Chapter 211 Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron

Chapter 211 Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron

Chapter 211 Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
The sky gradually brightened. When the sun shone through the heavy clouds and cast a golden light on the top of Zhangye City, the alarm bell rang on the top of Zhangye City. "Dang! Dang! Dang!" The alarm bell rang loudly. Five thousand soldiers rushed to the top of the city, holding bows and crossbows, ready for battle.

Outside the city, the overwhelming Tuyuhun army had already marched in. They were divided into four large square formations, each with 5,000 people, and gathered outside the east of Zhangye City from four directions. Horns sounded, drums thundered, and the infantry, cavalry, and logistics camel soldiers, the 20,000-strong army was like waves, and gradually stopped, about three miles away from the city.

The Tuyuhun soldiers wore leather hats and leather armor, and each soldier also had a wide sheepskin coat on the outside to resist the severe cold in winter.

Winter is not a season for war. If you force a war, you will have to pay a certain price, which is the huge physical consumption of soldiers.

The main weapons of Tuyuhun soldiers were short swords and spears, and they also had a large number of bows and arrows. Although the Central Plains dynasty created a brilliant cold weapon civilization, there was a huge gap in Tuyuhun, and they were unable to learn the advanced cold weapon technology of the Central Plains dynasty.

On the contrary, their smelting, casting, weapons and other technologies were still very backward. Bows and arrows could only shoot sixty to seventy steps, and weapons and spears were of poor quality and easily damaged.

Moreover, they had almost no siege weapons. The 20,000-strong army had only hundreds of simple rope ladders, no scaling ladders, no catapults, no nest carts, and no battering rams. They were like barbarians from the grassland, with only the most primitive weapons in their hands.

The Tuyuhun army was obviously aware of the most urgent siege problem at hand, and the Sui army actually dug a trench ten feet long and ten feet wide around the city wall.
The soldiers were unable to jump over the trench to attack the city, so the commander Liang Qucong immediately sent hundreds of people to cut down dozens of large trees more than ten miles away. At the same time, they cut down a large pine tree that had grown for hundreds of years. They needed to use this thick trunk to break open the gate of Zhangye City.

Liang Qucong looked coldly at the city in the distance. The top of the city was covered with flags and was filled with densely packed Sui soldiers. Behind them were dozens of huge catapults standing high on the city wall. These were the catapults that the Sui army had just installed and were huge in size.

Liang Qucong had participated in the battle to attack Huangshui City in the tenth year of Kaihuang, and was well aware of the power of catapults. It was the catapults of the Sui army that caused heavy losses to the Tuyuhun army. They could only besiege the city for several months, and until winter, they failed to break through Huangshui City. Tens of thousands of Tuyuhun troops had to retreat to the plateau.

Unfortunately, he did not expect that the Sui army would be so well prepared, and he did not expect that the Sui army would use catapults to defend the city. The Tuyuhun army had no preparations for siege, let alone powerful siege weapons, which made Liang Qucong full of worries.

"General Liang, the battering ram is ready!" a general came running to report.

Liang Qucong looked back and saw hundreds of war horses dragging a huge tree trunk that was seven feet long and four feet in diameter. It would take at least two hundred people to lift this giant battering ram.

Although Liang Qucong still had doubts about the Sui army's catapults, he also wanted to see how powerful the Sui army's catapults were.

"Order the Third Army to attack!"

The Third Army is Murong Baoshu's army. Now he is the deputy general. The commander-in-chief will certainly not use his own tribe to lead the charge. Murong Baoshu cannot postpone this task of leading the charge.

Murong Baoshu was helpless and could only wave his sword and shout, "Prepare to attack!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The drums of attack sounded. The Third Army outside the East City launched the first round of offensive. Five thousand Tuyuhun soldiers rushed towards the city wall like a tide.

They carried dozens of large logs for building a bridge, brandished short swords and spears, and ran towards the city gate shouting. The arrows shot by the Tuyuhun army behind them were like heavy rain, shooting at the top of the city from hundreds of steps away, but it had no effect and instead injured many of their own people by mistake.

Behind the surging army, a huge battering ram was slowly brought to the city gate, pulled by more than a hundred war horses. The enemy army gradually approached the trench a hundred steps away, and a hundred Tuyuhun soldiers began to build a bridge over the trench with wood.

Arrows fell from the city walls like heavy rain, thousands of them were shot at the Tuyuhun soldiers, and batches of enemy soldiers were hit and fell.

At the same time, twenty catapults began to creak and move. Since they were attacking from top to bottom, the Sui army craftsmen adjusted the arm distance and set up an ingenious lever, so that the catapults no longer required two hundred people to operate, but only fifty people to start.

Stones as big as millstones were put into the throwing bags. Xiao Xia gave an order and twenty catapults were fired at the same time. Twenty huge stones were thrown high into the air, tumbling in the air, drawing an arc, and slamming into the dense crowd.

"Boom!" There was a loud noise and screams were heard everywhere. Several Tuyuhun soldiers were unable to avoid it and were smashed into meat patties by the huge stone. The huge inertia caused the stone to roll in the crowd at an extremely fast speed, rolling more than twenty steps in a row. The Tuyuhun soldiers tried their best to dodge to both sides, but twenty people still died under the impact of the stone, and dozens of people were injured with broken bones and tendons, and there was a sound of wailing.

Immediately afterwards, the second, third and fourth rounds of catapults were fired, accompanied by the bows and crossbows of the Sui army. The arrows on the top of the city were like dense rain, and there were heavy casualties below the city. Every huge stone that fell would cause dozens of deaths and injuries. It was simply a killing machine, bringing a devastating disaster to the Tuyuhun army.

The role played by catapults in defending a city is unparalleled. In the Battle of Taiyuan during the An-Shi Rebellion in history, Li Guangbi, who was short of troops, used hundreds of giant catapults to smash more than 70,000 rebels to death, thus achieving a glorious victory in the Battle of Taiyuan.

The same was true against the Tuyuhun army. The Sui army used the most advanced catapults, which caused huge casualties to the attacking Tuyuhun army. The battlefield was littered with corpses, flattened bodies, and smashed heads. The blood flowed like a river, dyeing the boulders red.

At this time, the battering ram was gradually approaching the city gate, and the Sui army dispatched five medium-sized catapults to ignite large balls woven from wheat straw and soaked in oil.

The straw balls were ignited, and five huge, blazing fireballs were thrown toward the battering ram two hundred paces away.

The fireball hit the crowd, instantly forming a sea of ​​fire. Countless people were set on fire by the kerosene and turned into firemen. They opened their arms, wailing and ran around. After running a few steps, they fell to the ground, and their companions desperately put out the fire on their bodies.

Round after round of straw fireballs came flying in succession, and soon there were more than fifty big fireballs.

The Sui army's straw fire bombs dealt a fatal blow to the battering ram. As the fire spread, the huge battering ram was also ignited. A large number of soldiers carrying the battering ram fled, and the battering ram fell to the ground with a loud bang and was engulfed by the raging fire.

After suffering more than two thousand casualties, the Tuyuhun army that launched the first attack retreated like a tide. They did not even get close to the city wall. They all had leather shields, and the thin leather shields barely blocked some of the crossbow arrows, but they could not withstand the ruthless crushing of the boulders. Most of the soldiers were killed by the boulders.

The huge battering ram was of no use and was burned by the fire. Liang Qucong stared at the top of the city wall in a daze. Although he knew the power of the catapult, he did not expect it to be so sharp and to have such terrifying fire bombs.

He slammed his fist on the saddle and gritted his teeth, saying, "Pass my order, stop the attack, and surround Zhangye City."

(End of this chapter)