The young general of the Tang Dynasty proposed to ask the surrounding cities to send reinforcements to Maia City because he saw that the defense of Maia City had reached the most critical moment. The guards in the city had suffered heavy losses. If they did not send reinforcements, Maia City would indeed be in great danger. Therefore, they should send reinforcements from the surrounding cities to Maia City. Moreover, there was no war in the three surrounding cities, so the reinforcements were very idle and had not been attacked.
In the beginning, because Ziyad's army was full of vigor, these reinforcements could only defend the cities. But now, most of Ziyad's cavalry troops were attacking the cities, so the force they used to fight in the wild was greatly reduced. Moreover, they gradually became numb to the surrounding cities. Under such circumstances, it was a good time for the surrounding cities to send reinforcements.
"Ask the surrounding cities to send reinforcements. But they are all infantry. Even if Ziyad's cavalry is tired, they are still cavalry. The difference in strength is too big. Can it really work? Besides, we can't go out. How can we send reinforcements? "
Altik said.
Obviously, Altik had thought of this idea a long time ago. Unfortunately, he was completely unable to get in touch with the outside cities. Ziyad's army had completely surrounded the city. Last time, several cavalrymen broke through the defense line of Ziyad's army and entered Maia City by pure luck. After that, no reinforcements could enter Maia City. Altik had also completely lost contact with the troops outside. Since he had lost contact, how could he command the troops outside? Without any orders, the troops outside would not take the risk to reinforce Maia City. They would stick to their original strategy and defend their respective cities.
The young general of the Tang Dynasty smiled and said, "Who says we have lost contact with the outside world? I have never stopped contacting Assistant Minister Li. Assistant Minister Li is also very clear about the current situation of Maia City."
"What? You have always been in touch? How is that possible? The city is completely surrounded. How can you contact each other? Can the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty fly out?"
Altik asked doubtfully.
"Yes, it flew out. However, it was not a person who flew out, but a pigeon. Pigeons are a tool used by our Tang dynasty to deliver messages. They are very useful. Why? Don't you use pigeons to deliver messages?"
Said the young general of the Tang dynasty.
Altik said, "Of course we know that pigeons deliver messages. But pigeons are a type of bird after all. They are not very reliable. If they get lost or get shot by the enemy, we will be done for. The risk is too great."
It was obvious that Altik did not trust pigeons. He felt that it was child's play to use birds to deliver messages. If ordinary people used pigeons to write letters to their families, it would be fine. Even if something happened to the pigeons midway, it would not matter. However, if they used pigeons to deliver important military intelligence, they would not allow any accidents to happen. If the pigeons were killed by the enemy and the enemy knew about the military intelligence, the consequences would be extremely serious.
Therefore, Altik did not dare to use pigeons to deliver messages for fear that the important military intelligence would be obtained by the enemy. However, the young general of the Tang dynasty did not worry about this problem at all.
As long as the pigeons were well trained, they could complete their tasks very well. There was no need to worry about their safety at all. As for the problem of leaking the secret, Ang Lee had already prepared for it. All the messages were written with a special liquid. After the handwriting dried, nothing would be left on the paper. Only by smearing the handwriting with a special liquid could the handwriting appear. This material was invented by Ang Lee himself. Others could not master it at all, so naturally, they could not crack it. Even if the pigeons were killed by the enemy, the enemy would only get a piece of white paper and would not get any useful information.
The young general of the Tang dynasty did not tell Altik these details. He only told Altik that the military pigeons of the Tang dynasty were extremely reliable and there was no need to worry about their safety. As long as he was willing to give an order, the young general of the Tang dynasty could help deliver it. As long as the order was personally written by him, his subordinates would naturally be able to understand it.
Altik was soon persuaded by the young general of the Tang dynasty. He promised to write letters to the generals of all the cities and immediately used the liquid provided by the young general of the Tang dynasty to write three orders. Then, he handed them to the young general of the Tang dynasty. The young general of the Tang dynasty also wrote a piece of information himself, narrating the whole story in detail.
Because the military pigeons were too small, their ability to carry letters was limited. Therefore, the four letters were placed on two military pigeons and released at the fastest speed. Because the pigeons were released from the center of the city, when the pigeons flew to the battlefield at the city gate, they were already very high in the sky. Moreover, their size and size were very small, so it was very difficult for them to be noticed. Even if they were noticed, it would be very difficult for them to attack. Moreover, it was just a pigeon. Who would think that it was used to deliver information?
The information was sent out, but Altik was not relaxed at all. Ziyad's army was still fiercely attacking the city. The number of casualties reported from all directions shocked him.
The Wounded Soldiers Reception Center in the city was already overcrowded. A large number of wounded and sick people gathered together, making the medical officers in charge of treatment sweat profusely. Some seriously injured soldiers could only choose to give up.
Many of the wounded soldiers who were still alive were carried to the side. No one cared about them at all. Because of the limited resources, they could only treat the lightly injured soldiers who were easier to treat first. The seriously injured soldiers could only be abandoned. There was no better way.
Unless the seriously injured soldier was an important general, only then could he receive the best treatment. If he was an ordinary soldier, he could only wait for death. This was the case in any era. There was no better way. After all, resources were limited in any era. In a situation where resources were limited, they could only consider the important people first.
If one were to ask where the largest army in Maia City was located, it would definitely be in the Wounded Soldiers Hospital. The number of wounded soldiers here had already exceeded the ten thousand mark. It had become Altik's largest reserve base. As long as these wounded soldiers were almost fully recovered, they would be able to re-enter the battle and join the battle to defend the city.
Many of the lightly injured soldiers who were not very seriously injured had already returned to their original units. This could make up for the shortage of soldiers at the city gates.
After dark, a new casualty report came in. It was simply shocking. In just one day, the casualties reached as high as six thousand. The wounded soldiers once again crowded the hospital in the center of the city.
In order to prevent too many wounded soldiers from gathering together and causing more pessimism, Altik divided the wounded soldiers into five groups. In this way, the wounded soldiers in each group were less than three thousand. It was more convenient to manage them.
In addition, due to the lack of military strength, the corresponding wounded soldier standard was raised a little. Some of the soldiers who were originally lightly injured were classified as lightly injured. Some of the wounded soldiers who still needed a day or two to recuperate were also transferred back to their original units to join the battle to defend the city.
The fierce battle to defend the city not only consumed a large number of soldiers, but also a large number of defense resources. After these resources were used up, they had to be transported from the city.
Transporting supplies was a tough task. It would consume a lot of the soldiers' energy and stamina, and it was also a great loss to their military strength. Therefore, in order to let the soldiers have a better rest, the task of transporting supplies from within the city was given to the citizens of the city. This included the elderly, children, and even women. They all contributed.
With the help of these civilians, the soldiers could save a lot of physical strength. Thus, they could use more physical strength to defend the city. This was a great advantage for the defense of the city.
Because the siege troops outside the city were too fierce, the original three shifts of soldiers had to be adjusted to two shifts to increase the number of soldiers to defend the city. In this way, the pressure on all the soldiers was even greater, and the defense of the city became even more difficult.
Of course, the besiegers outside the city weren't having a good time either. Their fierce attacks caused a lot of casualties to the defenders, but they also suffered a lot of casualties. There were a lot of injured soldiers behind the besiegers.
Because these wounded soldiers couldn't fight, they were all sent back to the barracks. At this moment, the number of wounded soldiers in Ziyad's barracks had reached as high as 20,000.
This didn't include the lightly injured soldiers because the lightly injured soldiers were left at the back of the siege army, ready to join the battle at any time. In any case, their injuries weren't very serious, so it was fine as long as they could continue to fight.
As for the heavily injured soldiers, as long as it was too difficult to save them, they were all directly abandoned. They didn't even bring them back and directly threw their corpses into the moat. This way, the moat could be filled up faster. Although it was a bit cruel, in order to win the battle, it was inevitable to be cruel. In any case, even if they were brought back, it would be a waste of wood to burn them. It was more cost-effective to leave them in the moat.
The soldiers at the front were using simple scaling ladders to attack the city walls. The soldiers at the back were responsible for attacking and providing cover while the others were busy filling up the moat.
The soldiers providing cover could cause huge losses to the defenders and provide cover for the soldiers attacking the city walls. The soldiers filling up the moat were also very important. Only by filling up the moat could the more powerful siege weapons be pushed to the bottom of the city walls. If these heavy scaling ladders were pushed to the bottom of the city walls, then the defenders would be in a very bad situation because these heavy siege weapons were too powerful.
First of all, the heavy scaling ladders were very difficult to destroy. It was also much easier for the soldiers to climb up and they could reach the top of the city walls faster. The more powerful siege weapons were even more terrifying. The soldiers could directly climb from the inside of the ladder to the balcony that was higher than the city walls. Then, they could directly jump into the city walls from above. A large number of soldiers kept jumping into the city walls, which would inevitably cause a lot of pressure to the defenders. It was very likely that the city would fall.
However, the moat was not easy to fill up. The defenders had been attacking the soldiers filling up the moat, creating huge difficulties for the soldiers filling up the moat. This made it difficult for them to quickly fill up the moat and protect the city from being breached.
At night, Ziyad's anger dissipated a lot. He began to calmly analyze his orders. He felt that his orders to speed up the attack were too rash and caused huge losses to the army. However, on second thought, if he didn't go all out in the battle, how would the people around him report to Mansur? If he was accused of passively avoiding the battle, then he would be in trouble. Launching the attack would at least prove that he obeyed Mansur's orders.
"How are the casualties of the army? How is the attack progress? "
Ziyad inspected the injured soldiers as he asked.
"General, in today's battle, our army has suffered heavy casualties. In just one day, we lost nearly twenty thousand soldiers and more than four to five thousand died. This doesn't include the one thousand cavalry that entered the barbican. The attack progress is also not ideal. Every time a soldier climbed up the city walls, they would be chased down by the superior forces on the city walls. Our soldiers are unable to gain a foothold on the city walls. If we continue to fight like this, our losses will be too great."
The subordinate said very pertinently.
Ziyad sighed deeply and said, "It is my fault that the army has suffered such heavy losses. However, I have no other choice. Our army's provisions have been burned by the enemy and we are facing the risk of running out of food. If we don't break into the city as soon as possible, our situation will be worrisome!"
"General, if we really can't do it, let's retreat back to Khorasan! If we continue to fight like this, even if we break into the city, our losses will be extremely heavy. The gains will not make up for the losses. "
The subordinate said.
Ziyad frowned and said, "I would like to go back, but the Caliph gave me the order to attack Maia City and capture Ibrahim and Altik alive. If I can't complete the mission and go back with my tail between my legs, the Caliph will definitely not let me off."
Ziyad knew his master Mansur very well. This vicious and merciless man would never forgive incompetent subordinates. For the sake of his own prestige, he would very likely push all the responsibility of losing soldiers to Ziyad. He might even execute Ziyad to maintain his lofty and wise image. Little did he know that this strategic order was issued by Mansur. Even if they lost soldiers and generals, most of the responsibility would be on Mansur. It was his fault for issuing such an unrealistic order.
"There is no turning back the arrow that has been shot. Pass down the order. All soldiers will attack the city with all their strength. Even if we have to lose all our capital, we must take down Maia City. This is a mission that I must complete."
In the end, Seiyad still gave this crazy order.
Ziyad's army, which had been attacking the city for an entire day, showed no signs of stopping even after the sky turned dark. The soldiers from all sides continued to attack, not giving the defenders any chance to catch their breath. Of course, they were also very tired. Many of the soldiers were forced to do so. Some even mutilated themselves to avoid participating in the battle. This was one of the reasons for the heavy losses suffered by the attackers.
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