Chapter 261
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Chapter 261: Occupying the City
Luo Ji’s 3,000 strong army was pressing down, and the numerical advantage was almost undeniably clear at this moment.
The opponent’s defending forces were clearly less than a thousand.
The previous 10 rounds of bombardment from the five triple-bow bed crossbows had already severely lowered their morale.
Now, they were subjected to a large-scale arrow suppression from the archer unit.
In this siege battle, Luo Ji surprisingly achieved the effect of a morale-based victory, a situation that was actually very rare in siege warfare.
Unless it was an overwhelming battle, otherwise, the defending soldiers, relying on the city walls, would have relatively stable morale that wouldn’t easily drop.
One could only say that Luo Ji’s tactic of relying on the triple-bow bed crossbows’ advantage, standing outside the enemy’s attack range and relentlessly bombarding the city walls, was simply too damaging to morale.
Taking advantage of the archer unit suppressing the enemy, the shield-axemen pushed the siege engine all the way to the city gate.
With a dull thud, the defending general, Zhang Xijun, who was holding a shield to block the arrows from above, felt his heart tremble.
Then he shouted repeatedly.
“First unit of shield-axemen, hold the city gate!”
“Second unit, get onto the city wall and push the rolling logs and boulders!”
The soldiers of the first unit, hearing the order, decisively held their ground.
After all, they knew that once the city gate was completely smashed down, the enemy army would invade.
However, the soldiers of the second unit, whose morale was already low, had stiff expressions.
Get onto the city wall?
Who couldn’t see the overwhelming rain of arrows?
They were coming in sheets, suppressing their own archers who had no chance to counterattack.
The slower ones earlier had been shot into porcupines on the spot, and their bodies were still lying on the city wall, no time to drag them down!
Now they were being told to climb up and push rolling logs and boulders?
Wasn’t that sending them to their deaths?
For a moment, none of them moved.
Zhang Xijun, seeing that the soldiers of the second unit did not act according to his orders, his anxious and irritable emotions at that moment made a fierce look flash in his eyes.
Then he stabbed the closest soldier to death with his sword and shouted fiercely.
“Those who disobey military orders shall be executed without mercy!!”
The soldiers were clearly startled by Zhang Xijun’s act of drawing his sword and killing.
Their faces turned pale, and at the same time, as a defending general, Zhang Xijun clearly still possessed considerable authority, making these soldiers not dare to defy him.
Climbing the city wall might mean a one-in-ten chance of survival, but disobeying military orders was clearly certain death!
Thinking of this, the hesitant soldiers gritted their teeth and began to raise their shields, stubbornly rushing onto the city wall.
However, the cruel reality told them that mere determination would not make the archer unit outside the city wall show them mercy.
The first few soldiers holding large shields who rushed forward clearly wanted to quickly get onto the city wall to find cover.
This idea and approach were actually correct, and the longer they delayed at such a moment, the more dangerous it would be.
However, a correct approach does not necessarily guarantee success.
While large shields are excellent at defending against attacks when held up, they have a flaw, they are too heavy.
Attempting to charge while carrying such a heavy shield was bound to lead to trouble.
One of the soldiers holding a large shield rushed forward a couple of steps, then stumbled, losing his balance and falling to the ground.
In an instant, the overwhelming rain of arrows turned him into a porcupine on the spot.
His tragic death sent chills down the spines of the soldiers following behind.
Just then, a young man behind him, also holding a large shield and dressed no differently from an ordinary soldier, suddenly shouted loudly.
“The arrows from the other side can’t pierce the defenses of the large shields!”
“Everyone, hold steady, form a shield formation, and push forward step by step!!”
The young man’s words clearly had an effect, allowing the panicked soldiers on the city wall to suddenly find their backbone, and they gradually stabilized their formation.
Through his telescope, Luo Ji saw this scene, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, but that was all.
By this point, the city gate was already crumbling.
A few rolling logs and boulders couldn’t save this city!
“Siege unit!”
“Beware of rolling logs and boulders falling from the city wall!”
“Full assault on the city!!”
The morale of the siege unit was already high, knowing they were there to counterattack Zhou Dongnan’s city.
Each of those soldiers who had experienced the previous West Plains City battle had accumulated strength!
Under this premise, Luo Ji added fuel to their fire, throwing down an ‘Inspire Morale’ skill, and the morale value of the entire army instantly soared to a new height.
“The city gate, the city gate is falling!!!”
The enemy soldiers’ exclamations came from inside the city gate.
That gate, which had several holes blasted into it by heavy crossbow bolts and then suffered continuous impacts from the siege engine, finally collapsed under the unbearable pressure.
The archer unit’s offensive ceased.
Their mission was complete, and now it was up to the infantry unit.
Without letting the infantry unit stop there, Luo Ji waved his hand.
“Push the siege engine straight in!!”
It was just one siege engine.
As long as they could capture this city, if it was scrapped afterward, Luo Ji wouldn’t feel any pain.
The effect of a siege engine used to smash city gates, when crashed into the opponent’s shield-axemen unit’s formation, was imaginable.
However, it was unfortunate that it could only crash once, as the opponent wouldn’t give them a second chance.
The siege engine’s crash bought them space at the city entrance.
The subsequent surging shield-axemen roared and charged in.
The suppression of numbers made this battle completely lose its suspense the moment the city gate collapsed.
This couldn’t help but make Luo Yong, who arrived later with Luo Ji, feel a slight vexation.
Having stayed on the grassland for a long time, he was rarely recalled, and originally wanted to perform well, but who knew these enemies were so weak?
“Let go, let go! I am General Zhen Dong personally appointed by His Majesty! How dare you attack our Great Zhou’s border? Have you thought about the consequences?!”
“His Majesty, Great Zhou…”
Luo Ji couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow upon hearing these two terms.
He hadn’t paid attention before, it turned out Zhou Dongnan had already declared himself Emperor.
However, upon second thought, it wasn’t anything surprising.
At this moment, the city’s defending general, Zhang Xijun, was escorted by two shield-axemen all the way to Luo Ji.
Then, one of the soldiers kicked the opponent’s knee.
“Kneel down, you!”
This kick was swift and precise, directly causing Zhang Xijun to fall to his knees before Luo Ji with a thud.
To think that he, the dignified General Zhen Dong of Great Zhou, had ever suffered such humiliation?
Just as he was about to roar a few words, unexpectedly, as he looked up, a flash of sword light appeared before his eyes, and a clean, swift strike directly severed his neck!
