Minagara's hoplites were definitely among the top 10 strongest infantry in the Kushan Empire's army.

Peshawar's armored crossbowmen hid behind their shields, waiting for their chance to cast them.

Gao Shun and Tai Shici had been silently watching all this on the top of the city for a long time, the lights were already bright on the city, and according to the plan, the soldiers of the Han army and the Western Regions Alliance Army were in place.

The Kushan Empire had mobilized too many troops for the siege this time, so it took a long time to prepare.

Seeing that the Kushan Empire chose to attack the city when it was dark, Gao Shun immediately guessed the wishful thinking of Prince Botuo, who wanted to take advantage of the poor visibility at night to reduce the threat of mortars.

Gao Shun smiled a little bitterly, in fact, the two artillery battalions of the Han army, together there were less than sixty fully usable mortars left, some of which were smashed by trebuchets, and some of which were of the end of their lives.

And there were even fewer shells left, sixty mortars, and less than 200 shells, which had to be spared.

There are not many grenades and crossbow arrows left, and the greatest reliance of the Central Army is gone, and the city will not be easy to defend tonight.

It seems that street fighting is imperative, and Tai Shici arranged the arrangement of street fighting early.

Gao Shun told him to prepare the last resort, looking at this posture, he will definitely use it.

The shells were so precious that Gao Shun simply ordered all the shells to be concentrated among the thirty gun commanders with the best marksmanship, and the rest of the mortars could be disassembled and packed, including the parts of the damaged mortars.

Gao Shun said to the two artillery battalion commanders: "After your shells run out, you will retreat to Guishan City first!" ”

The artillery battalion commanders said that they would advance and retreat together with the brothers, so how could they run first?

Gao Shun scolded loudly: "Confused, there are no shells, what are you going to fight with?" With spears, broadswords? I have no shortage of infantry. Is it easy for the Central Army to train you to become artillerymen? “

"You must protect both men and the artillery, and when the cannonballs are finished, retreat immediately! Otherwise military law engages! ”

Hearing Gao Shun say this, the commanders of the two artillery battalions drooped their heads and went back to prepare for retreat.

Gao Shun demanded that the mortars with shells must be aimed at the enemy's trebuchets and ballistas to hit, and the siege towers should not be bothered, Gao Shun had already prepared death squads, which could only be blown up with explosives.

Without the interference of mortars, the ranks of siege towers and ladders advanced very quickly.

The sun has finally gone down completely, and the night of Dawan has finally arrived.

The entire battlefield was instantly plunged into darkness, except for the brightly lit city walls.

However, the Kushan Empire that besieged the city also quickly lit countless torches, illuminating the city as bright as day.

With his huge numerical superiority, Sauter pressed all the ballistas and trebuchets as far forward as possible, all the way to a distance of two hundred zhang.

This time, the trebuchet began to drop a hundred pounds of stone bullets, and the damage to the city wall was much more serious than that of fifty pounds of stone bullets.

Only by this time did the mortars fire one test shell after another, and immediately after that, the firing of trebuchets and ballistas began.

Listening to the sound of mortar fire, Sauter finally showed a smug smile, it seemed that he had really exhausted the shells of the Han army.

Two days ago, the sound of mortar fire from the Han army was as continuous as thunder and rain, but now it can only be one cannon at a time.

However, the accuracy of today's mortars has also improved significantly, and soon several trebuchets and several ballistas were beaten into a pile of scrap metal.

However, the Kushan Empire invested a large number of long-range siege weapons this time, and this loss could not affect their suppression of the defenders on the city.

The siege tower also approached the city wall more freely than ever, and at the time of a hundred zhang, the armored crossbowmen of Peshawar also began to take turns firing crossbow arrows at the city, but the crossbows of the Han army could not reach them.

Gao Shun could only let the artillery battalion bombard the ranks of Guishan's armored crossbowmen a few times, forcing them to bring in a lot of large shields to protect the crossbowmen, slowing down the pace of archery.

And all the ballistae in the city, also focused their attention on these crossbowmen.

They couldn't beat Kushan's ballistas and trebuchets, so they had to use them to steam their anger.

However, the ballistae and trebuchets in the field immediately focused their attention on the Han army's Lianzhu ballista, and for a while, the Lianzhu ballista lost one after another.

The siege tower and the ladder were on the head of the city at the same time, and the hoplites of Minnagara were heavily equipped, so they could only rush to the head of the city through the siege tower, but they could not climb the ladder.

The light infantry of Bactria, commanded by Osidmos, carried their shields behind their backs and climbed up from the ladder with their hands and feet.

The defenders poured boiling hot oil from the city, and the Kushan infantry wept in pain.

Bags of fire oil were also poured on the ladders and siege towers by the Han soldiers, and thrown into the pile, and the pungent fire oil splashed the Kushan infantry all over their bodies.

Then torches were thrown down, and immediately a raging fire broke out.

These methods have not been used in previous siege battles, and Gao Shun is to paralyze the enemy in order to achieve the best effect.

Where is the military wisdom of the Chinese that these Kushan people can speculate?

The fire attack worked, especially the soldiers of the Western Regions Alliance also used a slimy black oil, which was more resistant to burning than fire oil, and the temperature was also terrifyingly high.

If Lu Bu was here, he would be able to recognize that these black oils were primitive oil, natural crude oil that had not been refined.

However, many enemies climbed the top of the city, and they fought fiercely with the defenders of the city.

The hoplites of Minaggara inherited the prowess of their ancestors, the Spartan hoplites, with a large shield in one hand and a spear in the other.

The defenders burned some siege towers and ladders with fire, but dozens of ladders soon arrived in the Kushan camp, so more and more Kushan infantry climbed to the top of the city.

The only benefit of the melee for the defenders was that the Kushan Empire, in order to avoid accidental injury, stopped firing the enemy's ballistas and trebuchets and withdrew from the battle.

The mortars of the Han army also smashed the last shells under the city walls, where the enemy was most dense, and tried to inflict maximum damage on the enemy.

Soon the shells and grenades ran out, and most of the ballistae were smashed by trebuchets and ballistas, and those that were not destroyed had no crossbow arrows, and became ornaments.

Gao Shun ordered the destruction of all the ballistae, and then all the artillerymen withdrew from the North Gate with packed mortars.

When more than half of the defenders at the head of the city suffered casualties, Gao Shun ordered to give up the southern city wall, and the whole army retreated, and began to prepare for street fighting.

At this time, the moon had climbed into the night sky, and the offensive and defensive battles of Xinwan City had also entered the most brutal stage of street fighting.

The clarion call for retreat sounded, and the officers and soldiers of the Han army and the Western Regions Alliance army on the city were still alive one after another, leaving their opponents and retreating towards the city.

The red-eyed Kushan infantry were in hot pursuit, and as they rushed down the stairs of the wall, they were knocked down by rows of crossbow arrows from the dark streets, and several grenades exploded above their heads.

The fierce resistance made these Kushan infantry sober up, stopped their pursuit, and raised their shields, but there was no movement on the other side.