: Close the door and beat the dog

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

: Close the door and beat the dog

After experiencing the initial chaos, the defenders finally returned to calm under the command of their respective officers.

After decades of fighting with the Han army, both the Huns and the Qiang had far greater endurance and combat effectiveness than those of the Western countries.

The enemy troops guarding the city wall naturally could not watch the Han army approaching.

The person responsible for the defense of Guanglu City was Captain Shanyu Tingyou.

This man was a veteran. Facing the attacking Qiang Yi Cong, he calmly issued orders one after another.

In order to suppress the Han army and Qiang Yi Cong who were attacking the city, he gathered more than a thousand archers and fired at the city.

In order to reduce casualties, these archers were all concentrated twenty steps behind the city wall, using projectiles to attack the attacking troops outside the city.

Although this method is less effective, the number of people makes up for the lack of accuracy.

The Huns archers kept drawing their bows, and arrows fell like raindrops on the Qiang Yi followers who were attacking the city, causing many casualties to these Qiang Yi followers who lacked effective protection.

Fortunately, the Han army's crossbowmen also approached the city at this time, and together with the trebuchets, they suppressed the defenders in the city.

The Yi Cong of the Qiang people who were attacking the city sped up under the command of the Han army.

Siege towers and siege engines gradually approached the city wall.

The right commander of the Xiongnu knew that this could not continue.

"Up to town!"

Under his order, the Huns and Qiang archers scaled the city wall with heavy casualties.

At this time, the siege engines and siege towers at the front were less than twenty steps away from the city wall.

"Fire rockets!"

"Trebuchet strikes back!"

Those rain-like arrows missed, mixed with little bits of fire, and the defenders tried to use flames to ignite the wooden siege towers and siege engines.

Zhao Chongguo had already prepared for this situation.

The Han army not only covered their siege vehicles with cowhide, but also hung moisture-absorbing cotton cloth on the front of the siege tower.

With the large-scale cotton planting in the Western Regions, a large amount of cotton cloth and cotton were sent to Chang'an as taxes every year.

The price of cotton cloth has dropped again and again in recent years, and it is not much more expensive than linen cloth.

Therefore, adding some cotton cloth to the siege weapons would not cause much burden to the Han army.

The wood used to make siege equipment was also freshly cut wet wood.

Although these moisture-filled woods will crack in the future, Zhao Chongguo doesn't care about the future. All he wants is the immediate victory.

Although the burning flammable objects were inaccurately projected onto the siege equipment by arrows.

But it was unable to ignite wet wood and cloth at all. After a slight struggle, it dried out a layer of moisture on the surface of the target and then slowly extinguished it.

Every rocket attack could ignite the Han army's siege weapons, which made many defenders feel discouraged.

Fortunately, the defenders still had trebuchets available. At this time, the Han army's siege weapons had entered the attack range of the small trebuchets in the city.

The Qiang people in the city controlled catapults and attacked the Han army's siege weapons.

After the defenders fired dozens of stone bombs, they finally hit a siege tower.

"boom"

There was a loud noise, and the upper part of a siege tower was smashed into pieces.

The flying splinters caused secondary damage to the surrounding soldiers.

This alone caused dozens of casualties to the Qiang people.

"Wow!"

The cheers of the defenders came from the top of the city.

But soon the cheers of the defenders stopped.

After the Han army's large trebuchets discovered the location of the trebuchets in the city, they immediately used half of the trebuchets to carry out a suppressive attack.

At the same time, the Xiongnu and Qiang archers at the top of the city saw that the rocket attacks were ineffective and replaced them with ordinary arrows again.

Because the siege equipment was already close to the city wall, the Han army's trebuchets were afraid of causing accidental damage to their own soldiers, so they stopped attacking the city head and instead attacked the inside of the city.

After the Han army's trebuchets stopped suppressing the city, the defenders at the city quickly reorganized under the command of their respective hundred knight commanders.

The attacks of the archers at the top of the city also became more threatening.

Soldiers pushing siege towers or siege vehicles would be hit by arrows from time to time.

Some fallen soldiers would stand in front of the wooden pulleys of the siege equipment, or hang their entire bodies on the siege equipment when they died, making it more difficult for the soldiers to push forward.

These conditions also slowed down the advance of siege equipment.

The archers at the top of the city soon discovered this situation, and they began to consciously shoot at the soldiers near the chariot wheels in an attempt to slow down the advancement of the siege equipment.

However, the effect of this is not very good. Whether it is a siege vehicle or a siege tower, there are some completely enclosed spaces, making it impossible for all archers to shoot.

What's more, the Han army's crossbowmen are not vegetarians. They have better weapons and better training.

If it were not for the limitations of the terrain, the Han army could only invest a limited number of crossbowmen.

The defenders at the top of the city were unable to compete with the Han army's crossbowmen.

Several small trebuchets in the city were also constantly firing stone projectiles outside the city.

It's a pity that the accuracy of these small trebuchets is not very high, not to mention that they are still operated by a group of rookies.

Even the operator doesn't know where the stone projectiles fired from the trebuchet will land.

The Han army's trebuchets became more and more accurate after several rounds of adjustments.

Twenty trebuchets carried out a comprehensive attack on this area.

"Boom boom boom!"

Under the constant attacks of the Han army's trebuchets, the trebuchets in the city were destroyed one after another.

Now the city could no longer pose a threat to the Han army's siege weapons.

Seeing that the Han army's siege towers and siege engines were about to get close to the city wall.

The Hun captain knew that this could not continue.

Although the number of troops in his hands is not small, except for the three thousand Huns in his headquarters, the rest of the Qiang people are just a ragtag group.

Once the Han army approaches the city, these Qiang people are likely to collapse quickly.

After some thought, he gritted his teeth and sent out 300 Xiongnu cavalry in an attempt to destroy the Han army's siege weapons.

It should be said that the quality of the Huns is still very good, and the three hundred cavalry were quickly assembled.

Although these Huns knew that there was no possibility of survival after they left the city, they still rushed out of the city gate under the leadership of a thousand-horse commander.

The Huns cavalry who suddenly came out of the city really caught the Qiang Yi Cong off guard.

The two siege engines at the front were successfully destroyed by the Huns.

But that was all. The Han army's crossbowmen reacted, formed an arrow array, and launched a violent attack on the Huns cavalry leaving the city.

In the blink of an eye, all three hundred Huns cavalry who left the city fell to the ground.

"Captain Right, what should we do now?"

Several Qiang leaders gathered around.

The captain on the right said, "What else can we do? Prepare to engage the enemy!"

The Huns cavalry who left the city were all elite Huns. They were killed by the Han army outside the city so quickly, which made Captain You's heart bleed.
Chapter completed!