Gawain waved his hand, and the military servants behind him, carrying linen bags or holding clay pots, walked over one after another.

"In accordance with my merciful decision beforehand, I have released the two hundred of you, the weakest and the oldest. But as soon as they got to Amasa, they had eaten their fill, took up their swords, and came to kill my soldiers. And the rest of you, many of whom are in better health, may have given up my previous mercy and burned you all. As soon as Gawain's words landed, the Crescentists were so frightened that they fell to their knees, raised their hands, begged the Grand Duke's forgiveness, and began to curse the two hundred people who had done wrong.

After a while, Gawain took the opportunity to say that he could forgive, but "when I release another 1,500 people soon, I will choose the weakest one among you, and so on." and withhold your food for two days, so that even if you go to Amasa, you will not be able to join his ranks at once. ”

The imprisoned believers immediately verbally stated that this strategy was very good, but they accumulated greater resentment in their hearts, and secretly swore to Allah that when they could go to Amasa, when the city of Antioch was captured, they would slaughter all the Greeks, Franks, and Normans.

The next day, when the sun had risen, Kobuha, on the other side of the Orontes River, had concentrated their forces and fought steadily, and Ridwan to the north finally punched - until noon, when Raymond and Robert abandoned the hill, and led their men to shrink the line again, and continued to hold around the Iron Bridge Fortress. Now the prince of Kobha could finally see the wide and turbulent Orontes River, and he could also see the fortifications of Gawain and Amasa on the other side, but it was of no avail, because he could not cross it, and Raymond, who came from South Gaul, was still holding the bridge and the fortress, the only bridge.

But Kobha always had a way, he first mobilized his soldiers, built a narrow camp along the riverbank, and then found a group of subordinates who knew the nature of the water, "After nightfall, you go into the water, and when you have determined which section of the water is shallow, you swim over and raise fire signs on the opposite bank." I will arrange for my followers to meet you, and then I will stand firm, build a pontoon bridge, flank the camp on the opposite bank, and cooperate with Amasa to take it! ”

At the same time, on the wall near the river, Gawain frowned and squinted, and also saw the position of Kobha on the opposite bank, and saw the busy dusty figures of his soldiers, so he called Giovanni, the military judge, "How is the situation on the Amasa side?" ”

"He is gathering his men, and it seems that he also sees that his master, the prince of Mosul, is only a river away from him, and is coming to continue attacking us with full emotion." Giovanni replied.

Gawain then followed the firing port and pointed to the other side, "I will immediately command the battle line of the city gate tower, and you will ask Gregor for three hundred soldiers, half on horseback and half with bows and crossbows, and go out through the small gate of the barracks, and lurk in the pastures by the river to keep watch, and if at night there is a fire, you will have the soldiers with bows and crossbows raise fire on the banks of the deepest part of the river; Then you personally take the rest of the cavalry and rush in the direction of the opponent's fire. ”

After the arrangement was completed, Gawain hurried down the road behind the flat-head wall to the city gate tower, and then saw that Amasa must have called his subordinate Persian craftsmen overnight to create a new siege machine.

In the middle of the dense Turkic siege troops, a huge towering wooden tower with sills was erected, far above the city, and was fastened with ropes on all sides. Gawain needed to look up to see it, and conversely, the other party's craftsmen stayed on this wooden threshold tower, enough to look down on most of the Orontes stronghold, and see their details and reality clearly.

"Grand Duke, this is their command center, and the craftsmen in it can use Persian mathematical tools to detect our artillery positions and correct the firing points of the enemy's catapults." Gedier, who was beside Gawen, scratched at his dry hair.

"Don't pay attention to it, no matter how magical that wooden threshold tower is, it can't enter the city. Gedier, you take a closer look at the other siege equipment in the ranks of the enemy. What is that! Gawain pointed to the wheeled carts at the front of the enemy queue and asked, saying that these vehicles were completely different from yesterday's wheeled small stone-throwing carts, and they seemed to be under the cover of the stone-throwing machine to deal with his camp defense system.

Gedier looked at one of them, four wheels, with wooden frames on either side, and a reel shaft in between, but all of them were grappling hooks, trapezoidal spades, and rectangular rakes, and some vehicles were suspended from water-soaked leather on levers, and some were hung with wind-blowing skins.

"Grand Duke, only a small number of soldiers are left to stick to the first two sub-wall defense lines, and the rest of the soldiers are all ambushed between the chest belt wall and the city gate, and the guarding equipment on the head of our city must also be operated!" Gedier shouted excitedly and worriedly, and Gawain cheered up the soldiers above and below the city, "Soldiers of Gimages, your time has come to win glory!" ”

On that side, the drumbeat of the Turkic siege procession sounded like a torrential rain, and many people carried dry firewood, straw bales, and fire pots, and shields, guarding these exquisite special siege vehicles in front and behind, and approached the Orontes camp step by step.

Behind them, on the towering wooden tower, the Persian craftsmen were constantly comparing and measuring with thread pendants, curved rulers, and other things, and then stood on them loudly, calling out the weight of the stone projectiles and the number of ropes used to cast the drag, one by one, to the gunners of the stone-throwing machines below.

Soon, the cannon hit the stone, this time it was no longer as overwhelming as yesterday, but three or four rounds, three or four rounds flew in, and the accuracy of the head was particularly improved, the city gate tower where Gawain was, a section of dog-footed wood was smashed under the first wave of shots, and a warrior beside Gawain was hit by the falling log, covering his badly injured and bleeding legs, lying next to the Grand Duke, but he didn't dare to moan, just gritted his teeth and shook his head, so as not to let other people see this miserable appearance, so as not to affect morale, until his comrades carried him down.

Next, the stone bullets thrown by the besieging party became more and more accurate and more and more powerful, many flat-headed walls were pierced, and a few unlucky people were directly hit, holding the stone bullets and falling backwards into the trench or barracks, and the death was very miserable. However, the soldiers of the Kemagis Brigade showed more stoic composure, and once a certain wall was broken, they would crouch on the left and right of it with all kinds of materials and equipment, and wait until the time between the enemy's stone projectiles was fired, and then they began to repair it frantically.

Between the intricate sub-walls outside the city, groups of soldiers of the Gemmageis Brigade also reminded each other in a low voice, carrying various weapons on their backs, except for a few people who remained on the platform to observe the enemy's movements, they withdrew towards the chest tie wall and the city gate. (To be continued.) )