The soldiers on both sides were weary of the battle. Everyone wanted to live. No one was willing to go to war, let alone throw away their lives.
The soldiers inside the city had nowhere to run. Even if they didn't want to fight, they had to defend the city walls. The soldiers outside the city also found it difficult to escape from the battlefield. This was because behind the attacking troops were the supervising troops. If any soldier deserted, the supervising troops would choose to annihilate them.
Therefore, the best way to escape was to be injured. As long as one was injured, there would be a chance to be carried down and save one's life. However, this was also a gamble. If one was found to be injured, the consequences would be quite serious. Moreover, the battlefield was very complicated. If one was injured and no one came to help, it would be very easy to be attacked by the defending troops on the city walls. This would greatly increase the probability of death. Therefore, injuring oneself might not be able to save one's life. Sometimes, it was even possible to lose one's life.
The more intense and cruel the battle, the more serious the weariness of the soldiers would be. This was especially true when the chances of victory were not high. This was the most testing of a soldier's endurance. Soldiers with insufficient mental endurance were likely to have a mental breakdown. It was even possible for them to harm themselves.
People would get tired, and so would the soldiers of an army. There was a good saying, 'the first drum will raise the morale, the second will weaken the morale, and the third will be exhausted'. At the beginning of the attack, the morale of the army was very high, but as the battle went on, the morale of the army would weaken. In the end, they would completely lose their morale and even become dispirited.
After attacking for many days, the number of soldiers in the attacking army had decreased by a lot. When they threw in more troops to launch the attack, the morale of the army suddenly increased. However, after a day of casualties and failures, the morale of the army rapidly decreased. On the second day of the attack, the intensity of the attack was greatly reduced. On the first day of the attack, the Khorasan soldiers were constantly climbing up the city walls. However, on the second day of the battle, not a single soldier was able to climb up the city walls. This showed that the morale of the soldiers had decreased.
Of course, there was another important reason. Altik had stationed the last six thousand elites at the city gates. There were only a few scattered troops stationed in the city. In this way, the defenses of the city gates were greatly increased. This was the main reason why the attacking troops were unable to reach the top of the city walls.
The progress of the attack was thwarted. This made Ziyad, who was supervising the battle from the rear, very unhappy. He originally wanted to break through the city in one go and solve the huge crisis in front of him... but he did not expect that after a day of attack, the troops under his command did not improve at all.... Instead, the results of the attack was worse than yesterday.....
"What's going on? We've been attacking for an entire morning, but none of our soldiers have been able to climb up the walls. Our attacks aren't even as good as yesterday. What's going on?
Seiyad was very angry. If the soldiers did not work hard, the army would run out of food. If they really ran out of food, the consequences would be extremely serious. Therefore, he had to figure out the situation and see what caused this situation to happen.
... "General, the enemy's troops suddenly increased by a large amount. Moreover, they are all strong troops. Our troops have suffered heavy casualties."
Soon, a subordinate came to report.
Seiyad frowned and said, "A few days ago, the various armies reported that they had annihilated a large number of city defenders. Now, there are about thirty to forty thousand of them. The enemy only has this many soldiers. How can the enemy still have a large number of elite soldiers? What's going on? Are our soldiers lying about their achievements?"
"General, could it be that our intelligence is wrong? The enemy's troops are much more than we thought. If so, the pressure on our troops to attack the city will increase greatly."
The subordinate said.
Ziyad shook his head and said, "Our scouts have already figured out the situation. There are only thirty thousand soldiers in the city. There can't be too many soldiers. Our soldiers are lying about the results. They did not wipe out so many enemy troops."
"General, the soldiers have already done their best. If we still can't break through the city, then we should think about how to retreat. This will make it difficult for the army to retreat if we are not prepared enough."
The subordinate said.
Ziyad also hesitated. If they retreated now, they might still be able to make it. If they delayed any longer, they might not have the chance because there was only so much provisions. Once the provisions were used up, even if they wanted to retreat, there would be no way to retreat. They might fall into a situation where they could be slaughtered.
Of course, because Ziyad's army was a cavalry troop, they could sacrifice the benefits of the horses when the provisions were not enough. The black beans that should have been allocated to the horses could be used as rations for the soldiers. As for the horses, they could be slaughtered. Therefore, it was impossible to starve the army to death. The worst case scenario was that the elite cavalry would be reduced to infantry.
In fact, at this moment, there were a lot more horses in Seiyad's camp. This was because there were more casualties when the soldiers attacked the city, and the warhorses were placed in the camp, so there were fewer casualties. Therefore, there was a lot of surplus horses. When necessary, there was nothing wrong with slaughtering these horses. It was better than letting the soldiers starve to death.
Of course, this was the worst case scenario. As long as there was a sliver of a chance, Seiyad wouldn't have any ideas about military horses. This was because it wasn't easy to train these military horses into warhorses. Every warhorse was the wealth of the army and a comrade of the cavalry. Unless it was absolutely necessary, no soldier was willing to eat horse meat.
The strength of the army was weakening. This made Ziyad very anxious. It was impossible to continue to increase the troops because the reserve troops were almost used up. Moreover, there must be enough people in the camp to prevent the enemy's reinforcements from appearing.
After many days of continuous attacks, more than half of the attacking troops had died. The number of dead soldiers and captured civilians had reached ten thousand people. It could be said that it was a very big loss.
The most important problem was that the morale of the army had greatly decreased. The casualties were also very heavy. This was the most fatal problem. This meant that the fighting strength of his troops had decreased greatly. As the main general, he had no ability to change anything. After all, only half of the soldiers were left. After the morale had decreased, it would be very difficult for it to rise again.
Should he continue to attack the city or retreat to Khorasan? Ziyad fell into deeper thought. He did not know what to do.
At this moment, more bad news came. The enemy reinforcements from the east, west, and south were not too far away. They had found an advantageous location to set up camp. This posed a great threat to Ziyad's army.
"General, the enemy's reinforcements have suddenly appeared. It seems like they moved out last night. However, these reinforcements did not attack us. Instead, they set up camp ten miles away. I don't know what they want to do."
"General, the enemy's camp is very sturdy. It feels like they have been defending for a long time. It doesn't seem like they want to attack. This general is curious. Since they are not attacking, why did they come all the way here? Are they here to watch the show?"
A few of the subordinates said.
They were right. These reinforcements were indeed here to watch the show. As they were very weak, they had no choice but to watch the show. If they were to charge at Ziyad's army, even if they were to attack Ziyad's tired army, they would have no chance of winning. Moreover, they were all infantrymen and only had a small number of cavalry. They did not have the ability to launch a surprise attack on Ziyad's army. As such, they could only choose a safe location to set up camp and wait.
Although these soldiers would not attack for the time being, as long as they existed, they would serve as a deterrent to Ziyad's army. Once Ziyad's army exhausted all its strength, these soldiers would have the value of attacking.
Therefore, although the reinforcements seemed to be watching from the sidelines, there was actually a value to their existence. It was a deterrent effect. It deterred Seiyad's army and made Seiyad not dare to use all his forces to attack the city. As a result, the number of troops used to attack the city would definitely be reduced, and the pressure on defending the city would be reduced by a lot.
Ziyad clearly understood this problem. He looked worriedly at his subordinates and said, "Immediately send people to investigate the situation of the enemy's reinforcements. If we can break through, there is no harm in gathering the soldiers to destroy these reinforcements. At the very least, we can give the Caliph a better explanation."
"Yes, City Lord."
His subordinates replied.
It could be seen that Ziyad had changed his mind. The reason why he did this was because he saw that it would be very difficult for his soldiers to break through the city in a short period of time. If they could not break through the city, they would have to return to Khorasan. Without any military merits, they would be easily dealt with after returning. However, if they could wipe out a large number of enemies, it would reduce the chances of being dealt with and allow Ziyad to avoid this calamity.
However, the situation of his subordinates' investigation greatly disappointed Ziyad. The three enemy reinforcements had clearly come prepared. Their tents were very sturdy. Although it was not difficult to break through, it would still require a great price to pay. At least three thousand soldiers would be lost in order to break through a camp of ten thousand soldiers. Perhaps even more would be needed.
In particular, two of the enemy reinforcements had built their camps on top of a small hill. A large number of arrow towers were built on top of the hill. There were even catapults and other heavy weapons. The defensive power of these camps was very impressive.
However, no matter how sturdy these camps were, they could not be compared to Maia City. Ziyad had built so many siege weapons. It was true that they could not break through Maia City, but that was because Maia City's defenses were too tight. If they were used to attack these camps that were not too tightly defended, they would still be very confident.
Therefore, Ziyad quickly changed his mind. He was ready to transfer the main force from the North Gate to attack the three camps. Moreover, he was going to attack them one by one. He believed that with the elite troops under his command, they would definitely be able to break through these three camps. This was a task that he had to complete. It was also the method to gain some military merits for himself after the siege failed.
"City Lord, the enemy troops at the North Gate have retreated. The enemy troops at the North Gate have retreated."
One of his subordinates shouted excitedly.
Ziyad was also very happy. He hurriedly confirmed, "They have retreated. The enemy troops have retreated. It seems that our reinforcements have arrived."
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said with a smile, "Congratulations, City Lord. The reinforcements have finally arrived. It will be more difficult for the enemy to break through the city."
Altik hurriedly asked, "Have the enemy troops all retreated? How many enemy troops are left at the North Gate? "
"City Lord, there are not many left. There are only five hundred cavalrymen left. A large number of weapons have left. They are moving southwest."
The subordinate said.
"Southwest? It seems that they are going to attack the reinforcements from Jiaofu City. Ziyad's army is quite elite. I'm afraid that the reinforcements from Jiaofu City will not be able to stop them."
Altik said.
The young general of the Tang Dynasty said with a smile, "The troops in the city have suffered heavy losses. I'm afraid that they won't be able to send reinforcements. We can only let the reinforcements face the danger themselves. However, this is a very good opportunity. Since Ziyad has sent his main force to attack the reinforcements from Jiaofu City, you can send someone to order the reinforcements from Rafha City to give up all their food and supplies and quickly enter the city from the North Gate. This will increase the strength of the defending troops. As long as Maia City is not lost, losing ten thousand troops from Jiaofu City is nothing."
Altik agreed with the young general of the Tang Dynasty very much. He nodded and said, "That's right. As long as Maia City is not lost, losing some troops is nothing. Zhu Bai City's troops are camping at the South Gate. I'm afraid that it won't be easy for them to enter the city. Only the ten thousand reinforcements from the West Gate can enter the city quickly.
With ten thousand troops, we should be able to defend the city. "Soon, the order was sent out by carrier pigeons. After receiving the order, the reinforcements from Rafha immediately burned all their supplies and supplies. All the soldiers marched quickly to the North Gate and entered Maia City directly from the North Gate. As the main force of the enemy troops from the North Gate had retreated, there was no force that could stop the ten thousand reinforcements from entering the city.
The ten thousand reinforcements had all entered the city, which greatly increased the defensive strength of the city and greatly boosted Altik's confidence. However, at the same time, the ten thousand reinforcements from the East Gate were surrounded by Ziyad and faced a terrible disaster. Although they tried their best to resist and caused great damage to Ziyad's army, they were still annihilated in the end.
Ziyad heaved a sigh of relief after dealing with the ten thousand reinforcements from the East Gate. However, when he heard that the ten thousand reinforcements from the West Gate had all entered the city, he was so angry that he was speechless. Attacking Maia City was already very stressful. Now that the enemy had received ten thousand reinforcements, it was very bad news for him. It seriously diluted his excitement from annihilating the ten thousand enemy troops.
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