187 Episode 28 First Battle of Teripol (1/2)

It was exactly thirteen days after Hercule had crossed the desert that Stephan's landing party appeared in the waters near the city of Teripol.

It was almost the same time that the cavalry led by Jebe had left the village.

The day after the battle of Teripol, Hercule sent a boat to the Marne: ......

It took three days for the ship to reach the Marne, and four days for Stefan to leave the Marne for the waters around the city of Teripol after he received the news.

The Lemurian navy had chained and stabilized the ships ...... and lined them up to cover the harbor of the city of Teripol.

The Lemurian Navy chained the ships to each other and lined them up so that they covered the harbor of Teripol.

The kingdom of Cerda, on the other hand, had already given up on naval warfare: ......

They sank all the ships and made the harbor unusable.

They also blockaded the harbor with thick chains.

”Your Majesty, the smoke is rising.

”Looks like it.

Looking at Alicia's pointing finger, ......

Hercule sneered.

The west gate of the city of Teripol is already manned by three hundred and thirty troops.

”The wolfsbane is up, which means Stefan's guy can launch an attack at any time.

Hercule grinned.

Then he ordered the soldiers.

Then he ordered the soldiers: ”Raise the wolfsbane and give the signal. ...... We will now launch an all-out attack.

330,000 from the land side.

330 from the land side. 200 from the sea side.

A total of 5,300 Lemurian troops launched an attack on the city of Teripol, where 10,000 soldiers were holed up.

The Lemurian army's attack on the first day was mainly with projectile weapons.

On land, trebuchets, made by engineers of the Lemurian Empire, roared and sent various objects flying into the city.

It could be a simple stone, a lump of straw soaked in oil and set on fire, a human or animal carcass, or a pot filled with feces and urine. ......

There are many different types.

In addition, the Bulgurons and cataphract cavalry would shoot arrows as close as possible to the walls of the city, and then leave the city immediately, thus reducing the enemy's strength little by little.

At sea, arrows were fired mainly from ballistae attached to ships.

Sometimes, a small bottle was attached to the tip of the arrow and filled with ”holy fire” (a weapon made of refined oil mixed with pine resin, sulfur, and nitre), which was then shot into the harbor.

The enemy's counterattack was surprisingly feeble.

That night, Alicia gave her impressions of the siege to Hercule.

Normally, in a siege, the enemy's arrows rain down on you like rain.

The arrows from the top of the wall and the arrows from the bottom of the wall fly longer than the arrows from the top of the wall.

No matter how good the Lemurian Empire's compound bow is, the disadvantage of height difference cannot be overturned.

However, the number of arrows raining down from the Kingdom of Cerda was not very large.

Perhaps the loss of the light infantry was having an effect.

The archers of the Kingdom of Chelda are the light infantry.

However, in the last battle, Chelda's army was reduced to one-fifth of its strength.

In particular, the light infantry seems to have been severely damaged by being forced to deal with both the mighty Bulgurons and the medium-armored cavalry (cataphracts).

Instead, we're seeing a lot of stone throwing. It looks like the citizens are joining in.

Scheherazade said.

Instead of archers, the enemy general Carmine had mobilized his strongest citizens to fight back against the Lemurian Empire by having them throw stones and household goods.

Even citizens with no combat training could throw things.

Just throwing things from the walls is not a bad idea, as it is powerful enough to kill people.

However, ...... there is a limit to the distance that an amateur can throw by hand, no matter how high or low the difference is.

This has resulted in many casualties among the citizens.

”Your Majesty. Are we just going to wait and see for today?　Will you launch a full-scale attack tomorrow?

Alicia asked.

Alicia asked, because Hercule hadn't made any aggressive attacks today.

They mainly attacked with projectile weapons and occasionally attacked the city walls sporadically as if they remembered.

The projectile attacks are still going on.

Particularly with the trebuchet, Hercule intended to keep it in full operation throughout the night.

There is no need to hit the city walls.

All that was needed was to hit a house inside the city walls and kill someone.

That's enough to give the enemy psychological stress.

I'm going to keep going like this for a while. I'm going to keep going like this for a while. If the trebuchet hits the city walls well, we'll be golden.

While Hercule waited for Stephan to arrive, he chopped down a nearby tree and had a trebuchet made.

There were four of them in total.

This leverage-based weapon is very powerful: ......

It is powerful enough to destroy a castle wall.

The problem, however, is that it does not hit very hard.

When they do hit, it is only in the upper and middle parts of the walls, ...... slightly destroying the walls.

To bring down the walls, you have to bring down the lower part of the walls, but you rarely hit that part.

(Should we call Nia back?)

Suddenly, Hercule had an idea.

Nia's magic eye could see vectors.

Perhaps he could manipulate the trebuchet well.

But if you think about it, being able to see vectors and being able to control a trebuchet are not necessarily the same thing.

And you can't call it back now.

”Well, don't worry. It'll be down in five days.

”Why is that, ......?

Scheherazade asked.

Alicia was curious.

Hercule shrugged.

While we were waiting for Stefan, I dug a tunnel. Five in total. In five days, these tunnels will reach the bottom of the city walls. All that's left is to bring the walls down from their foundations.

A tunneling strategy is a tactic of digging beneath the city walls and destroying the walls with their foundations.

The tunnels are supported by wood and are dug under the city walls.

Then, when the time is right, the wood is set on fire and the tunnel collapses.

As the ground sinks, the walls will collapse under their own weight.

This strategy is very effective and requires minimal casualties.

But it requires advanced tunneling techniques.

However, the Lemurian army is a standing army, and ...... Hercule had trained his infantry in tunneling techniques, so this tunneling strategy can be adopted relatively easily.