At first, Antiochus III didn't care. He thought the city wall could block the attack of these iron balls.
He even said easily:
"Look, their iron balls can't get past our city wall!"
The guard reminded:
"Your Majesty, the target of these iron balls is probably the city wall!"
"They attack the middle and lower parts of the wall."
"As long as it lasts long enough, the wall will collapse."
Only then did Antiochus III realize the seriousness of the problem. The confident and arrogant smile before had long since disappeared, replaced by panic and unwillingness.
Perhaps in the eyes of the guards, the only thing they fear is these firearms and the Silk Nation army.
But in the eyes of Antiochus III, he was afraid of another civilization, a civilization that might be more advanced than Greek civilization...
If silk is just a handmade product, then the firearm in front of you is a technology, and it is also a technology that can be used in the military, a technology that does not exist in all Hellenistic countries.
As the saying goes, "The higher you climb, the harder you fall."
The shock it brought to Antiochus III was unparalleled.
Antiochus III had looked down on the Silk Kingdom before, but now he felt very embarrassed.
After thinking for a while, Antiochus III pretended to be calm and ordered:
"So, what are you waiting for?"
"Bring in the troops, we'll wait for them at the gap!"
The guard responded and went to deliver the order.
Soon, groups of super long spearmen formed a square formation behind the city wall and were waiting.
But Antiochus III thought about it and felt that it was wrong to do so.
Because if a gap is opened in the city wall and one's own troops are behind the gap...then the Silk Army only needs to continue firing iron balls, will the troops be smashed to death row by row without any resistance?
At this time, a guard hurriedly ran over and reported:
"Your Majesty, many of our troops escaped from the west gate!"
This is the result of Shen Bing's three tactics.
Antiochus III's words may have deceived the people, but they could not deceive the better-informed Seleucid soldiers.
They had long known that Akefus was defeated by the Silk Army instead of "destroying the barbarian nests" as Antiochus III said...
Akefs even sent people to Homusan for rescue. A primary phalanx was sent from Homusan to reinforce Akefs.
Then, the soldiers will consider another question:
"Why did the Silk Army appear here and surround Huo Musang?"
"Does that mean that Akefs and the reinforcements have been completely defeated by the Silk Army?"
"Acaifus has an army of 30,000, and later sent 10,000 reinforcements."
"That is to say, the 40,000-strong army was easily defeated by the Silk Army!"
"Then can Homusang's 10,000-strong army defend it?"
At first, the soldiers were a little hesitant. After all, they couldn't understand how the Silk Army defeated Akefs.
When the Silk Army started the bombardment, they understood... With such a long-range and powerful firearm, the iron balls fired could even collapse the city walls. How could the phalanx be its opponent?
It was also discovered that there was no siege from the Silk Kingdom army to the west, so several cavalry officers deserted.
The officer ordered the city gate to be opened on the grounds that he was out of the city on a mission, and then fled on horseback.
The Qin army did not pursue or stop them, and allowed these deserters to escape.
Wei Sanjueyi must let them escape.
Because if an enemy escapes and is intercepted or even pursued, the people in the city will know that this is not a way to survive, and they will give up their intention to escape.
Now the soldiers guarding the city saw how they could escape so easily?
So everyone was ready to make a move.
Then a few more soldiers followed, and then more and more, and soon even the common people joined the fleeing team, and soon it was out of control.
Antiochus III was shocked. Only then did he realize that the first thing he had to plug was not the gap from the outside, but the gap from within.
He quickly ordered the guards to close the city gate and sent troops to guard it.
However, the morale of the city's defenders was also affected, including Antiochus III.
Even after thinking about it in the palace, he felt that it was not worth risking his life here, so that night, Antiochus III disguised himself as a soldier and secretly left the city through the west gate under the protection of a group of guards.
As usual, the Qin army still did not intercept them and allowed them to leave.
It's not that Shen Bing doesn't want to capture the king, it's that they don't even know that the king is among them.
But having said that, there seems to be no use in arresting the king. Seleucid can just replace him as the king, so Shen Bing is not very interested in this.
Under the cover of blocking the news and the guards, the soldiers and civilians of Homusan did not realize that the king had escaped first, so they still defended Homusan.
The city wall was blown down the next afternoon.
With a loud noise, a section of the city wall that had already sunk into a large pit was reduced to rubble in the dust.
The Qin army did not attack just like the defenders thought, but continued to wait outside, and from time to time fired a few explosive bombs to create some panic.
Because Shen Bing believes that he still has time, he should wait until the benefits are maximized before attacking.
Then the opportunity came...
Parthian cavalry and two teams of Seleucid cavalry arrived.
When the defenders of Homusang saw the reinforcements arriving, they couldn't help but stand at the top of the city and cheered. Many people even cried with joy.
But then they were disappointed, because the Parthian cavalry stood still and just watched the battle from a distance. No matter how loud the Seleucid cavalry shouted, it was of no avail.
This is partly because King Anxi was worried that he would not be able to defeat the Qin army...
The Qin army surrounded Huo Musang with more than 40,000 troops, while the Parthian army only had 50,000 troops.
If a fight really breaks out, the Parthian army without horse gear will definitely not be able to do well.
The result is probably that the entire Parthian army was annihilated but the siege of Homusan was not relieved.
In fact, Anxi did not want Huosang to relieve the siege, and even hoped that the Qin army could occupy Huosang.
The reason is very simple. If the Qin army captures Homusang, it will become a barrier for Parthia. In the future, if the Seleucid army wants to attack Parthia, it will have to get through the Qin army first.
Shen Bing also thought about this, so he believed that An Xi would not take action unless it was absolutely necessary.
Then, the soldiers and people of Homusan discovered that their king had disappeared.
For everyone agreed that this was the time when the king should play his role...the king should use his influence to order the Parthians to attack the enemy.
But the king never showed up, and the guards made excuses saying that the king was busy with official duties.
However, at this time, what other official duties can be compared to commanding and calling on the Parthian troops?!
Then the angry soldiers and civilians rushed into Antiochus III's residence regardless of the guards' obstruction... only to find that it was empty.
Everyone felt that they had been deceived and betrayed by Antiochus III.
At this moment, Shen Bing ordered to attack the city.