Artek had lost two thousand soldiers, and the siege of Seiyad's army outside the city was still ongoing. In order to not affect his combat strength, he had to replenish all the soldiers he had lost.
The most convenient method was to transfer some of the most elite soldiers to replenish the city gates. However, Altik was not willing to do so. He requested for the scattered soldiers in the city to gather together. There were about two thousand soldiers. At the same time, there were also two thousand soldiers who joined in the construction of the equipment. They each took out one thousand soldiers to support the injured soldiers. In addition, he took out five thousand soldiers from the young and strong men in the city to undergo simple training and be prepared to reinforce the city walls at any time.
The soldiers at each gate took turns to defend the city in three waves. Each troop would defend for four hours. After that, they would rotate every four hours to maintain as much stamina as possible.
From morning to night, a total of twelve hours had passed. Therefore, all the soldiers and horses had been rotated once. Even the soldiers and horses on night watch had participated in the battle. In the following night battle, these soldiers and horses would continue to rotate to defend the city. Each battle had to last for four hours. After that, they could rest for eight hours.
The troops on the besieging side also rotated about every four hours. However, the besieging side had more troops. They could have many waves and did not need to maintain three waves.
Altik spent almost the entire day on top of the city gate. He was very concerned about the situation. Even his meals were done on top of the city gate. However, the noise here was too loud. If he wanted to have a good rest, he had to return to the center of the city. The conditions there were better. The distance and soundproofing of the buildings could reduce the noise of the siege to a minimum. It would be more conducive for sleeping.
The soldiers had to defend the city at night. He did not need to take care of them personally. If he did not have a good rest, he would not be able to command them properly the next day. Of course, he did not command anything. The ideas were all given by his subordinates. He only needed to be responsible for coordinating.
"Are the reinforcements in place?"
Before leaving, Altik asked with concern.
"Mayor, two thousand soldiers have been replenished. You can rest assured and go back to rest. Ziyad only has a few tricks up his sleeves. He can't do anything to us. He can't break the city."
The subordinate said confidently.
Altik nodded and said, "Very good. That's right, we also need to prepare the 5,000 reserve troops as soon as possible. After a night of fighting, we will definitely lose a lot of troops. We need to continue replenishing them."
"Don't worry, City Lord. We are all preparing for this work. It won't delay things."
The subordinate hurriedly said.
"That's right. Tell all the soldiers guarding the city to rest immediately after entering the city. Other than fighting and eating, their current task is to rest. Only when they are well rested can they have more energy to work. They are not allowed to do anything else."
Altik said.
This was to restrict the freedom of the soldiers and prevent them from leaving the military area at will. The purpose of this was to allow the soldiers to have a better rest. The second purpose was to prevent some of the soldiers from escaping. What they lacked the most now was military strength. If there were deserters, it would make the defense operation even more difficult.
"Yes, City Lord. I know what to do."
The subordinate hurriedly replied.
Altik finally gave some long-winded instructions. Then, he left the city wall with a group of guards and returned to his residence.
The attack outside the city never stopped. Ziyad ordered his men to attack Maia City day and night. As long as the city was not breached, the battle would not stop.
It didn't matter if the army suffered losses. After all, they had more people and captured more civilians. There were 20,000 reserve troops in the main camp, which was enough to support them in the battle. The loss of personnel could be replenished at any time. In addition, the siege weapons in the main camp were constantly being manufactured. The damaged weapons could be replaced very well. They could even obtain more and better siege weapons to make the siege easier.
"General, the soldiers have been attacking for a day. It's getting dark. Are we still going to continue the attack?"
The subordinate asked.
Ziyad nodded and said, "Of course we are going to continue the attack. Didn't I say before? We won't retreat until Maia City is breached. We will continue the attack. "
"Yes, General. You have been tired for a day. Go back to the main camp and rest. We will be fine here. "
The subordinate said with concern.
Ziyad shook his head and said, "I won't go back to the main camp. I will rest here. I will sleep better listening to the battle cries of the soldiers."
Ziyad, who had been on the battlefield for many years, was used to sleeping amidst the noise. As long as he was willing to sleep, even if there were thousands of soldiers and horses fighting outside, he would still sleep. Without this ability, how would he be able to command thousands of soldiers and horses?
Especially when he encountered the enemy's strategy of exhausting the enemy, he would sleep peacefully. Only when he had a good rest would he have more energy to devote to the battle later.
"The attack at night must not be weakened. The attacking troops and the supporting troops must be in place. We must not give the enemy a chance to breathe. We must completely exhaust Altik."
Ziyad gave his final instructions and dismounted from his horse to rest in a nearby tent. This tent was still some distance away from the city walls. Moreover, he had disguised himself so that the soldiers in the city would not be able to discover him. Naturally, they would not be able to attack him.
The highest commanders on both sides had gone to rest, but the attack and defense of the city continued. Because it was already dark and the sun had already set, and tonight was a cloudy night, everything was dark. It was impossible to see the situation in the distance.
The best concealment was the Khorasan archers hiding in the trenches. Under the cover of the night, they would occasionally launch sneak attacks on the soldiers on the city walls. However, it was difficult for them to be counterattacked. This was because the soldiers on the city walls could not see the situation in the trenches, not even a little bit. Moreover, they had to take the risk of sticking their bodies out to investigate. However, they could not find anything, and their own situation could easily be seen by the enemy.
This was because the walls they were on were higher. In order to see the defensive equipment clearly, the city walls were filled with bonfires. Naturally, this increased the visibility of the soldiers on the city walls. Although the attacking side also lit a large number of torches, these torches were placed at the positions of the catapults and arrow-blocking carts. The archers hiding in the trenches closest to the city walls were not lit at all. The trenches were good for hiding soldiers, so they were the only ones that could not be discovered by the enemy.
These trenches were painstakingly dug by the soldiers in the city. If they had known that this would be the result, they would not have done such a thing. However, since it had already happened, they had to work hard to deal with it. They had to find a way to resist it. Otherwise, the casualties on the city walls would be too great.
"General, the enemy archers are hiding in the trenches. We can't see them at all. They have been shooting at us and have injured many of our soldiers. We can't continue like this. Our casualties will be much higher than during the day."
A soldier said anxiously.
The general was furious. He walked in front of a catapult and shouted, "Fireball, immediately throw fireballs. Aim at the first trench outside the city. We must find the soldiers hiding inside."
"General, these fireballs are specially used to deal with the enemy's siege equipment. It's too wasteful to use them to light up the trenches. Moreover, they might not be effective. Do we really have to do this?"
The officer operating the catapult said.
"Don't worry about whether it's effective or not. Why don't we try it first?"
The general ordered.
Soon, all the catapults adjusted their angles and aimed at the trenches. They threw the fireballs down.
A large number of fireballs were thrown down. Most of them missed. Only a few fell into the trenches and lit up parts of the trenches. However, the illumination effect was still very poor. After all, the trenches were dug deeper. When the fireballs fell into the bottom of the trenches, they only lit up the bottom of the trenches. They did not light up the entire trench. The Khorasan archers hiding inside still could not see them.
"General, look, it's not very effective."
The soldier operating the catapult said.
"Pa …"
At this moment, a stone flew over and smashed a key part of the catapult. In other words, the catapult could no longer be used. This made the general very angry.
This kind of situation was very common in the fierce confrontation between the two sides. The equipment of both sides could be damaged and the soldiers could be injured or killed. Otherwise, it would not be a war but a game.
The enemy's archers were hiding in the invisible trenches and shooting arrows. This situation was very troublesome. The key problem was that the soldiers guarding the city had to stick their heads out. Otherwise, how could they attack the enemy outside the city? They could not check the effect of the ballistae and catapults. They could not even write a battle report.
Just when the general was very angry, the young general of the Tang dynasty came over with a batch of wooden masks and armor.
These masks were made under his personal guidance. Although they looked a little rough, they definitely had the strength to resist the arrows. Moreover, they did not affect the vision and the body's flexibility.
The armor made of bamboo could very well protect the neck and the upper chest below the neck, so the soldiers would not be killed by the arrows.
"These are defensive masks and simple armor. There are only 100 sets in total. Let the soldiers try them and see how effective they are."
The general took a look and said, "They look good. Well, I'll let the soldiers try them."
Many of the soldiers who needed to stick their heads out to look down put on masks and armor, which greatly increased their defensive strength.
Of course, because the number of pieces of equipment was limited, it was not guaranteed that all the soldiers would be equipped with this kind of magic weapon. Moreover, this kind of equipment could only reduce the proportion of casualties, but could not completely prevent them. It had the same function as the helmet, which was to reduce the casualties of the soldiers.
Because there was no inner lining, the wooden mask was not very comfortable to wear on the face. It made people feel uncomfortable. However, in order to protect their lives, they had to wear it. No soldier had any objection to this.
The effect of the mask was quickly displayed. In less than an hour, more than a dozen soldiers were hit by arrows on their masks, and more than a dozen soldiers were hit on their armor. These soldiers who were hit, without exception, were not injured. Those who were alive were only lightly injured, but there were also a few who were seriously injured. Overall, the effect was very good. At the very least, it reduced the casualties of the defending soldiers by a few dozen.
All the masks and armors that were shot were quickly gathered. The young general of the Tang dynasty personally inspected them to see how these masks and armors would react after being shot.
"Look at these masks. None of them were shot through. The arrowheads are all embedded in the wood. There are no scars on the soldiers' faces. It seems that they are very useful."
The general nodded with great satisfaction. He felt that the masks were good things. They could really play a role in protecting the soldiers' lives.
"These bamboo pieces can also defend against arrows. Unfortunately, they are pieces by pieces. These injured soldiers were shot through the gaps between the bamboo pieces. Unfortunately, these gaps are not easy to deal with! If there were no gaps, it would be difficult to move the neck with a complete bamboo pipe. The best thing to do is to use ring armor. It can protect the neck very well. However, there are too few iron rings in the city. Even if we start to make them now, we can't make many. "
The young general of the Tang dynasty said with some regret.
These bamboo armors were personally designed by him. They were similar to the mahjong mats of the later generations. Every small piece of bamboo could block the attack of an arrow, but the gaps between the pieces could not block an arrow. If an arrow hit the gap, it would injure the soldier.
In addition, after the arrows hit the bamboo pieces, they would slide from the edge of the bamboo pieces to the gaps and cause damage to the soldiers.
Of course, because the sliding would also reduce the force, the gaps between the bamboo pieces were narrower than the arrowheads of the arrows, and there were two layers of cloth blocking them. Therefore, in general, even if the arrows hit the gaps, the force of the arrows would be reduced because of the blocking, thus reducing the injuries of the soldiers and preventing them from being seriously injured.
The general nodded with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, right? As long as it can reduce the casualties of the soldiers, it's a good thing! We should make more, especially these masks. They are very good. They should be given priority to be equipped. "
The young general of the Tang dynasty said, "I just asked the craftsmen. Now they said that they can only make so many masks and armors. They must have your City Lord's order before they can continue to make more masks and armors."
The general said angrily, "The soldiers in the front line are risking their lives and bleeding, but they still dare to do this. It's so annoying."
"How about you send someone to see your City Lord and ask him to give the craftsmen an order? In this way, the craftsmen will have no reason to not make more masks."
The young general of the Tang dynasty said with a smile.
"The City Lord should be resting. Isn't it a little inappropriate to disturb him for such a small matter?"
The general was a little hesitant.
"It's about the life and death of the soldiers. How can this be a small matter? Your City Lord's sleep is important, but are the lives of the soldiers not important?"
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