The Era of Generals

Before he had time to say anything to Xu Qing, Chen Ze led Meng Yang and others to the tower.

While the sound of the horn continued, Chen Ze rushed up to the watchtower at the highest point of the tower, snatched the crude binoculars from the sentry, and looked in the direction indicated by the soldiers.

In the sparse woods about one mile away from the west city gate, a group of troops without banners and marching forward in a square formation could be vaguely seen.

This army was arranged in a dense marching formation, led by swords and shields holding shields, followed by pikemen, and cavalry patrolling back and forth on both sides of the formation, and in the middle of the formation, Chen Ze saw three big guys!

Those were three huge catapults that were more than twice the size of the catapults on the tower above the city. Each catapult was pulled by eight horses, and there were at least a thousand archers around the catapult. Guards with bows.

In addition, Chen Ze also saw that behind the catapult, three huge towers with a height of ten meters, almost as high as the city wall, were slowly advancing with the movement of the phalanx.

Siege tower!

Chen Ze frowned slightly. How long have these guys been preparing, not only the catapult, but also the siege tower!

The siege tower is not just a simple ladder like a ladder, which can be easily pushed down by the defenders to prevent the enemy from climbing the city wall.

This thing is a movable blockhouse. The tower body is covered with thick and wet animal skins, which can not only prevent bows and arrows, but also prevent fire. Even the stone bullets fired by the trebuchet cannot destroy it in one or two shots.

The space inside the siege tower is large enough to accommodate hundreds of soldiers to hide in it, and its height is as high as ten meters. As long as it is close to the city wall, the soldiers on it can jump up the tower and attack the defenders. Fang is a great threat.

To deal with the siege towers, the best way is to use the catapults, but the accuracy of this thing is hard to describe. If there is not a sufficient number of catapults, it is difficult to cause fatal damage to the siege towers.

What's more terrible is that there are many hidden arrow holes on the siege tower, and the soldiers inside can shoot arrows to kill the enemy in the tower, so even if they want to send troops out of the city to stop them from approaching, the price they need to pay is huge.

Due to geological reasons, Xiyun City cannot dig a moat. Once the siege towers collide, the defenders in the city alone may not be able to deal with it.

This thing is completely a tank!

Compared to the siege tower, the five battering rams next to it are nothing.

After a rough sweep, the forest was crowded with people, even if the number was less than seven thousand, five or six thousand would still not be able to escape.

After observing the enemy's formation, Chen Ze was about to use his binoculars to look in another direction when someone hurried up from the watchtower.

"My lord, this subordinate has sent people to fetch the catapults according to your instructions, but the five catapults on it..."

The person who came up was Xu Qing, and after arranging the manpower, he was also very worried. At this moment, the sentinel had issued a warning, which meant that the enemy was coming, but at this juncture, the Lord Counselor actually asked to dismantle the trebuchet. Not appropriate!

Xu Qing even once suspected that this guy is not a spy sent by the enemy, right?

"Just do as I say."

Chen Ze frowned slightly, he had to put down the binoculars first, and took out the military aircraft token from his arms again.

"It's... alright."

Xu Qing lowered his head and sighed, and had no choice but to wave his hands back. A dozen or so engineers who also suspected that they had misheard had no choice but to disperse to carry out the order.

"What about them?"

The moment he lowered his head, Xu Qing couldn't help pointing at the scene outside the city gate.

Outside the city gate, hundreds of soldiers were working, looking up at the tower from time to time, their faces full of anxiety.

These people were exactly the five hundred weak soldiers that Chen Ze sent out in advance when they were in the barracks, and Chen Ze gave them the task of digging trenches within 500 meters in front of the west city gate with shovels and shovels.

The reason why it is called a trench instead of a trench is because of Chen Ze's request.

He didn't ask how deep or wide the trenches should be dug, but asked that there must be enough and long enough!

This requirement is very simple. Given the loose soil surrounding Xiyun City, soldiers can plow a furrow on the ground even if they push forward with a shovel alone. Fifty centimeters wide, a trench that traverses the entire official road out of the city can be formed.

After such a short period of time, the team of 500 people was working in full swing. When Xu Qing saw them, the open area in front of the city gate was like a farmland that had just been reclaimed, and the seedlings were almost planted.

But what's the use?

Xu Qing sighed slightly, he could guess what Chen Ze was thinking.

These trenches are shallow and narrow, and ordinary people can step across them with a single step, even if there are many of them... How difficult is it to run in the fields?

Therefore, Chen Ze's purpose was to hinder the advancement of large siege equipment such as catapults.

Whether it is a catapult or a siege tower, they all have one thing in common, that is, they are very large but also heavy. If there are no wheels on the bottom, and they are dragged by human power alone, people will be afraid when they reach the city gate. If you are exhausted, there is no need to fight this battle.

These trenches are used to deal with siege equipment. People can cross them, but what about catapults?

Jump too?

The train of thought is correct, but so is Xu Qing's sigh.

The matter of digging ditches to block the wheels of the catapult is not something that only Chen Ze can think of, and of course the party who is attacking the city will also consider it.

Therefore, the army will be equipped with an engineer soldier, who usually walks at the end of the team to protect the food and supplies, and is responsible for clearing obstacles in wartime. Before the commander is about to order the siege, they will carry sandbags and clear the trenches under the protection of swords and shields. Fill in and fill in at least a few trails for the siege equipment to move forward normally.

And the trench that Chen Ze ordered people to dig was too shallow and narrow, not to mention sandbags, but if those sword and shield fighters covered the trench with their huge shields, wouldn't that be a passage?

After all, he was still too young and too inexperienced, and such a trench would not help at all.

Xu Qing was sighing, but Chen Ze would not care about him. After ordering someone to open the city gate and let the five hundred people come in, he raised his binoculars to observe carefully again, and then heaved a sigh of relief.

Ignoring Xu Qing with a bitter face, Chen Ze went straight down from the watchtower, first went to check the progress of dismantling the trebuchet, then gathered Meng Yang and others together, and whispered something.

Only Xu Qing was left standing on the watchtower, flustered in the wind.

After hesitating for a while, he finally gritted his teeth, stomped his feet on the spot, turned around and rushed down the tower like flying, looked up at Chen Ze, and galloped towards the city.

Just as he was about to disappear at the end of the street, Chen Ze, who had given orders to Meng Yang and the others, glanced at him, with a vague smile on his lips.