Chapter 475 Siege 3
"Boom boom boom..."
Flying rocks hit the solid stone walls, making them tremble like severe earthquakes. The soldiers huddled under the parapet of the city wall and trembled because of the danger brought by the repeated bombardments and the fear in their hearts. Their faces were full of fear, and their fear of the Huns was fully revealed.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
Heavy footsteps sounded outside the city wall. Luga stuck his head out under the cover of his shield and saw a bare-chested barbarian man holding a dagger and roaring loudly as he came towards him, pushed by a ladder. His face was covered with all kinds of strange patterns. God knows which tribe he belongs to, but the common point is that he serves Attila.
“Damn it!”
Luga cursed inwardly and held the shield in front of himself. There was a loud "bang" and he felt like he had hit a galloping warhorse. His whole body trembled, and he could not withstand the impact. He took two steps back and fell to the ground with a "thump".
The sturdy man was even more miserable. He was hit by the shield and leaned back involuntarily. He rolled down the ladder like a dangerous stone crushing a group of people.
Following the shouts of the servant army soldiers below the city wall, ladders carrying strong men with bare upper bodies roared in. They were covered with totems and looked ferocious, and they must have believed that this would allow them to feel the blessing of the gods and be invulnerable during the battle.
The ladders threw them onto the city wall, and they landed like a heavy boulder, and no one could support their weight. No matter how hard they were thrown, they could not let go of their weapons. One by one, they climbed up from the crowd, tightly grasping the huge axe handles and iron rods, and swept through all the Roman soldiers in front of them as if they were in an empty space.
Their eyes were red and they roared like mad wild bears. They must have taken some hallucinogenic drugs. The soldiers on the city wall stabbed the mad warrior frantically with the spears in their hands. The blood dyed the totems on his body red and covered it up, but it could not stop his roar and madness of charging.
"Gather together and use spears to send this beast to hell!" A centurion gathered several spearmen and rushed towards one of them. When they were about to succeed, suddenly a huge flying stone swept by, throwing the parapet in front of them along with them, and landed on the roof not far away amid screams, with broken bricks flying everywhere.
Under the bloody battle walls, a large number of Hun troops pressed forward, like dark clouds falling from the sky. They were barbarians, led by their leader, roaring as they advanced towards the walls of Thessalonica. At this time, they no longer had any arrows flying over their heads. They advanced step by step, brushing shoulders with the Hun cavalry who stopped and kept shooting arrows at Thessalonica, and came to the bottom of the wall. The ladders were full of soldiers, and Roman soldiers were constantly pushed down from the wall. Every time a Roman fell, the surrounding barbarian soldiers cheered.
On the city gate tower, soldiers carrying bows and arrows and crossbow arrows were busy going up and down, and many of them fell on the stairs due to excessive exertion.
Andrew was sweating profusely, and his hands were almost at their limit due to excessive force. He could no longer hold on and sat down on the ground gasping for breath. Soon a soldier took his place and gave him some time to rest.
"Siege vehicle! The Huns' siege vehicle!" An archer pointed outside and warned Andrew loudly, "They are less than fifty meters away from us!" Andrew did not even have time to catch his breath and hurriedly stood up. Through the launch port he saw clearly that a large number of Huns' infantry were pushing a siege vehicle covered with iron sheets towards the city gate.
"Quick, aim at the siege vehicle, no, aim at the soldiers pushing the siege vehicle, stop them! Stop them!" Andrew was anxious, and quickly patted the soldiers around him and ordered them to take action. The soldiers operating the scorpion crossbows were working hard to pull the crossbow machine to rotate. They were sweating and panting, and their arms were throbbing with veins because of the great effort. They mechanically pulled the string, loaded the crossbow arrows, and then aimed, nailing the Hun soldiers who were coming towards the city gate one by one to the road. However, this little casualty could not stop their steps, and they watched the siege vehicle getting closer and closer.
The shouts and cries were deafening. Whether on the walls or below, the Roman soldiers guarding the city had to endure the flying stones that could knock them off at any time and the fighting with the Huns who kept climbing up the walls. But Luca was not among them, because after he was knocked down, the guards dragged him down the wall. No matter what, Luca's safety was related to the morale of the soldiers, and he couldn't make any mistakes! Areobinders also came down. This guy was pale and trembling like he was sick. He still hasn't recovered. The fear of the Huns has dominated his soul. It can be said that every battle on the wall and the screams of the dead before they died can make him sweat like rain.
"General, the enemies are increasing in number, and if the soldiers can't hold on, you will lose the city wall!" The officers under his command reminded Luca. Luca naturally knew about this, and it was also this matter that made him anxious.
"Then add a field regiment of troops." Luca turned around and ordered loudly: "No matter what, we can't lose the city wall!"
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
The streets were crowded with soldiers coming and going, transporting arrows and carrying back the wounded, but at this time a series of heavy footsteps were heard on the street. A flag bearer followed an officer with a red tassel on his helmet and ran quickly. A large group of people pushed aside everything that blocked their way, regardless of whether they were logistics soldiers or wounded.
The archers abandoned the city wall and climbed up to the houses behind it, using their sharp and deadly arrows to severely punish the barbarian soldiers who climbed up the wall.
“Squeak…”
The siege vehicle was getting closer and closer, and even the soldiers on the city gate tower could clearly hear the groaning of the siege vehicle's wood.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
Andrew shouted loudly, regardless of his fatigue, he dragged his heavy hands and ran down the gate tower and came to the chaotic city wall.
"Attila!" The officer reported to Attila who was watching the battle: "The Romans' ballistae are constantly killing your soldiers. Should we bury them completely?"
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Attila was calm and composed, as if nothing could shake his composure. He did not speak, perhaps because he felt that speaking was a waste of energy, so he just nodded slightly.
“Huff, huff, huff—”
Andrew was attracted by the strange sound and turned around, only to see more than a dozen flying stones burning with blazing flames crashing into the towering tower on the city gate. The stones with amazing destructive power shook the tower, and finally under the layers of blows, the fragile stone wall could not withstand the bombardment of the stones and shattered and collapsed.
The tower groaned and fell forward with a sound of breaking and shattering, burying the barbarian infantry pushing the cart below without being able to dodge. However, in the ruins of rubble, barbarian soldiers rushed up to replace the buried barbarian soldiers and pushed the siege vehicle again, continuing to move forward.
The Romans watched them slowly advance and could do nothing, just as they could only watch the Huns' catapults knock down another city gate. The walls were now covered with rubble and corpses, but the fighting did not stop.
(End of this chapter)