"Lie down! Everyone lie down!!"
Seeing the stone projectiles hurtling towards them at breakneck speed, the city's garrison officer also began to shout hysterically.
Before the garrison officer could finish speaking, fifteen stone projectiles whistled through the air, tracing a carefully calculated parabolic trajectory before landing on the city wall.
The vast majority of these stones missed any valuable targets, merely hitting the battlements.
A very small number of stones landed on the city wall, making a loud noise and mercilessly crushing the panicked soldiers, breaking their bones and killing them.
The first wave of stone projectiles did not cause many casualties, killing only a dozen or so people.
Even so, faced with those stone projectiles that were beyond human resistance, the defenders on the city walls were terrified and fled in panic, since no one could be sure whether the next stone projectile would fall on their heads.
Soon, another volley of fire from the Han army began.
Because the defenders scattered and lost the protection of their cover, the hit rate this time was much higher than last time, and more than fifty defenders were killed by the stones.
In the span of two quarters of an hour, the Han army fired four volleys. By the time of the third volley, all the defenders on the city wall who were able to move, except for those who were hit, had already run down the wall. The reason for firing the fourth volley was simply to scare the defenders and prevent them from showing themselves.
"Order six thousand sailors to escort the enemy forward, and two thousand naval soldiers with crossbows to follow behind. Attack the city immediately!!"
With a command from the operations staff, the soldiers in the central command began to rapidly approach the city wall under the guidance of their officers.
The crossbows in front of the battle lines were also loaded with stone projectiles and aimed at the city walls.
Upon hearing the commotion outside the city, the garrison inside the city crouched low and climbed up the city wall. When they saw the fifteen crossbows aimed at them from outside the city, they were so frightened that they immediately retreated.
Seeing the empty city walls, Commodus and Daruk, who were on the left and right flanks, were eager to lead their troops to attack the city immediately, but without orders from the Han army, they dared not move out and could only wait anxiously.
Soon, the six thousand sailors escorted them smoothly to the foot of the city wall, while two thousand naval soldiers, armed with specially made crossbows, stopped a hundred paces away and aimed at the city wall.
The sailors guarding the city wall also steadily placed hundreds of long ladders onto it.
"The first to ascend will be promoted one rank, rewarded with one hundred taels of silver, ten bolts of silk, and ten jars of imperial wine!"
"Charge!!"
As the staff announced the rewards, the sailors and guards shouted excitedly and quickly climbed the long ladder, using both hands and feet to scramble towards the top of the city wall.
From a distance, the siege sailors and guards looked like ants that had spotted food, rapidly approaching their target.
"Quickly, quickly, get up there and defend the city!!"
Realizing that the enemy had begun their attack on the city, the defending officer shouted loudly and led his soldiers toward the city walls.
Although these defenders were not very good at fighting, they still had basic military common sense. In order to avoid hurting their own men, the enemy would definitely not use crossbows to attack again, and they could take this opportunity to drive the enemy out of the city.
As the defending soldiers climbed to the top of the city wall, the attacking sailors and guards had already climbed up the long ladders to within five meters of the wall.
Just as the defending soldiers had guessed, the ballistae outside the city did not launch an attack to avoid accidentally injuring their own men.
"Release the arrows!!"
Just as the defending soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and were about to push the ladders down, a shout rang out from outside the city.
Before the defending soldiers could react, they heard a series of whooshing sounds as they cut through the air.
Amidst the terrified gazes of the defenders, tens of thousands of crossbow bolts hurtled toward them.
In an instant, the nearly three hundred soldiers who had first approached the battlements, preparing to push down the ladders, let out a miserable groan and then fell to the ground.
Seeing their comrades riddled with bullets, the soldiers following behind them also collapsed to the ground in terror, trembling uncontrollably.
I thought those ballistae were scary enough, but I didn't expect those crossbow bolts to be even more terrifying.
After the volley ended, before the defenders lying on the ground could make a move, the naval soldiers who had fired in the front row took a step back, and the soldiers in the back row immediately stepped forward, raised their crossbows, and aimed them at the city wall.
The soldiers on the city wall only glanced up once, but when they saw the row of crossbows in the hands of the Han soldiers below, they immediately trembled and lay down again. Many of them also huddled up and retreated towards the city.
With crossbows in front and crossbow bolts behind, the Han army's deadly long-range attacks had left the defending troops with no will to resist.
"Pass down the order: have both flanks attack simultaneously!!"
At the front of the army, the operations officer in charge of command, looking at the now quiet city walls, issued the order for a general attack.
"Charge!!"
Commodus and Daruk, who were anxiously waiting, shouted in unison the moment they received the order and led their soldiers to rush toward the city wall.
The sailors and guards who were lying on the long ladder also began to climb upwards.
When the first sailor jumped up the long ladder to the top of the city wall, all he could see were the corpses of the Parthian garrison left on the wall; there was no one else there.
Soon, a group of sailors and guards also climbed up the city wall and erected a large Chinese character flag on it.
After the city gates opened, Chu Qian, holding the imperial staff, couldn't wait to lead his army into Linhai City.
Looking at the quiet streets of the city, Chu Qian gave instructions to his personal guards:
"Pass on my order: immediately seal off all treasuries within the city and strictly prohibit anyone from approaching them."
Also, tell Commodus and Daruk to keep their soldiers in check. From this day forward, this land is Han territory, and the inhabitants of the city are Han citizens. Anyone who loots, regardless of who they are, will be dealt with according to military law!
"Here you go!!"
The guard agreed and immediately rode away.
In the past, whether it was Rome or Parthia, once a city was conquered, everything within it, including its inhabitants, would become their spoils of war; they could take whatever they wanted.
Therefore, the Roman soldiers and Parthian navy were excited and ready to plunder the city the moment they breached it.
However, after receiving Chu Qian's order, Commodus and Daruk, though not quite understanding, quickly restrained their soldiers who were preparing to plunder.
For no other reason than Chu Qian's words, "This is Han land, and the people are Han people," which suppressed their inner thoughts.
After seeing that the group entering the city did not harm them in the slightest, the people who had been hiding in their homes in panic calmed down, opened their doors, and looked at the group from the Eastern Empire with great curiosity.
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