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Volume 2: Set Sail Chapter 173: Covering one's ears and stealing the bell

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    Chapter 173: Covering one¡¯s ears and stealing the bell

    Twenty bare-chested strong men waved their muscular arms and beat the war drums as tall as a man. The low drums suddenly sounded, one after another. Although the rhythm was not fast, it beat in people's hearts and their hearts beat in response.  The sound of the drums became more powerful, pushing waves of hot blood to the limbs and bones.

    Listening to the powerful drum beat, Sun Feng felt his temples pounding, his scalp feeling numb, his hands and feet also feeling a little swollen, and a stream of true energy slowly flowing between the meridians, making a gurgling sound.  This was his first time personally commanding a battle. Although the overall plan had been discussed with his father and uncle countless times, and his experienced uncle would serve as his deputy to guide him, he was still a little nervous.  The first time he commanded a battle, he was able to command an army of 200,000 men. I think few people in the world had such an opportunity.

    Sun Feng clearly knew that if he could win this battle, his future would be bright, and all of this was paved for him by his father.

    Sun Feng couldn't help but think of his uncle Sun Deng. He was also supported step by step on the war horse by his father, and he started to fight on the battlefield from more than ten steps. But now he is sitting in Yuzhang burning porcelain. It is said that he is too focused on burning porcelain.  Porcelain, his health is very bad, he coughs up blood at such a young age.  Sun Feng knew very well that it was not because he was tired at all, but because he was angry.

    ¡°I am very lucky to have not met a father like Sun Quan. On the contrary, my father tried every means to establish his prestige in order for him to gain a foothold here.  And all of this was originally his glory, but he gave it to himself without reservation.

    No matter what, I will win this battle.  Sun Feng clenched his fists, suppressed his excitement, and shouted loudly: "Send the order, start attacking from both wings!"

    Du Yu turned around with a roar, walked to the edge of the stage, stood facing east, waved the command flag, and issued orders to the Romans on the left.  Quintus received the news, returned the semaphore, and immediately issued the order to attack.  Du Yu turned around again, walked to the west side of the stage, and issued an attack order to the Kushan people on the right.  Bo Diao received the order and also issued the order to attack.

    The phalanx composed of two Roman legions began to advance at a neat pace. The front row was filled with warriors holding large shields as high as one person. The shields in their hands were too heavy and they could only take two steps and then stop in time with the drum beat.  .  Behind them was a row of warriors holding spears. They leveled the spears in their hands and pointed them forward, forming a forest of spears in front of the warriors holding shields.  Following closely behind were two rows of Han crossbowmen, holding Qingyi style crossbows in their hands. The arrows on the crossbows pointed diagonally forward and upward. Their fingers were resting on the crossbow machine, ready to fire at any time.

    Behind these four rows of soldiers are siege engines pushed by slaves.  The siege vehicle is huge, and the front, left, right and three sides are covered with thick wooden boards. The thick wood sticks out at least two feet outside the wooden boards. This prevents the enemy from using crossbows to bombard the arrow-blocking wooden boards and protects the siege vehicle as much as possible.  Warrior inside.  There are many shooting holes cut into the board so that archers can shoot inside without opening the board.  The siege vehicles are divided into four cities. The top layer is a passage for warriors to climb the city. The lower two layers are equipped with two hundred archers. The bottom layer is empty for the slaves who push the siege to hide. Each siege vehicle  The cars are equipped with eight huge wheels, and the wheels are also hidden inside the car body to prevent them from being attacked by enemies.

    Sixty siege vehicles were spread out on the battlefield less than two miles away. The two siege vehicles were about twenty steps apart. They kept moving forward at a consistent pace. Although the speed was not fast, the pressure they brought was very high.  Xiaoke.  Seeing the siege vehicles approaching slowly like a moving city wall, the Sassanids in the city couldn't help but take a breath of air.

    Ardashir frowned. Could it be that they were so short of artillery and stone that they actually had to use siege engines to attack the city?

    Soon, Ardashir saw the ballista.  Behind the siege vehicle, a row of ballistae was launched.  They were hidden behind the siege vehicles, and only the long gun barrels could be seen.  Aldashir frowned. He understood the opponent's intention. The siege vehicles were just bunkers. They used this reinforced siege vehicle as a cover for the ballistae to offset the shortcomings of the attacking ballistae's lack of stealth.  .

    Both sides of the siege have ballistae. Because the power of the ballistae is huge, as soon as a battle begins, both sides will try their best to destroy the other party's ballistae first.  The ballista in the city has an inherent advantage in this regard. It can be placed inside the city out of sight of the enemy. The observers on the city wall can check the effect of the strike and adjust the counterweight and angle according to this effect.  The other party can only estimate the position of these ballistas based on the flight path of the cannon stones and implement them. After all, this is quite different from seeing it with one's own eyes.  Since the attacking side's ballistae has no cover, it can only be exposed to the opponent's blows, and the chance of loss is far greater than that of the defending side.  Now Sun Feng uses siege vehicles with super anti-strike capabilities as movable bunkers, which can make up for this disadvantage to a large extent, giving the crossbow gunners more safety and allowing them to operate with confidence.

      Ardashir sighed. He wanted to use negotiations to delay time, but now it seems that he has not achieved his goal. The other party also used the negotiation time to make a lot of preparations.  He waved his hand and gave the order to attack.

    The horn sounded, and with the shouts, the ballistas hidden in the city began to roar, and pieces of cannon stones flew over the city wall and pounced on the enemies outside the city.

    ¡°Stand up the shield¡ª¡± Mennoluphes raised his sword, the herald standing beside him waved the colorful flag in his hand, and the drummer beat the war drum, transmitting the order to the ears of the warriors in the phalanx.  The shield walking in front immediately stopped, stood the giant shield on the ground, supported the support pole, and then hid his entire body in the shield. The spear-wielding warrior behind took a step forward and squatted down.  The crossbowmen also rushed forward, trying to hide themselves under their shields.

    "Boom -" Most of the heavy cannon stones fell in front of the square formation, and the earth trembled, transmitting the power of the cannon stones through the earth to everyone's psychology.

    The Roman soldiers gritted their teeth and looked at the smoke and dust stirred up by the cannon stones in front of the battle line. Although they were nervous, they were not panicked.

    A piece of artillery stone flew over the head of the phalanx and hit the front side of the siege vehicle. It was blocked by two huge wooden pillars and made a huge noise. The entire siege vehicle was shaken and trembled.  However, although the protruding trees with bark were hit hard, they did not break. After the entire siege vehicle shook for a while, it quickly returned to calm. The menacing cannon stones were ejected and fell weakly to the ground.  .

    "Forward!" In the gap after the ballista attack, the Romans accelerated their speed and galloped forward.  Run three to five steps before the next wave of ballistae arrives. As soon as you hear the drum sound, you immediately stop and hide yourself.  They were not impatient and took advantage of the obvious gap between the ballista firing to push forward, finally pushing the siege vehicle to within a hundred and fifty steps of the city wall.  Once in position, they no longer moved forward but retreated behind the siege engines.  The ballistaeers immediately pushed the ballistae into position, and then began to fire back. Some of them went to pick up the cannon stones that the Sasanians had just shot, and repacked them in prepared straw bags for later use.

    They were in good order. Although the Sasanian crossbows began to fire, and cannon stones were flying in the air. From time to time, someone was hit and screamed, but they still buried their heads in doing their own things, and just tried their best to protect themselves.  , to avoid injury.

    The ballistae began to roar, throwing bricks or mud balls wrapped in straw bales into the sky and hitting Taixi Fengcheng.  With the siege vehicle in front as cover, the safety of the crossbow gunners has been greatly improved. They can do their work calmly and shoot in an orderly manner.

    At the same time that the Romans launched their attack, the Kushan people also launched an attack. The two sides were fighting back and forth, and the fight was very lively. The cannons and rocks crisscrossed the space like locusts.

    While the soldiers at the front were fighting, groups of soldiers ran out from the battle formations of the Romans and Kushans. They did not hold weapons, but worked in pairs, carrying stretchers made of two pieces of wood and one piece of cloth.  The artillery stone, which could be fatal at any time, flew among the injured soldiers, skillfully carried the injured soldiers onto stretchers, and then ran back in a hurry.  Behind the command podium was a temporary ambulance hospital, where injured soldiers were carried in for emergency treatment.

    This was also proposed by Lu Xun and Sun Feng. Wounded soldiers wailing on the battlefield would not only disturb the attention of others, but also affect morale. They had to be carried down for treatment, so that the doctors, military prostitutes and civil servants accompanying the army could  Taking care of them made the soldiers no longer scream in their ears. At the same time, they also felt that even if they were injured, they would not wait to die. Instead, they could enjoy the care of those military prostitutes, which was very effective in soothing people's hearts.

    Fighting broke out on both wings, but the Han position in the middle facing the city gate was silent.  The Han warriors lined up in a square formation stood silently outside the range of the Sasanian crossbows. Although they did not make any movement, their silence brought great psychological pressure to the Sassanid people at the top of the city.  A flaming red bamboo stick buzzed in the air, always reminding the Sasanians that they had seen a miracle last night.

    Did Ahura, the God of Light, really abandon Ardashir?  Many people have this idea swirling in their minds.

    The Sasanians fired several cannon stones, but unfortunately they didn't have enough range. Apart from stirring up a few bursts of smoke, they did not cause any impact on the opponent. The cannon stones rolling over the position had a teasing flavor, just like a man who was  He was singing and dancing, but no one responded. Everyone was as bored as if he didn't exist.  Ardashir stopped this useless effort in time and treated it with silence.

    The fighting on both sides became more and more intense. The siege party was one hundred and fifty steps away, and the Sasanian bows and arrows were ineffective. Both sides could only use crossbows to attack. Both wanted to use crossbows before siege the city in hand-to-hand combat.  Cannon gained advantage.  To a certain extent, the attackers even had a certain advantage, because the arrows fired from more than sixty siege vehicles actually crossed a distance of 150 steps, until they reached the target.Shoot to the top of the city.  This far exceeded the expectations of the Sasanians. In the first wave of arrows, many Sasanians who were watching at the top of the city were severely wounded.

    This worried Ardashir very much.

    Whether it is the Kushans or the Romans, their bows and arrows are similar to those of the Sasanians. They mainly use hand-held bows. The shooting range of the mounted bows is sixty or seventy paces. Generally, they are not used at all when attacking a city, and the infantry's  The firing range of the torque crossbow is about a hundred steps, and it is the main force in attacking the city. The torque crossbow has a range of more than two hundred steps and is highly accurate. However, the torque crossbow has a slow firing speed and can only be used as a killing weapon to hit key targets.  It cannot be used as a suppressive weapon and is not as important as a ballista.

    However, now an arrow with a range of more than 150 steps was actually shot from the siege vehicle.

    Ardashir knew that the Han people had a weapon called a crossbow, which could be operated by manpower and could reach more than 150 steps. The farthest one could even be compared with a ballista. He had seen it under the city of Aksum.  However, such powerful weapons are usually not provided to others, and even the Allies may not be able to share such weapons.

    So, there are only two explanations for the current situation, either the Han people joined the camp of the Romans and Kushan people and took on the task of shooting, or the Han people taught this sharp weapon to the Romans and Kushan people.  In any case, this was not a good thing for the Sasanians.

    Ardashir felt inexplicably agitated. Did he really do something wrong?  Sun Shao leads the Four Kingdoms Alliance. Does he really intend to bring peace to the world and share wealth?

    "Your Majesty, there is no movement under the city yet." A centurion of the Immortal Army hurriedly walked up the city wall and whispered in Aldashir's ear.  Ardashir raised his eyebrows: "They didn't come to dig?"

    "I don't know." The centurion frowned in confusion: "Could it be that they discovered that we were waiting for them?"

    "Discovered?" Ardashir sneered, thought for a while, and then said: "Impossible. Don't relax. I guess they will wait until they start to attack the city before digging to hide the movement."

    "Yes." The centurion bowed and retreated.

    Ardashir looked at the Han camp in the distance and couldn't help but sneer. It seems that you also know that digging tunnels can't hide people. Do you want to cover it up with the sound of siege?  You think I'm a fool and have no precautions at all.

    Just when Ardashir was secretly proud, he suddenly remembered the sound of drums on the Han position. Ardashir sneered in his heart and immediately issued an order to prepare for battle.

    With the sound of rumbling drums, siege vehicles covered by shield bearers, spearmen and crossbowmen were also launched from the Han position. Behind the siege vehicles were also ballistae, which merged with the positions of the Romans and Kushans.  There is not much difference, except that the density is much higher and the number of people is much larger.  Ardashir did not dare to neglect, and immediately ordered more ballistae to turn around, preparing to compete with the Han people.

    Cao Zhi is on the left and Li Yan is on the right. Nearly 20,000 soldiers are arranged on the battlefield a hundred paces wide. The darkness is particularly scary.  Not only were the Han people more numerous, they also had significantly more siege vehicles and ballistae than the Romans and Kushans. Sun Feng immediately dispatched forty siege vehicles and a hundred ballistae, with the wooden boards in front painted like fire.  The red siege vehicles were almost crowded together, leaving only room for one person to walk. They were pushed forward like a moving wall of fire. The self-evident pressure made people feel breathless and jumpy.  The pattern seems to make one feel the heat of the flames.

    The Han people were particularly arrogant. They pushed their position forward continuously, pushing past 150 steps, then pushing past 100 steps, and then pushing to within 80 steps. Just when Aldashir thought they would stay.  At that time, they braved the dense ballistae in the city and pushed to within fifty steps.

    Ardashir was shocked. Could it be that Sun Feng was planning to attack the city directly?  He immediately ordered the archers at the top of the city to start shooting to prevent the enemy from approaching further. At the same time, he dropped a large number of troops near the city gate to prevent the opponent from forcibly attacking the city.

    It was here that the Han people stopped, the soldiers retreated behind the siege vehicles, and a hundred ballistae began to exert their power, driving pieces of cannon stones onto the city wall.

    The two sides began to fight fiercely. At such a close distance, not only the ballistas began to attack, but even the archers joined the battle. The archers on the city kept drawing their bows and firing arrows, while the crossbows hidden in the siege vehicles  Not to be outdone, he poured rapid and dense arrows onto the city top. Long arrows shot at them made the wooden shields of the Sasanians rattle. From time to time, arrows passed through the gaps between the shields and shot at the Sassanids.  Shanren's body.  These arrows are very powerful and can easily penetrate the iron armor worn by the Sasanians. As for the soldiers who only wore leather armor, it was even more terrible. Some people were constantly shot by the powerful arrows, and blood gushed out. They were shocked.  The soldier next to him turned pale.

    The powerful arrow array of the Han people suppressed the Sassanids at the top of the city. The situation at the top of the city immediately became tense. Ardashir immediately mobilized moreThe shield bearers of the city ordered them to form shields to provide cover for the archers at the top of the city and restore the situation.  At the same time, the ballistas in the order were moved to the city gate to strengthen the defense of the city gate.

    Under the command of Ardashir, the Sasanians formed a dense defensive formation at the top of the city. They either relied on the city wall or relied on shields, fired arrows as quickly as possible, and counterattacked with dense arrow arrays, finally saving the day.  A little bit of a situation.

    Seeing the stalemate between the two sides, Cao Zhi ignored the obstruction of his guards and rushed to the top level of the front siege vehicle. He pushed open the top cover and suddenly appeared on top of the siege vehicle.  Before the modified siege vehicle starts to attack the city, there is no one on the top floor. It is covered tightly with thick wooden boards to prevent it from being broken by the enemy's artillery. The top floor will not be opened until it is close to the city wall.  The soldiers rushed to the top of the city through the closed bridge ladder to fight hand-to-hand.  Now Cao Zhi suddenly pushed open the top cover and jumped up. No one on the two sides expected it.

    The Sasanian archers at the top of the city first spotted the Han general. Without further ado, they immediately shot long arrows.

    The long arrow roared towards Cao Zhi, and Cao Zhi's personal guards were frightened to death. They immediately rushed in front of Cao Zhi and set up their shields.

    "Pounce!" "Pounce!" "Pounce!"

    Almost in an instant, dozens of long arrows hit the shield. The two personal guards only focused on guarding Cao Zhi, but exposed themselves to the enemy's arrow rain. They groaned and fell to the ground one after another.  The guards who rushed up from behind didn't bother to say anything. Several people raised their shields to block the front. Two people picked up Cao Zhi and prepared to put him back into the siege vehicle.  Cao Zhi was furious and struggled desperately. The two guards looked up and saw a black dot flying out of the city, flying in this direction. Knowing that the enemy's ballistae had spotted them, they didn't have time to think too much, so they lifted Cao Zhi up.  He stuffed it into the exit and threw it down.

    With a sharp "whoosh" sound, a giant arrow shot first, easily splitting a giant shield open, and the long arrow continued to have power, and then shot through the body of the guard.  The guard didn't even have time to open his mouth when another giant shield hit him. The spear-like arrow cut off his neck and hit the roof of the siege vehicle hard, making a "pop" sound.  There was a loud bang.  In a moment, another cannon stone flew in, smashing the three guards who were hurriedly preparing to escape back to the siege vehicle to pieces.

    Cao Zhi was caught off guard, and was dizzy after being thrown down. He jumped up, but did not scold or look at the bodyguard above who was severely wounded by the enemy. He rushed to the back of the siege vehicle, stretched out his head, and faced the hidden enemy.  The ballistaemen behind the siege engines shouted: "Change the oil bombs!"

    When the crossbowmen heard this, they immediately dropped the straw bags in their hands and replaced them with the oil cans that were piled aside.  Cao Zhi then yelled at the crossbow gunners next to him, and passed the orders out one after another. Not long after, even the crossbow gunners on Li Yan's side got the order, and they all removed the straw bags and replaced them with oil cans.

    The Sasanians at the top of the city were not aware of the danger. When several oil cans fell on the city wall and shattered to pieces, they laughed disdainfully and called the Han people's bluff to use such things as cannons.  , it wasn¡¯t until black, sticky oil was flowing everywhere in the city that something was wrong.  The Sasanians are no strangers to this kind of viscous oil, which can often be seen in the desert. Many people also use this oil specifically for lighting, knowing that it is difficult to put out the oil when burned, and the smoke  Extremely large.

    As soon as Ardashir saw the oil on the ground, his scalp suddenly felt numb, and a chill rushed down his spine to the back of his head. He raised his head and looked at the dense crowd at the top of the city. He opened his mouth and let out a hiss.  Roaring furiously:

    ¡°Spread out¡ªbeware of enemy fire attacks¡ª¡±

    It¡¯s a pity that he shouted too late.

    In fact, there was no need for Ardashir to shout. The Sasanian soldiers at the top of the city had already realized what was about to happen. They wanted to evacuate very much, but it was not that easy.  The oil tanks that fell from the sky smashed into pieces on the city wall one after another. Black and sticky oil flowed everywhere. The city walls and people were all covered in this oil.  The Sasanians were so frightened that they threw down their weapons and fled in all directions. The military law team could not stop this defeat even by killing dozens of people.  But the chaos not only did not help evacuation, but made it more difficult to escape. Countless Sassanians crowded together, pushing each other, crying, not only to guard against the oil tanks that kept flying from the world, but also to guard against their feet.  , you will slip if you are not careful. Once you slip, you will never have the chance to get up, and you can only be trampled to death by the supporting crowd.  In order to escape, many people simply jumped from the top of the five-foot-high city.

    As a batch of rockets fell from the sky, igniting the black oil everywhere, a raging fire broke out in the city.  The fire burned more and more fiercely, quickly spreading to the bottom of the city, and the entire city gate area soon turned into a sea of ????fire.

    Ardashir was stunned.

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