Chapter 38: There's a War on the Western Front (Middle)

 After the rain, the ground was still full of mud.

 After going over a hill, Polos City came into view.

 On the small plain outside of Poros City, a tent towered over it, and the soldiers of the Western Empire were drilling between the tents, shouting and killing.

 The gates of Boros City were tightly closed, the dark blue flag of the Southern Empire was still fluttering on the city walls, the dark blue flag was embroidered with a yellow patterned pine tree, this was the flag of the Leonipades family.

 One after another, the Western Empire teams escorted villagers kidnapped from various villages into the camp. These villagers were rounded up in the open field near the side of the city.

 Horses were neighing beside the tents.

 Four wooden stone throwers were situated in the open space outside the city, and in between, siege hammers and siege towers were placed.

 At noon, after a brief lunch, the soldiers quickly formed up as if they were about to launch a general attack.

 Emperor Galios rode through the front of the formation on his high horse.

 "Fajon is dead, and the city of Russia has lost its strong-armed lord. The Southern Empire's southern front is still at war with Aserai, and the Southern Empire's soldiers are being held back on the Aserai battlefield. It is imperative that we take Boros City today."

 A third of the western territory of the Karad Empire was ruled by Gallios. The charismatic general is a representative of the populist tendencies that have long characterized Imperial politics, and made himself Emperor after leading the division of the western forces. He was beloved by the soldiers under his command, not only for his war record, but also for his insistence on rewarding veterans with land. He often called for "the people" to be involved in resolving key issues, but in reality it was a rally full of his soldiers forcing the opposition to be silenced.

 With short, thick black hair and a thick, hard beard that covered his chin, Garrigus was dressed in silver armor, his powerful body mounted in the saddle of a horse.

 After delivering a speech, Garrigus waved his arms toward the city of Poros.

 The drums thundered and the trumpets sounded long.

 The line of soldiers moved slowly. In front of the line of soldiers, peasants, captured from the neighborhood, pushed the Breaking Hammers and Siege Towers.

 The hammer was moving towards the city gate. The siege tower, on the other hand, approached towards the city wall.

 The siege tower slowly approached the city wall through the mist after the rain. The five-story wooden building was covered with wooden boards, furs and iron netting, so that arrows smashed on it only caused tiny sparks; the huge wheels ran over the small ditch, emitting a muffled sound like bones cracking. Before the top drawbridge was lowered, the shadows had already engulfed the battlements, and the defenders looked up as if they saw a whole moving black wall pushing the sky in front of them.

 The Southern Empire soldiers on the walls fired arrows at the gradually approaching farmers, intent on disabling the siege towers. The crossbows on the walls shot the siege tower again and again.

 Non-stop, there were farmers who were killed by arrows, and their bodies were crushed by the huge wooden wheels after they fell. These farmers without any protection on their bodies fell one batch after another, and were trampled under the feet of those who came after them. Batch after batch of farmers were driven forward by the Western Empire soldiers, pushing forward the city-breaking hammers and siege towers, and they had nowhere to run, with oncoming arrows in front of them, and an array of slowly advancing Western Empire soldiers behind them. The soldiers of the Western Empire lined up in a shield wall, dozens of meters away from the farmers in front of them.

 Nuorong was in tears, wanting to go forward to help up his fallen father and mother, but he was pulled back by the villagers of the same village, if he left the cover of the siege tower, Nuorong would only be pierced by ten thousand arrows. Non-stop wooden planks fell from the siege tower, which was caused by the crossbow arrows impacting over and over again. The planks that fell from the air smashed into the farmers, killing them instantly.

 Any farmer who didn't keep up with the siege tower was either killed by the arrows or killed and trampled by the army behind them, with absolutely no chance of survival.

 The soldiers on both sides did not think that these farmers should live. They helped the enemy army attack the city, they deserved to die. They retreated from the battlefield, they deserved to die.

 The mallet was made of four logs as thick as masts, with thick iron rings; the head of the mallet was covered with forged iron horns, and the face of the mallet was covered with barbs in the opposite direction, tearing the city gates apart with every impact, spattering wood shavings and sparks. Twenty burly peasants carried thick ropes on their shoulders, shouting low horns as they pushed it forward under the cover of their shields. The top of the mallet frame was covered with wet cowhide and boards to keep out the rain of arrows and the rolling oil.

 When the siege tower approached the city wall and the ladder leaned against it, the roar of the mallet could shatter the will of the defenders, accompanied by one crash against the city gate, like ringing the death knell of the city of Poros.

 The moment the drawbridge fell from the siege tower, the Western Empire's infantry array quickly lost formation, and the soldiers ran towards the ladder and siege tower as if they were crazy, hissing and running towards the city wall.

 Both sides fought on the city walls, only a few soldiers climbed to the walls, and they were greeted by the arrows and double-bladed guns of the Southland Kingdom. The double-bladed spears slashed those who climbed the walls again and again between the wall stacks. The cone-headed arrows also lost their power after colliding with the armor, and the arrows were stuck on the iron pieces or rubbed against them and shot into the dirt below the city.

 Soldiers kept falling down from the city walls, whether they were injured on the top of the city or not, they would only be splattered with blood the moment they landed on the ground.

 Rolling logs and stones were constantly being thrown off the walls. The soldiers of the Western Empire held up their shields with great force, and as the rolling logs fell, wails kept coming out from underneath their shields.

 There were constant sounds of fighting on the city walls, and the blades of the soldiers were slamming against each other. The soldiers of the Western Empire kept running out from the siege tower and rushed towards the city through the drawbridge, only to be blocked by the Southern Empire's shield soldiers along the wall. The drawbridge gradually became crowded, and the soldiers of the Western Empire pushed and shoved each other, never able to effectively swing their swords in their hands. Only the soldiers at the forefront were able to compete with the Southern Empire's shield soldiers.

 Nuorong and a few others from the same village got under the wooden ladder in the siege tower as it touched the wall. The soldiers of the Western Empire hurriedly ran up the wooden ladder, paying no attention to this group of unarmed mudbloods who were only trying to climb up to the top of the city to capture the top battle. Shields and weapons kept bumping against the wooden tower. The sound of iron boots stepping on the wooden ladder kept assaulting the ears of the farmers, who had never experienced this kind of battle before.

 The sounds of wailing, crying, and killing were constantly being transmitted into the ears of several people through the wooden boards of the enclosure. Nuorong was also able to see through the gap outside the siege tower, the scene of rolling logs smashing soldiers to death, heads bursting, brains splattering, helmets and shields in front of these rolling logs and falling rocks, not the slightest effect.

 As time slowly passed, there were constantly bodies falling down from the drawbridge, and corpses piled up outside the siege tower.

 There were only a few wooden boards separating several people from the outside pile of corpses, and there was constantly blood flowing in through the cracks of the wooden boards, the smell of blood came to the face, stimulating several people's nostrils at all times, this was a heavy blood that they had never smelled before even when they were killing pigs in the village. Wooden boards cracks into the light gradually be obscured, the tower wooden ladder down the line of sight more and more dim, the tower outside the pile of corpses has been diffused over the height of Nuorong a few people to hide.