"Oh my! Despicable Assyrians!"
"Shame on you! Ah..."
"Hiss! Bastard! Fuck you!"...
The insults of the Hulitt shield soldiers soon spread throughout the entire civil engineering platform, mixed with cries of pain and screams. People kept falling or sliding down the ladder. Those who fell were no different, as they might hit their heads or break their necks and die. Those who slid down not only had to endure the pain, but also had to bear the contempt and scolding of their comrades.
The shield soldiers who were the first to climb up were in a state of distress. It would have been fine if the enemies on the parapet had been shooting arrows at a leisurely pace, but they had been shooting at the buttocks and calves, and every shot was accurate. They could use their shields to protect the left side, but there were also crossbows on the right side, and vice versa. How could they charge up? The big shields in their hands were useless, let alone the big swords at their waists. They had to pull them out and swing them to deflect the crossbows? What a joke. Holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, did you think you were walking on a flat road? The enemy's scolding made Wu Lai feel that he was indeed a bit of a rogue. However, he had always been a rogue, and it didn't matter if he had to deal with one more account. So he continued to shoot at a leisurely pace, specifically aiming at those who had climbed halfway up the ladder.
"Shield soldiers come down! Armored soldiers go up!" Lieutenant General Hulit, who was commanding on the platform, became anxious. He saw the shield soldiers on the ladder going up and down one by one, and sliding down in a group. If he didn't think of a solution, all these shield soldiers would be killed or injured.
Upon hearing the order, the shield soldiers on the ladders felt as if they had been pardoned. They no longer cared about charging forward recklessly to show off their bravery as before. Instead, they slid down the ladders and retreated to the side, fearing that if they retreated too slowly, they would be hit by a crossbow arrow.
Wu Lai frowned when he saw the armored soldiers suddenly pouring out of the platform stairs. In the Hulett Legion, shield soldiers were elite soldiers for charging and defending, while armored soldiers were sharp weapons for close combat, because the armor of this type of soldiers was three layers of tanned cowhide on the outside and chain mail on the inside, wrapped from head to toe in armor. Although the speed of movement was limited, it could be said that it was well protected - fighting with this type of soldiers in close combat was simply a nightmare, because their swords could hardly create a fatal threat to them, but their reckless slashing and chopping often achieved success.
Alas, it's a pity that the fuel is almost used up. Otherwise, I will burn you and I don't believe you won't take off your armor. Wu Lai smiled coldly, raised his hand, and ordered loudly: "First Company, prepare ropes and wood!"
"The rope is ready!"
"Two consecutive shots to harass!" Wu Lai shouted as he loaded crossbow arrows into the empty crossbow machine.
"Two-shot harassment! Ready!"
After a while, the armored soldiers began to climb under the cover of bows and arrows. Although the protective effect of the feather arrows was quite limited, the excellent effect of the armor was also revealed - although the crossbows on the parapet were still shooting continuously, and although these crossbows always caused some pain and even caused some scars to the armored soldiers who were climbing, no armored soldier fell off the ladder.
All the Hulit soldiers who saw this scene breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally there is hope, they thought to themselves at the same time.
But the happy smiles on everyone's faces only lasted for two breaths before disappearing, because dozens of figures suddenly appeared on the parapet, and they all appeared at the top of a long ladder. What made them even more shocked was that these figures who appeared quickly turned around and disappeared after throwing something down, and then, the armored soldiers on each long ladder quickly fell down, and in the blink of an eye, there was no figure on the long ladder, and then, the familiar screams rang out on the platform again...
What happened? Everyone was shocked.
The answer is simple. The soldiers on the ladder were tied down by ropes.
This so-called rope wood is nothing more than a thick rope connecting two pieces of wood. The rope is ten cubits long and the two pieces of wood weigh the same, adding up to the weight of an adult man. At that moment just now, the sixty young men of the special company "rewarded" each long ladder with a rope wood.
The ropes were heavy, and the ladder formed an angle with the cliff and the guard wall. When lowering the ropes, the boys in the special forces company kept the distance exactly as in the textbook, so the twenty-odd ropes slid down the ladder smoothly. Then, the soldiers on the ladder were "scraped" off the ladder one by one under the gravity acceleration of the ropes and fell onto the platform...
However, Wu Lai's wall defense could only go so far, because more ladders had been placed on the wall.
During the retreat, Wu Lai couldn't help cursing Howell again. If this guy hadn't made the retaining wall so strong, he wouldn't mind pushing the wall down to kill a few more enemy soldiers. But now, the retaining wall was built so high and strong that it took a lot of effort to send up the beams and boulders, and an excellent line of defense was wasted in vain.
When Wu Lai led his team to rush to the third trench defense line in front, the commanders of each regiment shouted to prepare...
"Responsibility!" Wu Lai shouted as he ran with his fist raised.
"Responsibility!" The soldiers' response sounded like a landslide or tsunami.
"Honor!" Wu Lai raised his fist again.
"Honor!" The entire defense zone seemed to be shaking with the thunderous shout.
"Home!" Woolley shouted out the third motto of West Point.
"Home! Home! Home!"
"The general has set a good example for us. Now it's our turn!" Pu Tang, who was defending the third trench with the Fifth Regiment, raised his sword high and shouted loudly to the more than a thousand men under the Sixth Regiment.
"Duty! Honor! Home!" The soldiers of the Sixth Regiment shouted in unison, and the Fifth Regiment defending the left side also followed suit loudly.
When Wu Lai ran to the third trench, the enemy suddenly appeared on the parapet, and then more and more...
…
Within the defense zone, the straight-line distance from the protective wall to the third trench is about one and a half miles, and the trench fence on the left is about two miles away from the trench fence on the right. The area between these three trenches was specially prepared by Woollett for Hulett's army.
Letting the enemy in to fight is actually a last resort - if you want to consume the enemy and preserve yourself at the same time, you can only choose this risky method.
There were two simple reasons for not choosing to defend on the protective wall. First, although Wu Lai had ten regiments with more than 10,000 people under his command, most of them were recruits. Although they had been training these days and their morale was good, they were far behind Hulett's First Legion. To let a group of children defend adults was tantamount to sending them to their deaths. Second, this was a 50-50 battle. Although it looked good to put 10,000 people together on a protective wall that was only one and a half miles long for defense, once the enemy tore a hole in it, it would be difficult to block it. If they failed to block it, half of the chance of winning would be lost.
Abandoning the guard wall and replacing it with a defensive trench fence, leaving a large area for the enemy, it looks like inviting a wolf into the house, but it is not the case.
Behind the third trench fence on the front, Wu Lai deployed eight "Hunters", each equipped with 100 bundles of crossbow arrows, totaling 1,200 arrows. The arrow shaft of this six-cubit long and thumb-thick cluster crossbow is a bronze tube, and the arrowhead is also made with a special craftsmanship. While maintaining its strength and increasing its penetration, it also greatly reduces the weight of the crossbow. In this way, its cluster range reaches an astonishing 950 steps, which is almost the distance from the third trench to the parapet. In other words, all the open areas reserved for the enemy are within the range of the "Hunter".
In addition to shooting cluster crossbow arrows, the "Hunter" can also shoot javelins - the 5th Regiment has made nearly 10,000 wooden javelins in the past two days. They are taken from the forest behind the defense zone. The wood is dense, the shaft is straight, and the tip is sharp. Under the powerful push of the "Hunter", the effect is definitely not inferior to the crossbow arrows, although the range is slightly reduced.
Puya brought a total of ten "Hunters" and a thousand bundles of matching crossbows to Wu Lai. Eight were used in the front, and one was deployed on each of the left and right wings - it was these that shot Shelley's "divine punishment" from the bushes on both sides.
At this moment, the two "Hunters" have also returned to their defensive positions. Although they cannot become the main defense force like the eight on the front, the same crossbow arrows as the main position mean that their power is destined to be no less than that of their companions.
The ones who operate the "Hunter" are naturally the special forces company, because only they can operate the Hunter skillfully. At present, only they know how to shoot cluster crossbows to the most suitable position at the most appropriate time.
However, if you want to win in the end, you can't rely entirely on the power of the "Hunter". After all, the enemy won't just stand there and be a living target. They will try their best to block and dodge...
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Therefore, in order to truly hold the defense line, every person in every regiment under Wu Lai must firmly anchor their positions - the 5th, 6th, 9th Regiments and the 2nd Special Company defend the third trench fence on the front, the 1st, 2nd, 7th Regiments and the 2nd Platoon of the 1st Special Company on the right wing, the 3rd, 4th, 8th Regiments and the 3rd Platoon of the 1st Special Company on the left wing, and the 10th Regiment and the Logistics Company serving as the reserve are on standby in the second half of the defense zone.
"Hunter, get ready!" Wu Lai was the last one to run across the trench suspension bridge.
"Hunter is ready!"
Pu Tang waved his hand, and the suspension bridge quickly rose and retracted, merging with the fence.
"General, the enemy has already climbed onto the protective wall." The fifth regiment commander Mu Lu and the ninth regiment commander Kler hurried forward.
"Are you ready for battle?" Wu Lai asked.
"Everything is ready." Mu Lu, Kler and Pu Tong who had just run over answered at the same time.
"Well done." Wu Lai nodded. "You all go back to your command posts. I'll take the flag signalers to the signal tower. I already told you last night how the enemy will deploy. The movements won't be much different. Just fight according to the predetermined plan and have your men pay attention to the flag signals."
"Yes!" The three team leaders responded at the same time.
"Disband!" Wu Lai said, and waved to the six flag signal soldiers waiting on the side, "Move out."
…
"Report to General Liehuo, the left army has crossed the protective wall..."
"Report to General Hugo, the right army has arrived at the platform..."
"Report to General Nero, the 6,000 soldiers in the central army have crossed the protective wall and are forming a shield formation..."
Just when the three generals were feeling a little better after hearing the messenger's continuous reports, another messenger came running over.
"Reporting to the three generals, the central army reported that the enemy's position does not match what we have. This is the enemy's current position map." After the messenger spoke loudly, he presented a roll of sketches to the three people.
Hugo Saimon took the paper and after he opened it and glanced at it, he frowned deeply.
"What's wrong?" Liehuo frowned. Intelligence error was a big problem. You know, all the offensive arrangements were based on previous intelligence. Now that more than 10,000 people had gone up, it would be difficult to make any changes. It was easy to send messages back from the front, but sending messages from the back to the front required careful consideration. If an order was not given carelessly, the whole army might be in chaos - any unusual movement of any part of the left, center, and right armies would lead to this situation.
"There is no gap in the enemy's position." Hugo Simon already knew what had happened. He was angry because after half a lifetime of dominance, he was fooled by two of his slaves, and in front of Liehuo and Nero in such an important situation.
After Hugo Simon said this, Nero and Liehuo understood everything - there was a traitor.
The lack of a gap in the enemy's position not only meant that the previous plan to break through the left and right wings had failed, but also that there might be a major error in the enemy's strength, and there might even be an ambush...
Therefore, the three generals hesitated - retreat was impossible, advance was inevitable, but, which side should they advance from?