Chapter 279
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Chapter 279: Li Kuo, the Conservative
The slingers standing on the city walls of Songhe City also mirrored their general’s personality.
Over several days, their expressions showed no sign of slackening.
Holding a monocular telescope, Zhao Pan squinted at the enemy formation.
“Their troop numbers have increased.”
A few days ago, the enemy’s strength was only around 2,000, but today, Zhao Pan estimated that the forces gathered outside the city had risen to at least 3,000.
“It seems they’re serious this time.”
Zhao Pan realized this, and as he lowered his telescope, he loudly shouted to the soldiers behind him.
“Everyone stay alert!”
“Slingers, check the number of slings and stones you have!”
“Crossbowmen operating the triple-bow bed crossbows, recheck the bed crossbows and heavy bolts, ensuring nothing goes wrong!”
Orders were quickly issued, and the change in atmosphere on the city wall made the defending soldiers tense their nerves.
At the same time, a high-pitched horn blast came from a distance.
Shangyuan City’s massive siege army began to advance.
Zhao Pan’s gaze immediately fell on the two huge siege towers.
According to their previous discussions, these two siege towers were undoubtedly the most important to defend against!
Siege warfare tactics rarely saw innovation, but this time, Shangyuan City’s siege army unexpectedly displayed something different.
The enemy directly abandoned the use of bed crossbows.
Undoubtedly, Zhou Dongnan was guarding against Luo Ji’s triple-bow bed crossbows.
After witnessing their range and power, which far exceeded ordinary bed crossbows, if he were to deploy his own bed crossbows, their range wouldn’t match the opponent’s.
Wouldn’t that be inviting the opponent’s triple-bow bed crossbows to snipe and destroy them?
Furthermore, although Songhe City was currently occupied by the enemy, it was ultimately his own city.
Causing widespread damage to its walls would bring him no benefit.
Thus, Zhou Dongnan decisively deployed his two siege towers.
The focus of the entire siege battle shifted from the usual ‘breaching the city gate’ to ‘capturing the city wall.’
It was clear he intended to rely on his two sturdy siege towers, pushing them forward against resistance and then capturing the city wall in one fell swoop.
Facing these changed tactics, Zhao Pan remained very calm.
After all, Luo Ji had already analyzed such a strategy thoroughly with him.
In short, first confirm the enemy’s advancing formation.
Shield-axe soldiers led the vanguard, followed by halberdiers and scaling ladder units.
As the main event of this siege battle, the two siege towers were positioned on the left and right sides of the entire military formation, with a large number of soldiers below pushing them slowly forward with all their might.
To protect these soldiers from stray arrows, Li Kuo, the general commanding this siege battle, specially arranged two units of great shield soldiers to form a shield wall, escorting them along the way.
The focus of the entire military formation was clearly evident.
At the same time, offensive operations could be divided into fast and slow attacks.
Li Kuo, the defending general of Shangyuan City, whom Zhou Yi evaluated as conservative, was clearly an expert in slow attacks.
The pushing speed of the entire military formation was not fast, but its steady aura made Zhao Pan feel a noticeable pressure, making him fully realize that this battle would not be easy.
“Hooh—”
Gently exhaling a long breath, adjusting his breathing, and focusing his mind intently, Zhao Pan’s gaze once again swept over the advancing enemy formation.
Then he loudly ordered.
“Three triple-bow bed crossbows, once the enemy’s siege towers enter range, focus all fire on the siege tower on the left, aiming as much as possible for the wheels at the base of the siege tower! Ignore the one on the right.”
Receiving Zhao Pan’s order, the soldiers operating the three triple-bow bed crossbows quickly adjusted their attack angles.
Then, the moment the siege tower entered their range, accompanied by a series of dull thuds, three enormous heavy crossbow bolts consecutively flew from the city wall, striking the siege tower on the left!
In that instant, the heavy crossbow bolts slammed into the bronze panels of the siege tower.
The consecutive 3 thunderous impacts were deafening.
The power and range of the triple-bow bed crossbows, clearly superior to ordinary bed crossbows, made Li Kuo’s pupils constrict, even though Zhou Dongnan had already warned him.
The power of these triple-bow bed crossbows still astonished him.
His gaze quickly swept over, and after confirming that the siege tower was largely unharmed, Li Kuo couldn’t relax at all.
The enemy’s first round of attack had already caught his attention.
The three bed crossbows on the wall simultaneously focused fire on the siege tower on the left side of his formation, completely ignoring the one on the right.
The enemy’s intention to defeat them one by one was glaringly obvious, causing Li Kuo considerable psychological pressure.
Everyone knew that as the distance closed, the destructive power of the bed crossbows would become stronger and stronger.
Having fought so many battles in his life, this was the first time he worried about the safety of a siege tower.
On the other side, Zhao Pan, standing on the city wall, was also surprised by the siege tower’s defensive capabilities.
Although the triple-bow bed crossbows’ first round of attack was at the limit of their effective range, facing a volley of three heavy crossbow bolts, the siege tower managed to remain basically stable.
There must have been a lot of material filled inside to stabilize its center of gravity.
This was probably also the main reason why dozens of soldiers pushing it still moved so slowly, it wasn’t light.
Originally, directly attacking the wheels at the base of the siege tower to destroy them would essentially cripple the siege tower.
But the problem was that in the cold weapon era, ranged attacks had distinct curved paths.
The most accurate ranged weapons were generally bows and arrows.
For large equipment like bed crossbows, accuracy inevitably suffered.
Asking crossbowmen to operate bed crossbows to attack a siege tower was fine, but asking them to aim for the two rows of wheels underneath the siege tower was akin to making things difficult for them.
The battle continued.
As the enemy’s siege army steadily advanced, the stone thrower units, relying on sheer numbers, began to fire frantically.
A sky-darkening rain of stones formed a powerful suppressing force, further reducing the enemy’s siege army’s advance speed.
Li Kuo attempted to command his archer units to counter suppress the stone thrower units on the city wall, but the rain of stones was too fierce.
The undisguised numerical suppression simply kept the archer units from lifting their heads.
Under the blessing of Zhao Pan’s Gold-grade Stone Thrower Specialization skill, the ferocious offensive unleashed was enough to leave a large number of people stunned!
