A prefabricated heavy-duty trebuchet is fundamentally different from a simple riveted lever "stone" truck. The mechanical structure is seamless enough to give the monolith unparalleled potential power, and the ability to destroy the old city walls is not inferior to that of early firearms, and there is no need to take risks such as exploding. If you are hit by a boulder thrown by this trebuchet, you will only end up in a puddle of mud.

The bombardment began early in the morning until noon, and there were countless large and small depressions on the wall, and several huge stones were directly embedded in the top of the city wall, which not only brought a large number of casualties to the Roman army, but also made the movement of defensive forces on the entire section of the city wall more inconvenient.

"Your Majesty, there is no need for us to hold on to such an offensive. As long as the army remains, we can look for other breakthroughs. Ossini looked at John, who was still sitting in his chair and did not change his color, obviously a little confused. Now is the best opportunity to retreat, otherwise the walls will be lost and the Ottoman cavalry will catch up, and the safety of boarding will be greatly reduced.

But John, still staring at the sandtable map of Anatolia in a daze.

"Brother......

Normally, Sophia would not disturb John while he was thinking, but at this time, the situation was really urgent, and the crashing boulder seemed to make the earth tremble, even for safety reasons, John should be protected by the secular knight to temporarily return to the ship, and wait for the end of this round of siege to think about countermeasures.

The strategy of decentralizing the defense was proposed by John, but the outer lines of defense had long since collapsed under Karacha's clearance, and the empire no longer had the means to interfere with the steady flow of supplies to the besieged camp in Karacha from all sides.

The Throat Cutting Fort seems to have become a dead end.

"The other breakthroughs you mentioned...... What is it? John was still staring at the sandbox, not looking up at Ossini's restless expression. The secular knight, who was already preparing to step forward, was stopped by him with a wave of his hand.

"I ...... Right! And Trabzon! We can move our forces to Trabzon, where the walls are stronger, and the terrain of the Pontus Mountains is more dangerous, so we can rely on the terrain to put on a beautiful defensive battle again, and then turn the defense into an offensive ......"

"No...... No, this time is different from the last time......" John only thought for a moment before shaking his head, "We need fleets to cruise the Aegean and Marmara Seas to keep Giovanni's supply lines safe." When we send our troops to Trabzon, we will need to open an additional supply line in the Black Sea, and we will need more escort ships to ensure security. In this way, the Ottomans were given the opportunity to break through one by one. Once our fleet fails, what does it mean for the Empire to lose sea supremacy at this point in time? ”

"This ......" Ossini gritted his teeth, this answer was not well thought out, but now there was no time for him to think about the way back, he couldn't retreat to the Golden Horn and then make plans, could it be that there was something more important than the life of the co-ruling emperor right now?

"Your Majesty! There was a lot of pressure on the walls, and our casualties were heavy! Now is not the time to hold the University! It's time for you to go to the dock! The secular knights and my personal soldiers will keep you safe. I'll take someone to hold on to the walls for a little longer. ”

"How long will it last?"

John suddenly looked up and looked directly at Karacha.

"This ...... As long as the city wall does not break and collapse in a large area, it should be able to hold up until dawn tomorrow. But casualties could extend to ...... The situation of establishment destruction. After Trabzon, we haven't had much time to recover. ”

"Then there's no need to leave now. The stones should not have smashed down the fortress. Now no one knows how Giovanni's side is going, the main force of the Ottomans in Western Anatolia, we can hold back for a moment, we can buy an extra moment for the siege of Smyrna. What's more, I always feel ...... The empire is not yet at the end of its rope. ”

John banged on the table with his cane, and the "doo" sound woke up the snoring gooseberry, the falcon had lost a little bit of hair from a minor illness a few days ago, and now looked rather funny. After being woken up, the gooseberry seemed to inadvertently glance out of the window next to the bird's nest, and suddenly, as if he saw something more on the sea in the distance, he curiously fluttered his wings, which were temporarily unable to fly.

"Osini, I'll make a bet with you, I think we still have reinforcements." John gave the little maid Evelei, a glance, and asked her to soothe the frightened bird.

Osini, on the other hand, turned his gaze to the sea in confusion: "Reinforcements? ”

"I'm just guessing." John smiled, looking much more relaxed than before.

"Yes...... Your Majesty, take 10,000 steps back, reinforcements are not important to us, even if the empire has a garrison or a group of peasant soldiers from Morea, it will not be of substantial help to our defense? As soon as the walls fall, are we going to fight the Ottomans in such a place? ”

"Don't be so pessimistic, those catapults are the only thing that can threaten us until the heavy artillery they may have is officially put into frontal combat. But if we really expect them to cut through the walls, I'm afraid we'll have to wait a little longer. ”

Even with artillery, with the exception of terrifying beasts such as the Urban Cannon, early gunpowder weapons were not yet dazzling enough in siege applications. So far, the Ottomans used artillery ammunition with a gunpowder content of about a quarter of the total weight of the projectile, and the French army used nearly half the ammunition content during the siege of Avreur, and it took more than ten days to destroy the city walls.

Whether Karacha's lords and nobles were really loyal to Muhammad remains to be considered. Among them, there are many descendants of the Lycaon-like empire, and Greek nobles are forced to send people to the fence, and they may defect at any time. At this time, if there was a way to limit the threat of trebuchets and artillery to the city walls, it would be Karacha's side that would jump to the ground.

At this time, in the Ottoman tent, the engineers were still working on the construction of large siege towers that were more reliable than ladders to facilitate access to the city walls, and what was even more ironic was that a few servants could occasionally be seen carrying "turtle carts" on their heads, under the gaze of arrows, holding iron pickaxes to carve out the seemingly weak parts of the city walls. The improvised battering ram carts were also carried to the front line in batches and hit the city gates.

It seems that Karacha is not completely sure whether the city wall will collapse quickly.

"In this way, we have to arrange for someone to listen responsibly, who can guarantee that Karacha will not dig a tunnel and get behind our walls?"

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