The capture of City No. 1 gave the five priests great confidence, and they immediately ordered to move towards City No. 2.
Compared with the weak defense of City No. 1, there are dense forests in City No. 2, and the locations of arrow towers and bunkers are relatively hidden.
This is an excellent ambush point. The two thousand natives who stepped into the dense forest were quickly attacked by arrows from all directions. From time to time, giant trees fell between the giant trees on both sides. The attacking natives suffered heavy casualties in a short time. Retreat and move up a reserve team.
Even though the reserve team's morale is high, facing the dense forest of No. 2 City, it is not easy to win easily.
Seeing the reserves that were withdrawing and rushing forward again, the five priests looked at each other and ordered the troops to withdraw.
This was not because they gave in, but to reduce unnecessary casualties and postpone the attack. But the next moment, the arrows were burning with flames and fired instantly.
The dense forest is an excellent place for ambush. Since it is impossible to attack by force, then attack with fire, and burn them to death.
The flames burning with the arrows directly ignited the dense forest, and in the blink of an eye, raging flames shot into the sky.
Along with the rising smoke, Chen Dao, who was sitting at the rear, looked calm and without hesitation, ordered to retreat again to City No. 3.
Taking two cities in succession allowed the five priests to regain their initial confidence.
The so-called Dongshan Army is nothing more than that. After all, they have lived in Jiaozhou for a hundred years, and their familiarity with the local area is not comparable to that of this group of Liang people.
The natives naturally have their own way of fighting. As long as the opportunity is available, there is no problem in dealing with cold soldiers.
Seeing the retreating Liang soldiers burning with raging fire, the five priests did not order the pursuit. They seemed to be in no hurry at all and seemed to be waiting for the burning flames to subside.
There were two reasons for not pursuing the pursuit. First, he was afraid that there would be an ambush on the way. Up to this point in the battle, there were only 3,000 men and horses. Su Qi'an had 2,000 men and horses left, but they did not move.
Secondly, it can be used to consolidate the territory of the two cities. In this wheel battle, in addition to concentrating our forces to win one city after another, more importantly, we must seize food step by step.
This tactic of seeking stability may seem a bit pedantic, but it is very practical. If we blindly pursue a quick victory like before, we can even advance quickly to the fourth and fifth cities.
But who can guarantee that they will not be ambushed in the rear? The battle line is too long and they can easily be stabbed in several sections.
When the time comes that they can't keep up with each other, then it won't be that they won a great victory over Su Qian and took back the territory belonging to the priests, but that they will return with heavy losses and a heavy defeat.
Striving for stability is the best policy, which is what Er Er means.
The flames burning in the dense forest lasted for about half an hour before weakening. Tens of thousands of natives continued to march out in force.
Because of the burning of the fire, the dense forest that blocked the view basically no longer existed. After walking out of the dense forest, the road to City No. 3 gradually became wider.
Although the entire army of tens of thousands of people is not spread out, it is more than enough to accommodate two reserve teams.
This time, four thousand troops advanced together, and at the rear, more than a dozen catapults slowly followed.
The weapons and equipment of the indigenous people are not good, but it does not mean that the priest alliance does not have heavy siege weapons.
For this expedition, the two elders mobilized twelve catapults from the Priest Alliance, accounting for one-third of the Priest Alliance's siege equipment.
In the previous siege, even if the situation was dire, the two elders did not use this weapon.
It's nothing more than human lives. In the eyes of the old man, the lives of these lower-class natives are really not as good as the heavy siege weapons.
If a few people die, they will die. They don't have many others, so they have a lot of people. In this expedition, the two elders are ready to sacrifice more than half of the natives. As long as they can get back the territory of the three priests, they can accept no matter how heavy the casualties are.
This is related to whether he can have the prestige to compete with the other two elders in the Priest Alliance in the future.
Once his prestige is lost, his status will definitely drop significantly, so this battle must be fought no matter what.
With the appearance of the catapult, this battle has basically reached its climax.
City No. 3 deserves to be the central city. The city walls are made of serious blue bricks. Although they are not as tall as the city walls in the frontier states, they are still beautiful.
The height is also about three feet.
It is one of the best in the county. In front of the city wall, two arrow towers, also made of blue bricks, rise from the ground.
In the arrow tower, there are already countless arrows, aiming at the approaching indigenous army.
Chen Dao's face was indifferent, even if the opponent came to the city, he had no fear.
This is when he serves as the commander of the third regiment and leads a regiment to fight in a serious manner. Even if there are tens of thousands of troops in front of him, in his heart, he must fight to the death.
In addition to not embarrassing Su Qi'an, he also had to buy time for Su Qi'an. Even if all his men were defeated and he died here, he would never take a step back.
Looking at the approaching indigenous army, Chen Dao shouted loudly and fired arrows.
Arrows flooded the sky, and two assembled indigenous reserve teams, holding shields and maces and shouting, rushed towards the strongest No. 3 city.
In an instant, the sound of killing was loud, and from behind, the catapult also began to play its siege role.
More than a dozen boulders were thrown and hit the solid city wall hard. Although they failed to break it with one blow, they still left deep marks on the city wall.
As long as there are enough, the blue brick city wall will be broken sooner or later.
The five priests were sitting on horses with serious expressions. This battle was crucial to both sides.
As long as the No. 3 city is captured, there will be a smooth plain behind. Relying on the solid territory previously won, the army does not have to worry about being attacked from the front and back, and can just push forward forcefully.
Therefore, by taking City No. 3, victory is basically in sight. Therefore, no matter how many casualties it takes, we must attack the city with all our strength.
Before attacking the city, the five priests had already expected that the resistance would be fierce.
But at that moment, when they saw it with their own eyes, they realized how strong the resistance was.
The two archery towers in front of the city wall were frantically attacked by catapults and almost destroyed. However, the soldiers in the archery towers not only did not escape, but instead rushed towards the oncoming native army like crazy.
Since they were no more than a hundred people, among the four thousand troops, they were like duckweeds swept up in the stormy waves.
It was only a matter of time before they were wiped out, but this group of desperate soldiers cast an indelible shadow on the attacking indigenous army before they were wiped out.
These hundred or so people actually briefly stopped the attack of four thousand people. Although the time was short, only a dozen breaths, it still left a deep impression on the five priests.
Before these less than a hundred soldiers were destroyed, it was roughly estimated that they caused three to four hundred casualties. This kind of record is enough to be proud of.
These desperate soldiers obviously cast a shadow on the indigenous army, and the attack speed was obviously slower.
The five priests' expressions turned cold, and the second priest immediately ordered that the two reserve teams at the rear change defenses, and at the same time, siege vehicles and ladders were dispatched.
Without the threat of the arrow tower, they could attack the city with all their strength and boldness.
Switching to defense, the natives took over the defense, and the momentum was obviously much higher. Even if they were facing a sky full of arrows, they were not afraid.
Because the reserve team to attack the city from now on is the elite indigenous people brought by their five high priests.
In the previous battles, they had not used their elites. Now at this time, there was no need to hide them.
The deployment of elite indigenous troops was obviously a much higher level than the previous indigenous troops.
After they took over the stagnant offensive, it only took two-quarters of an hour for the siege engines to reach the city gate.
The elites pushing the ladder behind them also gradually approached.
This kind of victory requires huge casualties. In just two quarters of an hour, the elite natives of 4,000 people suffered more than 1,000 casualties.
But they still fought to the death, let alone them. Even Chen Dao, who was responsible for the defense, rushed to the city wall and directed the battle without caring about the arrows coming towards them.
Various logs and boulders were thrown from the city wall in an attempt to hinder the progress of the siege.
The eyes of the second priest behind him flashed, and he seemed to have made a decision. He only said, "Send the order, the second group of elite natives will attack."
These words shocked the other four people. There were only 12,000 elite natives out of the 50,000-strong native army.
It happened to be divided into three batches.
The first batch has already gone up. Although there are more than a thousand casualties, they are not without the power to fight.
Even if you want to go up, you can withdraw the first batch first and use other ordinary natives to go up. The battle in City No. 3 only started for two quarters of an hour. It has just begun. There is no need to go up to the second batch of elites.
Compared with the hesitation of the four people, the second priest took a longer view than them and said softly, "Our attack on the city this time is indeed focused on stability. Until now, haven't you discovered that the other side's generals are rushing to attack the city?" We arrived at the city wall and finally rushed to the bottom of the wall. At this time, ordinary natives would only be able to defeat them."
"When the time comes and we force them to retreat, their morale will be greatly boosted, and the morale we have finally built up will be shattered."
"In addition to stability in a war, morale is also very important. I think even the two elders here will agree with me."
At this time, the second priest had no laughter at all. He seemed to be a different person. He felt like a cool general.
Although they and the second priest usually dislike each other, they are the most sensitive among the eight priests to the changes in the battlefield atmosphere.
When it comes to fighting, among them, the two priests are still capable.
"Since the second brother has said so, then we will listen to you."
"That's right, everything will be done as the second brother wants."
The four of them looked at each other and spoke in unison.
The second priest took a deep breath. In fact, he was also betting on the opponent's reinforcements.
Only by forcing out all the troops can they annihilate them in one fell swoop with absolute superiority.
Not long after, a second group of 4,000 elite natives from the rear were dispatched. With the support of the second group, the pressure on the first group was significantly reduced, the offensive became more fierce, and the balance of victory clearly tilted towards the priests.
Chen Dao saw clearly the dispatch of the second group of elite natives, and he was very aware of the current situation.
With the 3,000 men in his hands, it was not easy to support him for so long amid the onslaught of 7,000 to 8,000 elite natives.
But he had no choice but to wait!
Chen Dao shouted, "Brothers, for the sake of Lord Marquis and the people of our homeland, we will never take a step back even if we die!"
"Fight to the death! Never retreat!" Countless voices in the city shouted, and the two sides fell into a stalemate for a while.
At this moment, the ground suddenly shook, and there was a thundering sound of rushing and killing on both sides of the city. Then thousands of people rushed out from the two wings and went straight towards the elite indigenous army.
Looking at the reinforcements rushing out, the second priest was not surprised as expected. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief with a smile on his face, "Haha, after waiting for so long, it's finally here."
