Cavite is a small city with a population of only 20,000.

Surrounded by large natural palm groves and just 30 miles from the royal capital of Manila, this city has long been regarded as the northern gateway to Manila. The vast expanse of land between Mindola and Manila is the only small city that can barely provide a barrier to Manila.

The two soldiers of the right battalion of the royal capital army, a total of 1,000 people, were stationed here.

Realizing that the Matsue Army was likely to forcibly start the war, Manila urgently transferred 4,000 men from the reorganized Northern Corps recruits to strengthen Cavite's defenses. In this way, the Duchy of Luzon had 5,000 defenders in the northern gateway. According to the Principality's estimates, even if the enemy attacks fiercely, it can easily hold on for a week, or even more than ten days, and inflict a lot of casualties on the enemy!

It would be better if the enemy avoided Cavite and attacked the royal capital of Manila. The 5,000 defenders stationed in the city could strike out from the enemy's rear at any time and cut off their food routes and retreats if necessary.

Out of great importance to this place, the emperor of the Duchy of Luzon, Suleiman V, personally sent a confidant general, Gars, to guard the place.

After the news of the Matsue army's march south, Prince Rahman did not hesitate to take the risk and personally visited Garth in Krabi and offered the general several insidious methods. After the discussion, Gars did as he was told. Stealing poison from the water source outside the city, and sending some local soldiers who are familiar with the terrain to lead a sneak attack on the enemy in the woods, harassing and delaying their march as much as possible.

This even includes some of the techniques and traps commonly used by hunters.

Do these methods work?

In itself, the effect is good, but the use of the Songjiang army is greatly reduced. The reason is very simple, although the Matsue army is an outsider, it has recruited Agno and other officers. But there are locals and news channels. Some of the common tactics of North Luzon could not be concealed from the locals who were pulled to guide the way. In addition, the road was opened in front of the North Luzon Garrison Division. Gals's series of actions only caused nearly 100 casualties in North Luzon's own people. The Songjiang army that came from afar was almost unscathed!

For how much cannon fodder these want, He Shixiang doesn't care. Even if all of them are lost, the Matsue Army can be re-recruited.

As for the question of water sources, it was indeed a difficult problem for the Matsue Army. However, He Shixiang also made preparations in advance and chose the location of the camp next to a nearby river. Although it is not as good as well water, it must be precipitated and boiled before it can be drunk, but the Songjiang Army has such a rule since its beginnings, and it is not too troublesome. It's nothing more than a little farther away from Krabi Dicheng. During the day, it is necessary to walk a little longer during the siege.

But that's nothing compared to the water problem. If you don't want to run away, you can take Krabi Dicheng as soon as possible.

The day after the camp was settled, the Matsue army tried to start the siege.

Perhaps because of the important topography of Krabi Dicheng, its defense level is not bad, comparable to a city of the same level as the Songjiang Army. On the slightly old city walls, there are still faint traces of temporary reinforcement. Since there were 5,000 men, the number of troops in the city was very large, and the northern wall looked like a banner and armor.

There's no such thing as a moat, though. But in Northern Luzon, where siege warfare is rare, this defense is already quite tight.

It's a pity that compared to the Songjiang army, which has reached a certain level of siege attainment. This point of defensive preparation is not enough.

As many as ten small stone throwers were pushed to the front of the line, which had been scattered to the front line and were put back together only last night. Although they were not familiar with it, the Luzon soldiers at the head of the city could probably guess the purpose of this thing, and their faces were somewhat flustered. The veterans of the two Wangdu legions were okay, and they didn't lose their breath, but the recruits who had only been trained for a few days were a little shaken, and they barely quieted down after being scolded by the veterans and officers next to them.

Under their watchful eye, the trebuchet began to test fire calibration.

Because it was put together. It is necessary to make some adjustments, hence the opening three shots. None of the stone projectiles thrown were accurate. Even in the best round, the closest to the wall was still five or six meters away. More went straight over the walls and were thrown behind them.

This somewhat miserable hit rate made the Luzon soldiers feel a lot more at ease - they thought that the Songjiang army's stone throwers were only at this level.

Even Gals, who was nervous, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the moment. After all, before this, the Imperial people completely annihilated the Northern Army and the Medan Army in a very short period of time, which put great pressure on him. But after seeing it with his own eyes, his worries were much less.

However, Matsue soon fought back with more force than he had imagined.

With the initial completion of calibration, the ten stone throwers were uniformly reloaded with stone projectiles that kill infantry. The Luzon people obviously did not have much concept of the stone thrower, and in order to show their strength, they arranged a lot of soldiers on the head of the city, and the standing position was very dense, which undoubtedly greatly improved the killing ability of the stone thrower.

As the soldiers of the engineering battalion operating it pushed the winch together, they threw the stone bullets in the command. These angular stone bullets, which weighed three or five pounds at every turn, roared and fell on the head of the city of Cavite, like a goddess scattering flowers. Although most of them still missed, even a few dozen stone bullets fell into the crowd, which was enough to cause huge casualties and panic to the Luzon soldiers who stood at the head of the city in a daze.

A moment later, screams erupted.

"How is that possible!"

Seeing the soldiers who fell in an instant, either dead or wounded, Garth's face changed drastically. Perhaps, the first salvo was not enough to shake his confidence, and with the completion of the reloading, the second blow of the catapult made these panicked soldiers understand the true power of the catapult.

In just two rounds, at least thirty-five soldiers died, plus quite a few serious injuries!

"Disperse!"

Garth finally realized how foolish he had been to put so many troops on top of the city. Not only did it not frighten the enemy, but on the contrary, it brought a lot of casualties to itself.

With his adjustments, the power of the Songjiang Army's stone thrower decreased a lot. Since this kind of trebuchet could not threaten the city wall itself, after firing more than ten rounds in a row, severely suppressing the morale of the Luzon people, the soldiers of the Northern Luzon garrison division began a large-scale attack.

They will use their flesh and blood to withstand the first blow of the defenders of the Duchy of Luzon.

Behind them were the infantry of two wings of the Songjiang Army. It is not only ready for reinforcements, but also a disguised bomb pressure and supervision. Although Agno and other officers should have sincerely surrendered, the Songjiang army did not dare to be too gullible after all, in case they defected. With these two wings of supervision, it is different, even if any of the surrendered officers are shaken in their hearts, they will not be able to make any waves! (To be continued.) )