I am the son of the traveler

Chapter 36 The First Round of Failed Siege
"shooting!"

There was another volley, and the arrows fired by three hundred Greek archers fell like raindrops into the barbarian army who were shouting and fighting, taking away the lives of many warriors without armor.

Although they are called barbarians, it does not mean that they are idiots. Those warriors with shields quickly raised their shields and stood in front of them, while the warriors without shields also spontaneously dispersed, begging to rely on the scattered formations. Minimize casualties under the rain of enemy arrows.

tuk tuk-

Several arrows fell from the sky and hit the round shield held up by a Salo warrior one after another. The warrior holding the shield stared at the arrow passing through the shield with wide eyes, and broke out in a cold sweat. The warrior who was only a few steps away also put down his shield, swung his sword to cut off the arrow stuck on it, and then shouted loudly: "Continue to attack!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an arrow hit him with a whistling sound. Before the warrior could react, the arrow passed through his wide open mouth and came out from the back of his head. He stretched out his hand in disbelief. He wanted to pull out the arrow, but the whole person collapsed.Seeing this, several tribesmen rushed up to share his weapons and armor. This is a very common situation in Salo. After a warrior dies, as long as you can snatch his equipment, the things you snatch It's yours.

woo-

A large number of barbarians rushed to the city wall like a flood, and soon entered the range of the javelins. The Greek javelin soldiers on the city wall and those soldiers equipped with javelins immediately raised their javelins and threw them vigorously under the shout of the officer. When the javelins struck, the barbarians below Then he suffered a catastrophe, and the javelin with its own armor-piercing ability easily broke through the protection of the shield and armor, and penetrated deeply into the body of the barbarian warrior.

Antigonus saw with his own eyes that a javelin hit an unarmored tribal warrior directly after being thrown, and then continued to castrate, piercing through the tribal warrior's body, and then inserted into the slave behind him, as if alive Candied haws are average.

With javelins raining down on their heads, the barbarians rushed all the way to the bottom of the city wall, only to be shocked to find that there was a three-meter ditch outside the city wall, and their ladders had no place to stand. Even if they were inserted at the bottom of the ditch, the ladders were still several meters away from the top of the city wall The difference is that I can't even climb up.

Just when they were dazed, a large number of javelins fell again, killing and wounding countless barbarian warriors. They finally lost the will to continue attacking, and turned around and retreated to the main formation led by the dispirited tribal warriors. Although the warriors mixed in wanted to stop them, However, he was single and weak, so he could only be forced to retreat.

……

Seeing the barbarians retreating like a tide, the soldiers on the city wall couldn't help but burst into cheers, and their morale was raised to its peak. The fact that this first round of offensive was so easily repelled proved that the barbarian army had a numerical advantage, but there was no Their abilities are of no use to them with a seven-meter-high city wall.

But Antigonus was not as optimistic as they were. He looked at the barbarians who retreated leaving behind a large number of corpses. He knew that after learning this lesson, they would be better prepared next time. This time the siege was more like a test. sexual offense.

Seeing that Antigonus frowned and looked lost in thought, Kronos, the military consul next to him, couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about how to deal with the barbarian's next attack." Antigonus glanced at Cronus and said.

"The barbarians can only rely on ladders and battering rams to attack the city. I don't think you need to worry so much." Kronos comforted him. He pointed to the discarded ladders and rough battering rams outside the city and said: "You see, under the fierce firepower of our army, the enemy troops will collapse on their own when they rush to the bottom of the city wall. What do you have to worry about with this kind of enemy?"

Hearing this, Antigonus shook his head and said, "Cronos, don't underestimate the enemy. If the barbarians are really so vulnerable, they won't threaten the kingdom for more than 30 years. Let the former king build an impenetrable fortress here." defend the pass."

"Then you say..."

"Go and check if there is any asphalt stored in the warehouse." Antico did not answer Cronos' inquiry, but changed the subject and asked, "I have an idea."

"Yes, I'll send someone to investigate immediately." Kronos saw that he didn't want to answer himself, so he quickly agreed and called one of his men.

At the same time, Antigonus took a step forward, poked his head out from behind the wall, and looked at the three-meter-deep trench outside the city wall. The barbarians would definitely build a longer ladder after returning, so he seized this Do some work on the trench, for example, fill it with flammable asphalt, and set it on fire when the barbarians attack the city with ladder ants.

Soon, the person sent by Kronos to investigate came back and reported the search results to the military consul. After hearing this, the latter hurried forward and said, "Your Majesty, there are still 250 talents stored in the warehouse ( about a ton) of bitumen, what do you need it for?"

Hearing this, Antigonus mentally calculated the weight of the 250 talents, then nodded and said: "Very good, move out the asphalt and send people out of the city to dump it into the ditch at night when the barbarians can't see it. Don’t pour it all out, keep some for other uses.”

"Obey." Kronos understood Antigon's intention in an instant, and couldn't help admiring him in his heart. It was really clever to think of such a method in such a short time.

……

That night, under the cover of night, many Macedonian soldiers slipped out of the city. They poured a large amount of pitch from barrels into the trench at the bottom of the city wall. In order to prevent the barbarians from discovering it in advance, they also spread a layer of hay on it. Dry grass is also very flammable, even a little spark can ignite a raging fire.

After pouring the asphalt, the soldiers ran to the daytime battlefield to recover the arrows and javelins fired by the archers and javelin soldiers. Whether they were intact or bent and damaged, they were pulled out and taken away. Remove the blood on it and it can continue to be used, while the bent and damaged ones are thrown into the blacksmith's shop in the pass for the craftsmen to remake, and it won't be long before they can be returned to the soldiers.

All these barbarian coalition forces did not know, they were all sleeping in the camp, except for the unlucky sentry who was forcibly arranged, the camp was full of snoring sounds from sleeping soldiers, in this case, If Antigonus launched a night attack with a powerful cavalry, the barbarians would probably be pushed away by a wave.

It's a pity that Antigonus didn't have powerful cavalry. The European cavalry in the Hellenistic era didn't even have the most basic harness. When the horse is running, it can only clamp the horse's belly with its legs to prevent itself from falling.

(End of this chapter)