Chapter 612 The Second Attack
This confrontation lasted for a month, and Attila's army was not idle during this time. They had been building siege towers, one after another, within the visible time of the Romans.
"Ready, come, lift it up, and push together! Push!"
Under the command of Vokrick, the soldiers struggled to move the newly built crossbows and placed them on the tower of the city wall. This was the fifth crossbow placed on the city wall, and the remaining catapults were directly placed on the roofs of the houses behind the city wall.
Anenus called on the nobles and ordinary soldiers of the entire city to prepare for the armaments to the best of their ability. At one time, slaves and prisoners were all freed and weapons were distributed to them at the armaments.
"The reorganized army only has three field regiments. Are the citizens still unwilling to fight for their country?"
Looking at the statistics compiled by the civil servant, Anenus sat at his desk and tapped his head lightly with his fists. It seemed that he was very troubled by this matter.
The hall was deserted, and the civil servants stood on either side without saying a word, until one of them, who was not brave, but most likely had lost his courage, mustered up the courage to ask, "My Lord Bishop, is there any news from the Captain of the Arms?"
Anenus raised his head and looked at the clerk, who was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head, ready to face Anenus's scolding.
But Anenus did not speak, or he did not raise his anger. Yes, this was also a question that troubled him. Would Aetius come? "I heard that Augustus of the East is also here, in Treville." Seeing that Anenus was silent, the civil servants whispered in private.
"Oh, my goodness, what are you talking about? Treville has fallen, how can Augustus be there?"
"It is said that Augustus is the nephew of our Augustus and the adopted son of Theodosius II."
"Isn't that Sergeant Luka?"
"Yeah, where is he?"
"The reinforcements you want will come!" Anenus finally spoke, his tone lazy, more like a sigh. The gentle voice stopped the whispering civil servants, they all glanced at Anenus, then lowered their heads.
Anenus slowly stood up and walked to the window. The sky was clear and the sunlight shone through the open window onto Anenus' toga. The gentle sunlight warmed Anenus' body, but somehow, his heart beat fast.
He couldn't help but look up to the north, where he saw a black dot in the air. He squinted his eyes, trying to see more carefully, but the black dot fell, and then, a roar came from the distance! "What's going on?"
When Anenus heard the voice, his heart trembled. Although he asked the question, he knew clearly what was going on.
"Defense! Defense! Defense!"
I saw a rock passing overhead, landing in a residential area and penetrating a fragile house.
The Romans on the city wall understood what was going on instantly. Voklic hurried to the battlements and looked up, only to see dozens of catapults in the Hun army. Under the operation of the machine master, the catapults were lowered one by one, and the strong barbarians moved stones and placed them on the catapults.
The barbarian holding the flag waved it and pointed it at the city of Orleans in front of him and shouted loudly.
“Ka-ka-ka…”
All I saw were the catapults operating one after another. Dozens of them suddenly threw stones like raindrops into the sky, which then drew an arc and landed behind the walls of Orleans.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
Flying rocks penetrated the fragile stone wall, smashing tiles and scattering them all over the ground. The citizens below fled in all directions, and the street was in chaos.
“Ka-ka, bang…”
A house that housed a trebuchet was riddled with holes. Eventually, the walls collapsed as they could no longer support themselves, causing the soldiers operating the trebuchets to fall down screaming and be buried in the ruins.
"Hold on! Hold on! Hold on, don't be afraid!"
Vokrick turned around, drew out his iron sword and swung it in the air, pointing at the soldiers in front of him and shouting, "Stay beside the crossbow, hold steady. Also, soldiers holding spears and shields, come to the city wall."
Looking back, I saw a huge army formation like the sea slowly rushing towards the walls of Orleans. The army formation was so huge that it seemed as if there was no end in sight.
“Oh my God!”
Wokrick couldn't help but sigh. He widened his eyes and looked at the huge army formation in front of him, surrounded by ten towering siege vehicles, slowly pressing forward.
“Trample! Trample! Trample…”
The barbarians advanced slowly with heavy steps, and the sound of such heavy footsteps was enough to make people terrified.
"The barbarians are coming, defend! The barbarians are coming, defend!"
The officers standing at the foot of the city wall kept calling on the soldiers to climb up the wall, and the originally relatively empty city wall was filled with soldiers again.
The archers drew their arrows and held them tightly in their hands, their eyes fixed on the approaching ten siege towers.
“Ka-ka-ka…”
There was another sound of catapults being operated, and stones continued to fall like raindrops, hitting the walls of Orleans that were already full of grooves.
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The archers' commander drew his bow and aimed his arrow in the direction the barbarians were coming from.
“Bang!”
With the sound of a bowstring being pulled, an arrow wrapped in a white cloth flew into the air and then fell to the ground, still some distance away from the barbarian.
"Look! As long as the barbarians walk across the white cloth, they will feel the pain of being pierced by arrows!"
As the barbarians got closer, the situation became precarious. When the first row of barbarian soldiers crossed the arrows wrapped in white cloth, the oncoming arrows came down like a rainstorm, and the unsuspecting soldiers of the slowly advancing barbarian army fell down in large numbers.
Even so, the barbarians still did not stop. The following soldiers would fill the gaps of those who fell, and the bows and arrows allowed them to hold up their shields, but their speed did not change.
"They're getting closer and closer!"
The soldiers on the tower pointed at the barbarian army below and shouted: "We must do something instead of waiting to die here!"
"Damn it, I know!"
Vokrick shouted impatiently, and then he directed the soldiers manning the crossbows, pointed at the siege tower closest to the tower and said to the soldiers: "See that siege tower? Aim!"
Although the barbarian siege towers look like Roman siege towers, there is a huge difference in protection. Anyone can see which one provides better protection, the one made of iron plates or the one wrapped in cowhide.
There were Scythian archers on the top of the siege tower. They drew their composite bows and shot arrows at the Roman soldiers below. The archers on the city wall, who were only wearing cowhide helmets, naturally could not stop the arrows that kept falling from the sky.
"Fire! Fire!"
Vokrik shouted loudly, and the crossbowman pulled the lever hard.
“Crack!”
There was a loud bang, and the crossbow fired a stone bullet, which went straight towards the barbarian siege tower.
“Crack!”
There was only a loud and crisp tearing sound, and the stone bullet penetrated the siege tower and brought several screaming soldiers from the back of the siege tower into the crowd below.
(End of this chapter)