Chai Huaixing took advantage of the wind to slow down at this time, and quietly opened a small slit with his closed eyes, peeking at the desert raging with yellow sand outside. The scene he saw in his eyes was really beyond his expectations, and he saw that everywhere he saw was a thick earthy yellow smoke, and the scene in front of him was really as Tilqi had said before, and it was impossible to distinguish objects within five steps.

At this time, in the raging sandstorm, the heavens and the earth were dyed the same earthy yellow. Even Chai Huaixing, who boasted of his excellent eyesight on weekdays and was able to shoot the incense stigma with a bow from a hundred paces away, was like being blind at this time, he could only hold his head and curl his body against the camel behind him, praying in his heart that this sandstorm would pass as soon as possible.

At this time, the soldiers of the Eighth Legion, who were in the sandstorm, except for occasionally needing to get up and scatter the floating sand buried on their bodies to avoid the fate of being buried alive, could only obediently hide in the sandstorm and wait for the sandstorm to end. Don't think about drinking and eating during this time of the sandstorm, you should know that at this time, don't open your mouth to drink water and eat, even if you just open your mouth to take a breath, you will have to eat a mouth full of sand.

The Eighth Legion was suffering physically and mentally for being in the sandstorm at this time, and the Fifth Legion north of the Roman Mountains was also in a situation where it could not advance or retreat.

Previously, in order to ensure the marching speed of the army, Cheng Yanjin gave up one of the siege heavy equipment in the army, and after besieging Futu City, he realized that the city he surrounded was not as easy to conquer as he imagined.

After several attempts to attack failed to achieve the expected goal, Cheng Yanjin followed the advice of the staff officers and began to organize his siege troops to carry some explosive packs that were still in the experimental stage in the army, and prepared to start a new round of siege operations.

This battle against the Turks was different from the war in the Central Plains, when they were in the Central Plains before, their own army did not need to think about the problem of siege equipment. Generally, as long as the city in front of you is surrounded, then there is a large number of forests on the outskirts of the city for harvesting timber and making siege equipment. But now that I am outside the fortress, and all I can see is the endless steppe, where is there wood for me to make siege equipment?

Soon the new round of siege troops had been organized, and a new round of offensive against Futu City in front of them began under the cover of archers. This time the siege focused on the use of explosives packs to blow up the walls. I don't know who the city built by the Turks in front of me has received guidance, but quicksand was arranged above the city gate, and the direction of the city gate has been completely sealed by quicksand. Moreover, in the experiment, it has been shown that the explosive bag he carries is very destructive to the quicksand, so Cheng Yanjin can only choose to form his army into the sharpest spear, and try to penetrate the wall of Futu City in front of him, which looks the strongest shield.

Soon after, after dropping more than 100 corpses, the besieging troops finally leaned under the city walls, and then set up the fuses that they had lit with their fire sickles after placing the explosives packs. With a few thunderous explosions, these slightly modified explosive packets finally blew down a section of the city wall.

Before the rising smoke could clear, the besieging troops climbed to the top of the city in the ruins of the crumbling city walls, despite the rain of arrows and rolling wood and stones thrown from the city.

Seeing that the banner of Li Zi was planted on the head of the city by the siege troops, Cheng Yanjin, who was watching the military situation in the military camp under the city, hurriedly commanded the remaining troops around him to attack the gap in the city wall to support the troops who had already ascended to the top of the city, so as to avoid them being annihilated by the Turks defending the city.

As more and more troops from the Western Regions poured up from the gap, the Turks who participated in the defense of the city finally couldn't support it and began to retreat towards the city. So, after paying nearly 1,000 casualties, the soldiers of the Fifth Legion finally occupied the walls of Futu City and began to engage in street fighting with the Turks who had retreated into the city.

Not all legions are equipped with heavily armored Mo sword soldiers like the first legion favored by Li Wenyuan, and they can rely on heavily armored Mo sword soldiers to be at the forefront in siege battles to reduce the number of casualties of the army in siege battles.

During the siege of the city, these armies without Mo sword soldiers could only engage in hand-to-hand combat with the defending army in the most brutal and traditional way. However, fortunately, in order to make up for this shortcoming, Li Wenyuan produced a large number of additional handcuffs for the siege troops of various legions.

This kind of handcuff has a short killing distance, but it is a very practical weapon in hand-to-hand combat such as the battle for the city wall. Because the Turks who had seen such advanced weapons as muskets in the interior were either annihilated by Li Wenyuan in the interior, or they were defeated and captured and have not been released back into the grassland. So for the Turkic people of the steppe, this weapon is something they have never seen or heard of.

Therefore, when the Western Regions army reached the top of the city, the Turks brandished their sabers and rushed towards the Western Regions army that had reached the city through the gap, hoping to drive the Western Regions army from the city with their own bravery and numerical superiority.

But what they didn't expect was that these Western Regions troops did not raise their weapons to engage in hand-to-hand combat with them as they imagined, but drew the handcuffs on their waists and fired a volley at them, which caught them off guard and suffered heavy casualties. Cheng Yanjin, who was extremely interested in this new type of firearm in the military academy and had done in-depth knowledge, knew the sharpness and shortcomings of this firearm: the sharpness of this firearm was that it could shoot through the leather armor of the Turks at close range, but the disadvantage was that there was only one shot, and it took a long time to reload after each shot, which was obviously fatal in hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, the siege troops organized by Cheng Yanjin this time are each equipped with four handguns, one can be directly discarded on the ground after shooting, and then the handcuffs on the waist can be used to shoot again, so that the Western Regions army that is fighting in the city can play a large number of barrages in a very short time.

And this effect is indeed as Cheng Yanjin expected, the Turkic army defending the city was obviously deterred by this unknown weapon after suffering a sudden large number of casualties, so that for a while there was no effective offensive to drive down the Western Regions army that had not gained a firm foothold on the top of the city, and it was such a moment of life-saving time that allowed the Western Regions army to gain a firm foothold in the city, and began to suppress the Turks in the city back into Futu City.

(End of chapter)