When night fell, the fort of Sophia was brightly lit and revelry, and the engineer Samuelfa did not go down to drink and have fun, but lay down on the chairs of the war room worriedly, and said to the rest of the guards, "I really shouldn't have spewed flames to-day, burning a few of the enemy's dusty minions, but exposing them all, and if the enemy really came, their siege towers and ladders would avoid the fire of the guards, and then it would be a bad thing for Lord Sebastoprat." ”

The other soldiers, rolling up the curtain that covered it, took advantage of the cool breeze that blew in after dark, looked at the countless bonfires under the city, laughed easily, and said that the engineer's mind should be clearer, and after speaking, he took away the wine cup and wine in his hand, "Don't worry, there are tens of thousands of troops in Sophia's fort, and those Gallic Frankish barbarians can't invade." They knew nothing but riding horses and howling like beasts, and the flying flames of our empire had sparked them. ”

At this point, Samuelfa had nothing to say, so he leaned back, and let out a slight sigh of foreboding, while the other guards ignored him, and all sat down on the side of the shooting gear and began to drink and laugh.

The east soon showed the whiteness of the fish's belly, but the walls on this side could not feel the sun, and they shone straight into the camp of the pilgrims of West Francia, and the river reflected a golden yellow light, and in the autumn wind, and in the swaying grass, a noble lady with a cross walked out of the tent a little shyly, and came to a secluded bush, and said to two or three maids with jugs, "I will come first." And then you have to exert yourself and pour into it all the savings of last night. This is God's will and mercy - the engineers who accompanied the army said, with urine. In particular, a woman's urine can effectively extinguish that terrifying flame. ”

After saying this, the women fell to their knees in a row, "May the Lord pour out the divine power into our urine and bring blessings to the warriors of the pilgrimage, so that their swords and armor will not be afraid of the fire of the Greeks." When she was done, she removed the hem of her skirt and there was a tinkling and tinkling sound, not only here but soon all around the camp was filled with this grand "music". Then, in the midst of the white poplar flowers, the maids and servants sealed the jars of the "Holy Urine of the Noble Lady" and loaded them into the mule carts, and then sent them to the wooden fence of the front, where the craftsmen and servants were carrying these instruments up the siege towers, and many of the pilgrims saw this, and they wept with excitement when they saw it. He drew his sword and prayed for blessings, hoping to go to the soup for this group of noble ladies right away.

Swords, armor, and banners fluttered like a sea of rage, and soon caught the attention of the Sophia Castle garrison. At that time, according to the predetermined duties, many Byzantine soldiers who had been defending the city all night were too sleepy to be able to do so. Their battalion officer had just walked down and asked for a replacement in the barracks. But most of the officers and men were drunk during last night's revelry - including Supreme Commander Isaac. Komnenos did not expect that the army of West Francia would organize a second siege so quickly.

"Quick. Hurry up, the enemy is coming to attack the city! With this shout, Samuelfa, who had been sleeping in the countryside, also jumped up, and several soldiers in the war room hurriedly began to operate the fire of the guard, "Three siege towers, just facing our shooting holes. I don't know who poked his head out, and then said it to the others with excitement on his face, and the laughter and ridicule rang out, and even Samuelfa felt a little at ease, and sure enough, these Gallic barbarians were all brainless, and they were much more stupid than the Normans.

In Hessesen's perforation, a terrifying hose soon stretched out, like a terrifying sea beast's tongue that eats people without sticking out bones. But the Franks had no intention of eating a trench and growing wise, and they pushed and pulled the huge siege towers with rolling logs and ropes, and pushed them towards the walls without hesitation.

Below, with the wave of the craftsmen, the levers of the seven stone throwers swung non-stop, and the rolling stone bullets flew out continuously, smashing and smashing the city wall that had just been repaired at the head of the city again, and the defenders on the city head were killed and wounded heavily, and the manpower of the backup could not come up at all, and even the shooting gear point that got the double-layer city wall guard to guard the fire of the guard, the personnel who controlled it could not raise their heads, "Tell the flames in the city wall war room to shoot out, burn the enemy's siege towers, and force them to retreat!" One officer turned his head and shouted at the central tower, and several officers and soldiers in between, after watching the angry attack of the Frankish pilgrims below the city, pulled the ropes in the hidden hole of the trap in turn.

The bell rang again, Samuelfa raised the small flag in his hand, and the two soldiers squinted their eyes and looked through the perforations at the siege tower, on which there were still dangling jars and jars, but the rope gangplank had not yet been put down, and after praying twice, they put their feet on the mechanism pedal.

But soon Samuelfa panicked, "The speed of the enemy's siege towers is simply too fast!" ”

As he spoke, the black shadow cast by the siege tower had already flooded the entire shooting hole and war room: the siege tower suddenly increased its speed in the shout, "We were fooled, there are no siege soldiers in the tower at all!" Stop shooting! Samuelfa hurriedly threw down the small flag and pushed away a soldier who was ready to step on the pedal, but the other one did not stop, and the huge roar burst into flames in the city wall in an instant, and the cyan, orange, and red flames burst and overflowed along the gap between the siege tower and the stone wall, like the letter of the hydra, hissing and licking, and at once devoured the guards around the shooter, Samuelfa expelled the heat wave out of the war room, followed the ladder, and planted directly backwards into the alley more than ten feet below the inner wall, The several chests of linen under him were all crushed by his body, and the engineer's face was blackened, and he struggled in pain - his leg must have been broken, and he watched the flames falling from the walls fall around him, and although he was in extreme danger, he could not move, and could only beg for mercy and help from the Holy Apostles and the Lord in fear.

Three huge fireworks rose at the same time on the frontal wall of Fort Sophia, which was two and a half long stadias, shaking and burning violently, as if it had suffered an earthquake: Samuelfa guessed correctly, there were no soldiers in the three siege towers, so the Franks below pushed it very quickly, their speed in advance was all camouflaged, and the noble lady's urinal hanging outside was also hidden from people's eyes, and the tower contained many flammable things, which suddenly accelerated when they approached the city wall, blocking the Greek fire that shot out of the wall, An explosive effect was formed, destroying the enemy's war room.

"Giovanni, Bramson, siege!" Seeing this, Gao Wen's demeanor was stable, but he could see the smile on the corner of his mouth, and he chopped off the halberd in his hand. (To be continued.) )