Eagle Byzantium

At this moment, the west, north and south directions of Maras Fort have been surrounded by siege camps backed by the Felamis River. Countless sharp stakes and forks are lined up like tusks in the mouths of beasts. The platoons pressed hard on all the cities in Marash. Gates and battlements, with many protruding "independent artillery forts" sandwiched in between. Most of them are concentrated on the north slope where the Jimmagis brigade is located. The muzzles of more than ten fire bear cannons and cast bronze cannons are only a few meters away from the city wall. Several hundred feet away, in Beside it are supported suspensions, ring trenches, sandbags, earth baskets, and soldiers of the artillery regiment holding wooden poles and pushing Khitan snow barrels. Many of them have their backs bare as usual; behind the fences and mounds, there are various kinds of civil tools, many cannons The soldiers of the regiment's task force sat behind them and continued to deploy other dense light artillery, of various types - this should be the largest and most powerful in the world at that time, no, or the only one." Artillery Corps".

Behind the artillery detachment, there are rows and rows of half-crouched shooters holding long and short fire guns. Most of them were adapted from the fire throwers attached to the previous brigade, and they were supplemented by many Armenian, Roman (Greek) soldiers. Entering, the organization and strength were expanded. Many people were chewing saffron stigma stems under the round helmets with umbrella crowns. There was a snapping sound, which was mixed with the sound of the slowly burning match rope.

They were all waiting for the command of the general attack. Their eyes under the brim of their hats were facing the ocher-yellow Maras city wall, looking at the flashing figures and bows behind them, and looking at the artillery that their own side kept pushing forward. Some people began to secretly When they began to pray, some complained that the priest did not dare to come forward to perform the litany for them.

Further back, on the preparatory front line, there were all the soldiers of the Gimakis Brigade and border residents holding infantry spears and swords. They were all the main force of the subsequent siege. The tip of the spear and the tip of the blade swayed alternately, just like what was described in Anna's letter, like a dark black belt, tightening the target Marashburg.

To the west, backed by the bifurcation of the river, was the western siege position held by the defenders' brigade and the border residents and militia from Seleucia, Tarsus and Fanca City.

To the south, there are also two detachments of the Philomelon Brigade and the Red Hand Brigade stationed there.

As for the two twin regiments of the Red Hand Cavalry, they began to wander on the vast plain east of the city, preparing to catch fish that might slip through the net on the defenders' side.

At the top of the Alabash Peak, Gawain could overlook the two siege positions in the north and west. There were many generals in front of him. Gawain was still thinking about Anna's letter, but he didn't want this little girl and Yu Mo to The female officer Hertomia was too involved in battlefield affairs, but Anna did not express this "request" so rigidly, so Gawain gathered the commanders together, and there were three candidates in front of him:

Namely Bramson, Dorus and the newly surrendered Hercules.

Why these three? Because Bramson is commanding a new brigade, "Unlike Branas, as General Temach, you have to lead the way and boost morale. The soldiers of the new brigade will naturally change after following you several times." Gotta be elite.”

As for Dorus and Heracles, it is actually a matter of choosing which one will be responsible for the task of attacking the North Gate, because this is where the artillery is concentrated, and it must be the first point to attack Marash. . Both of them are young heroes. The former is now the military chief of the Fanka Frontier Area, but his wife thinks that he should go further; while the latter is a heroic mercenary known throughout Anatolia and is also in need. Greater performance to prove their strength.

So Gawain thought again and again, and called the two young generals and the commander of the artillery regiment, Leotius, close to him, and then said, "I will use a large number of siege artillery to attack Marash Fortress from the north gate position soon. So who of you can cooperate well with General Leotius?"

Gawain's original intention was to ask the two men to express their opinions on who could "accept the dispatch of artillery."

But who would have thought that Heracles knelt down directly and reported to the patron, "Please forgive my ignorance. I have always fought with bows and arrows and sabers before, and I have no experience fighting with iron pipe firearms." . So I prefer to fight with General Branas’ army at Ximen and accept his orders.”

"Well, that's it?" Gawain never expected.

"Yes, consider my difficulty, Patron." Heracles begged again.

Gawain coughed twice, then stood up and lectured, "Then I declare that I will entrust the responsibility of selecting and commanding the North Gate attack to Dorus Lambert."

"I obey your orders, Your Majesty the Patron!" Young Dorus patted his chest, full of pride.

"Remember, the troops you command are not under the command of General Gregor. On the contrary, you and Gregor are all subject to the control and command of Leotius, the commander of the artillery regiment. When he announces the opening of the artillery, you must not Don’t move lightly, and you must not hesitate when he announces the charge.” After speaking, Gawain pierced the blade of the phosphorus fire sword he was holding deeply into the ground at his feet, and said in a very stern tone, "If anyone, whether an ordinary soldier or General Temach, dares to despise or even resist the artillery commander, I will never forgive Leotius’ request easily!”

At noon, Gawain's black and white cross cloak suddenly rose on the erected flagpole at the Alabash peak, which was the signal for the entire army to attack Marash.

The order of the Grand Patron was to "imitate the decisive spirit of death that captured the small town of Alemanburg, attack, attack, attack again, capture Marash in one day, and destroy the spirit of all the Ani people who are still resisting. The blow!”

In the sunlight, at the artillery fort in the center of the siege position at the north gate, the muzzle of a fire bear cannon glowed, and the gunner raised the long pole with a light on his head and ignited the fuse in the chamber.

The Armenian soldiers who were still firmly defending on the battlements could clearly see the burning and splashing of the fuse in the chamber of the cannon behind a long series of artillery forts, which gave them very little time to hesitate - a few seconds later, many people rushed to escape from their original positions.

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As the muzzle violently shot out white mist, the round iron projectile was first fired in a rotation, its tail like a red comet - at about the same time in the air, more than a dozen such "comets" were shot out from various artillery forts, making sharp friction sounds with the air, and then hit the long city wall in the north of Marash one by one. Groups of sunken craters kept appearing in front of the soldiers, as well as the fragments of the stone wall that were smashed out, and the extremely powerful loud noise. The entire north wall built on the hillside seemed to be twisted suddenly, but it rebounded and recovered soon. The whole scene was spectacular and weird.

Then, it was the rapid firing of various light artillery, more explosions and shooting sounds in a short period of time, pouring countless projectiles on the creaking city wall of Marash - the momentum made the shooting soldiers waiting for the attack behind the wooden fence unable to raise their heads. They shrank their necks and covered their helmets, and the splashing city wall debris hit them like hail.