But the officers were stern, saying that this was a death order from His Excellency Sebastoprat, and that they were only responsible for carrying it out strictly. Samuelfa shook his head uncontrollably, and said bitterly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the recipe for the Imperial Fire is not only on paper, but also on me, originally His Majesty the Emperor should have properly protected me in the armory factory next to the Grand Palace, but now not only left me in Fort Sophia, but also left six launchers, and a lot of fuel and potions, if this castle falls, then the secret of the Empire's weapons for hundreds of years will also be revealed, which is much more important than just Fort Sophia." So, ladies and gentlemen, I think you should prepare your horses now and send me back to the imperial capital first. ”

These words almost did not make the leading officer draw his sword and kill him on the spot.

Soon, the slaves in the fortress ordnance workshop could only line up, carrying cowhide blocks, long tubes, launch racks, and fuel canisters, and climbed the city head and guard wall where stone bullets were flying, and placed the launchers according to the layout of three up and three down.

At the same time, under the city, Godfrey, after observing in detail the extent of the damage to the opponent's city wall, made a slogan to the winged men and horses, "Push the siege towers, capture the walls of the Greeks", and then under the empty sky, several beast-like siege towers, driven by many light infantry, rumbled against the wall of Sophia, between the broken walls, many Turkic soldiers hired by Byzantium, still stubbornly holding bows and arrows, lit the arrows and kept shooting, but they were soon bombarded by seven trebuchets, It is dispersed like insects and mosquitoes caught by fireworks.

A total of five siege towers, lined up in a formation of two in the front and three in the back, surrounded by infantry with shields. Many noble counts and knights rode behind to suppress the battle. On the hill, Gawain gazed intently at the battle of bows and arrows inside and outside the walls. Then he said to the heralds, "Two infantry companies." Approach in layers on the left flank, but warn everyone not to push the siege towers to the side of the walls at once, in case the enemy uses tactics and destroys them at the same time. ”

"Gawain, are you worried about what that stupid imperial brother will do?" Riding a horse and wearing a cloak to accompany her, Kabeamia said disdainfully, "The Komnenos have a lot of handsome characters, but Isaac is definitely only a third-rate person, and the reason why he can become the second person in the empire." It was all because of the emperor's trust in his kinship. ”

"As an enemy, I don't want to take anything down on you, including Isaac as you mentioned, even if he is as mediocre as he is, but with so many soldiers and strong walls, he is still a formidable opponent. Kabeamia, when I fought with you, I also studied your team in detail, and only then did I use the cavalry assault method. "That's what I said. Obviously, the female consul was unwilling and uncomfortable, so she turned her head angrily and stopped talking to him.

At this time, Sophia's castle was next to the walls of the river. The infantry of Gawain, Godfrey, and Baldwin lined up in dense formations, armed with shields and weapons. There was a loud shout of fighting, a squeaky sound. Two siege towers, one on the left and one on the right, approached the city walls.

Now. On the tower of the inner city wall, Isaac. Surrounded by guards and generals, Komnenos raised his horsewhip triumphantly, "Give Samuelfa an order to breathe out flames and destroy the enemy's guts and courage!" Hahaha! ”

"Your Excellency, please don't do this for the time being, we only have six Guardian Fire Devices, and if we breathe fire at the same time, the enemy will easily be able to figure out their location, and if we attack again, we will not be able to deal with them." At this time, the young general Branas reminded again, but this time there was no good luck, and Isaac angrily pushed him away, "O lowly shepherd of Thrace, you don't need to dictate the victory here, watch the enemy fall apart!" ”

The guards between the towers immediately pulled the ropes in their hands, one after another, and soon followed the dark holes, in the various war rooms under the city walls, the shooting gear of the Imperial Fire, and the bells hanging from its ceiling all rang rapidly, and Samuelfa sighed strangely, "Obviously the enemy only has two siege towers approaching, why is it that even if I am not approached, the bell has also moved?" But the order was like a mountain, and Samuelfa did not be confused for long, so he told the soldiers to roll up the concealed leather hanging from the outside of the shooting hole, and then fierce arrows flew in from here, and when they were all blocked by the cowhide hanging in front of the shooting gear, "Shoot, shoot!" The engineer shouted, and then the reddish-yellow flames swelled up in the war room, pulling the figure of the man from the stone wall: a full six defensive fires, and at the same time spewed a dazzling fire dragon on the walls of Fort Sophia, and then the two siege towers burst into flames, this "Roman fire" once it was attached to the wooden equipment, it was difficult to remove it, and the special viscous fuel could continue to burn, although it did not seem terrifying at first glance, but it was very tricky to deal with.

The other four dragons, having no target to attack, fell into the besieging group of infantry, and there were many lightly armed men, screaming and falling full of flames, still saved by their companions, but to no avail—this effect, the siege towers were set on fire, and the infantry soon retreated frantically, ignoring the rebukes of the military judges and nobles, and no one could voluntarily and fearlessly endure the burning of such flames and filthy liquids without indifference.

"It's really Gawain, it seems that you and the elite division of West Francia are nothing more than that." Looking at the tragic collapse of the siege formation, Kabeamia said proudly, and soon one of the burning and deformed siege towers collapsed horizontally, and the dazzling flames that rose illuminated Gawain and her faces, "There is no need to continue to move forward, pull back the three siege towers behind, so as not to sacrifice senselessly." Gawain's mood was calm and calm.

And over there, Isaac, who saw all this from the tower, was overflowing with excitement, and kept whipping the battlements with his horsewhip, as if he was still resentful in his heart for evacuation, "Behold, the enemy has burned us away like ants, and as long as there is a fire of defense, Fort Sophia is an iron barrier that they cannot pass, unless they bow their heads and accept the conditions of their brother." ”

Soon after, when the defenders of Fort Sophia began to reorganize the towers of the walls, the Red Hand infantry on the left flank began to rest on the hills, and they, like the other pilgrims, had just been defeated, and it was unclear what new orders the Grand Duke would have to adjust next. On the hillside, Gawain, who had been supervising the battle, dismounted, crossed his waist, and looked at Fort Sophia in contemplation, while Cabeamia also looked at the archduke with a little nervousness and curiosity, not knowing what good way he could think of from the defeat just now.

"How many flames did you just spew?" Gawain said.

"Hmm, six ways." Kabeamia replied.

Gawain nodded, then he raised his finger and carefully pointed in front of the entire Sophia Castle, "It seems that Isaac, this guy, is simply flashy and uncontrollable, he should have exposed all the jet points, including three in the battle path of the city wall, and three in the war room hidden in the wall, which are staggered." Giovanni, Ander Odart! Draw this picture and make it into a sand table model! ”

In the tent after dark, when the knights and noblewomen were marveling at the incredible power of the "Roman fire" (Greek fire), and when Godfrey began to frown, Gawain said in surprise, "Tomorrow we will organize a new infantry company and infantry regiment, and use the remaining three siege towers to capture the wall in front of Sophia in one go." ”

All eyes immediately turned to Gawain, and then the Grand Duke of Barry made a move, and Giovanni brought in a delicate model of Sophia's sand table, which was the result of his many days of careful surveying, and immediately made people from West Francia feel refreshed. Many counts even asked, "What is this, and what is the use of it in battle?" ”

"This is the necessary skill of the commanders of the Greek Empire, the enemy you and me face to face, that is, to put a condensed model of the battlefield and fortress in front of them, and study in detail the strategy of defeating the enemy." Gawain explained that after the fall of Charlemagne's empire, most of the military aristocracy in the Franks and Germanlands believed in the "mount, sword, spear, and charge" mentality, and those who were willing to study the battlefield and tactics carefully were simply outliers.

Although Giovanni was a mere squire of Lombardy, he served as a minor officer in the previous Lombard League many times, fought against the German Empire, and the local people have always worshiped ancient Roman customs, so he is also quite familiar with tactical texts and sand table operations, and then he quickly used red wheat grains to dig into the model of the city wall, "Here, here, and here, all are the location of the enemy's Greek fire, and the contemptible people have seen the ships of the Greek emperor use these things in the battle of the Adriatic, They're powerful, but they're hard to move, once they're fixed. ”

"Here and here are their dead spots." The astute Baldwin immediately understood, and quickly walked to the sand table model, pointing to the two positions of the city wall, "If you want to attack tomorrow, you must strengthen the offensive from these two points." ”

"That's right." Gawain said, and then he looked at the Duke and the Counts.

"Just follow the plan of the priesthood, I will concentrate the four infantry regiments here." Godfrey quickly made up his mind, "Then put the two infantry regiments under the command of His Excellency Gawain." ”

"Very well, I will combine two infantry companies with your reinforcements and concentrate them here to attack. The two points are done at the same time, and the action must be swift and not give Isak a chance to breathe and adjust. ”

"Don't charge indiscriminately, use more flags and horns to communicate." At this moment, Baldwin told several martial artists around him.

"As long as we can occupy the wall on the front, our army will be victorious, because the Grand Duke has another hand." Gawain is very confident, and it seems that he has other tricks. (To be continued.) )