Eagle Byzantium

At the intersection of the chevaux-barricades in the southwest corner of Kayseri Castle, a group of Turkish cavalrymen, holding sabers and carrying quivers, rushed out through the raised moat and rushed towards a detachment on the flank of the Red Hand Brigade. A large number of Turkish archers also appeared behind the chevaux-barricades, pulling their bowstrings and fiercely shooting at the rest of the detachments of the Red Hand Brigade.

The flank detachment that was attacked skillfully formed a double-row oblique formation, and stretched out its large infantry spears like porcupines, blocking the Turkish cavalry's fierce attack. Amid the shouts, there were large infantry spear squads on both sides, with famous flag officers or veterans in front and behind to maintain a straight attack route, and in turn to cut off the Turkish cavalry that protruded from the chevaux de frise. The skirmishers sandwiched in the middle of the formation either used crossbows, Latin bows or fireworks guns to shoot back rhythmically. For a while, there was an endless stream of explosions and dust, and everywhere was flashing with rolling and splashing Khitan fire, interweaving with whistling tailless crossbow arrows, and with the layers of approaching spear tips, the Turkish cavalry team left behind more than half a centaur corpse and retreated in embarrassment.

"Repel." The trumpets and flutes sounded quickly. Seeing the enemy in front of them retreating, the Red Hand Brigade infantrymen of several flank squads also ran with roars. They followed the shallow trench that was raised and chased the retreating enemy cavalry. They once broke into the wall of chevaux de frise. The Danishmond Turks behind the wall fought desperately. The garrison soldiers and small catapults on the battlements behind them also kept throwing stones and throwing catapults everywhere. The first brigade infantrymen who rushed in suffered more than ten casualties and could not take advantage of the victory to open the situation, so they also retreated.

At this point, the unstoppable Red Hand Brigade's wings and teams completely drove away the scattered soldiers of Jemaladin Bey outside the city, advanced to the area 300 feet opposite the chevaux de frise, and then all half-knelt down, and stood up countless large infantry spears to protect the various vehicles and equipment behind them.

Although the battlefield was only calm for a moment, Jemaladin, who was supervising the battle on the battlement, knew that once the enemy's siege equipment vehicles were successfully put into use, his section of the wall defense, and even the entire Kayseri Castle, would be in danger!

"Counterattack, all the crossbows fire!" Jemaladin Bey waved his hand and ordered.

In an instant, along the slightly curved line of the southern chevaux-de-frise and the moat, the various projectiles and crossbows secretly set up by the city side all fired various arrows and small stone bullets, with crisp sounds continuously - many projectiles flew over the heads of the kneeling Red Hand Brigade soldiers, breaking their infantry spears one by one, and the broken spears that fell down jumped everywhere on the sand - then there was a loud noise behind the chevaux-de-frise, and along with this layer of fierce shooting, the Turkic soldiers swarmed out from all directions. According to the previous experience of the Danishmonde army's bravery, once the bows and arrows and stone bullets were fired in unison, the light soldiers and cavalry immediately launched a full-throated surprise attack, and the enemy would most likely not be able to bear it and flee.

However, all the soldiers of the Red Hand Brigade were not only as strict as an iron wall, but also shouted and stood up one after another. They were a horizontal squad, and the two sides cooperated with the vertical squads. Then the skirmishers were divided into two layers in front and back, restringing the Latin bows, replacing the cartridges tied to the gun heads, and sticking out the iron forks to hook, and continued to fiercely shoot back to resist the fierce enemies.

This kind of small group cooperation was named "ox horns" by Gao Wen: the middle squad and the skirmishers using Khitan fire stabilized the front line, and the squads on both sides either prevented the enemy from making detours or took the initiative to attack the enemy from the side, which was both offensive and defensive, and was really the only way to suppress the entanglement.

The Turkic team, which was fiercely resisted by the "ox horns" in various places on the front line, could not make any progress in the fierce fighting and the flames and smoke from the pyrotechnic guns and pyrotechnic tubes. After suffering heavy losses, they retreated to the barricades.

The soldiers on the flag car began to beat the bronze drums, and the flags of the entire siege team flew and waved. Gawain's craftsmen and artillery teams were dispatched. They passed through the infantry array and began to approach the location of the chevaux de frise and the trench. In the front was the battering ram with a large iron shield erected, followed closely by the red-handed five-pole cannon - some garrison soldiers who recognized this object had already shouted in fear, and many soldiers had already begun to flee into the city gate, while the rest of the stubborn ones continued to shoot provocatively behind the wall.

Under the pull, the swing arm of each five-barrel cannon flipped up and down, throwing out paper fire balls with the fuse lit in advance. Countless paper fire balls then smashed towards the top of the city and the fences. Balls of flying fire exploded in the air, and the explosions were endless. Then black, gray, and blue smoke rolled up or down, and soon formed a shielding smoke belt along the city walls and the chevaux de frise. The Turkic soldiers screamed, covered their eyes and skin, their clothes and armor burned white, and they crawled and rolled on the wall and the ground. The paper fire balls were made by Seleucia and Tarsus in a hurry. They were light in weight and had a long throwing distance. They were filled with a lot of burning materials, poisons, smoke agents, and Cyprus lime. They exploded and scattered in the air, and the effect was the most poisonous.

"Lord Bey." Jemaladin's eyes were almost smoked by the flying poisonous fog. He shouted unwillingly and was pulled away from his post behind the battlement by several slave soldiers.

"Keep shooting!" Melo and Branas, who were supervising the battle on the front line, each led their guards to the sides of the siege team, shouting and slashing their swords.

The five cannons continued to fire uninterruptedly, but they were replaced by iron fire balls and pottery fire balls, which exploded on the chevaux de frise one after another. Various flames devoured the wooden fences, forts, and sheds of the soldiers guarding behind the wall. Now the guards could no longer endure the burning, poisonous fog, and lime smoke. The fire raged and burned the southern gate of Kayseri. The guards and civilians who were still holding on to the top of the city and the gate tower were holding sandbags and water bottles like ants on a hot pot trying to extinguish the flames. They had no time to shoot and force the attackers to retreat under the city.

Many servants in Gao Wen's army covered their faces with wet towels and began to brave the arrows. They kept throwing bundles of firewood wrapped in flammable leather in the shallow water of the moat to fill the moat, wielded pickaxes and mattocks to dig out sections of the chevaux de frise, and then began to set up rolling logs. Soon, in the array, the soldiers of the Red Hand Fire Throwing Brigade pushed two well-made siege towers, surging with thick smoke, crossed the gaps in the moat and the chevaux de frise, and began to approach the high walls of the city from left to right.

Behind the blazing fence, people holding water jars were intertwined, and bloody corpses were lying beside the crossbows. The Turkic soldiers who were still resisting bravely began to take over the crossbows and crossbows that were still working, preparing to fire gunpowder at the approaching siege towers of Gao Wen's army.

The siege tower in front of them was actually an inverted, slanted trapezoidal wooden tower: there was no barrier on the side facing the attackers, and the slanted wooden boards running through the three-story tower formed a complete "ramp". Once it pressed against the city wall, the fire throwers behind it could rush up along the ramp and jump into the battlements in one go, capturing the walls of Kayseri. (To be continued ~^~)