fast, the supply of equipment could not keep up. Although Altik was supported by weapons and equipment from the Tang Empire, they were all offensive weapons. In terms of defensive equipment, the Tang Empire did not provide Altik with any equipment.
The existing helmets and armor of the army in the city were all owned or seized by Altik himself. In order to fight against the threat, Altik's military supply department had put more energy into manufacturing weapons, so they had no time to care about the issue of defensive equipment. If they paid attention to defensive equipment, the supply of offensive weapons would be insufficient, which would be a bigger problem. Soldiers could still fight without defensive equipment, but if they did not have weapons, they could only be passively killed by the enemy while wearing armor and helmets, and the consequences would be even more serious.
In the army of any era, weapons had always been the most important thing. Only when an army had a large number of weapons could it effectively kill the enemy and better protect itself. Only when weapons and equipment were complete and the army had sufficient resources would they begin to consider the issue of defensive equipment.
Defensive equipment could reflect the combat effectiveness of an army, but weapons were the foundation of an army. The order of priority could not be mistaken. The importance of weapons would always be higher than that of defensive equipment.
In the absence of helmets, most soldiers could only choose to wear a headscarf on their heads. The defensive power of cloth was far lower than that of standard helmets, so it could not play any role at all. Therefore, a large number of soldiers suffered head injuries and caused a lot of casualties to the defending army.
If this situation was to be changed, the soldiers must wear helmets. However, there was no helmets in the city at all, which made everything very tricky and put the general in a difficult position.
After listening to the general in front of him, the general of the Tang Empire said angrily, "Only the most elite soldiers wear helmets. Now tell me, where are the most elite troops and what are they doing at the moment?"
The general shrugged and said, "They are the most elite troops under the command of the City Lord. They are on standby in the camp and may reinforce here at any time."
The general of the Tang Empire said with a smile, "Okay, I understand. In other words, these most elite troops are still hiding in the camp and sleeping at the moment. People can sleep, but helmets should not sleep with them. Helmets should be given to the soldiers who are fighting."
"This? I can't make the decision. I need the City Lord's approval. "
The general said.
"Let's go and meet your City Lord."
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said as he stepped toward the gate tower where Altik was, which was the gate tower of the main city, not the gate tower of the barbican. Because at this moment, the gate tower of the barbican was going through a fierce battle. Altik would not take the risk.
"City Lord, there's something I must ask you."
The general asked respectfully.
"What is it? Speak!"
Altik asked.
"The casualties among the soldiers are quite high. Many of them have head injuries. If we had helmets, the casualties would have been much lower."
The general said.
"Helmets? Do we still have helmets in our inventory?"
Altik asked doubtfully.
The general said cautiously, "City Lord, there are no more in the warehouse, but there are troops in the army that have not yet joined the war."
"Brat, you're really something! How dare you ask for my elite troops? No, those are the protective gear of the most elite troops. How can I give it to other troops? "
Altik felt that this request was unreasonable.
The young general of the Tang Dynasty stepped forward and said, "City Lord, your elite troops are resting in the city. It's a waste for them to keep the helmets. It's better to give them to the soldiers guarding the city first. After they reinforce the city wall, they can naturally get the helmets again. To put it simply, the rare protective gear like helmets should all be left on the city wall instead of in the city."
"Leave all the helmets on the city wall? Well, okay! Since General Tang has said so, let's do it. Pass down the order to collect all the helmets of the troops in the city and transport them to the city wall. They will only be used by the soldiers guarding the city. After the soldiers are replaced, the helmets must be left on the city wall to be supplied to the next wave of troops. "
Altik felt that what the young general of the Tang Dynasty said was reasonable. Since these helmets could reduce the casualties of his troops, why not supply them to his own troops guarding the city? Since things had already come to this point, there was no point in being so calculative. After all, the helmet would not be lost.
Soon, all the helmets of the most elite troops under Altik's command were collected, and the troops fighting in the front line could finally have reliable head armor, which reduced their casualties. Even if the reduction was only a small percentage, it was still considerable.
Helmets alone were not enough, because helmets could only protect one part of the head. On the other hand, many of the soldiers defending the city had to expose their entire head. Their faces were easily hit by arrows, and their necks were the weakest part.
These parts also caused considerable casualties, but there was no corresponding armor in the city. However, the young general of the Tang Dynasty had such armor, which was a full-protection iron mask, tempered glass for the eyes, and a flexible ring armor for the neck, which could effectively defend against the attack of cold weapons. It could be called a divine weapon for defensive warfare. Unfortunately, it was impossible to support Altik with such high-end armor. The corresponding manufacturing machines were still in Chang 'an City, and Ang Lee could not carry out large-scale manufacturing overseas.
The young general of the Tang Dynasty carried a very small amount of equipment for himself. As long as Altik asked him to participate in the battle, he would wear such equipment. At this moment, since Altik did not want him to participate in the battle, he intended to contribute this equipment to the young generals in the city. Although there were only a few pieces, they could play a role.
Of course, for the huge defending army, such equipment could only be found by chance. In order to reduce their casualties, it was necessary to make an equipment that could protect the soldiers' faces as soon as possible. Even if it could only reduce the casualties by one percent, it would be good enough.
There were not many iron resources in Maia City, but there were still a lot of wood and bamboo. Wood could be used to make wooden masks with holes. The wood did not need to be too thick, as long as it could resist arrows. As for being hit in the face by stones, it could only be because of bad luck, and there was no one to blame.
It might take a long time to make a wooden mask that fit the human face perfectly. However, if the requirements were lowered, it would be easy to make a mask with a curved face. As long as it could defend against arrows, it would be a successful product and could be put to use.
Wooden masks could be used to protect the face, but if one wanted to protect the neck and upper chest, they would need to use bamboo pieces. Using small bamboo pieces and cloth, it was possible to make a soft armor that could protect the neck and upper chest. Because the guards only exposed these areas, there was no need to protect the rest of the body. This way, they could save more money.
After making these requirements, Altik felt that it was worth a try. He asked his subordinates to arrange for craftsmen to make special armor for defending the city to reduce the number of casualties.
It also took time to manufacture these special armors. Moreover, on the basis of the large number of armors required, the manufacturing time was even longer. However, at the beginning, they only needed to manufacture a batch of about a hundred armors. It would only take a day.
Very quickly, thousands of helmets were transported to the city walls. All of the soldiers on the city walls were equipped with helmets that could defend against damage. This greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers. At least, they felt that they were being valued, and this was very important.
These helmets were made of different materials and styles. Some were made of iron, some were made of copper, some were made of rattan, and some were made of leather. The styles were even more varied. There were Islamic styles, Western styles, and there were also some that could not be identified. This fully showed the diversity of the origin of these weapons. However, most of them were Islamic styles, and there were not many other styles. Regardless of the style, the purpose of the helmet was to protect the head. As long as it could protect the head, it was enough.
All the soldiers hoped to obtain the best quality helmets. If it was during normal times, it would be hard to avoid fighting over them. However, at this moment, the enemy was attacking the city, and large rocks would occasionally fall on the city walls. This made it so that they did not have time to fight over the helmets. After obtaining a suitable helmet, they would place it on top of their heads and continue to fight. The soldiers on the catapults would throw large amounts of rocks outside the city to attack the enemies outside.
The soldiers attacking the city were slightly startled by the sudden appearance of helmets, and they hurriedly reported the situation to General Ziyad.
"General, the soldiers in the city are suddenly wearing helmets. It seems that their elite forces have been mobilized."
A subordinate reported and told Ziyad his judgment.
Hearing this, Ziyad was slightly happy. He said, "With just a few moves, Altik can't hold on anymore. They actually mobilized their elite forces. It seems that it won't be difficult to break into the city."
Obviously, after hearing this news, Ziyad made the same judgment as his subordinate. He also thought that this was a rotation of the soldiers in the city, and the new troops were Altik's most elite troops. After all, he knew the situation in the city better. He knew very well that only Altik's most elite troops were equipped with helmets, and there were only a few thousand of them. He also knew the number of soldiers in the city. Therefore, when he saw these elite troops entering the battle, he was very excited. He felt that this was a very good sign. This seemed to indicate that the original miscellaneous troops defending the city could no longer hold on, and they could only let the most elite troops defend the city. As long as the most elite troops were worn down, the city's defensive forces would be completely destroyed.
Ziyad was very excited at the thought of being able to break through the defense of Maia City and enter the city to take over. He even felt a trace of viciousness.
When attacking a city, the more casualties the troops suffered, the more violent the revenge would be after the city was breached. In this attack on Maia City, almost all of Ziyad's three thousand elite soldiers were killed. This made him very angry. As long as he could break into the city, he would slaughter all the soldiers in the city to avenge the deaths of his elite troops.
Of course, other than slaughtering the civilians, he also had to give the soldiers who participated in the war sufficient benefits. Allowing the soldiers to plunder as they pleased was something that had to be done. Kidnapping women was something that couldn't be any more legal. In short, he could do whatever he wanted. As long as he could break into the city, everything was up to him.
The city's defense was very tight. Therefore, he had to mobilize a large number of troops to carry out continuous attacks. He could not stop for even a moment. Anyway, he had enough troops and could take turns. He did not have to worry about not being able to take turns.
When one troop was tired, another troop would join in the battle and the previous troop would be withdrawn. Using the tactic of attrition warfare to constantly deplete the defensive strength of the soldiers in the city. Anyway, they had more troops and many commoners who had been plundered. They could afford it.
The progress of Ziyad's attack was relatively fast. This was because the catapults of the defending side were constantly launching stone attacks. Many of these stones fell into the trenches, which made the trenches much higher. This was advantageous for the attacking side to attack the city.
When it was almost dark, the first trench was basically filled up. Ziyad's army was approaching the second trench and filling it up. The crossbowmen in the second trench ran into the first trench.
The continuous attacks of the defending side did not stop the offensive of Ziyad's army. The situation was still not optimistic. However, by wearing helmets, the casualties of the soldiers at the various gates were reduced. Many soldiers were saved because of the protection of the helmets.
But overall, the casualties were still relatively high. After a day of siege, the North Gate alone had more than a thousand casualties. The other three gates also had about a thousand casualties. The total number of casualties was about two thousand. One-fifth of them were killed in action, and the rest were either light or light injuries.
The lightly injured could continue to participate in the battle. However, the heavily injured had to return to the city to recuperate. In short, after a day of battle, the soldiers guarding the gates lost two thousand people. This was not a small number.
Not only did they lose a lot of soldiers, but after the continuous rotation of defense, all the soldiers were very tired. The defense of each gate was divided into three groups of soldiers. After a day, the three groups of soldiers had rotated once. All the soldiers were very tired. Of course, the soldiers outside the city were also very tired. This was a very fair point.
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