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Sun Shao sat on the throne that once belonged to Warag, but now it belonged to him, the smile on his face suddenly retracted, showing a worried look, he looked at Warag with a flattering face, and sighed: "My King Axum, you have hurt people this time. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

Valag was inexplicable, and the smile on his face was a little stiff: "Why did the king say this? ”

"Don't be deceived by the truth outside, no matter how much Tu Hu is at stake, how many people can he kill? 100,000 Sassanians, Ardashir, this old thing, really looks up to me, and probably brought the main force of the country. Sun Shao sighed and said: "If I wasn't in Axum City, you would have surrendered to him, and you wouldn't be besieged by the army. ”

Warag was proud in his heart, but his face was a little embarrassed, he patted his chest: "What is the king talking about, there are 10,000 elites of the king, plus us Axumes, there are more than 20,000 people guarding the city, even if all the Sassanids come, what can we do?" Is it possible to break through Axum City? Rest assured, my lord, I have been repairing the walls with the help of the generals in the past few months, and the city of Axum is now very strong, and we have plenty of food and water, even if the Sassanids besiege it for two years, it will not be a problem. In two years, even if reinforcements are transferred from Vietnam, they should have arrived. ”

"That's all there is to it." Sun Shao rubbed his eyebrows and muttered with a sad face: "I knew that there were so many Sassanid people, so I should have avoided the limelight first." ”

Waraget secretly sneered twice, and comforted him twice, and then withdrew from the palace and returned to his residence, still maintaining a serious expression, until he entered the secret room, he smiled, and the meekness just now turned into fierceness. Pouring himself a glass and holding it in his hand, he paced back and forth in the narrow secret room, gritting his teeth and muttering to himself.

"The hateful Romans actually gave my country of Axum to the Yue people. Damn Yue people, Axum who occupies me will not leave, hehe, I can't think of it, now you can't leave if you want to, see if I don't let you give me back all the benefits of swallowing, even the bones of the belt. Roman emperors? Hum! It's really useless, I was actually cut off by a barbarian, King Yue? See how wise you are this time, reinforcements? Hahaha......"

The more he thought about it, the happier he became, he craned his neck, drank the wine from his glass, and then sat down on the wide chair, rested his head on the back of the chair, and looked up at the beautifully decorated roof, chattering and sneering. After a while, he muttered again, "Don't be in a hurry, let the Sassanids suffer first, and then contact them, or he won't take me seriously." ”

Perhaps thinking that he was too smart, Warag nodded triumphantly, looked at the empty cup in his hand, and licked his thick lips. He really wanted to drink another glass of wine, but he knew that these were extraordinary times, and if he drank too much, he would make a mistake, and even a word could make him lose his efforts. Ever since he came into contact with Shapur, he has stopped being greedy for cups, so as not to divulge secrets. Originally, he didn't believe what Shapur said, he always felt that the Sassanids could not have the spare strength to help him recover under the attack of the Romans and the Kushans, but now that he believed, the most powerful Romans actually started an internal strife, so that the Sassanids seized the opportunity to force the Kushans to surrender, and the Yueguo, who were originally the safest outside, became the key enemies of the Sassanids.

Waragher had to admit that Shapur's strategy was too far ahead, and as early as the time of the Four-Power Alliance, he probably rebelled against Maximus and laid the most important move. Now he has not only made a contribution himself, but also made Rome a mess, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. There are benefits to working with such people. It's just that Shapur is too powerful, if he doesn't let him realize the role of his Warag, I'm afraid that although he swore in the name of Ahula, he will find a way to get rid of it, and then not only Egypt won't get it, but even his own Aksum won't be able to get it back. Warag carefully measured the strength of the city, and he felt that it would be difficult for the Sassanids to take the city of Axum in the short term, and it would be difficult to rely on the siege alone, because the Yue people were too rich, and Sun Shao had been in Axum for most of the half year, and they had brought enough food to support the city for two or three years. They also dug many new wells and renovated the city, and the city of Axum is now a fortified city.

Could it be that Axum is also going to be a Troy?

Waragarth sneered, with my biggest wooden horse, even Troy will fall.

The question now is how to seize the right moment to get the most out of it.

Waragher looked at the rooftop, carefully considering the possibilities.

With the cooperation of Warag, coupled with the brave battle of Tu Hu, the original atmosphere of Axum has slowly calmed down, the people according to the order, every day to receive the necessary food and drinking water, women and children are gathered in a safe place, the men are organized, to assist the soldiers defending the city to move equipment, the original soldiers of Axum City after more than half a year of training, have been integrated with the Destruction Battalion, obey the command of Ding Feng, Ding Feng divided them into eight thousand teams, take turns to defend the city, The 10,000 Destroyer Battalion left 2,000 elites led by Zhou Yin as Sun Shao's guard, and the other 8,000 people were also divided into 8,000 troops to defend the city together with the Axumes. In order to prevent the shortage of troops, he asked Sun Shao to organize the sturdy slaves in the city, and the more than 200 gladiators who were originally proficient in martial arts were immediately organized into a reserve team and handed over to Tu Hu to lead him personally, ready to rescue possible dangerous places at any time, and the rest were handed over to his subordinates for training. Ding Feng said to them that if you can make meritorious contributions in this war, then you will be free people, and you will even have the opportunity to live a free life in the future, do whatever you want, and never be enslaved by anyone again.

Axum, like Rome, has a large number of slaves, after Sun Shao became the lord of Axum, he has not set out to solve the problem of slaves, one is not to touch the interests of those nobles, and the other is that the time has not come, now under the pretext of war, he uses coercive means to seize slaves from the slave owners, although those nobles are dissatisfied, but they do not dare to move, for fear of being cleaned up by Sun Shao on the charge of collaborating with the enemy, plus Sun Shao immediately promised them that they will be compensated accordingly after the war, and they reluctantly accepted.

In this rectification, Sun Shao has nearly 5,000 more strong, especially the more than 200 gladiators, who are skilled in killing people, if they are incorporated into the army to fight in large legions, they may not be able to play too much role, and if they are led by Tu Hu and used as a firefighting team, it is definitely a sharp sword. These people are used to fighting bravely, they only recognize the strong, and it is not easy for others to command them, only Tu Hu has become an Achilles-like hero because he killed Alpha and other three warriors in a battle, and these gladiators are respectful to him, and even accompany him to be careful when he speaks, lest he annoy him and be killed by him with a punch.

With so many men defending the city, plus plenty of armament, food, and water, the city of Axum was almost flawless. Warag recalled Sun Shao's worries, and was a little puzzled, what was Sun Shao worried about? Although the Sassanids have 100,000 people, they are mainly cavalry, and there are not many people who are really good at attacking cities. Shapur dared to attack the city, but I am afraid that part of the reason is also because of his Varagh, which Sun Shao does not know, what is he worried about?

Warag pondered for a long time, and repeatedly repeated Sun Shao's words and deeds at that time, and after a long time, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and stood up in surprise: "Is he worried that reinforcements won't come?" ”

Thinking of the Sassanid iron cavalry outside the city, Warag suddenly realized that Sun Shao was not worried about the city, but outside the city, there were Sassanians guarding outside the city, probably even if the reinforcements from the Yue Kingdom came, they would not be able to approach Axum City, let alone relieve the siege.

Hehehe...... He still wants to fool me. Wallag chuckled triumphantly. King Yue, King Yue, you are only worried about the outside of the city, but you don't know that the inside of the city is more dangerous, do you really think that Axum is untouchable? Yes, without me, the city of Axum may really be impregnable, and no matter how strong the Sassanids are, they should not be eager to break through the city, but you have forgotten that you have taken my country, how can I still be loyal to you? Let you be proud, and when that day comes, I will definitely let you know how I feel these days, and repay you a hundred times the humiliation I have suffered.

At the thought of that moment, Warag paced the secret room with some restraint.

Half a month later, Ardashir prepared siege equipment and was rewarded by Shapur. The warships of the Yue Kingdom appeared on the sea, but after several small-scale contacts, they found the light cavalry led by Shapur, and they did not dare to fight, so they stayed on the beach and did not go ashore, waiting for a large number of reinforcements to arrive, and it seemed that it would be difficult to have any large-scale battles in the short term.

Ardashir had anticipated this, and he immediately ordered the siege of the city, giving the city a dismount first, and reversing the depression caused by Alpha's death. He lined up an army of 80,000 on all sides and attacked at the same time, and as soon as he found that the defense of any gate was weak, he immediately led a heavy army to press it.

With the melodious sound of trumpets one after another, the heralds rushed back and forth, and the slaves were bare-chested, showing their oily muscles, and roaring neatly trumpets, pushing the tall stone throwers to the front of the formation. The archers stood out of range, ready to attack, and the siege soldiers looked at the city from afar, suppressing the tension and fear in their hearts.

Sun Shao sat on the highest city wall, holding clairvoyance, looking at Ardashir in the distance through the hanging wooden curtains. These curtains were newly developed by the craftsmen to deal with the stone throwers, and all the important buildings were hung with such wooden curtains on the outside, and some of them were not even up to one floor, as if they had put a piece of wooden armor on the city of Axum.

"The Sassanids must want to break the city in one battle, and the posture is not small." Sun Shao teased.

The Wallag, who was next to him, said with a smile: "I think they are dreams, with the king in charge, the city of Axum is impregnable...... So what soup? ”

"Solid." Sun Shao added with a smile.

"Chen is really stupid, I haven't learned this word until now." Valag said ashamedly.

"Wallag, don't be presumptuous, your current Chinese level is already very good." Sun Shao laughed, pointed to the soldier over there and said, "You must know that even among my Han people, there are not many people who can know this word." You're a learned person. ”

"Thank you, King, for the compliment." Warag laughed more and more happily, and pointed to the Sassanids outside the city and said, "The minister will accompany the king here today to see how we Yue people beat the Sassanids to the ground." ”

"Good, good." Sun Shao nodded again and again with great satisfaction, and his eyes were full of appreciation and relief when he looked at Warag, and Warag became more and more respectful.

The sound of the trumpets became more and more urgent, and the Sassanid archers slowly moved forward amid the sound of the trumpets, and at the forefront was a row of giant shields, each one of which was a man high, carried by two soldiers, and the archers hid behind the giant shields, cautiously approaching the walls. In order to cover them, the stone-throwing machine that was already in place began to roar, shooting oil-soaked grass balls into the sky, drawing flames in the blue sky, flying towards the city like thunder.

"Ready!" Ding Feng waved his hand and gave the order calmly. The bannermen waved the banner in their hands, the drummer threw out his arms and beat a huge cowhide war drum, the low drum sound echoed over the city of Axum, and the soldiers at the head of the city took their positions, clenched their weapons, and stared at the enemy who was getting closer and closer. The people of the city took refuge in designated corners to avoid being hit by the flying fireballs.

"Boom!" The fireballs slammed into the rawhide, mud-coated wooden curtain one after another, and the wooden curtain shook violently, making people very worried that it would be shattered, but they were magically intact, only shook a few times, and fell back again, and those fireballs that hit the wooden curtain were partially decompressed, although some still hit the walls or buildings, but did not achieve the desired effect, just exploded, and sparked everywhere. The people of the city, who were ready, immediately stepped forward to clear the places that might cause the fire. The city of Axum is dominated by earthen and stone walls, there are not many wooden structures, and most of the houses are also protected, so although the streets seem to be full of flames, there is not much danger.

Sun Shao observed the city for a while, and saw that although those people were busy, they were not chaotic, so he couldn't help nodding secretly, the Axum people are used to fighting, and this kind of psychological quality is not ordinarily good, and it is not a little bit stronger than those who are used to the peace.

"Warag, the people of Axum are very calm, you have merit." Sun Shao patted Valagher on the shoulder affectionately.

"It's all the king's wisdom." Warag nodded at Tu Hu in a blink of an eye: "And General Tu's bravery, the people are at ease." ”

"Actually." Sun Shao picked up a glass of wine from the case, tasted it, and said to Warag very mysteriously: "I am not afraid of the Sassanians attacking the city, I am afraid that the Sassanids will not attack the city." ”

Warag blinked, and said with some puzzlement, "What does the king mean by this?" Why are you not afraid that the Sassanids will attack the city, but that the Sassanids will not attack the city? ”

"You see, we have so many elite soldiers, and so many people to support us, who is Axum City afraid of? If he attacks the city, we will not have any losses, but their losses are very large, and if they can't take the city, their morale will be hit again, and after a long time, will he still be able to support it? After a few months of fighting, he couldn't even touch the city wall, so he could only retreat, and the siege would be solved, so I was not afraid of him attacking the city. If he doesn't attack the city, and has been surrounded like this, that's a troublesome thing, you think, I just have these troops, and there is no cavalry, if I go out of the city to fight, I will lose, and if I don't go out of the city, I can't hurt his muscles and bones, the two can only be so consumed, when will the siege be lifted? ”

Wallagram's eyebrows moved, and he smiled secretly in his heart, sure enough, he didn't count on reinforcements, so he had to rely on himself. In this way, the Sassanid siege was indeed beneficial to him, and if nothing else, look at the wooden curtains, which he thought were useless even if they could be blown by the wind, but now it seemed that they were really effective against the fireballs thrown by the catapults, at least half of the power. It's just that Sun Shao probably didn't expect that although he saved Axum City by doing this, he couldn't save his own life.

"The king has a point, but the Sassanids certainly don't think of it."

"Hahaha, these barbarians, where do they understand these truths." Sun Shao pointed out of the city in a high-spirited manner, "I'll let you see what my city-guarding crossbow looks like when it wields its might." ”

Warag looked along his fingers, and saw that more than a dozen crossbows installed on the city wall were adjusting their direction, and the crossbowmen were crouching in front of the crossbow arms, putting their eyes on a clairvoyant, carefully correcting the direction, and after a while, more than a dozen observers retreated to their original positions, raising the green pennant in their hands, and the strong crossbow captain in charge of the command on the city tower shouted, and waved the order flag in his hand, and the crossbowmen in front of the more than a dozen crossbows in front of the city crossbow raised the huge wooden hammer in their hands at the same time, and attacked with all their might.

Almost with the same loud bang, a dozen spear-like crossbow arrows flew out with afterimages, the roar of the crossbow strings was still in my ears, and the crossbow arrows had already flown dozens of paces away, and then turned their heads downwards and slammed into several stone throwers in the Sassanid array. Waragher noticed that the dozen or so city-guarding crossbows were not fighting on their own, they seemed to have already arranged, and about three or four city-guarding crossbows were aimed at the same target, and they cooperated very tacitly.

Just as Warrag guessed their intentions, more than a dozen crossbow arrows had already flown in front of the parabolic stone, nearly half of them hit the target directly, and the rest were not too far from the target. The bolts that hit the target suddenly burst into flames, and then the catapults caught fire, and the bolts that had landed near the catapults were also on fire, and the Sassanids panicked in their array, and the rhythm of the attack was greatly affected. The defenders at the head of the city, however, were so encouraged that they shifted their direction to their next objective.

"Big ...... Why, King...... Will it catch fire? Waragher said in surprise.

"Secret." Sun Shao said mysteriously: "This is a heavenly fire specially prepared for the Sassanids, you look at it, I will make Ardashir suffer." ”

Seeing that Sun Shao didn't say anything, Warag didn't dare to inquire more, so he had to pay attention to himself. It seems that I still don't know much about the affairs of the Yue people, and it is right to decide to postpone one a step and contact the Sassanids, and when the Sassanids are beaten by the Yue people, I will give them news again, then it is called valuable.

The Sassanids were a little caught off guard by the counterattack in the city, and lost a few catapults at once, but fortunately they had a large number of catapults, and the loss of a few did not have much impact on them, and after calming the busy emotions of the slaves, they replaced the struck catapults, pushed new ones and continued to fire, one after another fireballs flew into the city.

Ardashir had been watching the city's reaction, and he felt that something was wrong. Those fireballs hit the city wall and sparked everywhere, looking mighty, but he knew that these were just good-looking, no matter how big the fire was, it would not hurt the city wall in the slightest, but would cause trouble to the soldiers who were besieging the city behind, and he had high hopes that those fireballs that flew into the city would bring panic to the city if they could cause a fire in the city, or destroy some major buildings, especially the royal palace, and at the same time destroy the high ground suitable for lookout points, affecting the city's observation of the overall situation. But now the attack has been on for a long time, and the fireballs that have flown into the city have not been three hundred but two hundred, but there has been no sign of fire in the city, and the highest royal palace is unharmed.

Could it be that the things that have been beaten to shake are working? So what is it that can stop the fireball thrown by the catapult? Ardashir was confused and puzzled. He looked at the palace, which was tightly covered by a wooden curtain, and he knew that Sun Shao must have been there watching him, maybe he still had a smug smile on his face now, but he couldn't think about it.

While Ardashir was pondering, the archers had already come into range under the cover of the giant shield, and they lowered their wooden shields, drew their bows and arrows at the sound of the trumpet, and fired their bows and arrows into the city.

The Sassanids were dominated by cavalry, the most powerful being the heavy cavalry, which did not shoot arrows, and relied on a powerful impact to directly crush the opponent's position, especially against the Roman infantry phalanx. The light cavalry was mainly mercenaries of subordinate tribes, and they used cavalry bows with a range of about sixty or seventy paces, mainly to disturb the opponent and create opportunities for the heavy cavalry to charge into battle. The infantry is an auxiliary arm in the Sassanid establishment, and they usually do some logistics work, and there are not many opportunities to go into battle, and there are not many opportunities to start the main force of the siege like today, and most of them are only equipped with bows, and the range is at most about 100 paces, and if they want to attack the enemy at the head of the city, they must get as close to the city wall as possible under the cover of the giant shield.

And they obviously didn't expect that in the eyes of the Han people, who are experts in defending the city, it would be too childish to attack with such archers, you must know that the worst in the hands of the defenders at the head of the city is also a three-stone crossbow with a range of about one hundred and twenty steps, and there are not a few crossbows of five and six stones, and even the exaggerated ten-stone crossbow has dozens of them, and the two sides are not on the same starting line in terms of range.

What's more, the crossbows of the Yue Kingdom are all repeaters improved by Ma Jun and others, and their strong combat effectiveness has been confirmed in countless battles, and today, these crossbows are going to let the Sassanids know what is a weapon to defend the city.

Seeing that the Sassanid archers entered the firing range, Ding Feng's face showed a cruel smile, he waved his hand and shouted to Yu An: "Order, all the crossbowmen will shoot in echelons." ”

"Whoa." Yu An's white face also showed a fierce aura that was extremely inconsistent with his image, and he raised the colorful flag in his hand high.

Seeing the signal on the city tower, more than a dozen roars sounded at the head of the city at the same time: "Crossbowmen, prepare—"

The crossbowmen, who were already eager to try, held their breath and put their fingers on the crossbow machine.

(To be continued)