Eagle Byzantium

Gawain waved his hand, and the military servants behind him came over one after another carrying linen bags or clay pots.

"According to my merciful decision beforehand, I let go of the two hundred who are the weakest and the oldest among you. But as soon as they arrived at Amasa, they had enough food, picked up their swords, and came Kill my soldiers, and many of your remaining men are in better health. , maybe I should give up my previous kindness and burn you all to death." As soon as Gawain's words came to light, the group of Crescent Cultists were frightened to death. They all knelt on the ground, raised their hands, and begged the Grand Duke for forgiveness. , and began to curse the unjust behavior of the previous two hundred people.

After a while, Gawain took the opportunity to express his forgiveness, but "When I release another thousand and five hundred people soon, I will select the weakest among you, and so on. I will also deduct two days of rations from you, so that you can go even if you go." Massa can't immediately join his team."

The imprisoned believers immediately expressed verbally that this strategy was very good, but they accumulated greater resentment in their hearts and secretly swore to Allah that if they could go to Amasa, they would wait until Antioch. After the city was captured, all the Greeks, Franks, and Normans had to be slaughtered before they were willing to do so.

When the sun rose the next day, Cobuha on the other side of the Orontes River concentrated its forces and fought steadily. Ridwan in the north finally took a punch - it was not until noon that Raymond and Robert gave up. After reaching the hill, he led his troops to shrink the defense line and continued to defend around the Iron Bridge Fortress. At this time, Prince Cobuha could finally see the wide and surging Orontes River, as well as the camps of Gawain and Amasa on the other side, but it was of no use because he could not cross it. Raymond of Southern Gaul still clung to the bridge and fortress, the only bridge.

However, Kobuha always has a way. He first mobilized his soldiers and built a long and narrow camp along the river bank. Then he found a group of subordinates who were familiar with water properties. "After nightfall, you go into the water. After determining which section Once the water is shallow, swim over and raise a fire sign on the other side. I will arrange for the following troops to go to meet you, then stand firm, set up a pontoon bridge, flank the camp on the other side, and cooperate with Amasa to capture it! "

At the same time, on the rampart wall facing the river, Gawain frowned and squinted his eyes. He also saw the formation of Cobuha on the other side, and saw the figures of his soldiers busy raising dust, so he called the military judge Giovanni, "Ah How is the situation over there in Massa?”

"They are gathering troops. It seems that he has also seen that his master, the Prince of Mosul, is only separated by a river from him. He is full of emotions and wants to continue to attack us." Giovanni replied.

Gawain followed the shooting port and pointed over there, "I will command the battle line of the city gate tower immediately. You ask Gregor for 300 soldiers, half on horseback and half carrying crossbows, from the camp. Go out through the small door and lurk in the pasture beside the river. Keep an eye on them. If someone raises a fire there at night, ask the soldiers with crossbows to raise the fire together on the bank of the most rapid and deepest part of the river. Then you personally lead the other half of the cavalry and quickly move in the direction of the opponent's raise of fire. Attack and kill."

After the layout was completed, Gawain quickly followed the city road behind the flat wall and came to the city gate tower. Then he saw that Amasa must have called his Persian craftsmen overnight to build a brand new attack tower. City equipment.

In the middle of the densely packed Turkic siege troops, a huge and tall wooden tower with sills was erected, far higher than the city, and fixed with ropes on all sides. Gawain needed to look up to see it. On the other hand, the other side's craftsmen stayed on this wooden sill tower, which was enough to overlook most of the Orontes camp and see their details clearly.

"Grand Duke, this is their command center. The craftsmen inside can use Persian mathematical tools to detect our artillery positions and correct the firing point of the enemy's trebuchets." Gedier next to Gawain He scratched his dry hair.

"Ignore it. No matter how magical that wooden sill tower is, you can't enter the city. Gedier, look carefully at the other siege equipment in the enemy's queue. What are they!" Gawain pointed to the first few towers in the enemy's queue. The wheeled equipment truck inquired and said that these vehicles were completely different from yesterday's small wheeled trebuchets. They were strange and strange. It seemed that they were going to deal with his fortress defense system under the cover of the trebuchet.

Gedier looked at one of the types, with four wheels and wooden frames erected on both sides. There was also a pulley shaft in the middle, but what was mounted on it were all grapples, trapezoidal shovels, rectangular rakes, and other vehicles. On the levers, there are also water-soaked leathers hanging, and others are hanging air-blasted leather bags.

"Grand Duke, only a small number of soldiers are left to guard the first two sub-walls. The rest of the soldiers are all ambushing between the chest strap wall and the city gate. The defensive equipment on our city top must also be put into operation!" Die shouted excitedly and worriedly, and Gawain encouraged the soldiers who were gearing up and down the city, "Soldiers of Jimmagis, your time to win glory has come!"

Over there, the drumbeats of the Turkic siege team sounded like a sudden rain. Many people carried dry firewood, straw bales, and fire pots, and held shields, guarding these precious special siege vehicles, heading towards them. They were approaching the Orontes camp step by step.

Behind them, on the towering wooden sill tower, Persian craftsmen were constantly making measurements using wire pendants, curved rulers and other things. Then they stood on it loudly and read the weight of the stone bullets, the number of ropes used for dragging and other data. One by one, they were shouted to the gunners of the trebuchet below.

Soon, the cannonballs began to hit the stones. This time, they were no longer as overwhelming as yesterday. Instead, they came in three or four shots, and the accuracy was greatly improved. A section of the dog-foot wood on the gate tower where Gawain was located was broken by the first wave of shooting. A warrior next to Gawain was hit by the falling wood. He covered his severely injured and bleeding leg and lay beside the Grand Duke, but he did not dare to groan. He just gritted his teeth and lowered his head and trembled, not letting other people see this miserable appearance, so as not to affect morale, until his comrades carried him down.

Next, the stone bullets thrown by the siege party became more and more accurate and fierce. Many flat-top walls were penetrated. Several unlucky people were directly hit and fell into the trenches or camps holding the stone bullets. Their deaths were very miserable. However, the soldiers of the Gimages Brigade were more perseverant and calm. Once a wall was cracked, they crouched on the left and right with various materials and equipment, and began to repair it frantically when the enemy's stone bullets were not thrown.

Outside the city, between the intricate sub-walls, teams of soldiers from the Gimges Brigade whispered to each other, carrying various weapons, and withdrew towards the chest belt wall and the city gate, except for a few who stayed on the platform to observe the enemy's movements. (To be continued ~^~)