The city lord also knew the key to success or failure. If he lost, it would have a huge impact on the entire country. Such a tightly defended city was actually captured by the Tang army in the first battle. This would be a very serious blow to the people of the entire country.
But if they hold on, the entire country can continuously transport all kinds of supplies from all over the place, and then defend this place, trying to use this city to control the Tang army, and then extend the front line. Anyway, this place is relatively close to our country, and all the things of the Tang army must be transported from the rear. If it continues for a long time, the Tang army will definitely not be able to hold on.
Of course, there was no problem with their strategy. They fully took into account their own strengths and brought out the weaknesses of the Tang army. However, they also had their biggest concern, which was the artillery of the Tang army. According to the military advisor of the Arab Empire, so far, the people of the Arab Empire have thought of all the possible ways, but there is still no way to curb this artillery.
If they had a way, they would not have needed to seek an alliance with the Byzantine Empire, and they would not have lost so many cities in the north. The reason they came here now is to see that there is strength in numbers. We have no way to contain these things, but maybe you have a way. As long as one of us has a way, we will benefit from it.
Unfortunately, the Byzantine Empire issued various orders throughout the country in an attempt to find these capable people across the country. Unfortunately, no one could solve this problem. So in this situation, they could only take one step at a time. As for whether they could win in the end, only God knew.
For this decisive battle, General Sima specially chose a day with good weather. For the Tang army, night attacks are useless. The armies of other countries may think that they are more effective at night, but for the Tang army, the more open and fair the day is, the more our combat effectiveness can be brought into play. If we rely on sneak attacks, we will not be able to exert 100% of our combat effectiveness.
On the other hand, the Byzantine Empire believed that they were the defending side, so it was beneficial for them to do it in broad daylight. If it were at night, the situation below the city wall would not be clear. Even if you threw stones down, you probably wouldn't be able to hit the people of the Tang Empire. It would take a lot of effort to transport these stones from below to the city wall.
Take the stones and logs on the city wall for example. It took them nearly a month to transport them. During this month, about 3,500 laborers had almost no rest to transport these things up. But if the fighting really breaks out, these things may not last even three days.
When General Sima saw these things on the city wall, he knew that we were halfway to victory, so he was afraid that you had some strange tricks. If you only have these ancient things, then we have nothing to be afraid of. These things don’t have much killing power to us, and don’t even think about throwing them at our heads, because when our army rushed up, the artillery had already blown up the entire city wall. Even if these stones and rolling logs are still there, do you have enough soldiers?
"Bring out the artillery."
General Sima shouted, and more than 30 red cannons were pulled out. They were placed in three locations at the moment, not so densely packed, also because they were afraid of catapults. You know, in this day and age, European catapults are still very powerful. There are even many old soldiers who can calculate the landing point of the stone through some simple measurements.
If they calculate it correctly, our artillery will be in trouble, so it is good to disperse a little and try to be out of their range. Anyway, our artillery has a long enough range. If you really want to compete, we can just add half a bag of gunpowder. But if you want to increase the distance, it will not be that easy.
When the soldiers on the city wall saw these black cannons, they were also shocked. It was hard to imagine the power of such things. If they were given a choice, they would probably rather choose to go down and fight a normal war.
They had only heard of this kind of war but had never actually seen it on the battlefield. For anyone, this unknown war was the most terrifying. According to what the Arabs said, when the Tang army fired, it was best to find a solid place to hide. If you didn't go, you might not have a chance to find another place. This thing would kill you if you got stuck.
When the Arabs said this, many people in the Byzantine Empire thought they were scared. They were clearly under the city wall, how could they hurt us? But when General Sima ordered the cannons to fire, many people immediately had a bad premonition.
When the first shell hit the city wall, a hole about half a meter in diameter immediately appeared. The surrounding stones scattered, and the entire city wall seemed to be moving. Many people could not stand steadily. Then came the second and third shells. Some people even stretched their heads out to look. When the shells hit the city wall, a hole was created with each hit.
Everyone was dumbfounded. They couldn't imagine that there was such a powerful thing. It turned out that when fighting in Europe, there were indeed some powerful catapults. When these catapults threw stones, they would smash a hole in their city walls. But those were huge stones used, and the number of such catapults was extremely limited. If they were not operated correctly, the stones would not hit the city walls at all. Although they were powerful, the effect was limited.
But these cannons were completely different. When these shells hit the city walls, it almost killed everyone, because there were a huge number of these cannons. More than 30 cannons fired at the same time. As long as half of the shells hit the city walls, the entire wall would be riddled with holes immediately. The defensive offensive that the Byzantine Empire was proud of was completely useless in front of these cannons.
The city lord also took a breath of cold air. It seemed that we were going to lose the battle. Although it had just begun, for these wise people, they could already see the final result, which was not difficult to predict.
