Chapter 7, Section 5: Terrible Siege Battle
The distance between each defense tower was carefully calculated. The Greek engineers and mathematicians used their ingenuity to calculate the distance between the defense towers to cover the widest range based on the weapons such as crossbows, catapults, etc. that Byzantium was equipped with. In addition, the crossbowmen and archers also prepared many weapons on the city walls to deal with a series of enemy siege weapons.
At the same time, the city wall is not only dozens of meters above the ground, but also several meters deep underground to prevent the enemy from digging holes and destroying the city wall. There are also tunnels inside that can be used to transport supplies and troops. The tunnel can be closed at any time and water can be released. In this way, even if the enemy rushes into the tunnel, all the enemies in the tunnel can be drowned by the flood.
Hot oil and asphalt were prepared inside the gates of the city wall. When the enemy attacked the gates, hot oil would be poured directly from above, and then the flames would destroy the enemy's siege vehicles and kill the enemy's infantry. There were also special small holes on the city wall, and a tool called a pickaxe could be used to directly push down the enemy's ladders.
The Byzantine walls were built under the order of Hilde.
It can be said that it is currently in the Greek world.
The most sophisticated city defense system.
Even a fool would know that it is impossible to break through such a city defense system.
But the bad luck was that the non-Byzantines did not know the power of this defense system. From the outside, they only thought that there were two walls. It was very simple to capture one wall and then another. The commander of the attack on Byzantium was none other than the King of Thrace himself. As a hero, the King of Thrace was born with supernatural powers. He looked at the majestic and powerful walls in front of him, and his heart was calm. In his opinion, his powerful Thracian army would definitely be able to capture Byzantium in a short time.
"His Majesty!"
Several generals came before the Thracian king.
"Everyone is ready to fight!"
"attack."
The Thracian King sat on his throne and waved calmly.
Looking at the city wall in the distance, the generals were a little scared, but they still gave orders and asked the soldiers to blow the attack horn. With the long sound, the Thracian soldiers were also ready to attack the Byzantine city directly, burning, killing and looting. The desire for wealth and women made them eager to fight, and they wanted to launch a fierce attack right now and rush directly into the Byzantine city.
"Everyone, attack--!"
"Kill!"
When the order to attack was given.
A Thracian army of 40,000 people began to attack the Byzantine city.
Sitalses stood on the city wall, looking at the enemies that were like a tide in the distance.
"Everyone, prepare for defense!"
"Yes!"
Sitalses was not in a hurry. Although he only had 3,000 soldiers, he believed that he could definitely defend the city. The fundamental reason was that the enemy basically had no heavy siege weapons. The Thracians had poor engineering capabilities. They could not build a torsion trebuchet, let alone a more sophisticated trebuchet based on elasticity, that is, a crossbow.
"Crossbow troops, prepare to attack."
Sitalses gave the order calmly.
The herald used the flag in his hand to issue orders to each defense tower.
Crossbows, as a large weapon that had just appeared in ancient Greece, were highly valued by Hilde. Now, a large number of crossbows were equipped on the defense towers. These crossbows did not use crossbow arrows, but fired fist-sized stone projectiles. When the Thracian army was only a few hundred meters away from the city wall, the crossbows opened fire.
The projectiles were shot into the Thracian army at a very high speed. The extremely fast speed made it easy to smash the shields of the soldiers. Then, in the process of moving forward, anyone's limbs would be directly broken if they collided with them. When the projectiles hit the ground, they would react like water skipping, often jumping among the soldiers several times, killing or injuring dozens of people, before finally stopping.
More than 30 crossbows directly caused nearly 500 casualties among the enemy.
However, this still could not stop the Thracian charge.
Especially those vanguards holding ladders.
Their task was to clamp the ladder in their hands onto the city wall.
"Don't panic, keep shooting!"
Sitalses walked on the city wall, unafraid of the oncoming enemies.
The crossbows were still firing continuously. The high killing rate of this weapon was so high that it was frightening. The torsion trebuchet was not used for the time being. The main reason was that the purpose of the torsion trebuchet was to destroy the opponent's siege equipment. However, these Thracians did not even have a battering ram, let alone a siege equipment, so they naturally had no use for the trebuchet.
"Crossbowmen! Get ready!"
On top of the low wall, the crossbowmen were already standing in front of the battlements.
When the Thracians rushed to a distance of more than fifty meters below the city wall.
The crossbowmen all aimed their bows and crossbows at the enemy and pulled the trigger.
The powerful crossbow arrows directly penetrated the Thracian's unarmored bodies. Many Thracian soldiers raised their shields in panic, but facing the attack of the crossbows, these shields were directly smashed open by the crossbows, and then they were greeted by the crossbows from above.
The Thracian archers also rushed to the front and tried to fight back with bows and arrows. However, facing the opponent's battlements, the bows and arrows were obviously much less effective. At the same time, the Byzantine crossbowmen and archers also fought back one after another, and for a while there were heavy casualties under the city. However, the Thracians were numerous and powerful after all. With an overwhelming advantage, they finally succeeded in transporting the ladders to the bottom of the city wall. Then, these soldiers crowded under the city wall very tightly, holding shields to defend against arrows, and at the same time, they planned to climb up with the ladders.
But at this time, some Thracian soldiers discovered.
I don't know why under my feet.
Soggy.
It feels like some sticky grease.
When someone noticed this, they looked up and saw some Byzantine soldiers holding torches and throwing them down. When the torches fell to the ground, the black and greasy substances were ignited directly, and the flames spread rapidly along the base of the city wall to both sides, engulfing the Thracians who were preparing to build ladders to attack the city.
Chapter 6 of the seventh chapter: The first siege ends
"Yahoo! Success!!!"
"Burn these barbarians!"
Before the Thracians attacked the city, a large amount of special fuel had been poured from the city wall in advance. This was something that Hilde had found in Chalcedon. Hilde soon realized that it was nothing but oil. Oil was not very effective in burning, so Hilde added something to it based on his memory, and it became a special weapon. Hilde called it Greek fire.
Once this black grease got on the body, it was almost impossible to extinguish it. People rolled on the ground frantically, but they could not put out the flames. There were originally a large number of Thracians crowded under the city. This fire directly engulfed thousands of Thracians. These people began to scream miserably and ran back. Such a tragic scene frightened the Thracian soldiers in the back row. They also began to flee, leaving behind their comrades who were burned beyond recognition in the sea of fire.
"They retreated!"
"we won!"
The soldiers and officers cheered.
And Sitalses breathed a sigh of relief.
Here, he knew very well that this was only the first day, and the Thracian army lacked large siege weapons, so the attack encountered so many obstacles. However, the other side also had a Thracian king, and Sitalses knew the strength of the Thracian king very well. According to the Thracian king's temper, if he could not take the city after several days of attack, he might have to take action himself... At that time, it would be the most terrifying time.
Fight a hero head-on?
If you think about it this way, it’s really scary.
However, Sitalces was not afraid.
Even if he is torn to pieces, he must defend the city of Byzantium!
Soon, it was dark.
The Thracians fled in panic, leaving behind more than 3,000 corpses after their retreat.
In this wave of siege, the Thracians directly lost nearly one-tenth of their troops, which was a terrible loss. If the Thracian commander was an ordinary person, he might have given up the siege. After all, Byzantium is a port city. Through the port, Byzantium can obtain supplies from other places. Now Sitalses has prepared to draw troops from other cities through the navy to reinforce Byzantium. With more people, the pressure of defending the city will be much less.
But tomorrow's battle.
I'm afraid it won't be so smooth.
Because the Greek fire has run out.
Hilde didn't have many of these new weapons.
Therefore, if the Thracians launch another attack tomorrow, the Byzantine city will not be able to continue using fire attacks.
Fortunately, the Byzantine city now has a lot of crossbows, and the ammunition for the three thousand crossbowmen is basically not lacking, and the ammunition for the bed crossbows is also sufficient. Therefore, even if the Byzantine city passes through these, it will not be a problem to hold on for a while. After all, the Thracians are now racing against time. If Hilde knew about it, he would definitely lead his army back to help and directly destroy this group of Thracians.
After arranging sentries to prevent night attacks.
Sitalces then slept peacefully.
And on the side of the King of Thrace.
He couldn't sleep.
In total, more than 3,000 people died in today's round, including more than 1,000 elite troops from Adlicia, which made the King of Thrace very angry.
"Your Majesty! Their defense is too strong! There are crossbows and archers everywhere. We finally rushed to the city, and they set fire to it, burning many of us to death!"
The commander in charge of commanding the siege knelt on the ground with his head buried deep in the ground, not daring to raise it up at all.
"We are really at our wits' end! The soldiers are fleeing in fear!"
"Humph……"
The Thracian King, who was as tall as a mountain, looked at the officer in front of him with disdain.
"Your Majesty, atonement...ah!"
Before the officer could finish his words.
The Thracian king crushed the man's head with just one kick.
It's like stepping on an ant.
The Thracian officer next to him was so scared that he shrank his head into his neck. Although such things often happen, every time they see it with their own eyes, all the officers will still feel a strong fear from the bottom of their hearts. The Thracian king is the Thracian king. That terrible and violent existence will never make people think that he is a normal monarch. During this siege, the Thracian officers knew very well that it was almost impossible to have a city defense system like that without siege weapons.
Even with siege weapons.
The enemy has so many catapults and crossbows.
I’m afraid their siege weapons won’t be able to get close to the city walls.
At this time, the Thracian King said in a grim tone: "Everyone, remember one thing... Now, the troops will rest for three days and then launch another siege. If you still can't take it..."
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
The officers knew it was an impossible task.
However, he still knelt on the ground and agreed.
At this time, the Thracian king continued:
"I'll have the hunters support you."
"Yes!"
hunter?
Facing such a city defense system, is it meaningful even for a hunter?
That’s what they thought…
The terrifying warriors wearing masks behind the Thracian King did not seem to have the slightest fear of the Thracian King's orders. For them, being able to fight for the Thracian King on the battlefield was the best choice. So, these hunters knelt on the ground to express their attitude.
The first day of siege ended just like that.
The residents of Byzantium were relieved to hear the news.
At first, they were afraid of the Thracian attack, but when they looked back, they found that the defense of Byzantium was really terrible. The Thracians lacked heavy siege weapons, so when they attacked the walls of Byzantium, they didn't even get into the first wall. In other words, these Thracians probably didn't know that there was a ten-meter-wide moat between the first and second walls. Such a defensive force was enough to make the Thracians fight to the death.
They are now full of confidence.
So I waited patiently for the next battle.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
The Thracian army once again prepared for battle.
In order to prepare for the next more intense battle, Sitalces drew 2,000 reserve troops from Chalcedon on the other side of the river, and then came to Byzantium to participate in the defense of the city. Now, there are about 4,000 archers and 1,000 heavy infantry on the city wall to prevent the enemy's engineering. Sitalces has always been worried about the next battle...
Chapter 7: The enemy is well prepared
In a blink of an eye, three days passed.
The Thracians surrounded the city of Byzantium and did not allow anyone to enter. But the Byzantine city did not care at all. The Thracians had no navy and could not use the navy to besiege the city. Therefore, the houses continuously transported by maritime trade were enough for the Byzantine city to hold out for more than ten years. The Thracians had no chance of winning. Therefore, the soldiers of the Byzantine city were full of confidence in the next battle.
And it was the fourth day of the siege.
The Thracians once again sounded the clarion call for war.
They used the surrounding trees and prepared many ladders, apparently planning a storming attack.
This time, Byzantium had no Greek fire, and the raw materials for Greek fire that were currently mined were still in Chalcedon and could not be transported here for the time being. So, if the enemy attacked next, they could only use the weapons of the city defenders and the crossbows of the soldiers to resist. Therefore, Sitalces also prepared a lot of push rods to push down the enemy's ladders, and also prepared thunderstones and rolling logs, which could be thrown down to smash the enemy to death when the enemy attacked the city.
"Everyone obey orders!"
The Thracian general was riding a horse at this moment, facing these Thracian soldiers.
"This time, the great hunters will join us in the war. You must show your greatest courage and never retreat, because the hunters will not only reap the lives of the enemies, but also your lives! Remember, if you want to survive, if you want to plunder in the Byzantine city! If you want to live a good life in the future! Today is the time to end this war!"
"The enemy has terrible crossbows, and what you need to do is to disperse your forces to prevent them from attacking you on a large scale. You should hold up your shields high to cover your upper body. Don't be afraid, charge forward bravely. When you reach the enemy's city, you need to stop to prevent the enemy from using strange fire. Leave the task of climbing the city to the hunters! Did you hear me?"
