The moonlight poured into the barbican like flowing water, while the entire barbican tower was already glowing red under the fire. The Yan army that had climbed up the barbican tower in the east did not immediately rush towards the horse paths on the north and south sides.
They waited in the city tower for a while until the heavy infantry reinforcements brought square shields and long spears, and then they all charged south together.
They knew that as soon as they engaged the enemy forces to the south, the enemy forces to the north would organize a battle to seize the city walls. This meant that the people on the northern city walls would return to defend, and then they could simply have the people who subsequently climbed the walls fight them.
In the battle on the city wall, melee troops naturally had the advantage. Now, this Yan army, holding square shields and raising long halberds, transformed into a steel torrent, charging fiercely towards the south.
On the other side, under Jin Teng's leadership, the defending troops finally gained a foothold on the south city wall, and now they have even begun to launch an offensive against the enemy troops inside the barbican.
Jin Teng lay on the battlements, his tiger-like eyes fixed intently on the city.
Dozens of enemy chariots were already inside the barbican, and the enemy troops who had broken into the city were being attacked from the north, south, and main city tower. They were completely unable to show their faces.
Jin Teng watched as the chariots were destroyed one by one, feeling extremely gratified. He had not gained the upper hand since the start of the war, but now he was finally able to suppress the enemy. These enemy soldiers who entered the city could not even fight back and could only watch helplessly as they huddled in their chariots and waited for their deaths. The tide of battle had turned, but Jin Teng still felt it was not enough.
After all, from the very beginning, perhaps sensing that they would be subjected to fierce firepower upon entering the fortified city, the enemy slowed down their advance. Clearly, these enemies were not truly fearless.
Faced with an unstoppable offensive, they would still feel fear and then retreat, but this was not the situation Jin Teng wanted to see. When he abandoned the east gate tower, he had already prepared to let the enemy troops into the barracks.
If the enemy dares not advance further at this point and instead chooses to retreat, then there will be no way to inflict more casualties on them inside the barbican.
We've been fighting tonight, and it's already past midnight. We don't know how many men and weapons we've lost. If we can't take a good bite out of the enemy soon, then tonight's battle to defend the city will have been a complete failure.
His Majesty might blame us then, so we must use the barbican as a huge trap to inflict heavy damage on the enemy!
Thinking of this, he beckoned to his deputy: "Pass down the order to slow down the offensive!"
Upon hearing this, the lieutenant looked puzzled: "Slow down the offensive? General, this...?"
Jin Teng slapped his helmet and laughed, scolding, "Don't you even understand the art of playing hard to get?"
"They're fighting so fiercely, I can't see they dare not enter the city anymore. Let's slow down the offensive a bit and give them some breathing room. If they feel that our weapons are insufficient, they will naturally launch a fierce attack."
At this point, Jin Teng clenched his fist, swung it sharply in mid-air, and said with an excited expression, "Only in this way can we make these arrogant bastards suffer heavy casualties!"
"Yes, General!" The lieutenant immediately relayed the order.
The defenders on the city wall had already endured a round of intense firing at the east gate. Now, after receiving orders to slow down the offensive, many of them were able to catch their breath. However, even so, they did not dare to relax. Instead, they chose to check their weapons and supplies, since they would have to continue the fierce attack. If they did not have enough weapons, it would be very troublesome.
By the time the order reached the garrison closest to the eastern side, they had just launched a fierce attack.
Everyone was sweating profusely, their clothes under their light armor were completely soaked. As archers, they did not need to wear heavy armor or carry heavy weapons like the infantry, but each bow had to shoot hundreds of arrows. In the continuous drawing of the bow and shooting arrows for several hours, their arms were almost never stopped.
While fighting, the pain might not have been too severe, but now that they had stopped, their arms felt as heavy as lead. The musketeers, however, fared much better; they only needed to load the lead bullets and stuff gunpowder into the powder chamber, repeating the process over and over.
But they were busy now. The musketeers were already preparing the next batch of ammunition. The supply wagons were right next to them, with weapons and ammunition in the small wooden carts. The previous fierce battle had already used up half of the ammunition, but there was still a lot left in the main city tower. The supply soldiers were constantly transporting weapons and ammunition from the main city tower to the north and south.
An archer leaned against the city wall, his face covered in sweat, feeling the midnight breeze. He sighed softly, rubbing his aching right arm, and remarked:
"It's been a long time since we've fought such a tough battle,"
"I'm so tired I feel like I'm going to ascend to heaven."
A soldier nearby grunted, "Saying such unlucky things, you should slap yourself." Before the man could speak, he continued:
"Aren't you tired? Those guys started their attack at Shenshi (3-5 PM), and it's already past Choushi (1-3 AM), five or six hours of relentless assault. They only have so many people, yet they've managed to hold out for so long, damn it..."
"They're not even human."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crossbowman's expression gradually turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Seriously, have you ever considered that the people we're fighting aren't even the same group?"
"I think they were constantly switching between different groups of soldiers. One group would rush in and fight for a round, and then reinforcements would arrive and take over the battle, continuing the fierce attack."
"Oh? They were fighting so fiercely, yet you still had time to observe carefully?"
"No, I was just guessing. It's a mess, there are attackers everywhere, how can you tell what's going on..."
The archer exhaled a breath of stale air, bent down and untied the water bag from his waist. Just as he pulled out the wooden stopper, his peripheral vision caught sight of the east side. The next instant, he froze, involuntarily taking a step back, and the wooden stopper fell from his hand.
Under the moonlight, a heavily armored infantry force was charging towards them from the east city wall. Although they were still quite a distance apart, the sheer force of the charge was enough to send chills down one's spine.
The erected halberd seemed to pierce the night sky, and the broad iron shield pressed down aggressively like a fortress.
"Oh no! The enemy troops are scaling the city walls and charging in!"
"Defend against the enemy! Defend against the enemy!!!"
A sharp alarm suddenly sounded, followed by a burst of panicked shouts. After a brief moment of confusion, the soldiers quickly got into position.
Interspersed among the crossbowmen were musketeers, some standing, some crouching, all facing east and ready to fire!
However, on the city wall, although the ramp was already quite wide, about three or four meters wide, it was still not enough to form a battle formation. Therefore, some musketeers ran to the rear to have the cannons moved down from the gun emplacements.
Meanwhile, the heavily armored infantry of the Yan army were already running at full speed, their neck veins bulging, sprinting forward at their fastest pace ever.
At this moment, the city wall seemed to tremble, dust rose from the ramparts, and the torches stuck on the battlements swayed incessantly as they ran at top speed. Amidst the flickering flames, the deafening shouts of battle were like the collapse of the heavens and the earth.
Their orders were to crush everyone in front of this horse path and penetrate the entire outer barbican with unparalleled force!
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