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The atmosphere in the commander's tent was a bit dignified, all because today's siege battle was a bit brutal, and the soldiers suffered a lot of casualties.

"Tell me, how much is the battle loss today?" Zhao Junsheng asked.

Gao Xu stood up and clasped his fists and replied: "Some 620 brothers did not come back, and more than 20 well fences were lost! The loss of the well fence is because Liu Songjun installed and erected trebuchets in the city, and fired stone bullets from the trebuchets to defeat them. There were more than 20 well curbs, and more than 80 archers were killed or injured at the same time!"

Zhao Junsheng frowned and asked in a questioning tone: "No way, can a trebuchet be so accurate? Dozens of trebuchets on our side fired hundreds of stone bullets one after another before hitting three. They fired How much did it destroy more than 20 of our well curbs?"

Dongfang Chen stood up

Arched his hands and said: "My lord, in my opinion, what Liu Songjun used should not be a catapult, but a catapult, also called a ballista. The accuracy of this thing is much higher than that of a catapult. It is convenient, but the range is shorter and the power is less!"

Zhao Junsheng had heard of ballistas, but he always thought that ballistas were bed crossbows, but now it turns out that ballistas are obviously not bed crossbows!

"You said, how can we deal with the ballista of the defenders?"

Dongfang Chen hesitated for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, the bed crossbow can actually deal with the ballista, but now the opponent's ballista is hidden behind the city wall, and the bed crossbow can't shoot it!"

Zhao Junsheng's face was a little ugly: "So we have no way to deal with Liu Songjun's ballista?"

Dongfang Chen thought for a while and replied: "My lord, don't worry, maybe we can draw out the ballista of the defending army first, and then use a wheeled trebuchet to shoot a rain of stones to deal with it. A large amount of rain of stones falls, and even smashing it can destroy it. It is behind the city wall, so the range of the wheeled trebuchet must be increased!"

Zhao Junsheng immediately looked at the officials of the siege battalion: "Tell me, can you increase the range of the wheeled trebuchet and destroy the ballista behind the city wall?"

The supervisor of the siege battalion stood up and cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, to increase the range... Maybe you can increase the number of knights pulling the rope, but this does not guarantee that the range can be increased, but the rain of stone bullets must be projected on the soldiers behind the city wall." It can still be done above the enemy's ballista. Tomorrow, you only need to move the trebuchet forward for a certain distance, add two horse ropes to each wheeled trebuchet, and apply some oil to the flywheel, gear and shaft of the trebuchet Increase the lubrication, I think it should be feasible!"

Zhao Junsheng immediately made a decision: "Okay, that's it. Continue to attack the city tomorrow, first draw out Liu Songjun's ballistas, and then use the flywheel trebuchet to throw a large rain of stone bullets to destroy them!"

But things went against our wishes. It rained heavily in the early morning of the next day, and the siege had to be stopped. Moreover, it rained intermittently for two days. On the third day, the rain slowed down, weakened, and turned into drizzle again. .

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhao Junsheng ordered soldiers to go under the city wall with their scepters to collect the corpses. The Liu Song Army guarding the city was not in a difficult situation, and they also needed to collect the corpses.

Ever since, the corpse collection teams on both sides did not interfere with the river water. You collected your corpse, and I collected mine. Each did its own thing, and no one paid attention to the other.

Chapter 636 The Ultimate Weapon for City Defense

It was exactly Xue Tong's wish that Ganjun sent people to collect the corpses. He was also worried that the corpses under the city would pile up higher and higher, which would eventually cause the city wall to lose its vital barrier.

As for Zhao Junsheng, although stepping on the corpse of his comrade to climb the city wall sounds heroic, it is actually tragic. There are many ways to break the city. This move won the support of all the officers and men of the Gan army. After all, no one wants to be insulted after death.

"Burn the remains of the fallen soldiers, collect the bones to make ashes into an altar, write their names on the altar, and bring them back to their families!"

Zhao Junsheng's orders were faithfully carried out, and no one discounted them. In the past, no ruler took care of the corpses of those soldiers who died in battle. Only he, the soldiers who died in battle got the honor and dignity they deserved, and Zhao Junsheng reaped the rewards. Loyalty to all soldiers!

The continuous drizzle continued for several days, and it didn't end until the [-]th day of the first lunar month.

The weather turned fine and the sun came out. No one knows whether the cold spring will come, but Zhao Junsheng knows that he must end the battle in Linzi City before the roads and ground are dried out. He must either destroy the city or withdraw his troops back to Qizhou. Other options, because once the weather turns fine, Tan Daoji in Dongyang City will lead an army to come for reinforcements. As long as Linzi City is not breached, Tan Daoji will have enough confidence to fight him under the city.

And Zhao Junsheng was faced with the situation of being flanked by two sides inside and outside the city, or Tan Daoji relied on the city wall to form a decisive battle with Zhao Junsheng, no matter which one, Zhao Junsheng's chances of winning would not be too high.

That night, Zhao Junsheng called the lieutenant generals, military staff and officials to discuss matters.

"Everyone, the weather has cleared up. Within three days, the ground and roads will definitely be dried up. At that time, Tan Daoji will definitely lead an army to help! Why didn't Tan Daoji come to help before? Because of the road and the weather, he dared not! In the snowy and muddy weather, his infantry was inconvenient to move, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. If they encountered a surprise attack by our army’s cavalry during the march, they would definitely be unable to resist; but now it is different. He will be dried up in the sun, and his main force is not damaged at all, so why doesn't he come to rescue Linzi City? How far is the distance from Dongyang City to Linzi? It's less than sixty miles, and it can be reached in one day!"

"When Tan Daoji's [-] troops arrive here, he can join forces with the defenders inside and outside the city to attack our army; or he can fight our army with his back against the city. If we can’t advance or retreat, it’s basically over. So, everyone, God doesn’t have much time left for us, we must break through the city within three days, otherwise this king can only order the army to retreat back to Qizhou to make another plan!”

"As long as we break the city within three days, it's Tan Daoji's turn to worry. Should he defend Qingzhou City or retreat south? I'm afraid only he can decide!"

When Zhao Junsheng said this, he looked at the generals, his eyes fell on Wang Huilong, and he ordered: "Wang Huilong, I order you to be the prefect of Dongyang and General Ningman, and to assist Gao Xu in commanding the siege when he sieges the city tomorrow morning." !"

Gao Xu and Wang Huilong stood up together and clasped their fists in agreement: "Obey!"

The next day, the cooks in the third watch lived and cooked, and the soldiers in the fifth watch ate breakfast. After eating, they assembled and set off.

At the forefront of the army formation, Gao Xu sat on the horseback and stroked the mane and asked Wang Huilong: "General Wang, the king ordered you to be my lieutenant general. He must have thought about it. I think you have unique insights in siege. Do you have any ideas?" Taught me?"

Wang Huilong thought for a while and cupped his hands to Gao Xu: "General, the last general thinks that we can follow the previous siege steps, first meet the defenders' crossbows, and then use the flywheel catapult to destroy them in one fell swoop, and then proceed to attack the city." Attack with all your strength. The only thing that the general is worried about is the triangular brackets on the city wall. We haven't figured out their purpose until now, and the general suspects that these things are the biggest killer of the defenders!"

Gao Xu also suspected that those large triangular brackets should be some kind of defensive equipment, but the defenders have not used them until now.

"We can't figure it out just by guessing now. We can only follow the established siege steps. Before the defenders use it, it is best for us to break through the city!"

Wang Huilong nodded to Gao Xu

He asked: "That's the only way to go! General, do you want to use the trebuchet today?"

"What do you think?" Gao Xu asked back.

Wang Huilong said: "The last general thought it was best not to use it for the time being. If it is used too often, it is easy for the defenders to find a pattern to avoid it. Once they find a pattern, the trebuchet is not very useful!"

Gao Xu thought for a while, agreed to Wang Huilong's suggestion, and immediately ordered: "Okay! Don't use heavy trebuchets today, and attack the city directly!"

"The 3000 troops brought by the last general have not fought against the Southern Dynasty army until now. In today's battle, let the last general personally command the troops from the headquarters to attack the city?"

Gao Xu agreed to Wang Huilong's request, ordered the first siege echelon to retreat, and handed over the siege ladders, bed crossbows, well rails, and siege vehicles to the 3000 troops brought by Wang Huilong.

Before starting the attack, Wang Huilong made an agreement with Gao Xu that once he greeted the ballista in the city, the rear catapult unit would immediately launch a rain of stones, otherwise the well fence would suffer great losses.

"Attack the first, second, and third buildings!"

Following Wang Huilong's order, more than a thousand soldiers will carry a large number of ladders and rush to the city wall. The formation is scattered and not neat, but their charging speed is very fast. The earth dam reached the city wall and a wooden ladder was erected.

A group of archers rushed to within a stone's throw of the city wall and shot arrows at the city wall, and there was another row of swords and shields in front of them holding shields for cover.

The guard Xue Tong saw that the Qianjun had changed their fighting style, and he was a little flustered. The arrows of the defenders in the battle these days were almost exhausted, and there was no arrow to counter the Qianjun archers outside the city. It was possible to order the soldiers to stand on the city wall with shields to defend, but these archers still provided long-range support to the soldiers who attacked the city.

The siege engines behind were driven across the moat and began to slam into the city gate fiercely. Dozens of well rails were also pushed to the edge of the moat. A large number of archers climbed up the well rails and shot arrows at the top of the city.

A large number of casualties immediately appeared at the top of the city. Xue Tong saw that the soldiers under his command had suffered heavy losses, so he had to order the ballistas to be used again. bomb.

"emission--"

Stone bullets flew from behind the city wall and shot towards the well fence outside the city.

The well fence of the Qianjun was hit, three of them were hit, and more than a dozen archers were smashed down and died.

Someone immediately raised a small yellow flag on the well fence and waved it vigorously. The soldiers below immediately pushed the well fence and retreated. The flywheel catapult commander in the rear army saw the flag waving and immediately ordered: "Flywheel catapult! , launch stone bombs!"

The knights who were pulling the rope galloped backwards. They pulled the rope to make the wheel rotate rapidly. The high-speed rotating wheel transmitted power to the flywheel through gears and bearings. The flywheel turned and began to accelerate, and the speed became faster and faster. The stone bullets hanging on it spun rapidly.

The soldiers on the flywheel catapults pushed the sharp blades forward, and the ropes of the nets were cut one by one, and the stones were thrown out one after another.

Within a second, countless dense stones rose from the sky, covering the city like a black cloud.

"Clatter, clatter..." The rain of stone bullets fell behind the city wall like raindrops.

"Ah——" a lot of screams rose up, and the soldiers of the Liu Song Army and the peasants who operated the ballista were hit hard. With broken hands and feet, each ballista was hit by stones, and one ballista was smashed to pieces.

This flywheel trebuchet was born for large-scale strikes, and its function is only to strike large-scale errors. The densely packed stones fall in the form of raindrops. One out of ten people who can survive is already lucky. .