…
Early the next morning, Zhuge Zhi, who had been staying overnight on the city wall, was awakened by a hurried report.
"Secretary Zhuge, no good, the enemy has begun to attack the city again!"
When Zhuge Zhi heard this, he immediately took out the looking glass and stood in front of the stone window to look.
I saw dense crowds of people in the distance, and behind the crowd there were more than a dozen catapults slowly approaching.
"Ring the bell! Get ready to fight!"
"Here!"
The bell rang three times, resounding throughout the sky.
The soldiers who had rested for the night immediately returned to their posts, preparing for a new day of battle.
"No, those people at the front are here to fill the trenches. Are they all Baisai people?"
Seeing this, Zhuge Zhi's expression became solemn.
It was not uncommon for him to force civilians to fill trenches with the enemy on battlefields in the Central Plains.
Liu Ce's countermeasure was to treat civilians as enemies no matter what reason they were driven by the enemy.
Ci does not control troops, which is Liu Ce's military methods, which also profoundly affected every general in the army.
But this is a foreign country, and Zhuge Zhi has no idea what the consequences will be if he takes action against civilians.
However, he would never watch them fill in the trench right under his nose!
"Pass my military order! Anyone who fills the trench will be regarded as an enemy, and you must not show any mercy to the enemy!"
With the order, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
On Ortom's side, last night, William spared no effort to recruit tens of thousands of civilians from the nearby military area thirty miles away to serve as a trench-filling team.
The military governor, faced with the Crusaders' atrocities, didn't even dare to let out a fart. He only ordered not to interfere, and watched helplessly as the civilians were taken away by the Crusaders before his eyes.
These civilians were crying while pushing carts full of mud and sand, or carrying bags of mud and sand, slowly approaching the wall of Theosido.
"put!"
Behind them, more than a dozen catapults began to hurl stone cannons weighing about twenty or thirty kilograms at the city wall in an attempt to interfere with the defenders at the top of the city and prevent them from filling the trenches.
If these catapults were placed in the Han army, they would only be at the level of light trebuchets. In fact, they were also products of the ancient Roman era.
Due to the loss of design drawings due to war damage, Western siege equipment showed a geometric retreat after the demise of Siloman. It is already very good to be able to imitate such a thing from hundreds of years ago.
The stone cannon hit the thick city wall, leaving only a white shallow mark, posing no fatal threat at all.
However, the morale of the Baisai Imperial Army that could not stand up to the city was low. Faced with such siege equipment, they were so frightened that they lowered their heads and did not dare to raise their heads.
The Roman Empire, a powerful empire that used to be founded by force, where civilians were proud to serve in the military, and whose territory spanned the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, has long been lost in the dust of history.
The current Baisei Empire no longer has its own army in the true sense. It relies entirely on mercenaries. Even the Varangian Guards are actually mercenaries!
Such a country without military power has really declined.
More than a dozen rounds of catapults were thrown down, buying enough time for the civilians filling the trenches. They rushed to the trenches and poured the sediment in their hands and cars into the trenches.
"Why not stop them?"
Zhuge Zhi saw that the Baisai garrison had not chosen to stop the civilians from filling the trenches, so he couldn't help but go to their posts in person, and came to question them regardless of throwing stones from outside the city.
But the answer he received was: "They are also Romans, and we Romans cannot attack ourselves!"
Zhuge Zhi picked up the soldier who was speaking and yelled: "You dare to disobey my order? Now I will give you another chance to shoot the bows and arrows in your hands at those civilians!"
"No, I can't. We are all servants of God. I will never kill my own compatriots!"
The soldier answered decisively.
Zhuge Zhi: "If that's the case, then you will be treated as if you have committed a crime and you will be sent to the military law department!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two Han soldiers immediately picked up the Besai defender and pulled him down the city wall.
"Pagan, you want us Romans to kill each other, you will be punished!"
The guard cursed Zhuge Zhi sternly.
But Zhuge Zhi was obviously unmoved and said to the remaining defenders: "Now, who among you is unwilling to obey the order!?"
No one dared to say anything anymore, and they all looked directly at this decisive heretic.
Zhuge Zhi took a deep breath and said to them: "I know you care about your compatriots, but now, they are our enemies and are helping the enemy to attack us!
Think about your family. What will be the consequences if the city is destroyed because of your kindness? You said you are unwilling to harm your fellow citizens,
What about them? Aren't their current actions hurting you? Would your God allow such a ridiculous thing to happen?
Therefore, from now on, everyone outside the city, whether human or ghost, is your enemy! You are not here to fight for the glory of the Roman Empire.
But for your loved ones! If God wants you to perish today, at least he must drag the group of devils outside the city into hell before you perish.
Whether you are right or wrong today will be judged by your God.
Descendants of the Roman Empire, use some of the courage of your ancestors to repel the group of pagans who are invading your homeland, and let Roman civilization become great on this land again! "
Zhuge Zhi's words seemed to awaken the dormant blood in the hearts of the people of this ancient empire. At this time, their eyes became extremely firm, and they had the temperament of a sergeant.
"You are right. Let God choose whether it is right or wrong. I just want to protect my family!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an archer decisively drew his bow string and shot at the civilians filling the trench.
More defenders roared and cheered up, shooting all the approaching compatriots. Finally, all the defenders began to shoot outside the city.
After stabilizing the morale of the army, Zhuge Zhi came to Oleg again: "General Oleg, I have long heard that the Greek fire of the Baisei Empire is world-famous, so let us see it and throw it in the direction of those slings. !”
"No problem, actually I've wanted to do this for a long time!"
Oleg nodded excitedly, and then ordered someone to place a jar filled with stone grease in the magazine of a torsion ejector, and then lit it with fire.
"Come and feel the pain of being devoured by fire!"
As Oleg shouted loudly, the wooden pole next to the torque throwing machine was slammed down.
The originally twisted arm flicked forward and threw the burning jar far away.
Boom~~
There was a roar, and Zhuge Zhi saw with his own eyes that Greek fire exploded near the Crusader trebuchet, and the scorching flame instantly ignited the surrounding crowd.
"Boom boom boom boom——"
More Greek fire flew into the air and fell into the enemy's formation. Soon the area around the catapult became a sea of fire.
"Greek fire, these Romans are so distressing!"
Seeing the stone formation turning into a sea of fire, Ortom lamented again, simply pulled out his long sword, pointed in the distance and shouted: "Continue, before sunset, be sure to fill in the trench outside the wall of Theosido!"
Soon the showdown between slings and Greek fire begins.
With a distance of less than 200 meters, the two sides launched a crazy mid-range sniper attack.
The fierce battle lasted from day to night, and finally came to an end.
In this battle, more than a thousand Roman civilians were killed, 60 defenders were killed or wounded, and the Crusaders suffered about 130 casualties.
But the long trench had been half filled in at this time, and Zhuge Zhi predicted that tomorrow's battle would be an extremely brutal close battle.
