Bringing the Railway to Daming

Louis II stood atop the city wall and saw the hundreds of catapults launched by the peace-loving army; his heart trembled slightly.

Because among these hundreds of catapults, at least twenty were large catapults! The rest were medium-sized catapults!

Furthermore, these catapults were improved versions brought by the Mongol army during their westward expedition, also known as trebuchets.

Although the range of the large catapults was not very far, the projectiles they launched were enormous, and their power was naturally astonishing. This was why Louis II was so terrified—given the specifications of Clermont's city walls, he wondered how many rounds of bombardment from the large catapults they could withstand.

Although he had deployed large catapults in the city, there were only ten of them, and only a few dozen medium-sized catapults.

However, he was more worried about the safety of the Ming mercenaries outside the city—the Ming mercenaries had established three camps outside the city, forming a defensive perimeter with Clermont.

In Louis II's view, even the city walls might not be able to withstand several rounds of bombardment from large catapults, let alone the wooden camps built by the Ming mercenaries. They might even breach the walls in a single volley.

While Louis II was thinking about these things, the catapults outside the city had already begun their bombardment under military orders.

Woohoo...
Huge stone projectiles were launched, crashing down on the city walls and the camps outside the city with a whistling sound.

boom!
The stones landed on the city wall, making it shake; the stones that landed inside the camp, though they didn't hit the walls, created a large crater inside.

To Louis II's surprise, the Ming mercenaries in the camp below the city made no move at all, as if they had vanished.

'What happened? Did the Ming Dynasty mercenaries outside the city secretly escape?'

'But when did they escape? Why didn't I notice?'

Soon, Louis II had no time to think about these things, because the enemy's second volley of stones came flying in.

He quickly directed the defending troops to respond—as an old man who had experienced the first two phases of the Hundred Years' War between England and France, although his abilities were somewhat mediocre, he still possessed basic military skills.

Most importantly, he had many officers on the city wall assisting him.

At that time, the West did not have telescopes, so military commanders could only observe the battlefield situation with their naked eyes. If they lacked experience, their judgments were often inaccurate.

Since Archduke Berry had gained the trust of Philip II, he naturally had some experience in warfare.

After the speculators bombarded the city walls and the outer camps several times, they saw that the city walls were already damaged, and the outer camp walls had been smashed in many places. It seemed that all the Ming mercenaries inside were dead, and there was not a trace of them.

Archduke Berry couldn't help but laugh, "This Louis II, he didn't even prepare enough catapults, yet he dares to plot treason, how laughable! Issue my order to the infantry to attack the city!"

John, standing to the side, gazed at the battlefield ahead with some regret—he worried that the Ming mercenaries had all been killed, leaving him with few prisoners for revenge.

At the same time, he had a vague sense of unease, just like when he led the Snow Lion Knights to attack Saran Castle.

He then asked, "Uncle Berry, why is there no movement at all in the Ming Dynasty mercenary camp? Could there be no one inside?"

Berry said, “How could there be no one? We saw quite a few people inside before the battle started. As for the lack of movement—it’s probably because those Ming troops had never seen such a powerful siege before, and they were either crushed to death or scared out of their wits.”

John had previously noticed a significant number of Ming soldiers in the camp, and unable to think of any other explanation, he said, "I hope so."

Siege warfare in both the East and the West during this period was quite similar, primarily relying on siege ladders. If one had to make a comparison, Western siege equipment was probably somewhat more rudimentary.

At this moment, the pro-peace French soldiers split into three groups. Two of them ran towards the Ming army camps on the left and right, while the largest group carried long ladders and ran towards the city wall.

"Woo-ha!" The French soldiers rushing towards the Ming army camp showed excited expressions, as if they were imagining the scene of slaughtering the Ming mercenaries after storming the camp—it is said that the Ming mercenaries are very rich and wear silk underwear.

However, when they were only an arrow's throw away from the camp, many of them felt a sharp pain in their feet.

Looking down, I noticed that there were many strange, diamond-shaped iron nails scattered on the ground. They were small and inconspicuous, but they could puncture even leather shoes.

Needless to say, most of those charging ahead were militia recruited by various lords, who couldn't afford leather shoes and mostly wore cloth shoes or straw sandals.

As the French soldiers fell one after another due to the Ming army's barbed wire traps, the figures of the "Ming army" finally appeared inside the stockade walls. Upon closer inspection, they were all French.

These are all French escort troops.

But they were all dressed in iron armor and wore iron helmets, similar to the elite infantry of the Kingdom of France.

At this moment, they were holding a strange crossbow—the bolts were already loaded, and through the gaps in the stockade wall, a large rain of arrows fell on the pro-peace French soldiers outside.

In an instant, more French soldiers fell.

In comparison, the peace-loving troops attacking the walls of Clermont were more successful; at least they successfully crossed the moat, placed ladders on the walls, and began to climb up.

But their success came to an end there.

Under the command of Louis II and others, the defenders on the city walls used the defensive methods taught by the Ming army, employing boiling water, stones, and logs to make the pro-peace soldiers who dared to climb fall one by one.

Occasionally, those who managed to climb the city wall would be stabbed to death by several spearmen.

To be honest, the Ming army originally suggested that the defenders prepare some "golden juice," but although the French people usually lived in cities overflowing with excrement, they could not accept the idea of ​​boiling excrement. Therefore, the Ming army regretfully replaced the "golden juice" with boiling water.

Berry observed the scene from the front lines, and his expression quickly darkened.

'It's one thing if they won't even go up the walls of Clermont, but why are the camps outside the city so difficult to attack?'

'A hail of arrows is coming; could it be that all the Ming Dynasty mercenaries are archers?'

With doubts in his mind and seeing that all three teams had failed to break through, Berry had no choice but to order his troops to retreat.

Then he ordered the catapult to bombard again—this time twice as many times as before, which pushed the catapult to its limit.

Due to material limitations, each catapult can only be used a limited number of times. After a certain number of uses, parts must be replaced. If the number of uses is too high, the entire catapult may even be scrapped and a new one will need to be made.

This is one of the reasons why catapults were replaced by cannons in history.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Berry had his catapults bombard the enemy to their limits, almost completely destroying the walls of the two Ming army camps on their side of the attack. Even a section of the Clermont city wall was smashed down, making it easier to climb.

Berry immediately said to John beside him, "Just you wait, John, we're sure to break into the city this time."

Sure enough, probably because they had been bombarded too hard by the catapults, some of the defensive supplies had been used up before they even reached the catapults. Moreover, Berry had committed nearly half of his army this time, and the peace-loving soldiers finally stormed the city walls one after another!

The two Ming army camps, however, continued to grind the pro-peace soldiers who attacked, leaving them falling one by one along the way. (End of Chapter)