Eagle Byzantium

Amid beastly howls, small boats quickly rowed to the circular breakwater of the military port. There were about twenty or thirty pirates sitting on each boat. They held scythes and torches, destroyed the chains and hidden stakes, and sailed in. The docks and docks in the military port were set on fire everywhere. There were thirty militia soldiers in each of the two corner forts on the rocks and the sea defense wall. They bravely stood there and fired fiercely with Latin bows and fire muskets across the bay and the trestle, determined not to let go. The pirates approached the seaside side of the Acropolis, and for a while the entire naval port bay was filled with shouts of killing, and the situation was panicked.

At the same time, at the mouth of the river east of the city, Zahas's son-in-law Musetto, with 800 pirates, had burned more than a dozen farms along the way, seized the bridges on the river, and blocked the eastern pass of Seleucia. The ferocious pirates not only robbed many animals and led them into the team, but also killed many innocent peasants who could not escape, and exposed the bloody heads of the victims, regardless of age or sex, on the bridge as a show of intimidation. The pirates also tied up some of the captured peasants, stood them by the river, and then shot them one by one as living targets. The corpses fell into the river and drifted to the burning water wheel. The river water was dyed red, which made people feel uncomfortable. People are terrified.

Then, dozens of pirates seized the large sawmill (that is, the place where Wen Ruomingna worked before entering the palace), killed the overseers inside, and forced other slave workers to carry out the large logs to create a simple siege. The hammer cart, with a spire built on top and wrapped in leather, rumbled across the curved bridge and began to approach the eastern city gate of Seleucia.

The original old city of Seleucia was divided into two parts. The east city is also the "lower city", which has a ring-shaped city wall and some small towers. Inside are barracks, stables and residences; while the west city is the acropolis, which is adjacent to Next to the military port, there is a solid core main tower, which is high enough to overlook the surrounding area of ​​the lower city. Later, with the prosperity and development of Seleucia, new city walls began to be built along the area connecting the Great Hospital and the Mut River Valley to the west and north, preparing to integrate the emerging Great Hospital Post Area and various chambers of commerce warehouses. and Akum Bazaar are enclosed within it, but are not yet completed.

Now the land pirates are attacking the lower city, while the sea pirates have also broken into the military port, ready to climb the coastal defense wall of the Acropolis at any time.

In addition, another group of pirates and Cretan mercenaries from Cyprus, about 500 people, came ashore from Akum Market to loot and kill, and headed towards the Grand Hospital Hill and the Guanyi area below. The streets of the district were filled with people fleeing for safety, some running towards the hill where the big hospital was located, and others running towards the Seleucid Acropolis.

The director of the large hospital was about to escape towards the Mutt Valley, but Granae, who worked in a nearby nunnery, came and severely stopped him. "This large hospital must not fall into the hands of pirates, otherwise it will bring shame to our Lord." . Tell all the students from St. Paul's College over there to guard the gate and the high wall!"

Finally, more than 200 teachers and students in the college, more than 30 celebrities and prostitutes who were still in the bathhouse, and more than 200 farmers and guild craftsmen and apprentices who could be used gathered together, and they closed the door. The heavy door of the hospital blocked several cargo vehicles behind the door, and then Climbing the gate tower and the basilica wall, they found the stored supplies, and then refused the pirates' threats. When the pirates swarmed up from under the wall, they smashed down bricks and stones like raindrops, and transformed various utensils. It became a weapon that could hit and stab, and I defended it desperately.

Soon, the beacon fire on the gate tower of the big hospital was lit high.

"Your Highness, please retreat to the Acropolis, it's too unsafe here!" At this moment, on the small tower in the lower city, the guard warriors eagerly persuaded Anna, who was still there.

"No, I have to stay here for the time being - let the soldiers of the civilian army bravely stand on the wall of the lower city, and Caesar of Tarsus is beside them." Anna said unyieldingly, at this moment There were more and more pirates on the roads below the city and along the river banks. After holes were drilled into the walls of the gate towers, the civilian soldiers guarding them could see their terrifying dress and appearance - many Berbers, The Susu people were wrapped in coarse cloth-patterned headbands and cloaks, with bare black feet. Some carried big knives and hid behind the battering rams made of big wood, driving the captured farmers and slave workers to push and pull, and some kept pushing and pulling. He raised his bow and shot at the city wall. From time to time, cold arrows flew past the perforations and battlements, with an astonishing roar, mixed with the shouts of the Cypriot soldiers mixed in the pirate team:

"Catch...catch the rebellious princess, catch her!"

One sound near, one sound far away.

But Anna stood high up in the gate tower with her belly protruding. The light from the perforation shone down her face, casting a layer of pale golden light on Caesar's face and clothes. Anna felt a little scared when she touched her belly. The flipping child said in a deep voice, "You don't need to be afraid! I'm right here, and I won't go anywhere before sunset, so please protect your Caesar."

"Oh!" In the gate tower, more than a dozen militia soldiers who were standing here responded to Caesar.

"Drop the hanging sandbags. The other three of you will hold two Latin bows in groups, take turns cocking the crossbows, and shoot at the enemy's approaching battering ram. Be calm - specialize in shooting people." Anna waved. The order said that her military warfare experience was much richer than when she first arrived in Seleucia.

In addition, Anna has divided her guard into several branches and dispersed them throughout the castle to serve as the preparation and backbone of the defense. She also set off warning beacons on the acropolis.

In the previous reorganization, the Seleucid militia divided 800 people to the Miliocephalon border militia of Birelle, 300 stayed in Seleucid, and there were less than 2,000 people scattered in various places: 500 of them were in Alaman Castle, 200 in Mutte Castle, 300 in Alahan Monastery Mountain, 400 in Lamas, a small coastal town connecting Cilicia, and 200 in Colle Adiou Castle.

Although Anna and Granaie were in different places, they both lit beacons in Seleucid and the Great Hospital, asking for militias from all over the country to come to their aid.

At this moment, the Mentari militia not only lowered the iron gate, but also hung sandbags in front of the gate to block the impact of the battering ram. The pirates shouted furiously and began to shoot arrows at the sandbags, while the militia in the gate tower suppressed them with Latin bows, and crossbow arrows flew down one after another. Some pirates near the battering ram covered their chests and screamed and fell dead beside the wooden wheel, while others were shot in the feet and held up their shields to protect themselves, constantly crawling back with their elbows, but more fearless people shouted and rushed over to push the battering ram and rushed towards the city gate.

"Go to the armory workshop in the city and ask Samuelfa and the craftsmen to carry up the two perfume bottles that have been completed and are ready to reinforce Philomelon's front line, and shoot at the enemy. Don't worry, they can't break through this door for the time being." Anna turned to the famously loyal squire and ordered, "Ask Hertomia and all the female officials to stabilize the Old Palace's troops. Everyone must serve the front line when necessary. In addition, call all the guild representatives and merchants in the city to my palace at night to discuss the city's defense." (To be continued ~^~)