rise of empire total war

Chapter 73 The Siege of Manan

"This is a kingdom built in the midst of war. Just like other countries on the mainland, the king of the Farnik people also faced the trouble of excessive power of the nobles. The only way for the kings of Farnik to deal with it is to balance the royal nobles Their strengths, check each other, in order to protect the safety of the royal family. —— "History of the Kingdom of Farnik"

After leaving the temporary base of Malthus City, Richard led his loyal soldiers toward the northwest along a road that had not been repaired for a long time.Walking on the paved road with weeds growing in the cracks of the stones, the scenery along the way is full of depression and decadence. There are no traces of human activities in those villages. Some houses have even collapsed, exposing the remains of the walls of civil structures.

In the grass with half-human tall weeds, Richard can occasionally see human corpses and packages dropped by refugees in a panic during their escape. The package has not been opened, but the fabric on the surface is full of holes. The contents inside were revealed.

On the land farther from the road, there are pieces of unharvested cultivated land. The crops on it have not been harvested in time, and the passage of time has faintly shown signs of withering, and the golden yellow wheat is almost hanging down to the ground. Harvesting may only rot in the ground.

However, the people who were supposed to harvest them were gone, and the villagers in the nearby villages either died or fled. Under the pressure of the war, no one cared about these crops.

This is cheaper for Richard. Based on the idea of ​​not wasting food, Richard asked the farmers accompanying the army to harvest the crops in the cultivated land, which will be used as the next rations for the soldiers.

While Richard organized the farmers to harvest crops leisurely, the battle in Manan City was still going on.

As the defender of the city, the Royal Army deployed most of its forces on the solid walls of Manan City, making it impossible for the noble rebels to make progress on the walls, but at the same time, they also had no way to open up a new battlefield at the city gates. , because the commander-in-chief of the Kingdom Army, Wood Keith, had already blocked the city gate with stones. Even if the attackers smashed back into the city gate, all they got was a stronger stone wall.

But this does not mean that the siege party has no other options. Apart from the simplest ladders, the Farnics who are good at developing siege equipment can also create giant siege towers that are higher than the city walls in a short period of time. The whole body of the siege tower is made of wood, but the side facing the city wall is covered with iron sheet and wet animal fur, which can not only defend against arrows but also prevent the fire attack of the defenders. A few archers, they can commandeer and shoot at the defenders on the city wall.

In addition, they also created a strange battering ram. This battering ram is not used to smash open the city gate like ordinary battering rams, but uses a heavy ram to hit the city wall, knocking down the city wall. .

This kind of giant battering ram is actually not very practical after it is developed, because the stone city wall is not so easy to be knocked down, and soldiers are extremely vulnerable to the defenders' attack and loss when operating this battering ram. heavy.

No, several giant battering rams of the noble rebels stood quietly outside the city wall, and a large number of rebel soldiers lay down around them, but only a few concave holes of different depths appeared at the hit position. mouth only.

Compared with the giant battering rams that look bluffing but are useless, the siege towers of the noble rebels are more threatening.During the siege battle, several siege towers were loaded with rebel soldiers approaching the city wall, and then lowered the boards. The fully armed rebel soldiers raised their shields to defend against incoming arrows, and rushed down the city wall to fight fiercely with the defenders who were waiting in battle. .The defenders had almost no way to deal with these siege towers. When the siege tower was close to the city wall, they could only swing a heavy shot to hit the tower body, destroying the pillars of the siege tower and causing it to collapse.

This method was difficult to operate. Although the defenders tried hard, they could only destroy one or two siege towers. However, the enemy continued to rush up the city wall from other siege towers.

boom--

During the melee, a siege tower was pierced by the shot put by the defenders, and several soldiers who were climbing inside were just hit by the shot put, leaving only half of their bodies without even screaming.Then a few more shot puts were thrown towards the side of the siege tower, and soon there were several holes. The scarred siege tower finally couldn't support it, and leaned sideways amidst the screams of the soldiers inside the tower When the tall siege tower fell down, it also knocked down another siege tower on the side. Like dominoes, the two siege towers fell down with a bang, bringing up smoke and dust, and a large number of soldiers were affected. , buried under the ruins.

"For the king!"

On the bloody city wall, a soldier of the Kingdom's standing army wearing a chainmail and a robe used his shield to block the enemy's tomahawk. The long sword in his right hand took the opportunity to stab the enemy's open middle door, and penetrated the enemy easily. Leather armor, a sharp long sword passed through the human body and came out from the back, and patches of flesh could still be seen on the tip of the sword.

puff!
The sharp spear pierced the body of the noble rebel soldier. The young soldier looked at the spear inserted into his abdomen in disbelief. Pulling it out, the young soldier collapsed to the ground as if he had lost all his strength, letting blood spurt out from the hideous wound.The defenders who killed him did not pay attention to the already mortal enemies, but raised their spears and continued to attack the enemies around them.

whoosh-

At the same time as the bloody battle on the city wall, the operators of the crossbow machine in the tower of the city wall did not relax. They operated the small crossbow machine (similar to the scorpion crossbow) unique to the Kingdom of Farnik to shoot wildly at the enemies outside the city. A crossbow can take several lives.The ammunition fired by this ballista is extremely penetrating. It does not stop after hitting an enemy, but continues to fly, plowing a path of blood through the crowd.

Naturally, the noble rebels outside the city also have this kind of weapon, but this kind of weapon is not suitable for siege warfare. They can only watch with gritted teeth as rows of soldiers are shot through by giant crossbow bolts. Their bodies are shattered, and blood and internal organs are scattered everywhere. All over the earth.

This was the tragic siege battle that was staged in Manan City. The tall city wall was like a flesh and blood mill, devouring the lives of soldiers on both sides wantonly.

(End of this chapter)