At the same time, Sauter ordered all the ballistae to move forward, and when the mortars and trebuchets were bombarded and there was no time to care, he tried to suppress the crossbow and grenade attacks at the head of the city, so as to create opportunities for the Kushan infantry under the city.

The Ballistae of the Kushan Empire are indeed very powerful, and the Great Shield of the Central Army is completely unable to withstand the attack of the ballista head-on.

Because trebuchets and ballistas took most of the mortars' energy, the siege towers didn't get many shells, and Lianzhu ballista knew that they couldn't pose any threat to the siege towers, so they turned to deal with the Kushan infantry.

So the siege tower soon approached the city again, and when its top tread was attached to the city, dozens of ladders were erected, and countless Kushan infantry swarmed up and rushed to the city.

This time, the infantry of several provinces attacked at the same time, in no particular order, and fought hand-to-hand combat with the Han army and the Western Regions coalition army.

The Han army was still very brave, and the brave warrior, according to the task assigned in advance, held a bundle of grenades, and jumped into the siege tower, pulled the grenade, and with a bang, the siege tower was blown to pieces.

The Kushan infantry rushed to the top of the city through the siege towers and ladders, and they desperately prevented the Han army from approaching the siege towers, and it was not so easy to blow up the siege towers with explosives.

At the critical juncture, Tai Shici still used the same tricks used to deal with Jing Yan during the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, tied the detonator to the large crossbow arrow, and used the Lianzhu ballista to shoot the detonator and crossbow arrow into the siege tower together.

The trick worked, and all four siege towers were quickly destroyed.

However, there have been a lot of Kushan infantry on the city, and in close combat, the Punjabi infantry who are not afraid of death are much more powerful than the Western Regions coalition army.

In many areas of the city, the Western Regions Coalition Army retreated, and all relied on the soldiers of the Central Army to resist.

The crossbows and horizontal knives showed their superiority in hand-to-hand combat, but the Kushan's iron-smelting skills were also really good, and their spears and double-edged knives were also very sophisticated.

The two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and the attrition was very fast, and Gao Shun had to reinforce the second batch of three regiments, and at the same time put in 5,000 Western Regions Coalition troops.

The Han army, which had an absolute numerical superiority, gradually regained the initiative, and at the same time, mortars, which were superior in numbers and accuracy, finally destroyed most of the trebuchets and began to turn their fire to ballistas and the infantry under the city.

Soon, the artillery bombardment caused a large number of casualties among the infantry under the city, and fewer and fewer Kushan infantry climbed the walls.

The Kushan infantry that had already climbed to the top of the city could not be reinforced, not to mention that they were cleared by the Han army that counterattacked with all their might.

At sunset, Sauter finally sounded the call to withdraw, and the surviving infantry and ballistas, as well as the remaining trebuchets, withdrew to the camp.

After the remnants of the defeated army had withdrawn to the main camp, Sot made an count, and the Punjab infantry suffered the greatest losses, with only 7,000 men left, because they were the most brave in battle, and they were the most advanced in the front, and they were the ones who rushed to the top of the city.

Because of the extra helmet protection, the Sogdian infantry still had more than 10,000 men to maintain their combat strength.

There were 3,000 men left in the Herat infantry and 5,000 in the Kabul infantry, all of which were cannon fodder, which means that in one afternoon, nearly 20,000 people were killed and wounded, half of whom fell under the city.

The mortars, crossbows, and grenades of the Han army were too damaging to the Kushan infantry, but fortunately, the army of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the main force of the Kushan Empire were about to arrive, and their vanguard task was completed.

And after such a tragic half-day fight today, the casualties of the Han army's defending troops are not small, their mortars, grenades, and even those crossbow arrows used by the crossbow should always be extremely lost, right?

After two days of fighting, their material consumption should be not small, and their subordinates can be regarded as well-deserved, cannon fodder, isn't this what they are for?

Sauter was distressed by the casualties of his subordinates, and in Xinwan City, Gao Shun and Tai Shici were not having a good time.

Today's battle, although it was only a half-day battle, the intensity of this battle was far more tragic than the day before.

Today's casualty figures were in front of them, the Han army itself suffered nearly 4,000 casualties, and the Western Regions Coalition Army also suffered 5,000 casualties.

This casualty was double that of yesterday, and there were few minor casualties, mainly because these Kushan infantry, especially the Punjabi infantry, were really barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes.

They often choose to die with you, and many of them fall to the city with them.

Such a high casualty ratio is rare in the history of the Central Army's past battles with the Xianbei and Kwantung princes.

In addition to the fact that the combat effectiveness of the Western Regions Alliance Army is far inferior to that of the Central Army, there are some reasons why it is hindered, and it is also closely related to the commanders of the opponent and the proper tactics.

This commander used tactics flexibly, minimized losses from firearms, and used their weapons to the extreme.

Moreover, the soldiers of the Kushan Empire generally have a strong will to fight, especially today, these bald and barefooted ones, who are said to be called Punjabi infantry, are from India, and they all seem to have been brainwashed.

When it comes to fighting, it is not afraid of death than the most heroic Central Army!

The Central Army has lost one-third of its strength, and the Western Regions Coalition Army has lost half of its strength, and if the enemy is still playing with his life tomorrow, he may not be able to hold on for a day!

The most important thing is that there are not many mortar shells and grenades left, and tomorrow it will not be used as it is today.

There are not even many crossbow arrows for crossbows, and after dark, Tai Shici has to put ropes under the city, send people to recycle the used crossbow arrows, and bring them back for the craftsmen to repair and use again!

However, crossbow arrows can still be recycled, shells and grenades are disposable consumables, without the support of mortars and grenades, which makes the officers and men of the Central Army who are accustomed to the support of firearms very sad!

The result of Gao Shun and Tai Shici's final discussion was that once the city wall was breached, there would be street fighting, and when this Xinwan city was originally designed and built, the possibility of street fighting was considered, and the civilians in the city had already been transferred.

At the time of the street battle, even if all the Western Regions coalition forces were sacrificed here, it would not hesitate, and it would only be worth it in exchange for the same number of enemy casualties.

As for the Central Army, as long as it can hold out until the evening, even if the task is completed, it can retreat.

Outside the north gate, the 6th Division and the 2nd Garrison Division had a large number of war horses waiting there, and this time so many brothers were sacrificed, and there was no need to fight for horses and horses when they returned.

In addition to arranging for the men to recover the crossbow arrows, the biggest job of the rest of the people was to bury the corpses of these sacrificed soldiers outside the north gate, and the corpses of the enemy were thrown under the city.

After the crossbow arrows are recovered, let them collect the corpses, if so many corpses are not taken back and buried, it will be easy to produce a plague, and the epidemic can not distinguish between the enemy and me.

Although the army has medicines to prevent the plague, they don't dare to joke with the lives of so many soldiers to try the effects of the medicine.

(End of chapter)