A thousand archers and horses broke through the interception of a small number of enemy troops without any suspense, rushed to the place where the enemy had stacked siege equipment, and then began to throw cotton bales doused with fire oil, threw these cotton bales next to the siege equipment, and prepared to ignite them.

Although there are many craftsmen who are busy in this area, these craftsmen are unarmed, and they hold tools for work, and they are not strong enough to fight against horse archers, and even if they resist, they will not have much effect.

In addition, because many craftsmen were captured, they didn't know who Mansur was, so naturally they wouldn't be desperate for Mansour's empire, and when they saw that another army of soldiers and horses was coming, they hurriedly took the opportunity to escape, and no one looked at them anyway.

A thousand archers and horses drew the torches on their backs, lit all the cotton bales, and then threw the torches directly to the location where there were no cotton bales to ignite more siege equipment.

Wood is a flammable item, and cotton bales poured with fire oil can ignite a huge flame, so in a very short time, many siege equipment all ignited a huge flame, and the fire is getting bigger and bigger, and the burning is more and more vigorous, and there is a tendency to turn the whole camp into a sea of fire.

Seeing that a large number of siege equipment that he had worked so hard to manage was burned by the fire, Qi Yade was so angry that he almost fainted, but even if he rushed over now, it was useless, he alone could not resist so many cavalry and archers, and it was obviously too late to transfer troops.

The 1,000 horsemen and archers rode away without stopping at all, for they had already seen the cavalry of the enemy battalion approaching, and if they waited for a large number of the enemy battalion to kill them, they would be very dangerous.

Although the horse can be used to kill the enemy from a long distance, but it is also when the enemy army is not very strong, if the enemy army occupies an absolute advantage, then it is best not to take risks, in case of being surrounded, it will be completely finished, after all, the enemy army also has a bow and crossbow, and there are many riding and archery skills, but the bow and crossbow are not as long as their bow and crossbow, if the chase is close, there is still a great threat.

Looking at the siege equipment that was burning more and more, Qi Yade seemed a little desperate, and it was obviously too late to put out the fire now, because the fire was already burning very strongly, and there was no water at all in the place where the siege equipment was built, and how to put out the fire without water, he could only watch the siege equipment being burned by the fire.

There were a lot of soldiers and horses in the camp, but most of them were resting, and only a small number of soldiers and horses were on duty, and when these soldiers and horses on duty rushed out, the cavalry had already fled.

"Don't chase it, it's already a lot."

At the same time, he was also very worried about the granary of the large battalion, if these soldiers and horses went to pursue the cavalry and archers, if another team came and burned the granary, then they would be completely finished.

"General, these weapons are all destroyed, what can I do?"

A pro-soldier said.

Qi Yade said lonely: "It's all my fault, it's my fault that I underestimated the enemy again and again, causing the enemy to take advantage of the loopholes again and again!" The granary of the camp is extremely important, you go back and guard the granary, and you must not let any problems arise in the granary. ”

"Yes, General."

The subordinate answered.

At this moment, Ziyad had nothing left to do except stand outside the camp and admire the burned siege equipment.

However, he really didn't want to see this scene, and his heart was dripping blood when he saw it, because the base for building siege equipment outside the big camp condensed too much of his hard work, and he was really sad that it was burned like this.

Something so big happened, naturally it was impossible to hide the main general, Abu *** woke up from his sleep and hurriedly asked what was going on outside and why the camp was in a mess.

The answer he received made him very angry, all the siege equipment, and the half-finished products of the siege equipment, were all burned, which meant that tomorrow's siege could not be carried out, and it may be a long time before the attack on Ar City can be launched.

The angry Abu *** couldn't sleep at all, he quickly got up and went to the scene, and saw that the fire had burned much higher than the treetops, and Abu *** really gritted his teeth.

"Ziyad, aren't you personally responsible for building siege equipment? How did it come to this, how did you do it? ”

Abu *** was really angry, and he couldn't help but scold Ziyad anymore.

"General, it's all my fault, I still underestimated the enemy, I didn't expect the enemy to have the courage to raid our siege equipment, it's all my fault."

Ziyad could not explain it and could only choose to plead guilty.

Abu ***'s anger did not diminish at all, and continued to be angry: "The caliph has sent people to urge us to capture Ar as soon as possible, and take the city of Maia in one go, and capture Artik alive, but now, we have delayed too much time under a small city of Ar, and the caliph has no patience, he urges us to break the city as soon as possible, we will attack the city tomorrow, we will start the siege early tomorrow morning, and all the soldiers must be ready to attack the city starting in the early morning." ”

"General, but we have no siege equipment, and we can't carry out the siege."

Seeing that Abu *** was in a daze, Ziyad hurriedly said.

Abu *** said angrily: "This is the order of the caliphate, there is no siege equipment, we will also attack the city, immediately send a large number of soldiers and horses, to the vicinity to arrest the people, whether it is men, women, old people, and children, all of them are captured, tomorrow in a battle, let these people be in front, if they dare to resist, they will be killed." ”

"General, isn't this too cruel, we are going to rule here in the future, if we do too much killing, it will be extremely detrimental to the future rule."

Ziyad opened his mouth to persuade, for Abu ***'s madness, Ziyad was very shocked, fighting is always a man's business, if a group of women and children are forced to die in front, this will greatly reduce the prestige of the army.

"Ziyad, you caused all this, I have already given you three chances, what is the result now? We have no time to waste, we must immediately attack the city, so that we can give an account to the caliph, and even if we fail to win in the end, at least we have done our best to make the caliph understand us. ”

Abu *** spoke.

Obviously, Abu *** knew Mansur well, and he was worried that he would not launch a large-scale attack, which would arouse Mansour's suspicions, and besides, they had indeed lost too much time under Arr, and they had to launch a powerful attack in order for Mansour to show their loyalty.

Of course, the reason why Mansur was in a hurry was because of his position, he sent 100,000 soldiers and horses to the south, and the daily consumption of grain and grass was very huge, if the war was prolonged, his empire would be dragged down, and his heart was bleeding when he looked at the huge daily expenditure of the treasury.

However, the battle on the front line was not very fierce, and Abu *** almost did not launch a decent attack, which made Mansour suspicious.

After all, in any era, there is a phenomenon of self-respect, and Abu***'s inactive performance is not a manifestation of self-respect, no wonder Mansour is suspicious.

Ziyad understood, he understood Abu ***'s plight, and at the same time, he also understood al-Mansour's plight, it was his series of light enemies who caused all this, and he was the one who was responsible for pushing a large group of women and children into the war.

Since the matter is irreparable, Qi Yade can only choose to accept it, now they have no siege equipment, if they rush to build it overnight, they can only build the simplest ladder, this thing is very simple, it is easy to manufacture, but such a simple siege equipment will not have a great effect when attacking the city, it can only play a small role.

After Abu *** gave the order to arrest people, more than 10,000 Khorasan cavalry scattered to carry out the military order, they were divided into many groups, respectively went to different places, in addition, in order to prevent a surprise attack, they had a very clear division of labor, the scattered group after gathering a large number of people, will gather into a large group, and in the event of a sneak attack, they will use these people as a meat shield, so as to avoid their own losses.

It was a night full of crimes, a large number of ordinary people were forced to rush to the camp of Abu ***, if anyone dared to resist, they were slaughtered directly, blood stained a large number of villages, and many innocent people were slaughtered.

Before dawn, the cavalry of 10,000 men returned to the camp one after another, and brought back 10,000 ordinary people, men and women, children and old people, and it can be said that all who could be captured were captured.

After the sun rises, the siege will begin, they must first break through the natural barrier of the moat, since it is quite stressful to fill the moat, then let these people fill the river, and kill these people if they do not obey, and if the defenders on the city wall shoot these people with arrows, then the defending side will become the executioner, so that they can still stand on the moral high ground.

Driven by 10,000 Khorasan cavalry, 10,000 civilians were forced to march to Ar, where they were forced to push a small number of improvised transports with sacks and digging tools, and they were to be tasked with filling the moat.

These simple transport vehicles are the baggage trucks commonly used in the barracks, which are used to transport grain and grass, and there is nothing wrong with using them to transport dirt and sandbags

10,000 people were only allocated 100 simple transport vehicles, and the average 100 people were assigned one, but among the 100 people, there were only 20 or 30 laborers who could really work, and the old and young women were very weak, and they could not do any work, so they could only follow the number of people, so that the soldiers on the defending side could not bear to shoot them.

In the case of being forced by the other party, these ordinary people could only choose to obey, they reluctantly pushed the transport cart to the vicinity of Ar City, and dug up the soil and put it in sacks, and then, under the compulsion of the Khorasan cavalry, step by step towards the moat of Ar City.

The young and strong laborers were in charge of the carts, and the old men, women and children were in charge of leading the way, and there were bows and arrows pointed at them behind, and if they refused to move forward to complete their tasks, they were shot.

When the general defending the city saw such a scene, he was immediately anxious, and last night he saw a huge fire in the distance, and knew that the cavalry soldiers had achieved great success, and he was happy all night.

After all, as long as the enemy's siege equipment was destroyed, the enemy army could not launch an attack on Archeng, but he did not expect that the enemy's siege equipment had just been destroyed, and the attack was launched early in the morning, which made the general who had just heard the news very puzzled, and he even wondered if last night's fire was something else, whether the cavalry burned in the wrong place.

But after climbing the city wall, the generals were stunned to find that the enemy army, without the support of heavy siege equipment, actually launched an attack on the city with the common people as the front.

These civilians are busy transporting soil, it seems that they are going to fill the rhythm of the moat, and many of the soldiers under the command of the general are requisitioned from the local area, and among these ordinary people, it is very likely that there will be their relatives, so if they launch an attack, there will definitely be many soldiers who will not agree, and if it causes a mutiny, the consequences will be very serious.

As a general who has been in the army for a long time, he naturally understands how bad the current crisis is, and once it is not handled well, the consequences will be very serious.

"General, the situation is very bad! There are so many soldiers who have asked to open the city gates, and their relatives are below, what can I do! ”

The general's personal soldiers asked anxiously.

"Abu *** is so ruthless, he actually uses such a vicious method, but the city gate can't be opened, you find a way to appease the emotions of the soldiers."

The Lord will say.

"General, the people are filling the river, whether to attack or not."

A pro-soldier ran over and asked.

The general waved his hand and said, "Don't attack for the time being, wait and see what happens." ”

"General, but these ordinary people are filling in the river! If they had filled the moat, we would not have been able to hold the city, and the enemy would have said that they would have slaughtered the city, and by then more people would have died. ”

The pro-soldier continued.

"Of course I know, but the people below are all relatives of the soldiers, and if they order an attack, the soldiers will not agree."

The defender of the city will be very embarrassed.

Sure enough, soon many soldiers came to intercede, and they were excited to open the city gate and go out to fight with the Khorasan cavalry.

Of course, the lord of the city would not agree, and he assured the soldiers that he would not give the order to shoot the civilians, and let them wait patiently and not be too anxious.

The dirt and sandbags transported by the common people have been thrown into the moat, and they are still being transported, and if they continue to be transported, the moat will be filled sooner or later.

However, the enthusiasm of the common people was very poor, no matter how coercive and tempting the Khorasan cavalry was, they always worked very slowly, and the children and the elderly were still not helpful, and every time someone was beaten, it would cause a riot.

However, even if the river is filled slowly, the moat can be filled, but it will take some more time, for this reason, the city guard general is very anxious, and hurriedly invited the Tang Dynasty general to ask the other party for advice.