Chapter 225: Battle of Boshi City
Like most prosperous cities, Boshi City is close to the lakeshore and has abundant water resources.
The city is located at the lowest reaches of the Sava River, where the calm river water converges to form the wide Sava Lake.
Outside the north wall of Boshi City is the lake, and it has the largest inland port in the entire Bacchus Empire.
The port is connected to the city of Boshi through several watergates, which are actually artificial rivers. Smaller ships can pass through the north city wall directly into the interior of Boshi.
But now is the dry season in winter, the water level is relatively shallow, and the silt at the bottom of the sluice gate can even be seen directly. Only small flat-bottomed barges can pass through the water level of less than two meters.
Moreover, the Watergate has now been completely blocked by a shabby shipwreck - this was not done by Governor Justus, but by the rebels.
Justus originally only lowered all the gates and closed the artificial river in the city, just to block the Red Death.
But now, a large number of corpses have accumulated in the river, and it is impossible to tell whether these corpses are infected with the disease.
Today, Boshi City is on the brink of collapse.
Before, Justus only sent troops to guard the port and did not destroy the water gate. After all, there must be a way out when things are impossible.
Although it is the dry season, the lake outside the port is still navigable, at least directly to the vicinity of Wallenberg.
But after he sent troops to fight the rebels, the situation changed...
Since the city of Boshi had a wall more than eight meters high, it was difficult for the rebels to attack it without siege equipment, so they took another route.
That is, the waterway.
Although the winter near Boshi City was not too cold, the water was still icy cold, and ice blocks could occasionally be seen on the lake surface. Justus had never expected that these gladiators could actually swim and fight in winter.
The new leader of the rebels now fought in a more ferocious way. He took hundreds of gladiators and sneaked into the city by water in the middle of winter.
When those shirtless gladiators without any armor appeared in the city, there was a great panic in the city of Boshi.
The nobles and residents had been locked up in the city for three months and were already anxious. Now that they saw the enemy entering the city, their anxiety turned into frenzy.
Justus had to lead his troops to resist the attacks of the gladiators and was unable to suppress the emotions of the residents. As a result, the city of Doctor turned into an uncontrollable riot.
Some people are howling like ghosts and wolves, some are killing and setting fires, and some are robbing and committing crimes everywhere...
This prosperous city gradually became riddled with holes.
Justus knew that if nothing unexpected happened, there must be some snake worshippers fanning the flames.
But now I can’t find the time to check…
However, sometimes riots in the city may not be a bad thing...
After thinking for a long time, Justus withdrew the guards from the water gate.
Therefore, when the riot broke out in the city, many nobles ran to the water gate in the north, intending to escape from the city of Boshi.
As a result, they ran into the attacking rebels...
After a chaotic battle with no one in command on either side, countless corpses were left in the Watergate River.
Most of the nobles who planned to flee from Boshi City died in the river.
The gladiators retreated with the rebels, but before they left, they seized most of the ships in the outer harbor and sank the remaining ships to seal the harbor.
There is no way out for Boshi City anymore.
Justus had to close the waterways and forcibly send troops to suppress the riots in the city.
But in this case, the northern city wall also needed to be guarded, and the chaos in the city also needed to be controlled, so more than half of the troops defending the city were transferred away.
When the number of soldiers on the city wall was greatly reduced, the rebels outside the city launched a full-scale attack.
Perhaps because of the change of leader, the intensity of the rebels' siege was beyond everyone's expectations.
This huge army did not have any siege equipment. The army of tens of thousands of people was short of food and clothing, and their weapons were not very complete.
Justus originally thought that it would be unlikely for the rebels without siege equipment to capture the city of Boshi.
As the cultural center of the Bacchus Empire, the defense measures of the City of Knowledge are quite complete.
Not only does it have tall and wide city walls, but it also has all kinds of defensive reserves.
A large number of crossbow arrows and javelins were placed on the city walls, and a lot of battering rams and boulders were also prepared.
There were several huge thorny logs tied to iron chains on the top of the city wall, and there were pots inside the city burning tung oil.
There is not even a shortage of feces.
However, there are not many soldiers now, and there are chaos everywhere in the city, so they cannot get support from the people.
But Justus still felt he could hold on.
After all, the sight of these mobs roaring and rushing towards the city wall looked completely disorganized.
However, slaves have the wisdom of slaves.
When this troop without any baggage rushed to the city wall, they quickly built many long ladders with bamboo poles and thick wooden poles as if by magic, and then connected these ladders side by side!
This was certainly not a ladder, but each slave carried a piece of bamboo wood, which were mortised and joined together to form a wall ladder like a fishing net!
Perhaps only these slaves could come up with such a siege method...
This makeshift method of climbing the wall would of course result in heavy losses. In the short time it took for them to put together the ladder, the crossbows on the city walls easily killed hundreds of unarmored slaves.
If Brutus had led the rebel army, he would definitely not have done this - after all, Brutus was an officer of the Immortal Legion, and he would not waste the lives of his soldiers like this.
But now, this rebel army all looks like desperadoes.
At this moment, a team of gladiators below the city held up shields to protect their heads and put a strange-looking ladder up on the city wall.
The soldiers guarding the city wall had never seen this novel tactic before. They were originally firing crossbow arrows to cause casualties and did not immediately throw boulders or wooden poles.
As a result, after the bamboo and wood mesh ladder was placed on the city wall, the soldiers used a push rod to push it, but found that it was impossible to push it at all!
Because after the gladiators put the built ladder on the top of the city wall, some of them desperately hit the base of the ladder from the inside to make it firmly fixed into the ground.
The other group of people pulled the ladder inwards, pressing it against the city wall, and began to connect it with several other ladders.
Gradually, the slaves connected the pieces of wood like ants into an unshakable net, just like a scaffolding for the city wall.
Moreover, they climbed up from the inside of the ladder.
This method was apparently invented by slaves who had been engaged in high-risk jobs such as mining or construction for a long time...
Seeing that they could not push the huge ladder, Justus' soldiers began to throw in logs and boulders, but the wood and stones rolling down the ladder could no longer hit the slaves on the inside of the ladder.
The ladder was originally made of mortise and tenon joints, and the stone beams hitting the ladder seemed to reinforce it.
Soon, the ladders were finally connected to each other to form a net, forming a whole, more than ten meters wide!
The bottom is rooted in the soil and the top is placed on the top of the city wall. With the continuous replenishment of slaves, it has now formed a grid shape, which looks like a rectangular chessboard placed on the city wall.
This is indeed the spliced scaffolding commonly seen in mines of this era.
Then, a large group of shirtless naked men shouted "Huha" in unison, and then rushed forward and began to climb under the arrows from the city.
It was a team of gladiators, and they were obviously very brave.
Justus shouted in horror from the top of the city wall, "Release the log!"
He then commanded the guards to shoot arrows repeatedly.
Although gladiators without armor were indeed easy to be shot, there was still an endless stream of slaves climbing up the ladders.
The rolling log was quite effective. The huge log covered with thorns rolled down the ladder and swept down a dozen slaves who were about to climb to the top of the city wall.
But in the middle of the ladder there were several brave gladiators who protected their heads with shields and cooperated with each other to form an inclined wall with the shield surfaces.
The rolling log rolled over the shield, then bounced up and flew away, landing far away.
The force of the impact caused most of the gladiators to suffer minor injuries, but they protected their comrades below them and continued to climb hard.
It is not easy to make and throw the log, and it is impossible to throw it continuously. Some of the soldiers on the city wall were probably a little scared and were unable to move another log for a while.
The gladiators climbed very quickly and reached the top of the city wall in just a few breaths!
Seeing the enemy so fearless, Justus picked up a torch and shouted, "Stop with spears! Bring up the hot oil!"
This governor, who was famous for his wisdom, had to resort to force to solve the problem himself.
A team of spearmen stepped forward from the city wall. The division of labor in the First Legion of the Empire was quite detailed, with almost all types of soldiers.
The spearmen were relatively calm. Several of them formed groups and climbed up the ladder to stab downwards. Although they were fighting hand-to-hand with the skilled gladiators, they had a great advantage from being on high ground, and the length of their spears allowed them to quickly control the situation.
However, once they stood on the top of the city wall, without the protection of the battlements, the javelins from below came like locusts.
The slave rebels did not have many bows and crossbows, but they had javelins. Although most of them were crudely made homemade javelins, they were still usable.
Moreover, the Bacchus were quite adept at using javelins.
Just like the Firdsvain people like to use throwing axes, the Kingdom of Sarleon is accustomed to using lances, and the people of Ravenstern are good at archery...
Every country has some unique competitive events.
Javelin throwing is a traditional sport of Bacchus, and javelin throwing battles can often be seen in the arenas in Bacchus.
Although the spearmen of the Empire's First Legion were fully armored, javelins were no match for bows and arrows, and their heavy javelins could often penetrate armor directly.
The defenders on the city began to suffer casualties, and several spearmen were knocked down by javelins and fell face down into the city.
Fortunately, the hot oil was finally ready. When a bucket of oil was poured down, a strong smell of burning came. Most of the gladiators on the ladder were torn into pieces and fell down with screams of ghosts and wolves.
Justus threw down another firewood torch and used the hot oil to light the firewood, then he felt relieved.
But the ladder was obviously made of wet new wood and was not easy to ignite. Even if there were occasional flames attached to it, they could not stop the slaves from continuing to climb up.
However, the offensive has indeed slowed down.
If there was only this side of the ladder, the rebels would not be able to attack.
But the rebels under the city were numerous and powerful, and probably thought this method was effective, so they began to assemble in large quantities with their shields!
It seemed that each of these tens of thousands of enemies carried a piece of wood specifically used to assemble a ladder...
Just between , two more identical scaffoldings were spliced and built!
Justus finally showed some signs of panic. He kept dispatching people to block the attack and used all the reserve troops.
Before long, dozens of imperial soldiers were killed or wounded.
Although the rebels suffered ten times the casualties of the imperial soldiers, the defenders on the city were few in number after all. If this continued, once all the experienced veterans were lost, the new recruits would probably not be able to carry out a frontal attack.
If this continues, with the increasing number of casualties, perhaps the Empire's First Legion will soon collapse.
Justus only has a few hundred veterans...
This city might really be conquered by the slaves!
No one expected that these slaves could create scaffolding with their bare hands that was as good as a ladder.
Justus was on the inside of the city wall, watching the defenders on the wall running around, but he didn't know what to do for a moment.
He had made all the arrangements he could and sent out all the reserves, so there was no one left around him.
If he was a tough guy like Kairos or Agathon, he should be leading the team to stand in front of the scaffolding and take the lead in blocking the enemy's attack.
But he is not like that. He is a consul who makes a living by his brain. Even when he was young, his martial arts were not outstanding. Now that he is over fifty years old, it is certainly wise for him not to go to the front line.
The rebels were fighting fiercely, sacrificing lives for space, relying entirely on numbers. In this situation, Justus's personal participation would not be of much use, and would instead make it easier for the soldiers to leave loopholes in order to protect him.
After sending out all the reserve troops, there was actually nothing he could do. His greatest contribution was to stay behind and not cause more trouble.
He could only watch the chaotic battlefield and the situation deteriorate bit by bit...
There are fewer and fewer veterans in the First Legion of the Empire, and the casualty ratio is gradually shrinking from ten to one to five to one. The casualties of soldiers are increasing rapidly.
Because gradually some gladiators began to stand on the top of the city walls.
These brave warriors who were trained in the arena were extremely powerful in the narrow space on the city wall. Once they stood on the wall, it often took five or more soldiers to kill them.
As more gladiators stood on the city wall, Justus sat down weakly on the steps of the city wall. He was now a little desperate.
The city was still in turmoil, those shameless thugs were setting fires everywhere, there was smoke and dust everywhere, and it was a mess.
The prison and the warehouse in the east of the city were filled with people infected with the Red Death. As most of the guards had been transferred to fight the enemy, the situation there was likely to be out of control.
Most of the nobles died in Boshi City, or died on the way to escape Boshi City...
Justus is not sure now, even if he defends the City of Knowledge, what will he face?
Several fierce gladiators had already climbed up the city wall and easily killed the soldiers standing in front of Justus.
The gladiators were closing in on him, but Justus did not flee.
He just looked at the gladiators coldly without moving.
He knew that he could neither win nor escape, so he maintained the dignity of an imperial consul.
But perhaps, some people are destined not to die.
Just as Justus was about to close his eyes, a clear and urgent horn sounded outside the city.
“Woo… woo… woo… woo…”
That was not the sound of the Bacchus Empire's bugle. The Bacchus Empire's bugle was a metal French horn, which usually produced a long and low sound.
This short horn sound is the charge of the Serenity Cavalry!
