Chapter 119: Four Days of Expedition

Three days later, Lorist set out with a family of more than 1,000 men to attack Kitano Town.

After less than an hour on horseback, the group walked for more than three hours to reach Kitano Town, and Lorist could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

As had been expected before the troops were dispatched, Kitano Town was ready for battle. The city walls are full of swords and guns, and there are many people, it seems that the four major families in Beiye Town are also ready to turn their faces, and from time to time there are still a few people from the garrison pointing at the people and horses on Lorlist's side and shouting loudly.

Lorist sent Pat to the city gate to give an ultimatum, asking the four major families and garrisons of Kitano Town to lay down their arms, open the city gate and go out of the city to surrender, Lorist can forgive the rebellion of the four families for the sake of the affiliation between Kitano Town and the Norton family in the past hundred years, as long as the rules and regulations are implemented now, Lorist promises not to punish a person.

As a result, before Pat could reach the city gate, he was shot back by a flurry of arrows, and his mount was shot into a target, but Pat saw the opportunity and ran back unharmed.

Lorist and the others were furious, which meant that the people of Kitano Town didn't take the Norton family seriously at all, and they didn't even want to talk, and directly greeted the messenger with arrows, there was no worse rebellion than this.

Resisting his wrath, Lorist rejected his men's suggestion to attack the city immediately, and asked them to command their men and horses to set up camp and bury their pots.

There are only two gates in Kitano Town, one in front and one behind. It stands to reason that Lorist should have set up two camps and sealed off both gates. It's just that Lorist only has a thousand men and horses, and if it is divided into two parts, it seems that the troops are too thin. Lorist also joined forces to set up camp at the front gate, and sent a team of cavalry to monitor the back door, just to prevent the garrison of Kitano Town from sneaking out of the back door to sneak up on the camp.

If the garrison of Kitano Town really came to attack the camp, Lorist couldn't ask for it, and he was looking forward to using a field battle to wipe out the sneak attack of the enemy, which would not only give Kitano Town a blow to the head and greatly reduce their morale, but also reduce their defensive strength and make the siege more smooth. It's a pity that the garrison of Kitano Town lived up to the name of the shrunken turtle, and they watched the siege of the city from the city wall as they set up camp busily, and there was no sign of going out of the city to attack.

By the time all the chores were arranged, it was already dark. Lorist checked the arrangements for patrolling the camp and the outposts, and rested early, ready for tomorrow's siege, and the first day of the expedition passed like this.

On the second day of the expedition, after breakfast early in the morning, Lorist and his men began to line up under Kitano Town. The plan for the morning was for Joske to lead a team of soldiers who could shoot arrows on horseback to shoot a few rounds around Kitano Town, find out the weaknesses of the defense, wait for the opportunity to launch a strong attack, and let Lorist lead people to occupy a city wall or a city gate, from the point to the surface, and wait for the follow-up people to come immediately and then slowly expand the advantage, and finally take Kitano Town.

Josk led his men around Kitano Town twice, and only four soldiers were hung up, which was very lucky. After returning, Josk reported: "No, when I arrived in front of the city wall, I found that the original moat had been deepened and widened, and there was no way to rush under the city wall without filling in the moat." I shot an arrow at the other two gates before I found that the inside had been blocked by something, and they seemed to be determined to defend it, and they didn't think about attacking. We can only make up our minds from the walls. After running two laps just now, there should be more than a hundred bows and arrows shooting down the city wall, all of which are hunting bows, of different types, and pose little threat to us. ”

Lorist was very annoyed, the last time he went to Kitano Town, he had paid attention to the moat in front of the city wall, it was only a very shallow ditch, but he didn't expect to come this time but found that the moat had been deepened and widened, according to Josk, it was less than a meter away from the city wall, more than two meters deep, and about three meters wide, because of the terrain, it was not seen until the front, and it was impossible to find it from this side.

Lorist himself rode around Kitano Town, and it was strange that the dirt that had been dug out of the moat had gone nowhere, but the moat was really as Joske had said, and it was impossible to storm the walls without filling it in first.

While ordering Reddy to return to Maple Grove and ask Speer to bring a batch of straw bags and shoveling tools for the earth, Lorist had his soldiers go to cut down the wood, make large wooden rafts to keep arrows out, and boxcars to fill the trenches.

On the third day of the expedition, today's plan was to fill in the moat on the left side of the city gate for a few tens of meters, and Lorist was ready to storm from this position. Josk commanded a squadron of family soldiers to advance to a distance of less than fifty meters from the city wall with dozens of large wooden platoons to erect the wooden platoons, and then ordered a small group of longbowmen to shoot arrows at the walls under the cover of the wooden platoons and suppress the archers on the walls.

The longbowmen of this squad were all simple versions of longbows, which were made of a kind of yew wood with a tight texture, and the process was extremely simple, a bowl of yew wood could make a longbow, and it could be used as long as the shape of the longbow was cut out and dried. This simple version of the longbow is one foot longer than the official longbow, and the direct threat distance is only about seventy meters, which is about thirty meters worse than the official longbow, and it is also inferior in accuracy and strength. Generally, if you shoot a hundred and eighty arrows, you have to change the string and check whether the longbow is deformed. It can be used as a training bow, but now it can only be used to attack the defenders on the city wall, and it can only be said to be a duck on the shelf.

The official longbow is made of a tougher wood than yew wood, which is cut and left to dry for a period of time, soaked in a special grease for up to three months, and then slowly dried in the shade. In the process of soaking and drying, it is also molded, and then winded, trimmed, shaped, and polished. Finally, it is necessary to apply several times of lacquer, wrap a leather sheath around the bow body, etc. It takes a year and a half to two years to make a full-fledged longbow, and such a longbow can pose a threat to a knight of the Golden Rank even at a direct distance of a hundred meters.

The shape of the boxcar is also very simple, to be exact, just a few wooden rafts built into a spire, and then four wheels are installed, and the roof is covered with a thick layer of wet earth to prevent it from being burned by rockets. The soldiers pushed the boxcart into the moat, and by lifting the front baffle, they could throw the dirt-filled grass that had been transported from behind into the trench.

Everything went well in the morning, and under the suppression of the longbowmen squad and Joske's arrows, the garrison on the city wall could not even raise their heads, and could only occasionally drop arrows from the jagged firing ports on the city walls, so needless to say, they could not pose the slightest threat to the attackers below, and even the number of casualties was more than the attackers. The trench had been filled in a small part and should be filled soon in the afternoon.

Lorist relieved most of his heart, judging from the strength of the counterattack on the city walls, this siege was not difficult, and perhaps it would be possible to win with a small number of casualties.

Unexpectedly, just after lunch, a wooden platoon was erected on the wall of Kitano Town, and the garrison above also relied on the cover of the wooden platoon to launch a counterattack against the longbowmen and trench soldiers below, and threw clay pots filled with fire oil from the city wall when the rockets did not work, and finally burned the boxcar......

Joske was so powerful that he shot down several large wooden rafts on the city wall in a row. Unfortunately, it didn't work, he shot one, and more wooden rafts were erected at the head of the city.

"Six longbowmen died, twenty-one were wounded, and more than half of their longbows were useless, but fortunately we have prepared more than a hundred more this time, and there are still some replacements. Eight of the family soldiers who filled the trench were burned to death, and twenty-six were rescued from wounded, so do you want to continue building the boxcar?"

"Send a squadron of family soldiers to cut down the wood, and let the people of Kitano Town see that we are continuing to build boxcars, and make them think that we can only attack again tomorrow, and reduce their vigilance. At night we were prepared, and as soon as the moon in the sky was obscured by the clouds, we took the opportunity to carry straw bags close to the moat and fill in the trench overnight. Lorist commanded.

Lorist's arrangement was much more than the Kitano garrison expected, and by the time they discovered the movement under the walls, the moat had already been filled in half. Looking at the alarmed garrison on the city wall and the torches that couldn't stop throwing, Lorist smiled: "Let's go, let's go back, it's almost okay, and tomorrow when we attack the city, bring a few more bags of dirt to fill it." Hopefully, tomorrow we will be able to win the battle in one fell swoop. ”

On the fourth day of the expedition, it was a good day with clear skies.

Lorist dispatched his entire army, and seven squads of family soldiers carried seven long ladders to charge the walls of Kitano Town.

Lorist led Pat and Reddy to follow the charging soldiers and approached the wall, as long as there was a long ladder against the wall, Lorist believed that he could rush up the wall and kill all sides, and occupy a position on the wall, as long as the follow-up men followed, it was a matter of time to win.

One hundred meters, eighty meters, sixty meters, when I was about to reach the front of the city wall, suddenly the wooden rows at the head of the city were neatly put down, revealing a row of archers and crossbow archers who were ready to draw their bows......

"Release!" With the order of the head of the city, the rain of arrows poured down, and the soldiers of the family who charged forward were like waves crashing on the reef, and they were smashed in one fell swoop......

One by one, the soldiers of the family fell in the rain of arrows, and Lorist's eyes were torn, and he hurriedly shouted: "Retreat, retreat quickly......"

The green longbow in Joske's hand thundered, and green lightning flew towards the city, and the archers and crossbowmen who were shooting arrows downwards on the walls of the city were planted. There was a panic on the walls, and the archers in the column dodged in all directions, revealing four black crossbows behind them.

There were four loud bangs, and four huge crossbow arrows flew straight towards Josk......

As soon as Josk saw that four crossbows appeared at the head of the city, he felt bad, and he didn't care about riding his horse and rolled off the horse, and with a "snort", a huge crossbow arrow grazed Joske's back, taking away a large piece of back armor and underwear, leaving a deep blood mark on Joske's back, blood burst out, and in a blink of an eye, Chosk was dyed like a bloody man.

Joske's mount had been split into pieces by three bolts, and the ground was a blur of flesh and blood.

Josk rolled twice on the ground, jumped up, endured the pain behind his back and opened the green longbow in his hand again, and in a flash of light, a green long arrow hit a black defender crossbow at the head of the city, and the crossbow burst, smashing the heads of several garrisons who were busy winding up next to them. The other three guards hurriedly pushed the crossbows of the garrison and left the city.

When Josk shot the arrow, he paused. Lorist rushed over and put him on his back and rushed straight to the camp.

With a "bang", Lorist slammed his hateful fist on the long table made of wood halved apart, leaving a deep fist mark on the tabletop.

It's so hateful, it's so infuriating. No one expected that the garrison of Kitano Town was so old and treacherous, and the first two days were to counterattack with a hunting bow, and sit back and watch Lorlist's siege men fill in the moat, making Lorist think that Kitano Town did not have much power for long-range defensive counterattacks, until today when Lorist was ready to capture Kitano Town in one fell swoop, he suddenly made a force, and he was caught off guard by Lorlist, causing heavy casualties.

On the long table were several pieces of vellum paper, a list of casualties counted by Sedkamp. In just a quarter of an hour, nearly 300 people were killed and wounded, of which 83 were killed and more than 200 wounded, and even Reddy was hit by an arrow in the shoulder when he went to the rescue. If it weren't for the fact that the family soldiers at the forefront of the charge were all wearing chain mail, the casualties would have doubled.

Josk was fine, his back was grazed by a crossbow arrow, and he was fine with medicine, but he shot an arrow and destroyed a city defense crossbow, and this last arrow strained the blood in his back, causing the wound to burst, and it was not good to recuperate for more than ten days.

"My lord, the morale in the barracks is very low right now, and we will not be able to continue the siege tomorrow. It really surprised us today, how could there be so many crossbows and longbows in Kitano City, and even four crossbows for the city guards?" said Pat.

"Maybe I know where these crossbows come from. Pachco lowered his head and said: "Four years ago, the eldest young master took the family iron cavalry to fight everywhere for the second prince, and at that time, there were more than 100 people in the garrison of Beiye Town to follow the eldest young master, and they were responsible for escorting the logistics for the eldest young master and the family iron cavalry, and they were cleaning the battlefield after each battle. When I was first captured by the eldest young master, I also cleaned the battlefield with these garrisons, and at that time I found that these garrisons paid great attention to collecting weapons and equipment, even if they were damaged, they were put together. I knew they had turned in their iron armor and money, but I didn't expect them to hide their longbows, crossbows, and even long-range weapons such as the city guard crossbow......"

"Painstakingly, four years ago, they began to prepare to rebel at any time, no wonder they have been less and less concerned about the family in recent years, do they think that with these long-range bows and crossbows, they can keep Beiye Town? Lorist said through gritted teeth.

"But we can't get close to the walls!" said Pat.

"Night attack, as long as I go up, I can take Kitano Town!" said Lorist as he looked at Kitano Town in the distance.