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Chapter 269
Chapter 269 - Battle of Trebuchets
Yuan Shao Army hit their war drums, and 20, 000 men marched forward, pushing trebuchets and 10-meter-tall siege towers into the range. In addition, shield bearers were driving several wagons carrying dirt and sand with haste.
Zhang Liao waved his hands, and 200 trebuchets on the fort towers launched their burning barrels. While he was at it, Zhang Liao ordered, "Everyone but trebuchet crews, retreat to the inner wall."
The first barrage of burning crude oil created a firewall that barred Te Langpu and Feng Ji's troops. A few barrels managed to hit the trebuchets of Yuan Shao Army, destroying them.
Instead of panicking, hundreds of siege weapons continued to move forward as they had not reached their ideal range to fire yet.
This gave the trebuchet crews in the fort to fire the second volley. As Zhang Liao's soldiers had measured the range and the direction from the first barrage, the second barrels were more accurate. A hundred of Yuan Shao's siege weapons were destroyed, while the missed barrels exploded and caused more fire.
"We're in range. Return fire! Load the bags!"
Trebuchet crews of Yuan Shao also began operating their weaponry, firing boulders toward the wall.
The 90% of the boulders hit the wall and dropped on the ground, rolling down the moat. Several of them went over the wall and hit trebuchet towers inside the fort.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Large boulders cracked the wooden walls, which tore several tied logs. However, the entire wall section did not collapse as there were mud and stone that reinforced it.
Feng Ji bellowed, "Use the gunpowder! Switch to gunpowder and launch them inside the wall!"
Flagbearers of Feng Ji Army waved their signal flags, and hundreds of horsemen, who were carrying gunpowder sacks rushed toward the surviving trebuchets.
The third barrage from the fort arrived. This time, more than half of Yuan Shao's trebuchets were destroyed, and some of the gunpowder carriers got caught in the fire, exploding the bomb sacks they were carrying.
Feng Ji gritted his teeth. Had the gunpowder been high in quantity, each of the trebuchet crews would have brought several sacks with them. Since their ammunition was limited, they had to bring them to the surviving trebuchet crews later so they would not be wasted.
The remaining trebuchet crews got their hands on the gunpowder sacks. They loaded them on the pouches and set the fuses.
Afterward, the siege weapons launched their ammo inside the fort.
Zhang Liao had predicted this. He bellowed and got behind the battlement, covering himself from the explosion.
"TAKE COVER!"
20 of 50 sacks landed inside the fort while the rest hit the wall and rolled into the moat.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The thunderous loud boom shocked both attackers and defenders. The explosion caused dirt, dust, shrapnel, and destroyed objects to fly. The explosive sound deafened everyone in the area and made them dizzy.
Since Feng Ji was far away from the site, he was not affected by the shockwave and the noise. He laughed and ordered the signalers, "Again! Bomb them again!"
Te Langpu grabbed Feng Ji's shoulder and shook his head, "We have limited ammo. Use it sparingly!"
"No! We have to ensure their annihilation and save the lives of our soldiers! I want to use all of the gunpowder today!"
Te Langpu shrugged, "Fine. I'll leave everything to you. I'm going to return to the main camp."
"Of course. If we win today, it will be because of my ingenious insight! Please remember that!"
"Sure, sure. I'll give the victory credit to you."
The flagbearers sent another order signal, and more horsemen rushed to the battlefield with the rest of gunpowder sacks of their army.
By the time that the horsemen reached the functioning trebuchets, the fourth barrage from the fort came. However, the number of burning barrels were less than the previous volleys as the explosion destroyed several of the infrastructures and trebuchet towers within the fort.
40 Of 70 remaining trebuchets were destroyed along with gunpowder sacks, but the last 30 trebuchets managed to counter-fire. All of them were hurled over the wall into the fort once more.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Zhang Liao had already evacuated from the front wall into the inner layer wall. However, some of the trebuchet crews were late to retreat, they got caught in the explosion of Feng Ji's second bombardment.
Black smoke and traces of fire inside the fort could be seen from the outside, which delighted Yuan Shao Army soldiers.
After the last explosion, the counter-fire from the fortress trebuchets stopped. Yuan Shao's crews outside managed to fire another shot inside the fort without a resistance.
Feng Ji jumped and yelled, "They have been crippled! Siege towers, onward! All troops, attack!"
Carts and wagons that were carrying dirt and sand rushed in and filled the moat with it. Siege towers with 2, 000 archers approach the wall, and a 5, 000-man battalion attempted to cross the moat.
They got close to the wall without any attack from the archers inside. Delighted by the idleness of the defenders, the footmen tore down a section of a wall and climbed inside.
As they got on top of the wall, they could see the wreckages of the buildings, corpses, collapsed towers, and destroyed trebuchets. They cheered as if they had just won the war.
The footmen on the ground rushed inside, hoping to loot some treasures or supplies for themselves. As they got deeper inside through the smoke, their eyes widened.
Another layer of mud wall awaited them with thousands of archers on top. Furthermore, the height of the wall was as tall as their unique siege towers.
Rain of arrows covered the sky, which landed on the invaders who came for treasures.
The death throes of the early birds alarmed the troops who were still outside the wall.
The result of a siege battle usually does not end after the wall has been breached. As long as the defenders still have traps and garrison forces inside, a battle always continues until the defender surrenders or the attacker retreats.
The same applied to the situation in the north fort. Though Yuan Shao Army managed to get into the fort, they were far from claiming the victory.
On top of the inner wall, Zhang Liao and 9, 500 garrison soldiers stood tall. They lost a few hundred men from the explosion, but the majority of them had already evacuated before the bombardment arrived.
The slanted shape of the inner wall confused Yuan Shao footmen. They did not know if they should attack the wall in front of them or proceed further inside the fort along with the shape of the wall.
The attackers stopped moving in after they crossed the outer layer wall as they were afraid of getting shot by the arrows of the garrison army.
Feng Ji noticed the anomaly. He climbed the siege tower on the frontline to see what happened inside the fort.
Because of the black smoke, he could not see further inside. However, the commotion inside the fort made him nervous.
"Hold the line and occupy the outer wall! Have someone call Gao Lan or Yan Liang here! I need them to spearhead for the men inside!"
An hour later, the same messenger returned with a pale face.
"Sir, they refused to comply with the order. They said Lord Tian Feng had ordered them to lure Jinyang Army outside. They cannot move to attack the inside or Lu Bu and his men will return to the fort and assist them."
"What!?"
Feng Ji scratched his head as he paced back and forth. Then, he turned to the direction of the central army where Yuan Shao and Tian Feng were.
'That bastard! Does he know anything about stratagem? Why do you use your important chess pieces like this? You have to distribute them evenly, or one of the fronts will collapse!'
"Send a message to Tian Feng. I want you to ask that bastard to send a combatant commander over. We are lacking a spearhead!"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
...
...
South Fort, where Jia Xu, Xu Huang, and Zhou Cang were defending. The similar situation occurred in this fort as well.
Qu Yi, the grand commander of Yuan Shao South Legion, got stuck after he bombarded the south wall with their gunpowder bomb. He and several generals managed to breach the wall, but they could not proceed further as the inner wall was a threat to their men.
"I want trebuchets and siege towers inside the fort! Move them inside!" Yelled Qu Yi.
"Sir, the moat and the wall wreckage are in the way. We can't move them in right now."
"Clear the path then! Get the archers on the outer wall. All free hands, help the siege crews clearing the way!"
Both fronts decided to stop attacking to disassemble the outer layer wall and fill the moat for their siege weapons. As they were busy with their jobs, the sun had set.
Yuan Shao's legions, which were responsible for the attacking, could not retreat. They camped in front of the fort and used the outer layer wall as their fences. Half of the men rested, while the others stayed awake as guards of the night.
Tian Feng visited the southern front to check the situation. Upon seeing the complex layout of the wall and the mess inside the fort, he frowned.
"How many sacks of gunpowder do we have left?"
Qu Yi counted his fingers, "About 50 to 60 sacks, do you need them?"
"No, keep it for the next siege battle. You can fake attack tonight and siege the wall tomorrow morning with the bombs."
"Understood!"
Leaving the assignments, Tian Feng rushed back and headed north. He wanted to see how Feng Ji was doing.
During the day, he saw Te Langpu inside the central camp. Upon questioning him, Te Langpu said that Feng Ji chased him away, saying he wanted to command the army alone.
'This person is a headache! He is talented, but why is he picking unnecessary infighting?'
Tian Feng had enough about Feng Ji. After this battle, he planned to demote Feng Ji and remove him from the strategist position. Little did he know that Te Langpu also framed Feng Ji out of spite.
When Tian Feng reached the northern fort, he was shocked by the result of the battle.
The good news was, Feng Ji's soldiers did not suffer as many casualties as Qu Yi's men. However, Feng Ji exhausted all of the gunpowder!
"Idiot! What have you done!? Do you know how much gold we have to invest in each sack of the powder!?"
Tian Feng yelled at Feng Ji in the middle of the northern camp. The commotion got the attention of all soldiers nearby.
Feng Ji did not like being yelled at his face so he bellowed back, "I did what I can to save our men's live! All expendable assets are there to achieve the victory, and I've used to get this wall. What's wrong with it!?"
"What's wrong with it!? We don't have enough firepower to attack their inner walls! They have those crude oil bomb, but we only have gunpowder bomb! You're out of ammo, but I'm sure they still have plenty of those black oil! What are you going to do about the siege tomorrow? Archer towers? Trebuchets?"
"Of course! What else can you do?"
"Are you nuts!? You have said that you wanted to save our men, but you will go for the battle of attrition tomorrow!?"
"What? I didn't say I will trade our men's lives."
"You did! Without the gunpowder, and you want to use archer towers, you will run into their trebuchet towers and their archers! Our archers have the same range and weapons, then what do think will happen if you exchange arrows with theirs? It will be a massacre!"
| ← Ch. 268 | Ch. 270 → |