The Sun and the Lion

After seeing the team sent out to investigate the situation be wiped out in front of him, Mr. Bey finally realized the seriousness of the matter. He did not admit any refugees, and after evacuating all the soldiers who were confronting the citizens at the door into the castle, he sealed all entrances and exits.

The red heads who pursued them to the castle saw that the defenders had left the citizens alone, so they laughed loudly and taunted Timur's garrison, and planned to escort the meat on the chopping board back to the camp.

Bey of the garrison ordered the crossbowmen who had been waiting on the wall to fire several rounds of fire at the team slowly leaving the castle. Faced with the sudden arrows, the red-headed men galloped to avoid them, and many of the citizens being escorted were shot down or trampled by iron hooves.

"Stop!" Seeing that the red heads holding the citizens were gradually moving away from the range of the crossbows, Bey ordered to stop shooting to save arrows, and then prepared to defend the castle.

Seeing that the main force of the Safavids had not yet arrived, he first sent a messenger to rush out from a side gate on horseback and go to Herat to report the Safavid invasion to the monarch, and also called for help from the towns he passed along the way. Then he organized a team of men, armed with kerosene and kindling, to burn down all the buildings around the castle. It was best if the fire could spread to the entire city without leaving a single intact tile to serve as an enemy.

After doing all this, Timur's soldiers successfully retreated to the castle, and Bey observed everything from the tower.

………………

"What's going on?" What appeared in front of Gaolaberi at this time was a road blocked by raging fire and building ruins.

"General, this road is blocked. Let's go outside the city first. Let's camp outside the city tonight." The captains suggested together.

"Hmph." Gaolaberi turned the horse's head and ordered: "The scouts and patrols have made arrangements to keep this castle under surveillance."

Returning to the main tent, the engineer who had been waiting at the door for a long time entered the tent and reported to him: "General, I have roughly observed the castle and the city. Conquering such a castle is not difficult for our well-prepared army."

The engineer took out several sketches he had drawn, including a rough castle structure, castle and city plan, and pointed out the areas where he thought a quick breakthrough could be made.

"Okay, very good, but how quickly can the siege equipment be prepared?"

"Thanks to the hard-working civilians from the surrounding villages and the craftsmen in this city, our army obtained a large amount of wood from the foothills during the day, and the key components were also unloaded from the carts. If we rush the work tonight, we will have it tomorrow afternoon. Up to three aerial ladders can be put into use." The engineer assured Gaolaberi.

"General, it's raining."

This reminder made everyone in the tent pause. Gao Laberry walked out of the tent. It was raining lightly outside, and as time went by, the rain tended to get heavier.

"Suffer it."

Rainy days are quite unfavorable for the army. The ground will become muddy, and the mud and water will seriously hinder the movement of soldiers and is not conducive to combat. Colds, fevers, and mosquitoes bred by rain will seriously damage the health of soldiers and cause non-combat attrition. Even in military camps that pay great attention to camp hygiene, plague will inevitably break out over time.

As it happens, the Safavid army only built temporary camps in the suburbs, with no drainage and garbage disposal. The soldiers recruited from the tribes also lacked hygiene awareness, and the number of doctors accompanying the army was limited. No matter how you look at it, this is a breeding ground for plague.

"This..." The officers were all dumbfounded. They had just agreed to attack in the next few days, but Huda refused to give him any face and it started to rain.

"The work of manufacturing siege equipment can be stopped for a while. The most urgent task is to build a siege camp." Gaolaberi turned to the captains and engineers and said.

He walked out of the big tent and looked towards the city: "First use the ready-made houses to block the rain. Tonight we will open and connect the walls of several communities."

"yes."

After receiving the order, the Safavid army began to get busy. The soldiers were busy packing and taking care of their personal belongings, and assisting the engineers to supervise the construction work of the civilian workers.

…………

“God bless me!”

Bey saw the heavy rain outside the window. Although the arson attack by Timur's army failed, he couldn't help but feel happy. Whether it's fire or water, as long as he can delay the enemy for one more day, he has a better chance of surviving.

The two sides were in a stalemate in intermittent rainy days for nearly two weeks. During this period, Bey wanted to send messengers again to contact the friendly forces, but Gaolaberi did not give up arranging cavalry to block the road because of the disadvantages of rainy days. After all the messengers he sent were intercepted and their heads were thrown back to the castle by a trebuchet, Bey's uneasiness deepened.

And stone bullets from Rasht also continued to hit the castle wall. From morning prayers to evening prayers, whenever the defenders tried to repair the city walls, the red heads would appear at the right time to harass the Timurid soldiers, and at the same time the mercenaries They can also safely go to the city wall to recover stone bullets under the cover of the red heads.

At the beginning, looking for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com The crossbowmen on the city can also make the mercenaries close to the wall pay a heavy price. Every time a stone bullet is recovered, at least one person will be lost.

But the castle's reserves were ultimately limited. After two weeks of strain, Timur's crossbowmen were running out of arrows. The pressure on the mercenaries to recover the stone bullets was suddenly reduced, and the red heads lost the opportunity to shoot the enemy's crossbowmen, and could only exchange words with Timur's soldiers from a distance.

After two weeks of preparation, the Safavid army's siege preparations were also more complete. The mercenaries pushed no less than ten siege ladders and marched hard through the mud and stagnant water. The red heads climbed onto the high platform and fired arrows at Timur's soldiers from a high position.

The siege ladder slowly approached the wall. The mercenaries who were used as cannon fodder climbed up the ladder on their hands and knees. Most of them did not have armor to cover their bodies. They only had a half-helmet and a rawhide-covered helmet on their backs. A wooden shield and an iron sword.

Although these cannon fodders were of poor quality, they were far more numerous than the castle garrison, and the larger number of siege ladders also opened up different attack directions for them. This allowed them to use their numerical advantage to dilute the density of Timurid soldiers on the defensive line.

In order to fill up the defense lines in various parts of the castle, Bey himself also wore armor and led guards to travel between places to strengthen the defense lines.

"Ah!" Bey screamed when the arrow shot by the red head hit his shoulder. The soldiers on the side quickly supported him. If the general fell, everything would be over.

Another cannon fodder climbed up to the top of the city. As soon as he jumped off the siege ladder, the short spear of Timur's soldier pierced his abdomen.

In just ten minutes, the cannon fodder had already begun to think about retreating. Gaolaberi, who was observing the battlefield from the general platform, also noticed their limits. These cannon fodder were originally used to consume the arrows and physical strength of Timur's garrison, and the rest of the work could be left to the red heads.