Chapter 957

First Volume, Chapter 957: City-Defense Killing Weapon

As a result, over two hundred remaining combat-ready troops were stationed within the city, serving as the Firefighting Team to support any DefensiveLine at a moment's notice.

At dusk, the Enemy Army completed its Tactical Encirclement and launched its assault.

Facing the dense ranks of the Enemy Army, the defenders on the City Wall remained calm and composed, showing little tension—because their equipment was simply too superior.

They not only wore Armor but each carried one large and one small shield, with the Small Leather Shield always strapped to their arm, ready to deflect incoming Bow and Arrow fire.

The defenders at City South numbered only two hundred, yet even these two hundred were divided into two groups.

Half the defenders, armed with Great Shields, stood ready along the edge of the City Wall and near the Jianbing, prepared for close combat with enemy soldiers; the other half formed twenty small platoons of five men each.

Each platoon consisted of one Great Shield bearer, one Main Attacker, and three defenders.

The Great Shield bearer's sole duty was to hold up the Great Shield, protecting his comrades and blocking as many incoming arrows as possible from concentrated directions.

The Main Attacker was fully equipped with all necessary weapons, tasked with dealing with enemy soldiers who climbed onto the City Wall.

The remaining three defenders jointly operated a Long-Handled Wooden Fork, ready to overturn the Enemy Army's Cloud Ladders at any moment.

As for other climbing tools such as ropes, the other half of the defenders were responsible for handling them.

Ning Hu led six Tianji Camp Guards and twenty Beixi Soldiers to defend the City Gate.

Due to manpower limitations, they could never match the enemy's rate of arrow exchange, so Ning Hu still centered his strategy on defense: when the enemy archers began concentrated ranged attacks, he ordered his men to abandon counterattacks and hold the City; once the enemy ceased firing, his troops would launch a Counterattack, killing the besieging soldiers.

To gain immediate insight into the battlefield, Qin Feng did not retreat to safety like the other Main Generals—he donned Heavy Armor and stood firm on the First Line, protected by a Great Shield.

When the Enemy Army drew within two hundred steps of the City Wall, Qin Feng immediately ordered: "Catapults, attack!"

The messenger beside him struck the Drum twice in rapid succession, then stopped—this was the signal for the Catapults to strike.

Two Catapults beneath the City Wall simultaneously severed their Ropes; their massive arms swung forward, hurling Massive Rocks weighing a thousand jin into the air, tracing an Arc Trajectory before crashing down around one hundred seventy steps beyond the City Wall.

These carefully prepared stones were simply too heavy, and the hastily built Catapults lacked sufficient power, so their effective range was extremely short—barely reaching two hundred fifty to three hundred steps, even shorter than some Step Bow ranges.

Yet even so, the Catapults still demonstrated terrifying suppression effects.

Boom! Boom!

With two thunderous crashes, the thousand-jin Massive Rocks slammed into the soft earth—immense in kinetic force, yet they did not roll away.

The leading enemy soldiers, seeing the rocks strike mere feet ahead, screamed in terror.

They had long known of the existence of "Catapults" as siege equipment, but this was their first encounter—seeing a thousand-jin rock crash down before their eyes, the psychological shock was unimaginable.

The front-line troops were paralyzed with fear, but those behind knew nothing and kept advancing.

When the army advanced to within one hundred fifty steps of the City, two more Massive Rocks flew out from within the walls.

All front-line troops within the hundred-step span directly in the trajectory of the falling rocks lost their formation, scrambling and crawling desperately to either side.

"Run!"

"Damn it, how the hell did Changshui County get Catapults?!"

"Shit, move faster—don't get turned into Meat Mud!"

The front-line troops scattered in panic; even the Supervisors of the Army could not hold them back, while the soldiers behind remained oblivious.

Boom! Boom!

After two thunderous impacts, the Massive Rocks slammed into the enemy ranks—results were inevitable: over ten soldiers were crushed into Meat Paste on the spot; deafening screams erupted instantly.

"C…Catapults?!"

"Why didn't our General tell us the city had Catapults?!"

"Spread out!"

As the Enemy Infantry screamed and wailed, the Supervisors of the Army embedded among the ranks drew their blades and executed over a dozen men on the spot, roaring: "Those who show cowardice—die!"

"Advance at once!"

Under the Supervisors' coercion, the disorganized Enemy Infantry could only grit their teeth and charge toward the City Wall.

They knew full well the Massive Rocks followed an Arc Trajectory—so the closer they got to the City Wall, the safer they became.

The Infantry no longer conserved energy; they sprinted full speed toward the wall, so focused on dodging the Catapults that they ignored the defenders above.

Barely had they pressed within a hundred steps when the two Bed Crossbows on the City Wall let out a terrifying "String Vibration Sound."

When ordinary bows fired arrows, the Bow String vibrated, producing a faint "Whoosh."

But the Bed Crossbows emitted a deep, resonant "Whirring."

The four-foot-long Giant Arrows, upon striking an enemy, did not stop—they pierced straight through three more soldiers behind, turning them into Sugar-Candied Hawthorn.

Qin Feng's Bed Crossbows were called "Three-Bow Crossbows"—as the name implies, they were built from three specially crafted bows.

Two Forward Bows and one Reverse Bow combined to further amplify the crossbow's power; the entire weapon had a "Twelve Shi" draw weight, operated by an Axle-Turning Cart to stretch the Bow Arms, with a range exceeding seven hundred steps.

Because the Axle-Turning Cart mechanism was used, only five men or fewer were needed to operate the crossbow, greatly increasing reloading speed—but correspondingly, range and power were reduced.

With fewer operators, even three men combined could not pull the axle fully to its limit, making it impossible to unleash the full power of the Bed Crossbow.

To fully activate a Twelve-Shi Crossbow under normal conditions, at least twenty men were required.

Yet even so, the damage inflicted by the Bed Crossbows remained astonishing.

One Giant Arrow after another flew into the enemy ranks.

The dense enemy formations, designed for easy advancement, became perfect targets—the crossbows needed no aiming; a single shot often killed multiple men.

With Catapults and Bed Crossbows launching simultaneous Counterattacks, the enemy formation was in complete chaos.

When the Enemy Army breached within fifty steps, the defenders on the City Wall unleashed Step Bow fire; with no need for precise aiming, the archers' lethality surged dramatically.

Enemy soldiers fell one after another; by the time the first enemy soldier reached the base of the City Wall, the entire army was in utter disarray.

Inspector and Supervisors of the Army ran frantically between ranks, trying to maintain Morale—but under the terrifying assault of Catapults and Bed Crossbows, these so-called Capital Elite troops were nearing Morale Collapse.

The frontline commanders knew clearly: the First Wave Main Attack had already failed.

Even if the soldiers charged forward, they could no longer mount any meaningful assault…