Eagle Byzantium

Gawain nodded, "I have participated in the previous Eastern Expedition of Antioch. Now it is not a big problem to capture it in a short time."

Ridwan looked surprised. He knew that Gawain had two giant siege cannons, which were also the trump card of the New Roman Empire in attacking forts. However, these cannons alone were not enough to destroy the city of Antioch, which was full of towers. To be captured?

However, the emperor seemed to have no worries. He turned to the groups of Seljuk court envoys who came to the imperial camp to ask for help. He just said, "The enemy has not crossed the river yet, why are you panicking? Your sultan must gather all his strength and try his best to defeat the enemy first." Keep it in check, don't always think about being able to drive back hundreds of thousands of Eastern barbarians by your own strength, and don't always think about using decisive battles in the wild. If there is a decisive battle, it will have to wait until my main force breaks the city of Antioch. What your Sultan needs to do now is to spread out his troops and stick to the strong fortresses along the way and on the front. The fortress group must not only be linear, but also must be deep. They must be good at using small groups of cavalry to attack and capture the enemy in short bursts, and to detect and summarize their tactics and actual situation.

As for the decisive battle, we will wait until my army arrives in Isfahan. "

So after the emperor finished speaking, he asked these envoys whether they understood his spiritual message. After waiting for a positive reply, he asked them to leave, "Go back and tell your sultan that you will send envoys again in a month."

At this time, Ridvan could not ask any more questions, so he could only agree to take four thousand soldiers to participate in the emperor's siege of Antioch.

In the following days, the baggage and equipment gathered along the sea route to the camp on the Orontes River. Artillery bombarded them day and night. The soldiers dug curved trenches and erected wooden fences and continued to approach the various gates of Antioch. The besieging armies were connected ten to one. In Duoli, the number of people has reached 100,000!

Joceland and Diem of Jerusalem also brought five thousand troops and horses, and first came to the Port of Pola in Tripoli, where Andodat's front army was waiting for them: three thousand Tripoli border residents, plus an equal number of Maronites. soldiers and a team of two thousand Firouz horse archers. After gathering together, these armies, with the cooperation of the fleet, entered Tartus, Latakia and other places, attacked the city and captured the territory, and were invincible.

Two weeks later, Bohemond's principality also lost all its ports, market towns and lands in the south. He only had Antioch left to guard, and many of the outer city gates were crumbling. There were only 20,000 to 30,000 people among them. Half of the troops were temporarily pulled out and could not block the onslaught of Gawain's elite and professional field siege troops from all directions.

Five more days later, the shells of the two incoming siege cannons shook the entire land, and they began to focus on the Dog Gate. Once the Dog Gate collapsed and fell, the influx of New Roman Empire troops would easily defeat them. It can split the entire city into two, defeat and occupy each one.

"There is an indestructible stone bridge at the Dog Gate. Concentrate my troops to defend it there, and build two or three more inner walls behind the battlements. When the enemy rushes in, I will give them a hard blow!" Bo Xi Mond was shouting at the city defense map in the palace.

As a result, that night, Gawain ordered 2,000 Maronites and 2,000 Firouz archers, a total of 4,000 people, to form a formation beside the Dog Gate Stone Bridge. The arrows were tied with burning materials, and they were immediately shot out into the sky. The stars fell, leaving countless traces of light, illuminating the entire battlement.

The siege artillery and the large Plani counterweight trebuchet, with the roar of dull monsters, threw the stone bullets and burning fireballs into the city again and again, amidst the sky full of firelight and arrow rain, Craftsmen used various light boats to build pontoons around the stone bridge. Small groups of skirmishers either swam in the water or penetrated under the city gate or wall along the pontoon bridge. In the early morning of the next morning, the explosions of Khitan snow kept ringing: the soldiers filled wooden barrels and iron cups with gunpowder, stuffed them with pickaxes The holes in the city wall were dug out, and then fuses were ignited and blasted.

Accidental bombings also happen from time to time. There are constantly mutilated wounded and corpses lying on the boat and being returned to the camp on the shore. Kabamiya who is watching this scene is also horrified. Her eyes are slightly raised. If you lift it higher, you will find that the defense of the dog gate can no longer hold up.

The Imperial side's attack became even more frenzied that day. A team of defenders on the Dog Gate Tower almost collapsed and began to throw down the ladder to express surrender. Soon the brigade skirmishers who climbed up and the defender reserve team who came to block the gap were fighting on the battlements. There was bloody fighting everywhere, until night.

In the dusk, fireballs, rockets and artillery continued, and the city of Antioch was blazing with fire. Soldiers were ordered to shuttle back and forth along the stone bridge, braving arrow feathers and rain of bullets:

"The enemy built another protective wall behind the city gate!"

"I want more big cups to be sent up!"

"The centurion of the first company of the fourth detachment was killed. The soldiers suffered heavy casualties and asked to retreat to replenish their batteries."

The consul and sleeping officer who were sitting with the emperor knew that the emperor stayed up all night. He held the hilt of the sword with both hands and stared at the drawings on the table continuously, turning a deaf ear to various orders.

In the early hours of the morning, the dog door was broken down, and along with it the three inner walls that Bohemond asked to be rebuilt, they were either blown down by large guns of gunpowder or captured by bloody hand-to-hand combat. "Long live Basileus, long live Basilisa!" "The teams that followed each other marched in neat steps, holding various holy icons and flags to fill the void. After going up, they were shocked by the tragic scene in front of them. In the narrow area between several city walls, the corpses of both the enemy and ourselves were piled on top of each other, making it impossible to identify them. "It can be said that Bohemond's blood was all in this night, in this city." It’s all gone inside and out!” General Branas, who led the team, recounted after the war.

After the war, the bodies collected and buried at Goumen were more than 800 for the Imperial Army and more than 1,400 for Antioch. It took ten barges to transport them back and forth several times to complete the task.

"Bang, bang, bang" the dull and violent sound of musket volleys sounded every few sections, and it was getting closer and closer to the Acropolis of Antioch standing on the mountains. The Imperial Army brigades broke in from many gates and walls and began to sweep along the streets one by one. The Acropolis of Antioch was gradually swallowed up by the green smoke rising from everywhere, leaving only sparse afterimages.

The residents in the city complained about the injustice of fate amid the sound of gunfire and shouts of killing. Antioch had suffered many wars in the past hundred years. They looked out of the narrow windows in horror and saw that the city's Auchen soldiers kept retreating step by step with spears and muskets in their hands. Some people fell one after another in the process, and then the dying ones were banging on the door of the house, begging to be let in, "Even if they die, they don't want to die on the street and in the open space."

A correct version of the book in 16-9!

But usually the people blocked the door more tightly behind them!

Then the bright flags of the empire flashed on both sides of the window, followed by the sound of flutes, trumpets, boots, and bursts of gunfire, followed by the stabbing of the spears of the great infantry. The shouts of "Long live Basileus" and "Catch the rat party Bohemond" were intermittent, sometimes loud, sometimes alienated...