Chapter 68 City Wall
The crash was improved from the battering ram.
The most primitive battering ram was a huge log held by a group of soldiers or hung on a simple cart with a beam, and it hit the city gate back and forth. In order to prevent attacks from the top of the head, a sloped roof was later added to the cart. To prevent fire attacks, the roof was coated with a mixture of wet mud and straw.
Unlike the images of car crashes we see in most domestic dramas, the hammer head of a real car crash is blunt. Otherwise, braving the rain of arrows and arrows thrown head-on and paying so many casualties, it is easy to reach the city gate and break it when it hits it. It is a bit too ridiculous (I don’t understand why the props are designed like this. Similarly, I have also seen sculptures that are vivid The beast-headed hammer, haha, it takes a month to be carefully crafted, but it will be completely unrecognizable in a second, why bother). In order to strengthen the hammer head, it is often covered with a thick layer of iron.
There are large stone blocks inside the city gate, and it is estimated that it can withstand a few attacks for the time being. Wang Jian now needs to concentrate on dealing with the dozens of ladders approaching.
There are many types of ladders. If the main attacking force is the general's elite subordinates, in order to provide maximum protection, they will even be modified with a tram vehicle. The shape is very similar to a modern fire truck: ladders are stacked on the roof, and the soldiers hide in the carriage and work together to push them to the bottom of the city. The masonry supported the wheels, and the ladder cart was firmly against the wall. Unless the defenders destroyed the ladder or burned the body of the cart, it would be difficult to push it away from the city.
However, what Takatozu built was a simple ladder—an extended version of a wooden ladder. Most of the people who attacked the city in the first wave of ants were cannon fodder civilians and auxiliary soldiers. They were used only to consume the energy and supplies of the defenders. It was natural to do whatever it took to save trouble. However, despite this, the siege ladder is still very different from the ordinary wooden ladder: it has two rollers on the top and two iron hooks. The auxiliary soldiers carried the ladder and ran to the bottom of the city, put the rollers on the city wall, and pushed the ladder hard to go up the wall. When crenellations appeared on the top of the ladder, they pulled it down again, and the hooks would firmly hold the city head. , the defenders couldn't push it away no matter what.
The firepower of the defenders will definitely be concentrated near the siege equipment, so the lifting work with the greatest casualties will be borne by the common people. The soldiers each held a round shield to protect themselves and rushed to the city in scattered directions. Under the cover of the huge shield of the auxiliary soldiers who were better than nothing, the common people braved the arrows pouring from the city top to carry the ladder to the root of the city. Then they were forced by the soldiers to put the ladder up to the top of the city and stabilize it with knives.
Seeing ladders being put up one after another on the wall, Takato Dou on the observation deck ordered the archers to attack.
The messenger ordered the soldiers to move the green flag ("Moqi" is a military term, which means holding it in a circle).
Two hundred auxiliary soldiers were hunched over and held diagonally, or more accurately described as pushing, as they advanced to a distance of twenty or thirty steps in front of the city with their large wooden shields, which were almost as tall as a man, and dug their pointed ends into the soil. My cat was holding on from behind. There is an archer behind each large shield. They will be responsible for suppressing and disrupting the city head when the soldiers climb the wall.
Benefit, Benefit.
The crossbowmen on the top of the city obviously noticed the new threat, and they all aimed and shot here. However, apart from nailing a few feather arrows to the big shield, it had almost no effect, and the ineffective attacks were quickly stopped by the officers.
Gao Fengdou on the observation deck saw that most of the archers were already in position and issued an attack order again.
The black flag started to move, and a bang sound suddenly sounded in the formation.
Following the sound of bangs, the archers behind the shields who already had arrows on their strings squatted down to draw their bows, and then quickly leaned out half of their bodies to shoot arrows in the general direction of the city head. The archers and crossbowmen on the city also began to fire back at the side where the thieves might lean out under the orders of the officers. The long-range firepower pouring towards the big shield gradually became intensive.
At this distance, the slingers pose no threat: overly heavy masonry cannot be thrown this far, and those that can hit the shield will not cause much damage. The damage mainly comes from bows - especially crossbows.
Crossbows and bows and arrows each have their own pros and cons.
The advantage of the crossbow is that it has high lethality, can be aimed for a long time after being cocked, and has high accuracy. Even if it is armored, a hit can still penetrate the armor and penetrate the flesh. The disadvantage is that the firing rate is slow, and it needs to be stepped on with the feet to wind it. Regardless of the sitting position or the bowed position, the exposed body area is large and it is easy to be attacked.
The advantage of bows and arrows is their fast shooting speed. A skilled archer can shoot four or five rounds of arrows in one shot of the crossbowman, but the bow must be fired in a very short time, making it impossible to maintain long-term aiming. At the same time, the effect on armor is extremely limited: many people have arrows inserted into them. He shot seven or eight feather arrows, like a hedgehog, but he was still chasing people and slashing them alive.
Gaotou Dou's archer team had just formed an army, and there were only a few crossbows, so they were not organized with the archers. Instead, they were sent to the city with the sword and shield soldiers, and under the cover of the shield soldiers, they sneaked into the air to attack the probe. 's defenders.
Gaotou Bean scanned the battlefield.
The archers on and off the city were shot by stray arrows from time to time. Although the defenders had a field of vision advantage, overall, the kills on both sides were almost equal, which made Gaotou Bean very satisfied. Of course, the defenders could just sit back and wait for the archers to emerge from behind their shields before shooting. The attacking archers then began to play psychological warfare with their opponents: they would often half draw their bows, take a step, then retract, waiting for the ground beside them to hit the ground. Plug in a few arrows - lure the defenders to fire, then jump out and shoot quickly. Due to the obstruction of the city walls and crenellations, most of the arrows were in vain, either high or low. However, for the same reason, as long as the defenders were hit by arrows, they would often suffer fatal injuries to the head and face, while the attackers were mostly injured by arrows in the limbs. As long as the muscles and bones are not injured, most of them can be recovered.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Gao Tengzu waved his hand and issued a new order.
The soldiers below the city clearly felt that the attack pressure from above suddenly decreased a lot. Then they heard the second bang from the rear, so they held a round shield in one hand to protect the vital points above their heads, carrying knives on their backs or in their mouths. , climbing up the ladder with one hand. Following closely behind were the spearmen, holding spears that were more than five feet or even two feet tall. They put them on the shoulders of the people in front of them and used their strength to stab the wall aimlessly, trying to provide protection for the climbers. These spears were also specially made, with a foot-and-a-half-long iron pipe set between the spear head and the barrel - if it was cut off by the city's sword, everyone up and down this ladder would face a more serious danger.
From time to time on the top of the city, garrison officers wearing iron helmets quickly probed down the city for reconnaissance. They heard two bangs one after another, and they all knew that this was an order to ascend the city, so they redistributed defensive firepower again: the archers focused on the thieves' archers. For suppression, the slinger deals with the wall-climbing ladder.
Guan Shengyun built a total of five siege towers. After one was destroyed by the crossbow, the others were obviously frightened, and their marching speed slowed down thirty or forty steps away from the city head. Wang Jian was also worried: there were only a dozen arrows and spears left. Even if the reloading speed and accuracy were not taken into account, at best, they could only kill two more. What to do with the rest? Wang Jian stared at these ugly behemoths: if they get closer, a larger area of unprotected flanks will be exposed. At that time, only two or at most three arrows and spears can kill one of them! Wang Jian is waiting for the opportunity. As if they had guessed his thoughts, the towers began to move parallel to the side, trying to avoid the dangerous area.
A series of miserable howls sounded in my ears. The exposed area of the thieves climbing up the ladder is very small, and a small buckler can protect them. Unless they are hit in the head by a large stone weighing dozens of kilograms, boiling water and boiling oil will also do limited damage to them - so, The defenders used asphalt!
The hot asphalt poured down and stuck to the shield, clothes, and ladder frame. Then, it was ignited by the thrown torch, and the burning men fell from the air screaming...
Several defenders lifted a log, which was a log tied with ropes at both ends and studded with long nails, and pushed it down towards the ladder in front of them. There was a muffled sound accompanied by screams, and the hammer was pulled up again. There were fragments of armor on the spikes, and bright red blood was dripping down... Several soldiers were trying to drag the hammer to another building. On the ladder, a shower of arrows came through the sky. A guy suddenly let go of his hand, covering his neck where the arrow was hit, with his mouth open and unable to make a sound. His tongue stuck out, his eyes protruded from the sockets, and a line of blood poured out of the corner of his mouth... Suddenly losing his balance, one end of the hammer fell down and nailed the calf of the person next to him. The man also let go of his hand and fell down, covering his calf. The guys at the other end were startled, dropped the ropes in their hands and jumped away. The wooden stick rolled forward and overturned a pot of boiling asphalt with black foam. The flames flowed and slowly spread out, destroying the The defenders on a small section of the city wall dispersed... Fortunately, the ladder in front of them was burning, and no one could break into this potentially fatal gap for the time being. The young men rushed over carrying earth bags and poured sand and soil on the flames. The burning area became smaller and smaller, and the defenders rushed back again to fill the gap.
Not far in front of him, Sobu Qian angrily picked up his knife and chopped down a young man. This guy carried most of his bag of lime and shook it down the city - lime and bran are both good defensive tools. The attacker was stunned and most of his life was lost. But this guy happened to loosen the mouth of the bag when a gust of wind blew up, and the lime filled the air. Instead, the defenders around him dropped their weapons, covered their eyes, cursed, howled, and fell to the ground rolling. The lime and tears instantly released a high temperature that was close to the boiling point, making these people blind!
A spear point emerged from the crenel, stretching and thrusting wildly. The thief was coming! Wu Qian threw down the knife and roared, and another soldier ran over. The two of them lifted the strong body and smashed it down where the tip of the gun came out!
There seemed to be a muffled sound in the ears, followed by the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground. Wu Qian covered his helmet with one hand and supported the crenel with the other, and stuck his head out of the wall to look down... Suddenly, a gun tip emerged from the side of his head near his eyebrows, and Wu Qian froze immediately! The protruding spear tip was withdrawn, and Wu Qian's body withered to the ground. Then, a hand stretched out from outside the wall and grabbed the crenel. When it was too late, Wang Jian rushed over and started chopping with his knife. With a scream, half of his palm and a few fingers were scattered on the city wall.
Without even looking at it, Wang Jian roared, and several soldiers rushed over dragging a Wolf Fang Pat...
