1030 Cruel Siege Battle (1/2)

Chapter 1030 – Cruel Siege Battle

10th day of the Battle Map, the siege finally began.

Under the rushing of the Mongol army, the 600 stone castles that were taller than the city walls were built. The war prisoners that were already starved till their skins had wrapped around their bones were finally released.

Whether they could live or not would depend on themselves.

They tried to open up the Lin'an city gates but were rejected. That was because the Mongol archers had already entered the castles and thousands of Xiangyang cannons were pushed to the frontlines.

If they opened up the city gates now, it would be like inviting a wolf into the house.

These civilians could leave the battlefield and return to their houses, but they did not need to move into Lin'an city. Lin'an city had a lack of grain, so letting them in would not be a good thing.

At 9 AM, the flames of war were ignited.

Although the pots were destroyed, the Mongols siege tactics remained unchanged. The archers on the castles were in charge of restricting the long range attacks on the city wall. They would use the Xiangyang cannons to destroy the city wall.

The defending troops returned fire.

Archers, trebuchets, and three bow arcuballistas were pushed to the front and engaged the enemy.

The first day of fighting was just between ranged units.

The tactics were really savage, and the battlefield was really cruel. The archers of both sides shot out their arrows, forming an intersecting arrow net, killing hundreds and thousands at every moment.

The rumbling of the trebuchets started since the start of the war and did not stop.

Be it the Mongol tents outside the city or on the city wall, and even the area near the city walls, dust and smoke rose up and fire burned. Although the Xiangyang cannons were trebuchets, they could fire rocks that burned in oil.

When one cannon fired, smoke bellowed.

The defending guards were murdered in the arrow rain, so those laborers working beneath the city walls did not have a good time either. Every moment, injured people were carried down the city wall and sent to the infirmary.

All the doctors within Lin'an city, no matter what they specialized in, were moved into an infirmary to treat the wounded.

Each person saved would be an extra amount of fighting power.

Apart from that, the military workshops within the city worked day and night to produce arrow after arrow. A siege battle like this used up huge amounts of arrows.

The entire city was united as one.

On the first day, the Mongol army returned fruitless. Not only did ten thousand die, but 59 castles were destroyed and turned into ruins.

Ten thousand defending troops died too.

Such a casualty ratio was due to the castles. With the castles, the Mongol archers were not at a disadvantage. Along with their skilled archers, they naturally fought on the same level.

On the contrary, the player forces had very few pure archers. Half were cavalry turned archers, so obviously they were not the opponents of the Mongol archers.

This battle was an evenly matched one too.

In the next two days, not much changed about the battle. The Mongol army that was a million strong was like a machine, recharging fresh blood and launching attack after attack.

During this time, the Mongols used another dark tactic.

They threw all the corpses, be it enemies or their own, into the city protection river. All of a sudden, the river was filled with bodies, making one feel a shiver run down their spine.

What was worse was that the water canals within the city were connected to the city protection river. The corpses decomposed in the water, contaminating the water source and the water canals within the city.

The water source of the civilians within the city became a problem.

The only available water source now was underground water. Lu Xiufu had no choice but to form emergency units to dig up wells in the city to ensure a sufficient supply of water.

Luckily, the siege would only last for a month. If it were months or years, even the underground water would be contaminated.

This tactic was really vicious.

After three successive days of Mongol attacks, apart from the north city wall, the other three sides were facing varying degrees of problems. Especially the South Song Guards on the south, their innate fear of the Mongols was awakened. If this carried on, before the Xiangyang cannons were able to destroy the city walls, they would panic themselves.

Along with the fact that the player troops were defending and not attacking, with the work of the Mongol spies, the legend of the soldiers from heaven started to collapse.

All of this was proceeding toward a situation that was catastrophic for the South Song camp.

The Mongol general Bayan was really pleased with this. He smiled as he said to Zhang Hongfan, ”The players look good but are useless, they are totally not our opponents.”

Speaking of Bayan, he was also not a simple person.

Bayan was born in Ilkhanate and was brought into the dynasty during the first year of yuan by Hulagu Khan. Kublai Khan admired his ability and appointed him as the Zhongshu minister and eventually promoted him to Privy Court minister.

In the 11th year of yuan, he led troops to conquer South Song.