After hesitating for a while, Hugo Simon spoke first: "General Nero, you are the commander this time, you decide."

Nero hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly: "I guess the enemy has more troops than we thought, because judging from the fact that they abandoned the guard wall, they are not worried about defense. Otherwise, how could they dare to fight on three sides? Even if the real situation is not like this, we have to assume that it is like this."

"So, the direction of your attack remains unchanged, but it will not be a full-scale attack, but a feint attack. My central army will attack the enemy's front with all its strength, and your left and right armies will wait for an opportunity to act. If the central army achieves a breakthrough, the left and right armies will immediately join forces with the central army, directly break through the enemy's defense zone, and quickly rush into the forest to mobilize the enemy. After entering the forest, immediately split into three groups and rush directly to Kayikede."

After listening to this, Liehuo and Hugo Simon looked at each other subconsciously and nodded at the same time - based on the current situation, Nero's change from attacking the enemy camp to infiltrating the enemy's camp is not a bad response.

"Then let's do it according to this plan." Seeing the two men nod, Nero waved his hand and called the two flag signal soldiers to his front to give instructions.

At the same time, on the third floor of a tall wooden tower fifty steps behind the third fence, Wu Lai sat with a telescope in his hand. Five steps in front of him, beside the wooden tower guardrail, Mang Ku sat cross-legged on the floor, also holding a telescope in his hand.

After a moment, Wu Lai put down the telescope and said, "Mangku, since you know flag language, why didn't you become a flag signalman? I remember that in the Hulett Legion, the salary of flag signalmen was not low."

"General, it's not that I don't want to be one. The position of flag signal soldier must be held by civilians." Mangku replied. Although he had only been in the Salt Marsh Camp for a few days, he had become much more cheerful. Here, no one treated him as a prisoner, and no one looked down on him because of his former slave status. He never missed three meals a day, and no one asked him to work during the day. At night, the big tent of the logistics company where he was staying was always filled with laughter.

What was most new to him was the Salt Marsh Town mentioned by the soldiers in the logistics company. They said that it was also under the jurisdiction of General Wu Lai, and there was no need to worry about having no food to eat, because there was plenty of work to do, and as long as you were willing to work, you could get money, food, and a house. Most importantly, the officials and citizens there did not bully others...

Last night, he couldn't help but ask the question he had been hesitating about for a long time: "How can my brother and I become citizens of Salt Marsh?"

"Aren't you a Hulet?" a soldier asked curiously.

Mangku shook his head quickly: "No, no, my brother said that our grandfather was an Assyrian who was captured in the war and taken to Hurlit. Our grandmother was a Tianjuan..."

"Oh, I see. So you should be Assyrian." The soldier who asked him interrupted him. "That's easy. You can find a way to make some achievements. Then you will have the confidence to ask General Wu Lai for help. Salt Marsh Town belongs to him. As long as he nods, you will be the same as us. Hehe, Mangku, after the war, we can go back to our hometown together! How great is that?"

"Yes, that's great." A look of longing appeared in Mangku's eyes...

…

Seeing that more and more Hulett soldiers were gathering, it seemed like in the blink of an eye, the originally empty large open space was filled with people, and the distance was so close, Huo Yi felt a little scalp-tingling.

"Captain Odo, our General Wu Lai is really brave to send so many people here at once..." Huo Yi couldn't help but say to Odo who was standing beside him.

“Hahahaha…” Oddo said cheerfully, “General Wu Lai has always been a hot-tempered person. I won’t say much about his deeds. Anyway, I can’t think of anything he dares not do. The most important thing is that General Wu Lai has never failed so far, whether it’s making money or marching and fighting.”

"Of course, there is nothing our General Wu Lai can't do." Red also came over, but it was more like he was cheering himself up than agreeing with Oddo. But it can't be said that Red was timid, because although he was nervous, at least he could stand firm and keep a straight face, which was at least a little better than Huo Yi - Huo Yi's face was a little pale.

"The enemy has begun to line up... Look, the general is sending flag signals..." Huo Yi pointed his finger at the three-story wooden tower that Wu Lai jokingly called the "general's platform."

Oddo and Red quickly moved the telescope's view towards the wooden tower.

After a while, Oddo sighed and shook his head: "Alas, the enemy is feinting to attack the left and right wings, and the main attack is the front. How boring! The fifth, sixth, and ninth regiments are more comfortable and can have a good time..."

Huo Yi was stunned when he heard this, and thought that if the enemy wanted to feint, then let them feint. It would be much easier to defend if they didn't charge and attack fiercely.

"Deploy defenses! Prepare for battle!" Red walked away quickly with a smile on his face. The enemy's feint attack naturally meant that the pressure was much smaller than expected. At least now he didn't have to worry about failing to complete the mission.

…

The 5th, 6th, and 9th Regiments plus the 2nd Special Company have a total of 3,256 people. Including Wu Lai, the number of people defending the third trench fence on the front is 3,257. The area they need to defend is one and a half miles. On average, each person needs to defend a distance of one elbow.

It sounds like the defense pressure is not that great, it is only an ellipse away, and it seems that the enemy can be blocked by simply waving a weapon or a shield. However, Nero's central army has more than 9,000 vanguards alone. In other words, Nero's "competitive price" for the Salt Marsh Army's front position is three people per ellipse or even more.

Among these nine thousand men, there were about fifteen hundred large shield soldiers, two thousand shield and sword soldiers, more than fifteen hundred archers, five hundred ladder soldiers, five hundred javelin soldiers and nearly three thousand armored soldiers.

The big shield soldiers charged forward with five hundred ladder soldiers, while the archers and shield and sword soldiers followed closely behind, covering each other. When the big shield soldiers approached the enemy's defense front, they put down their shields, and the archers began to suppress with projectiles. After the suppression took effect, the five hundred ladder soldiers began to "show their power". After the ladders were set up, a thousand javelin soldiers quickly followed, attacking and suppressing with javelins. As long as a certain point on the enemy's defense line began to loosen, the three thousand armored soldiers would take advantage of the chaos and rush up, killing them heartily. While the armored soldiers rushed into the enemy formation, the archers changed the direction of suppression from the front to blocking the enemy troops that surrounded them from the left and right sides of the armored soldiers - this was the usual fighting style of the Hurriyet First Legion. This flexible cooperation between multiple arms has been tried and tested in all previous wars, and it has made the Assyrian Legion fear it to this day.

As soon as Woolley issued the order to dispatch the 10th reserve regiment to participate in the frontal battle, Nero's central vanguard began to charge. At the same time, Liehuo's left army began to move to the right wing, and Hugo Simon's right army rushed to the left wing even faster.

At the same time, Nero, Liehuo and Hugo Simon also led the guards to set off. This was actually very rare, because in recent years, the three brave generals basically commanded from the rear - in the final analysis, it was because they really couldn't sit still.

The charge of the central army was very imposing - more than a thousand large shield soldiers were shouting wildly and running with big strides, and every step they took on the ground would raise a large cloud of dust. The five hundred soldiers who were squatting and carrying ladders were silent, but the long ladders they held diagonally were as bright as flags. These two thousand people ran towards the second trench so arrogantly, and ruthlessly ignored the more than three thousand Salt Marsh Army who were waiting behind the fence of the third trench.

Compared with the central army, Liehuo's left army and Hugo Simon's right army were not so bloody. Although the two armies set out at different times, their speeds were surprisingly consistent. They were both so unhurried, as if they were determined to fight steadily and advance step by step. However, this was not their usual style, but because they were now making a feint attack.

A feint attack is naturally full of posturing. Of course, if the enemy is vulnerable, they will never mind turning the feint into a real attack.

The second trench only slightly blocked the charge of Nero's center army before it became ineffective. Without any obstruction, five hundred ladder soldiers used long ladders to build fifteen wooden bridges on the second trench in the blink of an eye. Soon after, archers and armored soldiers also rushed over.

"The 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment, get ready." Wu Lai raised a smile.

"Yes, the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment, get ready." After the flag signalman repeated Wu Lai's order, he waved the two small red flags in his hands several times in succession, and cheers suddenly rose from the position of the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment behind the wooden tower.

"Oh my god, it's just playing with a catapult, why are you so happy?" Wu Lai couldn't help but turn around and glance at a camp on an open ground dozens of steps away, and said to himself.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

The flag soldiers all had good hearing, so even though Wu Lai's voice was low, they could hear it clearly. After they smiled at each other, a braver soldier hesitated for a moment, took two steps forward and said, "General, you don't know that the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment has been looking forward to using these catapults since they were made. They usually don't let us get close to them. They are very precious."

"So exaggerated?" Wu Lai laughed out loud after asking. When he was at West Point, he had thought about giving each regiment its own "specialty", such as the Archery Battalion of the Sixth Regiment and the Shield Lancers of the Seventh Regiment. However, he did not expect that he would develop to ten regiments so quickly. He developed, but before he could figure out what "special features" to give to the three regiments, the entire army was dispatched to fight back to the defense zone, so the three regiments starting from the Eighth Regiment were suspended.

The three regiment commanders naturally felt a little aggrieved. Seeing the other regiments showing off their might, while they themselves were so mediocre that they were worse than the average local army, the three of them simply teamed up to find Wu Lai to "reason".

As the departure was imminent, Wu Lai was not willing to waste his brains, so he just gave away what he had on hand - he gave the only remaining horses to the Eighth Regiment, and more than half of the leather armor in stock to the Tenth Regiment, making them all light armored soldiers. Originally, the leather armor was planned to be given to the Ninth Regiment, but the Ninth Regiment Commander Di Lumen was a little unhappy. The Tenth Regiment Commander Ameye, on the other hand, was excited when he saw the leather armor, so Wu Lai asked Ameye to form a light armored regiment. Turning around, he saw that Di Lumen's mouth was full of talk, so he had another idea and threw out the "big cake" of a catapult.

Di Lumen was overjoyed. After returning to the Gap Defense Zone with the army, he personally led his men into the mountains to cut wood before the camp was completely set up. This was because he saw Oddo's Shield Spear Regiment showing off their might and the spoils piled up like a mountain, and he was very jealous.

As of yesterday afternoon, the number of catapults produced by the 9th Regiment had accumulated to twelve. This was also thanks to the accuracy of Wu Lai's drawings. Although there were some errors in the production process, it did not affect the shooting much. The only thing that made Di Lumen regretful was that due to the relatively light base, the range of this catapult was somewhat unsatisfactory.

However, when he asked Wu Lai for advice, Wu Lai smiled and waved his hand and said, "The catapult is supposed to be fast. I don't think there is any need to make any changes. It can be very useful just like this."

Now is the time to use it...

The successful crossing of the second trench further stimulated the fighting spirit of Nero's vanguard. This is often the case on the battlefield, with a strong momentum at first, then declining and finally exhausted. Relying on the initial burst of bravery to charge forward regardless of any consequences is definitely a powerful weapon in this kind of siege. Of course, this was actually a last resort. If there were other means available, Nero's three generals would not have done this.

In a flash, more than a thousand large shield soldiers and five hundred ladder soldiers rushed into the range of the catapult.

"Shoot!" As soon as Wu Lai finished speaking, the two flag signal soldiers beside him raised the small red flags in their hands at the same time.

Dull impact sounds rang out one after another. This was the sound of the boom hitting the angle beam. At the same time, thousands of white shadows passed over the wooden tower and slammed heavily into the running large shield soldiers and ladder soldiers.

At the warning sound, the formation of the shield soldiers and ladder soldiers suddenly paused. So many "stone bullets" suddenly flew in the sky, covering such a large area and so densely. They couldn't just keep charging forward.

All the shield soldiers raised their large shields to block the attack. Some held them diagonally according to the standard movements, while others simply held their shields flat above their heads like umbrellas. The ladder soldiers hurriedly moved closer to the shield soldiers.

Although a little flustered, he still made the most correct decision.

"Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff..." A series of light and dense collision sounds rang out, and then the vibrations transmitted back from the shields made all the shield soldiers stunned...

After a moment of shock, shrill cries of pain rang out one after another among this "path-opening army" - as they stopped and raised their shields to arrive, the eight hunters of the Second Special Forces Company pulled the trigger at the same time, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...