The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 357
The rain of arrows with an unexpected range caught the Sassanids off guard. The top of the city was better, and the soldiers below the city were shot down immediately. The Sassanids were in a panic. There was a lot of chaos, watching the arrows pouring down over the city wall, the Sasanians fled in all directions, fighting for the shields that were nearby, and more people scrambled to hide in places that could be sheltered, leaving only those who were seriously injured. The soldiers lay on the ground and howled, but their screams were cut off by the arrows that followed.

The Sassanids on the top of the city heard the screams from below the city, and also saw the rain of arrows under the city, which was much denser than before. They didn't dare to be negligent, and quickly raised their shields. When they grew up, they looked for bunkers to protect themselves.Their actions made the blockade at the top of the city stagnate, and their momentum was immediately suppressed.The Guishan people under the city seized this opportunity, and twenty siege vehicles started at the same time, approaching the city wall at the fastest speed.

After more than ten days of training, these slaves have greatly improved their movement coordination, coupled with thick wooden body guards, they are no longer afraid of the Sasanian's blocking, they are full of energy, shouting neatly, pushing huge The siege engine quickly approached the city wall.The archers in the siege vehicles also drew their bows and continued to suppress the Sasanians at the head of the city, while the infantrymen with swords and shields climbed to the highest level, holding wooden shields, ready to jump into the city to fight.

Ibrahim looked at the rapidly approaching siege engine, shocked to the extreme, but not yet confused, he loudly ordered the soldiers at the top of the city to calm down, the archers immediately launched a counterattack, and the crossbowmen aimed at the archers below the city Strike to reduce the threat to the city.

Amid the rapid horn sounding, the two sides entered a heated battle from the very beginning. The Sasanians were well-trained. Although they were stunned by the Guishan people at first, under the command of Ibrahim, they quickly reacted, and a large number of The shield hand stepped forward, forming a wooden wall beside the city wall, covering the archers from shooting.The crossbowmen skillfully pulled the ropes and smashed mud bricks at the archers' positions below the city and the rapidly approaching siege vehicles.

The mud bricks tied with straw ropes fluttered in the air, making whistling sounds, and hit the giant shield and siege vehicles. The giant shield made a roaring sound, and the supporting wooden sticks vibrated endlessly, many of which were broken. The giant shield crashed to the ground, revealing the soldiers hiding behind. The archers at the top of the city immediately followed and shot sharp arrows. Many archers were shot before they had time to move, and died in front of the formation.

The siege vehicle is huge, and it is also the focus of the ballista. The mud brick balls roared one after another and hit the siege vehicle, making the siege vehicle rattle, and the flying mud clods flew around and fell on the ground. Hiding on the soldiers inside, but the soldiers didn't even blink their eyes, staring at the city head intently.A mud brick ball hit a warrior holding a shield. The powerful impact knocked him back a few steps, and knocked down the warrior behind who was holding on to the bridge ladder. on the ground.The soldiers next to them didn't have time to check their situation, so they immediately came over to make up for them.

Arrows rained together in the air, mud bricks were flying in the air, and screams came and went.

Although the Sassanid counterattacked strongly, the spirit of the Guishuang people was like a rainbow. Twenty siege vehicles approached the city at an unprecedented speed, making the distance shorter and shorter. The siege engine successfully placed the bridge ladder on the city wall, and the soldiers waved their sabers, stepping on the bridge ladder and galloping towards the top of the city.

Bo Tiao was in a good mood, stroking his beard and said to Li Yan beside him: "General Li, the siege went well this time, should we be able to break the city today?"

Li Yan bowed slightly: "Your Majesty is wise, the warriors of Guishuang are invincible in battle, and today they will definitely be able to break through the ancient city of Seleu."

Bo Tiao didn't say a word, his sharp eyes fixed on the city.

The Sassanids placed a lot of movable wooden frames at the head of the city, on which there were huge logs. They used levers to pull these logs to a high place, and then lowered them, breaking the bridge ladder of the siege engine. , Cut off the back route of the besiegers, cut off their reinforcements at the same time, and then use the superior force to kill the enemy who attacked the city.They used this method to bury batches of besiegers at the top of the city.Generally speaking, they will not use this method as soon as the bridge and ladder reach the top of the city, but wait for a period of time until the number of enemies attacking the top of the city reaches a certain number.In response to this method, according to Sun Shao's arrangement, Li Yan had someone modify the siege engine. In addition to strengthening the protection of the slaves driving the siege engine, the most important point was the transformation of the bridge ladder.

The original bridge ladder was just a ladder with no shelter on it, and the siege fighters had to rush across the bridge ladder as quickly as possible, jump to the top of the city and fight the enemy hand-to-hand, otherwise they were likely to be shot and killed by the enemy on the bridge ladder.The bridge ladder is at the same level as the top of the city, and it is about three feet above the ground. Looking down from the top makes people feel a little flustered, not to mention guarding against bows and arrows on both sides, so the short few steps from the siege vehicle to the top of the city It's no different from life and death.Sun Shao asked people to transform the bridge ladder into a covered bridge, with protective wooden boards on both sides and a triangular roof on top, which can not only protect against bow and arrow attacks on both sides, but also block the sight of looking down. People don't feel that this is walking two or three feet above the ground, which is of great benefit to stabilizing the mind.

Now, the most important test has come, can the modified bridge ladder withstand the heavy blows of the Sassanids?

The Sasanians yelled in unison, let go of the rope, and the thick log slammed down in the air, and with a "boom", it slammed hard on the top of the bridge ladder.The bridge ladder let out a groan, and sank down suddenly, and the soldiers on the bridge ladder also sank down with their hearts, involuntarily holding on to the handrails on both sides.With a sound of friction, the logs bounced back and landed on the bridge ladder again. They slid sideways along the bridge ladder, squeezing the bridge ladder to some directions, making creaking noises, and even the siege vehicles were shocked. There was a huge shock.

The slaves shouted in unison, and several slaves quickly inserted several thick logs into the wheels of the siege vehicle, which was as tall as a person, and stopped the siege vehicle from turning. After a while of shaking, the siege returned to calm, and the logs Missed, the bridge ladder returned to straightness.The soldiers on the bridge ladder were still in shock, and they looked at each other for a while, and then burst into excited shouts:
"Long live the King of Yue—"

"Kill--" The soldiers who escaped from the dead were ecstatic, bursting with fighting spirit. The Shan people retreated step by step.Seeing this, Ibrahim complained endlessly.As soon as he saw the changed siege engine, he felt ominous, so he paid special attention to this attack. When he saw that the attack failed, he didn't dare to hesitate, and immediately ordered the soldiers at the top of the city to block it, and at the same time let those manipulating the wooden frame The soldiers pulled up the log and attacked again.

Botiao let out a long breath, with a satisfied smile on his face, and pointed at the siege drive that had passed the test with his horsewhip: "General Li, after your transformation, this siege vehicle is indeed much more useful."

"It's just His Royal Highness Yue's wish to help the king." Li Yan said politely: "The real meritorious service is the brave Guishuang warrior and the command of the king."

Bodiao laughed for a while, then pointed to the north and said, "Is General Lu helping the Romans there?"

Li Yan shook his head: "No. His Royal Highness Yue said that with you here to attack the city, it will only be a matter of time before Seleucus is taken down. He wants to guard the rear for the two of you, so as not to be taken advantage of by the Sasanians. Sasanians Mainly cavalry, if they arrange a cavalry behind and rush out when the siege is fierce, it is not a good thing, so he arranged General Cao to guard the rear of the Guishuang people, and arranged General Lu Stay behind the Romans and make sure you have nothing to worry about."

Bodiao breathed a sigh of relief, and sighed: "His Royal Highness Yue Wang is really careful, no wonder the gods bless him. With you behind us to protect, what do we have to worry about?" Bodiao pointed at the ancient city of Seleu, full of vigor , full of pride: "We'll just focus on taking down the ancient city of Seleu, and show that old dog Ardashir some color." He then lowered his voice and said, "It's best to enter the city before Quintus, then I will save face. General Li, do you think I have a chance?"

Li Yan smiled slightly: "Your Majesty, the battlefield is changing rapidly, and anything is possible. However, I advise you not to think too much, because it is not a good thing to be angry on the battlefield."

"Understood, understood." Bodiao rolled his eyes, and then nodded again and again understandingly.Sun Shao sent Li Yan to help him, but arranged for Lu Xun to guard the rear for the Romans. It looks similar, but there is still a gap.It’s just that things like this can’t be explained. Anyway, are Rome and Yue still brothers? If it’s too obvious, wouldn’t it embarrass Quintus?Bodiao is also a king, so he can feel some of the twists and turns in it.

"Here you come, blow the horn and give encouragement to the soldiers. If you attack the city early, you will be rewarded a lot." Botiao shouted loudly.

"Woo... woo... woo..." The puffed cheeks of a dozen strong soldiers blew long horns, and the melodious sound of the horns sounded, echoing over the battlefield, inspiring Guishuang soldiers to fight like a tide. Charge forward.Most of the [-] siege engines were already in place, firmly grasping the top of the city, and teams of soldiers rushed up the top of the city along the siege ladders, and started a life-and-death struggle with the Sasanians.

While the Guishan people launched a fierce attack, the Romans also launched waves of attacks.The Romans were numerous and powerful, and their offensive was stronger than that of the Guishan people. Quintus dispatched four trusted legion commanders in one breath, and 2 people attacked under the two-mile-long city wall. Fifty siege vehicles almost Nestled together, the Sassanians were overwhelmed and exhausted.Although Ibrahim ran and shouted on the city wall, he put almost all the manpower he could mobilize into the battle, and he barely held on.However, due to the enhanced anti-strike capability of the modified siege attack, it used to be able to break a bridge ladder at one time, but now it takes at least three or four times, and the efficiency is greatly reduced.

The morale of the Romans was like a rainbow, and the Seleucid city was crumbling under their attack, and it might break the city at any time.

Ibrahim complained incessantly. He didn't know how long he could last. This time the attack was more violent than any previous attack, which made him feel great pressure.He felt that the city might be broken at any time. He once swore in front of Ardashir that he would keep the ancient city of Seleu at least one month. Now it seems that this promise must be difficult to fulfill, and there is only one other promise left for him to fulfill.

People live in the city, and people die in the city.

Ibrahim sent the last envoy. He reported to Ardashir that after more than ten days of adjustment, the enemy's siege ability had improved by leaps and bounds. The situation of falling is very different. Please Ardashir be prepared, and if possible, please send reinforcements immediately.

The messenger jumped into a boat and rowed across the Tigris to deliver the news to Ardashir.

Ardashir looked at Ibrahim's news, his thick eyebrows were frowned, he squeezed the note into a ball with his big hand, and looked at the other side of the river with slightly melancholy eyes.

He has sent reinforcements, [-] light cavalry, and he hopes to catch the Romans and the Guishan people by surprise when they are attacking the city. It does not require much damage, just teach the Romans and the Guishan people a lesson and let them Don't be too arrogant, and at the same time give an explanation to the guards in the city to prove that Ahura did not abandon him.

Ordinarily, this is a relatively sure thing, but for some reason, Ardashir's heart is shaking.Whenever he thought of Sun Shao's smiling face, he felt a little uncomfortable and lacked self-confidence.He often asked himself, did he lose confidence because of the Battle of Axum, so that he lacked confidence when facing Sun Shao?
No, absolutely not.Whenever this happened, Ardasil immediately interrupted his thoughts.This time, I retreated thousands of miles and let them drive straight in, killing them all the way outside the city of Taixifeng, just to lure the enemy into deep, and then retaliate with an eye.If Sun Shao was a smart person, he would not fail to see the danger, but he still came, which shows that he is still too young and immature, and has lost his judgment in the face of victory.

This is an opportunity God gave me. I want to seize this opportunity to turn defeat into victory and re-establish Sassan's strong position.

But now, it depends on whether the raid can be successful.

Thirty west of the ancient city of Seleu, a Sasanian light cavalry force of 2 men stood on a shallow slope, led by Kawad, the younger brother of Ardashir.Since Ardashir led the army, Awad has been fighting with him, but for some reason, Awad has not made great achievements. Later, the limelight was gradually robbed by the brothers Alpha and Shapur, but Awad also Has not fought any major defeats, the status has been relatively stable.Alpha and Shapur were killed in Axum one after another, and Awad, who was originally insignificant, suddenly became a pivotal figure.

This raid mission, which was very important to Ardashir, just fell on Awad's shoulders.

Awad felt a little overwhelmed.Although he didn't know what the success of the raid meant to Ardashir, he knew that the risk of this raid was extremely high.It is said that the opponent has enough superior forces, and will definitely protect the rear when attacking the city. Ardashir is a battle-hardened person, even if he is sent out to harass the enemy's rear and share some pressure on the ancient city of Seleu, I wouldn't force him to succeed.

But that's what Ardasil said. He asked him to make a successful sneak attack within the specified time. It doesn't matter how many people he kills.This requirement does not seem to be high. For light cavalry who are good at speed, it is too simple to come and go like the wind.But Awad still can't figure out the purpose of Ardashir, why is he so determined?Instead of giving Shapur and the others a general task like they did before?Awad thought about it, and finally felt that Ardashir still didn't trust him and his ability, and felt that he didn't know how to complete the task unless the regulations were more specific.This conclusion made Awad very disappointed, even a little annoyed.

It had been a long time since the news that the battle was going on ahead reached Awad, but Awad hesitated for a long time. He had a vague feeling that this matter was a bit strange, and he always felt that there was an indescribable danger in it.He thought about it for a long time, but in the end he was still afraid of Ardashir's power, and he didn't dare to retreat without taking any action.It humiliated him to have such a thought, but he didn't have the guts to resist.

Twenty thousand light cavalry mounted their horses and drove down the ancient city of Seleu with a cautious attitude.After only walking for ten miles, the vanguard sent back the news that there were enemies in front of them blocking the invitation to fight.When Awad heard this, he was taken aback, and rushed to the front with the guard battalion, looking into the distance.

There is an army formation in front, close to the Tigris River flowing eastward, about [-] paces wide in the horizontal direction, the number of people is unclear, but it can be seen that these should be all infantry, and there is no shadow of cavalry .

"Who is in front?" Awad breathed a sigh of relief. Since the opponents are all infantry, the initiative to fight or not is still in his hands. Fight if you can, and retreat if you can't fight.

"I don't know." The scout's answer made Awad furious.

"I don't know why you came back?" Awad raised his hand and whipped his horsewhip, his eyes widened: "Aren't you going to investigate?"

"No...not." The scout took a horsewhip, but did not dare to resist, and quickly explained: "Those people are not from Guishuang, nor are they Romans, they are Han. We don't know their battle flags, but we can see them." All that came out was a fiery red flag." The scout looked at Awad timidly, and then said: "There are about 1 of them, all of them are Han infantry, and the leader is a Han general, who has been drinking."

"Drinking all the time?" Awad couldn't help laughing. After laughing, he was a little annoyed. Ten thousand infantry tried to block my 1 cavalry, that's all. You may not know that I have so many people, but You still drank before the battle, doesn't that seem a little too much?Awad was about to give the order to attack and kill the [-] people before he suddenly remembered something: "Have you seen the shadow of the Han Chinese cavalry?"

Awad heard from Ardashir that when he first walked out of the desert, he was almost ambushed by the Han and Kushan people.Guishuang Wang Botiao rushed forward calmly and was ambushed by him. If the Han cavalry hadn't arrived, he might have killed Guishuang King.Awad didn't ask at that time, but he could hear that Ardashir was very afraid of the Han cavalry. If so, where are the Han cavalry?It is impossible for cavalry to attack the city, and they should appear in the rear, especially when they know that the Sassanids are mainly cavalry.

Awad suddenly felt a chill in his neck. He straightened up and looked back, just in time to see a few scouts galloping from behind and on the right side of him.The knight on the horse still felt that he was not fast enough, so he beat the horse desperately.

Awad was taken aback and opened his mouth to cry out, but no sound came out.Just when he swallowed two mouthfuls of saliva, a scout rushed up to him, circling the horse and shouting loudly: "General, we found traces of the enemy in the rear. The number of people is unknown. Further investigation is underway."

Only then did Awad let out an "ah", and his face suddenly turned pale.

Immediately afterwards, another rider rushed forward and reported to Awad that the enemy was found on the right.

Awad gasped, he didn't want to attack any more, it was already clear that the 1 people in front were just a decoy, and when he rushed up to fight with them, the two cavalry would come from behind and right Charged out sideways, attacking from three sides, and by that point he had no other way to go than to jump into the Tigris.Even if he has enough troops to save the situation, but if the loss is too great, he will still have done nothing after returning, and maybe he will be punished.

Without thinking about it, Awad immediately ordered the [-] cavalry to turn around and quickly retreat from the enemy's encirclement.When the Sasanian knight heard this order, although he was a little puzzled, he knew the situation was serious when he looked at the galloping scouts. They didn't dare to stay any longer, turned their horses and ran away.

Seeing the Sassanians fleeing away, Cao Zhi yelled at them. First, he scolded the Sassanians for being useless and ran away without fighting. Then he scolded Cao Zhang and the others for being too impulsive and not hiding their whereabouts. The Sassanians discovered them in advance.He traveled all the way to Sassan. He was full of confidence to fight a few battles, but he was run away by Ardashir for the first time. This time he managed to get a chance to fight from Sun Shao. It's the same, the other party ran away as soon as they met, and he set up a formation for a long time, but he didn't shoot an arrow, and he didn't even have time to beat the drum.

"No, I need some cavalry. How the hell did I go back? Seeing the enemy run away, I didn't even have a chance to chase them." Cao Zhi threw the jug on the ground indignantly. "I can't let Lao Tzu run so far without fighting a single battle, so I can't accomplish anything. Rather than that, I might as well stay in Guanzhong at ease."

(End of this chapter)