The Sun and the Lion

For several days after Piri officially moved the tent to the castle, both sides fell into silence, and neither the offensive nor defensive sides sent troops to test.

The Safavid army besieging the city was undoubtedly collecting materials to build siege equipment. The sentries on the towers of the city wall could see the unfinished siege towers, siege ladders and siege engines in the distance.

Huslao, on the other hand, has been anxious in the castle, and he is still struggling.

He had always wanted to test the combat effectiveness of the Safavid army, but he was afraid of failure. After all, losing troops and generals would not only hurt the confidence of the commander himself, but also the morale of the entire army.

Moreover, the fact that the opponent can send out a large army to attack in winter is enough to show its strength. Huslao asked himself whether he would subconsciously avoid gathering troops in winter.

This also reflects his indifference and neglect of the needs of the soldiers at the bottom. In order to avoid the various problems that followed, he did not choose to improve the treatment of the soldiers, but simply stopped fighting. In this way, he did not need to pay for the soldiers' needs. Responsible for keeping out the cold.

But a few of his Burkes insisted: "The enemy attacked in winter and went on an expedition. The army looked majestic, but it was already weak on the outside and weak on the outside. Our army only needs..."

"Okay, okay, since you are so confident, why don't you lead your own companions to try for the whole army?" Several Burkes who objected retorted.

Hu Si Lao could see this happening every time a combat meeting was held. After the quarrel failed to produce a result, it would be his turn to make the decision.

"Okay, shut up." Hu Si Lao took the initiative to stop the dispute among the generals this time. Everyone looked at Hu Si Lao in unison, waiting for their master to make a decision.

He sighed first, and then said: "I plan to send a team of scouts to sneak out of the city to conduct reconnaissance, and then discuss the matter of raiding the enemy camp."

It is not an easy task for the defenders to harass the siege. If the siege camp is heavily fortified...

Hu Si Lao's train of thought was interrupted by an unexpected incident. There was a companion outside the door who asked to see him, saying that he had an urgent matter to report.

"Dear Emir, and fellow Burkes, the enemy seems to be starting to attack the city!" The herald who entered the hall did not dare to breathe, so he came in and reported everything the sentry saw.

At this time, the Safavid army had already begun to take action under Piri's order. Driven by the soldiers, the captured civilian husbands tried their best to carry soil and sand to fill the moat.

The archers on the top of the city gathered and fired arrows at the civilians. Within a few minutes, many civilians who were close to the moat were shot down. Those who saw this scene did not dare to move forward anymore. They all dropped their bags or baskets and ran back.

"Those who retreat will die!"

The red heads responsible for driving away these civilians immediately raised their swords and chopped down many fleeing civilians, but this was of no avail. A dozen people could not stop the hundreds of people rushing towards the camp.

Hus Lao just arrived at the city and saw this scene. He rewarded him on the spot: "All the archers who have just gone up to the city to shoot will be rewarded with ten silver coins each."

Then he saw the Safavid army dispatched again, but this time there were more civilians, and there were more than a dozen siege vehicles leading the way. With the roof of the siege vehicle sheltered, it was difficult for arrows to kill the people underneath. , and the civilians behind the siege vehicle were too far away and not accurate enough.

Bag after bag of sand and stones were poured into the moat. Looking at the helpless archers, Hus Lao had no choice but to order: "Get the ballistas and trebuchets ready, and use all these siege equipment." Smash it for me!"

It's just that the Safavid army will not just watch the defenders move, and Piri does not intend to take out the few large-scale projectile weapons and shoot at the defenders. He wanted to do something else to disrupt the enemy's rhythm.

Huslao soon saw a group of archers and several simple trebuchets being pushed out, and he realized what the other party was trying to do.

"Don't worry about those siege vehicles for now, look at the other side's archers and trebuchets!" Hus Lao didn't know what the other side was going to do, but he just wanted to stop them.

The engineers who were operating the ballista were confused, and then they followed the order and changed the target.

At this moment, the archers fired the flaming arrows, which flew over the city wall and landed on the residences in the city.

At this time, the method used by the Safavid army to divert the energy of the defenders was to set fires. Piri hoped to disrupt the order in the city and force the defenders to deploy manpower to put out the fires and restore order. It would be better if the military supplies placed in the open air could be lit.

If a round of flaming arrows wasn't enough to set the streets on fire, an entire canister of pyrotechnics thrown by a trebuchet helped keep the residents warm during the winter.

Although the main buildings in Kunduz are made of bricks, stones and adobe, this does not mean that there will be no combustible materials in the streets and buildings.

Finally, the ballistae on the top of the city began to exert its power. Although none of the archers and engineers responsible for setting the fire were hit by the stone bullets, they still felt the threat.

"Don't worry about them, we are busy with our business." The officer hurriedly calmed down his subordinates, repeatedly emphasizing that the crossbows were not accurate.

Fortunately, the Safavid army did not carry much kerosene and flame arrows. The arson work lasted only one day and was forced to end. The defenders did not have much energy to contain them.

Under the attack of the defenders' ballistae, more than half of the siege vehicles used to cover the civilians' filling of the moat were also lost. Piri had to order the engineers to assemble all the parts shipped from Kabul into various ballistae and trebuchets, and deploy shields and bows. Hands were used to suppress the defenders.

In such fierce fighting, the civilians who were forcibly recruited by the Safavid army finally filled in a section of the moat before they died, and the paved road was enough to carry heavy siege equipment.

Then Piri wasted no time. He first sent Afghan soldiers from the army to test the fighting strength of the defenders. As cannon fodder, they did not have any heavy siege equipment to use. The only thing that could provide them with cover was a team of archers, and they themselves had to rely on wooden long ladders to attack the city.

Dozens of Afghan soldiers were shot down before they even got close to the city wall. The tenacious soldiers were not intimidated by the arrows, and several ladders were quickly erected.

The Guregani army was well prepared. At this moment, they had not lost the courage to resist, nor were they weak. Sitting on the fortifications, they could easily deal with the enemy troops climbing up one by one through long ladders.

Finally, the defenders got tired of dealing with the Afghan soldiers climbing up one after another. They also used kerosene and set fire to the long ladder, ending the first day of the battle.