Sakqi first dispatched 20,000 soldiers to attack Linshan City, hoping to test the strength of the Han army's defenses.
Sakhon then handed over the command of these 20,000 soldiers to Morrel.
Having suffered a crushing defeat, Morrel was extremely cautious this time as well.
He first sent five thousand soldiers with crawling tools to fill in the moats outside the city.
"Hmph, quite cautious indeed!"
Seeing the Parthian army's actions, Cheng Pu on the city wall couldn't help but snort coldly.
The operations staff officer immediately said, "General, the enemy is about three hundred paces from the city wall, within range of our crossbows. We can fire arrows!"
Cheng Pu waved his hand: "This is just the enemy's probe force, there's no need to waste those arrows!"
Tell Kemolai to prepare the Han Chinese troops; our army will not take any action before the enemy's main force attacks!
"Yes, General!"
The operations staff officer agreed and then turned to leave.
Upon receiving Cheng Pu's order, the naval soldiers on the city wall all took a step back, handing over the task of guarding the city to the Han troops.
Kemolai divided his 35,000 Han troops into three echelons: one echelon was responsible for frontal defense, while the other two echelons were ready to provide support at any time.
Soon, the first echelon of 12,000 able-bodied men stood in front of the city wall with their weapons in hand. Among them, 5,000 archers also drew their bows and aimed at the enemy troops below, while the rest stood in front of the rolling logs and stones and the large pots for boiling molten gold.
While the city's defenders were all ready, Morrel's 5,000 soldiers successfully cleared a passage.
The 15,000 Parthian soldiers behind them followed the passage, passing through three trenches in one go, and arrived at a point 100 paces from the city wall.
To this, Camole, atop the city wall, remained silent, his eyes fixed intently on the Parthian army's advance.
Seeing Kemolai's appearance, Cheng Pu, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but nod to himself.
The bows and arrows carried by these able-bodied men guarding the city were captured from the Parthian army and were far inferior to the powerful crossbows in the hands of the Han army.
Although the city's high vantage point allows it to inflict damage on enemy troops a hundred paces away, the damage is still very limited. Therefore, it can only unleash its full power when the enemy is brought within seventy paces.
This shows that this Kemolai is indeed quite capable, and it is very appropriate for him to lead the Parthian people in their rebellion.
Just as Cheng Pu was pondering to himself, the Parthian army advanced to within seventy paces of the city wall.
"Release the arrows!!"
With a loud roar from Kemolai, the able-bodied men on the city wall simultaneously released their bowstrings, and five thousand arrows shot out instantly, hurtling down from their high position.
In an instant, groans erupted from the Parthian army as nearly eight hundred of the leading soldiers fell to the ground, struck by arrows.
"Spread out! Keep charging!!"
Moraine, who was in charge of command at the rear, immediately shouted loudly to disperse the Parthian soldiers who were huddled together, in order to reduce the lethality of the enemy's arrows.
"Free-for-all firing!!"
Upon seeing the enemy troops disperse, Kemolai immediately issued orders.
The archers on the city wall also began to aim at their respective targets as instructed.
As mentioned earlier, most of the archers selected by Camorra were from hunter backgrounds. While their archery skills weren't exactly superb, they were certainly capable of killing enemies dozens of paces away.
In an instant, Parthian soldiers near the city walls fell one after another.
Finally, after leaving behind nearly two thousand corpses, the Parthian army reached the foot of the city walls.
Just as they were preparing to erect the long ladder, a series of whistling sounds suddenly came from above.
The Parthian soldiers looked up and saw boulders the size of human heads raining down on them.
Many soldiers were unable to dodge in time and were hit by the stones. The lucky ones only had their hands and feet broken, while the unlucky ones had their brains splattered out.
Screams erupted one after another.
Seeing this, Morrel, who was in charge of commanding the siege, had no choice but to order the supervisory team to move forward, coercing the Parthian soldiers to continue advancing.
Unfortunately, under the defenders' arrows and the continuous rolling stones, the Parthian soldiers were never able to erect even a single ladder.
The attack lasted for half an hour, resulting in the loss of nearly 5,000 Parthian soldiers, while the rest retreated in disarray.
Seeing the soldiers retreating, Sakhqi didn't say anything, as this outcome was expected.
Although he didn't understand military affairs, he knew that siege warfare was never an easy task; otherwise, he wouldn't have been delayed for so long before finally arriving here.
While instructing the attacking soldiers to retreat and rest, Sakki also summoned Morel to his side and inquired about the situation of the garrison.
"Your Excellency, according to my observation, the defenders on the city walls are very well prepared. If our army wants to break through the city, we either have to besiege them to death, or we have to spare no expense to exhaust their arrows and rolling stones..."
Upon hearing Morel's suggestion, Sakhozzi frowned: "Our army lacks sufficient supplies and cannot possibly besiege the enemy."
As for using soldiers' lives to deplete the enemy's arrows and rolling stones, that's probably not feasible either. If the casualties are too heavy, the soldiers might not dare to fight anymore!
Morrel said in a deep voice, "My lord, in my opinion, we might as well do what we did before and send soldiers to the surrounding villages and towns to replenish our food supplies. We can also capture those lowly people and have them hold the front line to wear down the defenders' arrows and rolling stones!"
Sakqi frowned slightly: "This method is not bad, but our army will spend a lot of time on the road. I'm afraid the lowly people in the surrounding villages and towns have already fled far away, haven't they?"
"My lord, the lowly people around Linshan City may have already fled, but those lowly people in places like Xiaodong City to the east and Lexin City to the west should still be there..."
Moreover, I just discovered that the bows and arrows used by the garrison were not weapons of the Han army, and the Han soldiers did not participate in the defense of the city.
This shows that the Han army no longer poses a significant threat. Once the arrows and rolling stones from those on the city walls are exhausted, we can wipe out Kemolai and the Han army together!
Hearing Morel's suggestion, Sakoz nodded with a look of interest: "You're right, let's do it that way!"
Sakhsky then summoned all the officers in the army and told them about Morrel's suggestion.
The officers unanimously agreed with this approach.
Back then, they set out with an army of 200,000, but now there are less than 150,000 left.
If everyone hadn't been left with no way out, the army would probably have collapsed long ago.
Now that there's a way to make another fortune and also eliminate the Han army, everyone is naturally overjoyed.
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