In fact, the title given by Gawain to Agnes's siege engine is still very vivid, at least from the Toulon garrison on the city walls and towers, or from the infantry of the Dalian Army who gathered around it, it is indeed like a toad with "angry eyes", and the military servants hiding under it, holding rows of wooden poles, keep screaming, squeaking and pushing the "toad" towards the new gate of Nicaea.

On the earthen rampart of the battle, Agnes under the red umbrella cover, she was nervously locked her brows, and her eyes couldn't take her eyes off, although her door has always been inherited by mechanical ingenuity, but it was the first time that the siege engine she designed was put into actual combat, under the clouds and the sun, the "toad" she created seemed to squat in front of her eyes, constantly because of the wooden poles and wheels, making a long whistle, "climbing" close to the new gatehouse and curtain wall guarded by heavy soldiers, and the light fell on the bundles of branches and countless iron thorns hanging on its inclined "back", It exudes colorful colors, exactly the same as the "flower back" of a large toad.

The fire flickered above the city, "Die, monster!" The Roma Turkic soldiers, wrapped in turbans and heavy robes, raised their lit fire pots and fire bowls one after another, and frantically smashed them on the "head" and "back" of the "toad", hoping to burn this terrible siege weapon with the help of fire and wind, but the fire pot was not stable at all on the steep sloping wall, and most of them fell to the ground with flames, and were doused with water by the infantry of the large army, and even if they remained on it, they could not burn the damp bundles of branches.

Smoke and flames surrounded the "toad" and grew larger and larger, and the soldiers and servants who were guarding it all around took the jugs from the camp and splashed them on them with arrows and stones.

"Don't burn it. Tens of millions of them were collapsed, tens of millions of dollars. Come on, toad" This time it was not only Anna and Gawain, but even Agnes clenched her fists. In my heart, I kept begging the Lord to give the "toad" excellent luck.

After a while, the "toad" stood out of the smoke unharmed, and continued to roar proudly, it continued to refract its brilliance, and fearlessly arrived under the walls of the new gate, "The three saints guide us! "All the Byzantine and Dalian infantry continued to rely on this siege machine, raising their weapons and shields and chanting.

"Long live the toad, the toad is invincible, the toad is indestructible!" See this scene. Gawain raised his arms and cheered, and both Anna and Agnes jumped up excitedly, especially the latter, who was about to cry at the sight of this spectacular and touching sight, and couldn't help but forget about Gawain's previous dissatisfaction with the name of the siege engine, and also affectionately fell in love with the name "Toad", its style is: experienced in a hundred battles, proud and unyielding. Talking and laughing, full of energy. Always give people a willful but high-spirited feeling.

And from the battlement, I saw the spikes stretched out by the "toad", and Toulon was about to shout some orders against its own city wall. The besieging soldiers below raised their bows and arrows and crossbows and fired fiercely at him. "Shoot back with arrows, use heavy shuttle darts. Pierce this monster! Toulon, who had retracted, became anxious. Amid the shouts, the Turkic soldiers around the new gate complied with the order to carry all kinds of projectile weapons. Thrown down at the toad, but with sloping walls, iron nails, and reinforced covers. Let their weapons be ineffective at all.

At this moment, there were already brave Roma, flying down from the wall, carrying axes, ready to cut cracks in the back of the "toad", and then pour torches or boiling oil into it. Some people were pierced by iron thorns directly after falling, and some people finally lay on it, just got up and waved the axe, "Shoot, shoot!" The Dalian team and the Byzantine soldiers below raised their bows and arrows in all directions, shooting them off the back of the "toad" one by one.

Eventually, the huge body of the "toad", after inserting the levers and spikes at the front end into the walls of the new gate, trembled several times, and the Roma jumped bravely and tried to destroy it, but they were all shot with bows and arrows by the soldiers covering behind. In the passage formed by raising shields, the military servants of the Dalian camp bent their waists, dragged all kinds of digging tools, and ran in line to the "belly" of the toad, they called noisily, hung several lamps with glass covers on the supports, passed the tools to each other, and then dug hard in the soil under the belly, and kept loading the excavated soil into wicker baskets, and then constantly transported outside.

"Make makeshift fortifications out of wicker baskets." Agnes pointed to the fierce battle ahead and suggested.

All the besieging soldiers did so, and they put together wicker baskets and sharpened wooden frames that had been brought in advance, and erected them in front of the ranks to resist the arrows and stones flying from the city, and began to build a temporary barrier with the "toad" as the core, and the smoke billowed out, and the defenders of Xinmen fought fiercely and at a long distance.

"What the hell is this" Finally, even the alarmed Iben. Mai Mun ran to the gate tower and squinted at the mighty "toad" below, "The infidels are hiding in it to dig the earth, do they want to destroy the city wall or dig a tunnel?" ”

Toulon hurriedly shook his head, meaning that he could not understand either, "If the walls are to be destroyed, a new wall will have to be built behind them." ”

"What if we dig a tunnel? Then not only here, but even the new wall will not help! ”

In short, Maimon says it's a matter of either/or odds.

While they were hesitating, the Dalian team and Tetisius moved decisively and quickly, and Gawain and Tetisius fought desperately, gathering all the military servants, and even the private retinue of the Plonian cavalry were recruited to participate in the work—they first dug a shaft vertically in the center of the "toad", and then divided into three groups of men and horses, and then dug an inverted "T" shaped pit horizontally in three different directions, supported by wooden supports, and continued to extend to the foundation of the city wall.

Although Nicaea and even Constantinople claimed that their walls were full of granite that could not be excavated, that was only a work of art: the servants quickly hollowed out the walls and used more wooden frames to support them, so that in the interior of the "toad" and more than 30 feet on each side, the walls of the new gate were quickly excavated into three empty chambers.

When the herald rode into the camp gate and reported the situation to Gawain on the earthen rampart, Agnes said, "It's time to set it on fire!" ”

"Ignition, ignition!" In the passage behind the toad's buttocks, many more fire huts made of linen, dry grass rolls, and asphalt were passed in one after another, and then along the tunnel, they were concentrated in the empty chamber of the wall supported by wooden frames.

One of the leaders raised his hammer and slammed it on the drum gong that hung on the stand, and with this signal, the three empty chambers threw their torches into it almost in the same second, and the flames burst into flames, and rose violently along the fire and the wooden frame, and then countless people ran out from both sides of the toad. (To be continued.) )