"Your Majesty, you mustn't!"

Seeing that the King of Kucha was tempted, the Left Prime Minister hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, even if the Wusun and other countries are not trustworthy, the Xiongnu must never be trusted."

The Xiongnu were greedy and ruthless; cooperating with them would surely lead to their betrayal.

The Right Chancellor stepped forward and said, "Hmph, given the current situation, cooperation offers a glimmer of hope, while non-cooperation means certain death. What do you think is the better choice?"

"I……"

Faced with the questioning, the Left Prime Minister stammered and was unable to speak.

There was nothing we could do; given our national strength, even knowing the enemy's intentions, we were powerless to do anything and could only hope that the Xiongnu would keep their promise.

This profound sense of powerlessness made the Left Chancellor of Kucha feel extremely frustrated.

After thinking for a moment, the Left Prime Minister looked up and said, "Your Majesty, why don't we ask the Kushans in the west for help?"

"Kushan?"

Upon hearing this name, the King of Kucha paused for a moment, then frowned: "The Kushans are far from our country. Relying on their reinforcements is no different from waiting to die."

“Your Majesty, what I think is that we should ask the Kushans for protection. If the Huns are trustworthy, we can ask the Kushans to send troops to defend us. If the Huns really break their promise, we will have a way out.”

Furthermore, although the Kushans have long coveted this land, they only wish to control it, unlike the Huns who wanted to occupy it and multiply. Perhaps in the future, we can even hope the Kushans will send troops to help us restore our kingdom.”

Although they were both destined to be puppets, in the eyes of the Left Prime Minister, even being a puppet was better than being ruled by those barbaric Huns.

"This is also a way out!"

Upon hearing the Left Prime Minister's suggestion, the King of Kucha nodded in agreement.

He also understood that if the Xiongnu broke their promise, he would surely die.

No one wants to die if there is hope of survival.

The King of Kucha then solemnly said, "Left Prime Minister, you are in charge of contacting the Kushans. You must do it quickly!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Just as the people of Kucha were discussing the matter, a force of 30,000 Xiongnu troops arrived at the city of Kucha.

Five thousand strong men from the Western Regions, clad in armor and wielding long swords, escorted the catapults and Jinglan to a distance of three hundred paces east of the city.

Why are they wearing armor?

"And how did the Xiongnu obtain those weapons?"

The Kucha soldiers guarding the city walls looked down at the enemy troops below and couldn't help but discuss the matter with expressions of horror.

They originally thought that the Xiongnu were just a group of cavalrymen and certainly not good at attacking cities, so they should have no problem defending them.

However, after seeing the equipment of the Xiongnu's subordinate troops, they began to have doubts.

Just as the defenders of Kucha were discussing the matter, an officer in charge of the siege came to the front of the catapults with a command flag in hand.

"Prepare the catapults!!"

With a shout from the officer, the hundreds of soldiers in charge of the catapults began to adjust their positions, pull ropes, set up the catapults, and fill them with stones. Each catapult weighed over a hundred pounds.

These catapults used a lever-type launcher, with the launch rod consisting of two parts, front and rear, mounted on the launch frame.

The launch rod is divided into two ends, front and back, which are fixed on the launch frame. One end is 10 meters long and the other end is 5 meters long. The 10-meter end is equipped with a 500-pound counterweight, and the 5-meter end has a fixed rope in addition to the launch spoon.

The soldiers only need to loosen the securing ropes, and the counterweight in front will fall heavily, launching the stone projectiles.

Soon, thirty catapults were ready.

The officer looked up at the sun; there was only half an hour left before the appointed time for sunset.

The officer slowly raised the command flag in his hand, and the soldiers responsible for launching the missile tightened their grip on the launch ropes, ready to fire at any moment.

After about twenty breaths, the officer's expression hardened, and he swung his command flag down heavily.

"emission!!"

With a shout from the officer, the soldiers in charge of launching simultaneously released the ropes. As the counterweights fell, the launching rods of the thirty catapults twisted and swung, emitting a teeth-grinding "creaking" sound.

"Boom boom boom!!"

Thirty stones, each weighing over a hundred pounds, hurtled toward the walls of the Kucha capital in a parabolic arc.

"My God!!"

"Run!"

Upon seeing the incoming stone projectiles, the garrison of Kucha City was thrown into chaos and scattered in all directions.

"Boom!!"

The stone projectiles arrived in an instant, one of them striking the battlement and creating a gap. The flying stone fragments struck nearby guards, causing them to bleed from the head.

In order to defend the capital, the King of Kucha mobilized all his soldiers to the city walls, resulting in an extremely high density of people.

A single stone that lands on the city wall can kill more than a dozen people.

Some of the stones hit the city wall, creating large craters and causing the wall to tremble.

Some stones flew over the city walls and landed inside the city, instantly crushing houses, shops, and other buildings.

Those Kucha people inside the building who couldn't escape in time were smashed into a bloody pulp.

After the first wave of sling attacks ended, nearly three hundred defending soldiers were smashed into a bloody pulp, and nearly two thousand were injured by flying slings or had their limbs broken.

The city wall was also smashed with more than a dozen large craters, and a crack appeared in the middle.

The defenders who had luckily escaped the stone projectile attack looked at their comrades who had been smashed to death, their faces filled with fear as they listened to the constant groans of the wounded.

"Disaster! Divine punishment!!"

Although the casualties caused by the stone projectiles were not significant, the feeling of being crushed to death at any moment made all the defenders feel suffocated.

Nobody knows whether they will be the ones to suffer in the next attack if they stay here.

In an instant, the soldiers guarding the city walls began to feel insecure, and no one wanted to stay in this dangerous place any longer, waiting for death to come.

A disturbance inevitably broke out on the walls of Kucha, with many soldiers running down the walls to get away from the danger.

"Tsk tsk tsk, the Han army's catapults are really powerful!"

Looking at the commotion on the city wall from behind, Xie Zhiyu couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's a pity we didn't get many stone projectiles, otherwise we wouldn't have had to bother thinking of those useless schemes!"

Chou Chan, standing to the side, also sighed as he looked at the chaos on the city wall.

After witnessing the power of the catapults, he further realized how terrifying the Han army was.

If the Han army had used such weapons to attack Cheshi, they would probably have been wiped out by the Han army long ago.

Meanwhile, news of the situation on the city wall quickly reached the royal palace.

"What? The soldiers are too scared to stay on the city wall?"

Upon hearing about the effects of the stone projectiles, the King of Kucha and his nobles were completely speechless.

"There's no other way but to negotiate with the Xiongnu...!"