Chapter 474 Siege 2
The spilled blood dyed the green grass under his feet red. The Hun deputy general was forever frozen together with his horse because of a long crossbow arrow.
"Romans!" Attila looked at the gate tower that shot out huge and deadly crossbow arrows. The soldiers inside were reloading the crossbows. Attila's face was full of anger. Killing his subordinates in front of him was a provocation in itself. No Roman had ever dared to do this! He held the reins tightly in his hands. No one around him knew how his forbearance would explode.
"They chose war!" Attila shouted at the Hun army around him: "Let them feel our wrath. Go forward! Crush them!"
The Hun cavalry had already begun to stir. They raised their wooden bows and other weapons and roared loudly, and their horses were neighing. They could not wait for the war.
"It's over! It's over!"
Areobinders' legs went weak and he fell to his knees. His face was pale, like a hysterical and frightened old man. Even the falling of the golden crown on his head could not bring him back to his senses.
"He is always so timid." Anrasis looked down at Areobindes and then said to Luca, "He is always so cautious, and his caution shows cowardice everywhere, but this has allowed him to get a good position and keep it."
"It's better to be safe than sorry, but this is a misplaced strategy. After all, the Huns are not as easy to reason with as the Romans!" Luga shook his head at Areobinders and looked outside the city wall again, where the Huns began to ride forward.
"Ready! Ready!" The archers roared loudly. They placed their quivers on the city wall, then drew their arrows and drew their bows. The cavalry in front of them were getting closer and closer, and they were getting faster and faster.
“Woo——”
Only a long horn sound was heard, and the falling horn sound was instantly drowned out by the roar of the Hun cavalry. Only their cavalry were seen gathering together and rushing horizontally towards the wall of Thessalonica where Luca was.
"Shoot them! Shoot them!"
The archers' commander shouted loudly, and the archers immediately shot arrows at the Hun cavalry. Suddenly, arrows rained down from the sky, landing among the Hun cavalry. Many cavalrymen fell off their horses and were killed by the horses behind them.
This amount of casualties could not stop the Hun cavalry. Under the orders of the Hun officers, they simultaneously drew their bows and arrows and aimed at the walls of Thessalonica in front of them.
“Ka-ka-ka…”
All they heard was the deafening sound of bowstrings being pulled apart, and the arrows shot by the Hun cavalry came in an overwhelming manner, which instantly stunned the archers standing on the city wall, because the arrows blocked the sun in the sky, and the falling arrows kept passing over the soldiers' shoulders and heads, and some unlucky guys were directly shot and fell to the ground.
"Don't stop, don't stop, counterattack! Counterattack!" The Roman archery commander loudly ordered the archers hiding behind the city wall, forcing them to withstand wave after wave of arrows and raise their heads to fire back at the Hun cavalry in front of them.
However, the Roman archers stood up straight, drew their arrows and prepared to draw their bows and shoot, but they were indeed greeted by another overwhelming wave of arrows. Countless people were shot. For a while, the city walls were filled with the wailing of Roman archers and the chaos made it difficult for the archers to resist for a while.
The soldiers carrying the wounded and corpses carried the injured soldiers down the city wall one by one under the arrows. Even so, there were still Roman archers who fell down the city wall under the arrows of the Huns.
"Defense! Defense! Defense!"
Under Luca's loud command, the shield-bearing soldiers ran up to the city wall and placed their shields on the wall to block the endless arrows from the Hun cavalry.
"Attila..." The officer beside Attila called Attila's name. Attila turned around and understood what his subordinate meant. He nodded slightly. The officer then turned around and shouted loudly to the catapult behind him: "Attack! Attack!"
“Dangdangdang…”
The huge wooden "arms" of the catapults were slowly pulled down, and the engineer workers operated the machines and pushed stones onto the catapults, then wrapped them with straw ropes and kerosene. Afterwards, the engineer ignited the stones with fire and launched them out at a command.
Like meteorites, pieces of burning stones fell from the sky, leaving black tracks in the air. In an instant, it seemed as if the whole world had quieted down, and everyone inside the city wall raised their heads and looked up at the dozens of burning stones flying towards them at a rapid speed.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Luca reacted in advance, but when he shouted it was too late. A stone brushed against the city wall and hit them, knocking away more than a dozen Roman soldiers standing on the wall in an instant.
Amid the roar, broken stones and the remains of soldiers who were thrown out fell heavily to the ground like fallen leaves, turning into a pool of blood. More stones fell on the defenses within the city wall. The rumbling sound was endless, shaking the hearts of every soldier at all times.
The scorpion crossbows on the city gate towers were firing non-stop. Their range was far less than that of the catapults, but facing the Hun cavalry so close, the soldiers used the scorpion crossbows to shoot arrows at the Huns below. The huge crossbow arrows were like black lights that kept hitting the running Hun horses, causing their cavalry to fall down. However, their proud horse archery was of no use in front of the solid wall.
Attila saw that his powerful firepower had suppressed the archers on the walls of Thessalonica to the point where they could not raise their heads. He thought that the time was ripe, so he waved his hands and moved forward.
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"Infantry! Attack! Infantry! Attack!"
Under the repeated orders of the Hun messenger officer, the huge army began to move at noon. Under the cover of layers of arrows from the cavalry and catapults, they carried siege cones and ladders and rushed towards the walls of Thessalonica.
"Catapults! Aim the catapults at the infantry. Yes, their siege cones. Shoot! Shoot!"
In order to stop the Hun infantry, Andrew also slapped the soldiers who operated the scorpion crossbows. Instead of gambling on shooting the cavalry, it is better to use the excellent penetrating power of his crossbow arrows. The Hun infantry fell one after another. Finally, their actions made Attila annoyed. He noticed more than once the scorpion crossbows on the city gate tower that kept hunting his soldiers. Then he ordered the soldiers to concentrate the firepower of the catapults to completely destroy the two city gate towers.
“Ka-ka-ka…”
There was the sound of catapults firing, and I saw dozens of flints flying into the sky, gathering into a ball in the air, and smashing down towards our tower.
"Hide! Hide!" The officers ordered their soldiers to flee in panic. They really seemed helpless against the Hun soldiers who were getting closer and closer.
(End of this chapter)