The Rise of the European Emperor

Beginning the next day, the French army adopted a new method of siege. The Italian mercenaries led by Pastor forced the captured 4,000 local farmers with knives and guns, and asked them to climb the city wall through ladders.

The so-called cloud ladders are not longer ladders, they were replaced by ordinary ladders in order to save money. Attacking the city with ordinary ladders is simply a joke. If you really use ordinary ladders to attack the city, the defenders don't need to use weapons, just overturn the ladder from above. The person climbing the ladder will then tip over with the ladder and fall.

The real ladder is actually a large chariot with wheels underneath. Its main body is a sloping staircase, but there will be a movable auxiliary ladder on it. The height of the ladder is similar to that of the city wall. When the ladder is pushed under the city wall by the soldiers, the soldiers will reverse the movable secondary ladder and put it on the wall. At this time, the top of the ladder is basically parallel to the city wall, and the auxiliary ladder is like a board on the wharf between the long bridge wharf and the ship. This kind of board-style auxiliary ladder is not as easy to push down as the ordinary long ladder leaning on the city wall. Because it is horizontal, and if someone steps on the auxiliary ladder, it cannot be lifted. What's more, the auxiliary ladder and the aerial ladder car are connected by an axis, and it is difficult to move away.

In addition, there is another kind, which is a long ladder fixed on the car body. Because it is connected with the siege engine, the defenders cannot be overthrown. However, this one-piece ladder has a fatal flaw-as long as the defenders roll stones or logs down from the top, all the siege soldiers on the ladder can be wiped out at once. Therefore, it is still safer to have the kind of auxiliary ladder. Inconsistent slopes can block the one-piece blows of logs and rocks.

As for the ladders with parallel auxiliary ladders, the defenders generally have nothing to do. Rolling wood and beating stones are not very useful, so we have to use bows and arrows to shoot and kill the enemy on the ladder. Also, use a spear to stab the enemy who dares to approach. Moreover, it is not necessary to stab the opponent to death, just stab the opponent so that he falls off the ladder.

Of course, you can also use a sledgehammer to smash the auxiliary ladder on the city wall to destroy the auxiliary ladder. Also, pour oil and ignite the auxiliary ladder of the ladder to make it burn. However, the siege party is not a fool, there are also archers on the ladder to prevent you from destroying the ladder. If you dare to show your head, I will shoot you.

However, that is the tactic of the cold weapon era. If the sword and shield soldiers hold large shields and charge on the gentle secondary ladder, the defenders at the top of the city will be very helpless, and they will easily be attacked on the city wall. Because, in the face of the big shield, the archer seemed very weak. At this time, it is up to the warriors to kill or push down the enemy sword and shield soldiers who accidentally rushed up the city wall.

But in the era of muskets, it was much more difficult for sword and shield soldiers to rush up the city wall from the ladder and the side ladder. In particular, large-caliber muskets such as the Mushiket muskets pose a particularly great threat to sword and shield soldiers. The huge impact brought by the 50 grams of lead bullets, even if you can't kill you, can still blast the sword and shield soldiers who are charging on the auxiliary ladder from the auxiliary ladder, and they will be disabled...

In front of the musket guns, no matter whether you are a sword and shield soldier or a plate armor knight, you will fall if you are bombarded. Therefore, the French army did not use the precious French knights at the beginning,

Instead, let the Italian mercenaries go up first to consume the ammunition of the defenders...

However, Pastor and other Italian mercenary generals are not fools, how could they be willing to die so easily? So, they caught 4,000 local farmers and asked them to carry the damaged door panels and rush forward from the auxiliary ladder of the ladder...

...

"What's going on? Who are these people?" On the head of Naples, the defender general Torres was a little puzzled. Because the people besieging the city today don't look like an army. Because these people are carrying the broken door, and they are holding the door with both hands, and they don't even have a knife in their hands...

"Report to the general, these people seem to be nearby villagers..." said a low-ranking officer who often dealt with the locals. He still recognized the costumes of the nearby villagers.

"Then... kill or not?" the adjutant asked.

Torres hesitated and said:

"I always feel wrong, what are they using the villagers for? Could it be... By the way, they want to waste our bullets!"

"Then still shoot?"

"Stop firing, but send spearmen and sword and shield soldiers to stop them and prevent them from going up the wall. If they go up the wall, order them to squat down immediately with their heads in their hands, otherwise they will be killed immediately!" Torres ordered.

"Squat down with your head in your arms and throw away the door panel! Otherwise, you will be killed without mercy!" The Spanish officer in charge of defense shouted in Italian. They have lived in Naples for several years and still know some local languages.

However, things are not that simple...

The local villagers who were forced to rush up the city wall, after hearing the shout of the Spanish officer, most of them threw away the door panels obediently, and then squatted on the top of the city wall.

However, these people are not all local villagers. Inside, some mercenaries under Pastor's command were also mixed in. Although these people are wearing the clothes of ordinary people, they hide short knives in their clothes...

Taking advantage of the negligence of the Spaniards who thought that the overall situation was settled, a group of Italian farmers who had crouched on the top of the city with their heads in their arms suddenly rose up, took out short knives from their clothes, and rushed towards the unsuspecting defenders at the top of the city... …

The Spanish soldiers on the top of the city were caught off guard and a group of people were killed. Then, a group of Italian mercenaries saw the opportunity and quickly rushed up from the corresponding ladder, trying to control the city controlled by those people...

The Spanish defenders were caught off guard at first, but General Torres quickly reacted:

"Reinforcement! Reinforce that section of the city wall! Be sure to drive those bastards off the city wall!"

Then, the most elite group of men under General Torres was sent over, and started a fierce fight with the Italian mercenaries who began to rush to the top of the city.

The elite under Torres are basically heavy armored infantry. It's just that the armor they wear is a castrated version of plate armor that exposes the back, buttocks and the back of the legs. The advantage of this kind of plate armor is that it is much lighter in weight. As for the problem of no defense at the back? That's okay, only those who run away will show their backs, and this kind of person deserves to die...

In this way, relying on this group of Spanish elite warriors wearing "backless" plate armor who were originally personal guards, the offensive of the Italian mercenaries was finally repelled...

"Oh, what a pity! If it was the French knights who charged up...they wouldn't lose at all..."

Seeing this scene, Louis XII in the distance jumped his feet in depression. If they were replaced by French knights with high martial arts skills, they would definitely be able to gain a firm foothold on that section of the city wall and meet the follow-up troops. It's a pity, those Italian mercenaries are too weak in combat...

However, he didn't think about it either. So early, is he willing to send out the French knight as his hole card early? Moreover, this attack was clearly a trial by Italian mercenaries, and no one can guarantee success...

In this way, the clever plan that Pastor came up with failed because of the combat effectiveness of the Italian mercenaries...