Vol 9 Chapter 171 (2/2)
“Siege weapons?” Cao Ren said as she thought for a moment, “For the sake of saving time, I told the troops to leave them in the alleys.”
Ah… But that’s fine.
“What about the smaller items? Like ropes and logs?”
“… Ah!” Cao Ren understood what I meant and hurriedly asked the troops nearby before looking at me again, “We have everything we need except wooden logs!”
As long as we have the rest, it’s fine.
“Tell them to get it ready!”
“Alright!” Cao Ren nodded.
“100-man generals, are there any nearby!”
“Here!”
“Here!”
“You and you, you both, tell your troops to cut down some logs, the thicker the better, and bring them over!”
“Yes!”
I looked about and saw that there were some trees around with thick trunks. I turned back again and saw that there were still troops streaming out from the alleys but these were likely among the last batch who managed to retreat. If the enemy makes it here while we are still trying to break down the gates, we might as well surrender.
A quick count puts them as less than 7,000…
Kuh! We lost half of our troops!
“Protect yourselves, everyone! Don’t panic, and protect your vitals from the arrows!” I yelled anxiously to the troops who were looking haggard and at the brink of collapsing.
“Coming!”
Un?! I looked over where the voice came from and saw that the 2 platoons I sent to get some logs running back.
“Will this do!?” The leading officer asked between breaths and I looked at the log he brought. It was not as thick as I wanted but it would do.
“Cut down the roots immediately and bring it to the gates!”
“Yes!”
“Lord Cao Ren, the log is coming!”
“Troops, open up a route! s.h.i.+eld warriors on either side, watch out and protect the troops with the log!” Cao Ren yelled as she raised her spear and issued orders to the troops.
“Spread out some more! Don’t congregate at the gates! You’re only making yourselves easy targets!” I yelled to the troops as I looked back, “Keep to the walls, each s.h.i.+eld warrior must be protecting 3 others at the least!”
First we are making some battering rams, now I am getting the troops to disperse. It’s like we are preparing to siege the city, which we are, but to get out and not to get in.
“Hu~” I inhaled and exhaled a few times before looking about. Looks like I can only give myself 0 points for this battle. All I hope for is that as many troops here can survive as possible.
“The log has been fixed in!” A yell came over and I looked at the gates and saw that the battering ram was now complete and headed towards the gates.
Good, we are getting out of the city soon. Once we get out, things will be easier.
*Sou* *Sou* *Sou*–
Another wave of arrows came down but I found that they were much spa.r.s.er and had been getting spa.r.s.er with each wave. As expected, there were not many archers in Xinye city nor were there many arrows. If we had mounted a siege from the very beginning, the results would have been much better, better than the current situation at least.
But all this is just hindsight. Saying all this has no use and only brings needless anguish.
“Hold on for a bit more, everyone!” I yelled out again. The archers above clearly could not put out more than a couple more waves of arrows but the mental state of our troops was weak enough that this would not bring them out of despair. If any troops were to defect now, our army would likely collapse in no time at all.
“It’s ready!” Another yell came from the gates and I turned to see that the battering ram was now at the gates.
“Good!” Cao Ren nodded at me and shot me a glance before looking back at the gates, “Begin ramming the gates!”
“One! Two! Three!”
*Dong*!
A loud and dull thus rang out as the battering ram made contact with the gates.
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