GBP Chapter 440 Suppression and Counter-Suppression
Chapter 440 Suppression and Counter-Suppression
The logs posed a great challenge to the refugees on the ladder. Standing on the narrow ladder, there was nowhere to hide. Every time a log fell, it could almost knock all the climbers down. Even if they landed, a few unlucky souls would still be hit.
Just when the refugees were at their wits' end, the militiamen on the city wall huffed and puffed as they carried heavy stones to the wall and pushed them down. Dozens of stones crashed down the wall, crushing the "cannon fodder" holding onto the ladder into a bloody pulp.
The ladders were too steep to climb, and standing at the foot of the city wall was unsafe. The refugees began to stir, and sporadic people started to retreat, quickly forming a mass exodus.
Seeing this, the refugee leader in charge of command at the rear shouted orders for the archers to move forward and stabilize the situation. Urged on by the supervising officers, the archers moved closer to the city wall, preparing to suppress the enemy with arrows.
Su Hongtu could clearly see from the wall that the attacking force had temporarily halted its advance, and a large group of archers from the refugee army had stepped forward. He then ordered the militia to retreat a few steps to make room for the new recruits of the standard battalion to advance and fire. The attacking and defending sides began a tit-for-tat exchange of suppression and counter-suppression.
At the command of the refugee army leader, thousands of archers drew their bows, released the strings, and with a "whoosh," a sound like cotton being fluffed filled the air. A dense swarm of arrows, like bees taking flight, soared into the sky, heading towards the defenders on the wall. Before the new recruits in the standard battalion, who were loading their weapons, could even fire, some were already struck by arrows and fell.
Su Hongtu remained calm and ordered the reserve team to fill the vacant positions.
Just as most of the new recruits were about to finish loading their weapons, the buzzing sound from below the city rang out again, and a dense swarm of arrows flew over.
Despite the cover provided by the crenellations of the city wall, many soldiers were still wounded by arrows and had to withdraw from the battle.
At that moment, the soldiers who had finished loading their weapons poked their heads out, raised their rifles, and fired the first shot of the counterattack. A barrage of gunfire erupted, and the almost completely exposed infantry archers fell in droves.
Although the casualty ratio was extremely unbalanced, these archers held their ground under the pressure of the supervising team and did not retreat, firing their third and fourth arrows in succession.
Amidst a dense hail of arrows, Su Hongtu crouched low, weaving through sections of the city wall, loudly reminding everyone: "When loading ammunition, hide behind the wall to avoid unnecessary injuries!"
The new recruits in the standard battalion lacked combat experience. Many, in their nervousness, fired without even loading the lead bullets into the chamber, creating nothing more than a firework of burning black powder. Many more mechanically followed training maneuvers, failing to utilize the crenellations of the city wall for cover. After Su Hongtu's reminder, the recruits realized that after firing, they should hide behind the crenellations to reload, then peek out to fire again. This significantly reduced their chances of being hit by arrows.
Their opponents weren't so lucky. The archers had no cover and could only endure the enemy's lead bullets with their bare hands. They had assumed the government troops' muskets would fire at an absurdly slow rate, suppressing the enemy with a hail of arrows to cover the others' ascent of the city walls, thus completing their mission. But these muskets were unexpected; their firing rate was terrifyingly fast. Although still slower than bows and arrows, it was several times faster than any government troops they had ever seen before.
After the second and third rounds of rifle fire, the archers had suffered more than 30% casualties from the continuous attacks, and their arms were starting to ache after firing five or six arrows in a row. However, the muskets on the other side showed no signs of fatigue and continued to fire shot after shot at an undiminished speed.
Such exchanges of fire were agonizing, and the archers began to stir. They could no longer draw their bows; deadly lead bullets continued to whiz past from the wall. Standing still meant becoming easy targets, and some gave up and ran away.
The supervising squad cut down several archers, but couldn't stop the tide of battle. The endurance of bows couldn't match that of muskets, and the archers were completely suppressed. The commander hesitated for a moment, then ordered the supervising squad to clear a path for the archers to retreat. Archer training was costly; gathering these men was difficult. If they were all wiped out in a single siege, he would be in deep trouble. The archers, relieved, rushed back in a swarm.
Without the suppression of arrows, the militia became active again, and logs and stones rained down, causing the refugees to cry out in pain. The momentum of the siege was completely curbed.
The army of refugees.
Both Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong saw that the offensive at the west gate was stalled, and their expressions were not good. The west gate was the main direction of attack, and the largest number of troops were deployed there, yet it was still in such a state of fighting. One can imagine the situation at the north and south gates.
Zhang Xianzhong gritted his teeth and said, "These idiots are really cowards. We've been fighting for so long and not a single person has made it onto the city walls. Send down the order: use human lives to build up the walls! If we don't get them to the top, everyone involved in the siege will have their head handed over!"
Gao Yingxiang frowned. He felt that such a reckless approach was not the solution, but he remained silent. Zhang Xianzhong wanted to be the first to enter the city, and the main force attacking the west gate was his men. Gao Yingxiang hadn't revealed his intentions before the battle, and now he was using lives to pay the price—not even his own men were dying. He let it go.
Those nearby shuddered upon hearing this. Zhang Xianzhong was ruthless by nature; once he decided to kill, he would kill. It seemed that if he didn't make a name for himself today, none of the attackers at the front would escape death.
The Eighth Prince personally gave the order to attack, and the attackers scrambled up the ladders like cats whose tails had been stepped on. Attacking the city walls might mean death, but there was also a chance of survival, which was better than being executed by the Eighth Prince in an extremely cruel way, suffering endless torture, and not even having a complete corpse.
Zhu Dadian, who was watching the battle from inside the city tower, exclaimed "Huh?" The city wall's defenses had been well-organized under Su Hongtu's leadership, and the bandits' offensive had weakened. How come they suddenly started jumping up again as if they had taken some kind of drug?
Su Hongtu was also puzzled. The morale of the attacking side had been dampened, and their fighting spirit was gone. Before finding a new way, launching another offensive would only be adding fuel to the fire and sending more people to their deaths. Did the bandit leader not have any common sense about the battlefield?
Strange as it was, Su Hongtu did not slacken his efforts at all, urging the soldiers and militia to continue their efforts.
Although the attacking side was at a disadvantage in the battle, the sheer number of refugees was overwhelming, and they quickly exhausted the logs and stones on the wall with their own lives. When they saw that no more logs and stones were falling, the refugees cheered and rushed up the ladders to the city wall.