Eagle Byzantium

In a short period of time, seven such floating forts were built. They flew back and forth on the river like kites day and night, constantly firing artillery to drive away enemies approaching the river bank.

Coupled with the long-range artillery fire in the fort's gun room, they continued to bombard the other side of the Hillspice River.

At first, the Ghaznavid army also figured out the rules of Gawain's artillery fire. Because the artillery that fired stone or iron bullets took a long time to reload, they dispatched Gurkha mercenaries to ambush in the grass and shrubs stoically, taking advantage of the barriers. During the gap between the shelling, they rushed out and flooded to attack those near the shore. Three floating forts have been successfully destroyed: However, the artillerymen of the New Roman Empire were also extremely fierce before their death. They calmly nailed the muzzle of the cannon with nails, and then directly blew up the cannon body with powder packets. They were not bombed. To die is to be brutally chopped into pieces by the swarming Gurkhas.

But the next day, the same number of floating forts were built and continued shelling back and forth along the river shoreline.

And General Branas, who was in charge of the fortress camp, changed the artillery tactics - he required 40% of the artillery, all heavy medium or heavy artillery, to maintain suppressive fire on the other side; while most of the light artillery was ready projectiles, and then launch a violent bombardment when the Gurkha soldiers on the opposite side appear.

After several rounds, the ambush activities of the Gurkhas, who suffered heavy casualties, were greatly reduced.

At the same time, Gawain had begun to lay bridges on the river. The most important bridges were two parallel ones. Gawain stood on the wooden tower of the fortress and personally supervised its construction. People could see the emperor wearing a military uniform, with his arms folded, and from time to time. Busy taxi on it sternly The soldiers, craftsmen and coolies shouted a few rude military words that they could all understand, either to encourage or to scold and remind them - these two bridges are "soldier bridges", and Gawain requires that they be both safe and stable. It is necessary to ensure the passage of infantry, cavalry and even artillery.

The Romans used "ship bridges". For each bridge, they used two boats, pulling each other with ropes, about thirty feet apart on the river, and then carrying the earth baskets and baskets on the decks of the boats. Timbers, large triangular iron ingots or other things are dumped on the bottom of the water between them, and a bridge pier sticking out of the water is slowly formed between the two ships. Planks are then laid on top of it to form a short bridge, which can also block the rapids upstream. , acting as a water dam.

Seeing the actions of the Romans, Yisrael and Yelu Dashi in the opposite camp had trouble sleeping and eating. Ghazni Khan begged Dashi, "There are artillery pieces like the Romans in King Ping's camp that can shoot extremely long distances." ”

Dashi said yes.

"Then transport a few gates as soon as possible, otherwise if you delay, the enemy will cross the river!"

Dashi also felt the seriousness of the situation, so he agreed to Ghazni Khan's request and sent a handwritten letter to Balakot and Mofu City, requesting the delivery of two heavy artillery pieces.

"Can't you have more luck?"

"King Fairy's expeditionary force itself does not have many branches. If there are too many to support this battlefield, Mofu City will definitely lack firepower." Yelu Dashi replied. In addition, he asked Yisrael in turn to imitate the troops in Gawain's army. Let Peshawar and Ghazni City cast a batch of light shrimp-bearded cannons as soon as possible, "which can be provided to field cavalry and can also be used for castle protection."

In addition, Yelu Dashi was also worried about King Ping Ping's front line in the camp, "Why haven't you launched a general attack on Nishapur yet? It's probably the officials who are holding back and fearing difficulties. The next best thing is to take a general attack. Go to the important city of Tusi in the north, otherwise the enemy’s backup may cross the West Sea (Caspian Sea) at any time and threaten King Fair’s flank.”

Oishi has too many things to worry about.

In the evening, he rode out of the camp again on horseback, braving the shells that kept falling all around, and together with his frightened retainers, he stared at the bridge crossing project in progress at the "Emperor's Fortress" and asked, "Are we too contemptuous of Haixi Fulu?" A hero?"

At this moment, a floating fort moved forward to a distance of less than a hundred feet from the river bank. When they saw the flag and staff of the big stone, they turned the muzzle and fired a round at the big stone.

The shell roared and hit a mound on the right side of the big stone. Grass and soil flew up, but the big stone showed no fear and still stood in place like a diamond.

Seeing that the floating raft battery had lost its accuracy, it slowly retreated towards its own barrier in a cloud of gunpowder smoke.

Dashi looked at the entire river, Gao Wen's ramparts, and the boats that were busy building the bridge. He calmly calculated the amount of the other party's work, and finally came to the answer: "The emperor of Fulu will need ten to fifteen days." Only then can the bridge be successfully built under the cover of artillery." After returning to camp, he asked for the use of mules, horses and troops. He quickly transported the four sealed and stored bronze cannons from Balakot City to the battlefield here. "General Shenwu's cannon weighs tens of millions of kilograms. It will take time to transport it here and is not as good as the decisive battle. You can transport four first." The thunder cannons are coming, and they are stationed outside the camp to cooperate with our cavalry to prevent the enemy from landing. "

The calculation was settled, and Israel said it was absolutely fine.

Who would have thought that at night, in the Roman emperor's fortress, several water gates filled with long iron nails would burst open: rough sailors shouted and drove out all the more than ten engineering ships hidden in the pool in the fortress.

All the torches were lit, and the entire Hillspice River was illuminated like daylight. Gawain stood on the highest tower with one hand on his hips, waving to the curtain wall and the people on the ships and shouted, "Everyone, all ships and The materials are all here, so we must work together - within three days, I will successfully build the bridge, cross the river, and fight the enemy!"

It turns out that Gawain secretly hid ten construction ships in the pool in order to confuse Yisrael and Yelu Dashi about the completion time.

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In the light of fire and the sound of trumpets, large numbers of people were mobilized. In the past, two ships were working, but now twelve ships were working. The craftsmen became bolder, and they simply built eight or even ten ships at once. The ships formed a straight line and began to tilt crazily to build the bridge piers, preparing to complete it in the shorter time. , "There is no need to build two bridges together, build one first!" They used hammers and iron pestles to lay wooden planks, and the sound of clanging was endless - lanterns for lighting were also hung on the floating forts, and bombardments were fired back and forth frequently, "Khitan Fire Wheel" It kept rising, illuminating the land on the other side and the bleak enemy camp.

At the same time, Gawain imitated the previous ability of the Eastern barbarian cavalry to cross the river, and asked two thousand Gur and Sistan cavalry to sit on the sheepskin rafts and saddles several miles downstream at the moment of moonlight, and pulled the Mount the tail and sneak across to the other side quickly!

Yelu Dashi and Yisrael, who were shocked, rode out of the camp on horseback. Seeing this scene, they knew that Gawain would never give them a chance, and they would wait until the help of artillery arrived before engaging in a decisive battle - what Gawain wanted was , a decisive battle in his own time, for which the ruler of Constantinople would stop at nothing to seize the initiative on the battlefield.